Chicago White Sox

Have people forgotten about Mark Buehrle?

I am a Chicago White Sox fan who lives in Chicago. Naturally, many of my peers are White Sox fans as well.

They, like myself, are very excited for this year's team, which features one of the best pitching rotations in baseball.

While I am with one of my friends, he decides to bring up the upcoming season. He tries to spark up a conversation about the potential of the Sox this year, but he fails miserably by saying, "How 'bout that offense, huh?"

"Oh yeah...all that power..."

After winning the AL central in 2008, the White Sox had high expectations going into the 2009 season.  Unfortunately for them, these high expectations turned into large disappointments after a third place finish. 

So what should we expect in 2010? 

Every general manager makes mistakes. It doesn’t mean that they’re not good at what they do, it just means they’re human. Kenny Williams has made a mistake by not stepping up and doing what it takes to sign Johnny Damon .

This offseason Williams has shored up the bullpen, acquired veteran role players, and overall assembled a division champion quality team. However he’s neglected to fill a gaping hole at DH. It started by letting Thome go, and not wanting to bring him back because Ozzie didn’t feel he could get him meaningful at-bats—fine.

Newest starter to the Chicago White Sox rotation, Jake Peavy, turned down the opportunity to start Opening Day for the White Sox stating that this is "Mark's team," referring to starting pitcher Mark Buehrle.

''He didn't want anything to do with what he felt was getting in the way of the team, and he didn't want anything that he felt was remotely looked at as controversial or self-serving," White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper said.

"He called me up two or three days after SoxFest and said, 'Dude, I don't want to start. This is (Mark) Buehrle's team.' "

I mentioned yesterday the possibility of the White Sox signing A.J. Pierzynski to a one- or two-year deal to serve as a mentor/platoon partner for prospect Tyler Flowers.

Well, today, Pierzynski addressed that very question:

AJ Pierzynski has been the heart and soul of the White Sox since 2005, but will 2010 be his final season with the club? Perhaps:

''No matter what happens, I will never wish bad on the White Sox organization. They have been nothing but great to me, from [chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] to [general manager] Kenny [Williams] to [manager] Ozzie [Guillen].''

Pierzynski is in the final year of a three-year extension he signed in 2007. He's 33 years old.

110 years, nine playoff appearances, seven American League pennants, three World Series titles all wrapped into five performances.

The games are different, the stadiums are different, the uniforms are different, but the performances remain impressive.

These are the performances that, although may not have always brought a winner to the city of Chicago and, in one case, is a reminder of a black day for baseball, raised eyebrows.

It is easy to pick the stars among winners, but there are stars in those who are on the smaller end of the score as well.

The 2009 season didn't go exactly like the White Sox planned. After winning the AL Central in 2008, the Sox won just enough games to stay in the race in the first half.

Knowing GM Ken Williams as most fans do by now, he doesn't always make it easy to be a White Sox fan, but he does make it interesting. Another one of these moments could be happening as we speak. Within the past two days, MLB.com has reported that the White Sox could be the leaders for acquiring the services of Johnny Damon.

The White Sox have had very limited postseason performances and really the only great ones came in 2005.

Besides for Dewayne Wise's three-run home run game against the Rays in the 2008 ALDS, which Javier Vazquez promptly gave right back, and...I can't even find a good performance in the 2000 ALDS (the White Sox batted .185), the White Sox haven't had any great performances except for 2005.

I'm not going back to the 1906 World Series winner where the White Sox batted .198 and the Chicago Cubs batted .196.