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.

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.