Over in Meet the Sox,
Jermaine Dye is the 11th player to be previewed for the 2007 season. As always, remember to leave your projections between now and the start of the season.
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On the subject of previews, two national outlets had their scope on the Sox today:
USA TODAYMel
Antonen's preview stays neutral on the subject of Kenny Williams and
his wheeling and dealing bonanza. Not a lot we didn't know, but he has
a couple of key points. On the subject of Brian Anderson:
The White Sox say patience is the key with Anderson, just as it has been with many prospects who have turned into solid players.
"What if we had given up on Joe Crede?" Williams says, referring to the
team's third baseman who struggled for several years before putting
together a terrific season last year.
And in terms of fundamentals, Ozzie had this to say:
Guillen says the team is going to have a new emphasis on fundamental hitting in spring training next month.
"It's not going to be a boot camp. We are going to go back to where we
were (in 2005)," Guillen says. "I'm not going to let this thing slip
away. I need to make sure these guys play good, and that starts at the
beginning. We are prepared to push these guys harder."
Fair enough, Oz, but hopefully that means baserunning is Job One. Baseball Prospectus
ranked the Sox the worst on the basepaths in 2007.
NBC SPORTSHere's the one item of interest I saw:
The fifth spot in the rotation, however, is up for grabs. As a player
targeted via trade, Floyd, who has a 6.96 career ERA in 24 games, will
get every opportunity to win the role, but he'll be pushed by young
knuckleballer Charlie Haeger, who pitched well in a brief call-up late
in the season, going 1-1 with a 3.44 ERA in seven appearances. They'll
also give a look to lefty Heath Phillips, a control pitcher who went
13-5 at Triple-A Charlotte, and John Danks, a young lefty they received
in the McCarthy deal.
That's the first time I've seen Phillips mentioned as a candidate for the fifth starter spot, and it's probably due to
his anomalous year at Charlotte more than any sort of prospect status.
Nevertheless,
he'll be interesting to monitor for a few reasons. He has the profile
of a poor man's --
and portly man's -- Mark Buehrle, with lots of hits
allowed, good control, and a strikeout rate that needs to improve. He
also had a better year in the tiny ballpark at Charlotte than he ever
had at Birmingham's big field.
On the other hand, he was one of numerous Knights
who pitched lights-out in the first half,
only to be hit around in the second (Charlie Haeger is another one).
Everything points to three months of fluky pitching, but sometimes
decent major-league candidates just sort of materialize. And
considering the relative lack of depth in the Sox's minor league
system, it's not like we'll be preoccupied watching others.