Nate Robertson, the originator of the gum time phenomenon, has been traded to the Florida Marlins for a minor league pitcher, Jay Voss, and cash considerations. This means Jeremy Bonderman and Dontrelle Willis have locked up the final spots in the Tigers' rotation. There's some speculation on blogs and message boards that this also means Robertson didn't want to go to the bullpen, but who knows. The Tigers were able to get something out of Robertson and his ungodly contract, and that is a plus in my book.
[Marlins acquire Robertson from Tigers]
[Roar of the Tigers' take on the trade]
I always kind of thought Damon and Boras were just using the Tigers to get an offer from the White Sox. I'm beyond tired of him and his shenanigans now. Good riddance.Anyway, the point of this post is two-fold, Johnny Damon rant and my guess at a 25-man roster. We're going with the Damonless version of the 25-man roster for this post. If we're bored enough, we might also do a CatsWithBats' Dream 25-Man Roster at a later date, which is basically CatsWithBats' MLB2k9 Detroit Tigers roster.
CatsWithBats' Damonless 25-Man Roster:
C: Gerald Laird / Robinzon Diaz (Snuck Diaz in there on you! I'd like to see Alex Avila get consistent, every-day playing time in Toledo, and I think Diaz could be a capable backup.)
1b: Miguel Cabrera (... well, yeah. Pretty obvious.)
2b: Scott Sizemore (Tigers seem committed to Sizemore at second, and maybe Santiago to back up or step in if Sizemore falters ... which doesn't excite me terribly. Don't really see them going after, like, Felipe Lopez at this point though. D2 has been known to pull off surprise moves though so you never know.)
SS: Adam Everett (Meh.)
3b: Brandon Inge (Barring his knees exploding unexpectedly during camp, he'll be the starting third baseman.)
RF: Magglio Ordoñez (I think they're pretty much shackled to Ordoñez this year. Not really seeing a way for them to get out of paying the $18 mil vesting option either. Potential grievances and all.)
CF: Austin Jackson (Could see him maybe splitting some time with Clete Thomas in CF. Clete Thomas doesn't really excite me at this point either.)
LF: Carlos Guillén / Ryan Raburn (Kind of see them in a platoon situation unless Damon comes on board to save our season. Said sarcastically.)
UT: Jeff Larish, Clete Thomas, Ramon Santiago, Wilkin Ramirez
SP: Justin Verlander
SP: Rick Porcello
SP: Max Scherzer
SP: Jeremy Bonderman (Barring any setbacks, of course.)
SP: Phil Coke (Surprise Phil Coke! Like him as LH number five better than Robertson, whom I have irrational hate for.)
CL: José Valverde
SU: Ryan Perry
RP: Joel Zumaya
RP: Phil Coke
RP: Fu-Te Ni
RP: Zach Miner
RP: Armando Galarraga
I think Bobby Seay might get traded, which is why I didn't include him.
Okay, I think this is 25. I suck at math though. Will start making posts of substance once camp gets under way.
- Cats With Bats
Hudson is a former fifth round pick out of the Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. When drafted in 2008, he was assigned to the White Sox's Rookie ball team where he went 5-4 with a 3.36 ERA and spent the rest of the season there. Then over the winter between 2008 and 2009, Hudson worked hard and was primed and ready to go at the start of 2009 where he started with the White Sox's low A ball team, the Kannapolis Intimidators, after just 4 starts in which he posted a 1.23 ERA, Hudson was promoted to the high A ball team. His promotion to AA took twice the amount of starts as his last promotion(8 starts) but after pitching 8 games with a 3.40 ERA, he had punched his ticket to Birmingham. Then in 9 starts with Birmingham he was stellar, going 7-0 with a 1.60 ERA over 9 games and then he was on the move again, this time to Charlotte, North Carolina. His stint in Charlotte lasted 5 starts in which he posted a 3.00 ERA and went 2-0.Hudson made his Major League Debut on September 4th, 2009 during a 12-2 rout of the Boston Red Sox. Hudson pitched 2 innings giving up no hits or walks while striking out 1. Hudson would go on to pitch relief in 2 more games in which the Sox lost in blowout fashion. Then on September 21, 2009 he made his first career start against the Minnesota Twins. Hudson gave up 3 runs, 1 earned in 5 innings of work while striking out and walking 4 batters. This ended up with him being tagged with the loss but on September 27th he had a chance to redeem himself, this time against the Detroit Tigers. Hudson held the Tigers to two runs over 6 innings while walking 5 and striking out 4. This became his first major league win and was his final start of the season. He did go on to pitch one more relief stint and finished the season with a 3.38 ERA with 14 strikeouts to 9 walks with the Sox thus capping off the amazing run he had to the majors, in just one full season.
Hudson is still very ripe with only one month of service in the MLB but if his last season was indication, he has some real potential. If his off season this year holds the same improvement as his last off season, Freddy Garcia better hold on to his hat because Hudson is going to make a strong run at the final spot in the White Sox's Rotation. But lets not get ahead of ourselves, Hudson is still only 22 years old and has plenty of time to become a full time starter in the MLB. Having him start the season in Charlotte may be the best thing for him as it ensures him his pitching time and gives him time to develop his pitches more instead of facing the best of the best so quickly. The White Sox have a veteran in Freddy Garcia who should be more than capable of holding down the White Sox's final rotation spot but Hudson will still be waiting in the wings in the case of an injury to a starter. In my opinion the worst thing the White Sox could do to him would be putting him in the pen right away because he is much better off working as a starter in the minors even if he could make a small contribution out of the pen. However, I do believe that Ozzie will do the right thing and if he is ready to go, he will be in the rotation, and if not, he will be in AAA.
On a final note, I would like to talk a little bit more about Hudson as a pitcher. Hudson is 6-4 and 220 pounds and primary throws four different pitches. He throws a four seam fastball that hits 91-93 MPH, a two seam fastball that is around 85-87 MPH, a change up that is slightly over 80 MPH, and a slider that usually is a bit over 80 MPH but he can drop it to 78 MPH or so. In his last season he was mainly a fly ball pitcher, but however, this could very well be another story this season.
Thanks for reading,
Mike
Credits:
This is where I got my final scouting report bits from, they also have some graphs on him as a pitcher.
I'm going to assume the person reading this blog knows who John Danks is, however you may not know his brother Jordan Danks who is currently in the White Sox's farm system. He plays in the outfield and has a blend of speed and power that really sets him apart from the rest of the players and very well could be the White Sox future leadoff hitter and center fielder. Last year, he absolutely tore up high A ball in Winston Salem but when he was called up to AA Birmingham he was like a different player hitting only .243 in 73 games with the club. However in the Arizona Fall League he was able to turn some heads by hitting .379 with 2 home runs, 3 stolen bases, a .952 OPS and a 13/15 BB/K ratio. This led to some speculation that he might be the team's starting center fielder this season prior to the acquisition of Pierre and Jones. This will obviously not be the case to open the season but for a prospect with a projected arrival time in the Majors of 2011 it isn't too bad either. Now, he appears to be a possible mid season call up depending on the situation the White Sox are in. The good news for Sox fans is that Danks has been invited to spring training with the club so we should get to see a bit more of him. That's all for now, this will be the first part in my trilogy of discussing the White Sox's top prospects.Thanks for reading!
Note: I am still looking for bloggers for all of the Al Central teams. If you are interested stop by the chat and ask for Gavin or myself. If one of us is not around you can email me at baseballnum3er0@yahoo.com if you want a spot.
