Rearranged Sox

[SoxFan1]

Scouting reports on the White Sox used to tell the same old story: Keep them in the ballpark, and you have a chance.

 

Those reports are about to undergo a major rewrite.

 

The team that introduced the exploding scoreboard has lost its enthusiasm for home runs. After a desperate plea from manager Ozzie Guillen, the Sox are discarding the power-based formula they followed for years.

 

So what if they play at the major leagues' most accommodating home run park? Beginning this season, the Sox will go the small-ball route, relying on pitching, defense and speed.

 

"The easiest thing we could have done was to sit back and say, 'Well, we've got all these great players, and they're not getting it done,' and putting it all on their shoulders," general manager Ken Williams says. "They would be giving us a built-in excuse of the great players not coming through. We chose to take a different road."

 

Gone are bashers such as Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee and Jose Valentin -- players whose power was ideally suited for U.S. Cellular Field. The new White Sox offer a speedy combination of Scott Podsednik and Japanese import Tadahito Iguchi at the top of the lineup.

 

"Maybe it doesn't have the star power or the firepower that it did have," Williams says of the offense, "but we certainly have a heck of a lot more balance than we have had in a long time."

 

Williams adds: "We have a National League-type club with American League-type capabilities."

 

Guillen, who promises the Sox will be the American League's most aggressive team on the bases, makes no apologies for the makeover and is ready to accept blame if it fizzles. This is his preferred brand of baseball. What he inherited last season was a team preferred by his predecessors.

 

"We hit a lot of home runs, but so what? We finished second last year," says Guillen, who was the Marlins' third base coach in 2003 when they small-balled their way to a World Series title. "This is the team you win with -- pitching, defense and speed. There are only two teams that can just beat the crap out of you every day -- the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Everybody else has to play baseball."

 

Rebuilding the rotation was the first step toward making the new philosophy work. Williams began retooling last season when he traded for Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras. This offseason, he added Orlando Hernandez, which allowed Jon Garland to move into the fifth spot and gives the Sox perhaps their best rotation since 2000 -- the last time the club made the postseason. The bullpen, anchored by closer Shingo Takatsu, improved when the team acquired Luis Vizcaino -- who arrived with Podsednik from the Brewers in exchange for Lee -- and signed free agent Dustin Hermanson.

 

With the rotation taking shape gradually, the lineup's quick overhaul has created the biggest stir. Willie Harris -- criticized by Guillen for being too timid on the base-paths -- is out as leadoff hitter, replaced by Podsednik. Iguchi was signed as a free agent to be the

 

No. 2 hitter and replace Harris at second base. Jermaine Dye was signed to replace some of Ordonez's pop in right field. Offense-minded catcher A.J. Pierzynski was signed to replace Sandy Alomar. Paul Konerko, who led the club with 41 homers last season, returns to the middle of the lineup.

 

Still, there are reasons for Guillen to worry:

 

 

Signing free-agent shortstop Omar Vizquel was supposed to be the first step in the offseason remodeling, but he spurned the Sox at the last minute for the Giants. That means Juan Uribe, who is better suited to second base, will play shortstop. Iguchi, who won three Gold Gloves in Japan, should be steadier in the field than Harris. With steady Aaron Rowand in center, Podsednik, considered no better than an average center fielder, moves over to left. He'll replace Lee, who didn't commit an error last season. Pierzynski has limitations behind the plate.

"I'm not sure they've upgraded their defense that much," says a major league scout.

 

 

Concerns about Ordonez's left knee, which required two surgeries after he injured it last May, forced the Sox to back off their original offer -- made before the injury -- of five years and about $60 million. The power drain created by the departures of Lee and Ordonez is made worse by the loss of designated hitter Frank Thomas, possibly until June, because he is recovering from left ankle surgery.

Williams, though, maintains the club still will hit home runs, and he predicts that as many as seven players will have 20 or more.

 

"They probably have enough power, but I think they'll really miss Lee's bat," the scout says.

 

 

Podsednik and Iguchi are unproven as a 1-2 combination. Podsednik, 28, led the majors with 70 stolen bases last season; as a team, the Sox stole 78. But he had a .313 on-base percentage and hit .244, 70 points lower than his 2003 average. Iguchi, 30, batted .333 with 24 homers and 89 RBIs last season in the Japan League, but he'll be facing major league-caliber pitchers on a regular basis for the first time.

"Podsednik won't give them a lot except speed," the scout says. "Iguchi could run well at one time, but I haven't seen him in a few years."

 

Williams admits the Sox's new philosophy is an effort to beat the three-time defending A.L. Central champion Twins "at their own game."

 

"That's flattering to hear," Twins G.M. Terry Ryan says. "Over the years, power has not been a part of our equation. We have not hit a lot of home runs up here. We have had good pitching; we have had good defense. Regardless of the type of ballpark you play in, I think your pitching staff ultimately determines your fate."

 

That's why the Sox are talking up their reworked pitching staff. But it's their new lineup that will turn heads in the A.L. Central this season.

 

"We know what we are up against, whether it be Detroit or Minnesota," Williams says. "Certainly, they have no idea who we are or what we are when we come to town."

 

Kinda eyes the negatives.

[Chisoxmatt]

Kinda eyes the negatives.

Yeah but its pretty accurate.

[WilliamTell]

I can't wait until the season. Then the Sox will have a good chance to prove everyone wrong about all the doubts this team has.

[FlaSoxxJim]

I like this quote from Kenny:

 

"There are only two teams that can just beat the crap out of you every day -- the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Everybody else has to play baseball."

[DaveIsHere]

And of course they eye Maggs and CLee gone, but do not mention that we were without Maggs and Big Hurt for most of the seeason and still hit a lot o ball out of the park

[SoxAce]

I like this quote from Kenny:

 

Oddly enough, I'm more scared of the Sawks than the Yank$ but both are very beatable.