Black Sox Blog

John Sickels produced his Top Twenty White Sox prospect list and it’s sad to say that the system is pretty thin right now.  Their top guy was given a B+ and you get into the C+’s pretty quickly.  Topping the list is Nestor Molina who came over from the Blue Jays.  The big question here is whether he’s headed to the pen or if he might stick in the rotation.

Number two is Addison Reed, another right handed pitcher.  Sickels call him the top closer prospect in baseball.    This hard thrower is the White Sox closer of the future and he should be fun to watch.  Round out the top five are Tyler Saladino (SS), Trayce Thompson (OF) and Hector Santiago (LHP).    Santiago is the most major league ready (he’s already made his debut).

The White Sox gave John Danks the biggest contract they’ve ever given to a pitcher with a five year, $65 million extension.  He’s still only 26 and he’s put together some nice seasons for the White Sox.  Last year’s disastrous first couple of months (he started 0-8) really tested his mettle and he bounced back nicely after that.  Also, with Mark Buehrle moving on, Danks was the next most logical choice to build the White Sox rotation around.

It’s funny how things work out.  Way back in 2006, I was really high on Brandon McCarthy and then they traded him to the Rangers for Danks (and Nick Masset).  At the time I was bummed but that deal has worked out nicely because Danks has had some quality season where as McCarthy had pretty much flamed out until a resurgence this year.

It’s official.  After 12 seasons, 2,476 2/3 innings and 161, Mark Buehrle is no longer a White Sox.  With eleven seasons over 200 innings, Buehrle has been a work horse for the team and he’s usually done with above average pitching.  He doesn’t have much of a chance to win a Cy Young (he’s only gotten votes once and he finished in fifth place), he’s a work horse that many teams would love to have.  In all of his seasons, he’s only had an ERA+ of under 100 once and that was his subpar 2006 season (the only season he’s had more losses then wins).

And now he’s a Marlin.  I’m glad he signed with the an NL team and not a team like the Tigers where we’d see him more often because it’ll pain me see him another uniform.  It’s hard to believe he’s only 32 because he seems like he’s been around forever.