CSF Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 Naturally, everybody's going to have a different opinion on who that player is. One player might be Frank Thomas, who needs to have a strong year to help solidfy our batting order. Another could be Bartolo Colon, to live up to all the hype that has been given him. Or, Billy Koch, as he should have something to prove after helping the A's to an early exit vs the hated Twins. But, in my honest opinion, the player that has to succeed for the Sox to see the playoffs, & possibly the World Series has to be Jon Garland. When we traded Matt Karchner a few years back to get him, just about every analyst raved about him. And until last year, the hype had went unfulfilled (remember, he was almost traded to the Angels for Erstad, until it fell through at the last minute). Last year, he showed glimpses and stretches of dominance. This year, practically fully entrenched as a starter, he has to really be able to step it up this year whether out of the 3/4 slot. Buerhle & Colon should get their wins, but Garland himself will need to produce this year should the Sox want to get to the World Series. If he can produce 15-17 wins, we should have a strong shot at the playoffs over the Twins. What does everybody else think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac9001 Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 Garland and Carlos Lee. If they have big seasons, both our pitching and offense will improve greatly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CubKilla Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 I'm with you 100%. I was gonna reply with Garland when I saw the thread title. A case could also be made for Wright..... but I think JG has much more potential to be a dominating starter in the MLs. It has been said that to win, you need pitching. Wright and, especially, Garland need to come through big for the 2003 White Sox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSF Posted January 19, 2003 Author Share Posted January 19, 2003 Garland and Carlos Lee. If they have big seasons, both our pitching and offense will improve greatly. Take it for what it's worth, but Peter Gammons of ESPN.com wrote that Carlos Lee should have a monster campaign this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Fainter Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 I think the Impact player is Frank Thomas. If he hits, he is a HUGE impact. If he continues to disintegrate and falls apart like a 29 cent mop, it changes everything. The whole team changes. I have no idea what he will do this year, but I would not put him on a fantasy team. Hope I'm wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubleM23 Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 The season hinges most on Garland and Wright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulokis Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 I would say Garland also. He has a chance to be one of the best young pitcher in the game. I heard Sandy Alomar Jr. talk about Garland and all he said JG need to work on is just be focus and consistent. I watched the game when he pitched against Boston where he almost had a no hitter 'til late in the innings I think and he looked awesome. And then he went for consecutive starts looking like a dominant pitcher after that. With our 1-1 punch of Buerhle and Colon, if Garland steps up big it could mean lots of wins for the Sox and giving the whole team a great attitude towards the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soxplosion Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 Im going to go with Jim on this one for the offensive impact player. I think if Frank stinks or is just average, we will have an average to slightly above average offense. But if he is great like in 2000, barring any injuries, we will be dominant on offense. As for the impact pitcher, Id say Colon. Hes the new guy and probably the ace (I would put him above Buehrle) so if he does well, the youngsters will probably follow along behind him. Hes got to be the leader and if he does well Wright and Garland I believe will follow in his footsteps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 I agree, it's Garland. You can make a valid case with Thomas. But, I feel we will still score plenty of runs even if Frank just duplicates last season. But, with Garland, if he steps up and we don't have any key injuries, that should do the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witesoxfan Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 You may shoot me down for this....and for all I care, do it. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Aaron Rowand. If Aaron plays very good, all-around for us, we have a very good shot at winning. As of right now, we have no range from LF to CF, and not much more, though there is more going from RF to CF....so if Rowand plays very well defensively and gets good jumps on almost all balls, then we will have a decent defense in the outfield....and then Willie Harris can come in late in the game and take over in CF with Rowand moving to LF. He has to make very strong, very smart throws all year, as much as humanly possible. He can't try to test his arm and overthrow the cutoff man like SamME does. Offensively, he has to do what we need him to. He needs to hit between .280 and .300 with 15-20 homers and 60-80 RBIs and 20-25 SBs with about 10 sac bunts or so, strike out, at most, about 80 times, walk around 50-70 times and help jumpstart the bottom of the order. If all that happens, which is unlikely, but possible, I'd say we'd have the best offense in the majors and quite possibly the best offense ever in White Sox history. We already know that about the top 7 will be pretty good hitters all around(including 2-7 who will probably all hit 25 homers)....when Aaron gets on, Miguel can then put it into play and hopefully hit around .250 and drive in 50-60 or so and hit 10 bombs and steal 15-20 bases or so. That could be the one exception to offensive minded teams winning the series....if that lineup gets going, they could hit for an hour straight. If Rowand played like that, I'd say we would have the division virtually wrapped up in late July or early August. As of right now, even if Rowand doesn't hit like that, I still think we could win around 95 games or so....with Rowand hitting like that, we could win a lot more than that....maybe 10 or 12 more. You think the Twins will win over 100? I don't. Regarding pitching....someone in our 3-5 in the rotation will have to bust out and pitch their ass off, or they will have to improve over last year's 3-5...that should really be no problem, considering we had a young Wright as the #3 and very s***ty starters in Glover and Ritchie vacating our 4 and 5 spots. I really think our rotation and bullpen will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac9001 Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 Rowand can't steal bases. He has speed, but gets bad jumps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hotsoxchick1 Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 if you ask me they ALL are going to have to step up at some point and do something spectacular in order to keep a good momentum going that will take us above and beyond our s***ty past two seasons.........you just cant single out one or two guys who have to improve alone cause they all have something they each need to improve on in order for us to win............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 frank thomas has to lead this team with his bat imo...it makes so much easier for maggs and paulie when he hits... there are 2 guys i think really need to come through or we are in trouble...miguel olivo because he will be doing all the catching as soon as sandy goes on the DL and the other is danny wright...who i believe will pass up jon garland as the number 3 pitcher on the staff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSF Posted January 19, 2003 Author Share Posted January 19, 2003 You may shoot me down for this....and for all I care, do it. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Aaron Rowand. If Aaron plays very good, all-around for us, we have a very good shot at winning. As of right now, we have no range from LF to CF, and not much more, though there is more going from RF to CF....so if Rowand plays very well defensively and gets good jumps on almost all balls, then we will have a decent defense in the outfield....and then Willie Harris can come in late in the game and take over in CF with Rowand moving to LF. He has to make very strong, very smart throws all year, as much as humanly possible. He can't try to test his arm and overthrow the cutoff man like SamME does. Offensively, he has to do what we need him to. He needs to hit between .280 and .300 with 15-20 homers and 60-80 RBIs and 20-25 SBs with about 10 sac bunts or so, strike out, at most, about 80 times, walk around 50-70 times and help jumpstart the bottom of the order. If all that happens, which is unlikely, but possible, I'd say we'd have the best offense in the majors and quite possibly the best offense ever in White Sox history. We already know that about the top 7 will be pretty good hitters all around(including 2-7 who will probably all hit 25 homers)....when Aaron gets on, Miguel can then put it into play and hopefully hit around .250 and drive in 50-60 or so and hit 10 bombs and steal 15-20 bases or so. That could be the one exception to offensive minded teams winning the series....if that lineup gets going, they could hit for an hour straight. If Rowand played like that, I'd say we would have the division virtually wrapped up in late July or early August. As of right now, even if Rowand doesn't hit like that, I still think we could win around 95 games or so....with Rowand hitting like that, we could win a lot more than that....maybe 10 or 12 more. You think the Twins will win over 100? I don't. Regarding pitching....someone in our 3-5 in the rotation will have to bust out and pitch their ass off, or they will have to improve over last year's 3-5...that should really be no problem, considering we had a young Wright as the #3 and very s***ty starters in Glover and Ritchie vacating our 4 and 5 spots. I really think our rotation and bullpen will be fine. Didn't see it from that perspective, but that is true. If Rowand can put up those type of numbers, opposing pitching staffs would have absolutely NOTHING to pitch around. Rowand is definitely a player that needs to have a major impact for us to take it all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witesoxfan Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 Rowand can't steal bases. He has speed, but gets bad jumps. That is something that can be worked on though. Regardless, that is probably the least important thing we need out of him...as long as he runs well, he should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy Young Porzio Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 its pretty much any of those role players that need to play well cuz we already expect it from our stars. 2 out of the 3-5 pitchers need to step us for us to be really successful. plus guys like lee and rowand and crede need to play well for us to take the division. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shbart Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 I think the guy who may have a very big impact is D'Angelo Jimenez. You forgot about him didn't you? He most likely will be the leadoff hitter and he forms the keystone combo with Valentin... that could be huge. Also, he's replacing a decent offensive player in Durham. He looked good at the end of last year and in winter ball. Let's hope that's a sign of things to come. Frankly Garland, Thomas and Lee don't make my list for impact. Each one of them could improve and that would be great, but all three could have years like last and the Sox could win. Rowand would be my runner-up choice. His offense and defense will be an important part of the mix. Rios might be a nice sleeper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwsox Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 ... miguel olivo because he will be doing all the catching ... Olivo does have a huge burdern on him, and I hope that he is able to handle it. I think that Alomar will be catching 2-3 games a week, though, and maybe the reduced workload will keep off the DL. I wonder if Alomar will be Colon's designated catcher, given their past working relationship and all the good things Alomar has said about Colon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witesoxfan Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 Olivo does have a huge burdern on him, and I hope that he is able to handle it. I think that Alomar will be catching 2-3 games a week, though, and maybe the reduced workload will keep off the DL. I wonder if Alomar will be Colon's designated catcher, given their past working relationship and all the good things Alomar has said about Colon. That's what I was thinking. That means that, at the most, Alomar would catch 2 games a week. What I don't understand is why the organization does not try to convert Josh Paul into a utility infielder....because then not only would he be able to catch, but he'd be able to play 1B, 2B, 3B, and SS, and he'd actually be worth keeping...and then if he could learn OF, we'd have a guy that could play all 9 positions. Those kind of players come few and far in between. As it is, I see no reason to keep Josh Paul....he's a 3rd string catcher that can't go down to the minors without clearing waivers first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwsox Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 Interesting ida on JP - very interesting, I ahdn't thought of that, and might be worth it to make him an all around utility guy since he does offer something with the bat and on the bases - I like your idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Fainter Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 Josh Paul has already worked out in left field. I'm sure he would be OK; probably well ahead of Carlos with the glove. If he sticks, he will be a fifth outfielder, I'm sure. Otherwise, hard to justify a roster spot on a third string catcher, especially if Alomar looks healthy on 3-31-03. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 especially if Alomar looks healthy on 3-31-03. lol...how sad is that...we worry about our catcher going n the DL before the 1st pitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjmarte Posted January 19, 2003 Share Posted January 19, 2003 To me it is Garland and Big Frank. Everyone else I am pretty sure I know what to expect, these two have the most upside and the biggest question mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.