Did Sox, Cubs make right moves?
By Nick Meyers
IV Leader Sports Writer
Baseball season is upon us, spring is in the air, and
Chicago baseball fans once again have their hopes up that their team, whether it
is the Sox or the Cubs, will win the World Series.
Both clubs are excited about this upcoming season because
both teams made major changes. Both had extreme makeovers.
The Sox were tired of being nothing but a homerun hitting
team. The Sox lead the league in solo home runs. That is not going to win you
games.
So this offseason White Sox General Manager Ken Williams
decided that the Sox were going to play small ball this season.
He traded away one of the Sox top three players, Carlos Lee
to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Scott Podsednik. Podsednik will give the
Sox the leadoff man that they need and also give the Sox plenty of stolen bases.
The Sox also received Luis Vizcaino to help out their relief pitching.
They also let outfielder Magglio Ordonez and Jose Valentin
walk away to free agency. The Sox replaced Ordonez with Jermaine Dye and Jose
Valentin with Japanese second baseman Tadahito Iguchi.
Both of these moves are very risky. Dye will never put up the
numbers that Ordonez could and nobody knows anything about Iguchi. The Sox
brought in A.J. Pierzynski to catch for the Sox. Pierzynski has had a bad rap
with the previous clubs that he has been on. The White Sox are also trying to
improve their pitching. They resigned Freddy Garcia to a extension after
receiving him in a trade with the Seattle Mariners.
The White Sox had to give up catcher Miguel Olivo and
prospect Jeremy Reed. The Sox also signed Orlando Hernandez.
With all these moves the question now is were they the right
moves. Can you win with a small ball team. The Sox are hoping that Paul Konerko
can pick up the slack for the loss of Lee and Ordonez. Frank Thomas is always
hurt. So my question is where are the runs going to come from. It is great to
get runners on base but somebody has to drive them in. The pitching is also
shaky. Can Mark Buehrle be the ace that everybody thinks he can.
What will Freddy Garcia be like, he hasn't put a good year together since he
made the All Star team in Seattle. Which Jose Contreras will show up. How old is
Orlando Hernandez really, and will age become a factor. Can John Garland win
more than fifteen games.
With all the moves the Sox made I think that instead of
getting better they got worse, but being in the AL Central, everybody has a
chance at the title.
With all the bad moves that the White Sox made, the Cubs did
not do much better. Going into this off-season the Cubs had plenty of problems
with Sammy Sosa and shipped him to Baltimore for Jerry Harriston Jr.
Not a good trade. They did not resign Mosies Alou. However,
they did bring back Nomar Garciaparra. The biggest mistake the Cubs made all
season was not pursuing Carlos Beltran or Magglio Ordonez hard enough. Instead
they settled for Jeromy Burnitz, the aging outfielder. The Cubs also have
questions with their pitching. Can Wood and Prior stay healthy? I can answer
that right now. NO! They both already got hurt in spring training.
The Cubs think that they have a better team this year than last year. I got news
for them. They got worse, really worse.
With both teams getting worse, I don't see playoffs for
either of these teams. The Sox have the better chance because of the division
they are in but the Twins are still good, and the Indians are going to surprise
people. The Tigers could also make some noise. I see the Sox getting second but
not the wild card.
The Cubs have a difficult division, with the defending
National League champs St. Louis Cardinals. The Houston Astros will be tough and
I think if everyone stays healthy, the Reds will be good. I see the Cubs getting
third or fourth depending on the health of the Reds.
Both teams made a lot of moves to get better, but they might have gotten worse.