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

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.