Chicago White Sox Future: Taking a Guess at Kenny's Three-Year Board, Part Two

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

In the first part of this article, I covered what the Sox are likely to do with their position players over the next few years. In Part Two, it's the pitching's turn.

I'll be using a different format since the roles of young pitchers aren't necessarily set in stone and they could easily go through multiple starters.

Likely to be in the rotation—John Danks, Gavin Floyd, and Mark Buehrle

I personally don't see these guys going anywhere for the foreseeable future, though one never knows with the cost of high-end pitching.

Barring a trade, Danks and Floyd should both be in the Sox rotation in 2012. Floyd signed a four year extension this offseason that included a club option for 2013, and 2012 is the last year of arbitration for Danks.

After 2012 will be another story as both could be due for large extensions. The Sox will probably do everything they can to keep them, especially the way they've pitched.

That said, in the past the team has also been hesitant to give long term deals to starting pitchers. It's conceivable that both could price their way out of Chicago depending on what other salary commitments they have.

Buehrle's contract is up after 2011, but he was relatively easy to re-sign on his last extension, even giving the Sox a hometown discount. He will be 33 in 2012, but he doesn't rely on his stuff to get outs, which should allow him to be productive well into his thirties.

Buehrle is a team and fan favorite, so unless their team costs skyrocket he will probably be back.

Strong candidates to be in the rotation—Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda

Both of these guys are young and talented, but the Sox already tried to trade them once in the failed Jake Peavy trade. Still, young pitching is in high demand, so they will probably hang around unless the Sox can acquire an impact player. Both are hard-throwing lefties with questionable off-speed pitches.

Poreda relies heavily on his fastball at the moment, which can hit the mid-90s on the radar gun with good sink. He's still refining his slider and changeup, which is why he's still in the bullpen.

Richard regularly works in the low-90s and also has a slider and changeup. Right now he is far more effective against lefties (.205 batting average against) than righties (.308 batting average against). He uses his slider effectively against lefties, but chooses to use his changeup, which need work, more against righties.

If they fail to win a rotation spot long-term, both could end up being their primary lefty out of the bullpen.

High-ceiling prospects—Dan Hudson, Dexter Carter, and Charlie Shirek

None of these guys are widely regarded as can't-miss prospects at the moment, but all of them have a good combination of talent and production.

Hudson is probably the most promising at the moment. The former fifth round pick out of Old Dominion was recently promoted to AA after dominating at the lower levels.

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