A Decade Under The Influence: A Chicago White Sox Anti-All Star Team

During the winter you tend to see a rather large amount of SBN sites throw up Top 100 (insert team name here) of All Time lists.  This seemed like quite the tall task, so I decided to go a different route with it.  I have assembled an Anti-All Star team for the Chicago White Sox, using only players from the 2000-2009 seasons.  For a player to be eligible for a spot on the team, they must have played the lion's share of the team's total innings at said position that year.  Understand?  Good.  This team is probably not for those with weak stomachs or a predisposition to PTSD.  Without further ado, I give you the worst starting position players the Pale Hose had to offer in the 00's.

C- Ben Davis from 2004: Somehow Ben Davis managed to lead the team in innings caught even though he joined the White Sox on June 27.  The lesser half of the Freddy Garcia trade, Davis managed to be worth 0.1 WAR in his 54 games.  He hit .231/.276/.400 with 6 homeruns, 9 walks, and 40 strikeouts.  Davis would never play in the majors again and now pitches for the Camden River Sharks of the Atlantic League.  Close competition: Sandy Alomar Jr from 2001 and Mark Johnson from 2002.

1B- Paul Konerko from 2003: Paul Konerko won his spot on the team by default, as no player has recorded more time at first base in a season than him since before he joined the team in 1999.  It also wan't hard to pick which season of his would earn the title.  In his age 27 season, usually a player's peak season, Konerko managed to have his worst.  Maybe it was his participation in the 2002 Home Run Derby that caused him to have such a terrible first half the next season (.197/.267/.300).  His BABIP was .059 lower than his career norm despite a respectable 22.9% LD%.  Hindsight allows us to see his 2003 season for the fluke that it was, but it was one hell of a fluke.

2B- D'Angelo Jimenez from 2003: Poor D'Angelo Jimenez.   His 2003 season wasn't even actually that bad (.255/..322/.410), but life isn't easy when you are facing off against guys like Ray Durham, Tadahito Iguchi, and Alexei Ramirez.  Jimenez hit 7 homeruns in his half-season with the White Sox that year before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Scott Dunn, a pitcher who would never play for Chicago but would turn into Scott Schoeneweis.  Close competition: Tadahito Iguchi from 2007.

SS- Juan Uribe from 2007:  Juan Uribe's 2007 was bad enough that the team would trade Jon Garland for Orlando Cabrera during the offseason and put Juan Uribe on waivers.  Uribe hit .234/.284/.394 despite his 20 homeruns.  He also struck out 112 times compared to a meager 34 walks.  Even his usually stellar defense slipped during the season, completely negating his worth.  The season was bad enough to somehow beat out two seasons of Royce Clayton.  Close competition: Juan Uribe from 2006.

3B- Josh Fields from 2007: This one might seem a little weird, but hear me out.  Yes, he did manage to hit 23 homeruns and finish seventh in the AL RotY voting.  But his horrific .308 OBP, bad defense, and 0.28 BB/K wipe those big flies out.  Two seasons later, the former OSU quarterback would be shipped off to the Kansas City Royals along with Chris Getz  for Mark Teahen.  It's sad when a career year happens at age 24, but it looks like that is exactly what happened to the 18th overall pick from the 2004 draft.  Close competition: Herbert Perry from 2001 and Joe Crede from 2004.

LF- Scott Podsednik from 2006: From a World Series hero to reviled leadoff hitter all in the span of one year.  Podsednik would hit .261/.330/.353 and lead the league in times caught stealing with 19.  He played average, if not maddening, defense.  He winds up taking this position because Carlos Lee and Carlos Quentin were much better hitters, despite their defensive shortcomings.  Close Competition: Carlos Quentin from 2009.

CF- Nick Swisher from 2008: It wouldn't be an Anti-All Star team without Mr. Awesome himself making an appearence.  Swisher had the only below average season of his career on the South Side, hitting .219/.332/.410 with bad defense.  Swish fell apart in the second half and as soon as hit bat stopped producing, his outgoing personality grew tiresome rapidly in the clubhouse and the media.  This caused the terrible trade to the New York Yankees for Wilson Betemit, Jeff Marquez, and Jhonny Nunez.  Close competition: Brian Anderson in 2006 and Jerry Owens in 2007.

RF- Jermaine Dye from 2009: Yet another fallen hero in the outfield.  In what is beginning to look like his final season, age and injuries finally caught up with Jermaine Dye.  The wheels completely fell off in the second half, as he somehow hit an abysmal .179/.293/.297.  When you combine that with his historically bad defense and you get a potentially career ending season.  The horrible defense and complete drop off a cliff forced me to choose him over the hated Joe Borchard.

DH- Carl Everett from 2005: Surprised to see a player from the World Series Championship team make the list?  I was too at first.  But think about who his competition is: Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, and Jose Canseco.  Two Hall of Famers and a Hall of Very Gooder.  Jurassic Carl's .745 OPS was the lowest mark of all the DHs the White Sox employed that decade.  

Thanks for following me in this fairly pointless exercise and feel free to argue with my choices/belittle me in the comments.