Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

Can't get enough Coco Crisp? You're in luck

In your daily dose of Coco Crisp news, Baseball Prospectus' Joe Sheehan was the latest to connect the Boston center fielder with the White Sox:


This deal would disappoint me, because now that Josh Fields appears entrenched in the 25-man roster, Carter is the one legitimate power bat the Sox have in the farm system.  He has noticeable flaws -- he strikes out a lot and barely registers any defensive value at first base -- but he has the one tool the rest of the system lacks.

Here's a good way to illustrate it -- I went to my Baseball America 2007 Prospect Handbook to see if they rated Carter as the most powerful prospect in the system, and the survey saaaaaid:


Reves slugged .423 at a 22-year-old in rookie ball in 2006, and followed that up with two homers in 286 at-bats at Winston-Salem.  Carter, meanwhile, slugged .570 as a 19-year-old at Great Falls, so it's safe to say that nobody really comes close.  At least discounting non-prospect types like Thomas Collaro.

(Aside: I wonder if Kenny Williams brought any of this up when talking to Shaffer about his dismissal.)

Crisp is good, and Carter's huge swing could endanger any chances of stardom.  At the same time, that seems like such a good deal for Boston that it's almost unfair to the White Sox by default.  That scenario is easily a win-win for Theo Epstein, because he gets to clear salary, a roster spot and acquires an intriguing prospect to boot.  Crisp is a good complimentary player and nothing more, and if Kenny Williams can't achieve anything else to improve the White Sox's chances, I don't see the move paying off.

The Mike Lowell situation may help the White Sox in negotiations.  If the Red Sox don't re-sign him, might Joe Crede interest them?  The other scenario is playing Kevin Youkilis at third and David Ortiz at first, giving them one of the worst infield defenses in baseball.  Crede, as long as he's able to play, would fill that gap.  His contract and agent would leave them without a third baseman after the year, but Jed Lowrie could be ready by the summer if he's moved off short.  It's probably wishful thinking, but Crede and a non-top-seven prospect or non-Jenks bullpen arm is where I'd start negotiating from.

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The Elias free agent rankings were released, and good luck figuring them out.  Aaron Rowand is a Type A free agent, and Andruw Jones is a "B."

After Rowand and Jones, the next player I looked up? David Riske.  He's back down to B-level after enjoying A-list status last year -- you know, when the Sox didn't offer him arbitration and lost the chance at two extra draft picks.

That's funny for a couple reasons -- one, because he had a better year in 2007 than he did in 2006, and also because he declined his $2.9 million option to test free agency once again.  The Elias rankings are a fickle mistress, so it's probably not a good idea to pass on taking advantage of Type A status when you get the chance.

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If you're sick of Crisp (and even I'm getting there), you should get a one-day reprieve tomorrow.  The baseball annual publication season begins as The Bill James Handbook 2008 hits the bookstores.  Like last year, I'll go through it and pick out some of the more interesting ways they quantify the White Sox's lousy season.

Pity the fools in the B.A. Ba-fracas

Hours before the Sox officially showed the door to one of their center fielders, another one asked for the same treatment.

Yup, Brian Anderson, the bastard stepchild of the White Sox farm system, resurfaced and fired some measured shots at the White Sox organization:


The problem is that he's correct enough to have reason to run his mouth without the filter that should've developed for a guy who hit .225 in his only major-league season and admitted he wasn't a coach's dream.  Basically, this whole squabble comes down to three points.

No. 1: The start of 2007.  As long as Erstad stayed healthy throughout spring training, Anderson did not have a shot at winning the center field job despite Ozzie Guillen's claims to the contrary.

If it were an open competition, Anderson would have won it handily.  Not only did he finish with a spring training OPS 138 points higher than Erstad's, but he also made a far stronger first impression as well.  Ozzie just didn't want to see him, either way.

Instead, Anderson received playing time in an awkward fashion, and lost all momentum he gained in Tucson.  Erstad didn't make the decision pay off, either.

Point: Anderson.

No. 2:  The wrist injury.  Anderson played his last game of the season on July 6, which is about the same time Jerry Owens started getting the bulk of the starts in center, with assists by Andy Gonzalez and Luis Terrero.  Even Scott Podsednik spent time in center in September, the same position Ozzie wouldn't let him touch in 2006.

So chances are that if Anderson were healthy and hitting reasonably well, he would've been back in the majors.  Ozzie can have all the anti-B.A. bias in the world, and he still probably couldn't justify playing Gonzalez instead.  As Dave Studeman at The Hardball Times noted, Gonzalez was the fifth-worst value on the Sox -- and he made the league minimum!

But Anderson wasn't healthy.  And, according to the article, he still isn't:


Anderson can make the claim that his "bad attitude" is subjective, but lengthy injuries make a measurable impact.  If he's making an effort to improve the former issue in light of the latter, it's not showing.  When you combine the two, you have a player nobody wants to devote a lot of time to.

Point: Sox.

No. 3:  Communication breakdown.  There's no doubt a rift between Anderson and Guillen exists.  It's much harder to peg where Kenny Williams stands.  The GM has offered plenty of encouraging words for his No. 1 pick in the 2003 draft, but nothing has come of them when it comes to playing time.

At any rate, it's clear that the difference in opinion has left Anderson twisting in the wind in more than one occasion.

At the same time, Anderson acknowledges in the article that he doesn't exactly know how the game is played.  It seems unwise to rail on a process about which he's not 100 percent certain.

Point: Push.

Looking at it this way, Anderson's batting .500.  That's nothing to celebrate.  Frank Thomas -- who has done a little more than hit .225 in one big-league season -- was half-right a lot of the time, and a fat lot of good that did him.

Basically, it's shaping up to be one of the dumbest chickenfights in recent history, and it hasn't even come to a head yet.  In one corner, Anderson has an overinflated sense of self-worth and isn't afraid to show it.  In the other, Ozzie hasn't truly let loose on the subject yet, although he came close in that Mike North interview last March.

Overseeing the whole thing is Williams, a guy who isn't afraid to rail against players who have disrespected the Sox organization when it's better to remain mum.  So far, he's handled it with an unusual amount of grace and saavy.

Unfortunately, he has to show restraint.  He already learned that lesson the hard way when he blasted Jon Rauch after the world's tallest pitcher left a game early, depleting his trade value in the process. Fortunately, he could afford to do that with Rauch, who never came close to meeting the organization's expectations after undergoing shoulder surgery.  He's a serviceable reliever with the Nationals, but nobody's agonizing over his departure.

The circumstances are different this time, because Williams hitched his wagon to Anderson with the Javier Vazquez-Chris Young trade.  There's the perception out there -- and it's been disputed -- that Anderson could've been property of the Arizona Diamondbacks had Williams sized up his prospects differently.

Whether or not that's the case, the reality is that Anderson was declared the future center fielder without much of a backup plan.  What's scarier is that this dispute is entering Year No. 3, and it's only going to grow more embarrassing unless somebody takes drastic action.

They came. They saw. They stunk.

Scott Merkin bears good news:


So Kenny Williams is 2-for-2 with his first two decisions of the offseason.  Of course, Williams went 3-for-3 last year with similarly easy decisions, picking up options on Mark Buehrle, Jermaine Dye and Tadahito Iguchi, so that doesn't necessarily foreshadow success.  Nevertheless, it's two small steps in the right direction.

If I had to write a eulogy for Erstad, this is what it would look like:



There's nothing much else to say, because his 2007 season surprised nobody -- except maybe the people who hired him.

He would've been useful if given 150-200 at-bats as a primary backup at first and center field.  Instead, the guy who hurt himself the last two seasons he spent significant time in the outfield was anointed the starting center fielder.  His contract included an $6 million option that vested if he accrued 600 plate appearances.  He finished with 345.  His longest stint on the DL came after injuring his ankle on a regular swing.

In other words, it was doomed for the start.  Piling on would be overkill, because he's not a bad guy.  He's just not a particularly good baseball player, either.

Myers, meanwhile, finished his White Sox career with an 11.20 ERA over 13 2/3 innings -- the fifth-highest single-season ERA of any White Sox pitcher who threw at least 13 innings.

The shortstop list shortens

You can remove one possible shortstop target from the field, now that the Braves dealt Edgar Renteria to the Detroit Tigers.  The Tigers shipped a pair of prospects -- pitcher Jair Jurrjens (which sounds like a fake name along the lines of "Teve Torbes") and center fielder Gorkys Hernandez (which sounds like a name Ed Farmer made up).

It's a pretty good haul for both teams.  Detroit gets its shortstop, with Carlos Guillen moving to first, and still has an outside chance to acquire the services of one Alex Rodriguez.  Atlanta, meanwhile, gets a high-upside prospect who could help a troubled rotation immediately, and a toolsy 19-year-old center fielder who has yet to fill out.

Moreover, Dave Dombrowski made a move to plug a big-time gap in a team that's on the cusp of returning to the playoffs.  That's something Kenny Williams didn't do when he had 2 1/2 holes to address in his lineup, and went after raw, hard-throwing pitchers instead.

Of course, this is a move that the White Sox couldn't have made with the current state of their farm system.  Jurrjens is rated higher than every Sox pitching prospect outside of Gio Gonzalez, and Hernandez is probably a notch below what Aaron Cunningham was, although his age and defensive capabilities make up for a lot of the gap between their bats.

Players of that caliber are easily expendable for Detroit because of the amount of money Mike Ilitch invests in the draft.  Cameron Maybin, in front of Hernandez on the organizational depth chart became available at No. 10 due to signability issues.  Andrew Miller had dibs on a rotation spot before Jurrjens after dropping to No. 6 because of -- you guessed it -- signability.  Furthermore, Jurrjens won't be missed if Rick Porcello comes close to meeting his expectations.  Some considered him the top pitching prospect in the 2007 draft, but the spectre of Scott Boras scared 26 teams.  Detroit snatched him with the 27th pick, then signed him to a four-year, $7 million deal.

Nobody on the White Sox's side should be kicking themselves for missing out on Renteria.  He wouldn't lower the average age of the White Sox lineup any, faltered badly in his only American League season, and Atlanta's not picking up any part of an unfriendly contract.  Renteria is owed $9 million for 2008, with a $11 million club option for 2009 (with a $3 million buyout).  He's neither a long-term solution or a cheap fling.  The Tigers acquired Renteria solely to win in 2008, something the Sox can't shoot for.

At the same time, the Sox should pay close attention to how Dombrowski pulled this off.  Investing big-time in the draft made Jurrjens and Hernandez expendable, and that's why the Sox can't afford to go the cheap route with the No. 8 pick next year.

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Scott Merkin is the latest to join the Coco Crisp bandwagon:


The second half of that blurb refers to a Mark Buehrle quote that some tried to construe as trash talk in February 2006.

Mark Gonzalez also mentions Crisp as a definite possibility in his brief shopping list, but the fact that he names David Eckstein first as "a case of one-stop shopping ...  fulfilling the leadoff and shortstop duties" and "a perfect fit with his bunting and hit-and-run capabilities" scares me greatly.

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One of the biggest issues I have with the Boston Red Sox's second World Series sweep in four years is that it's dragging the White Sox down with it.  USA Today's Hal Bodley presents the clearest example, when rating the worst sweeps in World Series history:


Let's get this straight: The last three games of the 2005 World Series were, in order:

1. Decided by a walk-off home run by a guy who hit zero during the regular season
2. Decided by a 14th-inning homer by the 25th man.
3. A 1-0 sweat-fest that featured a clutch diving catch into the stands.

And that constitutes a boring World Series?  If those were Games Nos. 5, 6 and 7 instead of 2, 3 and 4, it would have rivaled the 1975 Series.  Don't fault the Sox for taking care of business earlier.

Say hello to the offseason (updated)

If Sox Machine were an actual print product instead of a Web site, my headline would look something like this:


In this universe, the end of the World Series means the beginning of the 15-day window in which Kenny Williams must decide whether the club will exercise or decline club options for three of his players.  Allow me to take a whack at how it'll play out:

No. 1: Juan Uribe.

Option:  $5 million for 2008, $300,000 buyout

Why they should exercise it:  Although he's slipped a little, he's still an above-average shortstop with 20-homer power, making up slightly for his awful on-base percentage.  David Eckstein is the only upgrade in free agency, and his value is highly questionable.  $5 million for a one-year commitment shouldn't be prohibitive to any other moves.

Why they should decline it:  He's one of the major's biggest out machines, and one of the easiest places for the Sox to improve the consistency of their offense.  It would be a nice way to send a message to fans that a shake-up is under way, since only the third base coach and bullpen coach's heads have rolled thus far.
 
What they will do:  Pick it up.  It's never safe to read too much into an Ozzie Guillen quote, but the fact that he said, "We want Uribe to lose weight and show up in shape" might be an indication of which way Williams is leaning.

What I would do:  Decline.  There are some interesting names on the trade market worth exploring (Bill Hall, Jack Wilson, Rafael Furcal, Edgar Renteria and the Braves' farmhands), and they could also try signing Uribe to a reduced deal and deploy him as a utility infielder.

Toronto's John McDonald, who might be the most deserving of the Gold Glove at short this year, signed a two-year deal for $3.8 million in early September.  He has a better glove and a worse bat, but owns a better on-base percentage over the last two years.  I'm not saying Uribe can be had for $2 million, but they should be able to shave something off his salary.

No. 2: Darin Erstad

Option: $3.5 million for 2008; $250,000 buyout.

Why they should exercise it:  He's the Most Grindy Man in the World.  The Sox's special teams unit would suffer greatly, as would their stubble quotient.

Why they should decline it:  He is roster poison. 

What they will do:  Decline.  It won't be easy.  Williams will probably start by not returning his calls, or saying he can't hang out because he's having a seemingly inordinate amount of relatives visiting from out of town.  Erstad will wonder why Williams isn't introducing him to family members, but decides not to ask.  Then a week later, Erstad will see Williams with another center fielder sitting in a Sbarro in a mall food court.  Erstad will freak, chew him out in front of everybody and storm off. Williams will run after him and drop the "It's not you, it's me" line, even though they're both aware that Erstad isn't as attractive as he used to be six or seven years ago, when Williams was pursuing him but Erstad had other committments.  After 15 minutes of crying, Erstad will gorge himself at a Häägen Dazs, agonizing over why he can't find a GM who understands that the grass isn't always greener while blankly staring into the empty plastic cup of his second Mint Chip Dazzler.

What I would do:  Decline.  And not eat at Sbarro.

No. 3: Mike Myers

Option:  $1.1 million for 2008.

Why they should exercise it:  He could possibly provide some left-handed insurance in case Boone Logan doesn't get his act together, and Matt Thornton doesn't find the couple miles per hour missing on his fastball.  There isn't any apparent help in the minors -- Andrew Sisco is still around, and he's probably the best of the dreck.  Paulino Reynoso was Charlotte's top left-handed reliever (which is a "tallest midget" kind of title), and the Sox already outrighted him.

Why they should decline it:  If you watched Myers pitch for the Sox this year, you don't need me to say anything.  At $1.1 million, he would be the second-highest-paid reliever in the bullpen to Mike MacDougal ($1.9 million).

What they will do:  Decline.  Up until the last week of the season, over which Myers gave up seven runs in 1 1/3 innings, I was leaning the other way, since it seemed Guillen gave Myers just about every possible chance to prove himself.  He failed miserably, though, and since there isn't a buyout, I can't think of one reason why they would exercise the option.  There might be a desperate team willing to guarantee him a roster spot, but at this point, Myers looks like a non-roster invitee at best.

What I would do:  Decline.

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I normally don't check the Trib's social scene coverage for White Sox news, so thanks for SSJ Reb for the heads-up on this item:


I didn't know Ryan Bukvich was that popular. 

It's possible that this isn't BS, since Jerry Reinsdorf wouldn't let any news leak out of his great respect for Bud Selig and the commissioner's wishes for nothing to overshadow the World Series.  Outside of an unexpectedly quick decision on Uribe (or overvaluing the popularity of Erstad or Myers), I don't know who it would be.

(Question:  When reading the part about Kenny busting a move, what's the first thing that came to mind?  I pictured popping and locking, myself.)

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Phil Rogers has my back.  The newest addition to the BBWAA board of directors wrote in his latest column:


Rogers was the one beating the "Juan Pierre to the Sox" drum for the last two offseasons, so I'm not particularly encouraged by this development, although it may be good news to some of you.

Bukvich takes second step towards obscurity

The 2007 White Sox bullpen suffered its first casualty with the outrighting of Ryan Bukvich to Charlotte.  Bukvich will opt for free agency instead.

No tears will be shed, of course, but it's a little unfair to say anything harsher.  He did what he was supposed to do -- pitch well in Charlotte, not so well in Chicago.  Unfortunately, a handful of relievers above him didn't get the job done, and thus he was forced into action.

The good news is that, with 35 2/3 innings pitched in 2007, he saw just enough time to be remembered fondly, at least to those of us enamored with obscure references.

(In college, we would pass the time in class by trying to out-think each other with random ballplayers.  The scoring was completely subjective, because the name had to be barely recognizable.  The desired response: "Who the he- ohhhhhhhhh, that guy!"  It might be the one game in which Junior Felix and Scott Bankhead are valuable contributors.)

So Bukvich, with a few dozen innings in his only year, shares a wing in the Failed White Sox Scrapheap Reliever Hall of Fame with such luminaries as Chuck McElroy, Rick White, Tim Fortugno and Rob Dibble.  That's not bad company, if you're looking at it right.

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Other moves: Pablo Ozuna and Joe Crede were activated from the 60-day disabled list, leaving the 40-man roster at 39.  That opens a spot, which will likely be filled by Jack Egbert.  In the Arizona Fall League all-star game, Egbert started and threw one scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.

Ryan Sweeney drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the top of the 10th.

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Not to get political here, but this is important:


Don't take that as any sort of endorsement, because I ignore primary season as much as my job allows.  I only say this because Dennis DeYoung performed in my area tonight, and I almost felt obliged to defend him in an office conversation, even though I can't stand his voice. 

There are only three Sox fans more prominent than Obama (Mayor Daley doesn't count outside of Chicago), and we can't afford to lose one.  It's not like I want the Sox to become celebrity darlings, but it'd be nice to be able to rattle off a list of famous Sox fans without "lead singer from Styx" batting cleanup.

October 26: Yup, still feels pretty good

Happy second anniversary of the greatest day in White Sox history.

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Not so happy?  The news that Chris Singleton will return to the broadcast booth for a third year.

In his first year, Singleton surprised me a little by being better than I thought.  But this season, it was hard to detect much growth, and the fault isn't all his.  Ed Farmer has to be a hard guy to complement. 

When he was paired with John Rooney, I thought he and Farmer reacted to each other as good as anybody.  But since Rooney left for St. Louis, there's simply been too much of Farmer, and Singleton isn't enough to dilute the mix.  I grew used to Uncle Ed coming over to visit, and now it feels like he's gained custody.

Singleton just doesn't have the chops to commandeer the broadcast when Farmer gets on a tangent, and neither has the voice to hook my ear amid other distractions.

Part of me hopes that after the year, the Sox will try to lure Dave Wills from Tampa Bay back into the Sox radio fold.  He's got a smoother, clearer delivery to offset Farmer's gruff monotone, and I thought he did a tremendous job defusing Sox fans night after night during the underachieving years.  I think he'd have a good idea of what South Side listeners expect to hear.

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Winter ball updates:

Arizona Fall League

• Chris Getz: 8-for-25, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 3 K, 1/1 SB
• Ryan Sweeney:  7-for-33, 0 XBH, 4 RBI, 6 BB, 10 K, 1/2 SB
• Donny Lucy: 3-for-20, 0 XBH, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 7 K, 1/1 SB
• Jack Egbert:  7.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 7 BB, 5 K
• Adam Russell:  8 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 5 K
• Dewon Day:  6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K
• Fernando Hernandez Jr.: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

Mexican League

• Jason Bourgeois: .327/.400/.413 (55 AB), 2 2B, 1 3B, 8 BB, 5 K, 8/8 SB
• Heath Phillips:  3.71 ERA, 17 IP, 18 H, 5 BB, 21 K

Dominican League

• Oneli Perez: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Venezuelan League

• Wiki Gonzalez: 6-for-28, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K
• Carlos Vasquez: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Hawaiian League

• Kanekoa Texeira: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

In due time, we'll be able to add Brian Anderson to the above list.  He has risen from the dead and will join Mexicali for the second half of Mexican League play, and will play until the end of the season or until he gets Montezuma's Revenge.  Whichever comes first.

Speaking of sightings, here are some former Sox still kicking in winter ball:  Jose Paniagua, Vic Darensbourg, Mike Porzio.

And as this post devolves into random sentences, JeffBajenaru.com no longer exists, but you can still read about how he rediscovered God at a Starbucks.

Mark Salas can breathe easier now

Although it seems like they've been on the staff for years by now, Juan Nieves and Jeff Cox were officially named the new pitching coach and third base coach, respectively.  That seems to mark the end of all coaching changes.

(Here are some of my previous thoughts on Nieves and Cox, in case you missed them.)

Reading the three different accounts by the Daily Herald, Chicago Sun-Times and whitesox.com, there are two common threads:

1. Nieves will be deployed as a second pitching coach.
2. Cox is expected to be a small-ball tutor.

The second point doesn't bother me as much as it could, because "Ozzieball" was more of a marketing tool than anything else, anyway.  Fans grew tired of solo homers and finishing second behind the Twins, so Williams started using the word "grinder," Scott Podsednik did a nice job scoring the first run of the ballgame in the first half of 2005, and while the Sox hit as many solo homers as before, they weren't as noticeable.

Nobody's ever opposed to "executing" and "taking the extra base," so I don't mind them talking the talk.  Besides, it's my belief that a team that plays small ball is only as good as the bullpen, so at least there's an accompanying change.  We'll see if it works out.

Because it had the story early, the Chicago Tribune's version could afford to spin it forward.  Thus, Mark Gonzalez offered some speculation on the fate of Juan Uribe:


Sound familiar?  It should:


That's from Feb. 17, 2007.  Uribe heeded Ozzie's words, as a svelter Juan showed up in Tucson, and it didn't make much of a difference.  While extra weight might mean losing a half a step in the field, conditioning is not the issue at the plate.  Uribe could show up looking like Nicole Richie or Tony Gwynn, and it won't change the fact that Greg Walker openly admits having little idea of how to get through to him.

At this point, the decision comes down to other options, because the $5 million price tag isn't prohibitive.  A longer-term investment for a similar talent would put a crimp in future plans, however, and that's why I hope to high heaven that Kenny Williams stays far away from David Eckstein.

The 20 worst White Sox games of 2007

What, you thought I could limit it to only five?



No. 20:  Sept. 5 -- Tigers 2, White Sox 1 (11 innings)

This game wouldn't have registered had it been anybody but Timo Perez driving in the game-winning run with a double off the wall.  Otherwise, it was your garden variety, can't-get-a-run-off-a-reliever-in-six-innings type of performance with which we grew all too familiar.

No. 19:  Aug. 21 -- White Sox 5, Royals 2

Alternate title: "When Overmanaging Becomes Embarrassing."  The first of two White Sox winners on the list, and this one marks the debut of Mike Myers.  Not by coincidence, this is also the game where four consecutive pitches were thrown by four different White Sox relievers.

No. 18:  Aug. 19 -- Mariners 11, White Sox 5

Jon Garland gives up 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings, the second time he breaks double-digits in that category.  Making matters worse, five of them scored after a Juan Uribe and three consecutive walks by Ryan Bukvich.  And during one of those walks, Bukvich threw a run-scoring wild pitch as well.

No. 17:  July 2 -- Orioles 7, White Sox 6

On the night of what felt like his last start as a White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field, Mark Buehrle left the game in the eighth inning with a 6-2 lead.  Bukvich and Bobby Jenks undid his work in a matter of minutes.

No. 16:  May 8 -- Twins 7, White Sox 4 (10 innings)

This one featured the turning points of the season for two White Sox whipping boys:

1. Mike MacDougal had a 3.09 ERA when he entered the game in the eighth inning to protect a three-run lead.  After giving up three hits without recording an out and watching all of them come around to score, it skyrocketed to 5.40, and never dipped below 5.00 again.
2. Nick Masset gave up the game-winning shot to Justin Morneau, starting a stretch where he'd give up 12 runs over five innings of relief.  His season was never the same, either.

No. 15:  April 15 -- Indians 2, White Sox 1

Jose Contreras, Masset, Andrew Sisco and David Aardsma hold the Indians to one hit and zero earned runs -- and still lose, thanks to two errors by Joe Crede and another by Darin Erstad.  Game time temperature was 39 degrees, so that's why the Sox couldn't hit.

No. 14:  July 21 -- Red Sox 11, White Sox 2

The game was already well in hand when Ehren Wassermann, Boone Logan and Dewon Day combined to walk five straight batters en route to a seven-run inning for Boston, but they downright humiliated the bullpen, even by 2007 White Sox standards.  Kason Gabbard started for the Red Sox, so that's why the Sox couldn't hit.

No. 13:  June 3 -- Blue Jays 4, White Sox 3

Toronto starter Sean Marcum only lasted three innings, so that's why... you get the idea.

When Brian Tallet induced a pop-out off the bat of A.J. Pierzynski leading of the six inning, he extended the Sox's hitless streak off relievers to 54 at-bats.  In other words, opposing relievers had combined to throw two consecutive no-hitters against White Sox hitters. 

They added seven more to that list before Pierzynski snapped the slide with a leadoff double in the ninth.  In true Sox fashion, he'd reach third on Crede's productive groundout to first, but Rob Mackowiak popped out and Alex Cintron struck out to end the game.

No. 12:  June 24 -- Cubs 3, White Sox 0

The North Siders enjoyed the first sweep of their crosstown rivals in the history of interleague play.  Hawk Harrelson embarrassed himself by bitching out umpires for correctly ruling an interference call on Juan Uribe, taking away an apparent double play.  Ozzie Guillen was ejected, but only because he requested it.

No. 11:  July 14 -- Orioles 7, White Sox 6 (10 innings)

With Baltimore down to its final strike, Jenks throws a wild pitch that allows the tying run to score.  Hawk allegedly erupted with his most explosive "Dadgummit!" of the year, but unfortunately, I had the pleasure of seeing this one in person.

No. 10:  May 30 -- Twins 7, White Sox 6

What's more embarrassing than blowing a lead with a wild pitch?  How about losing a game on a four-pitch walk?

That's exactly what Aardsma did in this gem.  With the bases loaded and two outs, Guillen called on Aardsma to face Torii Hunter.  Aardsma preceded to throw four pitches nowhere near the strike zone, and that was the ballgame.

This one had other highlights, such as Paul Konerko's throw to second bouncing off Cintron's knee.  Garland also let an early 6-1 lead go to waste by walking five batters, and Minnesota's bullpen contributed heavily to the 61 streak by throwing six hitless innings of relief.

No. 9:  July 16 -- White Sox 11, Indians 10

I firmly believe that this White Sox team caused more fans to turn against them in victory than in defeat.  That's why a win against the eventual AL Central champions ranks as the ninth worst game of the season.

With the game tied at 2, the Sox opened the floodgates in the sixth, sending 13 batters to the plate, resulting in nine runs.  They showed some power, they hustled, they took advantage of poor strategy and execution by the Indians, and in the process, created the most glorious 40 minutes of White Sox baseball this season.  After five and a half innings, the Sox led 11-2.

It ended with Jenks stranding the potential tying run at second, the sixth Sox reliever deployed by Guillen that night.  When a fan can no longer enjoy a nine-run lead without an ounce of dread, what else is left?

No. 8:  July 6 -- Twins 20, White Sox 14
No. 7:  July 6 -- Twins 12, White Sox 0

Sure, Minnesota scored 20 in the opener, while the White Sox's No. 20 suffered through a historically putrid outing.  But then I remembered that the Twins spanked the Sox by double the margin without a designated hitter in the second game.  That's an insult to injury if there ever was one.

No. 6:  July 31 -- Yankees 16, White Sox 3

It's not just that the Sox lost by a baker's dozen in the opener of a series in the Bronx.  It's that they lost by a baker's dozen on the evening of the trade deadline, during which Kenny Williams made it abundantly clear that the team that tortured Sox fans for the first four months of the season would continue to hammer away at them for the final two.

Two extra points -- Sox pitchers allowed a franchise-high eight home runs (the Yankees tied their team record), and Scott Podsednik, Darin Erstad and Jerry Owens appeared in the same lineup for the first time.

No. 2:  Aug. 24 -- Red Sox 11, White Sox 3
No. 2:  Aug. 24 -- Red Sox 10, White Sox 1
No. 2:  Aug. 25 -- Red Sox 14, White Sox 2
No. 2:  Aug. 26 -- Red Sox 11, White Sox 1

If you want to pore through the details of this bloodbath and decide on an order, you have a sicker sense of humor than I do.

No. 1:  April 2 -- Indians 12, White Sox 5

For future reference, when your Opening Day starter gives up seven runs in one inning of work because he's simultaneously going through a divorce and implicated in a smuggling investigation, perhaps you should just end the season right then and there.

The five best White Sox games of 2007

They say that in performance reviews, you should lead with a positive before diving into the negatives, and then finish on an encouraging note.  That said, we'll start with my top five games of the 2007 season.

I still don't know if I'll have anything upbeat to close it out.  It may look more like the one in the Kids in the Hall's "Mad with Power" sketch:


And away we go...

No. 5:  Sept. 16 -- White Sox 9, Angels 7

Not only did Jim Thome hit his 500th homer, and not only did it win the game, but it capped off a comeback from a 7-1 deficit.  Josh Fields and Danny Richar set up the moment with a three-run homer and a two-run homer, respectively.  It also featured two scoreless innings from Mike MacDougal, of all people.

It would've ranked higher had the Sox not been 22 games under .500 at the time.  Or had Thome hit more than 15 percent of his career home runs for the White Sox.

No. 4:  July 28 -- White Sox 2, Blue Jays 0

This game lacks the pyrotechnics of the others on this list, but it embodies what I like about baseball -- the comical wrinkles and evening of luck over a 162-game season.  The context makes this one special.

On May 31, Mark Buehrle pitched brilliantly, pitching a complete game two-hitter against the Blue Jays.  The problem was that both hits left the yard, and Roy Halladay blanked the Sox offense.  Buehrle lost 2-0, and missed out on a chance to pick up his 100th victory.

Two months later, Buehrle and Halladay locked horns again, and this time, Halladay went the distance with nothing to show for it.  He made one bad pitch -- a low-and-inside fastball to Jerry Owens, who jerked it just over the wall and inside the right-field foul pole for his first and only career homer.  Buehrle, meanwhile, pitched eight strong innings for win No. 105.

No.  3:  Aug. 8 -- White Sox 6, Indians 4 (13 innings)

Uribe makes up for a two-error night with some walk-off ¡profundo! action, but only because Pierzynski bailed him out in the 12th.

With two outs and a runner on second, Uribe dropped a pop-up that would've ended the inning, and gave the Indians a 4-3 lead instead.  Pierzynski got the run back immediately, homering to lead off the bottom of the inning, and then Uribe ended it by sending an Aaron Fultz fastball into the first row of bleachers in left-center.

It gave the Sox a rare win in a game started by C.C. Sabathia.  It also improved their record to 53-60, which, as it turned out, was the high point of the season.  The Sox lost nine of the next 10, and 19 of the next 23.

No. 2:  Sept. 7 -- White Sox 11, Twins 10 (13 innings)

The Sox and Twins were tied at 4 entering the ninth inning.  They were tied at 10 at the end of it. 

The top of the ninth featured some classic 2007 White Sox baseball -- Mike Myers, MacDougal and Boone Logan failed to retire six of the seven guys they faced in the inning, and the one out came from a sacrifice bunt.  Alex Cintron extended the inning with an error.  Logan gave up a three-run shot to Rondell White, who retired after the season for good reason.

But the Sox came back.  Singles by Richar, Cintron and Luis Terrero to start the inning, followed by a two-run double by Fields.  Thome made it a one-run game with a three-run homer, with no outs left.

Joe Nathan came in and walked Paul Konerko.  Podsednik pinch-ran and stole second.  A.J. Pierzynski struck out, but Pods would score on a Darin Erstad double over Torii Hunter's head, by far the brightest moment of Erstad's year and White Sox career (he says, fingers crossed).

Pierzynski ended up redeeming himself by driving in the winning run, which only got through the left side of the infield because Jason Bartlett didn't get the neighborhood call on what should've been a 4-6 fielder's choice the batter prior.  Had the ump ruled differently, Bartlett would've been at normal depth instead of shaded towards second for the double play.  Funny game.

No. 1:  April 18 -- White Sox 6, Rangers 0

Buehrle records the first White Sox hitter since 1990, and only needed the minimum 27 batters to do it.  A walk to Sammy Sosa was the only blemish, and Buehrle erased him with a pickoff.

He needed the best of the Sox's defense to do it, including a big diving stop by Joe Crede, who threw to first just in time to nail a diving Jerry Hairston.  Crede won't want to remember his 2007, but at least he was able to serve a purpose.

Honorable mentions:

• The Sox erase a 7-1 deficit to beat the Tigers
  
• The Sox's annual victory over Johan Santana
• Pierzynski beats the Angels again with three RBI over the last two innings
  
• Bobby Jenks ties the major-league record for consecutive hitters retired

Start your week off right

Because I really have nothing else to say right now, here's a link to Robert Goulet's gallery of Christmas cards.

My favorite is 1988 (pictured right) for reasons I can't quite identify, although 1992 gives it a run for its money.  Honorable mention goes to 1996, if only I could figure out what they're actually doing.

Now, on to the frivolous matters...

This week will mark the start of sorting through the wreckage that was 2007 season, with "What we learned" as the underlying theme.  I'd rather spin forward instead of looking backward, because I try to have fun around here, and this past season was anything but.

(Incidentally, I will go over the highlights of 2007, but that should be the quickest one to write.)

If anybody here has anything specific to address/discuss/take a whack at, let me know.  I'd like to steer clear of monologues if I can help it.

Allegory of the Cave replacement (updated)

Per Mark Gonzalez:


The blog entry also seems to finalize the hiring of Jeff Cox, even though there are no official releases yet.

This could turn out to be a significant move, if only because the following pitchers spent time in both Charlotte and Chicago last year:

1. David Aardsma
2. Lance Broadway
3. Ryan Bukvich
   
4. Dewon Day
5. Gavin Floyd
6. Charlie Haeger
   
7. Boone Logan
   
8. Mike MacDougal
9. Nick Masset
   
10. Heath Phillips
    
11. Andrew Sisco
12. Ehren Wassermann

That's a dirty dozen if I've ever seen one.  You could make it a baker's variety if you threw Bret Prinz on top, but since he's out of the organization entirely, he shouldn't really count.  I wonder if he's loose yet.

What's the most impressive (and by "impressive," I mean "hideous") is that none of those pitchers used Charlotte as a true rehab assignment or warm-up.  Lance Broadway and Heath Phillips were September call-ups, but everybody else on the list served detention.  Compare it to the previous two seasons:

• 2006:  Seven pitchers
• Half-and-half: Agustin Montero, Logan, Sean Tracey, Haeger
  
• Rehab: Cliff Politte, Dustin Hermanson
• Warm-up: Jeff Nelson
• 2005:  Seven pitchers
• Half-and-half:  Jon Adkins, Brandon McCarthy, Kevin Walker
  
• Rehab: Orlando Hernandez, Damaso Marte
• Call-up:  Jeff Bajenaru, David Sanders

In other words, the trail between Charlotte and Chicago experienced roughly three times the traffic.  The silver lining is that almost everybody on that list fared pretty well in Charlotte, but for some reason hit a brick wall immediately upon promotion.

Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams could reap rewards if Nieves comes in as a second ptching coach.  Don Cooper had a good track record of fixing hard throwers entering the season, but perhaps he was overwhelmed by the volume of erratic arms cast upon him in 2007.  Nieves might be able to help lighten his workload, and if so, maybe Williams' bullpen plan could be salvaged after all.

Rediscovering middle-class values

The possibility of acquiring Milwaukee Brewers shortstop/outfielder Bill Hall has been mentioned before, and now The Daily Herald's Scot Gregor brings the idea to the Chicago market:


I think he's valuing a Garland too highly, but he may not be off if Hall is truly in Ned Yost's doghouse.  Basically, the tension between Hall and Yost stems from a comment Yost made in late August:


Hall took umbrage, since part of his struggles were due to hurrying back from injury.  Thus began the spat, and in the final month of the season, with the Brewers fighting for their playoff lives, Hall only started 13 games.

So if Yost has no interest in playing Hall, he could see his value diminished by plenty.  His contract calls for $20 million over the next three years, which is a hefty price for Milwaukee's budget.

The problem is that Garland isn't that good of a deal, either, since he's due to receive $12 million in 2008 alone.  He would help the Brewers in one key area, and that's to help them win now.  They finished a couple games behind the Cubs this year despite only having two starters with an ERA+ over 100 -- and neither of them were around for the entire season.  Garland's durable, he's effective, and as he showed last year against Cincinnati, he can hit a little, too.

If Doug Melvin is aggressive (or desperate) enough, I can maybe see a one-on-one deal happening.  Jose Contreras has a better contract but shadier health issues, so I don't see him being any more attractive in this case to warrant a separate discussion.  For the sake of brevity, you can probably add "...and maybe Contreras" after most of the above references to "Garland."

Even if Kenny Williams had to throw in one of their non-Gio/Egbert pitching prospects, I'd be inclined to do it, because Hall is exactly the type of player Williams used to acquire:

No. 1:  Doesn't cost a premium price.  Williams made his name -- and earned the Sox a World Series title -- by raiding the bargain bin.  That's how Contreras, A.J. Pierzynski, Tadahito Iguchi and Juan Uribe ended up on the 2005 team.  It's an area Williams has to rediscover, because the big contracts handed out to Contreras, Paul Konerko and Co. have handcuffed the team a little.

No. 2:  Does a bunch of things well.  If Hall returns to his 2005 level, he'll be a guy who can hit, run and throw.  He won't lead the league in any particular field, but he doesn't have any glaring weaknesses.

No. 3:  Provides roster flexibility.  Williams is under pressure to acquire a major-league outfielder to play with Jermaine Dye, having struck out in the previous two seasons.  He also faces a decision on Juan Uribe's option.  With a guy like Hall, Williams has the opportunity to look for the better deal for one of two positions, and he can place Hall in the other one.

Here's what excites me most about Hall -- even in a tumultuous year in which he battled both the injury bug and his manager, he still outproduced Juan Uribe by a considerable amount.  As I said earlier this month, the Sox need more players who make baseball look easy.  A guy who can put up those numbers in a down year fits that bill.

*************************

Speaking of buying low, Coco Crisp still intrigues me.

Because he excelled at drawing the ire of Red Sox fans this year, I was surprised when I looked up Crisp's numbers and saw that he posted a .330 OBP this past year.  That's better than Scott Podsednik, Jerry Owens, Darin Erstad and just about anybody else Ozzie Guillen stuck in the leadoff spot.

Crisp is owed about $18 million over the next three years, and he's been pretty lousy since joining the Red Sox (.266/.324/.383).  But even with the mediocre OBP, he stole a career-high 28 bases, which leads me to believe that the physical tools are still there... somewhere.

Also, there's been a recent trend in which players have been traded from the Red Sox only to live up to their potential with their next team.  Two recent examples:

• Edgar Renteria:
• With Boston: .276/.335/.385
• After Boston: .310/.374/.451
• Wily Mo Pena:
• With Boston: .271/.321/.458
• After Boston: .293/.352/.504 (only 133 ABs)

As atrocious as Crisp has looked at the plate during the playoffs, these are a couple reasons why Crisp has a fair shot at returning to his 2004-05 level of performance, during which he hit .299/.345/.456 for the Indians and played great defense in left (and acceptable in center).

Crisp will be pressured by the rising Jacoby Ellsbury.  J.D. Drew and Manny Ramirez aren't going anywhere, considering they'll receive around $30-35 million combined next year.  Bobby Kielty fits their need for a fourth outfielder.  Crisp seems like the guy Theo Epstein could move just to free up resources, which could mean he'd receive 50 cents on the dollar.  The White Sox have a lot of half-off items.

I'm not married to the idea of Crisp, but he's on the shelf Williams should be sweeping this offseason.  Hall and Crisp would cost a combined $9.55 million for definite upgrades at shortstop and center or left field -- less than what Aaron Rowand will make in 2008, even if he comes up short of his first asking price of six years and $84 million.  If Williams isn't interested in holding a fire sale or throwing a lot more money into scouting and development, this scenario seems the next-most desirable.

Fortune, intangibles on notice after Phoenix summit

If you don't have time to read what Greg Walker and Don Cooper learned over their long weekend in Phoenix, this about sums it up:



Notice anything missing?  Yup, talent -- or lack thereof.  If you were hoping the Sox brass would come out claiming a shakeup's a-brewin', you'll be hopelessly yet predictably disappointed.

The best you'll get is this quote from Cooper:


There's no reason to jump to conclusions because the season isn't even over.  Reading into anything that's said before the winter meetings is pretty much wasted energy.  Until earnest discussions can begin with potential free agents and general managers, we're only going to be hearing incredibly vague references to change.  In this article alone:

• Must prepare better
  
• Have to deal better with adversity
• Must make changes in Spring Training
  
• Must be smarter and aggressive-r

Even the talk about taking extra bases doesn't mean anything, considering a lack of speed is still a massive issue for half the roster.  They may say they're going to go back to Ozzieball, but at the same time, they're on the cusp of hiring a third base coach who doesn't mind giving the stop sign.

If the Sox truly were serious about going hogwild on the basepaths, they'd put Joey Cora back in the coach's box, grab some popcorn and watch the carnage unfold.  Until any actions take place, this talk will be sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Worshipping at the church of the rally-killing homer

If your brain starting leaking during the fifth inning of tonight's Red Sox-Indians game, Tim McCarver's the reason.  Casey Blake's leadoff homer prompted the FOX analyst to offer us this gem:

Joe, conventional wisdom tells us that one of the more dangerous things in baseball for a pitcher is to give a leadoff walk to a hitter. However, we’ve researched this, and one would think that a leadoff home run — Casey Blake had the leadoff home run in this inning — would lead to fewer multi-run innings than a leadoff walk.

That’s not true. A leadoff home run — this year — has led to more multi-run innings than a leadoff walk.

I don't need to tell anybody here why no functioning adult should be surprised by this stat, but it did make me think of Ed Farmer's theory regarding a home run's ability to extinguish a rally.  Normally I take that as obvious wishful thinking, like when he calls a homer in nearly every late inning situation.  Now, I'm not so sure.

***********************

The most interesting item in Ryan Sweeney's MLB.com chat was this line:


Otherwise, it didn't offer much substance, but the chat, along with Mark Gonzalez's Arizona Fall League overview, reminded me to check on some winter ball stats:

• Sweeney:  4-for-14, 0 XBH, 4 BB, 4 K, 0-for-1 SBs.
• Chris Getz:  1-for-8, 0 BB, 3 K
• Donny Lucy: 1-for-7, 1 BB, 2 K
  
• Jack Egbert:  5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
• Adam Russell:  4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
• Dewon Day: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 K
• Fernando Hernandez Jr.: 1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
  

From the Caribbean League:

• Jason Bourgeois: 7-for-21, 0 XBH, 5 BB, 2 K, 5-for-5 SBs
• Heath Phillips: 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 9 K
• Wiki Gonzalez:  0-for-9, 1 BB, 1 K

Stoneman stepping down; Angels stepping up?

Los Angeles Angels general manager Bill Stoneman is stepping down, according to the Orange County Register:


This is big news for the offseason, because for years the Angels have simultaneously boasted the largest crop of trading chits and the GM most unlikely to trade any of them.  Or, as Mark Gonzalez said, Stoneman "is afraid of his own shadow and has the personality of a dead cod."

In the past couple years, the White Sox and Angels have been linked in a couple potential deals that never came through -- Joe Crede for a Chone Figgins and/or Ervin Santana package, and Paul Konerko has been an alleged target. In their stockpile (order in likelihood of availability):

• Middle infielders: Erick Aybar, Maicier Izturis
• Corner infielders: Chone Figgins, Casey Kotchman, Brandon Wood
• Outfielders: Juan Rivera
• Pitchers: Santana, Scot Shields

This is a welcome change.  Stoneman did his job for his team, but at the same time, you could basically rule out any rumor involving the Angels because chances were Stoneman wouldn't pull the trigger.  That's not saying the new Angels GM will usher in a dramatic change in mindset, but he couldn't be any more reluctant.

Before Josh Fogg had an October, he had a September

Before he was "The Dragonslayer" and the winner of Game 3 in this year's NLCS, Josh Fogg was a well-respected, if not terribly exciting, White Sox pitching prospect.  Unfortunately, he spent only one month in a White Sox uniform before being shipped to Pittsburgh as part of the ill-fated Todd Ritchie trade.

During that month, however, Fogg made a considerable impact.  He could make a claim as one of the five greatest White Sox September call-ups in the last 50 years.

The guidelines behind the list are pretty specific:

No. 1:  Only true September call-ups count.  Cisco Carlos was virtually a call-up in 1967, but he made his debut on Aug. 25.  Same goes for Magglio Ordonez and his 1997 (Aug. 29).

No. 2:  Only first Septembers count.  Bruce Howard was dynamite in his call-up in 1964, allowing only two runs and 10 hits over 22 1/3 innings, including a two-hitter on the final day of the season.  Unfortunately -- at least as far as this list is concerned -- he was called up the year before.

The pool of qualified candidates thins considerably after applying those two rules.  The players who are most likely to dominate in their first taste of big-league ball are called up well before the final month of the season.

But thanks to "Urban Faber" at Baseball Think Factory, who gave me this idea, at least we have something Sox-specific to talk about.  So here's what's left (in reverse chronological order):

Lance Broadway, 2007

2007	W-L	ERA	G	IP	H	ER	BB	K
Lance Broadway	1-1	0.87	3	10.1	5	1	5	14

See what I was saying about a small pool?  I used 10 innings as a cutoff, and Broadway barely clears it.  Then again, he did have the second-best first start of any Sox pitcher in the last 10 years, so that has to count for something.

Josh Fogg, 2001

2001	W-L	ERA	G	IP	H	ER	BB	K
Josh Fogg	0-0	2.03	11	13.1	10	3	3	17

Fogg's outstanding major league debut -- four strikeouts over 1 1/3 scoreless innings -- came on a day when good pitching was hard to find.  The White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 19-10, in which the Indians scored six runs in the top of the second, only to be trailing by two when the Sox answered with eight runs in the bottom of the inning.  It's something that doesn't look as strange since the Sox and Yankees traded eight runs in early August.

Fogg hasn't come close to matching that strikeout rate, for what it's worth.

Craig Wilson, 1998

1998	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG
Craig Wilson	47	22	5	0	3	10	.468	.490	.766

A 27-year-old rookie, Wilson hit the ground running in '98 with a three-hit debut -- two doubles and a homer in four at-bats against the Yankees.  He'd top it nine days later with a two-homer game in a 17-16 victory over Detroit, as Wilson drove in five runs with four hits (and stole a base to boot).  He also didn't commit an error at the three infield positions he played.

Jack McDowell, 1987

1987	W-L	ERA	G	IP	H	ER	BB	K
Jack McDowell	3-0	1.93	4	28	16	6	6	15

Oddly enough, the only game McDowell didn't win during his September call-up was also his finest outing -- seven scoreless innings, over which he allowed only two hits and three walks while striking out seven.

His September performance capped off a year that would be hard for any rookie to top -- he picked up the win for Stanford in the NCAA championship game that year, made two starts in rookie ball and four in Birmingham, and then joined the Sox in the final month of the season.  No wonder he struggled with a tired arm in 1988.

Greg Walker, 1982

1982	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG
Greg Walker	17	7	2	1	2	7	.412	.474	1.000

Considering Walker didn't make his debut until Sept. 18, he did a nice job making up for lost time.  He singled in his first at-bat, a pinch-hitting appearance, and got his second hit nine days later with a pinch-hit, bases-clearing double.

Nyls Nyman, 1974

1974	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG
Nyls Nyman	14	9	2	1	0	4