[St. Louis Cardinals free agent- to-be David Eckstein (right) is becoming target No. 1 on the Sox' offseason wish list. He would give them a leadoff hitter with a career .349 on-base percentage and a sure-handed shortstop. Plus, he and Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski worked together last offseason in a feud for TNA Wrestling. Team Eckstein won.
What this team is really lacking is more players who disguise their lack of talent under a layer of grit and 5 o'clock shadow.
I was about to make a post about Eckstein, but since Blondie drew faster, I'll just add the other parts in the end of this post! (wiz)
In other news,
- Robothal re-iterates his claim that Torii Hunter will get $18 mil per year this offseason.
- Joe Cowley puts together the defensive side of the All-White Sox football team.
- whitesox.com has a Mr. Incredible countdown for Thome's 500th HR quest.
And here's the latest Palehose 7 strip: Tired.
And look inside for Ozzie's latest rant.
Ozzie thinks there is a double standard:
"The manager eight miles from me [the Cubs' Lou Piniella] was mother-[expletive] his players -- 'I need good players' -- and no one said [expletive]. I say we need to play better, and all of a sudden they say, 'Ozzie is a piece a [expletive].' Lou said, 'I need [expletive] players, I bring in this guy, no one does the job,' and [the reaction is], 'Oh, Lou is tough, Lou is great.' I say anything close to what he says, and I'm the bad guy, I'm the [expletive]. My players won't love me anymore? Well, don't love me anymore. Don't like me, but win for me, and everything will be fine. I'd rather they say that than, 'Oh, Ozzie is great, he's my friend, he loves my kids and we're in last place.' [Expletive] that. When they see my wife, I hope they say, 'Look at that [expletive], that's Ozzie's wife, she's [married] to a piece of [expletive] like him.' Good, as long as in October we have the trophy. That's what I want. I'd rather they hate me and we win because when we win, no one hates anyone. ... Are we out of this thing? Yes. But we got to win as many as we can because we got a schedule to play, pride to play. It gets to the point where, wow, it's embarrassing to the owner. It's embarrassing to [general manager Ken Williams]. It's embarrassing to me, my coaching staff. If [the players] aren't embarrassed then they should get the [expletive] out."
but he doesn't forget to sweet-talk JR:
"Yeah, we're not too far away, but if I say we're not too far away, it's like, 'What kind of (expletive) you looking at?' If you're in last place and have to jump this guy, this guy, this guy, (expletive), we're far away. A lot of people think (chairman Jerry Reinsdorf's) a piece of (expletive). Jerry's not a piece of (expletive). Jerry (did) a lot of good things for Chicago, and people don't appreciate that. Well, I feel like I'm stealing Jerry's money right now because I have pride. I feel embarrassed that this guy's paying me a lot of money to run that (expletive). He can pay his kid right now 20 bucks and go run the White Sox. He's paying me all this money for that (expletive)?"
The Tribune and Daily Herald versions of Ozzie's rants.