It was supposed to be THE YEAR for the Chicago White Sox. They had finally brought Adam Dunn to the American League, where he’d be a force at designated hitter and his team wouldn’t have to worry about his awful fielding anymore. Alex Rios had an awesome bounceback year in 2010, and looked like he could finally fulfilll his potential as a five tool superstar. Gordon Beckham had turned things around in the second half of the year, and was on the verge of becoming a stud. Jake Peavy finally looked healthy.
Things uh, didn’t go the way they were planned.
WHAT WENT RIGHT
The White Sox didn’t expect a lot out of Philip Humber in 2011, after not being able to catch on with three teams over his injury-laden career. 2011 was the first year Humber threw more than 25 innings in the majors, and his efforts were excellent. Humber posted a 3.75 ERA with a low walk total, while keeping his strikeouts and homers at an average rate. Free agent to be Mark Buerhle also had one of his typical years, with a 3.59 ERA and over 200 innings pitched yet again. Despite ERAs over 4.00, Gavin Floyd and John Danks both had FIPs in the 3.80 range. The White Sox rotation as a whole was the highlight of the team. Also, closer Sergio Santos came out of nowhere to strike out 13.07 batters per nine innings.
WHAT WENT WRONG
The offense was a disaster. Juan Pierre, Dunn and Rios got 1777 plate appearances, and were paid $29.5 million by the White Sox to be worth -4.0 fWAR on the season. That’s right, negative four wins for nearly $30 million dollars. Alexei Ramirez, despite some impeccable defense, saw his bat disappear as he only managed a .727 OPS. The glove and baserunning though, propelled him to a 4.9 fWAR season. Beckham regressed yet again, with an OPS that ended up at .633. Rookie prospect Dayan Viciedo got an extended tryout in the outfield, and only managed a .641 OPS.
SURPRISES
Santos came out of nowhere to become a dominant force at the end of games. The converted infielder was turned into a reliever a couple of years ago, and was handed the closer role when both Matt Thornton and Chris Sale struggled early on. Humber was the biggest surprise on the team though, with a guy that was left for dead by a number of teams turning into a capable starting pitcher after years of false starts. I guess you could call Peavy a surprise too, because in spite of his 4.92 ERA, he walked under two batters per nine innings and was victimized by a crappy strand rate. What about former utility infielder Brent Lillibridge? In just 216 plate appearances, he had an .845 OPS and was worth 1.3 fWAR. That’s pretty damn good for a guy who never had any power worth speaking of throughout his career.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
Dunn was terrible from the word GO, finishing the season hitting just .159 with only 11 homers. To put that in perspective, backup middle infielder Lillibridge had 13 homers on the year. Rios only hit .227 with 27 walks in 570 plate appearances. Pierre had both his on-base and slugging under .330. The decline in Ramirez’s bat was also pretty worrisome.
2012 CHANGES
The only major free agents that the team will lose are Pierre and Buerhle. With Viciedo in the fold, Pierre would be brought back at all. The team will likely let Zach Stewart get first crack at Buerhle’s rotation spot if the veteran isn’t brough back.
POSITION BATTLES
The team seems pretty well set. AJ Pierzynski could lose playing time behind the plate to prospect Tyler Flowers. The team needs to find what’s wrong with Beckham, Rios and Dunn before stripping them of their jobs on a full-time basis. Alejandro De Aza could get a crack at a starting outfield position after a solid 2011 campaign in AAA Charlotte and the majors.
