Chicago White Sox

I have nothing against the White Sox.  I’ve been to that new stadium of theirs, and it was really nice.  Carlos Quentin played on my fantasy team last year and was great until he broke his own hand.  Their manager is really funny in a “glad he does not run my team” sort of way, and I think they won the World Series a few year ago.    

If you're a White Sox fan, I'm sorry, today was not a good day at all.

First, the Twins decide they're going to light you up for 20 runs, including a Joe Mauer grand salami and three 4+ run innings. Well, at least you scored that one run in the eighth right?

Just recently, the Chicago Tribune released the big news.  They said that the Padres' ace, Jake Peavy, is very close to becoming a Chicago White Sox. This is a huge surprise; no one expected the White Sox to go after Peavy.

Early in the offseason, the White Sox' crosstown rival Chicago Cubs were said to be seriously pursuing Peavy. That was not the case. The Cubs were still thinking about it along with many other teams, but the White Sox came in and swooped Peavy up before anybody else could.

The Chicago White Sox are playing really bad baseball right now.

Their offense is as bad as it gets in the majors right now. As a team, they rank 26th in baseball in batting average (.246), on-base percentage (.315) and slugging (.391). They rank 27th in runs scored (136) and total hits (303). Through 37 games, they've been held to two or fewer runs 15 times. They have been shut out six times.

There is only one player on the entire roster, no matter the number of at bats, that is hitting over .300 (Paul Konerko, .316).

Fresh off an AL Central division championship and an offseason that showed underachievers and liabilities like Javier Vazquez, Nick Swisher, and Joe Crede the door, the Chicago White Sox thought they had a 2009 club young and balanced enough to repeat the success of last season. 

National media outlets were not impressed though, as they saw this team of having done little in the offseason to improve the parent club. 

Sure, they had signed Bartolo Colon, but he had been a liability over the past few seasons and was past his prime. 

You do not win with a mixture of inexperience, awful starting pitching and extremely old baseball players.  It just does not work.  Lucky for the White Sox, they have the possibility of a bright future, but the present is going to be hard to put in the past.

Before the season most experts pegged the White Sox to finish fourth in the AL Central and some even said last place, and after the first month-and-a-half of the '09 season it looks like they will be correct.

During the offseason, Kenny Williams realized the Sox had to get younger and he had to cut some payroll, as most teams did with the struggling economy.

Williams dealt headache Javy Vazquez for powerful catching prospect Tyler Flowers and career pinch runner Brent Lillibridge. Williams also dealt Nick Swisher for Jeffrey Marquez and utility man Wilson Betemit.

After struggling against the Yankees against very effective pitching with CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte, the Jays are looking for a rebound against the struggling Chicago White Sox.

Chicago's White Sox have badly struggled recently, with injury woes and underperformance in their offense and starting pitching. In the Cleveland series, Gavin Floyd struggled, giving up eight runs in the outing. With his opposition being Roy Halladay on Sunday, Floyd will have to be better or the White Sox will be in trouble.

Now that the Manny shock-waves have settled down, the latest buzz around Major League Baseball surrounds the closer for the White Sox. Bobby Jenks has freely admitted to throwing behind Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers, causing a surprisingly sharp debate on how Bud Selig and company should punish the closer.

Having watched the majority of the season series between the Sox and Rangers, I was not surprised at all by Jenks' message to the Rangers pitchers. Afterall, the Rangers pitchers had made it a point to pitch inside and hit a few Sox hitters in the process.