The Chicago White Sox season is on the brink before its even started

A recent article by Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune laid out 10 reasons for Chicago White Sox fans to be optimistic about the upcoming season.

Sadly, few, if any of the reasons, were exactly encouraging. In fact, several were not even on-field related which doesn't speak well to the team trying to win a title.

Aside from reasons such as "it couldn't get any worse" or "Pedro Grifol is not Tony LaRussa", other items included the "Hi, Mom!" Talking Bobblehead Day, Joe Kelly's book forced him into having to pitch well and, get this, two new bars opening in the upper deck in Sections 516 and 548.

When 30 percent of the reasons to look forward to a season involve items not directly impacting the on-field product, that can't be a good thing. In fact, it's rather troubling.

And trouble seems to be what has followed the White Sox since the end of last season. It was bad enough the team fell well below expectations in 2022, but things do not seem to be trending in a positive direction going into this season.

The off-season has proven to be a nightmare for the Chicago White Sox.

Since the book was closed in 2022, the White Sox canceled SoxFest (which still has not been explained), lost Jose Abreu to free agency, got the terrible news of Liam Hendriks being diagnosed with cancer, discovered pitcher Mike Clevinger is under investigation by Major League Baseball for domestic violence and child abuse and saw Eloy Jimenez admit he isn't sure if he can really accept being relegated to designated hitter.

But, hey, there are two more bars coming to upper deck to look forward to.

The signing of Andrew Benintendi to take over in left field and bringing in Grifol as the manager are viewed as being pluses for the team but doesn't seem to be enough to mask the issues remaining for the ballclub.

The White Sox are facing an uphill battle regarding public relations. The cloud hanging over this team seems to be getting darker and darker. The negatives have been far outweighing the positives to this point.

Things need to change and they need to change quickly if the team is to gain the confidence of a fan base that has grown weary of the team's inability to win the World Series. The season hasn't even started and yet it seems the White Sox are behind the proverbial eight ball.

It was a miserable year last season and as much as hope springs eternal with each new year, there seems to be little White Sox fans can be hopeful for as teams are just weeks away from the start of spring training.

While it will be interesting to keep an eye on the progress of players such as Oscar Colas in right field and Andrew Vaughn switching over to his natural position of first base, the window of opportunity for this club to win a title seems to be closer to shutting than being open.

Since making moves to bring in young players such as Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Dylan Cease, the White Sox have been to the playoffs twice but have only two wins in seven postseason games.

After breaking through and winning 93 games and an American League Central Division title in 2021, the team responded with an 81-win season the next year.

Unfortunately, there are now more questions than answers surrounding a team that was considered a favorite to win the World Series at the start of last year.

Can key players avoid injuries and produce bounce-back years? Can Grifol show that he is capable of being a big-league manager in his first year of being on the job?

Will Colas be the answer in right field? Can the team improve defensively? Will the front office step up and do more to improve the roster?

Winning cures the ills facing teams and the White Sox will need to do plenty of it if they plan to put the past behind them.