Cranking Up the AL Central
The Baseball Crank begins his annual Established Win Shares Levels series with the American League Central. He’s not excited about the Chicago White Sox, and who can blame him?
Saying goodbye to a contending team is never an easy thing to do, and so I present to you the 2008 Chicago White Sox. True, they should be better than they were last season, with a revamped bullpen, a solid 27-year-old bat in Nick Swisher and a better glove at short. And true, if the division leaders stumble these guys could back their way into a postseason berth with 86 wins or something, but this is a team whose best players are on the downside of their careers, and the injection of Swisher (out of position in center), Josh Fields (who is probably going to take over Crede’s job again as soon as the Sox can deal Crede) and Quentin (looking to recover from a horrible 2007) isn’t enough to turn that around. Realistically, they probably end up 2 games over .500 in July looking to deal Thome, Dye and Konerko and go back to the drawing board. It’s a pity for them that the Mets are too tapped out to pursue any of those guys. If they try to squeeze one more run out of this roster, they are probably headed the way of the Orioles of the past decade or so.
I keep hearing the term “sleeper potential” thrown at the White Sox, but the only place a team with a 3.5-man pitching staff will be sleeping is at the bottom of the pack. I really think the Royals can take fourth place in 2008.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Odds and Ends
0 opinions for Cranking Up the AL Central
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: