It's interesting to contrast Jermaine Dye and Tadahito Iguchi as they deal with uncertain futures without any movement from the White Sox with regards to contract extension.
Dye's reactions to Mark Buehrle's extension have been well-chronicled. He's
snipped, he's
sulked, he's been miffed, yet he has far fewer grounds for complaint. It's hard to remember an MVP candidate collapsing so quickly. He's been banged-up, right field is fertile ground for triples, and let's not forget
the hints of overtures he made to Ron Washington and the Texas Rangers in the offseason.
Iguchi's gone through some of the same things. A bruised finger hurt his production early in the season, and his range isn't all that great, either. Nevertheless, Iguchi
has stated his preference to stay in Chicago without making much about it -- and he started hitting a month before Dye.
Ultimately, it's good to see players want to continue their careers on the South Side, but Dye's mood change has the overtones of avoiding accountability. Buehrle's pitched his tail off this year, and Javier Vazquez, who was extended in March, is pitching almost as well as he did in Montreal.
Meanwhile, Dye's disappearance is in the top three reasons why the Sox aren't in contention. The Sox front office doesn't always handle negotiations in the most graceful fashion, but it's hard to pin blame on him for this one.
***********************
Having covered second base and right field, let's move on to shortstop, where
Ozzie Guillen is among many disappointed with Juan Uribe:
"I talked to him in Spring Training and said, 'We need you to get on base and steal more bases. He's got from now until the end of the season to show he can do that."
Unfortunately, he hasn't done that in the last nine baseball months. As much of a Uribe fan as I am, it pains me to watch him at the plate. Somehow, even though he's on pace to double his walk total, he looks way more out of control. Even if he threw the leather around like he did in 2005, it wouldn't come close to making up for his bat as is.
We've
talked before about Frank Thomas' effect on Uribe, and it seems like only the Big Hurt -- or his hitting guru, Walt Hriniak -- can save the Torpedo Boat at this point. Otherwise, you can pretty much write up Uribe as a Greg Walker Lost Cause.
Over at South Side Sox, the Cheat
did some nice work looking into possible shortstop targets.
***********************
Talk about a firm rejection: In response to
Phil Rogers' speculation...
An interesting thing happened on Monday night in Milwaukee:
The Arizona Diamondbacks played their first baseman, Conor Jackson, in
left field, only the second time in his big-league career he has played
there.
According to MLB sources, the Diamondbacks were showcasing him for a
possible trade to the White Sox, who like his bat but have a logjam in
the 1B/DH roles with Paul Konerko and Jim Thome.
...the
Arizona Republic reports:
Executives from the Diamondbacks and White Sox got a laugh out of a published report Tuesday that said Conor Jackson played
left field on Monday night in order to showcase him in a potential
trade. A White Sox official sent a sarcastic e-mail to a Diamondbacks
official that said, "Let us know next time you're showcasing someone
for us."
Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes also
called the rumor "ridiculous," which is good, because I can't see how Jackson fits. The Sox have
had some luck with discarded veterans, but they have enough
underachiving youth of their own right now.
***********************
Minor league round-up:- Charlotte 3, Buffalo 2 (12 innings)
- Gavin Floyd had his best start in weeks, striking out 10 over eight innings. He only allowed three hits, with one of them a solo homer.
- Carlos Vasquez threw three scoreless innings in relief, striking out three while only walking one. David Aardsma picked up the win with a scoreless inning.
- Casey Rogowski went 3-for-4 with a homer, a double and two RBI. Wiki Gonzalez had a pair of doubles, and Danny Richar went 2-for-5.
- Chattanooga 5, Birmingham 0
- Good news: Wes Whisler struck out six over six innings. Bad news: He gave up five runs on eight hits.
- The Barons only had three hits; Thomas Collaro and Shawn Garrett had doubles.
- Oneli Perez struck out the side in his inning of work. He's struck out 11 over nine innings in July while only allowing three hits and two walks.
- Lynchburg 6, Winston-Salem 3
- Brian Omogrosso was hit hard over his start, giving up nine hits over five innings.
- Brandon Johnson went 1-for-2 with a double and two walks.
- Charleston 4, Kannapolis 2
- Fautino De Los Santos lasted only four innings, but none of the four runs he allowed were earned. Of course, two scored on his own throwing error. He allowed two hits, two walks and struck out four.
- Maurice Gartrell hit a solo homer and scored both runs.
- Chris Carter went 0-for-4, and is 1-for-12 over the last three games.