MLB Team by Team: 2008 Chicago White Sox

In 2005, the Chicago White Sox hit the highest heights, winning the World Series for the first time since 1917 on guile, guts and brains. In 2006, the Pale Hose just fell short of returning to the playoffs, winning 90 games, but having the misfortune of being in the same division as the impossibly hot Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.

In 2007, the bottom didn't just fall out, it shattered upon impact. The Sox fell to 72-90, 24 games behind the Cleveland Indians, as injuries, subpar performances, and everything but the plague descended on U.S. Cellular Field. What will this year bring?

OFFENSE: C-

An indicator of how bad the White Sox problems were last year comes from the power numbers of their big hitters, Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, and Jermaine Dye. Konerko had 31 homers...and 90 RBI. Thome, 35 jacks...and 96 runs driven in. Dye, 28 and 78. When the bats were up, there were no ducks on the pond. Enter shortstop Orlando Cabrera, whom, while not having the power of the man he's replacing, Juan Uribe, has a much higher on-base percentage, and is a catalyst to winning baseball (he greatly helped the Boston Red Sox reel in the 2004 world title and helped the Los Angeles Angels be as dangerous as they were the past two seasons). This offense needs to get people on ahead of the big three to have any shot to produce enough runs to win, and Cabrera and another new addition, former Oakland Athletic Nick Swisher (.381 on-base percentage) are just what the doctor ordered. They'll need one heck of a dose, however, to stay in it in the powerful Central.

PROJECTED LINEUP 1 Cabrera SS 2 Swisher CF 3 Dye RF 4 Konerko 1B 5 Thome DH 6 Pierzynski C 7 Ramirez 2B 8 Quentin LF 9 Crede 3B

STARTING PITCHING: D

Scoring may be the least of the Sox problems this season, as their starting pitching is, at best, inconsistent outside of Mark Buehrle and Javier Vazquez. Jose Contreras had a horrid season last year, gettting blasted in more than his fair share of games, ending up with a bloated 5.57 ERA and looking like his career was nearing its end. John Danks was thrown into the fire as a rookie last year, and showed his inexperience (6-13, 5.50). Gavin Floyd has yet to live up to what the baseball world thought he would be. The path of Ozzie Guillen's feet to the mound may end up being well-worn this season...

PROJECTED ROTATION: Buehrle, Vazquez, Contreras, Danks, Floyd

BULLPEN: D-

...and may be a trench by the time the bullpen gets done. If the White Sox can get to closer Bobby Jenks, much more often than not, the game is over (career, he's 87 of 99, last year, 40 of 46 converted), but the arms leading to him range from shaky to earthquake. Octavio Dotel has seen his better days, and Scott Linebrink, Boone Logan, and Mike MacDougal all had horrid years last year. The Sox are going to have to hope that last year doesn't become this year with this pen.

CONCLUSION

It could be another long year for Guillen and the Pale Hose, good for Chicago sportswriters looking for a juicy quote from Mr. Vesuvius, bad for their fans. Looking at the division, you have the Detroit Tigers looking like possible American League champs, the defending division champion Indians, the still-dangerous Twins, and even a fairly improved Kansas City Royals club. Standing still in this division will get you run over, and that's just what the White Sox did.

PREDICTION: 75-87, fourth in American League Central