Are the South Side Hit Men back?

        This is an exciting team to watch, in terms of offense. Over the last week or so, the bullpen has slowly gotten better, after a rocky first couple of weeks of the season. Yes, they do have some decisions to make and yes, they do have a few issues. Starting in the outfield, Alejandro De Aza is having a poor start to the season-he still isn't hitting his weight, and partly because the only backup outfielder they have in Jordan Danks is just a bad hitter, manager Robin Ventura has no choice but to start De Aza day after day. In right, they have no choice but to have Dayan Viciedo starting (he's not a good outfielder), because his best position (DH), is occupied by Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko.

At third, Marcus Semien is doing so-so, could stand to hit a little better and not strike out so much. It looks like he's there at least until Conor Gillaspie comes back, who was CLEARLY the better hitter before he went out with an injury. At second, Gordon Beckham is back, and is off to a slow start thus far. The problem the White Sox have is, between Double AA Birmingham and the White Sox, what do they do with the following players: Micah Johnson, second baseman, who's hitting VERY well at Birmingham, Tyler Saladino and Carlos Sanchez, shortstop and second baseman, respectively, who are hitting well at Triple AAA Charlotte, and Beckham, Semien, Leury Garcia and Alexei Ramirez, who are all with the White Sox at the moment. Talk about a logjam between second and shortstop!

So far, an exciting team to watch...

   Closing toward the end of April, the White Sox have been, particularly offensively, a nice team to watch. They haven't suffered too much since they lost Avisail Garcia to a season-ending injury and since Adam Eaton's been out the last several days. Dayan Viciedo is starting to hit like he did when he first came up a few years ago, now that he's had the opportunity to become a full-time starter.

Alejandro De Aza's been hitting poorly of late, but the White Sox's outfield prospects being practically scarce, they're stuck with him in the meantime. Fortunately, practically every guy who plays in the infield has been able to pick up the slack. I really like Leury Garcia, as they don't really lose anything when they play him. He walks, can play at least four positions (he even PITCHED in a recent game!), is a good bunter and can steal bases. A little guy who SHOULD be a fan favorite, if he isn't already.

A White Sox review

 After smacking the ball around the first week or so, the White Sox' bats have gone cold somewhat. Guys are continuing to walk, but they appear to be swinging at pitches out of the strike zone a lot more. guys like Alejandro De Aza, Jose Abreu and Marcus Semien have REALLY been struggling.

On the flip side, hitting-wise, Alexei Ramirez, Tyler Flowers and Dayan Viciedo (who's playing regularly now that Avisail Garcia is out for the year), have continued to do so.

As far as the pitching is concerned, the starting pitching (outside of Felipe Paulino), as been decent, while the relief pitching has been horrendous thus far. Perhaps they should gather the relief corps and tell them, "Gentlemen, back in the OLD days, starters pitched complete game after complete game. Those days have gone out with the Yugo, so come prepared to pitch and when we call on you to do so, pitch like no one's coming in to pitch after you."

A small review of the first week

      The White Sox have been a mixed bag. Offensively, they seem to be doing okay, with Tyler Flowers hitting better than expected and the guys who are SUPPOSED to be getting on base are getting on base. It was a nice game on Tuesday with the Pale Hose scoring 15 runs and only allowing 3. IN COLORADO, OF ALL PLACES!

 As far as the starting pitching, so far so good for Chris Sale and Jose Quintana (my wishes for him are to have more games where he completes at LEAST seven innings and have far fewer no-decisions than he had last season). They are in dire need of a good third starter, to take the pressure off Sale and Quintana. To me, good teams have good three starters who can give you at least seven good innings, while the fourth and fifth starters can give you at least five. With very few walks of course.

I cringe sometimes while looking at Sale's arm motion when he pitches, so the need for another good starter or two should create a sense of urgency (John Danks? Eric Johnson? Felipe Paulino? Newly signed Tommy Hanson?).

Getting back to the offense, Marcus Semien needs to start hitting more consistently. He's the guy until Gordon Beckham comes back and who knows when that'll be.

The season has started!

   The White Sox have started the season 2-0 against the always pesky Minnesota Twins. It didn't take long for the White Sox to revert back to their horrendous base running blunders of 2013, with Tyler Flowers running into an out during yesterday's game. I'm curious to see how Marcus Semien does during Gordon Beckham's absence, as he's 0-for-2014 thus far (perhaps he's pressing a bit-who knows?). A few more games like this and he COULD be headed back to AAA once Beckham returns (Semien never played a full season at AAA Charlotte, so...).

I'm curious to see how the new pitchers do for the White Sox, as they have a number of new faces on their staff who either weren't with them last season or were with them only part of the year. Oftentimes, people will say, "It's early, it's early", but I ALWAYS want the White Sox to get off to a good start at the beginning of the season. To me, it's a lot better than scrambling to play catch-up later on. I always want to be up 20 games at the beginning of September.

I think that the keys for the Pale Hose are pitching, defense, and for CRYING OUT LOUD, smart base running!!!

It's just about time for the regular season to start

    The regular season roster is slowly shaping up, with STILL a little bit of uncertainty. It looks as if Gordon Beckham and Jeff Keppinger are both going to start the season on the disabled list, barring the unforeseen (a trade of either one of them or both or a quick healing by either one of them or both). Leury Garcia and Marcus Semien become replacements, with Semien likely being the starter.

I like the way Garcia and Semien have played during spring training (as far as getting on base), and also I like the fact that both can play several positions, which NEVER hurts as far as being able to help a team. My knock on Beckham is that he only plays one position-second base. One of the other ones who's had a good spring training, Micah Johnson, will probably start the season at AAA Charlotte, though I've yet to hear of anything official. He closed last year at AA Birmingham, and primarily was in A ball during most of 2013. As a position player, making the jump from AA to the majors is ALWAYS a long shot, and with the White Sox already having guys in front of him, it's an even bigger long shot. A huge part of me wishes they would trade BOTH Beckham and Alexei Ramirez.

Adrian Nieto will backup Tyler Flowers at catcher, barring yet another unforeseen move by the White Sox. I've yet to see Nieto play, but am anxious to do so, based on what I've heard about him thus far during spring training. Hey, perhaps he fools around and ends up being a starter before the season ends! It's looks as if they're carrying four outfielders in Avisail Garcia, Adam Eaton (both of whom will hopefully be good as advertised), Alejandro De Aza and Dayan Viciedo (both of whom have been mentioned in trade rumors).

Counting down to the regular season

      After the latest round of sending players to the minor leagues (including Josh Phegley, who probably needs to play on a regular basis [and get some work done in terms of handling pitchers and working on his defense], which wasn't going to happen with Flowers ahead of him, and Andy Wilkins, who they just didn't have any room for with Jose Abreu, Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn ahead of HIM), the regular season roster is rounding into shape.

The battle for the backup catcher position is probably considered a close one, with Adrian Nieto having never played above "A" ball and Hector Gimenez being up and down the last three seasons and never sticking on a consistent basis. I can't even remember the last time the White Sox developed a catcher in their system and he turned out to be even a FAIR player. There's still a chance they could make a trade for a catcher. Stay tuned.

Regarding first base, Andy Wilkins is one of their top prospects and actually hit well during spring training. How he was able to last THIS long into spring training is beyond me, since I feel they already knew who they were going to break camp with. Abreu, the beloved Konerko and the clubhouse-beloved Dunn have first base covered. GOOD GRIEF I HOPE THAT ABREU CAN PLAY A FULL SEASON AT FIRST BASE!!! AS IN AT LEAST 140 GAMES!