How different will the 2012 White Sox look?
Honestly, not much. Going All-In for 2011 largely pulls 2012 along with it, as the White Sox have little salary to shed—Chicago is already committed to an $89 million payroll, and that’s for just 11 players. Letting Mark Buehrle and Juan Pierre leave could push the payroll down a spot from this year’s, but truly, All-In was a two-year commitment.
Who could be dealt, to improve the team, trim payroll, or both?
There’s no deal that will do both; any payroll trim will come at the cost of young talent inserted as a sweetener or in a straight dump by cutting a player, which is ulikely to happen on Reinsdorf’s watch.
The closest area of expendability comes in right field, where Carlos Quentin will see a significant raise on his $5.5 million salary in his final year of arbitration. Dayan Viciedo is ready to supplant CQ in right field, but there’s nothing that says the two sluggers couldn’t both occupy corner spots next season.
Big-ticket items like Jake Peavy ($17 million), Adam Dunn ($14 million) and Alex Rios ($12.5 million) are untradeable, unless the White Sox want to eat half of any of those contracts or wedge a prime prospect into the deal. And they don’t have enough prime prospects for wedging.
Who has the inside track for No. 5?
One of the interesting battles shaping up in September involves Phil Humber and Zach Stewart’s fight for the fifth spot in the 2012 rotation. But that presupposes a number of things.
One, the White Sox would be smart to re-up Buehrle for whatever contract length he desires. Every season of his recent four-year, $56 million deal he’s given the White Sox more value than he’s been paid in salary.
Two, presuming Matt Thornton returns, Chris Sale is ticketed for the starting rotation, destined to flabbergast far more batters with his changeup as a starter than a reliever.
But if it came down to Humber battling Stewart, spring training efforts pending, Humber has earned the spot. He was the most dominant starter for the White Sox in the first half of 2010, and while wholly speculative, it wasn’t until the team decided he needed to be skipped in the rotation in July that trouble started brewing—in his first 15 starts, Humber sported an amazing 60.5 game score, while over his last seven, he’s fallen to 43.7.
Which kids can play?
As the White Sox continue to attempt challenging for a Central crown in 2012 with a mix of veterans and young guns, the second half of the season, and September in particular, has been telling for the White Sox.
Tyler Flowers, Alejandro De Aza, and Viciedo all appear to be ready to contribute solidly to Chicago in 2012, if not as starters, as key contributors. Of the young players with the White Sox all season, Brent Morel has leapfrogged Gordon Beckham offensively, but both are slinging leather—something that would have overshadowed their offensive woes had players like Dunn and Rios performed to expectations in 2011.
There may not be a fountain of youth on the White Sox, but there’s a trickle, and if all things are equal with the team’s vets, there’s a wave of complimentary players who can aid a pennant push in 2012.
Does 2012 promise hope, or horror?
As usual, it depends on your perspective. From a sheer talent standpoint, there is tons of room for optimism.
But from a shifting-on-the-fly managerial standpoint—and that goes for field managing and general managing alike—there is reason for despondency. Because the same solutions that could be found in 2012—the De Azas, Humbers and Viciedos of the club—were solutions available in 2011 to rescue a lost season, as well.
