Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

Seeking an honorable discharge from center field

Anybody else get the feeling that Ken Griffey Jr. is the bastard child of Rob Mackowiak and Darin Erstad with a Hall of Fame track record?

He inherited from Erstad a past history of playing an exceptional center field and a body that now breaks down every time he's sent out there with regularity.  Not to mention he had Kenny Williams' eye for years before a trade was made and Hawk Harrelson's complete adulation before he even accomplished anything in a Sox uniform.

From Mackowiak, he has his objections to manning center but a sense of duty to his manager in spite of them, as well as soul-shattering misadventures at the worst possible times.

And then there are things that all three have in common, namely:

No. 1:  They're all left-handed, and...

No. 2:  ...they all would've been perfect getting occasional starts at a number of positions, but instead were thrust into a position that minimizes their impact and leaves them most susceptible to undermine their own production.

Alas, General Soreness found himself in the middle of the only two innings Sox pitchers were scored upon Monday night, not getting the ball back into the infield in time to stop the go-ahead run from scoring in the seventh, and getting a slow read and a slower jump on a ball hit in front of him that led to a three-run ninth.

We had our debate about Orlando Cabrera's defensive metrics in the last post, but in Griffey's case, the numbers didn't lie.  And baby, you know I'd never lie to you either:


This experiment needs to end now, because Griffey's bat isn't good enough to carry his glove right now, and the Sox aren't good enough to work past Griffey's self-inflicted shots in his foot.  I'm not even sure who would object to it -- certainly not Griffey, because he doesn't even want to be out there.

The only person standing in the way might be the person writing out the lineup card, who said after the trade was announced:


He's had roughly five of them in six games.  Hopefully Ozzie Guillen will respond accordingly, because before Griffey came into the fold, he was doing such a nice job handling the position.  Now he's on the verge of repeating the same mistake for the third consecutive year.

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Jason Childers closed out today's game against Pawtucket by striking out two in a perfect inning of relief.  His numbers on the season are astounding:

• 1.19 ERA.
• .166 BAA
• 52 Ks in 53 innings
• 4:1 strikeout to walk ratio.
• One run allowed in his last 19 innings.
• 60 percent groundball rate.

But if you had to ask me how he did it, I wouldn't be able to tell you.  Here's some video I shot of Childers Sunday:



He topped out at 86 on his fastball, which jives with the story about how he didn't throw hard enough to kill a seagull. His changeup was 78-79, and he also threw some sort of cutter or slider at 82-83, but he was mostly a fastball-changeup guy, and wasn't afraid to double- or triple-up on the latter pitch.

But there wasn't any kind of hitch to his delivery, just a basic overhand out of a windup with the bases empty.  He must hide his changeup well, and must get plenty of movement on his fastball to survive, because the PawSox were way ahead of his off-speed stuff.

I found a story on him from 2006, when he made the Devil Rays' bullpen out of spring training with 10 1/3 scoreless innings.  That led to his only stint in the majors, and it wasn't pretty, allowing more than two baserunners an inning and not having even a single easy appearance.

Childers probably deserves another shot, but there's probably a reason why teams haven't given him a shot before or after.  He could be like Shingo Takatsu without the gimmick, or a Jeff Bajenaru type who dominates at Triple-A but can't succeed in the majors because his stuff simply isn't good enough.  But he warrants some low-leverage work in September ... if there's any to be found.

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Minor league roundup:

• Charlotte 5, Pawtucket 4
• Jack Egbert allowed two runs over six innings, allowing six hits and two walks and striking out six.
• Javier Colina went 2-for-2 with two walks and a solo homer, and is batting .407 over 54 at-bats.
  
• Jerry Owens and Jason Tyner had three hits apiece.
• Mike MacDougal tried his best to blow it (2 IP, 2 ER).
  
• Wilmington 7, Winston-Salem 6
• Paulo Orlando fell a homer short of the cycle in his first game against his former team.
• John Shelby failed to homer for the fourth straight game, but he doubled and drove in three.
• C.J. Retherford went 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored.
• Asheville 9, Kannapolis 8 (10 innings)
• Christian Marrero went 3-for-5 with a double, homer and three RBI.
• Mark Fleisher homered, and Brent Morel had three hits.
• Matt Inouye hit a solo homer; Jorge Castillo went 2-for-5.
• Leroy Hunt retired only one of six batters he faced for the blown save.
• Elizabethon 4, Bristol 3
• Joucer Martinez pitched three shutout innings.
• John Doyle allowed four runs (two earned) on nine hits over the final six innings.
• Kevin Dubler went 1-for-3 and had the lone RBI.
• Great Falls 4, Idaho Falls 3
• Kyle Shelton went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI.
• Lyndon Estill added a solo shot.
• Daniel Hudson struck out six over five innings, allowing one earned run.
• Birmingham OFF