Chicago White Sox
 

The White Sox were somewhat of a disappointment last year to many prognosticators.  However, for those of you who read my pre-season evaluation last year, you knew that the White Sox pitching staff would probably not be able to sustain it's 2000 heroics for another season.  But before I sprain my arm patting myself on the back, let me also say that I predicted mediocre seasons from Seattle and Arizona.  Oh well.  This year's White Sox stand a good chance of returning to supremacy in the Central, not necessarily for anything they've done, but for the moves their division opponents have made.
 

Hitting

The White Sox have a formidable line-up.  If the front office can just get out of it's own way, they could very well have one of the best line-ups in the majors.  Led by 1B/DH Frank Thomas, this line-up could be loaded with power and on base.  However, Pale Hose management is insistent on the presence of veteran players in the name of defense, rather than allow a promising group of young hitters to blossom.

Penciled into the everyday line-up are veterans SS Royce Clayton and newly-acquired OF Kenny Lofton, forcing INF Jose Valentin once again to scramble for playing time between 3rd, short and outfield.  Clayton's reputation as a decent offensive player comes largely from several 30+ steal seasons in 1996-97.  Lofton's numbers have been in steady decline for 3 years now at at 35, are not likely to reverse that trend.  The Sox would be better off playing Joe Crede at third, moving Valentin to short and allowing either Aaron Rowand or Joe Borchard to take over Lofton's spot in the outfield.  Such a move would give the Sox boosts in on base and slugging of close to 100 points per position with no sacrifice on defense.

As for the other positions, Thomas spent almost the entire year on the DL in 2001 due to a torn tendon in his right arm.  Other than some hamstring soreness, he looks healthy this spring and poised to produce his usual season of .400+ on base and .600+ slugging.

OF Magglio Ordonez and 1B/DH Paul Konerko are developing into two of the AL's better hitters.  Both possess 30+ home run power and both draw enough walks to keep their on base percentage above .350.

2B Ray Durham had posted strong numbers from the lead-off position before last year, but he struggled to adjust to the high strike and his on base plummeted.  He'll be pushed this year by young 2B Tim Hummell, who doesn't possess Durham's combination of power and speed, but is a career on-base machine.

Behind the plate, the Sox will have veteran Sandy Alomar Jr.  However, Alomar has never had great success staying healthy so his back-ups, Mark Johnson and Josh Paul should get plenty of playing time.  Johnson is pretty clearly the better hitter of the 2 - perhaps even the best of the 3 - but Paul is the likely beneficiary, as he is viewed as the superior defensive player.
Rating: 60 (70 if the better hitters get to play)
 

Pitching

The ChiSox have a young staff, led by LHSP Mark Buehrle.  Buehrle was a revelation in his first full year in the majors, finishing 4th in the AL in ERA.  Entering spring training there were some health concerns over the number of innings he logged in 2001 and his decline in strikeouts in the second half.  His spring has not been as impressive as last year's so there may be some validity to them.

Groundballer Todd Ritchie was added to the starting rotation this winter.  Lacking decent run support in Pittsburgh, his meager win totals the past 2 years confined him to relative obscurity.  With better offensive support, he could easily be a 15-game winner in Chicago.

Lefty Jim Parque is returning from shoulder surgery and may not be fully healed.  Never much of a hard thrower anyway, the loss of 5-8 mph off his fastball this spring is troubling.  It may be a struggle for him to remain in the rotation.

The bottom of the rotation will be manned by two of several promising young arms.  Jon Garland, Danny Wright, Jon Rauch, Matt Ginter and Matt Guerrier all have good minor league resumes.  The two with the best mix of control and stuff are Rauch and Ginter.  Rauch is coming off shoulder surgery so it may not be until next year that he takes his place in the rotation.  Wright has excellent velocity but serious control issues, as does Garland.  While he doesn't possess the overpowering stuff the other do, Guerrier has good control and might sneak into the last spot if none of the other shine this spring.

The bullpen is both talented and deep.  Keith Foulke closes things down in the ninth with one of the best change-ups in baseball.  Bobby Howry and ex-Oriole future closer Ryan Kohlmeier will be his primary set-up men.  Gary Glover, Rocky Biddle and whoever loses out on the last spots in the rotation will capably fill in long relief.

The rotation lost some depth in exchange for stability in the deal that brought Ritchie to Chicago.  If several of the young starters mature quickly, that move will be golden.  However, if they continue their struggles from last year, the lack of quality depth - not in terms of talent but in skill - will be a problem.
Rating: 55
 

Defense

For the past several years, Valentin has shown greater range at short than Clayton.  True, he makes more errors, but are those errors significant enough to account for the balls he gets to that Clayton doesn't or for the superior bat that Crede would bring to the line-up if Valentin were moved to short full-time?  Probably not.  Where once he has the undisputed king of defense in center field, Lofton is showing signs of age; his range only ranks in the middle of the pack now.  None of the other players can be described as brilliant fielders, but Crede, Lee and Durham are certainly above average and Ordonez is no liability.  First base is somewhat of an adventure, but both Thomas and Konerko are serviceable.
Rating: 55
 

Management

Kudos have to be given for the excellent job the White Sox have done to develop quality major league talent.  However, their record with that talent is somewhat mixed.  The pitching staff has suffered an inordinate number of injuries which may be linked to their usage and it's questionable whether the Sox got adequate returns on some of their deals involving some of their top pitching prospects.  Manager Jerry Manuel has the respect of his players, so he gets close to maximum effort from them.  But he plays way too much small ball - he led the AL by a substantial margin in sacrifice bunts and was 4th in hit-and-run attempts - for having a team that should simply mash the opponent out of the ballpark.
Rating: 50