White Sox: Attainable Goals For This Upcoming Season
Despite a potential rebuilding season, White Sox will stay have some attainable goals for 2017.
The Chicago White Sox will begin this upcoming season with a different objective than most teams in the MLB. If the reconstruction of the team continues and their extensive list of prospects continue to grow, this upcoming season for the Sox is going to mainly be about growth and improvement.
The goals each part of the team has for this season, whether it’s the rookies, the veterans or the coaches, is going to contribute to that overall goal of development, and hopefully the White Sox will even win a few games along the way.
Pitching
Toward the end of the season the White Sox figured out the right rotations for both the starting pitchers and the bullpen. After some configuration and modification, the starting rotation was set without any changes for majority of the season. The departures of Mat Latos and John Danks cleared up two spots at the end of the rotation and they were filled up by James Shields and Miguel Gonzalez.
The bullpen had also established their roles fairly early on in the season. Matt Albers was the go-to middle reliever after the starter’s day was done. Albers was then followed by another reliever, depending on how Albers’ outing went, and then Nate Jones, the setup man and finally David Robertson, the closer.
Now that Chris Sale is gone, perhaps Jose Quintana and Robertson as well, a goal for the pitching staff is to reestablish those roles. If Quintana stays or goes, the case for Carlos Rodon to be the No. 1 starter in the rotation can be made just for him to get used to that role. He’ll likely take that role in the near future if he continues to improve and the roster continues to get redone.
The bullpen could see many new faces because of the prospects the Sox acquired this offseason. It will be important to see which pitchers will get full bullpen responsibilities and which pitchers get cameo roles throughout the 2017 season.
Hitters
The offense this past season was not frightening but was not the worst. Aside from the first spots in the batting order, opposing pitching did not have much trouble going through the rest of the lineup.
The first half of the lineup was consistent and hit well for most of the season. The beginning of the batting order mostly consisted of leadoff man Adam Eaton, now with Washington, Tim Anderson entering his second year after a productive rookie season, Melky Cabrera, with almost no rumors surrounding the Dominican outfielder, with Todd Frazier and Jose Abreu who both signed one year deals. The other half of the lineup had many different pieces that manager Robin Ventura had to experiment with, but the Sox ultimately struggled to find dependable offensive options at the back of the lineup, which is usually the case in most batting orders.
The key goal is to improve. The White Sox had a lackluster year at the plate and a few different players like Moncada and Tilson being added to lineup can definitely boost the offensive production.
Another goal is finding out which players can fill the gaps the offense will desperately need this season. Who will be the leadoff man for this season now Adam Eaton is gone? Which player will provide offense in the bottom part of the lineup? Which new acquisition will step up and grab a spot in the lineup?
Coaching
Rick Renteria, the newly appointed manager of the White Sox, is perhaps the most important part of the restructuring process.
He’s going to be involved in the day-to-day procedures, which is very important to a long process like the one the White Sox began this winter. In addition to the everyday operations, Renteria will also need to build a culture in the locker room that’s different compared to the ones in previous seasons.
After four consecutive losing seasons, his job will be to form a different mentality where the Sox do not have to focus on winning just yet. With the roster that has been given to Renteria, his main goal for this year needs to be improvement on all fronts.
Renteria will need to work with his veteran players and coaches to help the newcomers develop as the year goes along. Most of Renteria and his coaching staff’s time will need to be spent working with the new prospects like Yoan Moncada, Charlie Tilson, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Michael Kopech, who are MLB-ready and will have a big part in the future of the team.
In addition to learning the game, the rookies and young players need experience. Renteria should give them a lot of playing time for them to get a feel for the game. At this point, the White Sox are nowhere near to contending for anything, so there’s nothing to lose if Renteria gives Giolito, Lopez and Kopech 10-20 starts and Moncada and Tilson starting roles.
Veterans
Setting an example for the new guys on the team is the goal for the veterans. Continuing to play hard and mentoring is the best thing the vets can do during this upcoming season.
Whether it’s actually helping work out the kinks in a batting stance or a pitching motion, the veterans will have a lot of influence in the clubhouse. Some of these new acquisitions have limited experience playing in the American League, limited major league experience or no major league experience at all. Luckily, the White Sox have players like Frazier and Brett Lawrie who are huge personalities in the clubhouse and have more than a couple years in the big leagues.
At the very least, the vets on the team can be the anchor the White Sox need to keep the team relevant and hovering around .500 for their first winning season since 2012.
Rookies and Youngsters
The talk of this upcoming season will be the prospects the White Sox received in the offseason, but the Sox want more than just attention from these players this season. As previously mentioned, a lot of these players have limited to no major league experience so the main objective for this season will be to learn the game at the major league level.
Like in every sport, the game at the professional level is played by the best players in the world and the quality is something the younger guys have to get used to. They need to get comfortable with the pace and details, and every game played will contribute to their growth as players and teammates.
Plenty of these players have tremendous value. However, their development this season is going to depend on the decisions the coaches make on how much playing time they will get throughout the course of the season. The main goal for these players is to relish those opportunities and learn as much as possible.
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Their first full season could be rough and discouraging. As long as there is progression in skill, intangibles or major league knowledge, that should be considered a victory for Renteria and the White Sox.