By Mike Talley
Black Sox Beat Writer
Chicago Sports Online
With their 70th anniversary Brewster Baseball Association season due to begin this evening, the Chicago Black Sox have released their Opening Day 27-man roster and expected lineup.
The team will begin BBA play with five new faces on the roster: two rookies, one free agent signee, and two “Rule 5” minor league draft acquisitions.
Although BNN’s annual Spring Training preseason predictions have the Sox going 86-76 and, presumably, battling for a playoff spot, the network’s prognosticators have been known to screw the pooch (as the saying goes) with more than a little regularity. Not to mention that Sox fans remember all-too-well how badly the team underperformed its expected win/loss record last season.
So, managing expectations isn’t exactly a problem in Chicago: Sox fans know better.
With those preambles out of the way, here’s part one of a two-part look at the roster. We begin with the pitching staff:
Starting Rotation:
As threatened, the Sox have decided to go with a 6-man rotation to start the season. The plan, for now, is to throw Amayas Moelling, Pepe Jaramillo, Juan Nicto and newcomer David Bates on 5 days of rest and space out starts by Luis Gonzáles and Manuel Peña with an eye towards injury prevention.
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | Amayas Moelling | 36 | 32 | 187.1 | 9-10-0 | 125 | 49 | 4.61 | 4.95 | 3.2 |
Amayas Moelling: The nominal staff ace needs to step up this year and finally match his results to the promise hinted at in his skill ratings. He got off to a brutal start last year, and spent most of the year climbing out of the deep hole he dug for himself. No wonder his agent tried to ink him to a illegal long-term extension during the off-season. If the Sox want to do more than flounder around .500 this year, Moelling needs to pick things up.
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | Pepe Jaramillo | 32 | 32 | 197.2 | 15-9-0 | 142 | 76 | 5.10 | 3.14 | 4.2 |
Pepe Jaramillo: Last season’s team Pitcher of the Year had one of the best seasons of his career, as he went 15-9 with a 3.14 ERA and 4.2 WAR. Sox fans are hoping Chicago’s #2 starter, at age 31, can catch lightning in a bottle again and help anchor the top of the rotation. If he does, it could be an interesting year in Calumet City; if he doesn’t, well …
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | Luis Gonzáles | 31 | 31 | 143.1 | 10-8-0 | 145 | 37 | 4.59 | 4.82 | 2.5 |
Luis Gonzáles: The Sox treated their talented #3 starter with kid gloves last season, and although the fragile 26-year-old chafed at the strict pitch count imposed by pitching coach Art Messer, he managed to stay healthy all season. The result was a quiet but effective season that helped keep Chicago in the playoff mix until the final week of the season. Messer hopes that extra rest between starts and another pitch count will keep Gonzáles in the rotation all year once again.
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | Juan Nicto | 33 | 30 | 171.2 | 6-11-0 | 93 | 104 | 6.55 | 5.03 | -0.5 |
Juan Nicto: Sox fans could hardly wrap their heads around the awful season turned in last year by the normally reliable Nicto. The man who’d won the team’s Pitcher of the Year award for two seasons running saw his ERA climb over 7 at several times over the year, before he finally settled down and finished the year at 5.03 – although his final FIP was a horrendous 6.55. Chicago needs Nicto to shake off whatever demons bedeviled him in 2041 and get back to pitching like he can. If not …
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | Manuel Peña | 33 | 30 | 170.0 | 9-5-0 | 127 | 55 | 4.73 | 3.97 | 2.7 |
Manuel Peña: By all rights, Peña should probably be pitching out of the bullpen, where Chicago wanted to use him last season. But with Moelling, Nicto and the departed François Mangin (now toiling for Bucharest in the UMEBA) collectively soiling the bed most of the year, Peña was forced into the rotation, where he put together a surprisingly solid season: 9-5 with a 3.97 ERA and 4.73 FIP. As a result, he’ll find himself in the rotation once again, although throwing with more space between starts than last year.
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | David Bates | 39 | 21 | 143.1 | 9-10-10 | 95 | 52 | 4.22 | 5.59 | 2.6 |
David Bates: Although the 21-year-old SP/RP had a rocky season at AAA Carolina, he found himself in the Florida Prospect League, his skill ratings bumped and the Sox brass took notice. Although he had mixed results this Spring, the Sox decided to break camp with Bates on the big club and will install him as the rotation’s #5 starter and give him a chance to work with coach Messer. If he can make the final couple of small gains in his skill ratings, the 21-year-old should have a bright future in the Sox rotation. Whether that happens, of course, is one of the bigger questions facing the team as the season gets underway.
The Bullpen
The Sox relief corps has plenty of talent, starting with youngsters Gilberto Sosa and Francisco Salgado, but didn’t quite pitch that way last season: its 4.56 ERA ranked it just 7th in the Frick. Sox General Manager Benedetta “Benny” Vitale felt that subpar defense from departed shortstop Mark Wareham (who committed 26 errors and struggled with his range) contributed to the bullpen woes. With a group dominated by groundball and extreme groundball pitchers, she may have a point. At any rate, the Sox bullpen will be under intense scrutiny this season as it tries to turn things around.
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | Gilberto Sosa | 56 | 0 | 62.0 | 3-5-27 | 64 | 20 | 3.56 | 2.47 | 1.6 |
Gilberto Sosa: The youngster turned in a fine rookie season as the team’s closer, although he faltered a bit down the stretch, finishing with 27 saves and a 2.47 ERA. Pitching coach Messer expects that Sosa will be even better this year, with a full season of BBA ball under his belt. “He’s shown everyone – including himself – that he can pitch in this league, so the butterflies should be gone,” Messer said.
Francisco Salgado: The prodigiously talented Salgado came up late in the year and went through many of the travails that rookie pitchers typically encounter. The Sox expect much better out of him this season, and he did look impressive in spring training (3 saves and a 2.12 ERA in 8 appearances). Expect him to anchor the back end of the bullpen, along with Sosa.
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | Brian Smith | 45 | 0 | 57.2 | 5-1-2 | 49 | 31 | 4.77 | 3.75 | 0.3 |
Brian Smith: Another talented relief arm who had some ups and downs last year, finally finishing with a 5-1-2 record and 3.75 ERA. He began the season in a setup role, but was moved to middle relief after alarming the coaching staff with his struggles in the late-inning role. He had a rocky spring (a 7.27 ERA in 17.1 IP), but look for him to at least start the season in middle relief.
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | Frits Brinson | 40 | 0 | 74.1 | 5-10-1 | 80 | 34 | 5.24 | 4.84 | 0.0 |
Frits Brinson: Fresh off signing a 4-year contract extension, 25-year-old Brinson drew merciless ribbing from his teammates when BNN’s preseason predictions had him winning 17 games and throwing 187 innings: no mean feat from middle relief in a tradition bullpen. Don’t expect those kinds of numbers, but Brinson should be a solid contributor. He had a strong spring (1-0, 2.30 ERA in 15.2 innings) and figures to be a key figure in the bullpen all season.
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | Juan Alfonzo | 43 | 0 | 74.0 | 4-4-0 | 83 | 26 | 4.02 | 4.26 | 1.0 |
Juan Alfonzo: The 28-year-old Alfonzo with no fanfare whatsoever has, arguably, been the steadiest member of the Sox bullpen over the past 4 seasons, swinging from middle relief to setup duties to closer with seeming ease. Although his ERA crept up to 4.26 last season, he was still someone the Sox called on repeatedly – and after an effective spring (2.25 ERA in 16.0 innings) he figures to be in the mix once again.
| Pitcher | G | GS | IP | W-L-SV | K | W | FIP | ERA | WAR |
|---|
 | David Rivas | 36 | 0 | 33.0 | 4-3-0 | 30 | 26 | 7.72 | 8.18 | -1.0 |
David Rivas: The Sox rolled the dice when they signed Rivas to a one-year, $2.1 million contract out of free agency this offseason. They are hoping that spending time with Messer and the rest of the Chicago coaching staff will help the 26-year-old shake off his disastrous season with Omaha (8.18 ERA and 7.72 FIP) and finally grow into his potential. If he can’t figure things out, look for GM Benny Vitale to banish him to waivers without so much as a backward glance.
Coming Next: The Position Players
