Sox sign Scot Linebrink, will he help?

Come on Roman, 3.71 isn't quite "near" 4. That's like saying someone who batted 280 was near 300.

And if you look at his last few seasons, he's done a solid job, especially against lefties.

My only concerns surround the home runs. He gave up more than 20 the past two seasons, and the Cell is a launching pad.

It's not exciting, but I think it is certainly an improvement.

I would think anything would be an improvement from last year's bullpen (before Bobby) but how can you give a reliever a four year day when Kenny Williams has been unwilling to give any pitcher long term deals. Hell, he almost lost Buehrle over that very issue. Now, he gives it to the one position you don't do that to..

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/features/freeagents - Linebrink was nearly ranked in the top 25% at his position. That means he cost the Sox $19/4 + the Sox's top draft pick.

His #'s this yr were similar to Viscaino's in 2004. Under Cooper, I expect Linebrink to at least do as well as Viscaino did.

I will take ANY improvement over last year.

3.71 is close to 4.0. It's 2 more runs scored in his same amount of innings pitched. Not much of a difference

Padres didn't want him & Brewers made little attempt to resign him. Linebrink certainly a improvement over MacDougall & a couple other gas cans. But he is not exactly worth 4 years .

Too Busy! Football!!!!!!!!!

He was a decent mid-relief pitcher for a few years. Now it remains to be seen whether he will bounce back. If not, the Sox will surely finish behind Kansas in '08.

Aardsma, Thornton, Logan and McDougal are the big, worrying question marks of the Sox bullpen.

Some of these comments are ridiculous. He was ranked in the top 10 of NL relievers in 2005, & top 20 in 2006. Through July 16 he had a 2.55ERA, & 15 holds which was good for top 15.

Then the serious trade rumors started up around him going to the Brewers & he fell off his game. He was traded in late July, quickly went on the bereavement list & then suffered through Aug.
He still had 9 good outings out of 16.

In Sept he bounced back. 2.31ERA, 12IP, .233BAA.

He didn't want the Padres (after they traded him) & he had no intention of staying with the Brewers. He chose the White Sox.

Don't care about ERA for relievers. It's an awful, awful measure of performance for relievers (see Cotts, Neal: 2006).

Inherited runners that score are not counted in your ERA. Since bullpen guys are pulled mid-inning frequently, they're getting earned runs when guys behind them fail to keep your baserunners from scoring. If you want a measurement to judge relievers, use WHIP (although the best is WXRL).

Linebrink's WARPs since 2004:

4.4
4.5
3.4
2.8

These are very solid for a non-closing relief pitcher. I like the signing, and no one shouldn't.

I am so glad Noles has weighed in. His calculus abilities and understanding of WARP, WHIP, WHACK, WOO HOO, et al really inform these blogs. I'm with whatever he says.

The longer I listen to Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn, the more I believe that 2005 will happen again for us about the same time Halley's comet comes again. And I expect to be dead then.

Even a dumb blonde could see what happened with the Torii Hunter debacle last week. The Sox set the table and made no secret about it -- they were expecting to land Hunter after the Garland/Cabrera dust cleared. Not only did the Angels blow the Sox away with an offer almost DOUBLE the money the Sox were offering -- they even blew Hunter away. Even HE couldn't believe someone would pay that much for his services. Williams said he was "shocked" by what happened but that's a facade. The Sox won't spend what it will take to get today's free agent. Anyone who thinks we'll get Aaron Rowand needs to think again. I can't completely fault the Sox-type GMs out there because I think MLB is truly being ruined by other factors, including agents like Scott Boorass (yes I spelled that correctly), the Yankees and Red Sox owners who will bend over and pay outrageous salaries, Bud Selig (just because I hate him), Donald Fehr (the players union guy), Barry Bonds...... and those of us who keep buying tickets.

Where does this leave my team? I think if we're lucky, maybe third in the Division.

Bubba's mom.....you can choose to sit there and poke fun of my informed way of evaluating players, or you can do something about that disorder you have that causes you to think $90M is "almost DOUBLE" $75M.

But....other than that, you're pretty correct. The Sox won't spend what it takes to get today's free agent. Today's free agent, however, is more expensive than it is worth. I almost think that the best approach is to sit around until you have a good enough crop of cheap, young talent before you splurge on a free agent that might be the difference between making the playoffs and not making the playoffs. In the case of the White Sox, signing even Aaron Rowand won't save them. Rowand, even if the optimistic case happens and he is worth like 6-8 more wins than Jerry Owens next year, that won't put the White Sox into contention.

I wasn't making fun of you, Noles. I think your analyses are insightful and usually way beyond my comprehension. And I stand corrected on the Hunter thing...I thought the Sox offered Torii just under $50 mil not 75. Of course I still may be disordered as you say.

The latest news regarding the possible trade of Johan Sebastian Santana to the Yox (my new word combining Yankees/ Red Sox) just underscores my view of what is wrong with MLB. It is just a hunch, but I think Kenny is going to unload Joe Crede this week at the winter meetings, in order to 'set the table' for some other player we ultimately won't get. But we'll still have Uribe, won't we?