As spring training has opened all across Major League Baseball, I cannot help but be excited for the upcoming season. While basketball has always been may favorite sport to watch, I have always had a deep affinity for the game of baseball. Opening Day, the All-Star Game, the trade deadline, the pennant chase, the playoffs and the World Series are all events that I look forward to each year.
While I am very excited for baseball season, I am dreading watching my favorite team, the Chicago White Sox. My reasoning is simple: I think they are going to be terrible. Not just bad, but like 100 losses bad. At the end of last season, the White Sox former manager Ozzie Guillen decided he had enough dealing with egomaniac general manager Kenny Williams and the refusal of owner Jerry Reinsdorf to give him a healthy extension, so the only manager to lead the team to a World Series title since 1917 jumped ship and took a managerial job with the Miami Marlins.
I was upset to see Guillen leave, but I did think that the team might have been in need of new leadership after last season's uninspired 79-81 record. With Guillen out of the picture, I thought maybe the White Sox would go after former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona or highly-revered Tampa Bay Rays bench coach Dave Martinez to lead the 2012 White Sox. My thoughts were very wrong, as on Oct. 6, 2011, the team named former star third baseman Robin Ventura as its new manager. This was flabbergasting for more than one reason — the most important being that Ventura has never been a manager anywhere at any level of baseball.
Along with the surprising managerial move, the White Sox made some baffling roster moves. First, the team allowed longtime ace Mark Buehrle to leave and join Guillen with the Marlins. Second, promising young closer Sergio Santos was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for two minor leaguers with zero major league experience. The final move came on New Year's Day when power-hitting, yet injury-prone outfielder Carlos Quentin was moved to the San Diego Padres for two wood bats and a bag of balls. (It was actually two minor league pitchers, but you get my point.)
Since the White Sox got rid of several key components, one would assume the team would have made moves to pick up a couple guys with solid major league experience. Well, that assumption was wrong, as the team only made one move in signing underachieving, light-hitting outfielder Kosuke Fukudome to a one-year deal. In summation, the White Sox lost Buehrle, Santos, and Quentin and gained Kosuke Fukudome. Good stuff.
While I am dreading the upcoming season due to the disaster that I believe will occur, I know that I will still watch mostly every game and take each loss as harshly as before. Being a diehard fan can be a cruel thing and I feel as if I will experience its cruelty this baseball season like never before.
Contact Walker Carey at wcarey@nd.edu@nd.edu
The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
