Thoughts on 2009…
April 8th, 2009 Posted in rantI know this post is coming after only one game of the 2009 season, but after listening to yesterday’s game I feel this must be said: The White Sox have to change their ways if they want to be a contender this season.
Since the addition of Jim Thome in November of 2005, the White Sox offensive strategy has changed from the manufacturing of runs to relying on the long ball to carry them. I’m not suggesting Jim Thome is the reason, nor am I suggesting the White Sox didn’t rely on the long ball before him.
But since the 2006 season, they seem to be a team that fell into a comfort zone of relying on the home run to save them.
Yesterday’s game was very much like many over the past few years; meet a strong pitcher who shuts them down for a majority of the game, stay in the game with decent (although solid pen work yesterday!) pitching, get very little done offensively and hope that one of the big bats can bring them back.
Yesterday (and quite a few games in the past) it worked out in their favor. But I also tend to believe that this mindset has also been a major factor in them barely making it to the playoffs last season (and a quick heave-ho from said playoffs) and not at all the previous two years.
They have to start getting the little things done again, like moving guys over into scoring position (Wise, ARE. YOU. LISTENING? You failed bunt attempts hurt.)
They had several opportunities to score yesterday, with a runner on third with less than two outs and failed.
Another part of the problem with this is that it relies heavily on the few powerhouses on the team to produce… Yeah yeah, everyone on the team has the power to jack longballs, but when people think of the heart of the home run production, they think of Thome, Konerko, and Dye ( I think the jury is still out on Quentin, to see if 2008 was a fluke.) And this style of play puts a lot of strain, not to mention if one or more of these guys goes into a slump (or gets hurt). Last year, the aforementioned Quentin stepped up and covered when the others slumped. Will there always be someone in the wings to do so?
I’d much rather go through this season with the knowledge that the Sox are a run-producing machine that also has the high potential to go yard, as opposed to being a streaky team that scores virtually only with the long ball. And for that to work, there needs to be better execution.
There, I said my piece. Now lets move on. 
