The addition of Thome certainly did not hurt the Chisox
What hurt that team immensly was the LOSS of Aaron
Rowand. I've said this once before, he saved that pitching
staff countless runs with his play in CF. The pitchers were
decent, but with Rowand anchoring the defense in the OF
he made those pitchers a helluva lot better.
I think Mark Buerle in particular missed him the most. Damn
near ANYTHING hit in the Left center, or right CF gaps were
outs instead of doubles