Chicago White Sox
Always the bridesmaids, never the brides. The White Sox are far too tough to admit to wanting to wear lace and veils but truth be told they would love to finish first once in a while. The past 3 seasons this team has finished in 2nd place in the American League, missing the playoffs by a grand total of 11 games over that time. Last year they could attribute their miss to a very tough July which included a 1-11 stretch. Four of those losses came at the hands of the Yankees; had they swept that series instead of being swept, they World Series would be an entirely different matchup. But it's hard to do second-guessing in the summer months, and the story during the season was that the Sox came on like gangbusters only to fall just short of an injury-depleted Yankees team.
The big questions for the AL aren't really so much with this club as they are with whether the Yanks can overcome their injury issues of 1932 as well as whether the Athletics, who finished ahead of the Sox in 1930 and 1931, can rebound from a bad season of their own. The White Sox seem to be there in case the answer is "no". Manager Salvador Lopez doesn't figure to just sit on the sidelines, though.
Code:
Record overall 93-61, .604 PCT 2nd, 3.0 GB
Home 45-32, .584 PCT
Road 48-29, .623 PCT
X-inning games 6-6, .500 PCT
One-run games 11-22, .333 PCT
Versus LHP 25-15, .625 PCT
Versus RHP 68-46, .596 PCT
April 8-2, .800 PCT
May 16-11, .593 PCT
June 16-12, .571 PCT
July 12-15, .444 PCT
August 17-10, .630 PCT
September 17-8, .680 PCT
October 7-3, .700 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .296 - 3rd in AL
On-Base Percentage .358 - 3rd in AL
Slugging Percentage .445 - 1st in AL
On-Base + Slugging .803 - 1st in AL
Runs Scored 910 - 3rd in AL
Hits 1654 - 3rd in AL
Extra-Base Hits 511 - 2nd in AL
Home Runs 117 - 2nd in AL
Bases-On-Balls 538 - 3rd in AL
Strikeouts 452 - 4th in AL
Stolen Bases 42 - 5th in AL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 3.93 - 2nd in AL
Starters' ERA 3.82 - 2nd in AL
Bullpen ERA 4.47 - 5th in AL
Runs allowed 753 - 2nd in AL
Hits allowed 1580 - 3rd in AL
Opponents AVG .282 - 3rd in AL
BABIP .299 - 4th in AL
Home Runs allowed 82 - 3rd in AL
Bases-On-Balls 366 - 1st in AL
Strikeouts 501 - 3rd in AL
Pitching
With their backs up against the wall, the White Sox went to a 3-man rotation in December. The results were for the most part positive. Bob Hinman wasn't quite as effective, maybe, sporting a 3.88 ERA in September, but he still went 8-2 in the final month and a half to keep the Chisox in it and earn himself a Pitcher of the Year award in the offing. The primary purpose of the 3-man gig was to give Hinman more starts; Bob Gordon, Jose Castillo, Ronald Tinter, and Mike Fisher were all decent but pretty indistinguishable from one another. The question going forward for this rotation is whether or not the 26-year old Hinman is mature enough to be the staff stopper.
Relief pitching will also be a big deal for 1932. Usually a relief staff is supposed to perform a little better than the starters since they don't have to go through a lineup more than once or maybe twice if it's long relief. Outside of closer Spencer Mayer, acquired from the Yankees in the offseason (and probably the last time those two teams will be trading with each other for a long while) the bullpen was not very good at all. Improved performance in tight games - the Sox were 11-22 in one run contests last year - could by itself be the difference between a close 2nd place finish and a pennant.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
Bob Hinman 25 28 12 0.700 42 42 0 358.2 348 120 28 48 186 3.01 94.4
Bob Gordon 33 17 15 0.531 40 38 0 277 342 124 17 62 67 4.03 39.3
José Castillo 23 16 12 0.571 31 31 0 226.2 269 101 12 77 102 4.01 31.6
Ronald Tinter 35 8 5 0.615 15 13 1 102.1 125 45 3 22 9 3.96 13.3
Mike Fisher 37 7 2 0.778 13 13 0 95.2 87 34 4 26 19 3.20 23.1
Spencer Mayer 33 2 4 0.333 42 0 17 63.2 70 28 4 24 33 3.96 9.6
Ben Gravel 33 5 1 0.833 25 4 0 60 85 34 3 19 17 5.10 0.9
Bryan Mudge 25 1 4 0.200 14 6 0 54 86 36 7 19 22 6.00 -5.2
Mark Bulter 21 5 2 0.714 26 0 1 52 60 23 1 21 16 3.98 7.7
Aaron LeBron 22 2 1 0.667 20 2 1 41.1 48 28 1 28 16 6.10 -4.3
Kent DeLong 26 2 2 0.500 4 4 0 29.2 37 16 2 11 11 4.85 0.9
Armando Sánchez 22 0 1 0.000 8 0 1 10.1 14 8 0 7 3 6.97 -2.2
Ted Carson 24 0 0 0.000 1 1 0 5.1 9 4 0 2 0 6.75 -1.7
Team Totals 27.6 93 61 0.604 281 154 21 1376.2 1580 601 82 366 501 3.93 207.4
Catcher/First Base
The White Sox' catching platoon was as effective as any in the league, combining for 50 doubles, 117 RBIs, and 189 hits. Akins has been with Chicago for a decade now and is the second-longest tenured starter on the club to Hunter Sunday. Ashley Wetherell is no slouch himself and may even overtake Akins for the starting job some day. Bob Wolf put in a typical Bob Wolf season. He didn't get to repeat as MVP because he didn't make a run at .400 a la St. Louis' Les Archie, but he did win Player of the Week 3 times and Batter of the Month for September.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C *Steve Akins 30 114 113 426 54 129 34 4 7 88 0 0 39 35 0.303 0.362 0.451 0.812 18.2
C Ashley Wetherell 26 47 41 160 23 60 16 2 2 29 0 0 9 9 0.375 0.416 0.537 0.954 18.3
1B Bob Wolf 31 127 127 501 105 178 24 7 21 94 2 6 73 26 0.355 0.438 0.557 0.995 54.3
1B #Dave Danna 31 30 8 52 10 12 1 2 2 11 0 0 3 5 0.231 0.273 0.442 0.715 -2.4
Infield
Leslie MacGruder provided the sort of gritty spark one expects from their middle infielders. He even played 20 games at first base while Bob Wolf was down with an injury. It's probably not a place you'd want to see him on a regular basis but it just goes to show the kind of true grit he provides.
Much as we hate to say it, the time may have run out for Mike Sheridan at the hot corner. He committed 41 errors at the position and fielded just .904 last year. The problem for the White Sox is that they really have no place to put the grandson of the Union general, and they really don't have a great replacement on the squad right now either. Justin Boykins did pretty well at second but lacks the arm for the hot corner. Switching Leslie McGruder over there would be a mistake for similar reasons, plus his pure grittiness would probably cause him to suffer a nasty groin-related injury while diving for a ball down the line.
Whatever happens at third, Jeff Davis will no doubt be happy. Much press time has been devoted to the fact that he and Sheridan have played side by side the last couple years. Davis is the grandson of Confederate President Jefferson Davis; although his family moved to the border state of Missouri before he was born, he still holds a certain distrust of all yankees. As a result, he's always been a little hesistant moving to his right. With Sheridan about to leave, that could change.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B *Leslie McGruder 26 132 130 575 101 152 37 6 12 68 0 0 42 46 0.264 0.317 0.412 0.729 14.6
2B Justin Boykins 23 35 25 116 18 34 7 3 7 28 3 3 5 12 0.293 0.320 0.586 0.906 5.7
2B Desmond Chandler 25 27 18 78 8 17 5 0 1 11 1 2 6 0 0.218 0.274 0.321 0.594 -3.1
3B Mike Sheridan 35 147 147 552 95 172 24 8 10 84 0 4 86 35 0.312 0.401 0.438 0.839 31.0
3B John Gray 34 20 10 55 4 14 0 2 1 8 1 0 2 10 0.255 0.281 0.382 0.663 -1.6
SS Jeff Davis 21 108 108 417 68 127 23 12 5 70 5 2 42 16 0.305 0.366 0.453 0.820 15.8
SS Ron Brewer 27 44 44 192 29 57 4 2 3 16 2 1 15 16 0.297 0.348 0.385 0.733 1.1
Outfield
Usually, moving from right field to center results in a loss of defensive efficiency. Don't tell that to Hunter Sunday. The 5-time Gold Glove award winner was every bit as sturdy in the middle of the field, and got to show off his arm with 14 baserunner kills. Plateside, he did a fine job at driving home Bob Wolf and the rest of the Sox lineup. In left, George Echols had a good rookie year in 1931. In '32 he was given more responsibility and made the most of it, just missing the century mark in runs scored. In right, the platoon of Monte LaPointe and Roland Hardy was simply devastating. That made Hunter Sunday's switch look all the more intelligent.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF #George Echols 23 140 139 587 97 184 38 17 6 80 11 8 58 72 0.313 0.376 0.467 0.843 18.4
LF #Tommy Mills 29 31 2 34 8 12 3 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 0.353 0.405 0.441 0.847 1.7
CF *Hunter Sunday 32 149 149 598 124 187 29 4 28 118 8 5 77 47 0.313 0.392 0.515 0.907 46.9
RF *Monte LaPointe 25 107 103 452 75 146 28 8 8 63 5 4 25 29 0.323 0.360 0.473 0.834 22.2
RF Roland Hardy 24 63 53 237 40 87 8 7 2 36 4 4 28 8 0.367 0.432 0.485 0.918 22.9
RF Gayle Boisvert 31 16 9 49 2 9 2 0 0 6 0 1 2 11 0.184 0.208 0.224 0.432 -6.4
RF *Charlie Cargill 25 11 6 22 3 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 5 1 0.091 0.286 0.182 0.468 -2.3
Code:
Team Totals 27.6 1629 1386 5588 910 1654 308 86 117 864 42 40 538 452 0.296 0.358 0.445 0.803 260.6