USA Today White Sox preview...

[RudyLawRules]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al...x-preview_N.htm

[GoSox05]

I can't stand Baseball Prospectus

[ScottyDo]

Guillen has been stressing fundamentals again this spring, believing the team got away from the "Ozzieball" style that marked its championship run in 2005.

 

I doubt ozzie phrased it that way

[LVSoxFan]

I think it's spot-on, though. I was b****ing about that all second half last year. That we got away from what won us 2005.

[bmags]

read it, spot on. Realy no need for the "prediction" from the stat gurus.

 

Though i think a tanked season is possible (of course) i still see us too talented not to at least be 500.

 

not a bad article for a national publication though.

[southsideirish71]

I think it's spot-on, though. I was b****ing about that all second half last year. That we got away from what won us 2005.

 

 

You should of saw the warning signs for last year issues a bit before the 2nd half. The difference between the two teams was a pitching staff that was all on in 05, and that sucked in 06. Our offense masked the pitching's shortcomings by posting just an amazing first half. My feeling is this, our offense decided to put the team on their back and started to press. I think this happens more often than not in the 2nd half of all whitesox seasons. They O tries to do too much. They get away from hitting to all fields, to letting the home runs come naturally. They become a lift and pull offense trying to hit everything out of the park, especially in game critical situations. AJ was the perfect example of this, look at his first half stats when he had little power and was just hitting the ball to all fields and had a high average and a lot of doubles. Then in the 2nd half his average plummetted and his power went up. You dont need to be a genius to figure out what he was trying to do. To me I would rather take AJ without a lot of power, and hitting a high average any year than have AJ with a lower average and a lot more power. We have enough power rapped up in the middle of our order that the rest of our guys should be concentrating on hitting line drives, getting on base and moving up into scoring position. This has nothing to do with bunting or what Ozzie calls smallball. Its about getting on, and getting them in via situational hitting.

[DrunkBomber]

The article is pretty cut and dry, nothing out of the ordinary. I really dont know what to think about this season yet. I feel the same way about this year as I did in 05 which is that I really dont know what to think until the season starts and I see how the players perform.

[LVSoxFan]

You should of saw the warning signs for last year issues a bit before the 2nd half. The difference between the two teams was a pitching staff that was all on in 05, and that sucked in 06. Our offense masked the pitching's shortcomings by posting just an amazing first half. My feeling is this, our offense decided to put the team on their back and started to press. I think this happens more often than not in the 2nd half of all whitesox seasons. They O tries to do too much. They get away from hitting to all fields, to letting the home runs come naturally. They become a lift and pull offense trying to hit everything out of the park, especially in game critical situations. AJ was the perfect example of this, look at his first half stats when he had little power and was just hitting the ball to all fields and had a high average and a lot of doubles. Then in the 2nd half his average plummetted and his power went up. You dont need to be a genius to figure out what he was trying to do. To me I would rather take AJ without a lot of power, and hitting a high average any year than have AJ with a lower average and a lot more power. We have enough power rapped up in the middle of our order that the rest of our guys should be concentrating on hitting line drives, getting on base and moving up into scoring position. This has nothing to do with bunting or what Ozzie calls smallball. Its about getting on, and getting them in via situational hitting.

 

Well we've all been over this countless times and I think we can all agree that really what happened last year was the perfect storm of nothing being in synch: when the "O" was on the pitching wasn't, when the pitching was on the "O" disappeared, when the pitching and "O" were in synch then the bullpen would blow it.

 

Having said that, these things were noticeably absent last year:

 

1) Oppposite field slap hitting

2) Bunting

3) Stealing bases

 

I loudly complained about this about halfway through last season--what happened to the things that helped us win in 2005?!?! I've heard all the arguments about how we were never "really" smallball and that's fine, but TELL me these three things weren't AWOL last season.

 

Now that we've had time to step back I'd say from an offensive standpoint the real problem was the top and bottom of the order leaning too heavily on the meat (Thome, Paulie, Dye) to do something. No wonder it seemed like only home runs would save us, and that's way too many eggs to put in the HR basket IMO. People also seem to forget that Thome was a non-factor 2nd half. While he was killing 1st half and bringing up everybody's game with him apparently, in the second half I can't tell you how many times I saw him get fanned on a low-and-in pitch. So that took him out, leaving Paulie and Dye (and I guess Crede).

 

And there was our left-handed pitcher woes, being unable to hit them.

 

We can talk all day about what went wrong. I guess what I'm saying is: if we're hitting for percentage, bunting and stealing--or at least trying--you won't hear complaining from me, win or lose. At least we're trying to execute. Last year it seemed we gave up and waited for somebody's Big Bat to bail us out.

 

My totally un-scientific opinion, of course, but hey... even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.

[The Ginger Kid]

I so agree with this...

 

The last time the GM took this much heat in the winter was 2004-05, when he traded slugger Carlos Lee to the Milwaukee Brewers for Podsednik and let Magglio Ordonez leave as a free agent, replacing him with Dye. The result was a 99-win regular season and world championship.

 

"We heard the same things after the '04 season. We won a World Series in '05," Konerko says. "I think the front office should have earned the trust that they're doing the right thing."

 

I hated the trade for Pods and was furious with letting Mags go. This time around I'm giving KW the benefit of the doubt.

[BearSox]

I can't stand Baseball Prospectus

[southsider2k5]

The most important part of the article for those who insist on spreading BS about the payroll.

 

The GM says the payroll will be slightly higher than last year's $95 million-$100 million and there were no white flags attached to the trades of 17-game winner Freddy Garcia and highly regarded prospect Brandon McCarthy.

 

"I think we have an equal or better chance to win this year as a result of what we've done," Williams says. As for competing with the Cubs, he adds, "I don't have the luxury to worry about anything other than wins."

[whitesoxfan101]

I can't stand Baseball Prospectus

 

They had us just as bad in 2005 and we won it all, so i'm glad they hate us. I bet they have the Cubs being really good again due to Kerry Wood being healthy too (oops).

[Y2HH]

They had us just as bad in 2005 and we won it all, so i'm glad they hate us. I bet they have the Cubs being really good again due to Kerry Wood being healthy too (oops).

 

Using Kerry Woods name and healthy in the same sentence...is st00pit.