Well, I won't lie. I'm incredibly optimistic about the 2011 season. I think most of the reasons are obvious, but I've also got that feeling that this is going to be a special season. But, the White Sox fan in me knows better than to expect the best, so here's a list of my worries for 2011. Debbie Downer time, so get the Kleenex ready.
1.) Alex Rios' 2010 wasn't as good as the final numbers indicate. If you take away his outstanding May, he was pretty mediocre. He also faded defensively, in my opinion, as the season wore on. Hopefully he can replicate his 2010, and his history suggests he should. But I worry that 2009 might not be the anomaly it looks like.
2.) Matt Thornton is one of the best relievers in the game, and I worry that his forearm discomfort this past season might be a red flag going forward. Forearm soreness in a pitcher is usually what comes before something much more serious in the elbow. If he goes down, that's a major blow to what is already our team's biggest question mark.
3.) Edwin Jackson looked like he had finally come into the ace form that people expected of him when he came to the Sox last season. However, he also faced pretty light competition. I worry less with him because he doesn't need to be an ace, and I do believe in his progress. But, I'm trying my best to temper any expectations.
4.) Adam Dunn brings a ton to this team, but it's totally possible there's going to be a fairly significant adjustment period to the new league and the new position (or lack thereof). We've seen plenty of guys have trouble changing leagues, and we've seen plenty of hitters have trouble shifting to DH. Hopefully Dunn doesn't suffer from a double whammy of the two, because that could get ugly. His tendencies to strike out a lot and hit for low average already leave him susceptible to unfair scorn from a statistically traditional fanbase. Any struggles that magnify those issues could make for a terrible first impression.
5.) Chris Sale was amazing last year, and there isn't much reason to expect him to be any different this season. I do worry, however, that he won't be taking anybody by surprise this time around. Players will adjust. I have no reason to think he can't adjust back, but we don't really have a track record of him to know for sure. We saw last season with Beckham that making adjustments at the major league level isn't easy, especially for guys that hadn't really faced much adversity in the past.
Those are probably my top 5 worries.
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