It's been a while since I chimed in with my thoughts on various White Sox related topics. So here's what's on my mind tonight...
- Maybe we should blame Joey Cora? -- I still believe that Ozzie Guillen is a better than average manager. He handles the pitching staff about as well as any manager in baseball, provides the loosest clubhouse in baseball, and is always deflecting blame from his players. But he's missed a number of seemingly obvious calls in the late inning of the last few games. First there were the two first-pitch bunts by Josh Fields with Owens on first and a Borowski/Martinez battery. Then Saturday, it was failing to pinch hit for Darin F. Erstad with the Sox trailing by a run with 2-out in the 9th inning and Paul Konerko (presumably) available to pinch hit.
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Pods on the waiver wire -- While Kenny is looking for a "quality prospect" and some have speculated that the Sox are after Sean Gallagher or Geovanny Soto -- You can never have too many guys named Gio (or in the case, Geo) -- neither of whom is likely to pass through waivers, I feel that if the Sox aren't going to bring back Pods next season, (Dear God, please!) they should take whatever interesting low-A-ball reliever the Cubs are offering. It's better than nothing, and saves $800K off the '07 books. When you're moving the start times for a measly $500K, you might as well unload redundant oft-injured speedsters for whatever you can get.
It is nice to dream that the Cubs would be desperate enough to part with a piece that could prove useful in '08 though, be it Soto, Gallager, Matt Murton, or Ronny Cedeno.
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Six-man rotation -- When the first reports came out about the Sox thinking about a 6-man rotation, I thought it sounded just like Ozzie's idea to move Tadahito Iguchi down in the order -- "Hey, let's assure that our most talented players have less of an impact!" -- But I have to admit that I've come around to the idea of keeping some mileage off both John Danks and Jose Contreras' arms while simultaneously giving Gavin Floyd an extended look. With some careful planning, the Sox could have each player on a cycle two times through the rotation then in the bullpen while they sit out a turn. This 2-on-1-off system could be the best for all parties involved.
It would give Jose Contreras some much needed time off. If would give the Sox some more time to view Gavin Floyd, (not that Ozzie or I want to see any more) and more importantly Floyd some more time with Don Cooper. And the Sox would further preserve John Danks from throwing well over his career high in innings pitched.
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Once upon a time, there was a rookie third baseman.
Year Age | AB 2B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG Crede 2002 24 | 200 10 12 35 8 40 .285 .311 .515 Fields 2007 24 | 215 10 12 39 17 72 .251 .309 .465I remember Crede hitting a HR at the 2003 home opener, which caused me to turn to my friend and proclaim that he was going to have an .850+ OPS season. Crede hit .252/.303/.454 over his next three seasons. Oops!
I'm constantly struggling with what I think of Josh Fields. Obviously, he's loaded with talent; talent that is still very raw. That talent and athleticism lets my mind wander to 35+ HR seasons with a .350+ OBP and above average defense at third. But then I see him pop up an 84MPH hanging slider as he did against Miguel Bautista, or routinely swing through 88MPH fastballs over the plate, and I have to give pause the to possibility that he might never improve, or worse, collapse altogether. I tell myself that he'll probably fall somewhere in the middle, which is probably the most likely scenario, which makes me feel a little better. But then Jerry Owens comes to the plate.