Carlos Quentin’s Season is Twenty Percent Over

Think about the Chicago White Sox for a second. What comes to mind? If you’re like me, probably images of a lot of home runs. As in, a LOT of home runs. Looking at their roster and where they play half their season, it’s probably not unreasonable to have them down for 200 home runs.

If that number is to be believed, we best prepare ourselves for an ugly summer.

Ken "The Hawk" HarrelsonAs I write this, the Sox have already knocked 19 20 out of American League ballparks, with a mighty seven of those belonging to Carlos Quentin alone. By itself, this is awesome; if a team’s going to have one dimension to their attack, it’s at least comforting when they can exploit that dimension to the fullest. But if ten percent of the team’s useful offense went into winning seven of 13 against the likes of the Detroit Tigers and (presumably) Baltimore Orioles, then what?

Think then about someone like Carlos Quentin and his MLB-best seven homers, or Hawkeroo Hero Nick “Fifteen Best Players In The Game” Markakis’ 18 RBI in 14 games. Those two are off to great starts and each a fine baseball player in many respects, but all things considered those guys are done. Quentin can only hit fewer home runs from here on out; Markakis can only drive in fewer runs per game.

So if the bombs are the Sox’ weapon of choice, and they’re good for another solid 200, consider then that the Sox are ten percent of the way to wherever they’re going. Seventy wins? Eighty? Does it really matter as long as the Twins keep folding under the pressure of 8-0 massacres?

None of this is to say the Sox will only win when they hit home runs, nor should it suggest Carlos Quentin is this year’s 2006 Chris Shelton. But if the fireworks are going to be the main ingredient to whatever success this year’s team has ahead of it, and so much of them are already out of their collective system, how much do we really have to look forward to?

4 thoughts on “Carlos Quentin’s Season is Twenty Percent Over”

  1. To quote Val Kilmer from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang…who taught you math?

    You’re using Quentin’s injury-shortened 2008 HR total as a set total he will accumulate this year. What if he knocks out 50-60, and what he’s done so far this season IS his pace?

    I think what you’re TRYING to say here is that we only have a small sample size to judge the Sox’s success with, and that it was fluky. I’m just not sure how you’re trying to get that point across. There really isn’t a great amount of evidence suggesting one way or another that THINGS MUST CHANGE. Quentin’s been hot, but not impossibly hot.

    Am I missing something here?

  2. I see what he’s saying. If you average out what the Sox are most likely capable of, we’re only capable of only so many home runs and it’s painfully obvious that is the only way we can win this year. So if we’re going yard so much NOW, what happens LATER? We’ll be out of bullets by August. I don’t agree fully–I think Chris Getz, Josh Fields and Alexy Ramirez can shake that lineup up more than the poster gives them credit for–but it’s a valid question to ask. I think we’ll learn more about this team over the weekend when they face Doc and Romero.

  3. it’s early. some games you win by a million, some you win by one. hell, look at the indians,twins, etc. and 8 wins might very well be 10% of all we need to make the playoffs!!

  4. At least when Hawk gushes about Markakis I know who he’s talking about. Stone seems to be all Hawk needed to endlessly bring up every random player he ever saw play from the 60’s. You’re guaranteed to hear about a dozen or so random dudes every game, who were the best he ever saw a X.

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