Daniel's Huge American League Midseason Report Card

Chicago White Sox
Record: 42-40
Grade: C+

Season In Review (Grades)

Management: B-
Ozzie Guillen has had to deal with the loss of his team's best player, Carlos Quentin. Guillen rolled the dice on letting Scott Podsednik take over Quentin's spot in left field, and it worked out great. Other great decisions were the demotion of Jose Contreras to the minors and the call-up of Gordon Beckham.

Defense: D-
The White Sox are one of the worst fielding teams in the American League. Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye have been great in their positions defensively. Also, the players rotated in center and left have been good. However, Alexei Ramirez has already committed ten errors. Also, rookies Chris Getz and Gordon Beckham have combined for 11 errors, in limited play. AJ Pierzynski can't catch anybody stealing.

Starting Pitching: A-
The White Sox have the second best starting rotation (4.07 ERA) in the American League. They've also hurled 42 quality starts and have a 1.29 WHIP. All-Star Mark Buehrle (8-2, 3.09 ERA) has been dominant. John Danks (7-6, 3.76 ERA) and Gavin Floyd (6-6, 4.33 ERA) started off slow, but have found their form. Jose Contreras (3-7, 4.84 ERA) was garbage, demoted, and has been dominant since returning. Something has to be done with the fifth spot as Clayton Richard (3-2, 4.88 ERA) is inconsistent. We'll see what happens when Bartolo Colon comes off the DL or if Kenny Williams will make some moves at the trade deadline.

Bullpen: B+
The bullpen started off the season great, but has cooled down since. They have a collective 3.84 ERA. Octavio Dotel (10 H, 3.34 ERA), Matt Thorton (12 H, 2.76 ERA), Scott Linebrink (2.05 ERA), and DJ Carrasco (3.18) have all been reliable and consistent. Jimmy Gobble (7.50 ERA) has been awful, but not used in big situations. Bobby Jenks has been his reliable self (19 saves, 3.14 ERA).

Offense: C-
The offense hasn't been as strong as usual. Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye continue to produce, each with 50+ RBI. There's two .300+ batters in Scott Podsednik (the godsend of the team) and AJ Pierzynski. Alexei Ramirez started off slow, but has got his average up and is producing while Gordon Beckham is starting to find his stroke. There's no offense coming from the center field position (Brian Anderson), while Jim Thome can get on base, but not hit for average. The bench is not strong at all in Jayson Nix, Josh Fields, Ramon Castro, and DeWayne Wise.

Team Thoughts

Chicago's most valuable player has been Scott Podsednik. When Carlos Quentin when down, the season was over. However, Pods came over after being cut by Colorado. All he has done is been one of the best leadoff hitters in the AL and come up in clutch situations all the time.

Chicago's least valuable player has been Josh Fields. Fields was relegated to the bench due to his poor play. Fields only batted .230 with 26 RBI and was among the league leaders in strikeouts, before being benched. He also only batted .219 with runners in scoring position.

Chicago's best moment came on June 27. The White Sox were playing their cross-town rivals, the Cubs. After blowing the lead three times, the game was tied going into the bottom of the ninth. However, with two outs and runners on, Gordon Beckham hit a deep single to drive in a run and win the game.

Chicago's worst moment came on May 21. After beating up on the Twins in the two previous games, the White Sox decided not to show up to this game. Not only did Jake Peavy reject a trade on this day, the White Sox gave up 20 runs on 20 hits to the Twins, while only managing to score one run. It was an embarrassing blowout.

Power Rankings

Chicago's highest ranking was 9.
Chicago's lowest ranking was 24.
Chicago's average ranking is 17.08.

Playoff Potential

The White Sox could make the playoffs, and I may be underrating their potential here. They will be getting back Carlos Quentin, and the pitching's there. It's really a question of defense and clutch hitting.

Cleveland Indians
Record: 33-50
Grade: D-

Season In Review (Grades)

Management: D-
What can Eric Wedge do? His pitching staff is too depleted. He's getting blamed too much for something he can't control. We know he's a great manager who has been successful in the past, and he got a vote of confidence that his job will be secure for the rest of the year. Wedge is trying to do what he can, as he has used 76 different lineups in the first 81 games, but nothing's working.

Defense: B+
Cleveland is one of the better defensive teams in the American League, having only committed 46 errors. Every position has been consistent, except shortstop and third which has accounted for half the errors (23). However, eight of those belong to Mark DeRosa, who is now gone. The outfield has been great, while Victor Martinez has only caught 5-of-40 stealing.

Staring Pitching: F
You have Cliff Lee... and then there's everybody else. The Indians have the worst rotation in the American League (5.48 ERA, .294 batting average against, 1.56 WHIP). Cliff Lee (4-8, 3.45 ERA) has been mostly consistent, and his record is deceptive. Carl Pavano (7-7, 5.36 ERA) has had good moments and bad moments, but more of the latter. David Huff (4-3, 6.06 ERA), Jeremy Sowers (1-6, 6.27 ERA), and Tomo Ohka (0-2, 6.35) have all been unreliable garbage. They've had problems as Fausto Carmona is in the minors and Anthony Reyes is on the disabled list. Aaron Laffey is coming back soon, but will he be put in the bullpen?

Bullpen: F
The bullpen is second worst in the American League with a 4.98 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, and 13 blown saves. The Tribe got Chris Perez (5.33 ERA) from the Cardinals and he hasn't looked sharp. Neither have Joe Smith (4.00 ERA) or Rafael Perez (8.88 ERA, 2.17 WHIP). Winston Abreu might have some promise, as does Tony Sipp (2.92 ERA). Kerry Wood has not been a reliable closer (4 blown saves, 5.08 ERA).

Offense: B-
The offense actually hasn't been that bad, but it hasn't been able to overcome the deficiencies of the pitching staff. They have Victor Martinez and Shin-Soo Choo, who are both batting .300+ and have 50+ RBI. There's also the .300+ reliable bat of Asdrubal Cabrera. Grady Sizemore hasn't been able to overcome his injuries yet and Travis Hafner isn't driving in enough runs. Ryan Garko and Jhonny Peralta haven't had good years at all. They also have a very weak bench in Jamey Carroll and Kelly Shoppach.

Team Thoughts

Cleveland's most valuable player has been Shin-Soo Choo. Not only does he have a .406 on-base percentage, he's also batting .301 with 12 home runs and 53 RBI. He also has a rocket arm and is clutch. Choo is batting .333 with runners in scoring position and .327 with runners in scoring position and two outs.

Cleveland's least valuable player has been Jhonny Peralta. His numbers are down all across the board. He's only batting .254 with five home runs and 35 RBI. He's also only batting .268 when there's runners in scoring position. Even his strikeouts numbers are up, in reduced playing time.

Cleveland's best moment came on May 25. The Indians were facing the Rays, and they were down 10-4 going into the bottom of the ninth. However, the Tribe batted around the order and scored seven runs, capped off by a Victor Martinez walkoff, to take the game 11-10.

Cleveland's worst moment came on June 20. Kerry Wood blew a save the game before and the Indians came from behind to take the lead in the thirteenth. Kerry Wood came in to secure the victory, but gave up the tying run on a single and the winning run on a blown pitch. It was Cleveland's fifth straight loss.

Power Rankings

Cleveland's highest ranking was 24.
Cleveland's lowest ranking was 30.
Cleveland's average ranking is 27.69.

Playoff Potential

I don't want to completely discount the Indians out, yet. They likely won't make the playoffs, but they do play in a weak division and they finished as the strongest team in baseball last year.

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