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For the first time in some years, the White Sox future looks bright. I expect five years from now Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada will be on this list. To qualify, a player needs to have played for the Sox for at least three
years. That’s why Albert Bell isn’t on
the team. He put together one good year
for the Sox, followed by one great year, and went on his way to Baltimore. Bell hit .311 with 49 homers and 148 RBIs in
1998. I had forgotten just what a beast
at the plate he was.
Anyway, here goes.
Discussion and is encouraged.
Catcher: Carlton Fisk. Really, nobody else is a close second. Carlton played for the White Sox for 13
seasons. Fisk was an offensive for the
Sox. His best year came in 1985 when he
hit 37 homers with 107 RBI’s. This was
one of the easiest choices on this team.
First
base: Frank Thomas For a team that didn’t have
much offense for years, the Sox have had an abundance of great hitting first
basemen in the last 50 years. In
addition to Thomas, the Sox have also had Dick Allen, Paul Konerko and Jose
Abreu man the position. While Thomas
gets the nod, Dick Allen was the most exciting offensive player I’ve ever
watched play for the Sox. Paul Konerko
was a model of production and consistency while providing leadership. It’s amazing that I would put someone as good
as Abreu 4th at this position , but that speaks to the Sox depth at
this position. Jose Abreu would be the pick if he were on a number of different teams, it's just the Sox group of first basemen is that good. The Sox came a long way
form the days of Tommy McCraw. No
offense Tommy
Second
base: Ray Durham Ray
played second for the Sox for 8 years, from 1995-2002. He was a solid offensive contributor, with an
OPS of .780. He also provided form
speed, stealing 219 bases during that time frame. Ray’s hands were a bit stiff, but he had good
range on pop flies.
Shortstop: Luis Aparicio Looie’s
heyday with the Sox was during the mid 50’s and early 60’s, but he came back to
the team from 1968-70 and played some great ball. He actually had the best offensive season of
his career in 1970. Aparicio hit .313
with an OPS of .776. He struck out only
34 times while walking 53 times. He was
also solid in the field. Looie had a WAR
of 4.8. While Aparicio is the choice now, by the end of the 2021 season, I suspect Tim Anderson will be the guy. Anderson's defense continues to occasionally be sketchy, but his offense is real, as evidenced by his 2019 AL batting title. His 2020 season showed 2019 wasn't a fluke. Look for more good stuff to come from Anderson.
Third
base: Robin Ventura I’m not a fam of Robin Ventura the manager,
but I loved Robin Ventura the player.
Robin played an excellent third base while swinging a potent bat. For
the 10 years Robin was in Chicago. He had an OPS of .805. He had a couple of years of 30+ homers and
100+ RBIs. In addition to that he was
great in the clutch. His 18 grand slams
tied him with Willie McCovey for 5th on the all time list. While Ventura is the choice at third, the Sox
have had some other excellent options at the position. Bill Melton, while not particularly strong in
the field, did bring a power bat to the position for the Sox during the early
70’s. Bill hit 33 homers on both 1970
and 71. In 1971 that was good enough for
the homerun leadership in the AL, making Melton the first member of the White
Sox to ever lead the league in that department.
Joe Crede was a cornerstone of the 2005 World Series winner. During his heyday in the mid 2000’s Joe was
good for about 20 homeruns and 70 RBI’s while playing a great third base. Yoan Moncada could ultimately make his way at the head of great White Sox third basemen.
Left
field: Tim Raines I
had a hard time deciding on this position because it was hard to find a guy
that had three really good years in left field for the Sox. The Sox had had a number of guys that
produced for a year or two. I mentioned
Albert Bell, who if he had played another year for the Sox would have been the
choice. Greg Luzinski and Ron Kittle
briefly provided power at the position, as did Ivan Calderon, but ultimately
Raines was the choice. Tim played five years for the Sox and had an OPS of
.781. That’s a notch below his peak with
the Montreal Expos but still pretty good, especially when you factor in his
stolen base and base running ability.
Center
field: Chet Lemon I remembered Chet as being
pretty good, but in looking back at his stats, he was even better than I
remembered. Chet played a solid center
field while having an OPS of .814. At
his peak, Chet’s war was around 4-5.
Beyond Lemon, the Sox haven’t had much at the position. Names like Pat Kelley and Rudy Law come to
mind. Look for Luis Robert to be the choice here in about three years.
Right
field: Magglio Ordonez The
Sox have had two t right fielders in the last 50 years, Ordonez and Harold
Baines. In looking at the numbers,
Magglio is an easy choice. During the
early 2000’s Magglio was a tremendous hitter.
He was good for about 30 homeruns and 110 RBI’s in his peak. Defensive metrics weren’t particularly kind
to Magglio, but his offense was too good to be ignored. I was genuinely surprised when I looked at
Baines stats. They’re good, but don’t
jump put at you. At his peak, he was
good for 20 or so homeruns and around 90 RBI’s.
In addition, defensive metrics weren’t
kind to him either.
DH:
Dick Allen Allen
is still the most exciting offensive player I’ve seen on the White Sox.
Before going into the picks for starting pitchers, once again the names will probably look different in a few years. Lucas Giolito could well be on the list, as could a couple of other guys who look to crack the Sox rotation soon.
Starting
pitchers: Chris Sale Chris is the most dominant starter I’ve seen
with the White Sox, and he’s at his peak now.
He’s had 4 excellent years as a starter and is off the charts in this,
his 5th year. White Sox,
enjoy.
Starting
pitchers: Wilbur Wood Wilbur lost effectiveness as time went on in
his career with the Sox, but from 1971-74 he won a total of 90 games, winning
20 or more in each of those seasons. In
addition, Wilbur ate up a tremendous amount of innings, pitching over 300
innings in each of those seasons. Wilbur
maxed out at 376.2 in 1972. No wonder he
later lost effectiveness.
Starting
pitchers: Jack McDowell During the early 90’s Black
Jack put together a a nice string of innings for the Sox. Jack won 20 games for the Sox in 1992 and
followed that up with 22 wins in 1993. He
didn’t have areal long stint with the Sox but had a nice 5 year run.
Starting
pitchers: Joel Horlen. Joel pitched for the Sox
from 1961-1971 and had a record of 113-113.
His prime was from 1965-69. When
the Sox made their run at the pennant in 1967, Joel had his best year, going
19-7 with an ERA of 2.06. From 1965-68
Joel had an ERA of under 3.00. Joel’s
won and lost record didn’t match his effectiveness. Joel was on a staff with Gary Peters. Gary would have been on this list, but his best
years were 1963 and 64 so he just missed the list.
Starting
pitchers: Mark Buehrle Mark’s career is a testament
to consistency. From 2001-2011 Mark won
in double digits every year. His high
water mark was 2002 when he won 19 games.
In addition to his consistency, Mark is one of the most popular members
of the White Sox of al time.
Relief
pitchers: Hoyt Wilhelm I
focused on the years 1965-69 in Hoyt’s long career. I was amazed to see he pitched 144 innings in
relief in 1965. In those 4 years,
Wilhelm’s ERA was under 2.00 in each year.
Wilhelm’s career with the Sox pre-1965 was also stellar. Based on effectiveness and sheer volume of
usage out of the pen, Wilhelm gets a spot on the roster.
Relief
pitchers: Bobby Thigpen Bobby’s big year was in 1990
when he had 57 saves, Beyond that, he
had a couple of decent sesons. That’s
enough to get him on this list.
Relief
pitchers: Keith Foulke Keith
had 2 big years in Sox pen and a third decent one. Foulke had 34 saves in 2000 and followed up
with 42 in 2001. In 2002 he had 11 and
was off to Oakland the next year.
So there it is.
Your thoughts?
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