Tag / Rangers

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#349 – Josh Kinney

Name: Josh Kinney

Rank: 349

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2011

After bouncing around the Cardinals organization, Josh Kinney made his triumphant return to the major leagues in August of 2011 after being recalled to the White Sox to take the place of Phil Humber, who had been struck in the head by a line drive.  Kinney’s American League debut, giving up one hit in a three inning relief stint against the eventual AL champion Rangers, unfortunately did not lead to long term success, as he faded down the stretch, much like the rest of the White Sox.  Following the season, he was allowed to pursue other opportunities, and he hooked up with the Mariners for 2012.

Kinney’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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by jim

2012 Predictions Revisited

Exactly six months ago, I looked into my crystal ball and tried to predict the outcomes of the upcoming baseball season.  Now that the season has come to an end, and half of my predicted divison winners are headed home instead of the playoffs, let’s take a look back at how things unfolded.

American League

East: Yankees

The Yankees went down to the wire, not with the Red Sox as expected, but with the surprising Orioles.

Central: Tigers

After picking up free agent Prince Fielder, the Tigers were expected to run away with the Central division.  Instead, they underachieved much of the season and battled the overachieving White Sox for most of the season.  However, a late season collapse by the White Sox offense helped the Tigers take the division.

West: Angels

The Angels just may have been the biggest disappointment in the league this year. After dropping over $330 million in one day on Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, the Angels were expected to be at the top of the heap this year.  Unfortunately, things just did not work out and, even with the addition of rookie of the year shoo-in Mike Trout, the Angels were unable to make a serious run and finished in third place, behind the surging A’s, who swept the Rangers in the last series of the season to take the division title.

Wild Cards: Rays, Rangers

The Orioles and the Rangers will face off in the first wild card play-in game.

National League Continue reading →

by jim

2012 Final Standings

Another disappointing season comes to an end today.  The White Sox, who spent 126 days in first place, sputtered through September and dropped to second place.  The Cubs managed to lose 100 games for the first time since 1966.

TeamCity TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
Washington Nationals 1 0 1.000
Colorado Rockies 1 0 1.000
Kansas City Royals 1 0 1.000
Boston Red Sox 2 1 0.667
Tampa Bay Rays 2 1 0.667
Chicago White Sox 18 13 0.581
Oakland A’s 1 1 0.500
Houston Astros 1 1 0.500
Toronto Blue Jays 1 1 0.500
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#367 – Sean Tracey

Name: Sean Tracey

Rank: 367

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 2006

Sean Tracey’s White Sox career nearly came to an end on June 14, a mere 6 days after it started.  After AJ Pierzynski had been hit by 2 pitches and with the White Sox down by 8 against the Rangers, Sean Tracey was brought in to the game with one mission: retaliate against Hank Blalock.  Tracey threw to inside pitches to Blalock, before getting him to ground out.  He was quickly removed from the game, berated in the dugout by manager Ozzie Guillen, and demoted the next day.  He returned later in the season, and then his career actually did come to an end.

Tracey’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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The Geovany Soto Era

Lost among the hubub of moving Ryan Dempster at last week’s trading deadline was the Cubs cutting of ties with Geovany Soto, the disappointing backstop who had, at one time, held such promise.  After getting brief cups of coffee the previous three seasons, Soto broke through in a big way in 2008, making the All Star team as a rookie and earning the NL Rookie of the Year award while helping the Cubs capture the NL Central title.  Unfortunately, it all went down hill from there, for both the Cubs and Soto.

In 2009, Soto’s numbers dropped across the board, finishing with a .218 batting average and only 11 home runs, as the Cubs dropped 14 games from their win total the year before.  To add insult to injury, it was revealed in July that Soto had tested positive for marijuana during that spring’s World Baseball Classic and had been suspended from international play for 2 years.

The 2010 season was a bounce back year for Soto, but not the team.  Soto improved his average to .280 and managed 17 home runs, but the team fell even further, finishing 12 games under .500.  Last year, Soto fell off again, still hitting 17 home runs but with an average of .228 and he “lead” all NL catchers with 13 errors.  This year, amongst the rebuilding, Soto fell even further, battling injury to hit .199 in 52 games.  His era or the north side officially came to an end last Tuesday when he was traded to the Rangers for a 24 year old minor league pitcher who has a career mark of 27-43 in 6 seasons at Double A or lower.  Oh, and either a player to be named later or cash.

Soto’s numbers in a Cubs uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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Goodbye Mr. Dempster

In August of 2003, while the Cubs were making a run that would eventually take them to the NLCS and a mere 5 outs away from their first World Series appearance in nearly 60 years, Ryan Dempster blew out his elbow as a member of the Cincinnati Reds and underwent Tommy John surgery.  Following the season, the Reds, fearing that the one-time all star was done, released him.  In January 2004, the Cubs took a low risk flyer on him, knowing he would spend most of the season rehabbing and hoping to capture lighning in a bottle.  Nearly 9 seasons later, I guess you could say it worked out.

Dempster joined the Cubs in August, one year after his elbow reconstruction, and, for the first time in his career, worked primarily out of the bullpen.  Dempster returned to the starting rotation in 2005, but after 6 starts, he was named the closer after LaTroy Hawkins continued to struggle.  He would prove to be one of the premiere closers over the next three seasons.  In 2008, Dempster finally moved back to the starting rotation, surrendering the closers role to another former starter, Kerry Wood.  Dempster excelled and lead the Cubs to their second straight division title.

As the Cubs fortunes went south following the 2008 season, Dempster remained one of the few bright spots, especially this year, where he is among the league leaders in ERA despite getting little to no run support.  Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, the time to say goodbye has arrived.  Ryan Dempster has been traded to the Atlanta Braves Los Angeles Dodgers New York Yankees Texas Rangers, where he will be reunited with former battery mate Geovany Soto.

In Cubs games I have attended, Dempster is second all time with 13 wins and 68 appearances and tied with Joe Borowski for first all time in saves, with 14.  Dempster’s numbers in a Cubs uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →

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#372 – Wayne Tolleson

Name: Wayne Tolleson

Rank: 372

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 1986

When Ken Harrelson was named general manager of the White Sox following the 1985 season, his first major move was trading Scott Fletcher and heralded prospect Ed Correa to the Rangers in exchange for Dave Schmidt and Wayne Tolleson.  “Wayne Tolleson gives us a versatile infielder who’s a switch hitter and a base-stealing threat,” Harrelson said.  “He has played second, short and third, and he can play any of those spots for us.”

He certainly didn’t do so for long, as Tolleson’s tenure on the south side ended on July 30, 1986, when he was sent to the Yankees along with Ron Kittle and Joel Skinner for Ron Hassey, Carlos Martinez, and a player to be named later who eventually became Bill Lindsey.

Tolleson’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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All Star Break Standings

As we head in to the All Star Break, the White Sox are in first place and I’ve been to 20 games.  Here’s the team’s records for those 20 games.

TeamCity TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
Washington Nationals 1 0 1.000
Kansas City Royals 1 0 1.000
Boston Red Sox 2 1 0.667
Chicago White Sox 12 8 0.600
Seattle Mariners 1 1 0.500
Houston Astros 1 1 0.500
Toronto Blue Jays 1 1 0.500
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by jim

Nostradamus Wept – AL Edition

With 81 games in the books, we are officially at the halfway point of the 2012 season.  The so-called experts at Sports Illustrated made some pre-season predictions that are looking a little off a this point.

Team Won Lost

Predicted

Wins

 PredictedLosses Comments
AL East
New York Yankees 49 32 95 67

After a slow-ish start, a long winning streak moved the Yankees back into first place despite an injury-ravaged pitching staff.
Baltimore Orioles 44 37 63 99 One of the surprises of the first half, theOrioles need only 19 second half wins to match their predicted output.
Tampa Bay Rays 43 39 92 70 Tampa has continued to keep things togetherwhile once again losing Evan Longoria for an extended period of time.
Boston Red Sox 42 40 91 71 After their collapse at the end of last season,the Red Sox have struggled to stay above .500 in the first half.
Toronto Blue Jays 42 40 85 77 The Blue Jays were having a strong half beforelosing nearly their entire starting rotation in one weeks time.
AL Central
Chicago White Sox 44 37 67 95 While most people did not expect the White Soxto be as bad as SI did, nobody thought they would be in first place at the halfway point.
Cleveland  Indians 42 39 80 82 The Indians have been right around where expected, a little over .500 instead of a little under.
Detroit Tigers 40 42 93 69 The Tigers were expected to run away and hide in this division, but they have been unable to outhit their poor pitching performance to date.
Kansas City Royals 36 44 82 80 Eric Hosmer’s sophomore slump has held back the developing Royals.
Minnesota Twins 35 46 72 90 Could this be the end of the Ron Gardenhire era?  The Twins are woefully bad for the second straight year.
AL West
Texas Rangers 50 32 94 68 After losing back-to-back World Series, the Rangers look to be stronger than ever.
Los Angeles Angels 45 37 97 65 The Angels, and new acquisition Albert Pujols, got off to a slow start before putting things together with the arrival of Mike Trout.
Oakland A’s 41 42 68 94 The A’s have been much better than expected in the first half.
Seattle Mariners 35 49 64 98 The Mariners have struggled offensively again in the first half.

 

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#375 – Ed Correa

Name: Ed Correa

Rank: 375

Position: P

Year With White Sox: 1985

Ed Correa was probably my first introduction to the promising young player in Triple A who was bound to come up to the big leagues and become a huge star, only to see him flame out.  Correa, as I recall, was supposed to be the next big thing who would lead the White Sox back to the post-season, but after 5 mediocre appearances during the 1985 season, he was moved, along with Scott Fletcher, to Texas for the overwhelming tandem of Dave Schmidt and Wayne Tolleson.

Correa’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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