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.

White Sox Season Preview Take 1

If your first expression of this post title is that you are wondering why I said take 1 I will explain. I plan on making a season preview before opening day. This is the spring training one, so it may prove to be super wrong or be super right.
Tomorrow the White Sox play their first spring training game. They are playing against the Dodgers. This should be a good game. I think both teams have good chances, although I think the White Sox have a better chance. I can't wait for baseball season and that's why I have been blogging like crazy about them and tweeting about them a lot. I really hope they have a good season, because only the Bulls are really doing well and making me completely happy this season.
This year is bound to be good. We signed a pure DH in Adam Dunn. I think last year we got way to caught up in trying to have a speedy team that we forgot that power is okay also. We didn't have an official or pure DH last year and I think this year we do. That will be a huge difference in our offense. The White Sox biggest problems in the past few years have been that they have not been able to get runners home when they are in scoring position. This stresses me out almost every game. I hope this year they have solved that huge problem with their offense.
The pitching last year was pretty good. The starters were all good pitchers and they will again this year. Peavy will be back early in the season, which was not expected, and that will help our starters have a better year as a total. Buehrle will again be the opening day starter. He is a great pitcher and I love him as our ace. Our other pitchers are great also and they end up performing well. You can read more about all of the pitchers in my blog post about when the pitchers and catchers reported. I went into much more depth in that post.
Overall I think the White Sox are going to have a great season. They made a lot of great additions this offseason and kept a lot of important players. I think resigning Paulie and A.J was huge. Keeping them will help our offense and keeping A.J will help keep our pitchers steady with him. He is a great defensive catcher and keeps the game running quickly. This offseason the White Sox improved both their offense and their pitching staff. Improving both of those parts of the team will make this team much better and will give them the edge to win this division.