(670 The Score) A hero on the 2005 White Sox's World Series championship team, former big league catcher A.J. Pierzynski now watches the club from a fan's perspective.
That’s why Pierzynski has been frustrated by the White Sox's troubling start to the new season. They haven't won a series yet and are 7-12 after dropping two out of three at home to the Phillies in recent days. For Pierzynski, the White Sox's struggles can be largely traced to roster construction.
“I feel it because I watch every game,” Pierzynski told the Mully & Haugh Show on Thursday. “I’m right there with you rooting for them and grinding through these games. I don’t know. I mean, I guess you can blame flawed roster construction if you want. I mean, that was the thing last year -- everybody said you have too many of the same guy, meaning (Jose) Abreu, (Andrew) Vaughn, (Gavin) Sheets, you can probably throw Eloy (Jimenez) in there too as far as DH, first basemen, maybe corner outfielder types. Then, you lose Abreu, who was the one guy you played every day, you lose him, and everybody said he was the leader in the clubhouse. I don’t know that because I wasn’t there.
“You’re thinking, OK, we’ll move Vaughn to first and we can use Sheets at first and DH when Andrew needs a day off or whatever, then you can move Eloy to DH. Well, he’s been hurt and hasn’t hit a home run yet. You’re thinking, 'OK, where are we at?' Then (Yoan) Moncada goes down again with a back and they were like, ‘He’ll be out a couple days’ and now he’s been out two weeks. It’s like, man, where does it stop?
“The pitching I thought was going to be a strength of this team. Especially, I thought the bullpen would be better. The starters – Lance (Lynn) hasn’t gotten off to a great start. Dylan (Cease) has been good. Lucas (Giolito) has been good. (Mike) Clevinger had a good first start and then has kind of been a little bit downhill from then. (Michael) Kopech had that terrible first start.
“It’s just puzzling when you look at it. Heck, going into this year, I thought they had a chance to be a wild-card team – a very good chance, because I thought they got better. They won 81 last year and I thought they got better, because these guys would stay on the field, I thought the pitching staff would be healthier. But it’s just not materializing.
“I don’t know what these guys are about. But man, from the outside looking in, it is very frustrating.”
Pierzynski currently hosts a show on the Foul Territory network.
The White Sox open up a three-game series Friday at the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
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