Philly Sports Post - Home of the PSP Podcast

We close out the AL Central with the defending division champions, The Chicago White Sox.

The Chicago White Sox

Last Season’s Result: 89-74, 1st place in the AL Central.

Major Offseason Changes

• Added IF Wilson Betemit (Trade from Yankees)
• Added SP Bartolo Colon (Signed from Boston)
• Lost SS Orlando Cabrera (Signed with Oakland)
• Lost 3B Joe Crede (Signed with Minnesota)
• Lost OF Ken Griffey Jr. (Signed with Seattle)
• Lost SP Horacio Ramirez (Signed with Kansas City)
• Lost SS Juan Uribe (Signed with San Francisco)
• Lost OF Nick Swisher (Traded to Yankees)

Letter Grades

• Offseason Moves: F The White Sox won the division in 2008, and then lost a lot of talent to free agency. When Bartolo Colon is your only free agent acquisition, you weren’t really trying. Admittedly they didn’t anybody essential, but they just didn’t try.

• Rotation Grade: B Apparently Gavin Floyd is a good pitcher, which is news to us in Philadelphia. We spent what seems like a decade for Floyd to emerge, and it just never happened. Mark Buehrle, Jose Contreras, and John Danks round out the front line of this rotation, and they are among the league’s best. Bartolo Colon, not so much.

• Bullpen Grade: C+ A middle of the road group with a solid closer in Bobby Jenks. They will only improve on last year’s average performance which, although decent, I consider an underachievement.

• Lineup Grade: B A top 5 offense in 2008, that was faces several changes for 2009. Although Griffey and Crede were injury risks, they still had talent, and they may be missed if nobody steps up in their place. Although any lineup with Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome hitting 3-4 will score runs without too much trouble.

Player most closely linked to team’s 2009 hopes: Carlos Quentin. After his breakout season was cut short by injury, can Quentin return to his MVP form. If he is for real and plays as he did last year, this team is going to be fine. If he regresses even slightly, it could be trouble.

Biggest Breakout Star Potential: Josh Fields. Fields already had a breakout year in 2007, but the team wanted to showcase Joe Crede for a trade early in 2008 so Fields started the year at AAA-Charlotte. The problem for Fields was that Crede started the year on an unbelievable tear, and Fields never got the chance to play. Now with Crede in Minnesota, the job is Fields’ along with the chance to shine in a lineup where he’ll get protection from some of baseball’s finest sluggers.

Best Case Scenario: Quentin again plays like an MVP, this time for a full season. The young starters build on promising ‘08s and they contend again in 2009.

Worst Case Scenario: Regression from the young staff, and the offense doesn’t quite click as it did in ’08. This is a tight division and it will be tough to repeat for the Sox.

Prediction for 2009: 81-81. 3rd place in the Al Central (Tie with Kansas City)

Local Thoughts

Nobody responded about the Sox, so we’re done here. Come back tomorrow as we start the AL East with the orange and black attack, The Baltimore Orioles.