Does Ozzie Guillen Know That Aaron Poreda Is in the Majors?

Aaron Poreda is a talented young pitcher.

The big lefty was ranked among the top 100 prospects by numerous publications entering the year and can hit the high 90s on the radar gun. He was called up on June 9 after posting a 2.38 ERA in 11 starts at AA Birmingham.

However, I'm not 100 percent sure Ozzie Guillen was informed of this transaction. Since that promotion to the majors a month ago, Poreda has thrown only 7 2/3 innings in relief.

This total amazes me, and I don't understand the reason for it. Why did you call him up if you are not planning on using him consistently?

If he's your last arm in the bullpen, doesn't it make more sense to let him keep starting in the minors than to let him collect dust in the pen?

It's not like he has struggled in those appearances. The youngster has only allowed seven hits and one run in those 7 2/3 innings while striking out eight.

The opportunity to use him has been there as well, considering that the horrendous Jimmy Gobble has thrown 12 innings this season.

Then of course there is Clayton Richard—the player most comparable to Poreda. Clayton has been on the roster since Opening Day and has been in the starting rotation since mid-May.

Richard started out well. After getting roughed up by Cleveland in his first start, he posted three excellent outings against Toronto, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City.

However, the results have gone downhill significantly since then.

In his eight starts (including today) since that quality game against the Royals, he has an ERA of 7.67 in only 34 innings.

Yes, that's an average of 4.25 innings per start, an abysmal number. The Sox simply can't afford to keep letting Richard start games when he struggles even to make it out of the fifth inning.

This is where Aaron Poreda comes in. He simply has too much talent not to be a factor for the pitching staff. You already started his arbitration clock by putting him on the major league roster, so you might as well use him.

I don't really see what the Sox lose by doing this. Richard has been struggling mightily of late, so it'd be hard for Aaron to hurt them. Richard can either be sent down to work on his control and secondary pitches, or used as a situational lefty out of the pen.

Poreda will probably need to stretch out his arm to get used to starting again, but you have an opportunity to get him back on the schedule with the All-Star break coming up.

Even if he struggles in the rotation, it's not any worse than what you're getting now, and he will gain valuable experience. Even if he's just mediocre, that will be more than Richard has been contributing of late.

It would really give you a chance to see if Poreda is as good as you think he is, and just might give you the extra arm that you're looking for, rather than giving up a number of talented prospects to acquire someone like Roy Halladay.

Of course, for that to happen someone would have to remind Ozzie that Poreda is on the roster.