I really think the Twins run away with this one. They did nothing but improve this offseason by adding Thome, Hardy, and Hudson to a lineup that was really full of holes, but still managed to get to the playoffs. Their pitching staff is very underrated as well. They aren't flashy, and they won't be striking out a lot of guys, but what the pitching staff doesn't do is get itself into unnecessary trouble with walks. Baker, Slowey, Pavano, and Blackburn all are very good control pitchers. Nathan, obviously, is arguably the best in the business as far as closers go, second maybe only to Rivera (though you can argue that Nathan has been more dominant in recent years). The bullpen is strong as well.
As for the lineup, Span is pretty much your prototypical leadoff hitter. Then obviously you got the MVPs in Mauer and Morneau, and then Cuddyer and Kubel are no slouches either. The talking point has been whether or not Thome will be the regular DH. The Twins have claimed the starting LF job belongs to Delmon Young, and it appears that they're going to keep giving him chances, so Kubel is likely to DH most of the time, at least initially. However, it will be tough to keep Thome out of the lineup, as he's still a very productive power hitter.
Meanwhile, Chicago has what appears to be maybe the best starting rotation in baseball in terms of depth. Peavy, Buehrle (sp?), Danks, Floyd, and Garcia, with Daniel Hudson waiting in the wings. They do, however, have some question marks in the bullpen. Jenks hasn't been as dominant as he used to be. Putz struggled last season, as did Linebrink and Tony Pena. Thornton's one of the better setup men in the business, but otherwise the 'pen is pretty shaky at best.
The downfall for the White Sox is their putrid offense. I'm not really sure where it's going to come from, and I can't really say I have much of an idea what their batting order is going to look like. But I mean looking at the names and numbers here: Pierre, Rios, Quentin, Teahen, Ramirez, Beckham, Konerko, Pierzynski, Jones, Kotsay, etc. There's nothing to see here as far as offense goes. Beckham's pretty good, and if Quentin bounces back he can be solid, but as with the pen, there's way too many question marks.
So yeah, I think the Sox offense will sadly betray what is sure to be a dynamite rotation.
As for the lineup, Span is pretty much your prototypical leadoff hitter. Then obviously you got the MVPs in Mauer and Morneau, and then Cuddyer and Kubel are no slouches either. The talking point has been whether or not Thome will be the regular DH. The Twins have claimed the starting LF job belongs to Delmon Young, and it appears that they're going to keep giving him chances, so Kubel is likely to DH most of the time, at least initially. However, it will be tough to keep Thome out of the lineup, as he's still a very productive power hitter.
Meanwhile, Chicago has what appears to be maybe the best starting rotation in baseball in terms of depth. Peavy, Buehrle (sp?), Danks, Floyd, and Garcia, with Daniel Hudson waiting in the wings. They do, however, have some question marks in the bullpen. Jenks hasn't been as dominant as he used to be. Putz struggled last season, as did Linebrink and Tony Pena. Thornton's one of the better setup men in the business, but otherwise the 'pen is pretty shaky at best.
The downfall for the White Sox is their putrid offense. I'm not really sure where it's going to come from, and I can't really say I have much of an idea what their batting order is going to look like. But I mean looking at the names and numbers here: Pierre, Rios, Quentin, Teahen, Ramirez, Beckham, Konerko, Pierzynski, Jones, Kotsay, etc. There's nothing to see here as far as offense goes. Beckham's pretty good, and if Quentin bounces back he can be solid, but as with the pen, there's way too many question marks.
So yeah, I think the Sox offense will sadly betray what is sure to be a dynamite rotation.
