Monday, February 28, 2005
Keep Talking Smack, Torii
Torii Hunter disses the Sox's offseason moves in the Sun-Times today, saying:
''The only thing I'm afraid of with the White Sox is 'Ohhh-wee-ohh,
Magg-lee-ohhh.' When they played that, I was afraid,'' Hunter said. ''Carlos
Lee, when he came up, I was afraid. OK, these two guys are gone, I'm kinda not afraid anymore.''
I guess there's no reason to fear Konerko and his 41 home runs. No reason to fear Frank Thomas, either.
Here's one thing you should fear, Torii. El Duque and a fastball in your backside the first time you face him.
It's nice to see the Twins running their mouths about the White Sox and their chances like the White Sox have done in previous years. Maybe the results will repeat themselves.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Top 50 Prospects - AL Central Wrap Up
Baseball Prospectus published its list of the top 50 prospects for 2005. You don't need a subscription to access it, but I thought I would point out a couple of things on the list as it pertains to the AL Central. Here are the breakdowns by AL Central team:
| Team | No. / Spots | Players |
|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 2 (44, 46) | Jesse Crain (P), Jason Kubel (OF) |
| White Sox | 2 (23, 32) | Brandon McCarthy (P), Brian Anderson (OF) |
| Cleveland | 2 (17, 31) | Michael Aubrey (1B), Adam Miller (P) |
| Detroit | 1 (30) | Curtis Granderson (OF) |
| Kansas City | 0 | N/A |
Note Kansas City - they were last in the division last year and don't really have anything coming up from the minors. Minnesota, thankfully, only has two on the list, and one of those (Kubel) is out for the season with a knee injury. Cleveland has a couple of good prospects, but they are already loaded at the 1B position with Hafner and Broussard.
It's nice to see our friend Brandon McCarthy so high on the list, but he still needs to do a lot of work in AA and perhaps AAA to warrant too much hype. He has gotten a fair amount of ink this spring - including comparisons to Jack McDowell - but with the Sox rotation set through 2006, the pressure should be off of him to think he'll have anything other than an injury-created spot in the rotation.
Room For Interpretation
As we move into spring training, I thought I would clip this Sun-Times article that mentions Tadahito Iguchi, Shingo Takatsu, and Luis Vizcaino's need for interpreters. Apparently, you'll need a scorecard to determine who interpretes for whom on the 2005 White Sox. Here's my partial list:
| Player | Interpreter |
|---|---|
| Shingo Takatsu | Hiroshi Abei |
| Tadahito Iguchi | Hiroshi Abei |
| Jose Contreras | Joey Cora |
| Orlando Hernandez | Joey Cora |
| Luis Vizcaino | Joey Cora |
| Freddy Garcia | Ozzie Guillen |
| Ozzie Guillen | TBD |
And, again this year, Frank Thomas's statements will be mis-interpreted by the media.
Friday, February 18, 2005
21st in MLB? 21st? I mean 21st?!
Buster Olney thinks so little of the White Sox's offseason that he ranks the White Sox 21st among Major League Clubs going into spring training. Among those teams Olney ranks ahead of the Sox:
Chicago Cubs (#7)
Cleveland Indians (#12)
Seattle Mariners (#14)
Detroit Tigers (#19)
Baltimore Orioles (#20)
I guess one shouldn't pay attention to the fact that the Cubs lost 2/3 of their outfield and their #3 and #4 hitters, that Cleveland had a bunch of career years from guys named Casey Blake or Travis Hafner, that Seattle and Baltimore have three or four question marks in their starting rotation each, or that Detroit won only 72 games last year after winning 43 the year before. If you're Olney, you don't know anything about the White Sox, so you don't recognize the fact that Sox fifth starters went 5-15 with a 9+ ERA last year, and that the Sox will have John Garland - a league average pitcher - in the 5 hole this year. Nah, too much research would be necessary to figure that out.
That's OK. Every year since 2001, the Sox were expected to win their division. This year, they are picked - according to Olney - for fourth place. I guess that's just the kind of expectations the Sox need to motivate themselves to kick themselves in the butt and win 90 games this year.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Jose Valentin's Lefty-Only Gambit
Over the course of the regular season, I tracked how Jose Valentin's change from a switch-hitter to a lefty-only hitter was working. Well, I never did put in the final results. But Jose is gone, not forgotten. So, without further adieu, here are Jose's season and pre-2004 career stats as a lefty vs. lefty pitchers and righty vs. lefty pitchers, respectively:
2004 (L v. L): .191 AVG / .262 OBP / .404 SLG (136 AB)
pre-2004 (R v. L): .207 AVG / .283 OBP / .288 SLG (909 AB)
So the bottom line is that Jose was a marginally more useful hitter as a full-time lefty hitter. One would imagine that if he had hit lefty exclusively his whole career, he would have gotten used to it a little better (and he may improve more next year) and put up considerably better stats over his career. Of course, that's the Dodgers' problem now.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Why Not Olerud?
MLB.com reports that John Olerud is still looking to play in the majors in 2005. While the White Sox have the first base position adequately manned by Paul Konerko, I think having Olerud around makes a good deal of sense.Frank Thomas's injury will leave the White Sox with Carl Everett as full time DH, Konerko at first base, and Ross Gload backing up Konerko. Defensively, Olerud is better than Konerko or Gload. Offensively, Olerud will get on base more often than Gload - even last year with the Mariners and Yankees, Olerud managed a .359 OBP. His career OBP is .399. With Jermaine Dye and injury risk, and Ross Gload a probable outfield replacement, Olerud could be a great insurance policy.
If Olerud is cheap enough - perhaps $1 million or so - he can not only be a valuable reserve and twice-weekly starter, he could serve another useful role. If Olerud performed well in his limited role, it seems clear that he would be an attractive property at trade-deadline time. The Sox could flip Olerud for a solid prospect or perhaps another bullpen arm. A team like the Mets might be willing to take Olerud off the Sox's hands in the middle of the NL pennant race and overpay for him. Injuries could strike another team at first base and make Olerud a dear commodity. Kenny Williams has been excellent in identifying the Sox's weaknesses in this offseason and addressing them aggressively. Now, I think it's the time for him to take it to the next level and start planning for the ability to fill in whatever pieces are necessary mid-season.
1917.
