White Sox Season Preview Take 2

I did a season preview way earlier in the year when the pitchers and catchers reported. There was a lot that I didn't know back then about this team. Spring Training doesn't mean much, but it can tell you a lot about how some of the younger players are going to play.

I got a good vibe from spring training this year. The wins and losses don't matter and that's not what I'm talking about. I liked what I saw with Milledge, Morel, and Beckham. With those young guys in our lineup playing at their best we are a good team. Konerko will be solid as always, and the rest of our offense seems like it will be ready to play. Our pitching was great, I'm extremely excited about Johnny Danks and Gavin Floyd. Both pitchers came to our team without experience. Buehrle groomed them and now every year they get better. The pitcher I am most excited about is Chris Sale. When he first started playing last year I knew he was a gamer. I was asking for him to be out there as much as possible, he seemed like one of the few guys who could actually win a game for us. This year he will be better and I look forward to him most likely being a starter next year.

The bad things that I noticed were very few. I remembered a few things. I remembered that Adam Dunn strikes out a lot, and that is an understatement. I also remembered how terrible Teahen is at defense and that is why he didn't get the third base job. Other than those two I can't think of anything that was a bad sign. Buehrle didn't pitch well at the beginning of spring training, but he will be fine in the regular season.

The worst thing this off-season and spring training was the Peavy situation. The worst part was that I thought he would be out for a good chunk of the season, then he made a really rapid recovery and I loved what I saw. Right as he was about to finish his miraculous recovery he started to have tendinitis in his elbow and we are back to square one. Peavy will probably be back around the same time he was expected to with the first injury. White Sox fans shouldn't be worried. He will come back when he is ready and he will be fine.

Okay, now onto the future, where I think the White Sox are going to go this year.
They have gotten some love from some ESPN guys to be a dark horse in the league, and that's the position the White Sox like to be in. They have great pitching, and it will be even better when Peavy comes back. You could argue that this pitching staff is only second to Philly. The White Sox also have added a lot of good things to their offense this year. Our outfielders are going to be better than they were last year, and if one slacks off Ozzie won't hesitate to put Milledge in. Our infield is very young excluding Konerko. Morel, Beckham, and Ramirez are going to need to grow up and play well. Beckham needs to have a bounce-back season, which I think is very possible. I'm not too worried about the offense of the other two. This team is built to win a World Series. I'm not going to drink the kool-aid and say they will win, I'm saying that they are built to win it. If we do everything right and don't have very many injuries the World Series is possible. The twins and Tigers are tough, though and we are going to need to play well in every division game. If they play well against their division, and win the division they have a good chance at going all the way. The way the team is set up with great pitching and a good offensive core, they are built for the playoffs. Stay tuned to this blog for a AL Central preview soon, and for more up to date info follow me (@the_chicago_fan) and my blogs (@tcf_blogs)




I had to post this, since I love all team commercials, like the one goal series and I hope the All in series is just as good.

The 3rd Base Battle

The White Sox have one big problem with their infield. They don't know who will be the starting third basemen. They have four good candidates for the job. They are Omar Vizquel, Brent Morel, Dayan Viciedo, and Mark Teahen. They all have a good chance, and I don't think one guy is running away with it. This is going to come down to the last few days of spring training. This competition is good and bad for the White Sox. It is good, because it will pick the best third basemen and not the one that had a good season last year and will let Ozzie see who has a good competitive spirit. The bad effect on the White Sox is that a competition doesn't always help to have a good locker room atmosphere. I think this group has a couple of mature players, so that won't be a problem but it's something to worry about. I don't know who is going to win this, but I do know a thing or two about each player.

1. Brent Morel
Brent Morel played a little bit last year, but not enough to say that he would be the starter at the beginning of the year. He has great defense and pretty good offense. He impressed a lot of fans last year when he did get to play and one of those fans was me. I was quick to say that he should be in there as much as possible. He has arguably the best defense among all the contenders and also can swing the bat pretty well. I think that qualifies him to be our third basemen, but the other players are also good. The downside of Morel is that he won't always swing the bat well and usually if you are a good fielder you put your body in danger a little too much and injuries could be a problem. I really like Morel to be the third basemen, but the other guys have pretty good arguments also. The defense is the key, if Ozzie wants defense Morel is the best, but if he wants offense it will all depend on who is hitting well at the time because all of the contenders are hot and cold hitters.

2. Mark Teahen
The first thing I have to say is that I didn't and don't like the trade that we made for Mark Teahen, we gave two of our top young infielders for a player who has done relatively nothing to help the team so far, so I might be a little bias while talking about him. He has terrible fielding. When he did play last year before the injury he committed so many errors it made me want to cry. Every time the ball was hit to third base area I would worry. That is not even an exaggeration of how bad he was at defense last year. I don't know if that was normal or abnormal for him, but if I were Ozzie I would be afraid to put Teahen out there with a young pitcher or any pitcher. Teahen's hitting is nothing to write home about, but its probably one of the top 2 out of this group. Like I said before all of these players are hot and cold hitters, so it will probably come down to defense.

3. Omar Vizquel
I liked the way that Vizquel played last year, but he is very old and I don't think he will be able to play as well this year. I was surprised that he could play as much and as well as he did last year and I don't think he will be able to pull that off again. I do like him to be a guy that will go in for whoever is the starter if they aren't hitting well during the game and can play a couple innings every other day. I just don't think that he will be fit enough and young enough to play game after game for the whole summer. If he is fit enough and he has another year like last year then, yes, play him as much as he can handle. I just don't want to push him too hard so that he just gets terrible. He is a good contender for this roll if he can handle it. He is probably the most consistent hitter of them all and he is consistently good.

4. Dayan Viciedo
Last, but not least is Dayan Viciedo. He recently injured himself, but he is one of the White Sox top prospects. If he isn't on the team this year, or the third base starter this year, he will sometime in the future. He is the White Sox utility man, but he is still fighting for this starting job. He has good fielding and good hitting, but like most of the other players he is a hot and cold hitter. He has a lot of potential and if he taps into that this year I think he can do a lot of damage. If Morel or Teahen don't turn out to be stars, I think this guy will. He is a great player that still needs to mature a little, but if he does he will be a great infielder or outfielder. I personally don't think he will get this job, because he will be wanted to be used as a utility man, so that he can go anywhere off the bench.

I thought I would share an AMAZING White Sox video with you that sort of previews the season, and it gives me the chills at the end. Watch it, its a great video.
SOX PRIDE.

Lastings Milledge

This is not one of the topics that I originally planned on posting about today. I was going to talk about the 3rd Base battle or the Peavy situation, then I got a great suggestion that I should post about Milledge and his effect on the White Sox this year and what his effect will continue to be as the year goes on. I still don't know for sure if he will be on the 25 man roster. Lillibridge is fighting for that final position also and today he hit a big home run. The White Sox lost, but that home run may have saved Lillibridge from being run out of the team. Milledge was showing Brent up in every way the whole spring. The race for that final spot was about to be declared over and then today he hit a home run. I'm not saying that that one home run he hit is going to get him on the roster, it will help him get momentum and maybe match up what Milledge has done this whole spring so far. For the purposes of what I say in the rest of this post, Milledge wins this race.
Lastings Millidge has been a relatively known name in the MLB so far in his career, but he hasn't had a good year in a long time. He will not be a White Sox starter on opening day, but as the season goes on he might. I think he will start as their 5th outfielder, but if he continues to dominate when he gets into the game he will move up to the 4th outfielder. By the end of the year I think he can be a starter for the White Sox. I think Juan Pierre might have a bad season, and if he starts to play bad I don't think Ozzie will hesitate to put Milledge in the game as a starter.
This spring he has a .267 average with 2 home runs and 8 hits. That's not a great showing of what he can do, but he has shown if you actually watch the games that he is a great outfielder and can be a very good hitter. He is only 25 years old and has a lot of good years to come and I hope those years are with the White Sox. By the end of the spring I expect him to have around 20 hits 5 or 6 home runs and a good average. That is a pretty good spring showing and will prove to be enough to put him on the roster.
I think that once he is on the roster he won't look back. He will go from the last guy on the roster to being a big part of our team. I have a feeling about this player and our outfielders could use a little pressure to play well enough so that they are not replaced. I think that will be the biggest effect he has the White Sox this year. He might not get to play a lot of time, but the fact that he is always there waiting for one of the outfielders to make a mistake will put pressure on the outfielders to play much better than they did last year and to not make any mistakes. Even by just sitting on the bench he will help our team. That right there is a player.

White Sox Offseason Pickups

The White Sox have made a few really good offseason additions and keeping of people. The first thing is that they kept A.J Pierzynski (no idea how to spell that). He has been a leader of this team for years. He is one reason why our pitching moves so fast. He knows how to call a game well. Sometimes we get mad at him and those are the times where we put in Ramon Castro. But, when we need him he will be there and he will play well.
The next is that we signed Adam Dunn. During the end of last years trade deadline we were looking at him seriously, but we never ended up getting him. The fans were upset because we needed a full time DH. Now we have one because we decided to just sign him this offseason. So I guess it is true that if Kenny really wants someone he will get him. I think he will be a great addition to the team. We need that power in our lineup. Our try to become like all speed last year was a fail and we will have to face the fact that we are a power team. Adam Dunn will help us get that power along with the next guy I am going to talk about.
Paul Konerko resigned with the White Sox this offseason. This is the thing that made me the happiest. He is my favorite player and he is a major leader on this team. If he left, our team would probably fall apart for at least one year. Without him we are lost. We have no leader. Paulie was not only a leader on the field but also in the clubhouse. He is a much needed player. With him still there I think we can still call it the White Sox. Without him they are just not the same team. He is their identity. Their Derek Jeter if you will. We need him and without him you lose fans and you end up losing some games.
The final thing is something that just came up. Jesse Crain one the of the top relievers in the Twins bullpen is reportedly going to sign with the WhiteSox having just lost Bobby Jenks and having a week bullpen last year, this will be a good addition. The best part is that it is us adding a good reliever and the Twins losing one. Hopefully him and Sale (if sale is still in the bullpen) will make this a really good bullpen.
So, overall the White Sox are major winners in this offseason. I'm glad that Kenny realized we needed to make a lot of changes so that this team is a winner next year and we make it back to the playoffs. The people in Chicago really need one good team for once. Just kidding because the Hawks, Bulls, and Bears are good. I meant to say that people in Chicago really need one good baseball team for once. I know the White Sox have done their part by winning the world series, but the other team isn't doing their part so we have to take theirs also. (sorry but I just had to do it cubs)

Price vs. Hernandez

The winner of the Cy Young was announced and it was Felix Hernandez who won. He had a great season with good stats in both strikeouts and ERA. He was unlucky that he was on a bad team and did not get a lot of wins. This is the second year in a row that a Cy Young winner has been chosen without even looking at wins. Last year it was Zack Greinke and his great ERA. Felix was just plain dominant this year. In years past the wins have counted almost more than anything else. Now there has been a sudden change. I'm going to compare the top two pitchers in this race. Price finished second and a lot thought that he should have been first.
David Price
David Price had a lot of wins this year, and that is what everyone paid attention to. But, there was more to his great season this year. Even with wins excluded David Price was dominant this year. He pitched a lot of good games, and had a good team behind him. Some people say that its harder to pitch when you know that your offense won't back you up anyway. To be a good pitcher you have to be able to stay focused on what you are doing and each pitch. Anything that distracts you is tough. David Price didn't have much distracting him this year. He had a good team and they liked him and the manager and pitching coach liked him. He had it all. He was in the media, he was the starting all-star game pitcher and everyone kept saying that he would win the cy young at this point in the year. He didn't win it and some Rays fans are upset. He just didn't lead in any of the major categories. He had a lot of wins and pitched well. To be the Cy young winner you have to pitch great and that brings us to the next subject of this blog.
Felix Hernandez
As I was writing this blog I received a couple tweets about which one they thought was better. Everyone kept saying that king felix deserved to win. I believe them, because like I said it is harder to pitch with a bad team. They expect you to be a leader. Every time you pitch they expect you to go a lot of innings. Hernandez had the most innings pitched this year and he had the best ERA. Even though the managers and players and everyone on the team were pressuring him he pulled through. He definitely deserved to win this Cy Young. He was the best pitcher this year. It is good to see that the people that vote on these things have the common sense to say that it was the best and most dominant pitcher that should win this award. Felix Hernandez was definitely the pitcher who was the best at those areas. That is why he won and I agree and I applaud the voters for choosing him.

This Year's MLB Playoffs

You might see the title of this post and think, why is there a post about the MLB playoffs in the middle of a series. Not at the end or the beginning of the playoffs or even at the end or beginning of a series. Well the reason I am writing this right now is because I feel that now is the best time to predict who will win each series and to talk about a lot of things that have happened so far and what I think will happen later on in this year's playoffs. The other reason is because I really didn't have anything else to write about. So lets get started.
Giants vs. Phillies
Coming into this series I liked both teams. I would have rather saw Atlanta be here, but I liked the Giants. I thought the Giants weren't good enough to stand up to this Philly team, but they proved me wrong. Throughout the whole series I had the Phillies as favorites and still do. I doubt whether or not that will actually happen, but the Phillies still have a chance and the next two games are at home. Both these teams are very good and will put up a strong fight whether they are playing the yankees or the Rangers. I'm still sticking with my guns and picking the Phillies, but the Giants might come along and ruin my whole day. And if they do, I think I would be fine with it.
Yankees vs. Rangers
First thing I'm going to say about this is that I am a Yankee hater. Just because I don't like the Yankees doesn't mean I don't think they are a good team and they will compete every single game, but I think the Rangers have the right weapons that will hurt the Yankees. They have the one pitcher that can actually handle the very strong Yankees line up. If the Rangers want to win they will need to have him go more than he did the last time in which he only went 6 innings. The Rangers don't have a great bullpen. But, if they can score off the Yankees pretty good in the first few innings and they won't have to face rivera in a win or not situation they will win tonight. No disrespect to the Yankees and how good of a team they are, but this year isn't the year, last year was. This year they won't win it all.

One final thought. I think the National League this year is very strong. Both the teams left in the American League just don't match up to the teams in the NL. So I think no matter what American team and no matter what National team. The National team will win series.

yess. a brawl in baseball.

If you know me at all you know that a big reason I like watching hockey is the fights. Yes, I like the excitement of the game of hockey too, but fighting is really the best part. So last night with some tension about playing for first place the Cardinals and the Reds got into a fight. Apparently the fight started when a Reds player said "hi" to Yadier Molina. That triggered something in Molina and so he got into the guys face and benches cleared. The funniest part of this fight to me was afterwords when Chris Carpenter complained about the Reds player spiking him in the back. He said it was unprofessional. How can you be professional during a fight? Punching. Yes that is totally professional. That was definitely my favorite part. Another good part was when Molina came up after the brawl and hit a home run. It was just him saying. EAT THAT. and I love that. Another good part. Only the two managers were kicked out. Really? What they needed to make sure that their players didn't fight so its their fault. I don't even think they were really in the fight that much. So this was a pretty funny brawl. But is it good for the team and for the sport? I think it is a good thing for the team, because it shows the Cardinals aren't going to back down. They will fight to win this division. (no pun intended) If it is good for the sport, I'm not sure. But if I were a Cardinals or Reds fan I would want to see these games now because its a rivalry now. Even if I'm not a fan of either. I want to see these games because something might break out. It is good for revenue. I just love fights and last night's was priceless.

A-rod's chase for 600

So far A-rod's chase for his 600th home run hasn't really been publicized. Now its on ESPN.com, but only because he hit 599 last night. When Griffey was chasing it the last five was publicized. Is it because A-rod took steroids? I don't think so. I think that maybe if they don't over do this before its real news, then when it is real news they will over do it. I have been 50-50 with my opinion on A-rod for his whole career. Sometimes I like him and think that he has the potential to be a great. Then there are times when I hate him because he is a little overrated. I think that because this hasn't been very publicized it might get rid of a little bit of the opinion that A-rod is overrated. I really don't think that he is overrated anymore. Now we realize he is human because he did steroids. And now he is a better player because he has been able to finish in the playoffs. Last year was the first time A-rod actually played well in the playoffs and the end of the regular season. Now I think that A-rod has earned all the publicity he gets. I think that doing steroids might have been the best thing that happened to him. Let me explain. People got over the steroids thing pretty quickly because almost everybody else did it at that time. Now he doesn't get as much tv time. So people think a little better of him. Now he is better because he wants to prove himself without steroids. So now A-rod is a lot better and viewed better all basically because he did steroids.

Winning streak comes to an end.

The white sox had an 11 game winning streak going until they lost yesterday. It was upsetting for me to even watch. As the white sox kept building and building their streak I was getting more and more excited. I was watching as many games as I could on TV cause i don't have MLBtv. Yesterday I was watching the game and it was 2-0 and almost could have been 4-0 at the end of the first but then our pitching gave up just too many runs for us to catch up. The key to our winning streak was our starting pitching and our good relief. In this game we could see that when the pitching is bad our team just can't catch up. This proves that we were winning because our pitching was dynamite. I don't mean to be putting John Danks down, because he has been a very good pitcher before, but he had a bad game. When he came out, though our relief gave up runs. If they hadn't done that we could have won this game. We have to give ourselves chances to win. We have an offense that is able to score 5 or 6 runs. That means that the pitchers should only give up 4 or 5 or less. This gives us a chance to win. We have one of the best rotations in baseball, but until this winning streak nobody noticed. Now people are saying wow! they have a dynamite pitching staff. With Mark Buerhle and Jake Peavy you are a pretty good team. When you add Gavin Floyd and John Danks who are young assets you are really good. When you add Garcia who has good games where sometimes he is unstoppable and sometimes he is shaky, but that's ok. He won game 4 to win the world series when he was with the white sox before in 2005. Now with those five you are great. Now you add your bullpen which is pretty dominate, you have one of the best pitching staffs in Major League Baseball. When you have an average or even good offense and one of the best pitching staffs in the game, then you should also have one of the best teams in the game. Instead we aren't playing to our potential and we are in second or third place in our division. When/if the white sox wake up they will be the team to beat. Lets see if that happens.