crazy train
February 5, 2009 at 12:01 am | In Baseball, Rooting Hierarchies | 2 CommentsTags: that stupid contract the White Sox gave Linebrink, White Sox
29. Chicago White Sox (5% schedule-weighted support)
Last Ranking: 27
Added: SP Bartolo Colon; 3B Wilson Betemit; 2B Jayson Nix
Lost: SP Javier Vazquez; CF Nick Swisher; 3B Joe Crede; RP Boone Logan; SS Orlando Cabrera; IF Juan Uribe; CF Ken Griffey Jr.
Strengths: A solid crop of young talent including starters John Danks and Gavin Floyd, 3B Josh Fields, and LF Carlos Quentin. Quentin’s acquisition from the Diamondbacks last winter was a big pickup for the White Sox, and while Fields’ stock fell with a lousy 2008 at AAA, he could yet turn into a nice, cheap option at third.
Although I wasn’t sold on Danks or Floyd in the past, their 2008 performances were eye-opening, and both are young enough to have real breakout seasons, rather than one-year flukes. Beyond Bobby Jenks, Octavio Dotel and lefty Matt Thornton look to be a strong setup combination. Rookie Jack Egbert could impress at the back of the rotation.
Weaknesses: The team isn’t getting any younger. While DH Jim Thome and RF Jermaine Dye are still going strong, 1B Paul Konerko looks just about finished, and C A.J. Pierzynski has been a void in the lineup for years. As usual with older teams, the defense is rather problematic – and this lineup can’t hit nearly enough to make up for it.
If Floyd and Danks can’t repeat their 2008 performances, the rotation looks thoroughly mediocre.
It should also be mentioned that most of the probable bullpen (including the aforementioned Dotel and Thornton, who are key guys in keeping innings away from some thoroughly unimpressive fallbacks in AAA) is on the wrong side of 30, which could make for rapid decline or injuries.
The real weakness, however, may not present itself till spring training: manager Ozzie Guillen could very well neglect DeWayne Wise (who had a fine 2008) for speed-and-nothing-but Jerry Owens or inferior hitter Brian Anderson. Similarly, the temperamental Guillen could take a liking to Cuban defector Dayan Viciedo at third, rather than making him prove his worth in the minors.
My Stake: What’s to like? While GM Kenny Williams always seems to make a couple of trades that keep the team contending, he’s also made more than his share of foolish signings – see homer-prone reliever Scott Linebrink’s four-year contract, which will pay him $5.5 million as a 35-year-old in 2011 – and can be taken a trade – he practically gave Swisher to the Yankees, and the prospect package he received for Vazquez and Logan was rather pitiful. The White Sox are poorly run, but just good enough to stay in contention in spite of it – a perfect combination for extreme frustration. Throw in a bland stadium, a past playoff victory over the Red Sox, and a divisional rivalry with the Indians, and they’re pretty fun to hate.
‘09 Predictions: It’s tough to predict what an Ozzie team will do, much less a club with several potential rookie starters, but I decided to put down 76 wins here. There are quite a few variables in play, but it’s very hard to see Cleveland and Detroit stumbling as they did in 2008, and tougher still to see the White Sox, rather than the Twins, capitalizing even if there is such an opening. Beyond the battle between Nix and Chris Getz (and possibly Brent Lillibridge) for the second base job, I’ll be most interested to see if SS Alexei Ramirez can continue to slug at a rate that masks his problems getting on base.
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I do truly despise the white sox. I think I picked them for 59 wins last year, and well, they dont seem all that great this year either. Their elderly folks must certainly be done about now, they’re as old as yankee folk. Chicago should have been the worst team in the central last year, without some breakout performances. That said, looking ahead and around…the hooooorn! !SUEGE! sees the infielders as a pile of rubbish. Alexei’s best hitting season is behind him, he really bottomed out in September. Quentin is freakin absurd. I haven’t seen anyone with a season like that fall off the face of the Earth since Adrian Beltre, so it is unlikely. Is that really Bartolo I see in their rotation? Ya, that’s not going to work. B-Col gave up on pitching years ago. Frankly, if I see a washed up old cheap pitcher that Shapiro doesn’t sign, I assume there’s a good reason for that. If Jim “put down the rock and stuff” Thome can still do it than kudos for being an old fuck who can still hit, these HOF guys hit longer, so it’s possible. Like Eddie Murray in ‘95 (but not like Dave Winfield in ‘95.) Buehrle seems legit, Danks has a second year coming, so that could go anywhere, Floyd came out of fricken nowhere, at an older age, so ?. Anyhoo, I’ll say they end up at 70 wins, because there’s a good chance Quentin will be their only hitter, and Mike Sweeney told me that that doesn’t work (told me in action rather than in person :))
Comment by suege — February 5, 2009 #
Having seen the (other) Sox struggle to fill the hole left by his fatness swinging a bat, I understand Colon pessimism, but the fact is that he’s been a useful back-of-the-rotation guy for several years now. At a million bucks (plus incentives if he stays healthy), he’s a fine gamble to keep the team from going to shitty AAA guys. I figure if Dye isn’t around, they’ll have Abreu or somesuch… either way, I think they’ve got a second outfield bat behind Quentin, and I’ve given up on expecting Thome to suck. But still, only thing really scary about their offense is that they get to play in that park.
Comment by Space — February 5, 2009 #