If they continue to develop, the team will have outfield depth with Hawkins and also Trayce Thompson and #Jared Mitchell. Mitchell may be the best athlete in the organization. He was a two sport star in college, can run, hit, and play good defense. Another name to keep an eye out for is first baseman Keon Barnum. He is another left hand hitter with good power. But is it enough to turn around the franchise?
Sergio Santos emerged as the closer with set up help from Matt Thorton and Jesse Crain. sale jerseys and Brian Bruney have also been reliable arms in the bullpen.
Assists: The Tigers had 1,668 assists in 2010, which ranked them ninth in the majors. The Cardinals were first with 1,872 assists, and the Giants were last with 1,485. The top ten teams in assists were the Cardinals, Indians, Braves, Twins, Rockies, Athletics, Blue Jays, Phillies and Tigers.
Certainly, it wasn’t a weakness on the 2010 team, but with a better bullpen, the A’s can certainly challenge for a playoff spot in the AL this upcoming season. Perhaps the biggest issues were managerial mismanagement and injuries, in truth.
Seeing as both starters have had relative success against either club, it wouldn’t be surprising to the series decided by the bullpen- which on paper Chicago decidedly has the upper hand.
Pena’s an interesting option because the White Sox won’t need a fifth starter more than a few times before early May. Using Pena in a swingman role could allow the Sox to delay their decision on, say, Alejandro de Aza/Brent Lillibridge or at third base for a month longer by carrying an extra position player. Either that, or the Sox could deepen their bullpen by keeping two of Gregory Infante/Jhonny Nunez/Anthony Carter/Freddy Dolsi in case the Sox needed an extra innings-eater to fill Pena’s role when he has an upcoming start. Pena actually had two starts I’d qualify as “good” last year, but those were two of just three career starts-not exactly a good sample size. Plus, Pena is slated to be in the Sox bullpen, so he may not even get a crack at the rotation this spring.
With postseason hopes hanging on every pitch, Danks delivered with a masterful, eight-inning shutout performance in which he allowed just two hits, three walks, and struck out four. He struck out AL batting champ Joe Mauer twice. He held Carlos Gomez and Denard Span, who came up so big for the Twins last week in Minneapolis, hitless. Possible AL MVP Justin Morneau? Not a chance. He went 0-3 against Danks, who looked unhittable for much of the game.