34-year old lefty swinging A.J. Pierzynski is back behind the plate as the White Sox starter for 2011. He played in 128 games for the White Sox last season and he was 128 of 474 (.270 avg, .688 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 9 homers, 56 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. I think Pierzynski is going to hit back to his career norms of .284 with a .748 OPS in his 13 years in the show. Pierzynski made 5 errors and he only had 3 passed balls last season as he is still a good receiver. He can’t throw anymore though as he only threw 16 of 102 (15.7%) runners trying to steal on him last year. White Sox’ pitchers had a 3.95 ERA with him behind the plate as they like throwing to him. Pierzynski will be an asset again for the Pale Hose in 2011.

34-year old righty swinging Ramon Castro can spell Pierzynski against tough lefty starting pitchers. Castro played in 37 games for the White Sox last season and he was 32 of 115 (.278 avg, .832 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 8 homers, 21 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Castro has some of the best pure power of any hitter on the White Sox. Castro only made 1 error and he only had 1 passed ball last season in 34 games behind the plate. He threw out 6 of 32 (18.8%) baserunners trying to steal against him last season and White Sox’ pitchers had a 4.48 ERA with him behind the plate. Castro has turned himself into one of the better backup catchers in the minors and he works good in tandem with A.J. Pierzynski.

25-year old righty swinging Tyler Flowers will likely be the starting catcher in AAA for the Pale Hose. He will be the first catcher called up to the Pale Hose if the need arises at catcher. The former top prospect had a rough year in 2010. He played in 100 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 76 of 346 (.220 avg, .768 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 16 homers, 53 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Flowers also struggled a bit in his brief time with the White Sox. Flowers played in 8 games for the White Sox last season and he was 1 of 11 (.091 avg, .424 OPS) with 2 runs scored. He didn’t make any errors or have any passed balls in 7 games with the White Sox last season. He threw out 1 of 3 (33.3%) runners trying to steal on him last season and White Sox’ pitchers had a 4.26 ERA with him behind the plate. Flowers is going to have to get his act together this season if he wants to get back into the White Sox’ future plans.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE WHITE SOX CATCHERS IN 2011: B

The White Sox have claimed 28-year old righty reliever/starter Philip Humber off waivers from the Oakland A’s. Humber pitched in 8 games (1 start) for the Royals last season and he was 2-1 with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. He has now pitched in 26 games (2 starts) in parts of five years in the majors and he is 2-1 with a 5.26 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. Humber will get a shot to win a job in long relief for the White Sox this spring.

The White Sox have signed 31-year old righty reliever Josh Kinney to a minor league deal. Kinney pitched in 56 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball last season for the Cardinals and he was 3-4 with 17 saves, a 1.80 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. He only gave up 42 hits while walking only 17 batters in 60 innings in the minors last season which is pretty darn impressive. Kinney last pitched in the majors in 2009 with the Cardinals. He has pitched in 45 games (0 starts) in his three years in the majors and he is 1-0 with a 4.56 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. I like this signing for the Pale Hose and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Kinney working in middle relief for them in 2011.

The White Sox have signed 25-year old righty reliever Shane Lindsay to a minor league deal. Lindsay pitched in 33 games (1 start) in AA+AAA-ball last season and he was 1-2 with 1 save, a 5.80 ERA and a 2.11 WHIP. He has now pitched in 119 games (42 starts) in his first six years in the minors and he is 19-14 with 2 saves, a 3.65 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. Lindsay has a good arm and the White Sox will give him a shot to win a spot in the pen next spring.

The Chicago White Sox have signed 33-year old lefty reliever Will Ohman to a 2-year, $4 million dollar deal. Ohman pitched in 68 games (0 starts) for the Orioles & Marlins last season and he was 0-2 with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. Ohman has now pitched in 392 games (0 starts) in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 11-11 with 3 saves, a 4.09 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. With Matt Thornton, Chris Sale and Will Ohman give the White Sox bullpen three outstanding lefty arms in 2011.