| Andrew Dittrich. 22nd December, 2007 - 1:53 pm
 A year is a long time in baseball. Just ask Kenny Williams and Walt Jocketty.
To start 2007, Williams' White Sox were coming off a second 90-win season following their first World Series title in 88 seasons. Jocketty was still the General Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals who were reveling in their Cinderella run through the playoffs which culminated with a World Series trophy. Both teams seemed to be built for long haul success with quality young pitching and power from both sides of the plate. It's nice to remember the good times.
Now Jocketty is out of a job, dismissed in October after a disappointing 2007 season. Williams finds himself consistently on the defensive from a hard-nosed Chicago media after a 70-win campaign and a slow off-season.
The Cardinals' sudden fall from grace was more predictable. Their World Series title came after the team backed into the playoffs with 83 wins in a terrible NL Central. However, the performances of Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright throughout the playoffs, along with the pop that seemed to remain in their lineup, falsely led to higher expectations for the defending champs in 2007. Injuries to Chris Carpenter and Scott Rolen hurt the Cardinals early. Disappointing seasons from Jim Edmonds and the entire starting rotations did not help, and it ended up with the firing of Jocketty.
The off-season for St. Louis has been active but not in any fashion that makes it seem positive. Tony LaRussa's DUI video provided Sports Nation with some entertainment, and the Cardinals activity in the winter has made almost as much sense as “X-Y-X-Z.” While the division rival Cubs and Brewers have built upon their improvements in 2007, the Cardinals have struggled to keep up. Off-season bickering between LaRussa and Rolen has been a major story in St. Louis, and the team lost a key contributor in David Eckstein to free agency. Juan Encarnacion may never play baseball again, and the team has done little to shore up a struggling pitching staff.
Chicago also finds itself at a great distance from former glory. With the White Sox, though, there is little to pinpoint: it was a mess. They could not hit; they could not pitch. The White Sox did not have any player reach .300 or 100 RBI. They also struggled in all of the “Ozzieball” categories. The Sox were 10th in stolen bases, last in OBP, and 13th in OPS. The most telling and most important stat: the White Sox were last in runs.
The pitching was not much better as Jose Contreras's age, whatever that may be, seemed to catch up with him. If the starter was able to get to the 6th or 7th inning, the bridge between the starter and Bobby Jenks was brutal. Chicago has done little to address their pitching situation in the off-season, so like St. Louis they will be counting on their big bats to have bounce back seasons. Their only major off-season moves have come from a trade for Orlando Cabrera and the signing of middle reliever Scott Linebrink. The White Sox have loudly thrown their hat into the pool of a few big name deals but have whiffed on all of them. Eckstein, Torii Hunter, Aaron Rowand, and Kosuke Fukudome will all be playing elsewhere next season, leaving the Sox with questions in the middle infield, left field, and center field.
Kenny Williams is widely regarded as a good evaluator of talent, but last year has made many in Chicago forget. Unless Williams addresses the starting pitching issues, it's going to take big seasons from Thome, Konerko, Dye and the rest of his lineup to keep the media and the fans off of his back.
Both St. Louis and Chicago face uphill climbs in their divisions. St. Louis has to take reloaded and powerful Cubs' and Brewers' teams. The White Sox play in what may be the toughest division in baseball with a beefed up Detroit team and a Cleveland ballclub coming off a division championship. These recent champs have seen the difficulties in maintaining success in the free agency era and now face difficult decisions in large baseball markets. Both teams will need big contributions from young but promising pitching staffs and proven middle-of-the-order hitters to see any success in 2008. |
