Offensive Resurgence, Bullpen Woes Mark White Sox First Half
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jul 17, 2014 7:30PM
The All-Star Break is a good time to look back and see just how the White Sox season has gone so far, and how it compares to our pre-season expectations. The team entered the break with a 45-51 record, six games below .500 and tied with Minnesota for last place in the AL Central at 10-1/2 games back of Detroit. But while the team has mostly disappointed when it comes to the win column, there are plenty of reasons to be excited for this team down the line.
The 2013 White Sox had lots of trouble scoring runs resulting in a 99-loss campaign, and the team made strides to address that in the off-season. They added Adam Eaton, Avisail Garcia, and Jose Abreu to try and help shore up the offense. Garcia was lost for the year early on, and Eaton has performed just OK in the lead-off spot with a .270 batting average. However the $68 million signing of Cuban defector Abreu has paid off in spades. Despite missing almost three weeks to an injury, Abreu still leads Major League Baseball with 29 home runs at the break. His 73 RBIs are just two back of Miguel Cabrera's league lead, and he sports a .292 batting average while hitting safely in 26 of the past 27 games. Now a clear front runner for Rookie of the Year, Abreu might be in the discussion for MVP, too.
The left side of the infield has been solid, with Alexei Ramirez has playing well enough to make the All-Star team this year, while Conor Gillaspie is hitting .326. Gordon Beckham started out hot after returning from injury, but has faded of late. Adam Dunn is again not earning his huge paycheck, with 14 homers and 36 RBIs, but hey at least his batting average is over .220. Dayan Viciedo is having a bit of a bounce back season, now that he's in the lineup daily because of Garcia's injury. He was originally expected to platoon with Alejandro De Aza, who isn't having as good a year as he did in 2013.
On the mound, Chris Sale has been the biggest bright spot for the team. While he, too, did a stint on the DL and missed about five starts, Sale is 8-1 with a 2.08 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 95 innings of work. Jose Quintana and John Danks have been solid thus far. Danks is 8-6 with a 3.99 ERA, while Quintana has lacked run support and has has a 5-7 record despite a 3.24 ERA. Felipe Paulino, expected to be in the rotation, has been on the DL since April and was pretty bad in three of his four starts. Hector Noesi, picked up in late April after Sale and Paulino were injured, as well as Andre Rienzo and Scott Carroll shored up the back of the rotation with mixed results.
The White Sox bullpen, a strength for years, has been the White Sox biggest weakness in 2014. Last season, GM Rick Hahn traded Jesse Crain before deadline and during the offseason he traded closer Addison Reed. The bullpen sports a 3.90 ERA, which is 25th in the league, and the closer role has been a mess all season. Nate Jones and Matt Lindstrom were expected to vie for the role, but both have been out since April with injuries. Ronald Belisario bombed as closer, forcing Robin Ventura to try out his unproven pen to find a new one. Of late, Jake Petricka appears to be the frontrunner for the role after a few good outings.
The White Sox are right about where we expected them to be this year, despite a number of injuries to key guys. The club has gotten younger and some of the key cornerstone pieces are in place to rebuild upon. As far as a rebuilding plan goes, Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn have done a commendable job so far. But the team still has holes to address if they want to think playoffs in future season. They traded away most of their expensive assets last year, so we don't expect many trades as we approach the deadline this year. Unless somebody wants to rent Adam Dunn's bat for a couple months... otherwise we expect the team to wait until the off-season to more seriously address their deficiencies.