A Rising Opportunity

To go along with my associate's post yesterday, its clear that the White Sox are beginning to fall back to Earth. They are not quite on a large losing streak yet, but their true colors are certain in sight now as they have lost three straight games due to bad starting pitching and a faulty bullpen . Tonight, they lost 7-6 to the Rangers as their pitching staff got lit up by the torrid Rangers offense. Orlando Hernandez was knocked around for six runs in only 2 and a third innings of work. This comes after Sunday, where Jose Contreras was knocked around as well in their 6-2 loss to the Orioles and Freddy Garcia was hit up for seven runs on Saturday. Sure, Mark Buehrle pitched well in their last win on Friday, but the White Sox have not been spectacular at all lately.

Tonight, they lost after Kevin Mench homered off of Damaso Marte in the 9th to give Texas the win. Needless to say, now is a good time for the Twins to make some serious moves the get ahead of Chicago in the standings. I agree with the lineup shuffle, but we also need a bullpen mix-up too. Its time to get rid of Terry Mulholland, who has been completely useless this year. He serves no purpose. We have a fine long-reliever in Matt Guerrier or even Kyle Lohse if the Twins do the smart thing and make him a reliever. He's got to go. If they get rid of Mulholland, the Twins can call up one of their many great pitching prospects, such as Scott Baker, to fill the spot as a deserving candidate.

Terry Ryan should also considered moving Luis Rivas, if he can. Of course, he won't be worth much as trade value, but he also is doing little more than taking up a spot on the 25-man roster. Justin Morneau needs protection, so Ryan may also consider trading Jacque Jones, knowing he will not be back next year regardless. We need a bat and we need it now. Other than Rivas or Jones, Ryan can't forget all the trade bait he has in pitching. There are plenty of teams in need of young pitching, its just a matter of who can provide us with right hitter.

Overall, moves simply need to be made now if the Twins want to seriously contend. Its been a season filled with some embarrassments, but there is no need to continue such a trend.