(A.J. responded in kind with a newspaper ad that he may well have had already written up years ago)

But Craig Calcaterra said he’d never “seen a team wax so effusive of a departing player as the White Sox just waxed about A.J. Pierzynski”, and Tim Baffoe of The Score made sure let people know he thought the Sox treatment of the situation was “weird”. Apparently, from outside the White Sox bubble, this outpouring came off as a bit much.

First and foremost, it more or less mirrors the response that Mark Buehrle’s departure received last year. There might not have been an immediate official statement, but there was an outpouring, and it was loving and tender.

“He’s not a Hall of Fame pitcher by any means, but he’s a real pro. He took the ball every single time and battled, was great in the clubhouse, caught first pitches, made appearances, was a great guy. He was perfect for our team.”

-Jerry Reinsdorf to ESPN on 12/9/11

“I just told the Marlins’ ownership, ‘You got one hell of a pitcher, but let me tell you, you got a better person,’” said Williams of his brief talk with Loria. “You have a humble person. You have a person that no matter how much money or success he’s had over the years, he is still the first person out to catch the first pitch from a fan.

“From there, I expounded as to his virtues, and not only his but his wife’s. They are good people. You don’t completely replace good people. He will always be a part of the White Sox family.”

-Kenny Williams

That’s pretty touchy-feely, but also for a better player that was longer-tenured. It’s not a true equivalency, but reflective of the fact that the Reinsdorf has been much more open about displaying his personal affection toward players and other members of the organization since the World Series title. Kenny Williams too.

The World Series title that also brought about the incident where the best player in franchise history left in a huff because he felt that not enough fanfare was given to end of his tenure. That ended in the GM calling said greatest player in franchise history an “idiot”, before airing out his exhaustion at the star treatment that the player had received, and even implying that he had money problems. Frank Thomas eventually returned to the franchise as a smile-laden ambassador, but it would take a little while.

Thomas was the last long-tenured player that didn’t come up under a Williams/Hahn regime that the franchise had to deal with the departure with, but with that memory still in place, it seems perfectly prudent to get out ahead of any feelings of abandonment departing veterans might have. Even if it’s a littler over the top.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

It was helped along by this quote Ventura gave explaining why Sale was left in the 8th inning of a close game against the Royals where he did not look himself.

“It was his game,” Ventura said. “He finds a way to get himself into trouble and out of trouble, too.”

While Sale’s health and durability is being consistently monitored, his skill level is a source of much less doubt, and if his velocity flagging didn’t set off everyone’s panic alarms, the move might have attracted less criticism for its strategy.

As excitement builds with every performance, and everyone becomes more convinced of his abilities, the question of when Jose Quintana becomes deserving of more trust starts to get repeated more frequently.

His style makes him a battleground for saberists and traditionalists, as advanced metrics like FIP, True ERA, and SIERA think his lack of strikeouts indicate that his 2.30 ERA is anywhere between one to two runs below his true skill level, while eye-test advocates enjoy his less-measurable ability to bust righties inside and stay composed with runners on.

But while the scouting community at large has stayed wary and doubtful of the youngster…

Back of the rotation type. Nothing more. RT @fallsrich: @Kevin_Goldstein What are your feelings about Jose Quintana?

— Kevin Goldstein (@Kevin_Goldstein) July 14, 2012

…the oh-so restrictive White Sox have dealt him the strongest praise.

“He’s just dazzling,” manager Robin Ventura said. “He’s done everything we have asked, and you let him go out there. He’s a lot more mature than you would expect.”

“He has a lot of poise for such a young kid,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “We’re lucky to have him.”

Working eight brilliant innings only to be pulled so that the ace of the bullpen can pitch the last inning in a tight game is hardly a rookie dishonor, either.

Just last season, Ozzie “had his starters throw four complete games in a row in the ALCS” Guillen didn’t let John Danks go out for the 9th against the A’s with 109 pitches, despite him having a three-run lead.  As a result, Danks had to watch Sale, Crain, and Thornton blow the lead from the dugout.

It was remarkable, since just two days earlier, Guillen hadn’t allowed Mark Buehrle go out for the 9th with a 1-0, despite him carrying a 99-pitch, two-hitter at the time.

If Buehrle being managed by Guillen isn’t immune from the high-leverage hook, what chance does Quintana have?  Especially since Buehrle is who he gets compared to when his advocates get most carried away with their admiration for his peripherals-defying, location-dependent magic.

There’s a reason we celebrated Buerhle so much, and it went beyond his brisk pace, durability, fielding, long tenure or tarp slides, it’s because he was a true marvel.  He couldn’t strike hitters out, his stuff was less than remarkable, but he succeeded because his command and pitchability almost never slumped, and we didn’t have to question it because he entered at a time where White Sox pitching had no other options, and got a chance to prove he could do it for years on end.

Despite the raised stakes, Quintana’s opportunity to prove he’s legit is here nonetheless.  Rather than expect Quintana to be afforded the privileges of the most overpowering White Sox starter of the Kenny Williams era, perhaps it would better to to hope he follows the path of his most favorable comparable, and continues to receive the opportunity that someone of his pedigree and style is fortunate to have come upon.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @ JRFegan.  Also check out his full-time, daily blog, White Sox Observer

In a piece with a straight-forward title of “Why the White Sox Won’t Be Particularly Competitive in 2012“, I laid out the three primary issues with the squad.

• Too much reliance on bad players from 2011 to rebound
• Too many young players asked to step in immediately contribute
• Not enough depth

All this combined gave me enough ammunition to say that “staying out of the bottom two slots in the division would be a nice place to put fan expectations for the 2012 White Sox.”

Well, they’re in first place after two months of the season, so perhaps it’s time to retrace my steps a bit.

Rebound candidates

“Dunn was so bad, that while his decline follows no sort of typical pattern, his recovery from such depths as a hulking 32 year-old slugger may be only slightly less improbable.“

Adam Dunn is actually striking out more than last season, and his current .222 batting average would be the third-lowest of his career.  But that’s just window-dressing, as his walks and power production puts him firmly in the territory of his prime years.

“[Rios]’s pretty far removed from an acceptable performance level.”

September 2011 was the first time Rios had topped an .800 OPS in a month since May 2010, and I doubted that he could produce at that level consistently.  He promptly posted an .807 OPS in April.

“Gordon still has plenty of untapped potential, but Jeff Manto, Robin Ventura, and even Harold Baines aren’t being tasked with snapping him out of a slump, they’re being asked to reverse a free-fall.”

Arguments for Gordon Beckham’s turnaround are less convincing, since his OBP is still under .300 after a dreadful start, but there also more simple.  He looks comfortable at the plate again, and he’s hitting the ball harder (8 HRs after only 10 all of last season).  He’s not a star again, but the free-fall has been stopped.

Youngsters filling in big shoes

“The difficulty of adjusting to starting will probably make it too hard for Sale to match #56′s average ERA in his first year in the rotation.”

Well, in fairness, I didn’t say anything about Sale blowing Buehrle’s average ERA out of the water and lead the AL, merely that he wouldn’t match it.

“[Viciedo]‘s being tasked with replacing a player in Quentin who posted a 125 wRC+ last season…He’s being asked to do a lot of growing up on the job.”

Well, Dayan’s not quite there yet, but a 116 wRC+ is about as close as he could hope to have been at this point, especially considering that he was pretty much worthless for the first month, and has hit 9 HRs in the last three weeks.

“At least some of [Morel]‘s September surge (.224/.340/.553 with 8 HR) needs to be real if he’s going to stick around.”

For this one, the logic held up.  Morel was awful–while also hurt and sick–and now has to earn his job back from a washed-up 2nd basemen.

Lack of depth

“But the White Sox hopes for 2012 are crippled simply because they cannot absorb failures from the players listed above or withstand crucial injuries, due to a lack of competent replacements from within.”

It’d be nice to repudiate every negative word I said about the 2012 White Sox, but unfortunately this is still true, and there’s no need to even cite the minor league system as evidence.  Gordon Beckham and Dayan Viciedo have spurred to life, but there are still two black holes at the end of the lineup, and Tyler Flowers is the only bench player with an OPS over .600.

De Aza and Konerko have been great, but the quality of their replacements lends too much anxiety to every time they foul a pitch off of their foot.

Contrary to popular belief going into the season, the White Sox are good enough to win the AL Central, but to pull it off, they’ll have to walk a tight-rope in terms of maintaining their health.

Every division title year requires some luck, this will be no exception.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @ JRFegan.  Also check out his full-time, daily blog, White Sox Observer