How did we get here? - Preview & Lineups 5/11

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It has not been a torrid start for neither the White Sox nor the Diamondbacks pitching staffs. Both sports ERA's over 4.50, both have suffered damaging injuries to last year's aces, and both are today, Sunday, Mother's Day, starting pitchers whose current presence on a major league roster are a sort of Mother's Day gift in and of themselves.

AL West cast-off (he's been DFA'd by the Rangers and Mariners already this year) Hector Noesi has now survived into his third time around the rotation. The first trip was necessitated by desperation, the second trip was necessitated by desperation, but after a sharp five innings Tuesday in Wrigley Field, he enters the day with a chance to solidify his standing. In this case, solidifying his standing means looking better than Scott Carroll, the other guy who will be fighting for his job when Chris Sale returns, or when or if Erik Johnson and Felipe Paulino return.

The Diamondbacks are possibly one-upping the Sox in desperation moves by forking out Chase Anderson, who is making his major league debut. The Diamondbacks have a minor league arm whose major league debut would strike fear in the hearts of all around the league, but he is not Chase Anderson.

Anderson pulled a Simon Castro of sorts this year. He was sent back down to Double-A after bumping his head in his Triple-A debut last year. While Anderson has been splendid in Double-A (0.69 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 39 innings), that he's going through these machinations at 26 years of age does not speak well to his caliber as a prospect. To his credit, there are no prolonged struggles in his minor league track record and he mostly overwhelmed the Arizona Fall League when he was a member in 2012. He leans heavily on his changeup, which makes him Hawk's most feared type of pitcher. There are significant concerns about his ability to succeed as a starter long-term, but questions about say, durability, don't have too much relevance to a single game in May. 

White Sox Lineup

  1. Alejandro De Aza - CF
  2. Gordon Beckam - 2B
  3. Conor Gillaspie - 3B
  4. Jose Abreu - DH
  5. Adam Dunn - 1B
  6. Dayan Viciedo - LF
  7. Alexei Ramirez - SS
  8. Moises Sierra - RF
  9. Tyler Flowers - C

Hector Noesi - SP

Despite arguing in favor of the idea of him on the roster, Moises Sierra has quickly become my least favorite player to watch do...anything. Hack at a curveball 18 inches off the plate, throw the ball 15 feet over the cut-off man's head, run an outfield route that doubles as a drawing of a curly fry — you name something he does on the field, it's troublesome. His corner outfield counterpart, Dayan Viciedo, has taken the great optimism of the month of April, and struck out 13 times in 39 plate appearances while recording a .534 OPS.

The rest of this crew is aces, more or less.

Arizona Diamondbacks

1. Gerrardo Parra - RF

2. Martin Prado - 3B

3. Paul Goldschmidt - 1B

4. Miguel Montero - C

5. Aaron Hill - 2B

6. Eric Chavez - DH

7. Cody Ross - LF

8. A.J. Pollock - CF

9. Chad Pennington - SS

SP - Chase Anderson

Where to Watch: Game is on at 1:10pm CT on Comcast SportsNet

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