It's better to have no left-handed relievers than bad left-handed relievers

The White Sox on Sunday optioned left-handed relief pitcher Eric Surkamp to Triple-A Charlotte. The move creates room on the 25-man roster for veteran reliever Matt Lindstrom, who has completed his rehab assignment and will rejoin Chicago in time for Tuesday night's game at San Francisco.

With Surkamp's demotion, this means the Sox will no longer have a left-handed pitcher available out of the bullpen. While this situation isn't ideal, none of the left-handed relievers the Sox have tried this season have worked out for them.

The club started the year with Scott Downs and Donnie Veal on the roster, but both men pitched their way off the team before the All-Star break. Surkamp has been given a look in that lefty role in the seven weeks since Downs was given his walking papers, but his results have been mixed at best.

Left-handed batters are hitting just .167 in 30 plate appearances against Surkamp, but here's the problem: They've also hit three home runs off him in those 30 plate appearances. The first priority for any left-handed reliever is to keep opposing left-handed hitters in the ballpark. Surkamp has not done that. A left-handed hitter has homered off him once in every 10 at-bats. That's too high of a rate.

Maybe you chalk that up to a small sample size and keep Surkamp in the bigs if it weren't for the fact that he can't get righties out at all. Right-handed hitters are posting a robust .360/.429/.400 slash line against him.

Surkamp can't retire righties, and he can't keep lefties in the yard. That's a recipe for getting sent back to Charlotte.

If you're worried about the lack of lefty relievers in the bullpen, the Sox have one right-handed relief pitcher who gets lefties out at a high rate: Javy Guerra.

Take a look at Guerra's lefty/right splits:

vs. LHB: .207/.319/.293
vs. RHB: .304/.375/.500

Left-handed hitters have clubbed just one home run off Guerra in 70 plate appearances this season. Unlike Surkamp, Guerra keeps lefties in the yard, as well as getting them out on a regular basis.

If Sox manager Robin Ventura finds himself in a situation where he needs a reliever to get a left-handed batter out in a tight situation, Guerra is the man he should summon from the bullpen.

Putting some numbers to the White Sox' bullpen dumpster fire

It's hard to believe right now, but things were looking up on the South Side of Chicago as recently as a week ago. The White Sox had just taken two out of three from the first-place Detroit Tigers. They had won six out of eight games and were threatening to reach the .500 mark for the first time since the second week of June.

Alas, Chicago's bullpen is still terrible. Every time the Sox have threatened to go on a winning streak, the relief corps has done something horrible to prevent that from happening.

In a season full of bullpen blowups, this week has taken the cake. The Sox have dropped five of their last six games, and they've been outscored by a ghastly 59-18 margin during that stretch. We all know the primary culprit is a bullpen that cannot get anybody out, but in case you were wondering just how bad it has gotten, let's put some numbers to the horror show.

Here are the August statistics for the eight relief pitchers the Sox have used so far this month. All numbers are through Aug. 7:

Jake Petricka: 3.38 ERA (1 ER in 2.2 IP), 1.500 WHIP
Maikel Cleto: 9.00 ERA (3 ER in 3 IP), 1.000 WHIP
Daniel Webb: 9.82 ERA (4 ER in 3.2 IP), 2.455 WHIP
Javy Guerra: 10.13 ERA (3 ER, 2.2 IP), 2.250 WHIP
Eric Surkamp: 13.50 ERA (4 ER, 2.2 IP), 3.000 WHIP
Taylor Thompson: 27.00 ERA (3 ER, 1 IP), 4.000 WHIP
Andre Rienzo: 34.71 ERA (9 ER, 2.1 IP), 6.429 WHIP
Ronald Belisario: 189.00 ERA (7 ER, .1 IP), 18.000 WHIP

You add all that up, and the bullpen has a collective 16.69 ERA for the month.

I've often been critical of Sox manager Robin Ventura for leaving his starting pitchers in too long. A couple times this week, I've thought to myself, "Ventura is leaving this guy in too long." But then I catch myself and realize he has nobody in bullpen who can make a key pitch, so it's hard to blame the manager for staying with a tiring or struggling starter at this stage of the game.

I don't think Petricka is throwing his best right now, but he's the only guy among this group pitching like a major leaguer. Everyone else in the bullpen is committing arson every single time they step on the mound. Fans should remember that if they are tempted to call for Ventura's head during this stretch of bad ball. A manager who has no options is going to come off looking like an idiot no matter what he does.

Right now, the only thing Ventura can do is pray his starter goes eight innings, and bring in Petricka for the ninth. Anything other than that seems like it won't end well for the White Sox.

Avisail Garcia's return will create an interesting roster decision for the White Sox

White Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia was once believed to be out for the year after tearing the labrum in his shoulder the second week of the season.

However, the timetable for his return keeps accelerating. Garcia is currently 10 for 19 with a home run in five games on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Charlotte, and White Sox manager Robin Ventura has said the 23-year-old could return to the major leagues before the end of the month if he avoids setbacks.

If Garcia stays on track, he'll be back with the White Sox before the Sept. 1 roster expansion, so that means somebody on the current 25-man roster will have to go.

A lot of times in these situations, the club will just tell its backup outfielder to hit the bricks. But for the Sox, it's not that simple in this case. Fourth outfielder Moises Sierra is out of options and cannot be sent back to the minors without first clearing waivers.

It would be a mistake for the Sox to expose Sierra to waivers. There's a good chance he'd be claimed. He has posted a respectable .295./.318/.448 slash line in a reserve role. Defensively, he's the best corner outfielder on the 25-man roster, and he's still only 25 years old.

If you're the White Sox and you're five games below .500 the first week of August, it's time to start thinking about what your team might look like next season. Sierra has shown enough this year that the club should consider bringing him back in 2015 in some capacity, even if it is just in the part-time role he has filled capably this year.

But, if the Sox are going to hold on to Sierra, that means one of three players -- Adam Dunn, Alejandro De Aza or Dayan Viciedo -- has to go when Garcia comes off the DL. Ideally, general manager Rick Hahn would be able to swing a waiver-wire deal to move one of those three players.

Unfortunately, hopes for trading Dunn are getting less and less by the day. The left-handed slugger is mired in an 0-for-15 skid. He did not reach base a single time on the Sox' most recent homestand, and he is hitting just .129 with two home runs over the past two weeks. Jose Abreu is starting to see fewer pitches to hit, because opposing pitchers know Dunn is an automatic out behind him right now.

If Dunn were swinging the bat well, a contender would be able to use him for the last 40 or so games of the season. Unfortunately, that's not the case, and Dunn might stuck playing out the string in Chicago.

Viciedo is the player who benefited most when Garcia went down. The Sox seemed ready to move on from him as an everyday guy coming into the year, but Garcia's injury created a second chance for him to play on a daily basis. He has failed to capitalize. Viciedo is a poor defender, so he needs to hit to justify his roster spot. Despite 14 home runs, his .238/.286/.400 slash has impressed nobody, and in fact, his batting average and slugging percentage are both below his career norms.

Like Sierra, Viciedo has age on his side. He's only 25, but he doesn't seem to be making progress as a hitter. His previous perceived strength -- hitting left-handed pitching -- hasn't been much of a factor. His platoon splits show him as being only slightly better against lefties than he is against righties:

vs. RHP: .236/.276/.398
vs. LHP: .247/.317/.409

Hahn will only be able to move Viciedo if there is another GM who thinks the outfielder might benefit from a change of scenery. There's nothing about Viciedo's game right now that suggests he could help a contender.

That brings us to De Aza, who like Dunn almost certainly will be somewhere other than Chicago when the 2015 season begins. De Aza cannot hit lefties at all this year (.091/.155/.136), but he still gets on base at a respectable clip against right-handed pitching (.283/.349/.416).

And, De Aza has been trending in the right direction over the past two months. He was awful in April and May (.173/.240/.250), but since Sierra was added to the roster, Ventura has been able to limit De Aza's exposure to left-handed pitching.

As a result, De Aza has posted a .327/.375/.455 slash line since June 1.

Yeah, you read that right: De Aza has been almost a .330 hitter for a full one-third of the season.

If there's a team that could use a left-handed bat to help against right-handed pitching, De Aza is a fit. He represents Hahn's best chance to make a waiver-wire deal before Garcia comes off the disabled list.

What do we make of Tyler Flowers' recent surge?

It's no secret I'm not a Tyler Flowers fan, but I'm also not afraid to give credit where credit is due.

The White Sox catcher has been red-hot over the past month, and he was the player most responsible for Chicago's rain-shortened 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers on Monday night.

Flowers went 3-for-3 with a triple, a game-tying home run and two-out, two-run single that put the Sox ahead to stay in the bottom of the sixth inning. Heck, if the rains hadn't come, he might have gotten one more at-bat with a chance to hit for the cycle. He fell a double short of accomplishing that feat.

As recently as July 8, Flowers was posting a miserable .219/.278/.302 slash line. He was striking out at absurd rates and was providing almost no power -- at that point of the season, he had just five home runs and five doubles. In the past, Flowers' ability to hit the long ball was one of his few selling points, but even that was noticeably absent the first half of this season.

But on July 9, Flowers switched from contact lenses to glasses. Coincidentally, or perhaps not coincidentally, he's been the second-best hitter on the Sox since -- behind only July's AL Player of the Month, Jose Abreu.

Since that date, Flowers has posted an impressive .390/.438/.695 slash. The power has returned as well. During that same span, he has hit seven doubles -- more than he hit the first three months of the season combined -- three home runs and the aforementioned triple.

He is striking out 23.4 percent of the time during this current hot streak, which doesn't seem like much until you consider Flowers has struck out in 34.3 percent of his plate appearances during his major league career. That 23.4 percent figure represents a significant improvement over his career rate.

Over his last 12 games, Flowers is hitting .452 with a .738 OPS. We all know he won't continue at this rate -- nobody can sustain that pace over the long haul, not even Abreu. The question is whether Flowers can become more consistent and eliminate the pathetic cold streaks where he can't even put the ball in play.

Have the glasses been a difference-maker for him? Only time will tell, and Flowers' recent run has made him one of the storylines to watch for the final two months of the season.

Just a month ago, Flowers was well on his way to playing himself out of the starting job, and perhaps out of the Sox organization entirely. His recent surge, hitting for both average and power, is enough to give Sox' brass pause. Has Flowers finally figured it out at the plate?

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn has a lengthy shopping list for this offseason. Up until this point, you would have to say catcher would be on it, along with about four bullpen arms, a starting pitcher, a second baseman, a left-handed power bat and a corner outfielder.

Flowers' season slash of .252/.309/.379 with 115 strikeouts in 328 plate appearances is not good enough to guarantee him a spot on next year's club. However, if Flowers can hit .260 or .270 with some pop and a reasonable K rate over a "prove it" final two months, Hahn might be able to justify taking a chance on him again for the 2015 season based upon a trend of improvement.

If Hahn can cross catcher off his offseason shopping list, he can focus more of his available resources on revamping a Sox pitching staff that has holes in it like Swiss cheese. When you think about it from that perspective, it sure would be nice if those eyeglasses really are the difference for Flowers.

Buyer's remorse? Five worst recent deadline deals, White Sox edition

The White Sox have had success adding pieces at the trade deadline, but it's maybe arguable they've had more failure making deals under duress. Here are the five worst July trades since 2000:

5. July 25, 2002: Traded Ray Durham and cash to the Oakland Athletics. Received Jon Adkins.

Durham was set to be a free agent at the end of the year and a July nosedive had taken the Sox from four games back in the AL Central in late June to 14 games behind Cleveland when Durham was traded.

Not wanting to sign the then-30-year-old Durham to a big contract, but determined to get something for him, the Sox took a flyer on Adkins. Which might have made sense if not for the fact that under baseball's last collective bargaining agreement, the Sox could have offered Durham arbitration and either gotten him to agree to an affordable one-year contract, or gotten draft pick compensation when he signed with another team.

The Sox might have been better off with that draft pick than watching Adkins flounder to a 5.08 ERA in just less than 80 innings in his Sox career. Sox fans probably would have more enjoyed another two months of Durham's under-appreciated career.

4. July 28, 2012: Traded Eduardo Escobar and Pedro Hernandez to the Minnesota Twins. Received Francisco Liriano.

Liriano was walking one of the valleys of an up-and-down career with the Twins, but as a left-hander with good velocity, he seemed like a good candidate to improve under the tutelage of Sox pitching coach Don Cooper.

Instead of recapturing the dominant form he had flashed at times since his rookie year, Liriano kept nibbling at the strike zone, walking too many batters and giving up home runs at inopportune times. Deciding they'd done all they could do with him, the Sox let Liriano walk in the offseason only to watch him have a resurgent year that helped carry Pittsburgh to the playoffs for the first time in more than two decades.

Liriano probably wouldn't have found that success in the American League, or without a ballpark that helps hide some of his flaws. And the Sox probably don't miss Escobar or Hernandez. It was still a disappointing outcome as Lirano's struggles were part of the reason a division title slipped through the Sox's fingers.

3. July 26, 2001: Traded James Baldwin and cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Jeff Barry, Gary Majewski and Onan Masaoka.

The Sox predictably got little for Baldwin, who like Durham was set to be a free agent after the season in which he was traded. Unlike Durham, Baldwin wasn't very good.

What makes this trade embarrassing for the Sox is that they didn't actually want Jeff Barry, a journeyman minor league first baseman. They wanted pitching prospect Jonathan Berry.

Berry never made the majors, otherwise this would have been an embarrassment that could have lived on for years and years.

2. July 27, 2011: Traded Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Jason Frasor and Zach Stewart.

Instead of trading their best asset near the deadline, the Sox basically bundled it with Teahen's ill-advised contract for salary relief, plus the meh and bleh performances they'd respectively get from Frasor and Stewart.

Jackson certainly had value as the Jays immediately spun him off in a package for Cardinals center fielder Colby Rasmus. In a way Rasmus has been a hitting version of Jackson, with his up-and-down career that hasn't seen him reach his full potential. Though it's no doubt Rasmus' line with Toronto (.233/.295/.431) would make a number of Sox outfielders over the last three years envious.

No matter how crowded their rotation was at the time, or if Rasmus or someone similar would have been available in a similar package, the Sox should have done much better in any deal with Jackson while he was near the peak of his value.

1. July 30, 2010: Traded David Holmberg and Daniel Hudson to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received Edwin Jackson.

Jackson graces the list twice, coming and going. Even though Jackson had one the better stretches of his career with the Sox (3.66 ERA over 196 2/3 innings), it was an awful idea to trade the young Hudson for him straight up, much less adding another prospect in Holmberg.

The Sox were concerned Hudson's fly ball tendencies wouldn't play in their ballpark. They were frustrated that he nibbled at the plate in his brief audition with the big club. And they were worried he would get hurt.

The injury concerns were validated when Hudson needed elbow surgery during the 2012 season, and then needed another during his comeback attempt. Still, he pitched to a 3.58 ERA over 347 innings for the Diamondbacks (who also play in a homer-friendly park) before his injuries. He also did it for nearly league minimum salaries.

Besides not getting good value back in Jackson, it was rumored the Sox had only traded for him in an attempt to pry Adam Dunn away from the Washington Nationals. When Nats GM Mike Rizzo either backed out, or the Jackson-for-Dunn swap wasn't as solid as Sox GM Kenny Williams had believed, the Sox were stuck with Jackson and ended up claiming Manny Ramirez off waivers in August to bolster their offense instead.

All of this was to help hold on to an unlikely division lead grabbed after an unreal 26-5 stretch during June and July. And the Sox did lead as late as Aug. 8, but the reinforcements didn't really matter much as the team slid to a double-digit deficit by mid-September. 

That the Sox were willing to spend big bucks to keep their run alive in 2010 only made it more frustrating when they punted in 2011 just to save a few bucks they never would have had the need to spend if they'd kept Hudson around.

Top five deadline deals for the Cubs since 2000

The Cubs have been both buyers and sellers over the last decade and a half. While neither reinforcements nor rebuilding pieces have yielded a World Series title like it did for the White Sox in 2005, they have at times put the franchise in better position to win.

Here are the best moves the Cubs have made at the deadline since 2000:

5. July 26, 2013: Traded Alfonso Soriano and cash to the New York Yankees. Received Corey Black.

The Cubs and many of their fans have accepted the sorry state of the team as the repercussions of a bloated payroll spent on an aging team that never got over the hump in the late 00s. Nobody represented this comeuppance like Soriano, who was signed to an eight-year, $136 million contract before the 2007 season to help push the team over the top.

It's been easy to complain about that contract as the Cubs look to be headed to a fifth straight season with at least 87 losses. Considering how fast the rest of the team aged just as fast around Soriano, trying to exploit their window to win really might have been the best decision by team management, even though it all ended when the Cubs agreed to pay the Yankees most of what was left on Soriano's deal that runs through this year.

Black won't ever help the Cubs, so Soriano yielded no future pieces. But by getting rid of him and the excuse his contract had become for why the team can't afford to go bigger on the free agent market, or can't assemble a team on a reasonable budget, the management team of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer is back on the clock. Their rebuilding plan will either start to pay dividends, or the next guys in charged will be asked to improve the team, hopefully without a big Soriano-like contract signed under Epstein and Hoyer in an attempt to save their jobs.

4. July 31, 2000: Traded Scott Downs to the Montreal Expos. Received Rondell White.

The Cubs were below .500 when they pulled the trigger to land White, who predictably got hurt less than a month later. He'd also live up to the nickname Ron-DL playing only 95 games the next year, but White was pretty good (.310/.374/.515) when he played and was part of the reason the Cubs went from 65-97 to 88-74 the next year, missing the playoffs by only five games. For the cost of a future lefty specialist like Downs, that's pretty good.

3. July 27, 2001: Traded a player to be named later and Manny Aybar to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Received Fred McGriff. The Cubs sent Jason Smith (August 6, 2001) to the Rays to complete the trade.

Despite his initial refusal to join the team, McGriff did eventually come north the Chicago to bat .282/.353/.559 with 12 home runs as the Cubs stayed in the NL Central race. The only condition was that his new team pick up a $6.5 million option for the next season. That would have been a no-brainer anyway, so the Cubs flexed their pocketbook to make it happen.

That option ended up being a great deal for the Cubs as McGriff hit .273/.353/.502 in what was the last fine season of a long and very good career. It could have only worked out better if the Cubs had been able to spin McGriff off at the 2002 deadline as the team was careening towards another 90-plus loss season.

2. July 5, 2014: Traded Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija to the Oakland Athletics. Received Billy McKinney, Addison Russell, Dan Straily and player to be named.

It's maybe way too early to rank this deal this highly. All of the prospects going the Cubs' way could become busts, leaving them with nothing for one of the best pitchers on the market this summer in Samardzija and a solid complimentary arm in Hammel.

This deal also happened a bit early in the year for some to consider it a true deadline trade, but that's one of the reasons I liked this move for the Cubs. By striking so early, they might have gotten a better package of talent than any other team got for pitchers that I think are much more talented than Samardzija and Hammel.

Time will tell if this deal really belongs here, but credit Cubs management for striking decisively.

1. July 23, 2003: Traded a player to be named later, Matt Bruback and Jose Hernandez to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Kenny Lofton, Aramis Ramirez and cash. The Cubs sent Bobby Hill (August 15, 2003) to the Pirates to complete the trade.

The Cubs traded what looked like a plate full of leftovers for a guy in Ramirez who had struggled in Pittsburgh, but was talented enough to become the meat of Chicago's lineup for the rest of the decade. Ramirez was arguably one of the best third basemen of his era, batting .294/.356/.531 and playing for five winning Cubs teams, including three playoff squads.

Don't discount Lofton, either, an underrated player who went on a tear for the Cubs (.327/.381/.471) as they squeezed into the playoffs that year and were maybe only one tragic play (or magic if you're a Marlins fan) from going to the World Series.

Oakland, Detroit, St. Louis biggest winners at trade deadline

If there's one thing we learned at the MLB trading deadline, it's that GMs believe front-line starting pitching wins in the playoffs. On Thursday, we saw three contenders make bold moves to solidify their respective starting rotations for the stretch drive.

Oakland, Detroit and St. Louis were each willing to include established major-leaguers in trades in order to acquire the front-line starters they coveted. All three of those teams now have a better chance to get to the World Series and win it than they did just 24 hours ago.

Thursday's frenzy started with a blockbuster deal between Oakland and Boston. The Red Sox sent ace pitcher Jon Lester and outfielder Jonny Gomes to the A's in exchange for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.

My initial reaction to this move was shock. How often do you see the cleanup hitter on the team with the best record in baseball (Cespedes) moved at the trading deadline? But the more I thought about this deal, the more I liked it for Oakland.

Cespedes is a big media name and a dangerous hitter, but he's not a great hitter, as his so-so .256/.303/.464 slash line will attest. From the seventh inning on, Cespedes has a slash line of .191/.236/.330 this year. This tells us there are plenty of ways to get him out with the game on the line. Opposing managers can bring in that power right-handed reliever to shut down Cespedes in the late innings. You don't have to fear him. You can pitch to him.

No doubt Oakland GM Billy Beane knows this, and that's why he was willing to part with Cespedes -- especially when the return is a legitimate ace with tons of postseason experience in Lester, who possesses a lifetime 2.11 ERA in the playoffs. During the Red Sox' run to the championship last year, Lester went 4-1 with 1.56 ERA in five starts. His only loss was a 1-0 defeat.

Lester is a money pitcher, and the A's are October ready with him, Jeff Samardzija, Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir in their rotation.

Beane's big move put the pressure on Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski to respond. Respond he did, acquiring Tampa Bay ace David Price just minutes before the trading deadline.

The Tigers paid a price, though, in the three-team swap. The deal cost them two players off their 25-man roster. Center fielder Austin Jackson is now a member of the Seattle Mariners. Left-handed starting pitcher Drew Smyly is now with Tampa Bay.

In a bizarre scene Thursday, the game between the Tigers and the White Sox had to be halted mid-inning so Jackson could be removed from center field at 3:56 p.m. EDT -- four minutes before the deadline.

Jackson is an inconsistent hitter, but make no mistake, the Tigers will not be able to replace his defense in center field. Who is going to play center field in Detroit now? Rajai Davis? Will they ask Torii Hunter to turn back the hands of time and move from right field to center? I don't know.

Maybe the Tigers are hoping fewer balls get hit into the outfield with the addition of Price.

There's no denying Detroit has a monster rotation now: Max Scherzer, Price, Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez. The first three on that list are former Cy Young award winners. Think they may be tough to beat in a short series?

Yeah, even with the hole in center field, I think so.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals made the boldest move among National League teams. On Wednesday, they added Justin Masterson to their rotation. They followed that up Thursday by acquiring John Lackey from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for pitcher Joe Kelly and outfielder Allen Craig.

I like this trade for the Cardinals. Lackey has some age on him -- he's 35 -- but he's another guy who shines on the postseason stage (3.03 career ERA in 19 games). St. Louis knows that well, since Lackey shut the Cardinals down in the clinching game of the World Series last October.

Craig and his .237/.291/.346 slash line will not be missed in St. Louis, especially since his departure creates an opportunity for top prospect Oscar Taveras to play every day in the outfield.

Injuries have limited Kelly to seven starts this year. I suspect his 4.37 ERA and 1.457 WHIP also will not be missed in St. Louis.

Even if the Cardinals don't get Michael Wacha back, they have a front four of Adam Wainwright, Lackey, Masterson and Lance Lynn in their rotation. I don't think it makes them the favorite in the National League, but they would at least have a fighting chance in a short series against Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Their chances are certainly better now than they were before these deals.

There were several other deadline deals made on Thursday. We won't analyze all of them. This blog is already long enough. You can find a list of other trades here.

We'll wrap it up by saying Oakland, Detroit and St. Louis were the biggest winners at the deadline. Who will be the biggest winner on the field? We'll find out between now and late October.