Jake Peavy, Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd, and John Danks are all reasons to think the White Sox can win. A bullpen led by Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks with other solid parts like J.J. Putz and Tony Pena is another reason to think the Sox can win in 2010.
Then there’s the offense.
As of right now, the White Sox don’t have a designated hitter. They have a few, but that’s not exactly a good thing.
Ozzie Guillen says he wants to test his managerial mettle and rotate Andruw Jones, Mark Kotsay, Jayson Nix, and Omar Vizquel in and out of the DH spot in the lineup while sporadically playing them in the field. The team seems to be shying away from having a true DH—that is, a DH that can’t play the field—probably because they want to have the flexibility to use Carlos Quentin as a DH in an effort to keep him healthy all year.
The plan is good: giving Quentin a break from playing right field while keeping his bat in the lineup has nothing inherently wrong with it. Keeping Quentin healthy will be key for the White Sox in 2010, as he appears to be the only 30-home run threat on the roster.
Paul Konerko’s on the downswing of his career and hasn’t hit 30 or more home runs since 2007. Gordon Beckham, Alexei Ramirez, and Alex Rios shouldn’t be counted on to hit 25, let alone 30, home runs. And unless some medical miracle is performed on Jones, he shouldn’t be expected to come close to that 30 home run mark either.
And that’s why losing Quentin to an injury would be catastrophic to the White Sox’ lineup. With his power out of the lineup, the White Sox’ lineup would have a tough time scoring.
Why? Because the White Sox have no insurance for Quentin.
If Quentin goes down, that would mean that Jones and Kotsay would end up playing every day. And if that happens, all of a sudden the Sox would be lucky to get much production out of two traditional power positions.
It’s not so much that I’m concerned with Jones—if healthy, he could conceivably hit 20+ home runs—but the notion of Kotsay playing every day doesn’t inspire a whole lot of hope. As a bench player who can play a little first base, I have no issues with Kotsay.
But he hasn’t had an OPS better than the league average since 2004 and he hasn’t been worth more than a win since 2005. He also hasn’t played more than 100 games since 2008.
Ideally, the White Sox would have signed somebody who can play a little outfield and DH most of the time. Jack Cust is far from a perfect option, but he signed for just $2.65 million with the A’s after being non-tendered by the club in December.
While Cust saw a dip in power last year (likely thanks to a lesser ability to hit fastballs), having that extra 25-home run guy to keep Kotsay from being an everyday player would be huge in filling a hole left by an injured Quentin.
While a Cust/Jones combination would certainly be a dropoff from any pairing involving Quentin, it certainly would not be as much of a dropoff as a Jones/Kotsay pairing. But Cust isn’t available anymore.
The pickings for players who can play outfield/DH are pretty slim. The best option out there is Jim Thome, although he doesn’t fit the team’s desire of a DH who can play the field.
The White Sox aren’t going to find a DH who can play the field at this point, though. Why not bring Thome back on a one-year deal and take him out of the lineup when Quentin needs to DH? Jones could then fill in as the right fielder, and if Quentin goes down, Jones could play there permanently with Thome as the DH.
There’s no reason why the White Sox shouldn’t go out and sign Thome for a cheap one-year deal. As we get closer to spring training, Thome’s already-low price should drop (if it hasn’t already) to a range that the White Sox can afford.
If the White Sox fail to make the playoffs in 2010 because of a lack of offense, it won’t just be because they didn’t get any insurance for Quentin. But signing somebody who could provide some middle-of-the-order power could somewhat help to offset poor production from Juan Pierre at the top of the order.
What this all boils down to is this: if the White Sox miss the playoffs because of a lack of pitching, Guillen and Kenny Williams can’t be faulted. On paper, the White Sox have great pitching and there’s not a whole lot of second-guessing going on there.
But if they miss the playoffs because of a lack of offense—especially if the team doesn’t bring in a DH and has Kotsay seeing significant playing time—then it will be the fault of the team’s management for an utter lack of foresight.
Topics: Alex Rios, Andruw Jones, Arbogast, Bobby Jenks, carlos quentin, Downswing, Gavin Floyd, Jake Peavy, jayson nix, Jim Thome, John Danks, Mark Buehrle, Mark Kotsay, Matt Thornton, Medical Miracle, Mettle, Omar Vizquel, ozzie guillen, Paul Konerko, Power Positions, Tony Pena, White Sox
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You did not mention Visquel and Nix as DH possibilities, one brings savvy and bat handling skills the other some good raw power. The line-up of Pierre, Beckham, Quinton, Konerko, Rios, Ramirez, Pierzynski, Teahan and a DH will hit 150 or more home runs, is that enough?
First of all, I don’t expect Vizquel and Nix to anything close to a majority of time at DH. Secondly, “savvy bat-handling skills?” Really? Vizquel hasn’t had a good OBP since 2006. He’s still a good defensive shortstop, but if Ozzie thinks he’s a capable DH he’s out of his mind. And does Nix really have “raw power?” His .408 slugging percentage was still lower than the MLB average last year. I like Nix for some pop off the bench if he’s playing 2B or SS, but as a DH…I guess he’s a better option than Vizquel or Kotsay, though.
And if the team only hits 150 home runs, that won’t necessarily keep them out of the playoffs…but in theory, it won’t be enough. It would take a gargantuan effort from Pierre to hold off regression and Teahen to regain his 2006 form along with the rotating DHs to not perform as badly as everyone expects.
That being said, the Sox have great pitching, so we shouldn’t be completely counting them out. But if the Sox miss the playoffs because of a lack of offense, the responsibility falls right on the shoulders of Kenny and Ozzie.