Mike Myers

UPDATE: Scot Gregor of the Daily Herald is now reporting that Kenny Williams may have indicated Mike Myers (and Ryan Bukvich) are the two spots in the bullpen he will be addressing in the offseason.  The article indicates that the White Sox won’t be as busy this offseason as some may think.

Mark Gonzales reports Mike Myers might indeed have a role in the White Sox bullpen next season, and no, it won’t be sketch comedy or terrorizing Jamie Lee Curtis.

When the Red Sox let Myers walk and I watched the Yankees pick him up as a lefty specialist to negate what had become known as the David Ortiz Factor, as a Sox fan one thought came to mind: "Whoops!"  In his first attempt to get Ortiz out, Big Papi promptly took him deep.  Ortiz spent 2006-2007 going 5 for 15 with a homer and 6 RBIs against the lefty specialist.  The Yankees designated him for assignment in August.  Despite a 2.66 ERA, lefties were hitting .301 off him.  The White Sox picked him up and things got worse.  Myers’ ERA rose from 2.84 to 4.41 in 6 weeks.

Still, they’re expected to pick up the sidearmer’s $1.1MM option for 2008.  Pitching coach Don Cooper is confident they have made adjustments to get Myers back on track.   Says Cooper, "Every club would like to have three lefties in the bullpen. We have that ability to have three lefties every day, at least two, especially in our division where we have a lot of good-hitting lefties and guys who switch-hit."

The White Sox signed 38 year-old lefty specialist Mike Myers on Sunday.  The signing is clearly focused on 2008, as Kenny Williams tacked on a $1.1MM club option for 2008.

Myers contends that he’s been done in by southpaws hitting singles off him.  The numbers bear that out, as he’s allowed 24 hits but just one home run in 18 innings against lefties.  He whiffed 18 in those 18 innings, so there is hope that the veteran can live on.

The Sox have Mike MacDougal ($1.95MM) and Matt Thornton ($0.875MM) under contract for the bullpen in 2008.  And of course Bobby Jenks and all kinds of rookies remain under the team’s control.  I actually thought the team’s bullpen would be a strength heading into this season.