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2007 Chicago Whitesox Season Preview
Can The Sox Make A Return To The World Series?
CHICAGO(IL)---The 2007 baseball season is going to be a defining year for the Chicago White Sox. Are they a World Series contender or a team in decline?
Pitching
The starting rotation won the World Series for the 2005 Chicago White Sox. Last year, a couple of the 2005 heroes came back down to earth. Expect the downward trend of the staff to continue this season.
First, the team traded away 17 game winner Freddy Garcia. Losing this tough veteran, who has averaged 15 wins and 220 innings per season over his entire career, is going to hurt the Sox more than they know.
Secondly, Jose Contreras is simply not the pitcher he played on TV between the 2005 and 2006 All-Star games. At one point during that stretch, Contreras won 17 straight decisions. That is not going to happen again. Jose is a fine pitcher, though, and should keep in line with his careers numbers of win 12-14 games and a 4.25 ERA.
Mark Buerhle also came down to earth in 2006. After he went 16-8 with a 3.41 ERA in 2005, the lefty fell to 12-13 with a 4.99 ERA last season. *OVERALL GRADE: B-
Lineup
This team will score a lot of runs. No doubt about it. Their lineup is almost the same as last year's team that led the majors in home runs with 236, was tied for second in RBI, and tied for third in Batting Average with .280. But it will take step back. Jermaine Dye had a career season in 2006, hitting .315 with 44 HR and 120 RBI. Amazing. But he won’t do it again. *GRADE: B
Outlook: Unclear
This team has no glaring weaknesses. But aside from its fine offense, nothing on the team screams out “first place.” The starting five will be worse on the field than they look on paper. The bullpen will be average unless Bobby Jenks returns to his 2005 form. The final thing about this team that will keep them out of the playoffs will be age and injuries. *TEAM GRADE: B
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