Tag Archives: Jake Peavy

Rivalry Week a split decision so far

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Major League Assholes’ Rivalry Week got off to an unsatisfying start with series splits between the Tigers/White Sox and Cubs/Cardinals.

After the Tigers shit the bed on Monday, blowing two separate multiple-run leads and eventually losing 7-5, the Sox returned the favor in a MAJOR way on Tuesday.  A resurgent Jake Peavy looked like his usual dominant self until the 6th when the wheels completely fell off.  After trailing 6-0, the previously hibernating Tigers’ offense roared to life with an eight-run mauling including bombs from Miguel Cabrera (who’s obviously happy with the way Roger Bossard draws the batter’s box now), Ryan Raburn and Austin Jackson.  Detroit needed all the runs they could get as Jose Valverde and Octavio Dotel did everything they could to give me a heart attack in the 9th as Dayan Viciedo‘s (a.k.a. Lady Di, but a.k.a. Tiger Killer) would-be game-winning drive to right died on the warning track for the final out.

Meanwhile, the surprising Cubs took their third of the last four against the World Champion Cardinals on Monday by a score of 6-4 powered by Bryan “Trade Bait” LaHair‘s ninth blast of the season and a rare productive appearance by Alfonso Soriano. Between suffering the extremes of the Tigers/Sox game and actually trying to get some work done, I missed Tuesday’s walk-off loss to the hated Cards. But I was more than happy to avoid watching those toothless, jort-wearing yokels in St. Louis celebrating.

In a strange scheduling week full of two-game series, the Tigers should get a breather facing the pathetic Twins followed by the equally pathetic Pirates at Comerica Park over their next five.  The Cubs return home tonight to face the offensively-challenged Phillies, but the schedulers at MLB really kicked the Sox in the seeds by sending them out to the West Coast to face the fallen Angels. The Halos aren’t exactly setting the world on fire, but they have won eight of 14 in the month of May.

But the real issue is the travel schedule for the Sox as they won’t land back in Chicago until late Thursday night/Friday monring for Friday’s 1:20 start at Wrigley.  I’m confident enough in the well-rested Cubs’ chances over the drowsy Sox that I picked up Jeff Samardzija (4-1, 2.89 ERA) for a spot-start in our fantasy league.  The Sox send out a suddenly not-so-perfect Phil Humber (1-2, 5.77 ERA) who has struggled badly in his last four starts, giving up 21 runs over 20 just innings.

Saturday’s pitching matchup clearly favors the Cubs again with Ryan “Canadian Trade Bait” Dempster (0-1, 1.74 ERA) facing John Danks (2-4, 6.46 ERA), but as you can see from Demp’s record, the Cubs have found many creative ways to spoil every single one of his outings. Sunday marks the return of the shaken Peavy (4-1, 2.65 ERA) to the mound to battle a chronically mediocre Paul Maholm (4-2, 4.35 ERA), so that one should be interesting.

PV and I will be at Wrigley Friday to witness the carnage while trading insults, slamming Bud Heavies, and maybe even blogging live from the bleachers (if we can still work our iPhones).

April Recap: Giants/White Sox

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The first month of baseball has come to close and the White Sox and Giants are sitting in pretty good positions. While the Giants have underachieved at times, the White Sox have either played as predicted or have exceed expectations.

When I look back on the Giants’ first month they really have played some good baseball, it’s just that Tim Lincecum has had some early season struggles and the Dodgers had such a hot start.

Giants Recap                        Grade: B

The Giants have played through adversity to come away with a 12-10 record to close out the month of April. They’ve lost Brian Wilson for the season, Aubrey Huff for an undisclosed amount of time from a nervous breakdown, and of course Lincecum’s control and velocity issues.

Despite all this Bruce Bochy has the boys playing with confidence, and the Giants are getting some early season swagger and confidence at the plate.

Positives include an offense that can produce runs; Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain, and Barry Zito have all pitched spectacularly; Santiago Casilla has emerged as the closer with four saves; and Buster Posey seems to be fully recovered, as he’s batting .353 with four homers, nine RBIs, and an OPS of 1.016. I’d call that recovered.

I’m fairly confident that they will catch the Dodgers by the end of May, but it should be a battle the entire the year.

White Sox Recap      Grade: C

The Sox already have 11 wins that took 30 games last year and only 22 this year, already an improvement. They finished the month of April even instead of a losing record that had been the case for Ozzie Guillen every season except 2005, and the bigger “what-ifs” are producing.

ESPN the Magazine picked the Sox to finish last in the AL Central with the caveat, “best case scenario: all their veterans have bounce back years and they compete for the division and playoff spot.” I’m paraphrasing what they wrote, but I found it amazingly true and funny. How could you pick a team to finish last in their division and in the next breath say they could compete for the playoffs and division title. It seems almost ludicrous, to use Smitty’s favorite new word, but it really wasn’t at all.

The Sox needed three big things to happen, Jake Peavy, Adam Dunn, and Alex Rios to show-up and play their game, and it’s happened.

The reason the Sox are only .500 is because they have other issues, like finding a legitimate number two hitter and what to do with Gordon Beckham if can’t hit. The easier of the two is leave Beckham in the nine spot and enjoy his play in the field, but the number two spot remains an issue. Brent Morel has started so poorly that Robin Ventura has been forced to go with Alexei Ramirez in the two spot, but he’s also a notoriously slow starter so that really hasn’t solved the problem. At the moment your three candidates for the number two spot in the line-up are Morel, Beckham, and Ramirez; they are batting .178, .153, and .207 respectively, which is not good. At least Ramirez has respect for the Mendoza-line.

Also, Hector Santiago as the White Sox closer has looked great and horrible, but no one is a lights out closer these days. With two lefties coming up in the Red Sox line-up on Sunday Ventura left Thornton in and it worked. Ventura said Santiago is still the closer, but he felt better about the match-up against two lefties with Thornton; so did I.

Looks like the AL Central is going to be a dogfight this season.

Week Two Recap: White Sox/Giants

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What a week in baseball or should I say the weekend in baseball. The biggest news is Phil Humber’s perfect game for the White Sox, the 21st in MLB history. For me a close second is the Sox are only 1/2 game behind the Tigers for the AL Central lead, although they did get some help from a bad call in the 10th inning that went in the Rangers’ favor. Still, the Sox swept Seattle.

Saturday was a crazy day for sports as a whole, as the Giants added to the madness by tying the Mets in the ninth with a two-out routine pop-up that turned into a two-run double as it fell between three Mets’ players. Unfortunately, a questionable slide took Posey’s left ankle out and caused an errant throw that headed up the first baseline allowing the winning run to score.

Minutes later the Sox game began and history was made, phew!

White Sox Recap      Grade: B

Looks more and more like Jim Leyland was correct in his assessment of the White Sox last week. It was a strange week for the Sox fans watching them drop three of four to the Orioles at home before sweeping the Mariners this weekend that included Humber’s perfect game moving them within a 1/2 game of first place. Both the Tigers and Sox should probably both get an “A” compared to where they were at this time last season, the Tigers had just reached .500 and the Sox were four games under. A much improved start to 2012 for both teams, but Sox had trouble at home against the Orioles that’s unforgivable. The biggest issue was game one of the series where the bullpen allowed 9 runs from the 8th – 10th preventing Humber from his first win of the season. Maybe, after watching that Humber decided he needed to go the distant to preserve a win, so he decided to throw a perfect game.

The other issues with the Sox are the usual slow starts of Gavin Floyd and John Danks. Floyd worked hard to allow only five runs in his performance in Thursday’s game and Danks survived Seattle to escape with the win yesterday. It’s time for these guys to step-up and perform like they are capable of performing.

It is good to type that Jake Peavy seems to be back and is pitching like the ace of the staff, he takes a 2-0 record with a 2.75 ERA into tonight’s game against the Oakland A’s.

There are lots of good things happening offensively for the White Sox, AJ Pierzynski is number 4 on the RBI list in the AL (tied with three players), while Dunn is right behind him at #7 (tied with three players). I guess the production problems from left-handed hitters exited the White Sox organization with Ozzie Guillen.

Three thru six are producing for the Sox, which had to happen for them to have success this season, Dunn has 13 RBIs, 6 doubles, and 3 homers with a .246 avg; Konerko has 11 RBIs, 6 doubles and 3 homers with a .362 avg; Pierzynski has 14 RBIs and 4 homers with a .348 avg; and Rios has 7 RBIs, 3 doubles, and homer with a .333 avg. Pretty good production from the heart of the order.

It’s the Sox and Tigers for the division if things continue like this, let’s go SOX!

Jake Peavy(2-0) takes on the surprising Bartolo Colon(3-0) tonight in Oakland at 9:05 pm CST.

Giants Recap                        Grade: B

Well, the week started off with a dud as Tim Lincecum versus Roy Halladay had more offense than anyone anticipated. Lincecum struggled to get through six innings even though he looked good at times. Hopefully this was the tune-up start before he returns to form.

The incredible game was Matt Cain against Cliff Lee, as Cain went 9 innings and Lee went 10 before the Giants won 1-0 in the 11th inning. Cain was almost as brilliant as he was in his one-hitter the prior weekend, allowing only two hits and one walk over the nine innings. Cain has made a total rebound from his debut outing allowing no runs over his last 18 innings pitched. The pitching staff has looked solid again, except for Lincecum who has a chance to redeem himself today against the Mets in a scheduled doubleheader. This is a classic doubleheader when the second game will begin about 1/2 hour after game one ends. Do you get to drink the whole time?

The Giants offense continued to score at least four runs in three of their five games this week, the two games they didn’t were against Halladay and Lee, so that’s excusable. The Giants went 3-2 during the rain shorten week, not bad. Things are pointing in the right direction.

The Freak(0-2) vs. Miguel Batista(0-0) this afternoon at Citi Field at 3:10 pm CST.

Week One Recap: White Sox/Giants

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With all the various marketing tags that MLB has placed on the start of the season, it’s become difficult to keep track of where we at in the season. With the “Opening Series” starting in Japan on Wednesday, March 28 is this the third week of baseball? I guess technically, yes. Then some teams who had their Opening Day start this past weekend had “Opening Day” graphics on the field, but other teams had “Opening Week” graphics on their fields. I’m also pretty sure there was an “Opening Weekend” graphic, but my old brain can’t remember for sure.

The way I look at it is Opening Week was Monday, April 9 – Sunday, April 15, plus for my purposes that put me on Monday – Sunday recap schedule.

White Sox Recap      Grade: A

After giving the Sox a grade of “C” for their opening weekend series against the Rangers, I’m able to surprisingly come back with an “A” after they completed their first week of AL Central play with a 4-1 record. The Sox played well throughout the week sweeping the Indians in a rain-shorten two game series and taking 2-out-of-3 from the Tigers to open their home season. Both Jake Peavy and Gavin Floyd held the Tigers offense in check allowing only two runs total in both of their starts. The Sox were able to hold Cabrera and Fielder to four hits total with one extra base hit; all those hits came from Fielder’s bat. Sox starting pitching held the Tigers to a total of five runs during the weekend series at US Cellular Field.

The Sox were able to produce hits with runners in scoring position all week, which would be a new positive trend for 2012. The Sox quickly disposed of Indians staff ace, Justin Masterson, on Wednesday by scoring five runs off Masterson over 5 innings of work. The Sox were able to make the most of their opportunities offensively to win 4-out-of-5. Adam Dunn surpassed his total doubles at US Cellular Field last season in the opening series against the Tigers with three. Yes, for Dunn to out perform himself from last season should not be terribly difficult for him. He struggled so badly at home last season it’s almost unbelievable.

The Sox bullpen has also risen to the occasion in this young season allowing only six runs in the first eight games played, the weakest link appears to be Will Ohman who’s allowed four of the six runs out of the ‘pen. I don’t think anyone needed those numbers to know Ohman was the weakest link.

The Sox pitching staff as a whole has produced impressive numbers so far; .202 opponents batting average, 1.02 Ks per inning, .997 WHIP, and a 3.43 ERA. Doesn’t look like a team that’s going to lose 95 games this season. Jim Leyland agrees.

“People who made those picks, they know nothing about baseball,” Leyland said. “Trust me. If they think the Chicago White Sox are not going to be in the thick of this, they’re crazy. They don’t know anything about baseball, people who make picks like that … they know nothing about baseball. Nothing!”

“Look at their pitching staff. Look at the arms they throw out there,” Leyland said of the Sox. “Look at some of the arms they bring out of the bullpen. You know, Paul Konerko is one of the best hitters in baseball. You know Adam Dunn is going to do a lot better than he did last year. He got a couple of (doubles) today. I mean, this is a good team. (Alexei) Ramirez is one of the best shortstops in the league. This is a real good team. (A.J.) Pierzynski is one of the best catchers, gets a lot of big hits. I don’t know why anybody would not pick these guys as a solid, solid contender.”

Yeah, what Leyland said!

Phil Humber makes his 2012 debut against the Orioles tonight at US Cellular Field at 7:10 pm CST.

Giants Recap                        Grade: C

Based on expectation this grade should probably be an “F,” but a there were a few positives this week versus the opening series against the Diamondbacks. One of those was Matt Cain’s brilliant pitching performance against the Pirates on Friday. He pitched a complete game striking out 11 allowing only one hit, but Lincecum had another horrendous performance earlier in the week against the Rockies. His velocity remains down, so it will be wait and see as he starts tonight against Roy Holladay.

The Giants offense continues to produce which is a great sign since it has been a bit anemic the past few years. Melky Cabrera is making the most of his time with Giants hitting .324 with a homer and 5 RBIs. Their offense is averaging 4.7 runs per game, a rather impressive number in this young season.

The biggest problem for the Giants besides Lincecum’s loss in velocity is Brian Wilson facing season ending elbow surgery. Losing Wilson puts a closer by committee system in place for a bullpen that’s been less than stellar so far, and we all know that never works very well.

Also, Buster Posey ended up with shingles this week, so his play has been limited. Shingles? Isn’t that an old person’s illness? Despite all that the Giants have managed to rebound after staring out 0-4, by going 4-1 to get to a respectable 4-5 on the year. The problem with that is the Dodgers have started out on fire with a 9-1 record. So much for the selling of the team distracting the Dodgers. If the Giants continue their solid play from the past week they should be fine.

The Freak vs. Doc tonight at AT&T Park at 9:15 pm CST.

Opening Day: 21 out of 22

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Drinking a winner this morning.

It’s an exciting morning for me, it’s Opening Day at US Cellular Field. The moment we hit the new year I start thinking about Opening Day. It’s almost hard for me to believe that we’re just a week into the 2012 baseball season, I’ve watched so much baseball already.

This will be my 21st Opening Day out of the last 22, I missed one about six years because I was in Vegas for an event that was cancelled. It was Vegas, so I can’t complain. I’ve seen Detroit open the home season for the White Sox a few times, and the Sox are 1-4.

Who could forget the 16 – 0 beating that the Tigers gave the Sox for the inaugural game at New Comiskey Park, that was the name when it opened. The next two games were dramatic with tons of scoring, an 8-7 win in 1997 and 10-9 in 2001, both wins for the Tigers.

Finally, in 2003 the Sox won 5-2, and pretty much dominated their home opener for the last decade plus. They’ve only lost two home openers since 2000, and they have a good chance of keeping that streak intact today.

While the Tigers looked unbeatable the first week of the season, they have some weaknesses in their starting pitching. For example, Max Scherzer is pitching today with his 23.62 era against a Sox line-up that just lit-up Justin Masterson in Cleveland on Wednesday. What the Tigers were able to overcome in the Red Sox series was bad pitching by outscoring the Red Sox with two come from behind victories. Those types of wins will be more difficult to come by against the White Sox who have one of the best bullpens in baseball in the early season, allowing only 3 earned runs over 12 innings pitched. In contrast, the Tigers bullpen has been taxed early with 22.1 innings pitched already allowing 8 earned runs. That could help the White Sox overall in this series.

Jake Peavy who gets the start today pitched the Tigers out the division win a few years ago. Peavy has a lifetime 3.30 era against the Tigers allowing only 15 runs over 5 games. I like our chances today.

No matter the outcome today it will be a fun day at the ballpark with the temperature in the mid-60′s, and the Sox looking to move into a first place tie with the Tigers. That’s right, the AL Central is on the line today. Well, not really since it’s only April 13, but I’m not expecting to be able to type “the first place White Sox” a lot this season so I’m going to savor it. Let’s go White Sox!

Sox Opening Series Recap; Grade: C

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The first series of the year is in the books for the White Sox and they look pretty average, so far. There are a few subtle changes that are worth noting, but the biggest similarity with the 2011 White Sox is the inability to get a hit with runners in scoring position.

The Sox squandered opportunities the entire series against the Rangers, that ultimately lead to their demise in game one, and putting no real pressure on the Rangers starter, Matt Harrison, along with a subpar performance by Gavin Floyd did them in last night.

For most part the starting pitching was solid in the series, both John Danks and Jake Peavy turned in quality starts, but the long ball did Gavin Floyd in as he let up three homers leading to five runs. All the home runs were allowed because Floyd missed his spots on those pitches and paid for it. He only allowed five hits over 5-2/3 innings, but gave up two-strike home runs to both Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton; almost unforgiveable.

On the plus side of things in the series, the bullpen has pitched 7-1/3 scoreless innings to start the season, and a save from rookie closer, Hector Santiago. The best part was it was three-up, three-down for his save, no drama. Alex Rios hit the game winning home run in game two and Adam Dunn had a home run in game one and a hit off a lefty in game two. With his hit against a lefty, Derek Holland, that brought Dunn within six hits of surpassing his total number of hits against lefties in 2011. As sad of a stat as that is, it’s a positive that he’s getting some of last year’s demons exorcised early on in the season.

Of course, Paul Konerko is going about his business as usual, batting .417 with 3 RBIs in the first three games. He’s on pace for 162! Unfortunately, that will fall well short of the 300 RBIs Prince and Mig are each on pace for with the Tigers. The Tigers basically broke Boston’s back early in the season by sweeping them including two come from behind victories over the three games. That makes the Sox 1-2 start a bit more painful as they already trail the Tigers by two games.

The most painful stat for the Sox is their lack of execution with runners in scoring position, as I mentioned in the opening paragraph. The Sox were 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position over the three game series, which makes it near impossible for a team to win with those types of stats. What’s even more depressing about that stat is if they had gotten one more hit with runners in scoring position, they would have won game one. Somehow they would have won two games going 3-for-19. The only positive to take from that stat is that they had a runner in scoring position 19 times, which means they are hitting and getting on base.

It’s only three games, so I’m not going to freak out nor am I going to declare a big year for Rios. I do think that Dunn will have a close to normal Adam Dunn year for the Sox, but I said at the end of last season.

Chris Sale is on the bump tonight against division opponent, the Cleveland Indians, who did not play very well in their opening series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Hopefully, the Sox can take advantage of that. Key pitching match-up is game three where John Danks squares off against Justin Masterson; it should be a dandy.

Smitty’s Predictions: 2012

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The Tampa Bay Rays will complete their journey from perennial doormats to world champions.

Twenty-twelve will be a season of tempered expectations for the Cubs and Sox who are in varied states of rebuilding—the Cubs are a gut rehab and the Sox are in a hazy state of limbo. Things couldn’t be more opposite in Motown with the Tigers coming off an appearance in the ALCS, having the reigning AL MVP, Cy Young and Batting Champ in Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera respectively on the roster, plus the huge (literally) acquisition of Prince Fielder. It’s tough to contain the excitement coming out of Detroit these days.

When it comes to my predictions, I think I’m of the same mindset as the Cubs’ new front office—I’d really rather not dwell on the past and would much rather look to the future. I only predicted 2 out of 8 playoff teams in 2011 and while batting .250 would be like making the Hall of Fame to Adam Dunn, that’s simply not good enough. I was overly optimistic in 2010 and too pessimistic in 2011, so I think I’ve found the happy medium this year.

AL East Division Champions: Tampa Bay Rays
It’s still baffling to me how the Boston Red Sox could completely dismantle their proud organization just because of a three-week slump in September. Just think, If they had won only ONE MORE GAME, Theo Epstein wouldn’t be in Chicago, Terry Francona wouldn’t be working for ESPN and I would be picking the Sox to win the AL East for the second year in a row. It’s amazing how much crap a few beers and some KFC can create—believe me, I know. The balance of power has shifted away from the aging Yankees as most of their core is over 34 years old and now Andy Pettite is their savoir? I don’t think so. That power shift has headed straight south to Tampa. The Rays have the deepest rotation in the division and more than enough offense to take their third division crown in five years. I didn’t forget about the usually forgettable Toronto Blue Jays. They won’t win the division, but I’ll have more about them in a minute. As for the Orioles? You can definitely forget them.

AL Central Division Champions: Detroit Tigers
Of course I’m picking the Tigers, but I don’t think it’s going to be a 15+ game runaway as most have predicted. The Tigers certainly made a splash with the aforementioned Fresh Prince, but he’s just replacing Victor Martinez in the lineup so I’m not expecting a 10-game improvement over last year. The rest of the division isn’t just going to lay down and die. Sadly, the White Sox aren’t going to be as bad as many have said—there’s just too much dormant talent there. Dunn can’t be as lost as he was last year, can he? Will the real Alex Rios please stand up? Jake Peavy can’t really be this fragile? Cleveland was a beast for most of last season. The Twins still have Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau (remember those guys?) so they are still another potential thorn in the side. Kansas City is the team that intrigues me the most. Losing closer Joakim Soria to Tommy John surgery is tough blow, and the rotation is thin, but the offense could be special this year with the bats of Billy Butler and everyone’s favorite fantasy league sleeper, Eric Hosmer.

AL West Division Champions: Texas Rangers
I love how everyone is wetting themselves over how the aging Albert Pujols is going to revitalize their #10-ranked offense in the AL.  The 10-year, $240 million deal for a 32 (ahem… more like 34) year old who’s numbers are already in decline will go down as the worst deal is the history of baseball.  Say what you will about similar deals to A-Rod and now Fielder, at least those guys were/are young enough to have their best years in front of them.  The Rangers are just way too strong in every facet of the game for anyone else in the division to compete with.

AL Wild Cards: Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees
The additional Wild Card might cause some logistical issues this first season since it was implemented after the schedule came out, but it will prove to be as successful as the original Wild Card has been and a welcome change placing much greater emphasis on winning your division.  The best division in baseball will take two more spots in this year’s playoffs with the Yankees making a big trade deadline deal for the final push and a very talented, yet overlooked Jays squad clawing their way in.

NL East Division Champions: Miami Marlins
I have to admit I could make arguments for four of the five teams in the NL East winning or losing the division, but I settled on the Marlins (much to my blogging counterpart’s chagrin, I’m sure). This is a watershed year for Miami as they have not only stolen the White Sox’ manager and ace, but also their “ALL IN” mentality.  The gaudy new rebranding, the audacious new stadium and massive new payroll are all part of owner Jeffrey Loria‘s last ditch effort to make baseball work in south Florida. Despite last night’s inauspicious debut, Miami has just too much talent across the board and too much on the line not to get it done.  The Phillies are battling injuries to Ryan Howard and Chase Utley so they are coming back to the pack despite their dominant rotation. The Braves are always in the mix somehow and maybe this is finally the year when all those #1 draft picks finally pan out fo the Nats.  I guess the only thing you can bank on is the Mets will suck (and still be in debt).

NL Central Division Champions: St. Louis Cardinals
I’m giving the hated Cardinals the nod only by default.  The Brewers have taken too many steps backwards to contend and Dusty Baker is sure to ruin a couple more young, promising arms in Cincinnati.  Of course I’m not expecting anything from the Cubs this year (but I’m looking forward to 2014) and I can’t even remember who else is in this shitty division.

NL West Division Champions: San Francisco Giants
It’s hard not to pick the Dodgers with Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw on the roster and the dark cloud of the McCourt debacle lifted, but it’s going to be another year before Magic Johnson and Co. can turn things around completely—and then look out! Pitching is obviously the key to my choice here as SF has more than just about anyone in the league. A healthy Buster Posey will anchor an offense just good enough to get it done. Arizona will make another run at the division under the tutelage of my childhood hero, Kirk Gibson, but they will fall just short. Lucky for them, there’s an extra Wild Card now.

NL Wild Cards: Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks
With stalwarts like Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Cliff Lee at their disposal, it’s impossible to keep the Phillies out of the playoffs no matter what offensive obstacles they may face.  The D-backs proved they were for real last season and won’t disappoint this year with my annual NL MVP pick, Justin Upton leading the way.

World Series: Tampa Bay Rays over the San Francisco Giants in 5
It kills me not to pick the Tigers, but this won’t be their year.  Now 2013 will be a totally different story with V-Mart returning to Motown to create one of the greatest 3-4-5 combinations ever.  But I have to curb my enthusiasm for now and realize this is Tampa’s year to finally break through and make their journey from perennial doormats to world champions complete.

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DET

AL Cy Young: David Price, TB

NL MVP: Justin Upton, ARI

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, PHI

What if?

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The key to 2012

As I read an interview with Paul Konerko this morning in the Chicago Tribune I realized that the White Sox would be more fun to watch this season than last season, especially since the expectation level is lower. Should it be?

At first glance I immediately say, yes! A season with 75-wins would be great for this team, but is that really accurate? Other than losing Mark Beuhrle have the White Sox lost all that much compared to last season? Let’s really break it down.

Ozzie Guillen is gone and that may be 5 -10 more wins for the White Sox this season. Konerko admitted that a lot of the Sox woes towards the end of the season were related to the Guillen/Kenny Williams drama, “…there was definitely sometimes late in the year last year, especially where there as probably games and days given away because of people worrying about things that were not related to the game of baseball.” Pretty ridiculous for professional players and managers but the good news is that sideshow is gone.

Carlos Quentin headed west and took his injuries with him. CQ only played in 117 games for the White Sox in 2011, but had a stat line of 24 homers and 77 RBIs, not too bad for only 117 games. The two biggest issues with CQ have been the aforementioned injury bug and his streakiness as a hitter. Half of his home runs last season were hit during an 11 game period between July 9 – 25, he only hit 12 homers over the other 106 games he played. The young Dayan Viciedo and Alejandro DeAza should breathe new life into the outfield. Viciedo has the ability to easily hit 24 home runs.

Sergio Santos was the most puzzling trade from a dollar and cents point of view, but not from a White Sox needs’ point of view. Trading Santos for the talented Nestor Molina was the right move as the Sox are in desperate need of starting pitching for the future. Santos is unproven, but seemed to have the raw talent to be a successful closer for years to come. The Sox have stock piled young arms this offseason, planning for the future for the first time in almost five years. Jessie Crain and Matt Thornton will be available to close games.

Juan Pierre… who cares? I already talked about Beuhrle.

So now I’ll move on to what the Sox have, they have a young managerially and coaching staff except for Don Cooper, Harold Baines, and Juan Nieves, Guillen left overs. There’s no love loss between Cooper and Guillen, but I see Cooper as a no-nonsense guy and with Guillen there was a ton on nonsense. Again, I will wait to pass judgment on Robin Ventura and his crew until mid-season. One thing’s for sure I like the fact that that catchers and pitchers are working out 90-minutes prior to the rest of team to fix the Sox getting more bases stolen on them any other team. According to AJ Pierzynski this was not a concern of the prior coaching staff. Really? While that seemed obvious it’s ridiculous to hear someone finally say it.

Then you have the “Trio of Terror;” Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, and Gordon Beckham. If these three guys hit then you will definitely see Smitty and I at the Cell on September 10 – 13 during a four game series against the Tigers. I look at like this, if Dunn and Rios produce 75% of their best years then the White Sox will not have any problems producing runs. Dunn would have 30 homers and 80 RBIs, while Rios would have 18 homers and 66 RBIs; both would be acceptable rebound years. For Beckham, he just needs to get back to driving the ball and hitting above .300, and the rest will fall into place. He was so deadly when he first came up because he covered the entire plate and hit to all fields.

Finally, you have three pitchers that are more than capable of winning at least 15-games each; Jake Peavy, John Danks, and Gavin Floyd. For Danks and Floyd it’s about keeping their concentration during key moments in games, but Peavy is all about health. He plans on pitching like he always has because that’s the only way he knows how to pitch, at least that’s his stance at the moment. When his two-seam fastball is moving he’s almost unhittable, the question is does he have enough giddy-up on his four-seamer to throw it bye hitters. We’ll find out soon enough.

I’m feeling a little more like the glass is half full versus half empty as Spring training kicks into full gear, but these mysterious questions surrounding the White Sox players could change that in a split second.

Let’s say the perfect storm occurs and everything that I mentioned happens, I would put the Sox at 88-90 victories and a possible Wild Card birth. Yes, only a Wild Card because those stacked Tigers should win at least 94 games this season. If not, then the Sox will probably be within five games of .500 on either side. Now is the time to dream. Go Sox!

They’re back?

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Look at the swelling head on Peavy

The news of the day is not that the Sox have swept their first series in Minneapolis since 2004, or that Alex Rios has decided to adjust his batting stance (5-for-8) now rather than the offseason since I called him out on it days ago, or that Jake Peavy seems to be getting his arm strength back to a Peavy-like level. That’s not the news, the news is the White Sox have figured out how to beat their division again, and the opposition should be worried.

Since the All-Star break the Sox have gone 10-4, the only real blemish in their division is the bad series they played in Kansas City, other then that they’ve been nearly perfect. They’re 4-2 against the Tigers, 2-0 against the Indians, and 3-0 against the Twins. Not too shabby for a team that could not beat any of those teams except the Indians in the first half. If the Sox can keep their winning ways within the division they definitely have a chance of sneaking up on the Tigers and winning this thing.

The Sox had 48 games to play against the AL Central in the second half, if they can maintain their current pace they would finish an impressive, 34-14, and that could be enough to win the division. The Sox will play 25 games against the AL Central in September including two-doubleheaders, and of the 34 remaining games, 18 of those will be played at US Cellular Field.

The other good news is while the Sox epically failed against the Red Sox and Yankees they have a very favorable schedule outside of the division, with four against Baltimore this week, two against the Angels, three against the Seattle, and three against the Blue Jays. Their toughest opponent is the Texas Rangers who they’ll play host to for a three game series, Aug. 19 – 21.

The funniest thing about all this is I was probably a little premature on pronouncing the season over on August 4, but hey baseball’s a funny game and the Sox looked pathetic against the Yankees. The Sox have sucked me back in and have reinstated my optimism for the season. Hopefully it will not be a waste of time. GO SOX!!!!

This Season is O-V-AR!

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2011 in a nutshell

Not much more to say other then the White Sox 2011 campaign has been a major disappointment, and some wholesale changes are most likely to occur next season. Unfortunately, the Sox hands are going to be tied on some of the wholesale changes they’d like to make.

Chicago sports radio and Chicago sports fans spend a lot of their time talking about the bad contracts and trades that Jim Henry has made in his tenure as the Cubs’ GM, but Kenny Williams isn’t exactly batting a thousand either.

Getting Rios of waivers seemed brilliant last season and looks like a complete disaster this season, just like Hendry’s moves looked brilliant when the Cubs’ were six outs away from going to the World Series. Williams not wasting time and getting Adam Dunn seemed one of his best off-season acquisitions since he signed Jim Thome, oh well, maybe next year will be better with “Big Donkey” as his season has been a complete disaster. The Sox are already doing damage control in the press for next season.

The Chicago Tribune published an interview with Greg Walker focusing on Rios changing his batting stance in the off-season, apparently he’s not mentally strong enough do this now? Screw next season, you were 3-1/2 games back less then a week ago, make an adjustment now. Paul Konerko makes adjustments from bat to bat if necessary, man-up!

I’m all for giving Adam Dunn a reprise on this season, but next year the pressure will be greater if can not find his groove before the season ends. As for Rios, well we’re stuck with him since he’s owed $41 million over the next two seasons. Ouch! While Williams did not structure that contract, he claimed it off of waivers. Not a smart move.

Jake Peavy also brings a hefty contract, but based on his performance on Monday night against the Yankees, I think Jake Peavy is going to pay big dividends next season. Fans act like Peavy tore his latissimus dorsi muscle on purpose and expect him to suddenly be great again after having experimental surgery. I think he will be great again, and think Williams will come out fine on that move. Clayton Richard has come back down to earth and has suffered a few of his own setbacks for the Padres.

Since these big contracts and the lack of attendance due to a poor performance by the team will prevent them from re-signing Carlos Quentin, Mark Buehrle and/or John Danks they should move someone now.

I hate to give up CQ, but the reality is he has value to a team actually in it, and would only be able to stay with the team if he gave the Sox a hometown discount. In regards to Buehrle and Danks, I would try to move Danks. The reason is the Sox offered Danks a contract two years ago and he scoffed at it, so it’s obvious he’s looking for a payday. Buehrle may be willing to stay for the same money he’s making now, which the Sox should be able to manage.

Besides all of that, the Sox will be probably be replacing their manager next season as Guillen is most likely getting a big payday from the Florida Marlins. This comes as no surprise, but the ability of Williams to prepare for the future while attempting to compete for a division is what is impressive.

The whole reason that Colby Rasmus is not on the Sox or the Cardinals any longer is because of Tony LaRussa. The Cardinals are going for it this year while they have Albert Pujols on their roster and Rasmus and LaRussa did not see eye to eye. While the Sox needed a righty in the bullpen to replace Tony Pena, they would have gladly acquired Rasmus to replace the vacancy in right next season that will most likely occur due to Quentin leaving.

The entire reason the rumored trade ended up going through Toronto was because the Sox already have their replacement manager in LaRussa. Of all the mishaps that have happened this season this is one of the smartest moves Williams has done. Both Williams and Jerry Reinsdorf have regular contact with LaRussa, and they usually have dinner when he’s in town with the Cardinals.

Kenny Williams is always one-step ahead and while it doesn’t always work out you have to respect his aggressive nature and passion for the White Sox.

The Sox may look something like this next season:

Manager – Tony LaRussa

Starting Lineup:

1 – LF – Alejandro De Aza

2 – SS – Alexei Ramirez

3 – DH – Adam Dunn

4 – 1B – Paul Konerko

5 – CF – Alex Rios (This might be generous at this point)

6 – RF – Dayan Viciedo

7 – C – AJ Pierzynski

8 – 2B – Gordon Beckham

9 – 3B – Brent Morel

SP:

1 – Mark Buehrle

2 – Jake Peavy

3 – Gavin Floyd

4 – Phil Humber

5 – ?????????????