With a start of a new season comes new hope for baseball fans. Many fans have aspirations that this could be the year that their team wins it all. With this hope, disappointment is sure to follow for many fans as their favorite team comes up short yet again. White Sox fans have been used to disappointment for the last few seasons. The club has not reached the playoffs since 2008. Fans often get their hopes up for the south-siders since they have been active in past off-seasons, but for whatever reason the acquisitions seem to never work out for the White Sox. The prime example of a free agent signing that completely blew up in the organization's face was Adam Dunn. The slugger came in as one of the most consistent hitters in the MLB, but had his worst seasons with the White Sox. Dunn went from consistently hitting in the mid 200s and hitting 40 plus home runs to hitting 0.159 and 11 home runs in his first season with the White Sox. His power numbers improved later on in his short career with the White Sox, but his batting average never improved.
This bad luck with free agents continued last year with the signings of Melky Cabrera and Adam Laroche. The organization had a very good off-season and made moves that many thought would put the team into the playoff hunt. Melky Cabera struggled early in the year and hit well below his career batting average. Adam Laroche struggled all year and only had a batting average of 0.207 and 12 home runs. Like Cabrera, this was well below Laroche's career average. However, unlike Cabrera, Adam Laroche is no longer on the team. Laroche retired over an extremely bizarre situation where management told Laroche to cut down on the amount of time that his 14-year-old son spent in the clubhouse. This strange scenario seems to have fractured the clubhouse with management. It is yet to be seen how the team responds to this distraction. However, one thing that the White Sox should learn for this situation is to never sign a first baseman named Adam. Between Laroche and Dunn, it hasn't worked out.
The difference between last year's team and this year's team might actually be the off-season moves that the franchise made this year. The White Sox improved their infield by adding all-star third baseman Todd Fraizer, second baseman Brett Lawrie, and veteran shortstop Jimmy Rollins. These moves look very good on paper, but as White Sox fans have learned the hard way, games are not won on paper. These acquisitions are clear improvements on the field, but they also provide great leadership, which was something that the White Sox have lacked in the past. Fraizer is known as a great clubhouse guy and Lawrie is known as a passionate young player. Rollins may be beyond his prime, but he will be splitting time with the young shortstop Tyler Saladino. Rollins will provide leadership and share experiences from his 16 years as a professional baseball player.
White Sox fans have heard this story before. They have seen players come to Chicago and somehow have their worst seasons of their career. However, if the White Sox can start off strong and have their players just perform their career average, maybe they can surprise people this year.
