The Chicago White Sox went all in in 2011.
They busted.
When that happens, those who had losing hands are supposed to walk away from the table. Of the people principally responsible for the collapse, though, only two—manager Ozzie Guillen, hitting coach Greg Walker and pitcher Mark Buehrle—actually exited.
Those left—GM Kenny Williams, owner Jerry Reinsdorf, first baseman Paul Konerko, pitching coach Don Cooper and a few others—have more or less bought back into the tournament. They are diminished by their losses and humbled by their failure, but there their chips rest on the felt all over again.
Things will only deteriorate from here. Retaining Williams and Cooper was a mistake by Reinsdorf. Not trading Konerko, John Danks or Gavin Floyd over the winter was a mistake by Williams. The White Sox's future looks bleak, maybe even black.
On the other hand, one could argue the team has nowhere to go but up. It will be a lonely adventure in a mostly empty ballpark for the White Sox this season, but it will be an adventure, nonetheless. Here's a complete preview of the year they'll call: "The Do-Over."
This is the sixth of 30 team previews in 30 days, leading up to the start of the 2012 MLB regular season.
Check out Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston and the Cubs.
Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Matt Trueblood offers insight on all facets of each club, profiles their manager, raise key questions, identifies risers and fallers and lays out run matrices for each team based on his proprietary 2012 projections. Check back daily for the next team in the series, or follow Trueblood on Twitter:
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