The Chicago White Sox worked hard to land a starting pitcher at the trade deadline this season, and although they struck out on bigger names like Zack Greinke, general manager Ken Williams pulled off a deal for former Minnesota Twins hurler Francisco Liriano. He hadn't posted great numbers before coming over to the south side of Chicago, but since the trade he has been better than any other pitcher that actually moved before the deadline passed.
Jim Margalus of South Side Sox has the performance breakdown for each traded pitcher, and Liriano compares favorably to the competition:
| Pitcher | Tm | Lg | W | L | ERA | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ERA+ | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Zack Greinke |
LAA | AL | 1 | 2 | 6.19 | 5 | 32.0 | 38 | 22 | 22 | 5 | 13 | 28 | 62 |
1.594 |
|
Anibal Sanchez |
DET | AL | 2 | 3 | 6.33 |
5 | 27.0 | 40 | 21 | 19 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 67 | 1.852 |
|
Ryan Dempster |
TEX | AL | 2 | 1 | 6.04 | 4 | 25.1 | 28 | 20 | 17 | 5 | 8 | 22 | 76 | 1.421 |
|
Paul Maholm |
ATL | NL | 2 | 2 | 2.40 | 4 | 30.0 | 21 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 26 | 168 | 0.900 |
|
Wandy Rodriguez |
PIT | NL | 1 | 3 | 5.06 | 4 | 26.2 | 31 | 15 | 15 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 77 | 1.500 |
|
Francisco Liriano |
CHW | AL | 2 | 0 | 4.39 | 5 | 26.2 | 24 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 12 | 30 | 99 | 1.350 |
Liriano's numbers are better than the rest of the American League acquisitions, and he's been better than his numbers. He's thrown three quality starts, and came one inning short of a fourth after taking a comebacker above the knee. Sure, Oakland pasted him for seven runs over 3⅓ innings, but I'm pretty sure the Sox would be happy with four good outings for every dud (assuming the dud wasn't in an elimination game). The standards for the back end of the rotation were lower than the expectations for Liriano. He's exceeded both by far.
Ken Williams for AL Exec of the Year seems more likely with each passing day as the White Sox continue to battle for playoff positioning during August.
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