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I've decided to move this blog to wordpress so you can find the same type of coverage at southsidepinstripes.wordpress.com

Everything will be the same and might even be better over there. If you really like this site, just head over there and see what I do.

What Youkilis Does for the White Sox

Kevin Youkilis was traded to the White Sox along with cash considerations (5.6 million) for Zack Stewart and Brent Lillibridge. While it is sad to see a player that fans endeared and a player that worked so hard to leave, Lillibridge will likely have a better career in Boston. White Sox fans have to realize that Youkilis is a great addition to the team and the White Sox didn't have to give up a whole lot in order to get him. Whether or not you like or liked Kevin Youkilis before this trade, you have to realize that he is an upgrade from the current third basemen on the White Sox. Let's take a look at what the current third basemen have done and what even a terrible Youkilis will do for the White Sox.

Let's start with the weakest stat, batting average. Kevin Youkilis is batting a mere .225 this season which doesn't sound impressive especially compared to his career average of .286, but none of the three current players that could play third base for the White Sox even have a batting average over .200. Orlando Hudson at .167, Brent Morel at .195, and Eduardo Escobar at .190.

Onto the stat that Kevin Youkilis is best known for, on base percentage. Youkilis only at .311 which also seems low compared to a .388 career OBP. Once again, Youkilis is much better than all three White Sox third basemen. Hudson with .247, Morel at .225, and Escobar at .299. Youkilis will get on base more often and is probably the perfect fit for the 2 hole problem the White Sox have.

Finally, perhaps the biggest problem for White Sox current third basemen, OPS. The White Sox third basemen went into the game today with an OPS of .466, the worst in Major League Baseball. That OPS is worse than Youkilis' OPS of .670 this season by far.

So if you are thinking that the White Sox got the bad end of the deal because Youkilis hasn't been good this season, he is still an upgrade and it didn't cost the White Sox very much. It's a good gamble for Kenny Williams to make and if it pays off, he will be praised.

John Danks Injury and What It Means for Sox

It was recently announced that what was believed to be just soreness in the shoulder was more than that. First it was declared as a grade 1 tear that would not require surgery. But most recently they are saying that it is not a tear, but only a strain. Danks will undergo rehab for the injury and will not be back very soon for the White Sox. So what does that mean for the White Sox and their pitching staff?

The White Sox already recently called up Dylan Axelrod and will probably send Zack Stewart down after a terrible start against the Cubs. Axelrod will be mainly the long reliever, but don't rule him out to get a start at some point. I personally think that Axelrod is much better than Zack Stewart, but my grandma is probably better than Stewart.

So that problem is solved, but no Danks leaves the rotation a little bare. Peavy and Sale have both been pitching great and will hopefully continue to do that. Quintana has been pitching well, but nobody knows how long that's going to last because he hasn't exactly been perfect. He's just been good enough. Floyd and Humber have both been struggling and neither will get taken out of the rotation like some have speculated about because Danks will be gone for so long. The White Sox rotation isn't going to be good is what I'm saying.

Without Danks, I think the White Sox will struggle. Being in first place probably won't last long unless the offense starts to play really well and it doesn't look like that will happen. Winning the division isn't out of the question, but a winning streak like earlier in the season won't happen again. They will have to fight to win every game and will have to play well against division opponents if they want a shot. If they can't do that, they are toast.

White Sox Draft Hawkins, Barnum

The White Sox went into the 2012 draft hoping that it would change the organization and be a big step in the right direction for the White Sox farm system. After day one, most fans didn't get what they expected but they shouldn't be too angry. The White Sox were expected to pick a pitcher. That pitcher would probably be a college arm that would be ready to be in the bullpen soon and would eventually be a starter. Names that come to mind include Marcus Stroman, Chris Stratton, and Michael Wacha. When the White Sox, with the 13th pick overall, named who they picked, it wasn't even close to what was expected. Maybe a few experts thought that there might be a chance that the Sox would take Hawkins, but it really wasn't what the Sox needed and certainly wasn't close to what most mock drafts expected the White Sox to take. Fans shouldn't think that it's a bad thing that the White Sox didn't draft a pitcher. Yes, it's what the White Sox really needed, but the Sox also need some athletic position players in their farm system. Both Hawkins, the first round pick, and Keon Barnum, the compensation round pick, are good athletes and both are players that have good power. Hawkins is a good outfielder that has been playing center field, but will probably be a corner outfielder in the big leagues. He has power and speed and has all the tools to be a really good player. His size is a little deceiving because you don't expect a big guy like that to be as fast or athletic as he is, but hey, the guy can do a backflip.

One of the advantages of the Hawkins being one of the five players that was drafted to actually be at the draft is that we get a first look at how he'll look in the White Sox uniform. I have to say that he looks good. His size reminds me a little of Dayan Viciedo and maybe he can live up to that expectation. The other player that the White Sox drafted today isn't a terrible player either. He plays first base in high school and is also known for his power. There's talk that he could move to being a corner outfielder, but he will probably stay a pitcher for his future with the White Sox. Maybe he'll be the guy that takes over for Paul Konerko when he eventually retires. I really like what I've seen from him.

So just because the White Sox didn't pick up a pitcher and maybe took a chance on some young and talented high school players doesn't mean that the first day of the draft wasn't successful. There's still a lot more picks to be taken and the Sox have a good chance to improve their farm system despite the thin draft this year. I think this year is the start of something good for the White Sox. They really need to focus on making their farm system better and I think Kenny Williams really considered that and believed that hitting was one of the things that the White Sox farm system really needed. There's still a lot of good pitchers left for the Sox, and I think they can make this draft a really good one despite the low amount of very good talent.

So I'll leave you guys with the short video that MLB put together on Courtney Hawkins. It doesn't say much, but I hope it gives you a good idea of what he can do. I also hope it makes you feel a little better about the White Sox not taking a big name pitcher.

Weekly Links

Weekly links continues, but it is a little early this week because I figured that I would include some articles on the draft which starts on Monday. And in other news, Gordon Beckham is hotter than ever so I think he has a permanent home as the Weekly Links picture. 

• Another week, another recap of the AL Central. Except this one is only covering half the week. That's beside the point though. It's a great recap from Aerys Sports. 
• One of the bigger storylines this week is whether Morel will get his job when he comes back. I read two good articles about it. Here and here.
• Another week of Chris Sale being awesome, another great article about why he's been such a good starting pitcher.
• A great article was written about Ventura and why he should get some respect for what he's done with the Sox so far this season. 
• Last but not least, the draft. The White Sox website put out an article about the draft and why the Sox are hopeful for what they might get with the 13th pick.

Series Preview. White Sox vs. Mariners

The White Sox are riding an 8 game winning streak into their next series against the Mariners. The Mariners are coming off scoring 21 runs in Texas. It's easy to see that both of these teams are playing great baseball right now. The White Sox are obviously the hotter team because they are 9-1 in the last ten and the Mariners are only 4-6 in their last ten, but that doesn't tell the whole story and won't dictate who will win this series. The White Sox did sweep the Mariners the only other time that these two teams have faced off so far this year. That does not mean it will happen again, but there is a good chance. The Sox are sending out some of their best pitchers against the Mariners who until lately have not been a great offensive team. The toughest game will probably be when the Sox have to go against Felix Hernandez in the first game of the series. The best thing about baseball is that you never know who is going to win any game on any night.

Game 1
Jake Peavy (6-1 3.07 ERA) vs. Felix Hernandez (4-4 3.17 ERA)
Both of these pitchers are great pitchers and their sort of high ERAs don't really show how good they can be. Peavy's ERA was excellent until he had a bad game against the Indians. He still got the win as he got great run support. Hernandez is storied for not having run support, but with the Mariners scoring 21 runs maybe that offense is ready to do some good things.

This is going to be the game that the White Sox are the closest to losing. The White Sox can still win this one if they get the offense going again and Peavy throws another gem like has been doing this entire year. The Mariners aren't going to be easy for the Sox and the White Sox will have to work hard and do a better job with runners in scoring position. If the offense can click again, the Sox can win.

Game 2
Gavin Floyd (4-5 5.02 ERA) vs. Hector Noesi (2-6 5.01 ERA)
You look at these two guys' ERA and you expect this game to be a high scoring game. That might be true, but both of these pitchers are capable of having really good games. We all know as Sox fans that Gavin Floyd is probably the most inconsistent pitcher in all of Major League Baseball. If Floyd has a good game, he gives the Sox a great chance to win the game. If he has one of his bad games, the White Sox will have to work hard to get the win.

I think the Sox have a great shot to win this game as long as Floyd doesn't put them in a really bad position. One again, the White Sox have to be better than they were in the last game of the Rays series with runners in scoring position. They can't leave runners on and then lose by a few runs. One of these games, leaving the bases loaded with no outs is going to bite them in the butt. They have to stop failing in those situations and need to score a ton of runs off of those situations. Continuation hitting is one of the reasons that the Sox beat the Rays in the second game and they need to play like that to beat the Mariners and other teams.

Game 3
Chris Sale (6-2 2.34 ERA) vs. Kevin Millwood (3-4 3.56 ERA)
Chris Sale has been one of the best White Sox pitchers this year. In his last game, he threw 15 strikeouts and completely dominated a good Rays lineup. If he can do something like that again for the Sox, he gives them a really good chance to win. Millwood isn't a great pitcher, but his ERA isn't terrible and it's not going to be easy for the White Sox.

For a final time I'm going to say it, the White Sox have to succeed when they have runners in scoring position especially when there is less than two outs. Right now AJ is the best player on the team with runners in scoring position and he will probably be playing tomorrow, but who knows how many of these three games he will play because he hasn't had rest in awhile due to how well he's been playing.

White Hot Sox

Check out my epic photoshopping, am I right?

Another sweep for the White Sox and they've won 8 in a row! There's no doubt that the White Sox are playing great baseball right now and they're finding ways to win games no matter what obstacle they're facing. The Sox have swept in 3 of their last 4 series; they are 9-1 in the last ten, and they don't seem to be stopping any time soon. The starters have pitched well, the bullpen has been solid, and the White Sox are playing great on offense right now. Not much is going wrong for them other than umpires throwing people out without a warning, but that's not a big deal. Right now the Sox are winning games and that's all that matters.

One of the biggest differences between this year and last year is that the White Sox no longer rely on Konerko to lead the team by having a big game every game or else the Sox lose. Konerko went 2-13 this series and the Sox still swept and scored 13 runs. That would have never happened last year. Now that the offense doesn't depend on Konerko for everything, the pressure is off of Konerko and he can just focus on playing his game. I think that is one of the reasons that this year has been different from every other year that he has played so far. If the White Sox offense keeps it up, Paulie will keep it up as well.

Another big difference in this series is that the White Sox did not depend on the long ball. Obviously it is how they won in Game 1, but that was a different game than the other two. The White Sox only had one home run in the last two games of the series and they still scored 11 runs. The White Sox offense has something that it hasn't had in awhile. That is the ability to hit in succession and score runs without necessarily hitting the ball out of the park. This is a big difference because when you depend on the home run ball, you're going to lose a lot of games when the ball just isn't going out. Now the Sox can win both with the home run and in other ways like they did on Tuesday.

Up next the Sox will play Seattle and will have to face King Felix in the first game of the series to try to improve their win streak to nine games. The series will be tough as the Mariners just put up 21 against the Rangers today, but the Sox can win this series and keep it rolling while staying in first place.