Spring training is still several months away and yet with the recent performance of the Bears and the Bulls it can’t come quick enough. It brings with it a time of hope for all teams no matter where you finished last year. Everyone starts with a clean slate. No wins, no losses. But why is it that it is mid-December and I already feel as if the White Sox have been eliminated from the playoffs?
I blame this off-season acquisitions, or should I say lack there of. It’s hard to get excited for a team that finished 72-90 whose main player addition is Orlando Cabrera. And even he came at the expense of fan favorite John Garland. Almost all of the big-named free agents have already been signed. Perennial White Sox killer Torii Hunter elected to sign with the Angels while Andruw “gold glove” Jones is headed to the Dodgers. Granted there is still a strong chance the Sox will still land centerfielder Aaron Rowand but I don’t see that being enough in a division that is quickly becoming the best in baseball.
On paper the Tigers have to be the pre-season favorites to win the division. In looking at what Detroit has done one can make the argument that they have the best lineup in all of baseball. Their signing of Edgar Renteria along with the addition of Miquel Cabrera, arguably one of the best third baseman in the game at the young age of 24, gives them a batting order that would make Roger Clemens finally want to retire. Cabrera along with Sheffield and Ordonez will provide plenty of thunder for a batting order that was already second in the league in scoring. And let’s not forget that Dontrelle Willis, should they decide not to trade him, will help bolster a much underrated pitching staff.
Going toe-to-toe with Detroit for the division crown will be the defending champs the Indians. Cleveland Returns most of its players from last year’s team that was one win away from the Worlds Series. Fresh off winning the Cy Young award, C.C. Sabathia returns to lead a pitching staff the was third in the league in ERA last year. The Indians aren’t expected to make any drastic changes to a team that won 96 games in lasts year’s regular season but currently ex-White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi is on their radar.
Minnesota figures to be headed for a down year with the loss of Hunter and Johan Santana on the trading block. But you can never rule out a Twins team that always seems to make a late run with its core of solid young players. And rounding out the central would be the Royals who will most likely finish at the bottom of the division. But however bad they may be for some reason they always seem to give the Sox fits.
Call it the “glass is half empty” attitude if you will, but the Sox will be hard pressed to make a run at the playoffs in such a tough division. And unless GM Kenny Williams has a few tricks up his sleeve, I see the Sox finishing third. But even if they fail to reach the playoffs making it the third straight year without being World Series Champions, White Sox fans can take solace in the fact that at least they were alive to see their team’s last championship.
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