After strong start, Contreras back to struggling
Let's beat the rush and list potential starting pitchers White Sox general manager Kenny Williams might soon be taking a look at: Pedro Martinez. Paul Byrd. Odalis Perez. Freddy Garcia.
They are established arms, but all four are out of work. The final name - Garcia - was just released by the New York Mets following two subpar minor-league starts, and his troublesome shoulder might force "Big Game Freddy" to call it a career.
Regardless, the proactive Williams undoubtedly is going to at least start the process of finding a replacement for Jose Contreras, who was hammered again in Saturday night's game at Texas.
On a rainy night at Rangers Ballpark, the Sox fell to the Rangers 9-6. The 37-year-old Contreras lasted just 31⅓ innings and allowed 7 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks.
Contreras was OK in the first two innings against Texas, but he walked Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ian Kinsler leading off the third and Hank Blalock made him pay the price with a 3-run homer.
Leading off the fourth inning, the Rangers tagged Contreras with 3 straight doubles, and the veteran right-hander was gone after Kinsler drove in a run with a one-out single.
Pitching coach Don Cooper doesn't necessarily care about wins, losses, ERA and quality starts. He just wants his pitchers to give the Sox a chance to win.
Coming back early after rupturing his Achilles' tendon in an Aug. 9 start against the Red Sox last season, Contreras did not get the job done in each of his first 3 outings, going 0-3 with an 8.04 ERA.
In his last start, against Toronto on April 26, Contreras pitching 7 innings for the first time since June 5 of last season, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits.
"Awesome job," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said after the game. "He had more confidence. If Jose continues to throw like that, he'll win some games for us. Hopefully, this game makes him feel good about himself."
Apparently, it did not.
After getting knocked around by Texas, Contreras' ERA (8.31) is back up in worrisome territory, and the obvious question is how many more starts will he make?
When he was going bad in 2007, Contreras was demoted to the bullpen and wound up getting himself turned around.
There are some proven veterans such as Martinez and Byrd available, but they've got injury and age issues.
The Sox have two in-house candidates if they want to make a move - Clayton Richard and Lance Broadway - but neither young pitcher has been impressive this season or last.
The White Sox were trailing 9-1 in the sixth inning when A.J. Pierzynski hit a grand slam off reliever Luis Mendoza to tighten up the score.
Earlier in the sixth, Jermaine Dye had to leave the game after being hit by a Mendoza pitch on the left hand.