White Sox lift Crain from Twins
If you can't beat him, go get him.
Maybe that's what the White Sox were thinking about relief pitcher Jesse Crain, who officially agreed to a three-year, $13 million contract Monday.
A member of the AL Central rival Twins since 2004, the 29-year-old Crain was particularly effective against the Sox last season, pitching 10 scoreless innings while striking out 10.
Now, the right-hander will try to do the same damage against Minnesota.
“It is going to be weird,” Crain said on a conference call. “I (was drafted) by the Twins in '02 and I've never been anywhere else. I'm very good friends with a lot of those players over there. I'm going to take it as a challenge.
“I think it's going to be fun to go back there and face them. It's going to be fun, it's going to weird, it's going to be interesting to face those guys that many times. But I have all the confidence in the world I'm going to have success.”
Crain is coming off the second-best season of his career, going 1-1 with a 3.04 ERA in 71 appearances.
In addition, the Toronto native had 62 strikeouts in 68 innings and a streak of 20 scoreless innings from June 12-Aug. 4.
Also courted by the Rockies and Red Sox this winter before the White Sox swooped in with a third guaranteed year, Crain credits his solid 2010 season on a sturdy fastball and a new pitch.
“I think I'm only getting better,” Crain said. “I actually just read something online I didn't even know — my velocity has gone up the last few years consistently and I'm learning a new pitch, a split-finger, a split-finger changeup.
“I threw that a decent amount last year and it was very successful for me. Working with (Sox pitching coach) Don Cooper, I think I'm going to learn a lot and become even better.”
An obvious question is, how good are the Twins going to be after letting Crain and fellow reliever Matt Guerrier (Dodgers) leave as free agents?
“I'm not exactly sure what direction they're going in,” Crain said. “They've always been a team that likes to build from within. They like to find guys and bring them up through their farm system.
“That being said, I'm not exactly sure who's going to come up. There are a couple of prospects they have that don't have much experience. It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out. Losing me and Guerrier, I think it's definitely going to hurt them. I think it's not going to be easy to fill those two slots.”
The White Sox lost Bobby Jenks, J.J. Putz and Scott Linebrink from last year's bullpen, so adding Crain to a mix that also features Chris Sale, Matt Thornton, Sergio Santos and Tony Pena was a critical move, despite the high cost.
“It's exciting,” Crain said. “When the White Sox did contact me I was ecstatic just seeing what they had done with their team. The lineup we're going to have, the starting rotation, if (Jake) Peavy is healthy, it's going to be unbelievable. I think we definitely have a chance to go to the World Series. I don't see why not.
“We're in a great division to play well in, a great park with that lineup we have, a lot of home runs. I'm real excited to be a part of this and hopefully we can make it back to the World Series.”