Prime reasons why the 2006 White Sox failed to repeat

[Drew]

I know managers get undue praise for success and undue criticism for failure, but Ozzie Guillen owns a lot of the blame for his poor in-game and personnel decisions this year. I feel like he got a huge bench upgrade in Mackowiak and Cintron that he has largely misused, and by cause and effect the team has underachieved.

 

We have simply not been able to get all the pistons firing like we did last year. The offense carried the starting pitching up through the All-Star break and now is squandering quality starts by becoming seemingly dependant on the home run, whereas last year we could keep the line moving. As a result, we let Runelvys Hernandez beat us as easily as Johan Santana and Kenny Rogers.

[greg775]

I'd agree with you VaFan. Plenty of reasons and you hit 'em all.

I'd move up the competition however.

Detroit pulled away from us at that one point, upping the lead from 2-3 games

to 8 or whatever and we've been in our inconsistent funk ever since.

[RME JICO]

Article from Ken Rosenthal:

White Sox prove things don't always go to plan

 

CHICAGO - "You've got to see my e-mails right now," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was saying. "Oh, my God."

 

Less than one year after the White Sox's first World Series triumph in 88 years, fans are not sending Guillen love notes.

They're blaming him for the White Sox's demise, calling him an idiot, telling him to go back to his native Venezuela.

 

Welcome to 21st-century America, where everyone has an opinion, everyone craves a scapegoat and last year is so yesterday.

 

Well, just as there was no simple explanation for the White Sox's rise in 2005, there's no easy explanation for their decline in '06.

 

Guillen is holding himself accountable — "blame it on me," he insists. General manager Ken Williams also is accepting responsibility — "everyone knows whose desk this falls on," he says.

 

When Sox broadcaster/cheerleader Ken "Hawk" Harrelson told the Chicago Sun-Times that the Sox were "one of the biggest underachievers I've seen," neither Guillen nor Williams argued.

 

"If there's such a thing as sputtering your way to 90-plus victories, we've done it," Williams says. "This is a 100-win team. I felt like that from the beginning."

 

Well, the Sox are on pace to win 91 after Tuesday night's 7-0 victory over Minnesota, but they're 4½ games behind the Twins in the AL wild-card race with 11 to play.

 

They've never clicked, never functioned as a seamless unit, and their final three games against the Twins at the Metrodome could amount to nothing.

 

It's baseball, folks. And sometimes, baseball defies logic.

 

Guillen and Williams can be fiery, so some might find it fitting that two of their past targets — former Sox stars Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez — took turns this week pushing the Sox toward elimination.

 

The leadership question, though, would be more valid if the White Sox hadn't played better in the first half when Guillen was in the middle of one controversy after another.

 

Or if Williams hadn't drawn praise last offseason for adding first baseman Jim Thome, right-hander Javier Vazquez and reserves Rob Mackowiak and Alex Cintron to a championship mix.

 

The players, too, can be faulted only so much. While some of the holdovers might have grown complacent, others are physically spent.

 

"To sit here now and say, ‘What are we doing? What's not there?' That's tough to answer," White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko says.

 

"We were going about things the same way when it was there. Anybody who tries to figure it out doesn't know the game."

 

Well, the White Sox must try to figure it out, if only to devise solutions for next season.

 

Then again, some of their problems were unavoidable:

 

 

The World Series title came with a price

Including the postseason, Mark Buerhle threw 260 innings last season, Freddy Garcia 249, Jon Garland 237 and Jose Contreras 236 2/3. Garcia and Vazquez then participated in the World Baseball Classic in March.

 

And the pitchers weren't the only ones worn down.

 

"Doing what (we) did takes its toll on next year's team," Konerko says. "You don't have as much in the tank."

 

The White Sox were 57-31 at the All-Star break. But since then they're 28-35, and rank 10th in the league in ERA.

 

 

The AL Central became a monster

The Tigers replaced the Indians in the anticipated three-team race with the Twins and White Sox, and that's only one reason the division figures to keep getting more competitive.

 

The Tigers are deep in young pitching and willing to spend. The Indians need only to fix their bullpen to rejoin the mix. And the Royals, making rapid progress under new GM Dayton Moore, are becoming a more formidable opponent, the way the Rockies did this season in the NL West.

 

 

Few suitable trade options were available on July 3

Yes, the White Sox's only acquisitions before the non-waiver deadline were relievers Mike McDougal and David Riske and backup catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. But the Dodgers' Greg Maddux was the only quality starter to get traded, and he wasn't going to approve a deal to an American League team.

 

Williams took a run at Nationals left fielder Alfonso Soriano, but pitching was the Sox's biggest need and Williams would have been foolish to sacrifice top prospects for a two-month rental. Finding a replacement for struggling center fielder Brian Anderson also was a low priority; the Sox rank second in the AL in runs scored.

 

So, was all this just a matter of poor timing and bad luck?

 

No, the White Sox have indeed underachieved.

 

Consider that the Sox are a combined 14-11 against the Royals and Devil Rays. The Tigers are a combined 16-4 against those teams, and play the Royals six more times.

 

Consider also that the Sox are within one Joe Crede homer and seven Crede RBIs of becoming the first team in AL history — and first team other than the 1996 and '99 Coors Field Rockies — with four players to reach 30 homers and 100 RBIs.

 

Doesn't mean much, considering the Sox's pitching staff ranks eighth in the league in ERA.

 

"We should be better in a lot of things," Guillen says. "We should be better in the starting rotation. We're not doing the little things. We're not playing fundamental baseball real consistently all year long. That's why we're suffering right now the way we've suffered."

 

Pitching will be the White Sox's primary focus this offseason; Williams could dangle Garcia, Vazquez and even Buehrle in an effort to produce a younger staff with more upside.

 

But remember this: Just as last season was "one of those years," so was this season — only with entirely different results.

 

"I said it the day we won the World Series — if the playoffs started again tomorrow, we could get swept four games," Konerko says. "I never thought we were a great team. I always respected that it's such a fine line. I knew that a bad run like we're having this year was very possible."

 

It's baseball. It happens.

 

Ken Rosenthal is FOXSports.com's senior baseball writer.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5983302

[shoota]

I just don't see that Ozuna is much of an upgrade over Pods. I like the fact that Ozuna hustles. But hustle can only make up a little bit for talent.

 

The only reason why they acquired Pods in the first place was they wanted speed at the top and their best prospect, Jerry Owens, was two years away at the time.

 

NorthSideSox72 was asking why you think Podsednik is better than Ozuna and why you would take Pods "any day over Ozuna."

Edited September 21, 2006 by shoota

[Wanne]

Like Jico said...the lineup changes got to the point of being ridiculous. I really didn't have problems losing games to the Yanks, Twins or Tigers for the most part. Some were very winnable games. The games that stick in my head where the Sox have blown it are losing games to the DRays, KC, Cleveland...teams like that. Just between those 3 teams....there's your difference in the standing right now.

[shoota]

There's one reason why an upgraded World Champs team couldn't make the playoffs the following year: Ozzie took the Championship trophy to Chavez and snubbed Bush.

[Greg The Bull Luzinski]

There's one reason why an upgraded World Champs team couldn't make the playoffs the following year: Ozzie took the Championship trophy to Chavez and snubbed Bush.

 

Oliver Stone, is that you?

[Dam8610]

7. The Tigers and Twins beat us at our own game (which was the Twins game before we stole it in 2005).

 

Completely false. The Twins' game was to ride good pitching and contact offense to the playoffs, only to make an early exit. Let's hope they continue that game.

[greg775]

Tonight's game is prime example why we failed to repeat and why the Tigers

have a chance to win it all.

 

Us: First inning man on third one out.

MVP Dye, who I still happen to love, hits a

grounder to third. What the f***? No RBI.

Thome also makes out to end the abysmal inning.

 

Tigers' starter, off the hook, cruises until he gives up two solo homers with Det. leading 4-0.

Solo homers meant squat. Iguchi looked so proud after his in the dugout. Those

jacks meant little.

--Our relief work. s*** as usual. Doesn't matter who Oz brings in, no matter what some

of you say, they all suck (at least the last month) with the exception of Jenks.

 

 

Them: Man on first, hit and run single.

They also hit two bombs, including one by Maggs.

Maggs makes nice catch of liner in right.

Their middle relief ... powerful pitching.

Their closing ... not pretty (I'd be worried about Jones in postseason maybe) but

good enough to finish off our snakebit, well-done team.

 

Detroit played like a team tonight. Faced a tough starter in Garland and took what

they could get. We flailing away and get our two solo homers and single over the rf's

head.

 

I will miss baseball this offseason but at least our team can regroup and start new next

year. Next year will be different. Everybody will be held accountable since we are no

longer defending champs. Even my beloved Oz will have his head on the block if we

don't produce. The WC title will be long forgotten by everybody.

GO SOX in 2007!

[Dick Allen]

Isn't it funny how our manager opens up his big mouth these last 2 series, first with some comments that could be taken as less than complementary to Thomas only to be burned by Thomas, and then go off on Magglio again before he realized the context of Magglio's comments, and then getting burned by him. You would think maybe just maybe someone would have the balls to tell him to shut up.

[greg775]

Maggs and Frank didn't burn us because of Oz's comments.

It's just the curse of the second half of this season.

 

Unfortunately our team didn't have the balls to repeat.

Next year we'll be back at square one.

Unfortunately we may regret having had this one slip away.

No matter what our fans think, it's not often a team in Chicago gets in position

to make the playoffs.

We had a great chance this year and didn't get it done.

Next year if we keep playing like this, we could be out of the race by June.

[Milkman delivers]

I'm going to narrow this down and say: Pitching and managing.

[VAfan]

I'm going to narrow this down and say: Pitching and managing.

 

Those are certainly at the top, but they aren't the only reasons. The offense was also inconsistent, and couldn't beat lefties at all.

 

Compare the splits v. lefties and righties below and you can see why we were beaten so badly. Only 4 players on our team hit lefties well -- Dye, Konerko, Crede, and Ozuna -- and Ozuna went two months getting only 2 hits after his hamstring injury, so that leaves only 3 reliable players against lefties. Iguchi should have been the 4th player, but for most of the year, he completely sucked in this department.

 

Now look at how many outs we had in the lineup against lefties. Take Jim Thome, who Ozzie continued to hit in the #3 hole for most of the season regardless of the pitcher. His .709 OPS and .356 slugging is PATHETIC for a slugger. Ross Gload would have been a better choice (or Frank Thomas, but I realize that was not an option). This is one hole we need to fix in the offseason. Or take Uribe-Anderson-Pods, who often hit back-to-back-to-back against lefties. None hit as well as Thome's pathetic numbers. And their primary subs -- Cintron and Mack -- hit lefties even worse. Then look at AJ's .591 OPS. That's at least 5 automatic outs in the lineup most games against left handed pitchers. You can't win that way.

 

Chicago White Sox Team Batting Statistics against left handed pitchers

NAME G AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS

Jermaine Dye 77 159 31 56 8 0 15 109 35 27 33 0 1 .352 .442 .686 1.128

Paul Konerko 86 180 32 58 10 0 13 107 35 22 32 1 0 .322 .403 .594 .997

Joe Crede 79 169 27 47 13 0 9 87 33 17 15 0 1 .278 .349 .515 .864

Pablo Ozuna 51 134 18 43 9 2 2 62 15 6 11 1 4 .321 .355 .463 .817

Ross Gload 23 37 4 11 1 1 1 17 5 2 5 0 0 .297 .333 .459 .793

Tadahito Iguchi 84 196 26 52 11 0 6 81 19 24 39 1 0 .265 .344 .413 .757

Jim Thome 96 180 23 42 4 0 6 64 21 29 62 0 0 .233 .353 .356 .709

Juan Uribe 74 178 14 42 11 1 4 67 27 5 36 0 0 .236 .254 .376 .630

Brian Anderson 78 149 17 32 10 1 1 47 8 16 34 0 2 .215 .292 .315 .607

Alex Cintron 35 59 8 16 1 0 0 17 3 3 5 2 0 .271 .306 .288 .595

A.J. Pierzynski 70 129 11 33 3 0 1 39 13 3 19 0 0 .256 .289 .302 .591

Scott Podsednik 68 134 19 29 4 1 1 38 8 12 30 11 4 .216 .284 .284 .567

Rob Mackowiak 33 51 5 11 0 0 0 11 6 3 12 0 0 .216 .286 .216 .501

Chris Widger (9 Bal) 25 47 3 7 2 0 0 9 1 6 12 0 0 .149 .241 .191 .432

NAME G AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS

White Sox 127 1850 245 489 89 6 61 773 237 178 355 16 12 .264 .333 .418 .751

 

 

Chicago White Sox Team Batting Statistics against Right handed pitchers

NAME G AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS

Jim Thome 133 288 82 92 19 0 35 216 81 70 75 0 0 .319 .448 .750 1.198

Jermaine Dye 139 357 66 109 19 3 28 218 83 28 81 7 2 .305 .360 .611 .971

Paul Konerko 145 361 60 111 18 0 19 186 70 38 66 0 0 .307 .372 .515 .887

Joe Crede 142 354 47 104 18 0 20 182 60 10 41 0 1 .294 .317 .514 .831

Rob Mackowiak 90 191 23 59 9 1 5 85 16 23 41 5 2 .309 .382 .445 .828

A.J. Pierzynski 131 360 52 110 18 0 15 173 50 17 49 0 0 .306 .345 .481 .825

Ross Gload 56 98 14 34 6 0 1 43 11 4 7 5 0 .347 .375 .439 .814

Tadahito Iguchi 131 334 67 100 12 0 11 145 45 31 66 9 4 .299 .363 .434 .797

Pablo Ozuna 56 42 7 14 1 0 0 15 2 1 5 4 2 .333 .378 .357 .735

Juan Uribe 121 261 37 61 15 1 15 123 36 8 40 1 1 .234 .261 .471 .732

Scott Podsednik 132 368 65 102 22 5 2 140 37 42 63 29 14 .277 .350 .380 .731

Brian Anderson 105 188 28 46 13 0 6 77 24 14 47 4 3 .245 .309 .410 .719

Alex Cintron 80 210 26 60 7 3 4 85 34 7 28 8 3 .286 .312 .405 .717

Chris Widger (9 Bal) 22 29 3 7 1 0 1 11 6 3 8 0 0 .241 .303 .379 .682

NAME G AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS

White Sox 152 3477 580 1015 179 13 163 1709 559 297 626 72 32 .292 .350 .492 .842

 

In the offseason, Kenny must restore some balance to this lineup.

 

He should start by replacing Pods at the top of the lineup. Bobby Abreu would have been perfect, even if he's too expensive. I don't believe Ozuna is an option (he hit way over his head at the start, then went two months with only 2 hits). And I don't think Jerry Owens is ever going to be a player. Rob Mackowiak should have been used in this role this season against right handers instead of subbing for Anderson in CF, but I don't think he's the answer.

 

Then he needs a right handed player that can DH or play 1B (using Konerko as DH against lefties). Ross Gload should have been used a lot more than Ozzie used him, since we had no other good options this year, but he's not the answer.

 

We also need a right handed catcher that can hit something. It is hard to believe that you can't do better than AJ's .591 OPS, yet Widger didn't and Alomar is WAY TOO OLD.

 

Then we need to decide if Anderson and/or Uribe can learn to hit. We can afford to carry one of them, but having both (plus Pods) puts more pressure on the team. I'd be inclined to give them another chance, because Uribe has a ton of power and drives in a lot of runs for a SS and shows stretches where he kills the ball. Anderson is young and came up a year early.

 

In other words, we need a more balanced and consistent offense, and Ozzie needs to learn to play the guys who can hit the other team's pitcher (instead of just hoping they can). Look at the Yankees. Having a great offense can cover up a lot of pitching inconsistency. I expect them to ride it to another WS crown (though I'll be pulling for anyone to knock them off).

[GreatScott82]

This team failed because of the break up of GROUP 4!!!

[AirScott]

This team failed because of the break up of GROUP 4!!!

I know it's a joke, but what if you're a believer in karma?

[Balance]

I just get the feeling that burnout was a factor. Postseason last year combined with the World Baseball Classic (for some players) probably wore on the team. I'm not saying this is the only factor, but I think that's another thing that has contributed to this season.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Nice comments VAfan, i don't think the lack of post season is on KWs head, he asked all the vets in the club house if they needed anything to make a post season run, and they said no, he addressed his BP the best he could, Thornton and MacDougal are excellent pick ups, and he knew cotts and politte wouldn't be lights out but he didn't expect this, basicly everyone on the pitching staff from last year sans Bobby, Garland, Jose all decided to s*** the bed at the same time, its ok we've got the ring last year and the future is still bright for the Chicago White Sox. the AL Central is going to be GREAT for a long time, embrace it.

 

Garland sucked the first two months. Jose has sucked for most of the last 3 months. Bobby started sucking when we needed him the most. In other words, they're all to blame for this season. Just some less than others, I guess.

[BHAMBARONS]

I will put it into 2 words Corpse Ball. It is hard to win when relying on the home run for your offense.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

PITCHING

 

 

It's no coincidence that this team looked like dog s*** once the offense started to struggle...Since the offense is what kept the team alive for as long as it did, I hesitate to heavily criticize the offense for the offensive slump we ended with...The bats weren't gonna stay hot for an entire season and post-season run, so our lack of pitching is what ultimately killed us this season...

[BearSox]

Prime reasons why the 2006 White Sox failed to repeat

 

Ozzie Guillen.

[Colorado Sox Fan]

I still believe they can make the playoffs. So much negativity on this board! But, if they don't, here's why:

 

Jim Thome couldn't repeat his first half performance in the second half.

Bad pitching.

Joe Crede didn't work magic.

Uribe, Anderson, Pods, Iguchi combination didn't hit for much of the season.

Every team in the league wanted to knock us off every game.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

You can point out poor SP, poor timely hitting, failure to get on base enough (*cough* Podsednik *cough) but it all boils down to not being hungry this season. Thats it in a nutshell.