With seven days left to go before the baseball players report to camp, I thought I would sit down and evaluate the current projected White Sox rotation.
As it stands now:
Lance Broadway/Clayton Richard/Aaron Poreda
At best this is an average rotation in most aspects. Only one pitcher has proven any type of consistancy and thats Buehrle. Danks and Floyd had breakout years last season, but it was their first significant signs of success. Danks proved that he could be a great ace with stellar postseason play. If Floyd doesn't drop off he is a very strong righty that can really pile up some strike-outs. A 17-8 record in your first full season as a starter is nothing to scoff at.
Simply put, the top three should do fine. It's the four and five slots that may drop the White Sox into mediocrity. The recent pick-up of Colon fills the 4th slot but Colon's better days may all be behind him as he hasn't been worth anything since winning the Cy Young. Injuries and a drop in velocity have brought him down several notches. Who knows, maybe the pitching staff see somthing that he can improve upon but I am not holding my breath. Hopefully, Jose Contreras can recover from his achilles injury by the mid-point of the season and take over for Colon if he struggles.
The fifth spot will be a fun one to monitor during spring training. GM Kenny Williams and Manager Ozzie Guillen have both implied that the spot will be up for grabs among all the young pitching on the team. Poreda has never seen big league action, but he dominated in the winter league with superb heat. Broadway and Richard both have performed decently in spot duties with the White Sox, but one of them needs to take a big step up if they want to anchor down the fifth spot. It's uneasy as a fan to go into the season with basically a rookie in the fifth slot, but the White Sox have done that for the past two years with Danks and Floyd and look how that turned out.
Grade: B
The White Sox aren't going to win on pitching dominance alone. Finding a balance and consistancy in the rotation, especially in the four and five slots will be their only hope of repeating as AL Central Champs.
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