Cooper Looking For Starter and Bullpen Help For Second Half

With 77 games left in 2012 the White Sox find themselves in a place (First 47-38) they did not expect to be in. I guess Managers and coaching staffs do matter. (i.e, Rios in RF, Viciedo in LF).  At least most people never thought they would be buyers at this time of year. With Jake Peavy making 17 million this year and Matt Thornton making 5.5 million the White Sox front office thought they would be selling these guys off to the highest bidder this month. Well surprise, surprise. Sox lead the division by 3 games and pitching coach Don Copper is asking Kenny Williams for one more starting pitcher and one more veteran guy in the pen.
With doubts on John Danks making it back before August and doubts that Phil Humber can be a serious 7 inning starter, Cooper is hoping Williams can pull off another steal of a trade similar to the Youkilis robbery last month. Can Gavin Floyd be trade bait? Or does Williams keep sending him out to the mound and hope he gets the good breaking ball Floyd most of the time. Jose Quintana has been lights out for the Sox and is a real find by the Sox scouting department. But after Peavy, Sale and Quintana the pitching staff is a thin one.  With only one veteran in Thornton out in the bullpen Copper would love to have another,  go to guy that has "been there" before during the heat of a hot summer pennant race. If Jesse Crain comes back healthy that would be a huge help.

Making matters worse for the White Sox brass is that fan attendance for the first half of 2012 is down 5%. The good thing is with all these young players the Sox payroll is down 24%. 

But after this season they will have to decide what to do with A.J. Pierzyski, Gavin Floyd, Jake Peavy, Dayan Viciedo, Chris Sale and Alejandro De Aza. All are either free agents or have club options.  But lets not get ahead of ourselves.  We need to see how Sale and Peavy hold up and if Paul Konerko wrist can make it through another 77 games.

If the Sox can win 40 of those 77 games that may be good enough to win the AL Central.

White Sox Fans Don't Feel So Bad About First Place Team

White Sox fans it's okay. It happens. I know you feel like the girl that gets lied to by the only guy  you really cared about. Look it's not easy letting go, it's hard to forgive someone that has hurt you in the past. Really you didn't know. Everybody was saying how bad they are.  First it was Robin Ventura can't be a manager he never managed before. He needs to do what Ryne Sandberg did and go to the minors for 3 to 4 years to get the "experience" as a manager. Ok we now know that was just a lie Jim Hendry told Sandberg to get out of the Cubs hair. Of course their was the Sergio Santos trade and Carlos Quentin trade. The Sox don't care about me anymore, they let  favorite Mark Buehrle go. Boo who.  So I understand you are, as a White Sox fan a little gun shy. A little hurt. Don't forgot they traded Ozzie Guillen the best manager ever in the history of the world. Right? He was so funny with his tirades and tweets and his sons ripping that stupid Kenny Williams who signed Jake Peavy and Adam Dunn. Ouch. It all hurts. Plus when someone, some expert comes out and tells you that the White Sox may lose 100 yes 100 games in 2012. Well. That about seals the deal. Heart broken. Never, ever, ever coming back to watch this team. I mean really Ventura got beat up by Nolan Ryan. If that doesn't say he can't be a manager nothing does.  If that wasn't enough the same old Alex Rios. Ugh. And A.J., he can't throw out the garbage. So with no closer, no ace, no DH and an aging Paul Konerko, I get it. White Sox fans you are hurt. It's like when the so called Wall Street experts tell you to sell your stock in May because the slowing economy and it turns out June was the best month for stocks in years. Go figure. Lies and lies. Your heart can't take it.

And now this. You missed the cool party. Your first place team. Who knew that Dunn will blast 25 bombs. Or Chris Sale will have 10 wins before the All-Star break. It hurts. I mean really. The second half only means more heart break if you open up and let them in. No way can Dunn hit another 25 home runs. I mean really if he hits 50 that  would be the most he ever hit in a season. And if Sale gets 10 more wins. 20 wins. It's been a long time since a Sox picher had 20 wins. I hate to bring this up but Jake Peavy looks really good. I know you missed it. It's been a busy spring with work and the kids, well you know. I get it. Pain is hard. I hesitate to tell you about the season Dayan Viciedo is having in left field. Um yeah its pretty decent. He has thrown out a few runners, caught everything and he can hit for power too. Sorry. But I know you know this already. The TV and radio ratings are way up. Watching the Sox on TV is like stalking your ex on Facebook. you can see what they are up to without putting yourself out there. I get it.

But now what do you do? It's 5 games before the All-Star break and we, us, them are in first place. What? The Tigers. Yeah  yeah they will get better. Who? Yes the experts say that. That they will get hot and the Sox will suck and Peavy will get hurt and Sale will have elbow problems and Rios will stop hitting and catching, etc etc. Yes I know you need to tell  you these things. It's how people coup with hurt. So the hesitation is still there. Do you really want to come to a game and cheer? How many games in first place do they really need to be before you step foot to watch this team. How many young rookie pitchers pitching well will it take? I guess only you can answer that question.

Bad news is they only have a few home games in July. But in August...what? Oh school starts up and work gets busy, right. I see. I know its hard but maybe you can try to see one game in the second half. Maybe the game that Dunn hits his 40th or Tank hits his 20th. Or Youk blast a 3 run homer to win the game for Sale. Or Addison Reed gets his 15th save.

Anyway its okay that you missed one of the most exicting first halfs of Robin Ventura first year as manager. I mean do you really think he will win Manager of the Year. A team that was picked for last. Will Adam Dunn or Alex Rios win Comeback Player of the Year? Will Sale win 20 games? I guess you will have to continue to watch on TV. Yeah its safer that way. You can always turn it off.