The White Sox will win, they must win in ’15

Jul 12, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu (79) and Chicago White Sox third base coach

(47) celebrate Abreu

Yes, the expectations are very high for the Chicago White Sox for the upcoming 2015 season, and that’s something which has been missing from this franchise since they won the World Series title in 2005.

In fact, I can’t recall a time when expectations were this high for the White Sox from the fan base and front office, only to see the White Sox being disrespected by the “national experts” who say the White Sox are not one of the Top 10 teams in all of baseball.

I know the team has under 80 wins in each of the past two seasons, but dang it, this season they will be one of the best teams in baseball … that I truly believe.

I’ve said it all winter … how can a team with the additions they’ve made this offseason (Jeff Samardzija, Melky Cabrera, David Robertson, Adam LaRoche), added with the core players already on the roster (Jose Abreu, Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Alexei Ramirez), not be a contender in the American League in ’15?

Unless this team suffers many injuries, they will compete for either a division title or a wild card spot in the AL.

Next: Will the White Sox reach the postseason through the AL Central or Wild Card?

If this season doesn’t turn out successful … well, I wouldn’t want to have to walk into the office of Jerry Reinsdorf if (and that is a big if) things were to go south.

Numerous projections have the White Sox under .500 for the ’15 season, and I just can’t see why or how they can write a prediction of a record and honestly think this roster of the White Sox will have a record of under the .500 mark.

I’ll never understand it. If they do finish under .500, then in October I’ll come back to this and say how wrong I was and wonder what was I thinking.

Anyway, we are a mere seven days away from pitchers and catchers reporting, and that means eventually soon the baseball regular season returns, and hopefully the cold weather will go away for a few summer months.

In AL Central News from FanSided:

• (Minnesota Twins): Puckett’s Pond has an article about the “revolving door” at shortstop.

• (Cleveland Indians): Wahoo’s on First talked about “prospect pedigree.”

• (Kansas City Royals): Kings of Kauffman said the Royals are better than the 17th best team.

• (Detroit Tigers): Motor City Bengals looked back at the Prince Fielder era.

In White Sox news:

• WhiteSox.com wrote about the busy offseason.

• At Southside Showdown we wrote about White Sox prospect Jacob May.

• CSN Chicago asked if the White Sox are favorites to win the AL Central.

• Here is the MLB Draft order for 2015 listed by Baseball America.

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