2010 V1 - Sorensen and Webb solidify Sox bullpen

[kestu]

GM Keith Stuart has had his eye on Jonathan Sorensen for a couple of seasons now and with 42 saves and a 2.27 ERA last season in Carolina, it's likely he's not the only one who was salivating at the thought of adding him to their bullpen. At 27 years old, Sorensen is one of the great young closers in the game following his breakout season last year.

Sorensen came to Chicago in a multi-player deal that cost the team solid prospects Jimmy Brennan and Al Hall on July 1st. Since that time, the Black Sox have gone 20-14 with the bullpen being solidified by Sorensen along with fellow Carolina bullpen-mate, Cliff Webb. Combined, the two have pitched 27 innings with a 32/6 k/bb ratio, a 1.67 ERA and a 0.67 WHIP to go along with 10 saves.

"Our bullpen has been our achilles heel for the last two and a half seasons. We made a big splurge in free agency by acquiring Megaphone - but he simply wasn't getting the job done as the closer. We love the idea of having him and Sorensen in the 8th/9th inning for the next several seasons, but we need to take the division this year and we can't continue to wait for him to develop into the pitcher we know he is on the verge of becoming. Acquiring Sorensen and Webb cost us a little for the future - we are still high on both Brennan and Hall, but there are not a lot of pitchers of Sorensen's calibur around the league - and none of them will make it to free agency, so this move had to be done - and so far, so good."

"Our bullpen can now be considered a legit asset, and I fully expect by September for it to become even more of a weapon as Megaphone rounds into form and some of these guys like Dowdle and Souza see their luck improve."