Now, more than ever before, fans are in desperate need of sports. Plain and simple, people need the ability to come home and tune-in, while “tuning out” so to speak.
As MLB and the players try to come to an agreement on how to resume playing baseball, Chicago fans, on both sides of town, have a lot of optimism heading into the summer.
At the top of the list of “Most Improved Teams This Offseason,” we have to look at the Chicago White Sox as one of those teams after the winter they had. Is this going to be the year the White Sox breakthrough into the playoffs, or are they still too young and inexperienced?
White Sox Are Back In The Conversation
Thanks to an ambitious offseason and host of young, budding stars, the south side White Sox (+2500) have shorter odds, on average than the Northside Cubs (+2867) to win the 2020 World Series. That's not just a product of playing in the AL Central, either. Among the other MLB betting news out there, The White Sox are reported to have longer odds to win their division (around +300) than the Cubbies (around +225); however, both Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez are considered outside contenders for AL MVP at +5000, which is in line with Anthony Rizzo's NL MVP odds.
The die hard fans have been keeping a close eye on the White Sox farm system while taking note that a few of the rise of team leaders such as Lucas Giolito and Tim Anderson, put this team in a place to win now.
I saw this team as a future powerhouse with the likes of Luis Robert, Dylan Cease, Eloy Jimenez, Dane Dunning, and Michael Kopech leading the charge once they broke into the league, but they’ve managed to add onto that core group with the drafting of Nick Madrigal and Andrew Vaughn in most recent years.
Opposing Scouts Size Up the White Sox
“They can score a bunch of runs, but their rotation is still a question mark after Lucas Giolito — and we will see what they get from [Dallas] Keuchel. You can kind of see it coming together if they can get Carlos Rodon and Michael Kopech back healthy, and if Reynaldo Lopez gets some consistency, and Dylan Cease channels that great stuff. I do like their back three in the bullpen with Alex Colome, Jace Fry and Aaron Bummer. If they’re going to make some noise, they’ll have to win a lot of 7-6 kind of games, and they have the offense to make that possible. Yasmani Grandal was the steal of the winter; he’s a top-3 catcher in the game. Yoan Moncada is a one-man wrecking crew, with a lot of inner confidence and swagger, and Tim Anderson hits any fastball anywhere in the zone. Jose Abreu is as consistent a run producer as there is in the game, and with Eloy Jimenez on the rise, they have the chance to score a whole lot of runs, especially in a division without a lot of ace-type arms.”
In addition to all the young talent the White Sox has accumulated, we also have the resurgence of Lucas Giolito who burst onto the scene last year to the tune of a 3.41 ERA, 228 Ks in 176.2 innings, 3 complete games, and 2 shutouts. On top of that, we must also remember just who this guy was in 2018 and how much he grew from that year to last.
Giolito led the American League in walks (90) as well as the entire league in earned runs (118) in 2018, but in 2019, he cut his walks almost in half and tweaked his mechanics to suit is motion and retain his velocity he came up with.
If Michael Kopech and Carlos Rodon exceed expectations as they return from Tommy John surgery and Luis Robert — who was signed to a long-term deal in early January — delivers on his potential as a top-five prospect in center field, the Sox figure to exceed .500.
Projected Lineup
LINEUP
2B Leury Garcia (S)
SS Tim Anderson (R)
3B Yoan Moncada (S)
1B Jose Abreu (R)
C Yasmani Grandal (S)
LF Eloy Jimenez (R)
DH Edwin Encarnacion (R)
RF Nomar Mazara (L)
CF Luis Robert (R)
BENCH
C James McCann (R)
C/1B Zack Collins (L)
INF Danny Mendick (R)
OF Adam Engel (R)
ROTATION
RHP Lucas Giolito
LHP Dallas Keuchel
RHP Reynaldo Lopez
RHP Dylan Cease
LHP Gio Gonzalez
BULLPEN
RHP Alex Colome (C)
RHP Steve Cishek
LHP Aaron Bummer
RHP Kelvin Herrera
LHP Jace Fry
RHP Evan Marshall
RHP Jimmy Cordero
RHP Carson Fulmer
