Comments on: What they still need – AL Central: 2008 style

By: It’s 2009 and the White Sox still lack a Center Fielder | umpbump.com

It’s 2009 and the White Sox still lack a Center Fielder | umpbump.com — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:55:34 +0000

[...] of you who read UmpBump regularly are aware of my gripe with the Center Field situation in the South Side of Chicago. For the past four years, [...]

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By: Alejandro Leal

Alejandro Leal — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:50:30 +0000

While I did know Zumaya had been injured, I wasn’t so sure as to how long he’d be out.

Yes, people suggested the Tigers get better arms in relief, but there’s an argument to be made, though, that they have a strong enough bullpen.

They say so themselves.

Still, *when* Zoom Zoom Zumaya returns, the bullpen will definitely be solid.

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:45:08 +0000

Larry, I think it’s pretty clear from the post that Detroit’s bullpen will be solid “with the return” of Zumaya, expected about halfway through the season. No?

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By: Larry Patrick

Larry Patrick — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:31:58 +0000

Did you or did you not know Detroit’s bull pen is not so solid since Joel zoom zoom Zumya got hurt this off season?

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By: Paul Moro

Paul Moro — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:51:20 +0000

I think we all agree that the White Sox need to rebuild. I also think we all agree that the White Sox are being very very short-sighted in not doing so. And ZIPS projections agree too.

The ONLY hitter projected to produce better than the average player at their respective positions is Jim Thome, at least in terms of OPS. Sure, guys like Dye and Konerko will get their share of RBIs based solely upon their spot in the batting order, but again, as far as OBP and SLG are concerned, ZIPS thinks they’ll be below average.

Their pitching fares better, but not by much. The only pitcher projected to have an ERA below 4 is Jenks.

Again, this is just ZIPS and it’s been wrong before. But things like this have a way of being startling accurate at times. The PECOTA projections before last season had the team winning 72 games and a lot of people thought it was a bunch of crap. And they ended up winning exactly 72 games. Yes, it’s unusual for it to be THAT accurate, but a lot of times, they’re in the (excuse the pun) right ballpark.

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By: Nick Kapur

Nick Kapur — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:58:58 +0000

Exactly, Melissa – the White Sox do play in a tough division, so if they are not going to put a team on the field that can win that division, then they should start building one that can. I can understand Reinsdorf not wanting to spend $130 million like the Tigers, but then he should get going on building a cheap, young team from within like the Indians.

If Reinsdorf is putting a priority on putting butts in the seats in the short term, than that is just foolish, because in the long run winning championships or even just making the post-season is going to be worth a lot more than the marginal short-term gain in regular season ticket sales that keeping Jermaine Dye might bring. Because all the numbers I’ve seen show that even just making the postseason at all is worth an extra $15-$25 million.

When I said the White Sox should have started rebuilding “a long time ago,” I meant last summer, which I guess isn’t too long ago. With a team that clearly wasn’t going anywhere, and had no chance of being improved enough through free agency to be competetive with the aging core they have, I thought they should have traded Dye at the deadline for lots of prospects and then maybe look to deal Konerko, Burhle, Thome, etc. They already dealt Garland, but they should have dealt him for prospects, not for a shortstop who has no chance of being around when the Sox next win anything, which isn’t going to be for a while at this rate.

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By: melissa

melissa — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 03:24:25 +0000

Nick,
The White Sox won the World Series in 05, in 06 they won 90 games. You say they should have started rebuilding a long time ago, huh? I do think Kenny should have started to rebuild this year instead of doing what he has done. The problem is the White Sox fans would go ape shit and not show up if they chose to not resign Dye, trade Konerko and Thome. Management has told the fans if they filled the stadium, which they have the last 3 seasons, then they would spend money on payroll. Reinsdorf and Williams kind of painted themselves into a corner. If they had chosen to rebuild fans would not be buying tickets and Jerry has that at the top of his list of priorities. The problem is they are spending money and they probably won’t win anyway but they will probably have decent advanced ticket sales. Part of the conundrum for them is that they won’t spend crazy money like Boston or New York but they can’t drastically slash payroll and rebuild either. It also doesn’t help that they are in quite possibly the toughest division in baseball. They would like to deal Crede but he doesn’t have much value until he can play and prove that his back is healthy.

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By: Nick Kapur

Nick Kapur — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:35:02 +0000

Yeah, I completely agree on the White Sox. Part of being a good GM is knowing when you have a shot to win this year, and knowing when you need to give up and rebuild.

The White Sox clearly need to rebuild. Because there is no way they are going to win that division. Even if they could improve the team dramatically from last year and get up to 87-88 wins, that division is going to take about 95 wins to win, so what Kenny Williams has been doing is just foolish. He should be trading away anyone saleable and getting pieces to win in 2010.

In fact, he probably should have started this rebuilding process a long time ago. Now he’s just wasting time and money.

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