Bullpen emerges as early weakness for White Sox

The White Sox's 1-3 record is either angering or discouraging, depending on your perspective. Or maybe some fans are indifferent to this bad baseball -- I wouldn't blame them if they are.

But we can't say this start is surprising. I figured the Sox would be 1-4, maybe 2-3 at best, when they came back to Chicago for their home opener. They are right on track, going into Wednesday's day game against the Cleveland Indians.

The Sox dropped two out of three in Kansas City to open the season, and then the bullpen blew a two-run eighth-inning lead in a 5-3 loss to the Indians on Monday.

Ah, the bullpen. It's not the only weakness of this Sox team, which has holes in its roster like Swiss cheese. But through four games, it strikes me as the most glaring problem. (There are others.)

I can't blame the starting pitching. Only Reynaldo Lopez had a bad outing among the four starters to take the mound. Lucas Giolito took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Sunday and won his game. Ivan Nova tossed seven innings of one-run ball Monday and got the shaft from the bullpen. Carlos Rodon was at least respectable, albeit not great, in the season opener.

Here's the line for Sox starting pitchers:
23 IP, 18 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 20 Ks, 7 BBs, 1.087 WHIP, 3.52 ERA

In contrast, here's the line for Sox relief pitchers:
10 IP, 11 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 6 Ks, 7 BBs, 1.800 WHIP, 9.00 ERA

More walks than strikeouts is not a good look. It's even worse when you consider closer Alex Colome has tossed two scoreless, hitless innings. The rest of the bullpen has been a wreck.

Kelvin Herrera, the primary right-handed setup man, was shaky in earning a hold Sunday. He allowed a run on three hits, and through two outings, not a single one of his pitches has induced a swing and a miss.

Jace Fry and Dylan Covey combined for three walks and four runs allowed in the Monday loss to Cleveland. Fry, a left-hander, is around to get left-handed hitters out. He sure hasn't been doing it. He walked Leonys Martin and gave up a double to Jake Bauers on Monday, and that's how the Sox got in trouble.

Fry's ERA is 20.25. Nate Jones has nothing on his fastball, and his ERA is 13.50. If Covey is getting high-leverage looks ahead of Jones, what does that say?

Right now, Colome is the only relief pitcher who can be trusted. Maybe the Sox should have just left Nova in Monday. He was at only 93 pitches. Perhaps he could have navigated that eighth inning better than this crummy relief crew.