The 2008 White Sox Year in a Nutshell

Stars are Born

The 2008 year started out with mixed results where the White Sox seemed to tread water. What they didn't realize were the few pleasant surprises they had in their lineups and in the pitching department. The 2008 off season brought forth the acquisitions of Carlos Quinton and Alexei Ramirez in what were considered below the radar trades by Kenny Williams. The moves at the time seemed to take on a moderate level of ridicule by fans as other competitive teams in the division were striking big deals such the Tigers trading for Cabrera and the Angels outbidding the Sox for Torii Hunter. Newcomers Quinton and Ramirez more than proved themselves to fans and peers by midseason and made Williams look like a genius.

Throwing brother under the Bus

The 2008 White Sox season did hit some rough patches outside of the occasional rants by manager Ozzie Guillen. One notable club house eye opener was created from the hired gun, Orlando Cabrera. Mr. Cabrera drew the ire and disrespect of the club house after placing dugout calls to the official scorer in order to clear his name of any assessed errors, thus redirecting such errors on teammates. Such whining did a good job of alienating himself from his peers in the dugout. Don't expect him back in 2009.

Rotation

Who would have thought Gavin Floyd and John Danks would put up the kind of season they had in 2008? The two starters in the back end of the rotation had a respectable 29 - 17 record for the year. Both hurlers showed they have what it takes to pitch in the big leagues and proved themselves to easily handle the 4^th and 5^th spots. The two young guns managed to out pitch the rest of the staff, maybe with the exception of left hander Mark Buehrle who finished very strong with the team.

Bolstered Bullpen