Building a Champion: Joe Crede

by The Cheat on Oct 29, 2005 1:22 PM CDT in White Sox News

Part of a series

It was suggested that I start off with Joe Crede, because he is the Sox player who has been in the organization the longest. While that's not true, Frank has been around since the first Bush administration, I liked the idea. So from here on in, I'm going to go by date each player joined the organization.

Crede was drafted in the 5th round out of Fatima High School in Westphalia, Missouri in 1996. He was originally drafted as a shortstop. He moved to third to make room for the White Sox shortstop of the future, Jason Dellaero, who was getting the reps at short while the two shared the same teams in the minors. During this season's World Series run, Crede credited Dellaero for teaching him his defensive style. -- In 1998 and 2000, Crede won Carolina and Southern League MVP awards, respectively. The season in between those he was hampered by an injury (foot or ankle, as I recall). From 1998 to 2002 Crede fluctuated between somewhere in the bottom half of BA's top 100 prospects to as high as one of the top 10 prospects in all of baseball.

The 2000 AL Central Division champion White Sox featured a third base by committee. Herbert Perry (.308/.356/.483) received most of the playing time, but Paul Konerko (7 games, .298/.363/.481), Tony Graffanino (12 games, .270/.363/.358), and Greg Norton (47 games, 244/.333/.373) all received playing time there. The 2001 team saw Perry, Graffanino, and Jose Valentin splitting duties. The Sox were reluctant to shop for a "real" third baseman because they had Crede waiting in the wings. Valentin was again the everyday third baseman in 2002 until the Sox finally grew tired of Royce Clayton. Royce 'the choice' was benched, Valentin moved back to his natural shortstop, and Crede was given the starting job. In those final 2+ months, Crede showed why he was considered a great prospect, batting .285/.311/.515 with 12 HR in just 200 ABs.

The next two seasons would not be so kind to Crede. He batted just .261/.308/.433 and .239/.299/.418 while playing what I considered average defense. In 2005, however, I thought he played a gold glove caliber defense for much of the year, making his low OBP somewhat bearable.

Joe reaches his first year of arbitration eligibility this off-season. The Sox don't like to take their players to arbitration, so look for him to get a 1 year deal. If he can prove to be more consistent with the bat in 2006, while still flashing gold glove leather, he will get his long term deal after next season.

* * * * *

2005 Season Highlights: No batting gloves HR (I love the announcers call on this one) | Indians walkoff (JOOOOEEE CREDE! This one may have saved the season)

2005 Post Season Highlights: Game 2 ALCS walkoff | Game 5 ALCS game winner | World Series Game 1: HR & defense

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Comments

Crede

I meant he was with the organization the longest of the 25 man roster. Something interesting about Crede is his splits this year, his OPS month by month.

April: .821
May: .496
June .871
July .893
August .320
September 1.178

AIM: shaftr01

blog

by shaftr on Oct 29, 2005 1:48 PM CDT reply actions

yeah

That's why I said if he can be more consistent. If he can pull those terrible months up to say a Christian Guzman level of ineptitude, He'll be a solid .800+ OPS.

AIM: SouthSideCheat

by The Cheat on Oct 29, 2005 2:05 PM CDT up reply actions

I think its funny

he didnt just try to rip you in a comment he saved it for the first paragraph of a post.

Well done cheat. Very funny.(It's always funny to rip your friends)

The Doctor has spoken

by drzorba on Oct 30, 2005 2:39 AM CDT up reply actions

That september

was after his DL stint right?

As I recall Cheat had a post on how Crede spend his time looking at tape and fixing his swing.

There is the possibility that that will be the new Joe.

Plus at the beginning of the year I don't think his defence was all that great, he commited a few errors that I saw that were not credited to him(he would miss tags at third that were in time but he didn't know where he was so he missed them)

The Doctor has spoken

by drzorba on Oct 30, 2005 2:46 AM CDT up reply actions

wow

I never realized how clutch crede really was this season......

AIM: JoeCoolMan24 www.2ksports.com/forums Thats where i spend most of my day

by JoeCoolMan24 on Oct 29, 2005 11:56 PM CDT reply actions

Scott Podsednik

was on SNL? Damn i missed it. All i saw was, "And thanks to Scott Podsednik", and they showed him. DAMN! He is like my favorite player. Anyone know where i can see what he was in or anything?

AIM: JoeCoolMan24 www.2ksports.com/forums Thats where i spend most of my day

by JoeCoolMan24 on Oct 30, 2005 12:02 AM CDT reply actions

He was on Weekend Update

Amy Poehler and Tina Fey introduced him, talked up the Sox and talked about how they both lived in Chicago and were huge White Sox fans. Pods asked where they had lived. "Evanston." "Wrigleyville." Pods said that those places usually housed yuppies and Cub fans. They denied it. They tried to establish their cred by mentioning Moo & Oink, Celozzi-Ettleson, etc. Long story short, Fey finally admitted being a Cub fan and Poehler a Red Sox fan. Pods said it was ok, the victory was for all of Chicagoland. Fey: Even Skokie? Pods: Yes, even Skokie. Fey: Wilmettte? Pods: Yes, Wilmette. Fey: Schaumburg? Pods: No, not Schaumburg. It was pretty amusing. I'm sure they will have the transcript here http://snltranscripts.jt.org/ in due time. For what it's worth.

by the wolf on Oct 30, 2005 9:59 AM CST up reply actions

Thanks

I want to check that out

AIM: JoeCoolMan24 www.2ksports.com/forums Thats where i spend most of my day

by JoeCoolMan24 on Oct 30, 2005 1:14 PM CST up reply actions

Scottie's as good a comedian

as he is a power hitter

I still don't think they have enough hitting to win in the playoffs

by dyspeptic on Nov 1, 2005 1:07 PM CST up reply actions

Crede and Boras

I think the one-year signing idea for Crede is a good one, but I don't know if it will be doable. I understand that Boras is his agent. That will make reasonable negotiation difficult, to say the least.

by kevin57 on Oct 30, 2005 11:16 AM CST reply actions

No Problem

Arbitration is an ugly process where the team and the Agent submit a fuigure they think the with an arbitor picking on or the other. -- There is no in between. -- The Sox, in general, skip the middle man, and just meet demands. Otherwise they would be forced to list all sorts of reasons why they don't think player X is worth the $$. Those are words that can be used against them down the line, especially at free agency.

The player has no real leverage in the situation. If they submit an outrageous figure, the Sox will take them to arb, and the Sox will win. -- Your arbitration award is based on what similar players, with the same number of years of service time, have earned. They also mainly use stats from the last 2 seasons. Crede's case won't be helped much by those.

AIM: SouthSideCheat

by The Cheat on Oct 30, 2005 12:58 PM CST up reply actions

brotherhood

What's amazing is that, knowing what I know now about Rowand/AJ/Crede, is some of their reactions to what Joe did. After the bomb against the Tribe in September Rowand is nearly tackling AJ as the other teammates mob Crede. Can't imagine what they're saying there.

Also those three were either on base or at the plate in the game- (and series-) winning chopper up the middle in game 5. Those two were second only to Konerko in greeting Crede after his game-winning double in game 2 of the ALCS.

by Not Brian Crawford on Oct 31, 2005 11:55 PM CST reply actions