Crasnick and ESPN talk about the Sox...

[CanOfCorn]

Pretty interesting article about the so-called "youth movement."

Holy S#!T...they aren't talking about the Red Sox!

 

 

[thedoctor]

good article.

[lostfan]

good article.

And it's nice to see an ESPN article going into that kind of depth that isn't wildly inaccurate or missing a major point.

[ThunderBolt]

This article made me really happy and nostalgic at the same time. The times are really changing and i couldn't be happier at the direction they're going in.

[dasox24]

Now that was a good article... Makes me feel happy for the past, present, and future of this team.

[caulfield12]

Sometimes it was unfair to Big Frank that the "mantle" was passing to Konerko/Buehrle of "team leader" and he couldn't seem to keep his foot out of his mouth. I always appreciate Konerko's candor/honesty and willingness to discuss almost anything. I really like his quote about not being concerned about "legacies," he's one of those players who knows he will always be considered a White Sox (of course, 2005 has something to do with that, too) and nothing will ever change his feelings for the organization that gave him a chance after the Dodgers and Reds sullied on him.

 

One of the biggest lessons KW has learned from 2001-2004 and 2006-2007 is that having a high payroll and lots of talented players on the roster doesn't always assure a championship, if they're not good fits and the chemistry isn't right, it has a lot to do with preventing that from happening. The White Sox problems with Frank Thomas (at times), D'Angelo Jimenez, Kenny Lofton, Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera are well-documented, and sometimes these players also rubbed off negatively on the likes of Lee and Ordonez, too.

 

Still, with Konerko, Buehrle, Crede, Rowand, Thome, Dye and AJ, you're not going to find a much better core group of players with compatible personalities. If not for the back problems and Boras, I think Joe might have come close to approaching Ventura's legacy (largely because of 2005) with another four or five years on the club. All those guys genuinely liked each other and got along well (Thome would arrive later), and they even peacefully co-existed with Carl Everett and the mix/chemistry was nearly perfect.

 

Last year, you kind of felt we won despite Cabrera, Swisher and Vazquez sometimes (Logan, etc.) And KW was quick this offseason to address those concerns and bring in new/fresh blood to revitalize the organization. But you never felt that the clubhouse was cohesive, that they would automatically win every time they had a 1-2 run lead going into the 7th or 8th, that they were clearly the better team and would walk over most opponents like 2005...last year was a big-time struggle for the final 3-4 months of the season.

 

It is an exciting time. It will be interesting to see how this season plays out...I'm expecting a definite rebound from Konerko, but we're going to have a lot of growing pains. As someone pointed out, betting for the White Sox to win less than 80 games has been a sucker's bet 12 of the last 13 years, but I'm also not ready to proclaim them ready to compete for the division quite yet either. Definitely a transition year for the ballclub, like last season for the Twins.

Edited March 4, 2009 by caulfield12

[striker]

Good Article