The Bernstein Brief: White Sox Should Find A Lefty Bat
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) The unceremonious dumping of left-hander John Danks said the White Sox aren't going to mess around with this promising start. They have long been a go-for-it team, and it's working this year.
So it's time to stay greedy, particularly in a season with so many teams ready to fall out of contention earlier than ever, possibly making talent available in the trade market well before the usual deadline frenzy. In most years, it would be a bullpen piece, but this time around it's another run-producer that the White Sox need, ideally a left-handed one.
Their team wOBA is only .303 right now, merely 21st in MLB. Their regular on-base percentage is .311, good for 19th. It was an obvious headwind going into the season, and it figures to stay that way as the starts of Brett Lawrie (.381 wOBA) and Melky Cabrera (.363 OBP) regress to respective career means.
A middle-of-the-order bat could help keep on-base problems from eroding this tantalizing opportunity, and breaking up the string of righties could help change the late-game strategies of opposing managers who are still mindful of handedness in their pitching decisions.
It's fun to think about optimizing a team for a race in the first week of May, but that's what 19-9 and a four-game AL Central lead will do for you.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.