Ozzie Guillen: Effective Tony Pena would make 6-man rotation work

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TORONTO -- White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said he would stay with a six-man rotation if could rely on right-hander Tony Pena in late-inning setup situations.

Talking before Saturday’s game against the Blue Jays, Guillen said Phil Humber’s continued success in the rotation is making the decision on who to take out a difficult one.

With Sergio Santos closing, Jesse Crain is the only reliable right-hander available in setup situations with six starters in the rotation. Pena, the long reliever, has been used in later innings recently. On Friday night, he allowed a run on three hits in the eighth inning as the Jays widened their lead to 4-2.

“Right now we’re a little confused,’’ Guillen said, laughing. “We’re very confused. The six-man rotation puts a lot of load on Crain. If Pena goes out there and does what he should do, I don’t mind staying in a six-man rotation. We even talk about leaving it like that, but my worry is how much Crain will work. He’s the only righty we have with Santos. I use Santos as closer, there is a very big gap out there to cover.

“Hopefully Pena come on and do a better job. If Pena do a better job and we have enough confidence in him.

“I wish Pena could be used when we’re winning to help Crain and we’d be fine.’’

Guillen said the only starters who definitely will stay in the rotation are veteran left-hander Mark Buehrle and Jake Peavy.

“Everybody else is pretty young. We’re still talking about it every day. Every day we change our mind. “Cooper come up with good ideas. To make the right decision, right now in my mind I don’t think what I have is the right decision. We have to wait and play around with it.

“You see this kid Humber throw, and [John] Danks, and it’s kind of hard. We will work it out. But right now I’m between.’’

“My problem is wow. I only bring Pena when we’re down or down by one. It’s not fair for Crain to carry the load. I’m not going to do it, I’m not going to do it.’’