Chicago White Sox

Chicago finished with the best record in the AL (99-63) and went 11-1 in the playoffs en route to a World Series sweep of the Astros.

Pitching

Simply put the rotation of Mark Buerhle, Jon Garland, Jose Contreras, Freddy Gonzalez and Javier Vazquez is the best in baseball and if any of them go down they still have Brandon McCarthy waiting in the wings and he is more than capable of stepping in.

The ace of the staff will once again be Mark Buerhle who must be an absolute dream to play behind as he works quickly and pitches to contact which keeps fielders always ready and on their toes. He is a consummate control pitcher allowing just 40 walks in a work horse like 236 2/3 innings and takes the mound every fifth day expecting to go nine. There are few who are better.

The pen has some dominant set-up men including hard throwing lefty Neal Cotts, hard throwing righty Cliff Politte and erstwhile close Dustin Hermanson and once you get through them you have to face their big closer, all 270lbs of Bobby Jenks who can struggle to control his wicked sharp breaking curveball but he rarely needs to use it because his fastball is so good. He’s one of those guys you always look at the radar gun to see if he can get into triple digits.

Defence

Strong defence was one of the calling cards of Ozzie Guillen’s Go Go Sox team and all the main pieces remain. AJ Pierzinsky is an absolute gamer who doesn’t care how he gets the job done so
long as his team finish on top. He’s a good receiver with a good arm.

Joe Crede is the best defensive third baseman in the AL and only his lack of hitting stops him winning Gold Gloves. He has great range and makes the throws from all angles and few attack bunts like him.

Tadahito Iguchi and Juan Uribe grew as a partnership more and more as the season went on. Iguchi makes the transfer quickly and efficiently and Uribe is an athletic and rangy complement to him.

Scott Podsednik isn’t the most efficient of fielders but knows how to use his explosive speed to track the ball down and he Jermaine Dye and Brian Anderson will cover a lot of ground in the outfield.

Offence

It all starts with Podsednik. When he was in the line-up the White Sox were the best team in baseball and when he wasn’t they were just a good team which is why I thought he deserved MVP consideration. He shows the difference between having speed and knowing what to do with it as he will slap and bunt his way on and once there he terrifies defences in a way classic base stealers of the past like Vince Coleman and Rickey Henderson used to because you know he’s going but you know he’s still going to be hard to stop.

This is a team that is built on small ball and fundamentals but still needs the power threat to keep teams honest and Paul Konerko was the muscle that forced opponents to respect Chicago and GM Ken Williams made sure he re-signed because without Konerko the line-up doesn’t work as well. Jim Thome’s addition should also help in this regard as there aren’t many other true power threats.

Jermaine Dye, Brian Anderson, Iguchi and Uribe are all capable of hitting a homerun or stealing a bag and these are the guys who really allow Ozzie Guillen’s vision to work.

Rookie Watch

Aaron Rowand was a key part of the World Series winning team but the club let him go because they knew they had Brian Anderson waiting in the wings. Anderson might not be Rowand’s equal in the field but he offers more upside at the plate and is ready to contribute at the big league level and he’ll have to because he has Jerry Owens breathing down his neck on the depth charts.

Management

Ozzie Guillen came to the White Sox as their manager with a plan of how he wanted to play the game and it was built upon speed, defence and pitching and GM Ken Williams went out and got him the players to play the system and as a result Chicago won its first World Series since 1917.

Guillen is a true leader who knows when to encourage and when he needs to get in someones face and has instilled a real winning attitude into his players. He likes his starters to go as long as they can and get themselves out of their own problems and knows he has the guys to do it and is not afraid to even have his sluggers bunt a runner over if its what the team needs. This guy is all about TEAM.

Ken Williams did all he needed to do over the off season by re-signing Konerko. He has really done a good job getting Guillen the players he needs but still has a reputation for making questionable moves at the most inopportune times but maybe he’s starting to shake that off.

Outlook

They still have the blue ribbon pitching staff and that alone will take them a long way but their offence has been smartly crafted and is capable of scratching out close games or blowing away the opposition making this team more than capable of repeating.