5 reasons to question the 2023 Chicago White Sox's improvement

Are the Chicago White Sox better than they were a year ago?

With the start of the regular season only about a week away, we still don't truly know the answer to that question. A year ago at this same time, the expectation was the World Series. Nobody is even whispering those two words around the White Sox this spring.

It might appear right now that the White Sox are better than they were a year ago. Tony La Russa, after all, is gone. All of the core players are not yet on the injured list. Yoan Moncada has yet to ground out to second base with the bases loaded.

But don't confuse late March 2022 with the six months that followed. Everything that could have gone wrong last season did go wrong. Cub fans have Murphy's Bleachers across from Wrigley Field to drown their sorrows. Sox fans had Murphy's Law to ruin their World Series dreams last season.

The Sox of late March 2022, don't forget, were a confident bunch, and for good reason. The team was not only talented, but it was also finally experienced. It already had won a division title in 2021 and experienced the postseason. The team, we were told, was ready to win big.

The Chicago White Sox are going to try and bounce back big in 2023.

Fast forward to a year later. Half the roster is heading into a make-or-break season. The rebuild window is starting to close. The rookie manager hasn't had time to instill a new lineup let alone a new culture because of a roster fractured by injuries, illness, and the World Baseball Classic.

Still, think the Sox are better than they were a year ago at this time? That sort of has the same feel as Dorothy clicking the heels of her ruby red slippers and chanting, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

Then again you might be on to something. Like Dorothy, the Sox are simply trying to wake up from a bad dream of a 2022 season. It just might work after all.

But in case you wake up a month or so into the season and find the White Sox barely treading water once again, here are five reasons why the bad dream might not be over just yet:

2. No proven closer

The Chicago White Sox don't have a proven closer to start the year.

Letting Abreu walk away is, without question, the White Sox's fault. Losing closer to Liam Hendriks as he undergoes treatment for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, of course, is nobody's fault.

But that doesn't solve the problem. How does losing your closer make you a better team than you were a year ago?

One could argue that the Sox lost their best two players from last year (Abreu and Hendriks) without receiving anything in return.

The Sox hope a committee of closers can fill in until Hendriks returns. Again, it's the Dorothy clicking her heels and hoping to wake up from a bad dream theory at work.

3. The White Sox don't have a proven right fielder

The White Sox don't have a proven right fielder heading into 2023.

What else is new, huh, Sox fans?

Oscar Colas might be the next Carlos May or he might be the next Dayan Viciedo. We just don't know. The Sox are really giving young Dorothy's heels a workout this spring.

Colas might be ready for major league pitching after just one minor league season or the Sox might ruin him by feeding him to the sharks before he can defend himself. We're about to find out.

The Sox outfield concerns, though, are not solely with Colas. The Sox added Andrew Benintendi as basically a replacement for A.J. Pollock. Pollock, don't forget, cost the Sox reliever Craig Kimbrel, a guy that would likely come in handy right about now.

Is Benintendi an upgrade over Pollock? Pollock did hit 14 homers and drive in 56 runs last year in 489 at-bats. Benintendi hit five homers and drove in 51 in 461 at-bats. Doesn't seem like a huge upgrade there, especially when you factor in Benintendi's $75 million price tag.

4. Yoan Moncada's decline

The Chicago White Sox need Yoan Moncada to have a big year in 2023.

The Yoan Moncada that went into the 2022 season was still full of potential and promise. Yes, he had a down year in 2021, hitting .261 with 14 home runs and 61 RBI. But he still gave the Sox 520 at-bats and 144 games and was just two years removed from a 25-homer, .315 season in 2019.

The Moncada that heads into the 2023 season is in a three-year decline. He hit 12 homers and 51 RBI last year in just 397 at-bats so some potential remains. But he also hit just .212 a year ago and played just 104 games.

Can he be trusted? He will turn 28 years old in late May. He's no longer a prospect. He's a guy wilting under the pressure of once being traded for Chris Sale.

Moncada's contract will pay him $17 million this year and $24 million next year so he'll be difficult to trade. So keep clicking your heels and hope for the best.

5. There is a long injury history

The Chicago White Sox need 2023 to be a much healthier year for them.

The entire White Sox season relies most of all on all of the walking wounded staying healthy. It seems like an unlikely scenario, given this team's propensity to twist, break, fracture, or strain various body parts.

Catcher Yasmani Grandal has played just 192 games in the last two years combined. He's now 34 years old. Shortstop Tim Anderson played just 79 games last year. The year before and 2019 it was just 123 both years.

Outfielder Eloy Jimenez has played 139 games in the last two years combined. Luis Robert played just 166 games in the last two years.

Pitcher Lance Lynn missed his first dozen or so starts last year. Michael Kopech has never pitched more than 120 innings in a season. He didn't pitch at all in 2019 because of an injury.

Dorothy had a better chance of getting the Wizard of Oz to grant her a trip back to Kansas than the White Sox have of keeping all of their wounded warriors healthy this year.

So, yes, nobody knows for sure if the White Sox are a better team right now than they were this time a year ago. But that isn't what is most important. It only matters, after all, whether or not the Sox are better at the end of the year than they were at the end of 2022.