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By Tim Dierkes | at
Email a copy of 'Offseason In Review: Chicago White Sox' to a friend
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Guest 7081
Matt Thornton was resigned, so his option isn’t all that relevant anymore
martinfv2
Sure it is, it determines his 2011 salary. The extension is covered under “Extensions.”
jwsox
If I remember correctly when MLBTR first broke the extension story it was said that his 2011 was not changed by the extension.
The Lawgiver
I think the Sox are poised to take the central from the Twins this year. Some questions on offense, but overall an improved ball club.
rockfordone
No questions on offense -questions are on outfield defense
Matt Manzella
Hopefully Quentin maintains his new leaner body which will improve his mobility in the field. Rios and Pierre don’t concern me. Red Sox won two titles with Damon’s noodle arm.
jwsox
The only question on offense is Brent Morell but his glove more than makes up for it. You can’t really call AJ or Gordon questions because after the all star break they both hit the cover off the ball(AJ was probably worried and stressed about his 10/5 situation and once that passed he got it going again. And Beckham was probably worrying too much about adjusting to a position he had not played since early college, if at all.)
There is only one question about outfield defense, and that’s Carlos. We all know how good Rios is a center fielder. And Juan Pierre had a great defensive year last season and his bat might even show up more after adjusting to the league.
Carlos is a horrible fielder we all know that, but with the addition of Dunn, the progression of Gordon, and Alexi becoming a beast with the stick. All of this moves Carlos down in the line up, and should put it in his head that he does not have to carry this team. I would expect a good year from him im thinking .270 ish avg, 30+ hrs again, 100 rins, maybe a .380ish on base and a .400+ slg% could even come close to an what 07/08 year when he finished second behind morneau in MVP.
Of course all of this could be moot if carlos is even starting in right. Ozzie is playing vicedo more and more in right during spring and he is actually playing pretty good defense.
disgustedcubfan
I think Kenny would move Quentin in a second , if he could find a taker.
Now is a great time to put Viceado in right field, bat him 7th or 8th, and let him learn.
He may be the right fielder for the next 10 years, and he’s cheap.
Quentin is gone after this year and he’s expensive.
jwsox
in light of Vicedo’s fractured thumb where he will miss 3 week my guess is this. He goes the AAA(dl stint) and spends a good half a season there playing right full time. With dunn and konerko both locked up together for 3 years Dyan playing 1st is out of the question. And with brent morell looking to start at 3rd thats also out. So here is what i see, the sox play him in the minors for half a season at RF if he plays well enough at the dead line(does not really matter if the sox are in it or not) they bring him up and trade carlos for a bullpen or bench guy. Now if carlos is having an awesome season then keep Dyan down for the whole year and let carlos walk or,…and this is a huge OR let carlos play the entire year resign him(only if he puts up a solid season) next season move carlos back to left and put Dyan in at right for 2012.
Technically Dyan is only under team controll for 2 more years then he becomes an ARB, but then he is under team controll for a long time.
cderry
I “liked” your comment regardless that you said Dyan every time you meant Dayan.
Adam Daily
On paper the Sox look better, but the Twins continue to win the division. I also don’t think their bullpen has been improved very much. Their offense does look scary though.
jwsox
Their bull pen is much better simply from addition by subtraction. Jenks was one of the most shaky closers last season. He still had a good amount of saves and strikeouts but he has spent too much time on the DL the past 3 year both with real and fake injuries. I cant even count the number of times over the past two seasons where he would come in for a save have no one out and walk the bases loaded it was soo annoying.
Dont forget that last season was Santos’ second season ever as a pitcher and first in the bigs, and he had an amazing year. So we can assume he will only get better with working with cooper more.
Pena came up huge last season for the sox in key situations and he is still there.
Ohman may be old but as a lefty guy he is insanly good, look at his stats last season he was amazing vs lefties and pretty good against righties. The was a good low key signing. He is a huge improvement over randy williams
Harral is probably going to make the team as a swing man, which is an improvement because last seaosn they did not have a true long guy
A full season of chris sale is a 100% boost to the pen kid is scary good, even mauer said he was scared to hit against him
And Thornton in there as the closer is a very good very solid move. He is one of the best left handed relieers in the game so you cant go wrong there.
Over all i would say this pen is very very good and besids capps and nathan i would say its better then the twins
Adam Daily
I would probably agree with you that the Sox bullpen is better than the Twins pen, but that’s not saying much at this point. The Twins lost a lot of talent this off-season. No Guerrier, Crain, or Rauch. I still think that the Sox bullpen isn’t very good. Pena had an ERA over 5 so that doesn’t impress me and neither does Ohman. I think Crain will be ok, but not lights out and I think that if anyone struggles the Sox might move Sale to the rotation.
jwsox
true about pena but he did bounce around between long guy/6th starter/ 5th starter/ set up/ mop up. he has great stuff and i think he just needs a defined role. I would think he is regulated to mop up duty, so ERA does not really matter. Ohman was a good signing just by the numbers. Considering he is going to be used as the lefty specialist just look at last year 9.1 k/9(good) 4.1bb/9(eh) .86HR/9(great) .3WAR for a 1 out maybe 1 inning guy is very good and at only 2 mill also good…ERA 3.21 not great not bad, WHIP vL= 1.35(very good) vR=1.69(again pretty good) avg against lefties= .221(very good) vs righties=.276(not bad but not great)
overall much better than last years lefty specialist randy williams
Ricky Bones
Jenks definitely became a case of addition by subtraction as a result of his own actions. His obesity coupled w/ alcoholism put him on a fast train out of town. Ozzie showed him every faith & opportunity only to see these rebuked.
Pena is nothing more than a mop up guy & that’s where he should stay. Ohman also is nothing special even as a LOOGY. Crain could be good but then again there’s a reason he earned the nickname Crainwreck. Hopefully Santos maintains his good form & doesn’t fall into the large category of one & done relievers.
The rotation is the best in the division barring a regression by Jackson or another injury to Peavy, neither of which can really be accounted for so it’s not something even worth worrying about.
Bacon should be better w/ the bat now that he’s settled in at 2nd & AJ will hit like an aging catcher so I don’t really see those as question marks. Morrell is a big question mark b/c there’s no way of knowing if he’ll be able to handle major league pitching over an extended period of time. Quentin is the other mystery as he has shown in recent times a higher proclivity to stink or get hurt rather than produce at anywhere near the level he’s capable.
All in all, the Central will be a lot of fun to watch this year & it should be a three team race the whole way.