The Chicago White Sox Rebound

appliedscience · 04-24-2008, 05:56 PM

2005: 99-63, World Series Champions
2006: 90-72, 3rd in AL Central
2007: 72-90, 4th in AL Central
2008: ???

What is happening here?

This team went from the top of the world to a sub-.500 team full of underachievers and has-beens. Ozzie Guillen is a poor manager, the front office is making dumb moves and doing nothing to help their team, and the fans are beginning to wonder if the White Sox will be returning to the playoffs anytime soon, never mind the World Series. This is where I come in, the new head of baseball operations in Chicago. I will be running the show on and off the field for the White Sox, and I hope to do a better job then they have been doing the past few years.

Our starting rotation goes Javier Vazquez, Mark Buehrle, a really old guy, and two unproven young guys (Contreras, Floyd, Danks). Behind them is not exactly a platoon of quality back-end starters. There are some halfway-decent spot starters (see: Haegar, Egbert), but nobody special. Thankfully, we have Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks to close out out games. They are hosses, but behind them in the bullpen is an odd-lot of journeymen. Octavio Dotel, Scott Linebrink, and Mike MacDougal will try to keep their status as Major League talents while rookie Oneli Perez will try to prove he is Major League status to begin with. Competition is not stiff in the bullpen, but Boone Logan's name may be tossed into the mix.

The center of our lineup is complete with a core group of bangers: Thome, Konerko, Swisher, and Dye. Cabrera is a solid number two hitter at shortstop. Beyond that, we have a musical chairs act happening with lefty/righty splits occuring. Jerry Owens plays center and leads off against righties, but against lefties Swisher plays center and Carlos Quentin takes over left field and bats eighth. A.J. Pierzynski plays catcher against righties, Toby Hall against lefties (both in the nine spot). Joe Crede bats eighth and plays third against righties, while Josh Fields bats seventh against lefties at third. Alexei Ramirez plays second base both ways, but bats seventh against righties, lead-off against lefties. Sure is confusing and I do certainly wish that it was a more settled lineup. Two guys never seen in the starting lineup barring a few occasions are infielder Danny Richar and outfielder Brian N. Anderson. There is not a whole lot as far as competition goes in the minors for starting jobs. Perhaps for a spot on the bench, but not exactly a showdown.

Somehow with all of this our payroll is $110 million. About 43% of that is devoted to pitching, give or take a percent. Our longest contracts belong to Mark Buehrle ($66 million over five years) and Nick Swisher ($35 million over five years). We have only one player in the top one hundred prospects in baseball, which is John Danks.

How do we reverse the tide? We need to focus ourselves and make a plan. Our offense does not look half bad, sure, but we need to improve our pitching a lot. I love having big hitters like Swisher, Konerko, Thome, and Dye, but you do not win games with homeruns. Thome, Swisher, and Konerko maintain solid OBP's, but Dye was down around .315 last season. A lot of these guys are not exactly getting younger either. We need to lower our strikeout count, raise our overall OBP and get guys moving with base hits more often.

On the pitching side, the only answer in the foreseeable future will be created through trades and free agency. The White Sox are not pumping out great pitching prospects right now, so we have to go out and get some. We need some back-of-the-rotation starters to round us out, as well as some decent bullpen arms.

Being that it is January 1st, there is still plenty of time to make some moves before the 2008 season. I will certainly be on the phones the next few weeks looking for people willing to make a deal. I am sure the papers will be pumping out the rumors, but we will just have to wait and see.

The Paper Wire
Tidbits, news, and rumors.

- Sources say several teams have called in regards to the availability of outfielder Jermaine Dye. We have been hearing that the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, and San Francisco Giants have had the most interest.

- White Sox active in free agent market with offers on the table to several players. Rumor has it that Bartolo Colon, among others, may be in a White Sox uniform by the week's end.

- Giants interested in blockbuster swap? News has been spreading that the Giants are looking to add some big time pieces to their team to pump some fans into the stands this season. We don't know if they are in talks with the White Sox in regards to this big deal, but the talks about Dye have led us to believe it is possible.

appliedscience · 04-25-2008, 08:47 PM

Week One
1/1/08 through 1/6/08

1/2/08: The Boston Red Sox trade first baseman Kevin Youkilis to the Milwaukee Brewers for starting pitcher Jeff Suppan and minor league outfielder Anderson De la Rosa.

1/2/08: The Chicago White Sox trade first baseman Jim Thome and outfielder Jermaine Dye to the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Randy Winn, outfielder Dave Roberts, and starting pitcher Matt Cain.

1/5/08: The Chicago White Sox signed first baseman and outfielder Mark Sweeney to a one-year contract.

1/5/08: The Cleveland Indians trade catcher Kelly Shoppach and minor league starting pitcher Steven Wright to the Tampa Bay Rays for outfielder Cliff Floyd and minor league shortstop Neil Walton.

1/7/08: The Cincinnati Reds trade third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and minor league shortstop Rafael Sanchez to the Cleveland Indians for shortstop Jhonny Peralta and minor league starting pitcher William Delage.

---

Needless to say, the fans were shocked and even appalled to hear that not only was Jermaine Dye out of a White Sox uniform, but so was Jim Thome. The two were extremely popular in the Chicago area, and for good reason. Dye had been with the team since their championship run in 2005. He had two extremely productive seasons in a row before seeing his numbers fall off last year. Dye batted .254/317/.486 with twenty-eight home runs and seventy-eight runs-batted-in over 508 at-bats in 2007. Thome, 37-years old, was a powerful cog in the Sox lineup the past two seasons. He hit seventy-seven home runs and knocked in 205 runs over the 2006 and 2007 seasons. In return, the White Sox received the highly-touted 23-year-old pitcher Matt Cain and outfielders Randy Winn and Dave Roberts. Cain, part of the young gun duo with Tim Lincecum, has a 3.73 ERA and 1.23 WHIP over 437 innings-pitcher in his career. He has stuck out 372 while walking 185 and giving up thirty-six home runs. He typically throws a 94-96 mile-per-hour fastball, as well as a slider, curve, and change-up. He is expected to be an ace in a few years. Winn, 33-years-old, is an underrated talent who has often been overshadowed by Barry Bonds. He can play all three outfield positions well, run the bases well, and gets on base at a good clip. Last season, Winn batted .300/.353/.445 with fourteen home runs, forty-two doubles, and fifteen stolen bases. Dave Roberts, a throw-in on the deal, is a speedy 35-year-old outfielder. Roberts stole thirty-one bases in 2007 and forty-nine in 2006. He is known more for his defense and speed than his bat, having only batted .260/.331/.364 last season.

Overall, in this deal we lose a good amount of power, but we also lose a good amount of strikeouts. Our defense improves, as well as our speed on the base paths. With the signing of Mark Sweeney, Paul Konerko can play as a designated hitter against righties, even furthering our defensive skill. I believe the lineups ability to get on-base and move runners along will negate the loss of the long ball. Most importantly, our rotation has gained a very solid pitcher. Cain will be our third starter and we will have to wait and see how he adapts to the American League and how he develops in general. If he comes as advertised, we may have the best one-two-three punch in baseball.

04-24-2008, 05:56 PM	#1
appliedscience Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 4	The Chicago White Sox Rebound 2005: 99-63, World Series Champions 2006: 90-72, 3rd in AL Central 2007: 72-90, 4th in AL Central 2008: ??? What is happening here? This team went from the top of the world to a sub-.500 team full of underachievers and has-beens. Ozzie Guillen is a poor manager, the front office is making dumb moves and doing nothing to help their team, and the fans are beginning to wonder if the White Sox will be returning to the playoffs anytime soon, never mind the World Series. This is where I come in, the new head of baseball operations in Chicago. I will be running the show on and off the field for the White Sox, and I hope to do a better job then they have been doing the past few years. Our starting rotation goes Javier Vazquez, Mark Buehrle, a really old guy, and two unproven young guys (Contreras, Floyd, Danks). Behind them is not exactly a platoon of quality back-end starters. There are some halfway-decent spot starters (see: Haegar, Egbert), but nobody special. Thankfully, we have Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks to close out out games. They are hosses, but behind them in the bullpen is an odd-lot of journeymen. Octavio Dotel, Scott Linebrink, and Mike MacDougal will try to keep their status as Major League talents while rookie Oneli Perez will try to prove he is Major League status to begin with. Competition is not stiff in the bullpen, but Boone Logan's name may be tossed into the mix. The center of our lineup is complete with a core group of bangers: Thome, Konerko, Swisher, and Dye. Cabrera is a solid number two hitter at shortstop. Beyond that, we have a musical chairs act happening with lefty/righty splits occuring. Jerry Owens plays center and leads off against righties, but against lefties Swisher plays center and Carlos Quentin takes over left field and bats eighth. A.J. Pierzynski plays catcher against righties, Toby Hall against lefties (both in the nine spot). Joe Crede bats eighth and plays third against righties, while Josh Fields bats seventh against lefties at third. Alexei Ramirez plays second base both ways, but bats seventh against righties, lead-off against lefties. Sure is confusing and I do certainly wish that it was a more settled lineup. Two guys never seen in the starting lineup barring a few occasions are infielder Danny Richar and outfielder Brian N. Anderson. There is not a whole lot as far as competition goes in the minors for starting jobs. Perhaps for a spot on the bench, but not exactly a showdown. Somehow with all of this our payroll is $110 million. About 43% of that is devoted to pitching, give or take a percent. Our longest contracts belong to Mark Buehrle ($66 million over five years) and Nick Swisher ($35 million over five years). We have only one player in the top one hundred prospects in baseball, which is John Danks. How do we reverse the tide? We need to focus ourselves and make a plan. Our offense does not look half bad, sure, but we need to improve our pitching a lot. I love having big hitters like Swisher, Konerko, Thome, and Dye, but you do not win games with homeruns. Thome, Swisher, and Konerko maintain solid OBP's, but Dye was down around .315 last season. A lot of these guys are not exactly getting younger either. We need to lower our strikeout count, raise our overall OBP and get guys moving with base hits more often. On the pitching side, the only answer in the foreseeable future will be created through trades and free agency. The White Sox are not pumping out great pitching prospects right now, so we have to go out and get some. We need some back-of-the-rotation starters to round us out, as well as some decent bullpen arms. Being that it is January 1st, there is still plenty of time to make some moves before the 2008 season. I will certainly be on the phones the next few weeks looking for people willing to make a deal. I am sure the papers will be pumping out the rumors, but we will just have to wait and see. The Paper Wire Tidbits, news, and rumors. - Sources say several teams have called in regards to the availability of outfielder Jermaine Dye. We have been hearing that the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, and San Francisco Giants have had the most interest. - White Sox active in free agent market with offers on the table to several players. Rumor has it that Bartolo Colon, among others, may be in a White Sox uniform by the week's end. - Giants interested in blockbuster swap? News has been spreading that the Giants are looking to add some big time pieces to their team to pump some fans into the stands this season. We don't know if they are in talks with the White Sox in regards to this big deal, but the talks about Dye have led us to believe it is possible.

04-25-2008, 08:47 PM	#2
appliedscience Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 4	Week One 1/1/08 through 1/6/08 1/2/08: The Boston Red Sox trade first baseman Kevin Youkilis to the Milwaukee Brewers for starting pitcher Jeff Suppan and minor league outfielder Anderson De la Rosa. 1/2/08: The Chicago White Sox trade first baseman Jim Thome and outfielder Jermaine Dye to the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Randy Winn, outfielder Dave Roberts, and starting pitcher Matt Cain. 1/5/08: The Chicago White Sox signed first baseman and outfielder Mark Sweeney to a one-year contract. 1/5/08: The Cleveland Indians trade catcher Kelly Shoppach and minor league starting pitcher Steven Wright to the Tampa Bay Rays for outfielder Cliff Floyd and minor league shortstop Neil Walton. 1/7/08: The Cincinnati Reds trade third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and minor league shortstop Rafael Sanchez to the Cleveland Indians for shortstop Jhonny Peralta and minor league starting pitcher William Delage. --- Needless to say, the fans were shocked and even appalled to hear that not only was Jermaine Dye out of a White Sox uniform, but so was Jim Thome. The two were extremely popular in the Chicago area, and for good reason. Dye had been with the team since their championship run in 2005. He had two extremely productive seasons in a row before seeing his numbers fall off last year. Dye batted .254/317/.486 with twenty-eight home runs and seventy-eight runs-batted-in over 508 at-bats in 2007. Thome, 37-years old, was a powerful cog in the Sox lineup the past two seasons. He hit seventy-seven home runs and knocked in 205 runs over the 2006 and 2007 seasons. In return, the White Sox received the highly-touted 23-year-old pitcher Matt Cain and outfielders Randy Winn and Dave Roberts. Cain, part of the young gun duo with Tim Lincecum, has a 3.73 ERA and 1.23 WHIP over 437 innings-pitcher in his career. He has stuck out 372 while walking 185 and giving up thirty-six home runs. He typically throws a 94-96 mile-per-hour fastball, as well as a slider, curve, and change-up. He is expected to be an ace in a few years. Winn, 33-years-old, is an underrated talent who has often been overshadowed by Barry Bonds. He can play all three outfield positions well, run the bases well, and gets on base at a good clip. Last season, Winn batted .300/.353/.445 with fourteen home runs, forty-two doubles, and fifteen stolen bases. Dave Roberts, a throw-in on the deal, is a speedy 35-year-old outfielder. Roberts stole thirty-one bases in 2007 and forty-nine in 2006. He is known more for his defense and speed than his bat, having only batted .260/.331/.364 last season. Overall, in this deal we lose a good amount of power, but we also lose a good amount of strikeouts. Our defense improves, as well as our speed on the base paths. With the signing of Mark Sweeney, Paul Konerko can play as a designated hitter against righties, even furthering our defensive skill. I believe the lineups ability to get on-base and move runners along will negate the loss of the long ball. Most importantly, our rotation has gained a very solid pitcher. Cain will be our third starter and we will have to wait and see how he adapts to the American League and how he develops in general. If he comes as advertised, we may have the best one-two-three punch in baseball.