26-year old lefty John Danks and 27-year old righty Edwin Jackson could be battling for one spot in the White Sox’ starting rotation when manager Ozzie Guillen decides to cut the rotation from a six manner to a five manner. Danks has pitched in 11 games (all starts) for the Pale Hose so far this year and he is 0-8 with a 5.25 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. He has given up 81 hits (11 homers) in only 70 1/3 innings so far this year as he hasn’t been missing many bats this year. Edwin Jackson has pitched in 11 games (all starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 4-5 with a 4.63 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. He has given up 79 hits in only 68 innings pitched so far this year for the White Sox, so he isn’t missing a lot of bats either. Jackson has said that he wouldn’t object to pitching in relief, so he might be the one removed from the rotation as long as Philip Humber keeps pitching well.

22-year old lefty reliever Chris Sale came into this season as the White Sox’ #1 prospect according to Baseball America. But, he has had a very tough time so far this year. He has pitched in 11 games (0 starts) for the Pale Hose so far this year and he is 2-0 with 1 save, a 7.15 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP. The White Sox are still using him late in games but they aren’t trusting him with closing out games. Sale has now pitched in 32 games (0 starts) in his first two years with the White Sox and he is 4-1 with 5 saves, a 3.63 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. He has whiffed 45 batters in his first 34 2/3 innings which shows how nasty he can be. I think Sale will get his act together soon as his stuff is way to good to continue to struggle.

Lefties Matt Thornton and Chris Sale have been operating as the White Sox’ closer this year and they just aren’t getting the job done right now. Thornton started the season as the White Sox’ closer but he has been terrible. Thornton has pitched in 5 games (0 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA and a 3.21 WHIP. He has given up 11 hits (1 homer) and he has walked 4 batters in only 4 2/3 innings! Chris Sale has been a little bit better. He has pitched in 7 games (0 starts) for the White Sox so far this year but he is 2-0 with 1 save, a 7.36 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. Sale has given up 11 hits (2 homers) in his first 7 1/3 innings of the year but he has only walked 1 batter while whiffing 9. If neither Thornton or Sale step up soon, the White Sox are going to have to turn to either righty Sergio Santos or righty Jesse Crain to close. Santos has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He has only given up 5 hits while whiffing 11 batters in his first 8 2/3 innings of the year. But, Santos is a tad wild as he has walked 4 batters so far this year. Jesse Crain would be the safer bet due to his experience pitching late in games. Crain has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 0-1 with a 2.16 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. He has given up only 5 hits in 8 1/3 innings for the White Sox so far this year and he has 10 whiffs and only 2 walks. At least Ozzie Guillen has options to choose from here, he just needs to pick the right guy to trust as the Pale Hose can’t afford to keep blowing games late.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has seen enough of Bobby Jenks blowing leads so he will mix and match late in games with lefty Matt Thornton and righties J.J. Putz and Sergio Santos to close out games. Jenks has pitched in 39 games for the White Sox this year and he is 1-3 with 20 saves, a 5.09 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP. He will likely start pitching much earlier in games as Guillen has lost his faith in Jenks. Matt Thornton has pitched in 40 games (0 starts) for the White Sox and he is 2-3 with 5 saves, a 2.58 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. Thornton has only given up 27 hits in 38 1/3 innings with 51 whiffs showing just how dominating he has been. Thornton can handle righty and lefty hitters so he could get a lot of save opportunities going forward for the Pale Hose. J.J. Putz is pitching some of the best baseball of his major league career right now and he has quite a lot of experience of closing out ballgames. Putz has pitched in 36 games (0 starts) for the White Sox this year and he is 5-2 with 2 saves, a 1.50 ERA and a 0.78 WHIP. He only has given up 22 hits while whiffing 42 batters in only 36 innings this season. Putz is also showing outstanding control this season only walking six batters this year. Sergio Santos has pitched in 35 games (0 starts) for the White Sox this year and he is 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. He has walked 17 batters while whiffing 32 in 30 innings this year. With Santos relatively new to pitching I think Guillen will use Putz and Thornton in most of the save situations. This was a smart move for Guillen as he can’t sit around and watch his team lose games late.

UPDATE: (7/30/2010) - The White Sox have re-installed Jenks as the closer for now.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Gavin Floyd is starting to get the reputation of being a very slow starter but a strong finisher. Well he’s living up to the first half of his reputation as the White Sox wait for him to get going. Floyd has started 12 games for the Pale Hose this year and he is 2-6 with a 6.18 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. He has allowed 84 hits (7 homers) while walking 25 batters in only 67 innings this season for the White Sox. The White Sox need Floyd to get it together soon or they are going to continue to falter in the A.L. Central.