Our long regional nightmare is over, the Southpod Showcast!!!–the one and only podcast associated with this blog–is back in action in time for Opening Day!

A lot has happened since the last episode on March 7 and our esteemed writing staff of Matt Adams (@2013WhiteSox), Nick Schaefer (@n_schaef), Kevin Wallace (@kwallace23) and yours truly (@JRFegan) discussed them all

-Chris Sale‘s extension
-John Danks‘ extension in the current context where he’s a wounded shell of himself
-Alex Rios‘ back and the way the White Sox staff management discusses injuries
-Dayan Viciedo and Tyler Flowers‘ battles to develop
-The final roster spots
-Making fun of the fact that I picked Giancarlo Stanton No. 2 overall in a full-league fantasy draft

There’s 10 minutes of silence at the end of the file. Not sure why! Can’t get rid of it at the moment and trying to get this sucker up. But it’s a 70-minute episode. It can be streamed here, downloaded as an MP3 file from the link above or acquired through itunes under the name “Southpod Showcast.” Rate and review, itunes users!

Thanks and Happy Baseball, guys and gals!

Post Author: White Sox: Fansided Southsideshowdown.

(Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports)

As we count down the final days before Opening Day finally arrives, I’m probably beginning to sound like a broken record. All offseason I have been arguing that, despite the big moves from the Indians and Royals, the White Sox are still the second-best team in the AL Central until something changes. I’ve never thought it was a slam dunk, or by a wide margin, but if all three of those teams got roughly equivalent luck and health, to me the White Sox look better than Kansas City and Cleveland by a couple of games. The White Sox’ advantage is almost entirely in their starting rotation, and we all know how fickle that advantage can be.

PinnacleSports posted their yearly win total over/unders about a week ago. The Vegas lines are generally an incredibly accurate prediction tool. Professional sports gamblers in 2013 are extremely sophisticated and there are, naturally, gigantic financial incentives for everyone involved that drive the line toward where it “should” be. As it stands today, here is what those lines say about how the American League will shake out:

The Yankees are conspicuously missing, and I can’t say that I blame even Vegas for being hesitant to try to speculate as to what will emerge in the Bronx. Still, Vegas seems to be on board for my rough predictions. I assure you, I would have written this article if I had been way off, and you’ll just have to take my word for it. The White Sox appear to be well behind Detroit, but slightly ahead of both Cleveland and Kansas City.

The over/unders try to capture every possibility of what may happen this season, combined with how likely those things are to occur. For example, if Sale, Peavy, Floyd, and Danks all pitch to the 90th percentile of their ability 90 wins for the White Sox looks quite plausible. However, what are the odds of that occurring? What if Sale, Peavy, and Danks all succumb to the injury worries that surround them? What is the win forecast paired with the probability of that happening? There are variances surrounding these win totals, and we should think logically about how those scenarios might play out.

Between the extreme flux in the AL East, the likely strength of the Tigers, and the extra Wild Card spot, these figures seem to indicate that the White Sox actually may have a better shot at getting into the playoffs via the Wild Card than through winning their division. It would mean the AL Central’s 2nd ever Wild Card, joining the 2006 Tigers. These numbers also indicate basically what most White Sox fans seem to think of this 2013 team. They’re probably going to be around .500, and things are going to have to break their way if they’re going to sneak into the playoffs.

Post Author: White Sox: Fansided Southsideshowdown.

Surely somewhere in the middle of Tom Fornelli’s (@SouthSideAsylum) attempt to wage war with all of Twitter on Monday and argue that it was a good idea for the White Sox to let A.J. Pierzynski walk in free agency, it was referenced that re-upping a 36 year-old catcher may not be the best use of millions of dollars. Baseball itself probably isn’t the best use of millions of dollars, but good luck stopping that train.

But how bad is it to trust an old catcher to keep on truckin’? Let’s investigate.

In his efforts to wildly distend the concept of a full-time catcher’s workload, A.J. Pierzynski only once failed to accumulate 500 plate appearances in a season during his White Sox tenure. It was in 2005, when he had yet to really get his hooks into all of us, and even then he still went to bat 497 times.

If we decided to be generous and ask, “How have catchers 36 years and older faired in seasons where they have received over 450 plate appearances while starting behind the plate 70% of the time?” what would we get?

First, just 21 catchers of this age group have logged this workload this since 1901. 17 of these seasons have taken place since 1980. Seven of those have featured above-average offensive performances according to OPS+. Sorry, no, just six. Less than a third, though Birdie Tebbets, Brad Ausmus and Luke Sewell were never above-average hitters to beging with. (Tebbets and Sewell are pre-1950, though)

Half of those above-average seasons were carried out by Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk. The best season on this list is the bright-burning absurdity of Fisk hitting .285/.378/.451 in 521 PA’s as a 42 year-old. Beyond that sorcery, we have:

• 38 year-old Jorge Posada for the Yankees in 2010: .248/.357/.454 in 451 PA
• 36 year-old Ernie Whitt for the Blue Jays  in 1988: .251/.348/.410 in 468 PA
• 37 year-old Benito Santiago for the Giants in 2002: .278/.315/.450 in 517 PA

Doug Padilla:

 

“It is not something that we have to worry about,” (Rios) said. “It is just going to take time to heal. I felt better this morning but on certain moves I still feel a little pinch there. I had pretty decent progress from yesterday until to today. I feel looser. Let’s see what happens.”

A regiment of electric stimulation and oral medication are part of Rios’ treatment by the team medical and training staff.

“A quiet offseason for the Chicago White Sox leaves them likely to be around .500 in 2013, still enough to be threatening if the pitching stays healthy. One potential issue: There’s not a lot of organizational depth to handle any nasty surprises.”

Post Author: White Sox: Fansided Southsideshowdown.

The Yankees are obviously a lot more successful than most baseball teams, including say, the White Sox. They are also a lot older than most (or all) baseball teams, including the White Sox. That serves two purposes when I begin to lament the Sox roster’s age and the bumps and bruises they are doomed to acquire and be slowed by.

First, just a cursory glance at say, the average age of the projected Opening Day lineups across the AL (that has just as little certainty as you’d expect)…

…reveals that Sox hitters are old, but not crazy old. Also, the Yankees are only listed as this young because 38 year-old Derek Jeter, 37 year-old Alex Rodriguez, and 32 year-olds Mark Teixiera and Curtis Granderson are already hurt and out for the season opener. We’re here worried about sore backs and groins while bones are breaking and hips are degenerating in New York.

Secondly, older lineups tend to be prevalent around win now teams. A lineup full of cost-controlled stars in their prime is the ideal but rarely the reality.

Of course, what a shame it then is to have an offense that’s both old and bad. The White Sox were average in their production last year once you get past the runners in scoring position spike (which packed its bags and skipped town in early September). Of their under-30 players, they have nice center fielder in his late-20′s (De Aza, 28), two premium defenders they would love to see hit for just average (Beckham, 26; Flowers, 27) and Dayan Viciedo (24). It’s all on you, Dayan*.

*I did not forget about Conor Gillaspie, the charm of his hot first week of spring is gone and the memory that the Giants traded him just to avoid DFA’ing him remains.

Anyways, what I’ve done here is show where my rambling thoughts went, without ever mentioning what set them off on their merry way! It had to do with this news item concerning 32 year-old Alex Rios. 

ICYMI, Alex Rios is out for a 3rd straight game w/ stiff back. Had MRI but isn’t concerned. Will update later. bit.ly/14jOcMT

— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesCSN) March 25, 2013

As I’ve mentioned, I sometimes struggle to know exactly how to weigh what an athlete means by “normal stiffness,” as Rios puts it. An MRI taking place puts it more in the territory of normal stiffness for high-intensity professional sports, as opposed to “I need an extra pillow to fall asleep.”

Rios claimed to have felt his back stiffen up lifting weights and keeps typifying the problem as “normal,” but even Robin Ventura is only giving him until Wednesday before he starts getting worried about that whole season that’s supposed to get kicked off next week.

Herm’s on the case and everything, but last season was replete with soreness and bruises and obliques that took a day or two longer than initially projected. Part of that can just be applied to a new managerial regime with a different, more reserved manner of projecting injury recoveries, but part of that could be the realities of an older roster. In that light, a Wednesday projection seems optimistic and Rios getting into a fake game or two before the real ones start is the hope I’ll hold out.

Meanwhile, Jesse Crain had his return to game action Monday and was completely hammered before he could even finish an inning. Luckily… 

Jesse Crain was 93-94 mph on the radar gun per a scout. #WhiteSox

— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesCSN) March 25, 2013

Not that velocity is everything in regards to being ready for the season. It certainly is not, because good lord was Crain victimized out there, but it was his primary complain last week, and now it’s more or less been overcome, even if his command is back at square one.

John Danks is still in the shop.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

Post Author: White Sox: Fansided Southsideshowdown.

“Looking good, Jesse!”

Jesse Crain feels much better after a two-inning performance in a minor-league game today. Threw 20 pitches. #WhiteSox

— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesCSN) March 23, 2013

“Feeling good, White Sox beat writers!”

It seems like Southside Showdown as a blogging entity, has probably dedicated too much time and energy to the travails of Jesse Crain’s abductor muscle (ESPN’s Bruce Levine is just calling it his groin).

It might have been spurred on by looking into the two identified replacements, Ramon Troncoso and Brian Omogrosso–a battle of ‘Has had MLB success but not in a while’ and ‘Conquered the minors but no signs yet of doing more.’

Troncoso

Troncoso spent last season getting obliterated for the Dodgers Triple-A squad, after being booted from the 40-man roster in March. His one shining year of effectiveness came when he posted a 2.72 ERA in 2009 over 82.2 innings of work. Emphasis on the ’82.2.’

Mike Petriello of Dodgers blog ‘Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness’ tells a tale of a reliever whose peripherals never backed up his production, and was ridden hard and put away wet by his manager.

“You can’t completely absolve Joe Torre. Troncoso’s average fastball velocity has dropped from 92.8 MPH to 92.5 to 90.7 in his three seasons under Torre, and if the overuse hasn’t led to a full-fledged blowout, it seems clear the wear-and-tear has had some effect.”

Troncoso doesn’t have strikeout stuff, or the plus-velocity that the White Sox so often covet, and was experiencing diminishing returns in his groundball rate. Perhaps he’s healthier now arm-wise, but he’s also recovering from being struck in the face with a line drive (knocking out four teeth) during winter ball.

Decent spring training ERA, though.

Omogrosso

Having weathered the hell of Tommy John surgery and a torn labrum already in his career, Omogrosso has spent the last two years slowly working his way up the chain of the upper minors. His 4.56 ERA in Triple-A last season wasn’t pretty, but 59 strikeouts and 12 walks in 47.1 innings sure was.

He’s never flashed that kind of control before, or since working his way up to the show. His 2.57 ERA was roughly a run-and-a-half to two runs better than his strikeout rate suggested it had any right to be. He’s got a perfect ERA on the spring, but also has more walks than strikeouts.

This is not to suggest the 28 year-old is not a major-leaguer, because he is, and will be one at some point this season. But he’s not overpowering, or going to be swapped in for Jesse Crain without anyone noticing. If anything, it would result in Matt Thornton getting ridden harder as an all-purpose setup man early in the year, which wouldn’t be the best for maintaining Thornton nor for retiring right-handed batters in late-game situations.

So this is good news:

Crain threw 20 pitches today. Felt good. Scheduled to throw again Monday in Cactus League game.

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) March 23, 2013

And it allows us to move on to the next minor spring training injury overreaction.

Alex Rios scratched with lower back stiffness.

— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) March 23, 2013

Hey, there it is!

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

Post Author: White Sox: Fansided Southsideshowdown.

Good gravy, that did not go well at all.

Heading into Tuesday’s start against the Reds, John Danks needed to start hinting that starting the first week of the season with him in the rotation would be a good baseball idea, and not just a physically tenable one. Instead he allowed 11 hits and 10 runs over 3.1 innings, with two walks and no strikeouts, and left us with the grotesque task of determining whether this start was worse than his last.

The wave of weak contact singles and the botched first inning double play ball in the early going suggested that Danks was just a few good bounces from a happier outcome Tuesday, but waves of seeing eye singles can happen when you’re not missing any bats. At least last Thursday against the Angels, Danks put away a few hitters with some decent changeups.

“I felt like I was ahead in the count, but I just wasn’t able to make that pitch,” Danks said.

The answer of course, is that this most recent start was worse. Because it was most recent, because it showed little progression in his command, because it found Danks still mired in high-80′s velocity, and “looking uncomfortable in his mechanics” according to Reds color commentator and former relief pitcher Jeff Brantley.

Two weeks from Opening Day, Danks is not injured or complaining of discomfort, but also very clearly not in working order. There are a lot mitigating factors when it comes to spring training performance, but nothing significant enough to where having more home runs allowed (five) than strikeouts (four) over 11 innings of work is not alarming.

“The window is closing though. It is getting pretty tight,” said Robin Ventura on Danks’ chances of starting the season with the team. The phrasing would suggest that it’s time to hurry, when if anything the past few weeks have called into question whether a ‘ready-by-April’ time scale was ever a goal that was realistic to anyone besides Danks.

Danks continuing his rehab in Charlotte into April will likely bring forth Hector Santiago or Dylan Axelrod, or a fair share of both should they trade ineffective outings. They’ve been through the sixth starter circuit enough to differentiate their opportunities from the Pedro Hernandez-variety and could slide into the back of a few rotations around the league with limited outrage.

The real concern is not disaster at the hands of Santiago and Axelrod, it’s that Danks stepping in immediately and performing up to his career standards will not be one of the things that breaks right and allows the White Sox to transcend their pre-season expectations. Instead, Danks is moving along at a reasonable rate for a pitcher coming off a major shoulder surgery, and makes it just a bit more likely that the White Sox will provide reasonable returns on their talent level as well.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

Post Author: White Sox: Fansided Southsideshowdown.

These days, whenever baseball lurches toward some draconian way of managing its incoming talent, I assume that the White Sox will benefit. Or simply be harmed the least.

That’s wearing off steadily, since the White Sox spent their entire $5.92 million draft budget allotment last June and even doled out $2.36 million in international signings over the past year. There’s some emptiness in those gestures, since the Sox made those advances after hard caps were put in place to keep in check their most aggressive counterparts with whom they could not, or would not compete. But that doesn’t change their new reality.

From this premise comes news of the previously rumored international draft coming to baseball a lot sooner than expected, with the commissioner’s office pushing for it as soon as this June.

The primary benefit to the league aligns with a goal that Jerry Reinsdorf has often sought–hard regulation of escalating costs. Or at least, further regulates the costs of international signings into the hard slot, since last year’s CBA already achieved that. Cost-cutting decisions rarely equal fun for the viewer, and this is little exception.

Craig Calcaterra raised this issue most prominently on Hardball Talk, but the fear of placing all international talent into a pool is that it removes the incentive of individual teams to spend on development. Their investments in foreign baseball academies would no longer be protected because they would no longer be able to sign its attendees before they were through high school and the draft. They could just operate the academies anyway, but teams have typically been more or less horrified whenever they are broached with the idea of sharing resources, because it’s not very conducive to winning games.

These concerns about international are not pulled of pure paranoia, either. Jorge Castillo wrote a piece for the New York Times last year that looked in on the state of baseball in Puerto Rico, and found a country that could barely support four winter league teams. The cause for the state of affairs was readily identified–teams had moved their scouts and developmental academies to countries where they could sign players and control them. High school baseball isn’t established/supplied/funded in Puerto Rico enough for the sport to flourish without outside investment, so it damn sure isn’t strong enough to flourish in the Dominican.

It’s not nearly to enough to compensate, but MLB has acknowledged the issue to a small degree, and directly finances a tiny academy in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. Now if they just give it more than a $400,000 budget, and build 29 more, as well as 30 in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, things will be just fine.

Otherwise, a decrease in the developmental budget for youth players seems inevitable, which makes for a shallower talent pool and worse baseball. And it’s remarkable, that in a situation where an organization that pulled in $7.5 billion in revenue in 2012 is trying to cut costs by curbing the bonuses 16 year-old Dominicans are fighting tooth and nail to get, that we can restrict the outrage–just for the sake of exercise–to the category of “overall baseball quality” and still have a pretty thorough counterargument.

As for the White Sox, even with Marco Paddy’s help, it’d be delusional to claim that their Dominican academy and efforts to spread out elsewhere have made the leap yet from being promising seeds for the future to being the organization’s primary source of strength and their competitive advantage over the rest of the league. If international player development gets de-emphasized, there’s always Coop, invincible pitching staffs and deadline trades to fall back on.

It’s short-sighted to limit the scope to just how it affects our favorite team, but given the direction MLB is going, that’s where they would rather you look.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

Post Author: White Sox: Fansided Southsideshowdown.

Robin Ventura responded to Chris Sale’s worst outing of the spring by naming him the White Sox Opening Day starter, simultaneously reinforcing how much spring training results are allowed to displace reputations established in the regular season and getting himself out of any questions about whether Sale’s struggles raised doubts in one swoop.

Radar readings were the most reliable way to track to health-related dips in Sale’s effectiveness last season, and without them it’s hard to distinguish the difference between Sale’s angry expression of self-directed disgust and Sale’s angry expression of frustration at his lack of zip. In general, he didn’t seem to have the best snap on his slider and fade on his changeup, at least not consistently.

If nothing else, five years guaranteed of Sale buys the freedom to watch him get torn apart on a Saturday right alongside fellow stud Jarrod Parker in a crazy offensive environment and know that there will be time to wonder if anything’s up with him later.

I hope that there’s enough in my tone for you all to understand I think all of these stories are non-stories unless explicitly stated otherwise, but I can never be sure.

John Danks

For all intents and purposes, John Danks’s rehab process is going well. He hasn’t reported a setback, and is handling every increase in innings with aplomb and an unfortunate “I’m getting pulled in the fourth because I’m already at my pitch count, aren’t I?” smile.

As he was getting shelled Thursday by the Angels, Danks’ looked his best working the outside half of the plate with changeups to right-handers. They were a little high and didn’t look like wipeouts, but the results of the deception were positive. An outside changeup to strike out Mark Trumbo prevented his first inning from descending all the way into hell.

But attempts to work inside on the hands of right-handers–arguably more important to his game than even his theorized upon changeup–were perilous. Mike Trout hit a ball to South Korea on an attempt to come inside to lead off the game, and things didn’t get much better after that. The lack of command was expected, but there’s not enough velocity to cover up mistakes in location. Danks used to be able to pepper in 93 mph darts when needed, but is presently struggling to hit 90 mph with regularity.

Tens of thousands of words of concern have been wasted on spring training velocity dips for healthy pitchers, but Danks’ shoulder surgery brings forth the concern that the zip is never coming back and he will be forced to adjust. That uncertainty puts the White Sox in a different position than if someone like Jake Peavy (an example with historical precedent) stunk up a preseason.

As much as Danks is needed to come in and earn his contract the next four years, he’s going to also need to prove that he’s likely to be worth pitching over a sixth starter by the first week of the season. Not much, just a flash that convinces Cooper he’s in a good place. But something more than a decent changeup that Mark Trumbo waives at.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

Post Author: White Sox: Fansided Southsideshowdown.

Chris Sale is officially the Opening Day starter. Seemed like we all knew it was coming being that Chris Sale was the White Sox top pitcher last summer. Though for all those years that Mark Buehrle was the no-brainer day 1 guy, was he the best on the team? I decided to look into it, using baseball-reference’s ERA+ stat to determine who the team’s top starting pitcher was each year. It’s not a definitive stat, particularly when the totals between to pitchers are close to one another, as they were a few times over this time period. It’s good jumping off point, though, and we’ve got to use something to claim a “winner”.

2002
Opening Day starter: Mark Buehrle
Previous season’s best pitcher: Mark Buehrle

Buehrle on his 1,000th Opening Day. (Eric P. Mull-USA TODAY Sports)

Buehrle’s first Opening Day start for the Sox came against Freddy Garcia and the Seattle Mariners. Mark was in fact the best pitcher for the team in 2001. Kicking off his as yet unbroken streak of 200 inning seasons with 221.1 (the next closest total was Kip Wells’ 133.1) at a performance level 40% above the league average. Buehrle got his first shot because he deserved it. Pat on the back to Jerry Manuel! White Sox won 6-5 with the starters as the pitchers of record.

2003
Opening Day starter: Mark Buehrle
Previous season’s best pitcher: Mark Buehrle

Again, an honor earned. The 2002 White Sox finished at .500 behind a staff without a league average starter other than Buehrle. He was clearly the team’s top starter yet again. This one the team lost 3-0 to Runelvys Hernandez, who evidently earned his Opening Day start in a coin flip by Tony Pena, forcing Jeremy Affeldt to wait until the next day to help guide the Royals to victory.

2004
Opening Day starter: Mark Buehrle
Previous season’s best pitcher: Esteban Loaiza

Here either ceremony took over, Loaiza wasn’t comfortable being taking on the Opening Day duties, or Ozzie in his first year as Manager decided not to rock the boat, if you can imagine that. Buehrle wasn’t even 2003’s second best White Sox starter. That honor belonged to Bartolo Colon, whose services the Sox would be without for 2004. Loiza’s 2003 campaign grabbed him a 2nd place Cy Young finish behind Roy Halladay, with Pedro Martinez somehow finishing third. Again facing the Royals, Buehrle pitched well but the White Sox dropped this one late as Cliff Politte, Billy Koch, and Damaso Marte joined forces to surrender 6 (SIX!) runs in the 9th. Don’t leave the park early, folks.

2005
Opening Day starter: Mark Buehrle
Previous season’s best pitcher: Mark Buehrle

Buehrls back on top by merit, he went 8 innings allowing just 2 hits before giving way to Shingo Takatsu who locked down the 1-0 victory over the Indians. The hard luck loser was the Indians’ Jake Westbrook who pitched all 8 innings for Cleveland. Time of game was a Buehrlian 1-hour 51 minutes. The one-run victory was somewhat symbolic of the season to come, and I don’t suppose I don’t need to go into detail about how it all turned out.

2006
Opening Day starter: Mark Buehrle
Previous season’s best pitcher: Mark Buehrle

Buehrle’s 5th straight Opening Day start didn’t last very long. He might have thrown the first pitch but Brandon McCarthy got the win. Buehrle only made it through 4 innings, rendering him ineligible for the win. McCarthy, of course, would later turn into John Danks via trade with Texas (foreshadowing). C.C. Sabathia got the loss in Chicago’s 10-4 win.

Jose Contreras’ crack at Opening Day proved to be a bit stressful. (Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports)

2007
Opening Day starter: Jose Contreras
Previous season’s best pitcher: Jose Contreras

The entire starting staff hovered around league average in 2006. The lowest ERA+ mark among the starters was Mark Buehrle’s 95. The highest, Jose Contreras’ 111. That effectiveness, probably coupled with his stretch of shut-down pitching that lasted from July ’05 to June ’06 got him the nod and finally ended Buehrle’s streak. Word is, that the very morning of Opening Day Jose’s wife of nearly 20 years slapped him with divorce papers. That’s a tough way to go to work, to be sure. Contreras’ bad day got worse. He completed only one inning, being yanked in the 2nd after two more runs crossed the plate. Things didn’t improve a great deal, and the Sox would lost to the eventual score of 12-5 with C.C. Sabathia earning the win for the Indians. The rest of the season didn’t go much better.

2008
Opening Day Starter: Mark Buehrle
Previous season’s best starter: Mark Buehrle

Because we’re staying consistent with the ERA+ evaluation, Buehrle is again the best starter. Javier Vazquez had one hell of a year, though, ultimately giving up 4% of performance over average to Buehrle. And Buehrle’s just done it so many times. Got stick with what works, right? It didn’t work. Buehrle didn’t need divorce papers to lay an Opening Day egg against the Indians. After an uneventful first, he imploded in the 2nd, giving up 7 runs and making an early exit. The Sox eventually tied it in the 7th, taking the W away from Sabathia, long standing Opening Day foe, but the Indians prevailed 10-8.

2009
Opening Day starter: Mark Buehrle
Previous season’s best starter: John Danks

John Danks was just 23 as 2009 began, and coming off of what, looking back at it now, was unfortunately the best season of his career. Mark Buehrle is Mark Buehrle and it’s a Mark Buehrle’s job to start on Opening Day. In the 5th, when Buehrle walked off the mound for the day he had battled to keep the Sox in it at 2-1. Lucky for the pale hose, Kyle Farnsworth was still a thing and he surrendered 3 runs in the 8th giving Octavio Dotel the win over the Royals.

2010
Opening Day starter: Mark Buehrle
Previous season’s best starter: John Danks

The White Sox got lots of solid pitching in 2009, and John Danks was, according to baseball-reference, 2% better than Mark Buehrle. Mr. Opening Day got the start anyway and it worked out well. 7 innings of 2 hit ball was plenty for the Southsiders, who scored 6 runs against Indians pitching. Jake Westbrook again got the loss.

2011
Opening Day starter: Mark Buehrle
Previous season’s best starter: John Danks (Edwin Jackson w/ only 75 innings)

Sale will be getting what his hopefully his first of many Opening Day starts this season. (Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports)

We’re starting to see a trend here, and though it’s doubtful the trend itself as far as Opening Day goes had anything to do with what happened next, the fact that John Danks seemed to be emerging as the team ace did cause the White Sox to allow Mark Buehrle to walk at season’s end. For now, Mark Buehrle got his final Opening Day start as a White Sox and it was an interesting one. The Sox jumped out to a huge lead against the artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona and had a 14-0 lead heading into the 6th. After a late inning pitching implosion they did manage to win, but by the score of 15-10.

2012
Opening Day starter: John Danks
Previous season’s best starter: Mark Buehrle

Funny how that works out. Danks finally got his shot without that other lefty in the way. Unfortunately it was against the two-time defending AL Champs, and the Sox ended up dropping this one 3-2 to Colby Lewis and the News, err Rangers.

2013
Opening Day starter: Chris Sale
Previous season’s best starter: Chris Sale

TBD.

Post Author: White Sox: Fansided Southsideshowdown.