For those that missed the guidelines I am using for this series of posts, you can find them here.
Team #29: Chicago White Sox
General Managers(since 1994)
Ron Schueler (1994-2000): 550-515
Ken Williams (2001-current): 762-697
Team Performance
| Playoffs | Division Finish | ||||||
| WC | League | Playoff App | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
| 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
The performance over the past 15+ seasons points to two things: The AL Central has been a fairly weak division overall, as the White Sox ended up with 2nd place finishes 3 years in a row with sub-.500 records. Also, that while the organization has not always been excellent at developing their own Major Leaguers, they have done well to acquire players via free agency and trades. All information is drawn from Baseball Reference.
| Position | Name | Acquired | Years with Org. |
Stats with Organization |
Left? |
| C | Humberto Quintero | Int’l FA – 1997 | 5 | No Major League Appearances with Organization | Traded to SD – 7/12/02 |
| 1B | Dayan Viciedo | Int’l FA – 2008 | 2 | No Major League Appearances with Organization | Currently with Org. |
| 2B | Gordon Beckham | 2008 – 1st Rd (8) | 2 | 159 gm, .247/.326/.389, 15 HR, 75 RBI, 11 SB, 81 R | Currently with Org. |
| 3B | Josh Fields | 2004 – 1st Rd (18) | 5 | 204 gm, .229/.302/.416, 31 HR, 101 RBI, 3 SB, 90 R | Traded to KC – 11/6/09 |
| SS | Alexei Ramirez | Int’l FA – 2008 | 2 | 344 gm, .278/.320/.423, 42 HR, 169 RBI, 29 SB, 160 R | Currently with Org. |
| LF | Carlos Lee | Int’l FA – 1994 | 10 | 880 gm, .288/.340/.488, 152 HR, 552 RBI, 64 SB, 533 R | Traded to MIL – 12/13/04 |
| CF | Aaron Rowand | 1998 – 1st Rd (35) | 7 | 579 gm, .283/.337/.451, 54 HR, 211 RBI, 38 SB, 255 R | Traded to PHI – 11/25/05 |
| RF | Mike Cameron | 1991 – 18th Rd | 7 | 296 gm, .229/.315/.376, 23 HR, 100 RBI, 50 SB, 121 R | Traded to CIN – 11/11/98 |
| DH | Magglio Ordonez | Int’l FA – 1991 | 13 | 4 All Star Appearances, 2 Silver Slugger, 1001 gm, .307/.364/.525, 187 HR, 703 RBI, 82 SB, 624 R |
Free Agency – 10/28/04 |
| SP | Mark Buehrle | 1998 – 38th Rd | 12 | 4 All Star Appearances, 1 Gold Glove 139-103, 3.84 ERA, 1225 K, 489 BB, 2137.2 IP, 1.275 WHIP |
Currently with Org. |
| SP | Gio Gonzalez | 2004 – 1st Rd (38) | 1 + 1 | No Major League Appearances with Organization | Traded to OAK – 1/3/08 |
| SP | John Ely | 2007 – 3rd Rd | 3 | No Major League Appearances with Organization | Traded to LAD – 12/18/09 |
| SP | Clayton Richard | 2005 – 8th Rd | 4 | 6-8, 5.14 ERA, 95 K, 50 BB, 136.2 IP, 1.500 WHIP | Traded to SD – 7/31/09 |
| SP | Charlie Haeger | 2001 – 25th Rd | 7 | 1-2, 4.85 ERA, 20 K, 21 BB, 29.2 IP, 1.685 WHIP | Selected by SD – 9/10/08 |
| RP | Kanekoa Texeira | 2006 – 22nd Rd | 2 | No Major League Appearances with Organization | Traded to NYY – 11/13/08 |
| RP | Dan Hudson | 2008 – 5th Rd | 2 | 1-1, 3.38 ERA, 14 K, 9 BB, 18.2 IP, 1.339 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| RP | Matt Guerrier | 1999 – 10th Rd | 3 | No Major League Appearances with Organization | Traded to PIT – 3/27/02 |
| RP | Boone Logan | 2002 – 20th Rd | 6 | 4-4, 5.87 ERA, 92 K, 49 BB, 110.1 IP, 1.686 WHIP | Traded to ATL – 12/4/08 |
| RP | Carlos Torres | 2004 – 15th Rd | 6 | 1-2 6.04 ERA, 22 K, 17 BB, 28.1 IP, 1.659 WHIP | Currently with Org. |
| CL | Jon Rauch | 1999 – 3rd Rd | 5 | 3-2, 6.51 ERA, 23 K, 18 BB, 37.1 IP, 1.661 WHIP | Traded to MON – 7/18/04 |
| BN | Ryan Sweeney (OF) | 2003 – 2nd Rd | 4 | 33 gm, .213/.250/.288, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 6 R | Traded to OAK – 1/3/08 |
| BN | Chris B. Young (OF) | 2001 – 16th Rd | 4 | No Major League Appearances for Organization | Traded to CHW – 12/20/05 |
| BN | Chris Getz (IF) | 2005 – 4th Rd | 5 | 117 gm, .262/.323/.346, 2 HR, 32 RBI, 26 SB, 51 R | Traded to KC – 11/6/09 |
| BN | Aaron Poreda (P) | 2007 – 1st Rd (25) | 2 | 1-0, 2.45 ERA, 12 K, 8 BB, 11 IP, 1.545 WHIP | Traded to SD – 7/31/09 |
| BN | Adam Russell (P) | 2004 – 6th Rd | 5 | 4-0, 5.19 ERA, 22 K, 10 BB, 26 IP, 1.538 WHIP | Traded to SD – 7/31/09 |
The White Sox have done a reasonably good job of drafting players over the past 15 years, and I think at least a part of that is a result of the stability at the top of the organization, specifically only having 2 general managers over that time period. The White Sox have done a very good job of acquiring top flight players via trade for some of the players listed above, including Jake Peavy, Juan Pierre, and even Paul Konerko. I think that this, coupled with some solid free agent signings, have helped to keep the Sox competitive.
June Amateur Draft
Looking at their drafting results, they have had 30 first round picks in the last 15 drafts (not including 2010). Ignoring the 2009 draftees, they have had 19 of these picks play at least a single game in the Major Leagues. 3 players who were first round picks have not made it to the Majors yet but are still with the organization, including both 2009 top picks Jared Mitchell and Josh Phegley. They have gotten quite a bit of solid players out of the first round, but the best performance out of any of them for the White Sox was from CF Aaron Rowand. There are still quite a few players who were drafted in the first round who could potentially be solid Major Leaguers, but are still too raw or young. They have also received some late round values, especially 38th round pick Mark Buehrle.
International Free Agency
The White Sox don’t appear to have had a lot of luck in finding or developing many international free agents, with Alexei Ramirez being the most recent to make it to the Majors, and only Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez the others who are still active. Over time, I imagine that this is going to improve, as they have shown a willingness to spend on players (Ramirez and 1B Dayan Viciedo being prime examples) from Cuba and other Latin American nations.
Overall Grade
I think I have to give them a D. The goal of this project was to see what players were available based on who they originally signed with, and to me there’s still a lot to be desired out of the players listed above. The pitching staff has potential, but is still extremely raw. There’s a lot of excellent outfielders, but all of the infield positions are manned by either barely established players, or in the case of Viciedo, one who hasn’t yet played in the Majors. Overall, you have a group of players that still have a lot of potential to be good, but as of right now, have not had a lot of success and overall I think would have a hard time competing in the Majors.
