White Sox Season Review: Grading the Starting Pitching

All others (D-)

With a cast off Latos, Danks,  and Anthony Raunado among others, the Sox had its fair share of good, but mostly poor starts. Danks was released after four starts, where he went 0-4 with an 7.25 ERA. After a sizzling April, Latos fell apart. He went 4-0 with a 1.84 ERA and allowed a .218 batting average against, but tailspinned downward and ended up with a 6-2 record and 4.62 ERA by June 7.

Others, such as Raunado pitched sparsely, and for the most part not very effectively. Raunado had an ERA north of eight (8.46), and others such as Erik Johnson spent little time with the club. Johnson was a part of the deal that brought Shields over from the Padres.

Overall (B)

The Sox have a good staff, regardless of how much attention is paid to the struggles of Shields. Unfortunately, they will have a hard time winning when Shields goes to the mound over the next two seasons, making it hard for them to compete. Therefore, Sale and Quintana have to pick up the slack in a huge way. Which still puts the Sox behind the eight ball trying to win a division title.

Just to wrap things up, this rotation has four of five spots filled with solid pitchers. The one problem, which I eluded to in the previous paragraph Shields. The Sox would have to win three out of every four starts those pitchers make, assuming Shields continues his rapid decline.

So, if the Sox want to win in the near future, find a way to get Shields out of the rotation. Keep in mind San Diego is paying some of his contract, giving them some ability to eat it. But, it is unlikely the Sox do that. Shields competitiveness and past history has been great, but he is done moving forward. Expect another fifth day of Danks-esque type pitching, Sox fans.