QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Oct 11, 2016 -> 11:50 PM)
Not even close to being on paper the best team in franchise history.
And the reason they won only 86 games was because these were the guys the Sox used that year in the back end of the rotation:
Dan Wright, 15 games started, 1-7, 6.15 ERA
Josh Stewart, 5 games started, 1-2, 5.96 ERA
Mike Porzio, 3 games started, 1-1, 6.43 ERA
Neal Cotts, 4 games started, 1-1, 8.10 ERA
This was the season where Kenny Rogers was a free agent and the Sox were interested in him but when he asked for one million dollars to pitch for them, Kenny thought that was to much and said no. Rogers signed with the Twins, went 13-8, threw 195 innings and I think was the pitcher of record the night Minnesota clinched the division in Chicago.
Mark
Then name one better. You simply can't come close finding a White Sox roster with the star power they had. Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez, Paul Konerko, Carlos Lee, Robbie Alomar, Carl Everett, Jose Valentin and Joe Crede in one lineup is insane. The bench was amazing too. Then you had Colon, Buehrle, Garland and Loaiza during his run for the Cy Young. The bullpen wasn't deep but you had Flash Gordon and Marte pitching in every other game while he was a top 3 reliever in the league.
Everyone is aware of the 5th starter struggles but what probably hurt them equally as much was Konerko and Buehrle having really down years. If those two have normal years, the division probably looks a lot different.