July 2012 - Chicago White Sox Wiretap

The National League The Kevin Towers Jim McLennan of AZ Snake Pit: "Ok, so who had Joe Saunders finishing the month of April leading all qualifying pitchers in ERA? If you tell me you saw that coming, I trust you are enjoying your half-billion lottery jackpot as well. But that's where we stand, with Saunders' four starts for Arizona have resulted in three earned runs over 30 innings of work." The Frank Wren Carroll Rogers of Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Tim Hudson might have spent a little more time bobbing and weaving -- as he would say -- than he wanted to Sunday against the Pirates, but he brought maturity, some stability, and a little of fire back to the Braves rotation." The Jed Hoyer Paul Sullivan of Chicago Tribune: "Cubs starters have compiled a 2.64 earned-run average over their last eight games, giving the offensively challenged team a chance to stay in ballgames." The Walt Jocketty Mark Sheldon of MLB.com: "Jay Bruce hit a home run for a career-best fourth straight game on Sunday and it was the biggest one of the bunch because it came in the bottom of the eighth inning and gave the Reds a 6-5 come-from-behind victory." The Dan O'Dowd Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post: "During a visit to Coors Field for the Rockies game Sunday, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning had one big question: What was outfielder Michael Cuddyer doing occupying his locker?" The Michael Hill Craig Davis of South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "When a ballclub is going bad, heads roll. That was the lesson when Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan was sent to the minors last year amid a June swoon. It happened sooner this season as the 2009 National League Rookie of the Year was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans following Sunday's 8-4 loss to Arizona." The Jeff Luhnow Zachary Levine of Houston Chronicle: "Days like this one are the downside to managing against convention. When it works, you're celebrated for being free from the tyranny of "the book." When it doesn't -- when you enter two late high-leverage at-bats with your right-handed pitchers facing lefties and those lefties happen to provide the tying and winning hits -- you're whatever the opposite of celebrated is." The Ned Colletti Brandon Lennox of True Blue L.A.: "Andres Santiago has flown under the radar in a Quakes rotation that features four top 20 Dodger pitching prospects, but after a dominate performance on Sunday he might start getting some attention of his own." The Doug Melvin Todd Rosiak of Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Just shy of the three-year mark since he last pitched in the major leagues, Vinnie Chulk has fought his way back. The 33-year-old right-handed reliever joined the Milwaukee Brewers for Sunday's series finale with the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium." The Sandy Alderson Chris McShane of Amazin Avenue: "When Kirk Nieuwenhuis was called up fill the void left by Andres Torres' calf injury following the Mets' game on Opening Day, there was no guarantee that he would even play every day. Just over three weeks later, Nieuwenhuis has been nothing short of brilliant." The Ruben Amaro Jr. The Good Phight: "Heading into his second year as a full-time starting pitcher, Vance Worley seemed a likely candidate to suffer the dreaded sophomore slump that so many young pitchers have. In the off-season, opposing teams' scouts have time to collect, analyze, and study film of pitchers that baffled their teams' hitters the year before." The Neal Huntington Bucs Dugout: "Jameson Taillon continued to justify his top prospect status, throwing six shutout innings in a 4-1 win over Jupiter. He allowed three hits, all singles, and one walk, while fanning four." The John Mozeliak Viva El Birdos: "When the St. Louis Cardinals inked catcher Yadier Molina to a five-year, $75 million extension during spring training, many did a double take. The lucrative extension seemed to be based at least in part on Molina's best season with the bat." The Josh Byrnes Gaslamp Ball: "Overall, April hasn't been kind to us, but that's not really new. On the upside, our boys have won four of their last seven games, and are looking better (at least in pitching and offense) than the team that began the season." The Brian Sabean Scott Ostler of San Francisco Chronicle: "Buster Posey went 1-for-3 Sunday, so his batting average nose-dived from .354 to .353. He did manage to stay in the top 10 among major-league batters, at No. 9." The Mike Rizzo Adam Kilgore of Washington Post: "The Nationals have experience rebounding from four-game losing streaks, but not with the stakes they have created for themselves this April. It matters now." The American League The Dan Duquette Peter Schuck of Baltimore Sun: "Orioles starters failed to pitch through the sixth inning only once in the last six games, and the exception was a 5 2/3-inning start by Jake Arrieta that was the only clinker of the week." The Ben Cherington Alex Speier of WEEI: "On Sunday, for the first time, Matt Barnes gave up a run as a professional. It took five starts and it was not until his 27th inning of work that it occurred, but it happened." The Kenny Williams Dick Van Dyck of Chicago Tribune: "When Jake Peavy won the 2007 Cy Young Award for the Padres, he owned a 3-1 record and 2.06 earned-run average after April. Now with the White Sox and approaching 31, Peavy just finished April with a 3-1 record and 1.67 ERA - plus back-to-back complete games. Peavy didn't have a complete game in 2007." The Chris Antonetti Cleveland Plain-Dealer: "Johnny Damon comes at the perfect time to help Cleveland's struggling offense." The Dave Dombrowski Lynn Henning of Detroit News: "Gerald Laird is under contract through 2012, which means there's no serious itch to get Rob Brantly to Detroit anytime soon. But by next season, the Tigers will have groomed Brantly for a backup catching job that could evolve into something more regular if Brantly keeps it up. A left-handed hitter who doesn't turn 23 until July is batting .365 at Double A Erie, with on-base and slugging percentages of .406 and .603, good for a heavy OPS of 1.009." The Dayton Moore Royals Review: "I woke up this morning wondering if [Mike Moustakas] had passed [Eric] Hosmer as a hitter. Obviously, his performance (or perhaps his results) have been better in 2012, but what I was mainly thinking of was some notion of polish or approach at the plate, some idea akin to craftsmanship." The Jerry DiPoto Mike DiGiovanna of Los Angeles Times: "When Jordan Walden lost his closer job after giving up a walk-off home run to Tampa Bay's Brandon Allen on Thursday, he was not demoted to a seventh- or eighth-inning role. The right-hander whose 98-mph fastball earned him a trip to the All-Star game last season has been reduced, at least temporarily, to a mop-up guy until he can start throwing his slider for a strike." The Terry Ryan Howard Sinker of Star Tribune: "Albert Pujols signed a 10-year contract for $240 million in the offseason and currently has an OPS (on base-plus-slugging percentage) lower than Jamey Carroll's. Ouch." The Brian Cashman Bill Madden of New York Daily News: "And on the fifth day, CC Sabathia, as is his sworn $25 million per year duty, provided a welcome respite to the Yankee starting rotation crisis." The Billy Beane Athletics Nation: "Well, the Sacramento River Cats have been doing the one thing their parent club hasn't been doing lately -- namely, hitting! The A's Pacific Coast League affiliate averaged nearly 8 runs per game last week, while the big league club averaged just 2 1/2 runs per game over the past week." The Jack Zduriencik Geoff Baker of Seattle Times: "George Sherrill's elbow never looked right this spring and did not get any better in two relief outings. Now, he's going to have surgery on it early next month and is very likely done for the season." The Andrew Friedman DRaysBay.com: "The Rays are now 14-8 on the season and completed a very difficult opening of the 2012 season which included 19 of their first 22 games against teams that finished .500 or better in 2011 and included their longest road trip of the season (3-city 10 game)." The Jon Daniels Evan Grant of Dallas Morning News: "The Rangers now have a clean sweep at having the youngest prospect at every level of the minors currently playing. It underscores the club's philosophy of challenging young players to play up a level." The Alex Anthopoulos Andrew Pentis of MLB.com: "The real lesson Blue Jays left-hander Egan Smith has learned in his first season coming out of the bullpen: Always be ready. The Jays' farmhand completed five no-hit innings of relief in Dunedin's 3-0 victory over Tampa. The Class A Advanced Jays are 10-1 at home this season."

The Red Sox roughed up Philip Humber en route to a 10-3 win over the White Sox on Thursday night. It was Humber's first start since his surprising perfect game against the Mariners last Saturday. "I got a lot of pitches up over the plate," Humber said. "To a team like that, they make you pay for it." Humber was tagged for a career-high nine runs and eight hits in five innings. The nine earned runs he allowed after his perfect game were a record, topping the eight given up by Jim "Catfish" Hunter after his perfecto for Oakland in 1968.

Paul Konerko became the 48th Major League player to join the 400 home run club when he hit a solo shot against the Athletics on Wednesday night. The White Sox first baseman ranks seventh in home runs among active players. "The round numbers, everybody likes the round numbers," Konerko said. "But again when it comes to that kind of stuff, I think when I'm done playing you look back that's when it might hit home more. But when you're in a middle of a grind and you're grinding every day and working, you tend to not think about that stuff. "Yeah, it's nice. Every time I've gotten to a hundred or whatever it is, you never think you're going to get to the next one or you think it seems far away. So yeah, it's cool, but we'll tuck it away now and we'll look at it probably when I'm done playing and reopen and probably talk about it more then."

Philip Humber received a tweet from Jets quarterback Tim Tebow on Saturday following his perfect game against the Mariners. "Congrats @Philip_Humber on accomplishing one of the greatest feats in all of sports! #PerfectGame," Tebow tweeted. Humber fired the 21st perfect game in Major League Baseball history. One tweet stood out among the many congratulating Humber. "Tim Tebow tweeted me," Humber said Monday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "The funny thing about that is I tweeted him this offseason, and of course he's Tim Tebow and I'm Philip Humber ... compared to him I'm a nobody, but I didn't get a response. I was like, 'Aw man,' I was kind of hoping he'd tweet me back or something.'"

Jake Peavy has excelled to begin the season, going 2-0 with a 2.75 ERA in his first three starts of 2012. He has faced the Rangers, Tigers and Orioles. Scouts have been impressed with Peavy's overall stuff and the fact that he is finishing off hitters (21 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings). The right-hander is in the final year of his deal because the White Sox will not exercise a $22 million option for 2013. He earns $17 million this season, and the White Sox would likely have to take on a portion of what's remaining if he's dealt.

Philip Humber needed just 96 pitches to throw a perfect game against the Mariners on Saturday afternoon in Seattle. The White Sox right-hander struck out nine, got five ground-ball outs and 13 fly-ball outs. Only David Cone's perfect game in 1999 required fewer pitches. In 29 previous career starts since 2007, Humber had not thrown a shutout. He had not thrown a complete game. His career record was 11-10, 9-9 as a starter.

White Sox right-hander Phil Humber took a perfect game into the ninth inning against the Mariners on Saturday afternoon. The first batter in the ninth, Mike Saunders struck out after getting ahead of Humber 3-0 to begin the inning. John Jaso then flew out to right field for the second out. Brendan Ryan came in as a pinch hitter for Seattle with two outs, he swung on a pitch that was clearly a ball and was thrown out at first base. Humber struck out nine batters in the game. His effort was the 21st perfect game in Major League history.

There is a strong possibility that the White Sox could trade Jake Peavy to a contender at midseason if they are far out of the playoff picture, as many expect. Chicago sold off a number of players this winter, including Carlos Quentin and Sergio Santos. Peavy has looked good thus far. He's 1-0 with a 3.55 ERA in two starts. He has 13 strikeouts and 12 2/3 innings of work. More importantly, he has remained healthy.

The White Sox have re-signed Kip Wells to a minor league contract, according to a report. Wells, 34, hasn't pitched in the Major Leagues since 2009 when he was with the Reds. A former first-round pick, he pitched for Chicago from 1999-2001, compiling a 20-21 record and 5.14 ERA.

Rangers executive Nolan Ryan and White Sox manager Robin Ventura spoke on Friday for the first time since Ventura charged the mound after being hit by a Ryan pitch 19 years ago. Ryan went over to the Chicago clubhouse before the game and wished Ventura good luck. Neither held any grudges over the Aug. 4, 1993 incident in Arlington, but they had never crossed paths since then. "He was a very good player and very successful player," Ryan said. "It was just a reaction or response to the moment. He and I had no personal interaction prior to that night. There was nothing that precipitated it from something previously." Ryan, then 46, hit Ventura, who was a 26-year-old with the White Sox. After taking four short steps toward first, Ventura dropped his bat, took off his helmet and sprinted toward the mound.