Fantasy Baseball Preview: The White Sox

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Team who loves to mash the ball. The 2008 White Sox led Major League Baseball in home runs with 235. Even though the team lost Nick Swisher, there are still six hitters in this lineup with 25-plus home run potential; three that could easily amass 30-plus. The infield is all shook up headed into the new season. Only Paul Konerko is back in his position from 2008 at first base. Josh Fields will be given the reigns at third base to see if he can finally live up to his potential. Alexei Ramirez will be shifting from second base to shortstop to fill the spot vacated by Orlando Cabrera. The pitching staff lost Javier Vazquez to Atlanta but still has three credible front-line starters. Gavin Floyd and John Danks exploded onto the scene in '08 and Mark Buehrle is as consistent as they come. The White Sox won their division in 2008 and still have the talent to compete again in 2009.

The Breakout
Josh Fields was taken by the White Sox in the first round of the 2004 draft. Since then, the expectations for Fields have been extremely high, dwarfed only by the expectations set for White Sox fan and newly elected President Obama. This season could finally be the year that Fields breaks out. He spent the winter at Camp Cora and the bench coach says that we're to expect to be "shocked" by the new look Josh Fields. We've seen his power potential in the minor leagues and at the Major League level in 2007 where he hit 23 home runs in 373 at-bats. He didn't get a chance to follow up in 2008 as injuries kept him off of the field. If you give Fields 500 at-bats you can just might get 30 home runs from him in 2009.

The Bust
Bobby Jenks burst onto the scene in 2005 to help the White Sox win the World Series. At that point he was a pure power pitcher with a scorching fastball sporting an 11.44 K/9 ratio. Since then his fastball has lost a little bit of zip and instead of missing bats, he's pitching to contact. Since 2005 his K/9 ratio has fallen each year. In 2008 he finished with a paltry 5.55 K/9 ratio. His current ADP sits at 99.21, which is a 9th round selection in fantasy drafts. If his strikeout rate continues to diminish in 2009 there's a good chance he'll start getting touched up a bit. Without that blazing fastball, Jenks is just another normal closer, albeit on a good team. His current ADP is too high and there is risk here of Jenks falling flat on his face in 2009.

The Lineup
1. Jerry Owens / DeWayne Wise , CF
2. A.J. Pierzynski, C
3. Carlos Quentin, LF
4. Jim Thome, DH
5. Jermaine Dye, RF
6. Paul Konerko, 1B
7. Alexei Ramirez, SS
8. Josh Fields / Dayan Viciedo , 3B
9. Chris Getz / Jayson Nix , 2B

The Rotation
1. Mark Buehrle
2. Gavin Floyd
3. John Danks
4. Bartolo Colon / Clayton Richard
5. Aaron Poreda / Jeff Marquez

The Bullpen
CL - Bobby Jenks
SU - Octavio Dotel
SU - Matt Thornton

The Skinny
• Carlos Quentin was in the hunt for an MVP award last season before a broken arm wrist ended his season. He had 36 home runs in only 480 at-bats so you can imagine what that power line would have looked like had he played the last month of the season. One bit of caution though, a broken wrist like this can have a tendency of sapping power until it is completely healed. If Quentin's arm needs a few weeks in the beginning of the season to get the strength back, it will be just like missing the final month in 2008. Quentin is going to get his home runs, just don't expect him to surpass his 2008 total this season.

• More important that spring ERA for a pitcher is domination on the mound shown by strikeout to walk ratio and K/9 ratio. John Danks has nine strikeouts to only one walk in seven innings of spring work thus far. Those are good signs for a bright 2009.

• The first three pitchers in the rotation are locked in. And even though there seems to be depth at the back end of the rotation, some of these candidates for the final two spots have their demons. Aaron Poreda can bring the heat, but is without a second Major League pitch. Bartolo Colon is... well, he's Bartolo Colon. Don't be surprised to see the White Sox, once again, give Jose Contreras a rotation spot and hand the fifth spot to either Clayton Richard or Jeff Marquez.

• Don't be surprised when you see 2008 first round draft pick, Gordon Beckham wearing a Sox uniform in the south side this season. Kid was an All-American at the University of Georgia showing power, plate skills and nice glove work and those trends are continuing at the professional level. A month ago, Beckham was thought to be ready to make an appearance as a late season call-up in 2009, but he's been starting at second base some this spring and creating a tough decision for Ozzie Guillen about what to do with him.