Well it’s that time.
Baseball is in full swing. As we
approach the All Star Break, I’m trying to finish my team breakdowns. I started with the AL West before knocking
out the entire NL. I then knocked out
the AL East and am finishing up with the AL Central. And while I ranked teams alphabetically last
year, this year I’ll rank them based on last season’s standings. Using last season’s final standings, the second
AL Central team I’m look at will be the Chicago White Sox.
Projected Starting Lineup
C- Tyler Flowers
1B- Paul Konerko
2B- Gordon Beckham
SS- Alexei
Ramirez
3B- Jeff Keppinger
LF- Dayan Viciedo
CF- Alejandro de
Aza
RF- Alex Rios
DH- Adam Dunn
Starting Rotation: Chris
Sale, Jake Peavy, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Dylan Axelrod
Bullpen: Addison Reed, Matt Thornton, Jesse
Crain, Nate Jones, Matt Lindstrom, Ramon Tronsco, Hector Santiago
Projected Batting Order
CF- Alejandro de
Aza
LF- Dayan Viciedo
DH- Adam Dunn
1B- Paul Konerko
RF- Alex Rios
SS- Alexei
Ramirez
3B- Jeff Keppinger
C- Tyler Flowers
2B- Gordon Beckham
The White Sox are more in the middle than possibly any team
in baseball. Generally, you have talent
to win now, or you are re-building with young players to be successful in the
future. The White Sox are sitting right
in the middle of both camps. They are
even more in the middle than the Indians, Central rivals who seemingly seem to
be dealing with the same things. The
difference is the Indians have added young free agents to augment their young
core. The White Sox have an aging core
mixed in with some talented young guys.
And they didn’t make any moves to unload their talented veterans or add
to some clear weaknesses on the team in the offseason.
This season has not gotten off to the best start for the
South Siders. They are ranked near the
bottom third in just about every counting offensive stat category. However their offense was more potent last
season, which led to their second place finish.
Alex Rios led the team with a 304 AVG while chipping in 25 HR, 91 RBI,
23 SB and 93 R. That’s quite the career
renaissance for the oft over-paid right fielder. No one expected a 20/20 season from a 30 year
old that has often been considered a bust.
He’s not off to the same start, but he’s still playing well early this
year. The power leader on this team was
Adam Dunn who hit 41 HR and also led the team with 96 RBI. His job is just to hit ‘em deep and drive in
runs. After a disastrous 2011 campaign
he really turned it around. He still
strikes out a ton and hit only 204, but don’t be fooled by the batting average
(which is quickly becoming an antiquated state do to it’s misleading
characteristics) Dunn had a great year.
He walks a ton (333 OBP) to go with all the power and RBI. Dunn is a limited, but good hitter who is
very important to the Sox. Another
offensive leader on this team is the veteran Paul Konerko. He is getting up there in age, but Father
Time doesn’t seem to be affecting his game as much as you would think. He hit
298 last year with 26 HR and 75 RBI.
He’s another year older this year but the Sox are expecting him to play
at the same level he played at last year.
Unfortunately the clock may have finally caught up to him as injuries
and ineffectiveness have limited him thus far.
Those three guys are the heart of their order, and they are all on the
other side of 30. This illustrates part
of the White Sox’s issues. But all those
players are still talented enough to produce at a pretty high level this season
and I expect them to. For Konerko I’m
thinking 260 with 15+ HR and 70 RBI. Dunn
should hit around 200 with 30+ HR and 80+ RBI and Alex Rios (the biggest
question mark among them while also being the youngest and most complete
hitter) I’d say 270 with 20+ HR and 70 RBI.
The Sox lost their catcher A.J. Pierzynski, the most disliked player in
baseball according to a player’s poll, who hit 27 HR for them last year. Tyler Flowers won’t replace that output, but
should be solid if unspectacular behind the plate. At the plate offensively there will be a big
void. The top of the order features
Alejandro de Aza and Dayan Viciedo.
Viciedo will hit second. He’s
pretty average with the bat, but has plus power, hitting 25 HR last year. If he can harness that power a little more he
could be a future middle of the order bat in Chicago. But now, I’m thinking 250 with 20+ HR. His RBI numbers will be limited hitting
second, but he should see an uptick in R.
Think 60+ for both. Alejandro de
Aza is a very good leadoff hitter. He
hit 281 last year with 81 R and 26 SB.
He got on base at a 349 clip. He
even showed some pop with 9 HR. I’m
thinking another similar season with 275+, 20+ SB and 80 R. Those are very good numbers for the top of
the order. After those players, Gordon
Beckham, Alexei Ramirez and Jeff Keppinger join Paul Konerko across the
infield. Ramirez is perhaps the most
accomplished hitter among them with a 265/9/73/59/20 line. The only thing he does really well is steal
bases, but he’s not elite at that either.
He’s a plus hitter and solid fielder.
Beckham is considered a draft bust, which makes people think he’s worse
than he really is. But there weren’t a ton of second basemen who hit 16 HR last
year, and Beckham also added 60 RBI. But
his offense has limitations, with a 234 AVG.
And Jeff Keppinger had a career year as a utility player in Tampa Bay
last year. He turned that into the most
head scratching deal of the offseason where position scarcity did him a huge
favor. He hit 325 with 9 HR and 40+ RBI
and R. But that was only in 115 games,
and again playing matchups. In a full
time role, he’s limited, perhaps a 250 hitter with 10 HR power. And he’s struggled enough this year to fall
into a platoon role. That’s the
offense. It’s not great, but it has
pieces. If the old guys produce, the
young guys get on base, and you can get anything out of the infielders at the
bottom of the lineup, this offense could be potent. But if any part of that goes wrong, then
struggles will ensue. And the Sox have
dealt with plenty of struggles so far in 2013.
The leading pitcher for this Chi Sox squad was Chris
Sale. Sale led the team with 17 Wins and
a 3.05 ERA. The lefty was an All Star
with 192 Ks in 192 IP. He had a 1.14
WHIP and 235 BAA. He is possibly the
most successful so far of the recent reliever-turned-starter candidates. There are some who are concerned about his
workload from last year, but he’s playing pretty well now and was downright
nasty last year. Gavin Floyd was supposed
to be a major part of the rotation this year, but was lost for the year after 5
starts to a right elbow injury. So they
are counting even more heavily on Jake Peavy and John Danks. Peavy led the staff with 219 IP last year. He went 11-12 with a 3.37 ERA. It was one of his best seasons since his All
Star past. He had a 1.10 WHIP and 234
BAA. His K numbers weren’t back to where
they used to be, but were still good at 192, enough to lead the team. He’s the veteran of the staff now. He’s been on the shelf too, but is due back
around the All Star break and is a very important part of this rotation. Many thought he’d be on the trading block,
but he’s publicly said he doesn’t want to leave Chicago. So we’ll see how that works out. A lot of teams could use him. John Danks has been helping a lot to take
over with the loss of Peavy and Floyd.
Danks only started 9 games last year, going 3-4 with a 5.70 ERA. He was coming back from injury and they hope
he can return to his old form before he went down. He’s been so-so this year at 2-6 with a 4.38
ERA. He’s healthy, but not quite back to
where he was. A lot of other guys
combined to fill out the rotation last year, making starts here and there.. But this year they let a number of those
pitchers, including Phillip Humber and Francisco Liriano go, so they wanted
Dylan Axelrod to be their number 5 man.
However with all the injuries they also have had to get starts from
Hector Santiago and Jose Quintana. Of
those 3, Quintana had the most success last year going 6-6 in 22 starts with a
3.76 ERA. But his WHIP and BAA were both
high, so those numbers aren’t as strong as they look. Dylan Axelrod was the one Chicago thought was
most ready to be in the rotation after only 7 starts last year. In those starts and another 7 relief
appearances he went 2-2 with a 5.47 ERA.
His WHIP and BAA were through the roof, but he must have done enough in
spring training to get the nod over the others as the first choice to start. Hector Santiago, the last choice among the 3,
has been making a fair number starts due to the injuries to the other
pitchers. He was solid last year, but
his numbers were bolstered by his strong relief appearances. He’s been doing okay this season, but dipping
into their bullpen to get starts had weakened their middle relief corps. The rest of their bullpen was so-so last
year. Addison Reed led the team with 29
Saves, but that came with a 4.75 ERA and 266 BAA. Those are bad closer numbers. Matt Thornton led the team in Holds, with
26. He was a stronger pitcher with a
3.46 ERA. His WHIP and BAA numbers were
average, but he got the job done in the 8th inning. Their best bullpen arm was Jesse Crain who
had 10 Holds with a 2.44 ERA, 171 BAA and 1.08 WHIP. He’ll hold down the middle relief with Thornton
and Reed will still be closer, but hopefully he’ll have a stronger year this
year, then he did in 2012. In the end,
there are strengths and serious questions in the bullpen. That mirrors the issues in the rotation with
some youngsters and injuries muddling the waters. This group of pitchers will need lots of help
from the hitters this year.
The White Sox are in a difficult spot. They have some talent, but aren’t in the
position to really win now. They have
some veterans they could ship off for some prospects to help add to their
team. There are some solid young players
on this team, but the Sox aren’t close to contending this year, as their first
half performance in 2013 has made clear.
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