SI article about the 2010 White Sox.

[greg775]

That was a darn good article, though it didn't address the bullpen much.

Sounds like Peavy will be a welcome addition in terms of the passion he shows. Interesting the guy called him a No. 2 pitcher, however, not No. 1 in the Cell.

On paper we'll be considered contenders again. But this time, some guys have to really come through. Some guys have to emerge in the bullpen. If we get rid of Bobby, that means we need even more set up guys with Matt the closer.

Our offense is so bad, I don't think we can magically assume it's going to be better just because we will be 0-0 in April and starting over.

A good start will be reassigning Walker, not cause it will matter, but we need to make some changes. I hope they don't boot him from the whole organization. I hope he gets to keep a job. s***, make him the third base coach and get rid of that hack waving runners home only to get gunned down.

[GreatScott82]

KW said if the team constucted as is won't produce, expect the team to be much different next year. He said he will use his 'imagination' quite a bit. I expect the team to look much different next year. Dye and Dotel will walk and I expect KW to pull off some shocking trades this winter. Guys who most likely will be brought back is our rotation 1-4, Quentin, Beckham and Rios. Everything else is up in the air at this point.

[joeynach]

"Last winter, for example, he traded off starter Javier Vazquez and nominal center fielder Nick Swisher. The former ranks among the National League leaders in strikeouts, innings and fewest baserunners per inning."

 

This is kind of a very bland statement to make. Vazquez had many many problems be counted on here, and his move to the weaker NL and pitcher friendly Turner Field was a sure fire way to induce the appearance of improvement without actually doing anything. Same with Swisher, he posted career worst numbers here with the sox, how on earth could he go to the yankees with their better lineup, hitters haven to RF, and fresh start and get worse. Of course he didn't, his #'s show that he got better, or at least moved back towards his mean statistics. That doesn't really say a whole lot, when someone goes from terrible to back to average.

[witesoxfan]

There are 7 position players coming back - Beck, Alexi, AJ, Paul, Getz, TCQ, Rios. AJ and Paulie will not be as good as they were this year. TCQ will be somewhere between 08 and 09, but it certainly is possible that he will continue to be injury prone. He has been his whole career. Rios is not good. He has always been overrated and never close to the 30/30 that was projected of him. I don't think he will be as awful as this year but he won't hit 280. Thus, the balancing of those 7 players will be close to a wash.

 

What makes you certain that Konerko is back? And what makes you certain that Ramirez is coming back? The only 3 players that I can safely say are going to be back next year are Beckham, Quentin, and Pierzynski. I firmly believe Getz and Rios will be back, but I can't guarantee it, because certain scenarios could come up where those two could get traded. The Sox got Rios for free and could legitimately trade him if someone came knocking on the door and wanted to offer two very good prospects. The Sox could deal Getz and move Beckham to 2B if they feel he can handle it defensively and they can find an adequate 3B to take over. I don't see either of those scenarios playing out, but it's possible.

 

I do not necessarily feel the same way about Alexei or Konerko. Konerko is in the last year of his deal and it's possible someone that feels they are a decent 1Bman away from competing may give a prospect or two, or perhaps a good reliever. It also seems as though the organization has soured on Alexei a bit, and if they think that Beckham can handle it at the MLB level, he could be dealt too. I think Konerko is more likely to go than Ramirez, but either is honestly possible.

 

In the same regard, I don't understand how you know that Konerko won't be as good. He's at an .850 OPS, and his career OPS is .844. He is right at his career average right now, and it seems pretty possible that he could repeat that.

 

My point is if you are relying on bounce back years for these players, you are in for a huge disappointment. Anyone who says that our offense has not been horrible has not been paying attention. Anyone who thinks that it will suddenly turn around is foolish. Sitting around and waiting for guys to magically turn it around instead of recognizing that they aren't that good is a recipe for more losing. Those two new starters to bring in are going to be the key but they have to be significant offensive players for this to work. I just don't see how thats possible given the current salary structure of the team.

 

What about improvement for Beckham? Getz? Ramirez? What about improvement in RF by whoever replaces Dye?

 

C - .765

1B - .850

2B - .750

SS - .775

3B - .825

LF - .850

CF - .775

RF - .825

DH - .825

 

is it possible to get those OPS's from all of those positions on the field? Because if so, the offense will produce and it will produce well. Some will surprise, some will disappoint, but I don't think any of those are completely out of the question.

[CanOfCorn]

What makes you certain that Konerko is back? And what makes you certain that Ramirez is coming back? The only 3 players that I can safely say are going to be back next year are Beckham, Quentin, and Pierzynski. I firmly believe Getz and Rios will be back, but I can't guarantee it, because certain scenarios could come up where those two could get traded. The Sox got Rios for free and could legitimately trade him if someone came knocking on the door and wanted to offer two very good prospects. The Sox could deal Getz and move Beckham to 2B if they feel he can handle it defensively and they can find an adequate 3B to take over. I don't see either of those scenarios playing out, but it's possible.

 

I do not necessarily feel the same way about Alexei or Konerko. Konerko is in the last year of his deal and it's possible someone that feels they are a decent 1Bman away from competing may give a prospect or two, or perhaps a good reliever. It also seems as though the organization has soured on Alexei a bit, and if they think that Beckham can handle it at the MLB level, he could be dealt too. I think Konerko is more likely to go than Ramirez, but either is honestly possible.

 

In the same regard, I don't understand how you know that Konerko won't be as good. He's at an .850 OPS, and his career OPS is .844. He is right at his career average right now, and it seems pretty possible that he could repeat that.

 

 

 

What about improvement for Beckham? Getz? Ramirez? What about improvement in RF by whoever replaces Dye?

 

C - .765

1B - .850

2B - .750

SS - .775

3B - .825

LF - .850

CF - .775

RF - .825

DH - .825

 

is it possible to get those OPS's from all of those positions on the field? Because if so, the offense will produce and it will produce well. Some will surprise, some will disappoint, but I don't think any of those are completely out of the question.

 

After seeing Alexei struggle with the move from 2B to SS...I think you are seeing the future of 3B in Beckham. I don't think the Sox are going to want to f*** around with moving him at this point. But that's JMO.

 

Excellent unbiased article, btw.

Edited September 22, 2009 by CanOfCorn

[dyuen]

What makes you certain that Konerko is back? And what makes you certain that Ramirez is coming back? The only 3 players that I can safely say are going to be back next year are Beckham, Quentin, and Pierzynski. I firmly believe Getz and Rios will be back, but I can't guarantee it, because certain scenarios could come up where those two could get traded. The Sox got Rios for free and could legitimately trade him if someone came knocking on the door and wanted to offer two very good prospects. The Sox could deal Getz and move Beckham to 2B if they feel he can handle it defensively and they can find an adequate 3B to take over. I don't see either of those scenarios playing out, but it's possible.

 

I am not certain that Konerko is back. Thats what I was saying, that changes need to be made and we can't stick with the same seven. No way will anyone offer two good prospects for Rios. I would be shocked if anyone offered anything of value for him unless we paid a lot of his salary. I would give him away for free just as easily as we got him for "free". I think Becks could handle 2b defensively, I think opinions are mixed on if he could play SS. But you are right, Konerko could repeat this season again, that is not out of the question. I personally would like to see a major overhaul of the position players because I don't think we can win with what we have.

[Rowand44]

Ok, why exactly will Paul be hard pressed to repeat this season? His numbers are pretty much right in line with his career averages. The only player that should decline from this season is AJP. Q, Rios, Becks and Getz should all be considerably better next season and I expect Alexei to put up around the same offensive numbers. There is really no way this offense can be worse next season than it was this year.

[Rowand44]

In the same regard, I don't understand how you know that Konerko won't be as good. He's at an .850 OPS, and his career OPS is .844. He is right at his career average right now, and it seems pretty possible that he could repeat that.

I guess I should read the whole thread before making comments. You made my point well before I did, damn it.

[WCSox]

I am not certain that Konerko is back.

 

I am. He's the team captain and one of the few veterans who's hit this year.

 

Ok, why exactly will Paul be hard pressed to repeat this season? His numbers are pretty much right in line with his career averages. The only player that should decline from this season is AJP.

 

I think that they both decline, but only slightly. Paulie's will be due to age (34 next year) and AJP's will be a regression towards his career average.

 

[kitekrazy]

I'd think there's a good shot that the Twins will be better next year, assuming Morneau comes back and Mauer doesn't start the season on teh DL. Their pitching staff under-performed this year, and how often does that happen to the Twins?

 

Interesting when you have as little talent as they have they stick around in the playoff hunt most of the time because they know how to play the game.

They might have won the division last year if they had Santana.

 

I always hate watching the Sox play the Twins because they are really great at exposing the Sox lack of fundamentals.

 

The "why doesn't Ozzie work on fundamentals in Spring Training" is a bunch of crap. Players should have these down before they enter professional baseball. This is my rant about the Sox organization. Kenny had hopes the minor leaguers would step up this year. Josh Fields can't catch a baseball and yet they thought they can fix this when it was probably a weakness back in high school. There are some things that if they don't have before entering the minors, they probably will never have. Then there was Jerry Owens-who can only run. Too many bad ballplayers.

 

You look now, most people consider the best player on this time is a guy who was recently playing college ball.

 

I don't know a lot about the Sox farm system (I need to change that) but I judge from what I've seen at the beginning of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[beck72]

KW said if the team constucted as is won't produce, expect the team to be much different next year. He said he will use his 'imagination' quite a bit. I expect the team to look much different next year. Dye and Dotel will walk and I expect KW to pull off some shocking trades this winter. Guys who most likely will be brought back is our rotation 1-4, Quentin, Beckham and Rios. Everything else is up in the air at this point.

I agree. I guess I'd add Thornton to the coming back list, and AJ, [though I could see the sox getting some decent talent back for him, and he's one of the few guys who has done anything and has been solid all year]. PK also has been decent overall, though getting Flowers playing time might be an issue if both are around.

 

Alexei looks like a dead man walking, with his arguing strikes, and body language that screams "I'm done". He, IMO, still has the most trade value

[son of a rude]

I agree. I guess I'd add Thornton to the coming back list, and AJ, [though I could see the sox getting some decent talent back for him, and he's one of the few guys who has done anything and has been solid all year]. PK also has been decent overall, though getting Flowers playing time might be an issue if both are around.

 

Alexei looks like a dead man walking, with his arguing strikes, and body language that screams "I'm done". He, IMO, still has the most trade value

Please KW, bless us with JJ Hardy.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

I wouldn't pencil anyone in for next year among the position players except Beckham.Everyone else is trade bait.

[Balta1701]

I wouldn't pencil anyone in for next year among the position players except Beckham.Everyone else is trade bait.

For the right offer of course, but who is likely to offer up anything major for Konerko, Rios, Pierzynski, Quentin, or Getz/Nix?

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

For the right offer of course, but who is likely to offer up anything major for Konerko, Rios, Pierzynski, Quentin, or Getz/Nix?

You can package guys together.

[Balta1701]

You can package guys together.

And then find a team willing to take on $15-$20 million rather than $5-$10 million?

[nickofypres]

The only starts I exepct back are Rios, Quentin, Ramirez, Beckham, Konerko and AJ. I truly hope Getz or Nix are not starters in 2010. So we have a C, 1B, 2B (If the Sox are smart enough to move Beckham there that is) SS, CF and RF (Again, if the Sox are smart enough to move him to his natural position). That leaves RF, and 3B. I don't include DH because I've read/hurd/imagined that the DH will rotate among the position players to give them days off.

 

I don't really think it would be that hard to get either a RF and 3B via trade or free agency. In LF I wouldn't mind Abreu, know I know KW doesn't want to spend a whole lot but the Angels gave him what, 1 Million? Sure his defense isn't the greatest, but considering Rios is great in CF and has a lot of range that's probably going to give whomever plays the corners less range to work with. For third (I posted this in another thread) would be Iwamura, let him play third lead-off (which we would also need) and let Abreu hit clean up after TCQ. I don't think the F/A class is as bad at KW says IMO.

[son of a rude]

The only starts I exepct back are Rios, Quentin, Ramirez, Beckham, Konerko and AJ. I truly hope Getz or Nix are not starters in 2010. So we have a C, 1B, 2B (If the Sox are smart enough to move Beckham there that is) SS, CF and RF (Again, if the Sox are smart enough to move him to his natural position). That leaves RF, and 3B. I don't include DH because I've read/hurd/imagined that the DH will rotate among the position players to give them days off.

 

I don't really think it would be that hard to get either a RF and 3B via trade or free agency. In LF I wouldn't mind Abreu, know I know KW doesn't want to spend a whole lot but the Angels gave him what, 1 Million? Sure his defense isn't the greatest, but considering Rios is great in CF and has a lot of range that's probably going to give whomever plays the corners less range to work with. For third (I posted this in another thread) would be Iwamura, let him play third lead-off (which we would also need) and let Abreu hit clean up after TCQ. I don't think the F/A class is as bad at KW says IMO.

Ugh, Abreu's defense is absolute garbage. He is worse than Dye. I don't want him anyway near this team.

 

And he will cost more than 1 mil...

[GreatScott82]

Ugh, Abreu's defense is absolute garbage. He is worse than Dye. I don't want him anyway near this team.

 

And he will cost more than 1 mil...

I would love Abreu as our new DH. High OBP, Lefty AB- im pretty sure KW stressed that yesterday during his "State of the White Sox address"