Spring numbers - CWS vs ARZ

[A. Cavatica]

Why are the spring pitching numbers so bad, year after year?

These are the ten Sox pitchers with the most innings. (Sample size is too small to evaluate any one pitcher, but not too small to evaluate the group.)

CHICAGO
Garland - 7.66 ERA in 24.2 innings (4 HR allowed)
Buehrle - 6.95 in 22 (4)
Danks - 5.91 in 21.1 (3)
Vazquez - 8.85 in 20.1 (1)
Floyd - 9.00 in 19 (3)
Contreras - 5.09 in 17.2 (2)
Haeger - 8.10 in 13.1 (3)
Russell - 8.53 in 12.2 (1)
Logan - 0.00 in 11 (0)
Masset - 6.10 in 10.1 (0)

For comparison:

ARIZONA
Edgar Gonzalez - 4.70 ERA in 23 IP (5 HR allowed)
Enrique Gonzalez - 6.52 in 19.1 (3)
Doug Davis - 8.50 in 18 (2)
Micah Owings - 3.50 in 18 (0)
Dustin Nippert - 2.30 in 15.2 (0)
DJ Carrasco - 6.00 in 12 (2)
Dana Eveland - 8.25 in 12 (1)
Tony Pena - 2.25 in 12 (0)
Brandon Webb - 1.64 in 11 (0)
Livan Hernandez - 13.06 in 10.1 (3)

Analysis:

Since the Sox and Diamondbacks share Tucson Electric Park, we can't blame our bad performance on climate, ballpark, or opponents. And since our starters accounted for a higher percentage of the innings than Arizona's, it's not like we gave more innings to marginal pitchers. Finally, we can't point the finger at just one or two guys who dragged the team down; nine out of ten of our guys pitched badly.

With four spots open going into spring training, I'd have thought we'd see better performances from the guys in contention. Logan did great, but he's going to AAA. Danks and Masset won spots but ended up with mediocre numbers.

Do we just have bad pitchers?

I don't think so. Past performance says our guys will be pretty good once the season starts. As for the new guys, they can't be any worse than some of those Diamondback pitchers.

So how do we explain it? I don't know, here are some theories.

Spring training is about getting your work in, practicing things like throwing breaking stuff with two strikes instead of trying to win games. Maybe the Sox buy into that more than other teams. It could also be that the Sox pitchers know from past springs that they can just go through the motions. Finally, it could be that the Sox don't seem to have any 'Type A' pitchers who have to prove they're the ace.

[RockyMtnSoxFan]

Here's another theory: the Diamondbacks are used to playing in Arizona. That won't hold true for all of their players, but some, like Brandon Webb, have been there for a few years and have a better idea how their stuff behaves. Also, if there really is a distinguishable difference in pitching due to the climate, the Diamondbacks have probably tried to acquire pitchers who are more likely to succeed there. The same goes for the Rockies, because Denver has a fairly dry climate as well and has high altitude.

This is all just a theory of course. I am still just as frustrated as the next person with what I've seen during Spring Training, especially from those who were competing for roster spots. I'm hoping that there is some truth to this theory, because then the Sox pitchers should do better once the season starts. In fact, Buehrle had his best outing of the spring tonight, in Atlanta, where the air is definitely not dry.

[MrRoboto83]

:darkclouds:

Time to start rolling out the dark clouds. This team is gonna be non stop excitement, weather that is good excitment or not will be determined by September 30. Let the season begin.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Tarots_cards_deal.jpg/300px-Tarots_cards_deal.jpg

:cleo
"Looks like a White Sox winning formula according to my Terot cards"

[RockyMtnSoxFan]

Whatever dude. We were just discussing the indisputable fact that many of the Sox pitchers did not fare well during ST. We never claimed that the season would suck, but only proposed theories as to why they sucked in Arizona. But I guess you were looking for a reason to use your favorite pictures ...

[WhiteSox5187]

Well, the Sox certainly did suck in spring training, but they don't hand out pennants for spring training. Of late the Sox starters HAVE looked better and Buerhle looked like himself tonight (minus a bad pitch to Chipper that was up in the zone). I'm not going to freak out. It's an unnerving sign, but as I said as ST progressed, the pitchers looked better. We'll see. I think it's going to be a good year on the southside.

[goon]

mark, jose and jon look good. thronton and jenks (as of late) look good too.

[eastchicagosoxfan]

Hawk discussed this on last night's game, and I believe he was dead on with his analysis. The starters worked on getting stretched out ( so does everybody ) and they worked on adding to their repertoire, as opposed to working on what they have. They didn't work on throwing MLB quality starts. They're expected to to that. Time will tell if that was a good strategy.

[hose]

I don't believe the idea behind ST is to win games but get your work in.