28-year old lefty starting pitcher Francisco Liriano has been inconsistent for the White Sox and that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Liriano has pitched in 10 games (9 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 3-1 with a 5.10 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. He has only given up 43 hits and he has whiffed 51 batters in 47 2/3 innings with the Pale Hose, but he has also walked 29 batters and that has gotten him into some trouble this year. Liriano has now pitched in 32 games (26 starts) overall this year for the White Sox and Twins in which he is 6-11 with a 5.24 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. The White Sox need Liriano to get back on the right track the rest of this year.

26-year old lefty John Danks and 27-year old righty Edwin Jackson could be battling for one spot in the White Sox’ starting rotation when manager Ozzie Guillen decides to cut the rotation from a six manner to a five manner. Danks has pitched in 11 games (all starts) for the Pale Hose so far this year and he is 0-8 with a 5.25 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. He has given up 81 hits (11 homers) in only 70 1/3 innings so far this year as he hasn’t been missing many bats this year. Edwin Jackson has pitched in 11 games (all starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 4-5 with a 4.63 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. He has given up 79 hits in only 68 innings pitched so far this year for the White Sox, so he isn’t missing a lot of bats either. Jackson has said that he wouldn’t object to pitching in relief, so he might be the one removed from the rotation as long as Philip Humber keeps pitching well.

22-year old lefty reliever Chris Sale came into this season as the White Sox’ #1 prospect according to Baseball America. But, he has had a very tough time so far this year. He has pitched in 11 games (0 starts) for the Pale Hose so far this year and he is 2-0 with 1 save, a 7.15 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP. The White Sox are still using him late in games but they aren’t trusting him with closing out games. Sale has now pitched in 32 games (0 starts) in his first two years with the White Sox and he is 4-1 with 5 saves, a 3.63 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He has whiffed 45 batters in his first 34 2/3 innings which shows how nasty he can be. I think Sale will get his act together soon as his stuff is way to good to continue to struggle.

Lefties Matt Thornton and Chris Sale have been operating as the White Sox’ closer this year and they just aren’t getting the job done right now. Thornton started the season as the White Sox’ closer but he has been terrible. Thornton has pitched in 5 games (0 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA and a 3.21 WHIP. He has given up 11 hits (1 homer) and he has walked 4 batters in only 4 2/3 innings! Chris Sale has been a little bit better. He has pitched in 7 games (0 starts) for the White Sox so far this year but he is 2-0 with 1 save, a 7.36 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. Sale has given up 11 hits (2 homers) in his first 7 1/3 innings of the year but he has only walked 1 batter while whiffing 9. If neither Thornton or Sale step up soon, the White Sox are going to have to turn to either righty Sergio Santos or righty Jesse Crain to close. Santos has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He has only given up 5 hits while whiffing 11 batters in his first 8 2/3 innings of the year. But, Santos is a tad wild as he has walked 4 batters so far this year. Jesse Crain would be the safer bet due to his experience pitching late in games. Crain has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 0-1 with a 2.16 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. He has given up only 5 hits in 8 1/3 innings for the White Sox so far this year and he has 10 whiffs and only 2 walks. At least Ozzie Guillen has options to choose from here, he just needs to pick the right guy to trust as the Pale Hose can’t afford to keep blowing games late.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has seen enough of Bobby Jenks blowing leads so he will mix and match late in games with lefty Matt Thornton and righties J.J. Putz and Sergio Santos to close out games. Jenks has pitched in 39 games for the White Sox this year and he is 1-3 with 20 saves, a 5.09 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP. He will likely start pitching much earlier in games as Guillen has lost his faith in Jenks. Matt Thornton has pitched in 40 games (0 starts) for the White Sox and he is 2-3 with 5 saves, a 2.58 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. Thornton has only given up 27 hits in 38 1/3 innings with 51 whiffs showing just how dominating he has been. Thornton can handle righty and lefty hitters so he could get a lot of save opportunities going forward for the Pale Hose. J.J. Putz is pitching some of the best baseball of his major league career right now and he has quite a lot of experience of closing out ballgames. Putz has pitched in 36 games (0 starts) for the White Sox this year and he is 5-2 with 2 saves, a 1.50 ERA and a 0.78 WHIP. He only has given up 22 hits while whiffing 42 batters in only 36 innings this season. Putz is also showing outstanding control this season only walking six batters this year. Sergio Santos has pitched in 35 games (0 starts) for the White Sox this year and he is 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. He has walked 17 batters while whiffing 32 in 30 innings this year. With Santos relatively new to pitching I think Guillen will use Putz and Thornton in most of the save situations. This was a smart move for Guillen as he can’t sit around and watch his team lose games late.

UPDATE: (7/30/2010) - The White Sox have re-installed Jenks as the closer for now.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Gavin Floyd is starting to get the reputation of being a very slow starter but a strong finisher. Well he’s living up to the first half of his reputation as the White Sox wait for him to get going. Floyd has started 12 games for the Pale Hose this year and he is 2-6 with a 6.18 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. He has allowed 84 hits (7 homers) while walking 25 batters in only 67 innings this season for the White Sox. The White Sox need Floyd to get it together soon or they are going to continue to falter in the A.L. Central.

The White Sox would love to move Jose Contreras in a deal in the coming weeks because he makes a lot of cash and he just isn’t that good anymore.  He’s 5-10 with a 5.19 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP so far this season.  The lefties in the bullpen (Matt Thornton and Boone Logan) have both been pretty bad this season.  Thornton had a breakthrough season in 2006 but he’s been pretty bad this season.  Thornton is 2-3 with a save, a 5.22 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP this season.  Logan has also been pretty bad as he is 1-0 with 5.63 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP this season.  Mike MacDougal was expected to be the set up man for the White Sox but he’s been awful this season as he is 1-3 with a 6.23 ERA and a 2.17 WHIP.  Nick Masset has also been pretty bad for the White Sox this year as he is 2-3 with a 7.34 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP.  Look for the White Sox to try to improve the bullpen in their impending firesale.

The White Sox had to shake up their bullpen because the set-up crew was getting ripped this season.  So the Sox sent Mike MacDougal and David Aardsma to AAA and recalled Ryan Bukvich and Bret Prinz from the minors to replace them.  MacDougal was very wild and that hurt him this season.   In 27 games this year, MacDougal was 1-3 with a 7.13 ERA and a 2.21 WHIP.  MacDougal walked an amazing 17 batters in 17.2 innings and it was driving Ozzie Guillen crazy so at least with him in AAA Ozzie should get some sleep at night.  David Aardsma’s problem was that he was trying to strike everyone out and that doesn’t work to often in the major leagues.  Instead of pitching he just kept trying to throw the ball harder and the one thing that almost all major league hitters can handle is a fastball.  In 22 games for the Pale Hose, Aardsma was 2-1 with a 6.18 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP.  He did whiff 32 batters for the White Sox in 27.2 innings so he has good stuff he just needs to go down to AAA and relearn how to pitch.

Ryan Bukvich and Bret Prinz both have major league experience and could fit in nicely in the White Sox bullpen.  29 year old righty Ryan Bukvich was the closer at AAA for the Sox.  In 23 games there, he was 1-3 with 9 saves, a 2.89 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP.  He also exhibited good control in the minors as he whiffed 32 batters while only walking 9 in 28 innings.  Bret Prinz is also a 29-year old righty.  He pitched in 15 AAA games for the Sox and he was 0-1 with 1 save, a 0.56 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP.  Look for Guillen to throw both of these guys right into the fire soon to see if they can handle the heat.

The White Sox have demoted Andrew Sisco to the minor leagues and he deserved it based on how he pitched.  In 19 games this season, Sisco is 0-1 with a 8.36 ERA and a 2.14 WHIP.  In 14 innings with the Pale Hose, Sisco allowed 19 hits, walked 11 batters and whiffed 13.  Hopefully Sisco will work on his control in the minors because he has great stuff but it won’t matter if he can’t throw strikes.

Mike MacDougal has been awful so far this season for the White Sox.  The White Sox are not allowing MacDougal to be their steup man anymore as they’ve demoted him to earlier work in the bullpen.  In 23 games this season, MacDougal is 1-1 with a 6.19 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP so far.  He has been wild so far this season as he’s walked 12 batters and allowed 18 hits in only 16 innings!  He still has nasty stuff as he has already whiffed 17 batters this season, so he just needs to throw more strikes to be successful.