Chicago White Sox: Jose Quintana Should Replace Philip Humber in the Rotation

It is fairly safe to say that Jose Quintana has earned himself more than just Tuesday’s start against the St. Louis Cardinals for the Chicago White Sox. In his three starts for the White Sox, Quintana has an ERA a tick below 3.00. 

Just as important, Jose seems to control the speed of the game and has a way of getting out of trouble during innings that would get away from other pitchers.

The bottom line is that it appears that Quintana can make the pitch when he needs to, and that is what an effective starter has to be able to do. Gavin Floyd and Philip Humber cannot make that pitch, and one of them has worked his way out of the starting rotation

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Philip Humber, your seat in the bullpen is waiting.

Humber, who Ventura said in the Chicago Sun-Times would make his next start at Los Angeles, has been absolutely awful and this is nothing new.

Over his last 10 starts, including the perfect game against the Seattle Mariners, Humber has an ERA of 6.32, a WHIP of 1.403 and has won only two decisions.  That is not going to get the job done.

 Floyd has not been much better over his last 10 contests going 3-5 with an ERA of 5.85 and a WHIP of 1.30.  Notwithstanding his stats, the Sox need to keep Floyd in the starting rotation if they want to find any trade value in him while remaining competitive (think Quintana and Dylan Axelrod on the back end of the rotation) in the AL Central.

Following an 11-9 loss to the Houston Astros, the Chicago Tribune quoted manager Robin Ventura saying that Floyd and Humber were “similar” pitchers.  “They have an inning,” Ventura said, “that's good and then they have an inning when they (aren't).”

That is not going to get the job done. With lefty John Danks making a rehab start for Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday, Humber starting one more time is a necessary evil.  No matter what happens against the Dodgers though,

Humber’s time as a starter has for the moment come to an end.

Thanks to the efforts of Jake Peavy and Chris Sale, the Sox own a 4.12 ERA (sixth i

n baseball) from their starters, and it is time to do some damage control on the bottom part of the rotation. The axiom in baseball goes that you put the best five on the bump. Philip Humber is not one of the best five anymore.