It's a day old, and may have been posted elsewhere, but I thought this was still interesting to share;

 

Chicago White Sox

 

Here's all you need to know about the White Sox's transformation from an all-or-nothing outfit to a small-ball, pitching-and-defense club: The Sox won only one game last season in which they scored one or two runs. This season, they did it three times in their first 11 games.

 

The team's switch to an N.L. approach in the A.L.'s leading home run park appeared to be a reach, but it's difficult to argue with the early results. The diminished offense remains a concern, and a rival G.M. says, "I'd be shocked if they don't struggle to score runs all season." But the rotation includes five accomplished pitchers, and the bullpen features three potential ninth-inning options. The pitching staff should give the White Sox a chance to win most games.

 

Luck played a part in the team's 8-3 start-the Sox barely outscored their opponents, going 5-0 in 1-run games. The return of designated hitter Frank Thomas from surgery on his left ankle will help, but he isn't expected back until at least mid-May. It's difficult to win consistently playing with such little margin for error. Although the team's defense is improved, the range on the right side of the infield is limited.

 

Prediction: The Sox won't overtake the Twins in the A.L. Central, but they could win 85 to 87 games and make a run at the wild card.

KR loves the twins Period

85-87 wins and contend for the wildcard? I gotta think the Yanks or BoSox will be the wildcard.

While we might contend for the wild card it will take more than 85-87 wins to do that .... and who cares what a rival gm says about our offense

While we might contend for the wild card it will take more than 85-87 wins to do that  .... and who cares what a rival gm says about our offense 

 

Rival GM? Twins, Tigers, Cubs? None of those lineups are something to write home about. Besides, hitting is the easiest thing to pick up in a mid-season trade, if need be. Try and get pitching, and you get bent over.

Edited April 22, 200520 yr by sircaffey

Rival GM?  Twins, Tigers, Cubs?  None of those lineups are something to write home about.  Besides, hitting is the easiest thing to pick up in a mid-season trade, if need be.  Try and get pitching, and you get bent over.

 

 

Well the twins lineup is something special... But if Iguchi is the real deal i love ours. When the Big Hurt comes back we can rotate Everett in the field and he can relieve who ever is having a cold streak and Rowand and Dye wont hit this bad for much longer even Uribe is due for a streak soon.

Until we win 2 or 3 Division Titles in a row, or we show some extended period of success, you should all as Sox fans expect the Twinkies to be the favorite. We have done nothing in the past few years to dissuade that.

 

Now with that being said, I see no reason why we can't do it this yaer, but understand that until it IS done, Minny will be the heavy favorite to win the Central.

It almost sounded like someone had a gun to Rosenthal's head and ordered him to compliment the Sox start.

It almost sounded like someone had a gun to Rosenthal's head and ordered him to compliment the Sox start.

 

And even then I'm not flattered!

Even if the Sox are ahead at Memorial Day. Fourth of July and Labor Day, the experts ain't gonna believe it.

Even if the Sox are ahead at Memorial Day. Fourth of July and Labor Day, the experts ain't gonna believe it.

 

I can see it now .... As the scene switches from a crazy Sox celebration on the Cell field when we win the Sox, back to ESPN studios ... Harold Reynolds still thinks the Royals are the favorites.

I can see it now .... As the scene switches from a crazy Sox celebration on the Cell field when we win the Sox, back to ESPN studios ... Harold Reynolds still thinks the Royals are the favorites.

 

 

and all those espn tools still like the cubs chances because of their pitching even if they are 20 games out....bah :puke

and all those espn tools still like the cubs chances because of their pitching even if they are 20 games out....bah :puke

Slight thread hijack:

 

Hey, QRAL, you going to the final Hey Mercedes show at Metro?

I'm not gonna be able to attend, and I'm bummed out.

They are (were) a fine band and they'll be missed.

Eleven To Your Seven is one of my all-time favorite songs.

how ironic 85 wins for the season would have us going 73-73 for the next 146 games.

Slight thread hijack:

 

Hey, QRAL, you going to the final Hey Mercedes show at Metro?

I'm not gonna be able to attend, and I'm bummed out.

They are (were) a fine band and they'll be missed.

Eleven To Your Seven is one of my all-time favorite songs.

they are playing their final show?

dam i just started listening to some of their music too

Well the twins lineup is something special...

 

How is the Twins lineup special?

 

Do they ride a shortbus to the games?

How is the Twins lineup special?

 

Do they ride a shortbus to the games?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Michael Cuddyer, Luis Rivas, and Jason Bartlett sure aren't special.

 

Since some of us called Crede "Cruddy," I wonder if Twins' fans call Michael Cuddyer "Cruddyer."

Michael Cuddyer, Luis Rivas, and Jason Bartlett sure aren't special.

 

Since some of us called Crede "Cruddy," I wonder if Twins' fans call Michael Cuddyer "Cruddyer."

 

They call him crud... at least from what i have seen from a amessage board of theirs.

qwerty=troll

qwerty=troll

At least he doesn't get banned on BatGirl's site now.

 

The Twins keep moving along though, and once again Terry Ryan did a pretty good job in the off-season (except for the Juan Castro deal). Who would you rather have. Jason Bartlett for about $350,000 or Crisitan Guzman (who some here wanted us to sign) and his sub .325 OBP and bad fielding @ 4 years for 16 million.

More thoughts from the man;

 

I blew it by mistakenly identifying White Sox left fielder Scott Podsednik as the team's center fielder in a recent column — no excuses, I just had a brain cramp — but I'm not backing off my concerns about the Sox's offense. The White Sox's 14-4 start masked the fact that their .300 on-base percentage ranked last in the majors. After 18 games, the Yankees had 81 walks, the Red Sox 70 and the White Sox 35 ...

 

One great sign for the White Sox: Third baseman Joe Crede finally is getting untracked offensively. Crede had a batting cage built at his Missouri home this off-season. He videotaped some of his sessions, then sent them to Sox hitting coach Greg Walker for review. Crede also visited Walker in Chicago to work on his swing ...

The Only team stat I care about it W-L. What good is a high OBP if you're not going to get the runs in? I love watching our guys go up there putting the ball in play.

The Only team stat I care about it W-L.  What good is a high OBP if you're not going to get the runs in?  I love watching our guys go up there putting the ball in play.

 

Chances are if we had a higher obp we would score more runs. No chance way in hell our pitching holds up like this all year. We can't rely on winning all of these one run 2-1, 4-3 games. Don't know about you but i am already sick of uribe, pierz, rowand, and dye first pitch swinging. The more pitches a batter sees will help them in the long run.

Chances are if we had a higher obp we would score more runs. No chance way in hell our pitching holds up like this all year. We can't rely on winning all of these one run 2-1, 4-3 games. Don't know about you but i am already sick of uribe, pierz, rowand, and dye first pitch swinging. The more pitches a batter sees will help them in the long run.

Konerko and Pods both alone have just over a 1/3rd of our total team walks as well. This is going to be an issue in the future. We may be winning now, but as qwerty said, the starting pitching isn't going to be great all season long.

I am going to agree with qwerty whole-heartedly. There is absolutely no way that our pitching will be this good, but our offensive woes show no real signs of improvement. We've seen absolutely wretched seasons from Dye before (2003), Uribe and Rowand had outlier years last year, Crede is bound to fall back to Earth, the list goes on. Yes KW assembled a good pitching staff, but our offense is a scrapheap that needs to be improved upon greatly (*cough* Brian Anderson *cough*). Sadly, KW made the moronic move to sign Rowand to a 3-year deal, thos blocking Anderson, who is seemingly ready now, behind Dye (2 years), Rowand (3) and Podsednik, who the team loves.

 

The aforementioned logjam can really only lead to two outcomes:

 

1) Trade Anderson

2) Trade Rowand

 

Rowand's stock is at an all-time high, and I would not hesitate in the least to ship off Rowand and his low walk rate in favor of Anderson who has shown the ability to hit at all levels while drawing the all important walk (at the trade deadline). Good teams draw walks (Boston last year led the AL w/ an OBP of .360, Florida the year before had a decent OBP of .333, Anaheim had .341 when they won their championship), simple enough. In addition, good teams have solid pitching. KW understands one aspect, but our organization is too damn stupid to look at the other by acquiring/retaining very risky players who don't have a high OBP (Podsednik, Uribe, Rowand) in addition to the ones we already have (Crede). You're handing the other team outs.