CHICAGO (670 The Score) – With a revamped roster, White Sox general manager Chris Getz expects his team to be more competitive than the club that went 61-101 last season.
Getz, who’s entering his first full season in charge, certainly knows he and manager Pedro Grifol have plenty of work to do to turn the White Sox around, but they liked what they saw in spring training.
"It's an exciting time for Sox fans and myself," Getz said Wednesday as the White Sox gathered for a workout at Guaranteed Rate Field a day before their opener against the Tigers. "The first time for me as GM on Opening Day saw a culmination of the offseason plan and spring training objectives. We are really happy with Pedro and his staff and what they were able to accomplish in that seven-week window. Now getting to the Opening Day where the games mean something is another level of excitement.”
The White Sox are projected to be one of the worst teams in baseball, but Getz believes they can find more success with a new brand of baseball, which has included a focus on better defense and fundamentals.
“We have some interesting and exciting arms in the rotation and relievers that are going to put us in a good position to win ballgames,” Getz said. “Then you look at our offensive potential if we can get these players to be who we think they are. We need them to post regularly and play 140-plus games each. If we do, I think we will win more games than people believe we can. We have raised the IQ of this team. We will smartly run the bases and take the extra base. The defense as we planned should be better, putting the pitchers in a better place. Guys will be able to attack the hitting zone because they will feel more comfortable with the defense behind them. From top to bottom, I believe we can beat any club on any night.”
As you might expect, Getz wouldn’t put a number on how many wins he believes the White Sox could earn.
“It will take some time to see what this team is capable of doing,” Getz said. “It will take more than the 26 men we are starting with. It will take a full roster as we watch minor league players continue to progress. Younger players will be knocking on the door of the big leagues. I am very curious to watch this team compete. I think fans should be as well.
“We want to play a cleaner style of baseball that can give you nine-plus innings of focus each game. They need to understand how to execute and be in the right position defensively, throwing the right pitches at the right time, throwing the baseball to the right base. I do feel we have a group that understands that and grasps that and can execute those fundamentals daily. They are a group who enjoys playing together. They are very capable of going out there regularly and competing with any team that we are faced with that night.”
Getz came away from Cactus League play “impressed” with the White Sox’s pitching staff, which is a storyline of intrigue as all five members of the rotation are new this season. Left-hander Garrett Crochet, who surprisingly got tabbed to start on Opening Day, will be an early topic of conversation.
Crochet has never made a start in the big leagues and has logged just 73 innings in three MLB seasons, but he’ll immediately step into a bigger role.
“We expect Garrett to be more than just an opener,” Getz said. “An opener is a one- or perhaps two-inning guy. We expect him to work deeper into games. The obvious thing to point to is he has never started in the big leagues. We will adjust his schedule accordingly. We will go out tomorrow and try to win that ballgame regardless of how many innings he throws. The expectation is for him to continue to work deeper into games.”
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine .
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