southsider2k5 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al...357914260_x.htm All in for White Sox, can they overtake Twins? By Rick Gano, AP Sports Writer CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox are calling their decision go for it in the AL Central "All In" and they spent the offseason, well, spending. Now it's time to see if a payroll beefed up to perhaps around $125 million produces a winner for general manager Ken Williams, who has patched up his sometimes-rocky relationship with manager Ozzie Guillen. "We have a good ball club. We are paying a lot of money to this ball club," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We showed the fans we are for real. We want to win this thing. It shows Kenny and (chairman) Jerry (Reinsdorf) have pulled this thing together and showed the people how much we want to win it." Chicago landed slugger Adam Dunn with a four-year, $56 million contract and re-signed captain Paul Konerko to a three-year, $37.5 million deal. Also returning is veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski. New faces in the bullpen are Jesse Crain and Will Ohman. Dunn hit 38 home runs with 103 RBIs for Washington last season, when he also whiffed 199 times. A career National Leaguer, he'll have to adjust to hitting and sitting as a designated hitter, a move that some players struggle with initially. If he does get his swing going — he struggled most of this spring — the White Sox are counting on his powerful, left-handed bat to constantly send balls over the cozy fences at U.S. Cellular Field. Konerko batted .312 with 39 homers and 111 RBIs a year ago. With him and Dunn in a lineup that also includes right fielder Carlos Quentin, centerfielder Alex Rios and shortstop Alexei Ramirez — who got a new deal this offseason — the White Sox should have some pop. So where does that leave them after all their offseason maneuvering? As the favorite? Konerko said Minnesota is still the team to dethrone "The Twins deserve the respect. They earned it last year," Konerko said. "Until someone knows them off, they are the team." Veteran Juan Pierre was a steady leadoff hitter in his first season with the White Sox, batting .275 with 68 stolen bases. And at the top of the order, the White Sox will need No. 2 hitter and second baseman Gordon Beckham to emerge from a tough second season and play like he did as a standout rookie in 2009. Brent Morel, a late-season call up last year, won the third base job because of his steady fielding, beating out veteran Mark Teahen, whose first season in Chicago was limited to 77 games by a broken finger. Omar Vizquel, who filled in mostly at third last season and batted .276 in 108 games, will be a backup infielder. The 11-time Gold Glove winner turns 44 in April. The story of the White Sox's spring has been the return of Jake Peavy from a rare surgery to repair a detached muscle in the back of his pitching shoulder. Peavy made great strides but then had a setback not related to the surgery when he developed tendinitis in his rotator cuff that will keep him in Arizona after the White Sox break camp. Without Peavy, who has made only 20 starts for the White Sox since being acquired from the Padres at the trade deadline in 2009, Phil Humber could be the fill-in No. 5 starter. Mark Buehrle, who has pitched more than 200 innings in every season since 2001, will start opening day in Cleveland on Friday. With a no-hitter and a perfect game in his career, the left-hander can also give up plenty of hits, as he did when he surrendered 246 last season when he was 13-13. John Danks, 15-11 last season, Gavin Floyd and Edwin Jackson round out the rotation. Among relievers, Crain had a 3.04 ERA in 71 appearances for the Twins last season. Along with Ohman, Tony Pena, Sergio Santos, Chris Sale and Matt Thornton, the White Sox could have one of the most effective bullpens they've had since winning the World Series in 2005. Thornton is the new closer after the departure of Bobby Jenks. Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Well, that certainly was a writeup of the 2011 White Sox roster. Nothing more, nothing less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottyDo Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 12:17 PM) Well, that certainly was a writeup of the 2011 White Sox roster. Nothing more, nothing less. Yah, that was pretty weak. I guess I shouldn't have expected much. Anyone else see/hear that SI has us third in the division though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chw42 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 10:21 AM) Yah, that was pretty weak. I guess I shouldn't have expected much. Anyone else see/hear that SI has us third in the division though? Pfft...who cares? It's not out of the question, but that would mean the Twins are going to stay constant (doubtful) while the Tigers vastly improve (very doubtful). Edited March 29, 2011 by chw42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottyDo Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 01:16 PM) Pfft...who cares? It's not out of the question, but that would mean the Twins are going to stay constant (doubtful) while the Tigers vastly improve (very doubtful). Yah, I don't actually care, but they have us winning 84 games which is somewhat interesting, I suppose. I guess they thought we moved backwards in talent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ginger Kid Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Passan and Brown have a good discussion on the AL central on Yahoo, and make a valid point: the twins get Morneau and Nathan back. Sure, they've lost some bullpen depth, but it's essentially the same team with an upgrade at 2b. Both the Sox and kitties will have to raise their game significantly to beat them, but they both see the twins prevailing in the end. But Passan is high on the Sox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LVSoxFan Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Why would one ever count out the Twins? Year after year after year they are always in it. So they flame out in the playoffs, yeah. But there are no playoffs if we don't take the Central from them. As far as the writeup, not exactly the most inspiring, LOL. But hey, there you have it. My snapshot for 2011 looking at the crystal ball is: the team goes as Peavy goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottyDo Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 02:14 PM) Passan and Brown have a good discussion on the AL central on Yahoo, and make a valid point: the twins get Morneau and Nathan back. Sure, they've lost some bullpen depth, but it's essentially the same team with an upgrade at 2b. Both the Sox and kitties will have to raise their game significantly to beat them, but they both see the twins prevailing in the end. But Passan is high on the Sox. I don't discount the Twins in the slightest, but I've been following Morneau fairly closely (as I have had a vested Fantasy interest in him in my keeper league), and I trust him about as far as I can throw him. And I bench ~95. I trust a pitcher coming off of Tommy John even less until they've had a year's worth of pitching under their belt. Sure, they get them back, but for how long and at what effectiveness level? I would put a sig bet on Morneau playing less than 100 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chw42 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 12:14 PM) Passan and Brown have a good discussion on the AL central on Yahoo, and make a valid point: the twins get Morneau and Nathan back. Sure, they've lost some bullpen depth, but it's essentially the same team with an upgrade at 2b. Both the Sox and kitties will have to raise their game significantly to beat them, but they both see the twins prevailing in the end. But Passan is high on the Sox. The Twins also had Morneau producing at a historic pace last season before he went down. His wOBA was .500 in July. Then they got a .430 wOBA from Thome to replace Morneau. In other words, they really didn't miss a beat when Morneau went down. Sure, it meant more PAs for Jason Kubel, but this season, it's more than likely that Kubel and Thome will split PAs at DH. Plus, that Twins bullpen did just fine without Nathan. Capps and Rauch were more than serviceable. Not elite, but definitely good. I think you can say that the bullpen this year for them is lacking depth, but has a lot of punch at the end. As for the Twins upgrading at 2B, I heavily disagree. Orlando Hudson quietly had a great year at 2B in 2010. Nishioka is an unknown commodity. He will most likely hit for zero power (he didn't hit for much of it in Japan to begin with) and might be a .280ish hitter with a .350-.360 OBP and above average defense. I also think those are pretty optimistic projections. Then you have one of the stupidest moves of the off-season - trading J.J. Hardy for basically nothing. His replacement is Casilla, who as we all know, is a bad hitter and maybe an average defender. I really don't think the Twins improved. Perhaps they could still be the same team if things go right (Nishioka is as good as advertised, Nathan comes back 100%, Morneau stays completely healthy, etc), but in terms of talent, they took a decent step back this off-season. Edited March 29, 2011 by chw42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ginger Kid Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 10:39 AM) I really don't think the Twins improved. I hope you're right. Like someone else said, even if they have or haven't, the Sox have to find a way to improve against them head to head if they want to have any chance of overtaking them. That division record always looms so large at the end of the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 12:39 PM) I really don't think the Twins improved. They won the AL Central last year with Justin Morneau missing the 2nd half of the season. The entire half. If he's back to full-health, they've improved significantly by inserting a f***ing MVP into the lineup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleHurt05 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 (edited) QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 02:16 PM) They won the AL Central last year with Justin Morneau missing the 2nd half of the season. The entire half. If he's back to full-health, they've improved significantly by inserting a f***ing MVP into the lineup. And his replacement in the 2nd half put up nearly better numbers than Morneau did in his MVP season. Thome came in and basically did the same, if not better, than Morneau would have, minus the defense at 1st of course. Edited March 29, 2011 by LittleHurt05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 02:16 PM) They won the AL Central last year with Justin Morneau missing the 2nd half of the season. The entire half. If he's back to full-health, they've improved significantly by inserting a f***ing MVP into the lineup. Bullpen and rotation took a few hits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottyDo Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 04:16 PM) They won the AL Central last year with Justin Morneau missing the 2nd half of the season. The entire half. If he's back to full-health, they've improved significantly by inserting a f***ing MVP into the lineup. He still has trouble dealing with crowd noise, that's how dysfunctional his brain is. I have no doubt he'll hit while he's up, but brains don't heal that well. He's a mild collision away from being out for the season, possibly his career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chw42 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 02:16 PM) They won the AL Central last year with Justin Morneau missing the 2nd half of the season. The entire half. If he's back to full-health, they've improved significantly by inserting a f***ing MVP into the lineup. I addressed that issue. Thome was just as good offensively as Morneau would have been in the second half, if not better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan4life_2007 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Doubting the Twins is so 2008. They're the team to beat until proven otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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