With White Sox pitchers and catchers only four days away from reporting, baseball outlets are rolling out previews in full force.
The Sun-Times' Joe Cowley offers
five lesser players who are under the gun as much as the big names:
All eyes will be on Podsednik's groin -- literally.
Speak for yourself.
The Daily Southtown's Nathaniel Whalen has
five items on Ozzie Guillen's to-do list:
Failing to execute "Ozzieball" cost the Sox a fair number of games in
2006 -- perhaps even a spot in the postseason -- and the manager hopes
a renewed emphasis on the little things will work.
Athlon Sports also
has released its preview, by way of CNNSI.com:
If rookie Chris Stewart sticks as a third catcher, Guillen can use Hall
and Pierzynski regularly to rest Thome or as pinch hitters.
While Athlon dropped the ball on that one, I'd accept their trivia bites on the right rail as a nice comeback. I had no idea Mark Buehrle was the only Sox pitcher in franchise history to make 30 starts six years in a row.
Off the top of my head, I might've offered
Billy Pierce,
Ed Walsh or
Ted Lyons. Obviously, that wasn't the case:
- Pierce: Five 30+ seasons before making 28 starts with 11 relief appearances in 1961.
- Walsh: Six 30+ seasons in seven years, with a 28-start year in the middle of it all.
- Lyons: Five 30+ seasons in six years, turned into "Sunday Starter" not long after.