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We thought Hector Santiago might be in line for an extended break, and Robin Ventura confirmed that with his latest string of scheduled starts. Santiago won't be shut down, but he will be skipped, then given one more turn to see how he responds:
"Yeah, the last few starts he's had, he just looks tired," manager Robin Ventura said. "Pitching as many innings as he has this year, just give him a rest and see what he does next time out."
Santiago was supposed to start on Friday, with an off day on Thursday, the Sox can bump the rest of the starters up a day while keeping them on a six-man schedule. It now looks like:
- Wednesday: John Danks
- Friday: Andre Rienzo
- Saturday: Chris Sale
- Sunday: Erik Johnson
- Monday: Jose Quintana
Santiago hasn't been omitted from awards consideration, though. He's the White Sox's nominee for the 2013 Roberto Clemente Award for dedication to community, and it's hard to imagine somebody doing more. You can vote for him here, although the process is rather involved.
Terrerobytes
If you saw "42," you got to know Wendell Smith, the black sportswriter who recommended Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers and traveled with him through his first two years in the Brooklyn organization. Here he is writing for the Chicago American in 1961, telling the story of white motel owners in Sarasota, Fla, who were the only lodging proprietors willing to house seven African-American White Sox ballplayers, and paid a heavy social price. The story is part of a new collection of Chicago sportswriting that looks pretty promising.
Also from Deadspin, Tim Marchman went to the sad game against Cleveland on Sunday and came away with 11 thoughts about the gamegoing experience in September. Among the more pertinent points to the road the White Sox face:
8a.) If anyone's done anything wrong it's the coaching staff, which through the system and up into the majors is filled with former Sox, veterans of teams that weren't really all that good, run according to philosophies that probably aren't worth passing on. To clear them out and bring in new exponents of modern ideas, however, would be so fundamentally opposed to the principles of self-mythologizing and loyalty that make the Sox what they are that it's not only unclear whether they could do it, it's unclear that it would be a good thing for them to do. Let some other team embrace meritocracy and the market as an instrument of morality.
Jose Dariel Abreu, the hot commodity out of Cuba, will begin official drumming up his market with showcases later this month. Jerry Crasnick offers a pretty in-depth look at a wide sample of thoughts about Abreu, although it'd be nice if player comparisons could extend beyond countries and races.
"Hitting-wise, he reminds me a lot of Dayan Viciedo," said a scout. "He's just not as athletic. This guy has more power than Kendrys Morales. But Morales is a better hitter for me."
It reminds me of Kosuke Fukudome being described as a cross between Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui when he came over from Japan, which still rates as the most meaningless comparison I've ever heard.
A non-traditional Q&A with Paul Konerko and Gordon Beckham leads to some pretty interesting answers. Specifically, I always wondered what good Twitter would do for a struggling player, and Beckham underscores the issue.
Unlike Paul I’m on Twitter but I never actually tweet because there are just too many people that don’t do the right thing on there so, what’s the point? It’s not that I don’t care about the fans but the bad outweighs the good. I could tweet, "What a great day it is outside," and people would say, "Well, yeah it would be a great day if you got a couple hits!" I just don’t even look anymore. You get tired of it.
That's why I became a bigger fan of Alex Rios' Twitter account toward the end of his Sox career. The worst season in recent memory and a midseason trade hasn't stopped him from chillin' the most.
This is old, but I haven't done a Terrerobytes in a while and this didn't get enough attention. Speaking of Konerko, apparently he is a control freak about his locker. But he turns the focus to a former teammate and looks healthy by comparison:
"Carlos Quentin does all sorts of things," says White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko, a former teammate. "He has this spray. He calls it an 'aura spray.' It helps him feel better about himself; it gives him some kind of an aura. He doesn't spray it on himself like cologne. He sprays it up in the air, then walks under it so it just kind of falls on him, like an aura. He brings his own sheets when he goes on the road to a hotel. He has special sheets -- like wearing a bracelet -- only the sheets cover his whole body for good luck."
Paul Konerko still isn't answering questions about his future, and while Robin Ventura won't speak for him, he shares what it's like contemplating the issue. For those fearing that Rick Hahn (or Jerry Reinsdorf) will overvalue his history, his comments are pretty pragmatic:
"Any time you have a situation similar to his, like a [Cal] Ripken in Baltimore or a [Tony] Gwynn in San Diego, it is nice if he spends the fabric of his career with one club," said Hahn, who pointed out Konerko also briefly played for the Dodgers and Reds. "That said, Michael Jordan wore a different uniform and he's still the face of the Bulls' six championships. If it turns out [Konerko] is in another uniform next year, it will not take away from what he accomplished and how he will be remembered here. From a fan level, I do like the idea of a guy playing and ending his career with the same team." [...]
"More guys than not probably don't realize it is over until the market tells them," Hahn said. "There are certainly exceptions. In this instance, who knows how the conversation will go. That is the reason we want to get the season behind us. At that point, we can let everybody exhale and see where we are all going."
Hawk Harrelson is up for consideration for the Ford C. Frick Award, and it would be great to see him win it, mostly because of all the people who wouldn't think so.
I didn't realize Blingee could be used for video.