Ozzie Guillen told his team to "just be ready because I expect movement Tuesday." That could explain why he was so irritable after
Sunday's 4-3 loss to the Rays, because if you had to plan your movements three days in advance, you'd be cranky, too.
All week veal. Guillen's full quote:
"Just be ready because I expect movement Tuesday. I expect (general manager) Kenny Williams to do something Tuesday, and if we don't do anything Tuesday, there are going to be a lot of lineup changes. That's all I'm going to say about the offense." [...]
"It can be me. It can be (hitting coach) Greg Walker. It can be the players. It could be anybody," he said. "I'm sick and tired to watch this thing for a year and a half. I'm not protecting anybody anymore. [Bleep] it. If they can't get it done, Kenny should find someone to get it done."
To which Williams responded:
"It's just not a good idea to throw your boss under the bus, especially
when that boss has had your back as much as I have had his. I expect this team, if the leadership remains
positive and the players stick together and continue to play hard, it
will be a fun summer.
"The offense will begin to produce when collectively they say the hell
with all the theories, stay loose, pick the pitch you want to hit and
hit it hard. It will be nice to see them lighten up and have some fun."
...after they flip the switch and things start to click, a little bingo, all it takes is one, warm weather, etc. If he's going to resort to clichés, he should've at least said Sox hitters will "have a bitchin' summer!" instead. It would've made my night, I know that much.
Reading
the comments on the Trib's Hardball blog -- which I shouldn't do, because it's awful for my health -- I feel there are some fundamental truths that should be accepted in order to save some sanity. Mine, mostly.
THIS THINGS I BELIEVE
No. 1: A below-average offense was to be expected. Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye and A.J. Pierzynski each crapped the bed last year. Joe Crede had season-killing back surgery. Jim Thome suffered power outage and was another year into his late '30s. You could pick a rebound for one or two of them, but to expect all four to return would be a fool's errand. Throw in the fact that they still had the same hitting philosophy, and ... yeah. Williams painted himself into a corner with the Dye and Pierzynski extensions, as well as letting Konerko's 10-and-5 rights kick in.
No. 2: But Williams didn't go all-in. The additions of Nick Swisher and Carlos Quentin were as much for three years from now as they were for 2008. I didn't feel Gio Gonzalez was a big loss, and neither was Chris Carter. That Sox fans could see five years of this Swisher is a scary thought, but I'd still do that trade over again. It made too much sense.
Add in Alexei Ramirez and Orlando Cabrera returning to Type A free-agent level, and Williams has begun a rebuilding process of sorts -- just one with a shorter turnaround.
No. 3: Jim Thome shouldn't be cut. There's no point. The Sox won't save money, they have nobody better waiting in the wings, etc. Sure, it would send a message, but the message would be, "I'm throwing millions of dollars away, wooooooooo!"
No. 4: Paul Konerko should be on the DL. When Josh Fields is healthy, that is. Unless he's not getting healthy anytime soon, because Brad Eldred is nothing but a last resort -- a last resort that would provide enough wind energy to power Bridgeport. That's how thin the Sox are. And speaking of thin...
No. 5: It's not Juan Uribe's fault. He may be overweight, have an out-of-control swing and do everything in as ugly a fashion as possible, but his presence on the roster is negligible, then and now. It looks like Ramirez is starting for the foreseeable future, so hopefully the anti-
¡Profundo! faction will cease fire. Chris Getz is not an answer.
No. 6: The only guys with trade value aren't that expendable. Javier Vazquez and Bobby Jenks would provide healthy returns, but that could hurt the Sox more than it helps. It would be selling low on Fields and Aaron Poreda right now. Jose Contreras might have value, but would teams take a chance that he could do it away from Don Cooper? Those who say "a trade needs to be made" would be wishing for Pandora's box to open.
No. 7: Would veteran hitters even help? Seeing what Swisher has turned into on the South Side makes me think even guys with lengthy track records outside the Sox system aren't immune.
No. 8: About that hitting coach... Replacing Greg Walker is the only real first move. It may have no impact, but 1) I'll once again point to
the Indians and Derek Shelton, and 2) if a hitting coach can't be fired for this, then the only other way out is to frame him for a felony.
I have nothing against Walker. He seems like a genuinely nice guy who genuinely seems to care. But when hitters pop up three straight times with a runner on third with nobody out ...
... and
can't make 13 games of 2.54 ERA stand up ...
... and this has been the story, more or less, for two years now ....
the situation is
screaming for change.
Wait, is negligence a felony?
The point is, the Sox had a 90-loss team with no true blue-chip young talent. John Danks and Carlos Quentin certainly qualify if their early performances hold up, but they were major question marks entering the season; Gavin Floyd, more so. The two major bullpen acquisitions had major trend and health issues. Even though Cabrera had to be an improvement over Uribe, Nick Swisher represented the only massive upgrade at any position at the diamond.
So you could hope for the best possible outcomes from the above parties and rebounds from the incumbents, and if everything panned out, the Sox could have legimitate pennant hopes. Moderate success would put the Sox around .500, perhaps slightly above depending on the other Central teams.
And that's where they are. What makes it painful is that the people who should be peforming aren't, and vice versa. One can look at the surprises like Quentin, Danks and Floyd and say, "If only Paulie stopped sucking, they'd be in business," when in reality, Quentin could've be rehabbing an aggravated shoulder in Charlotte while Floyd hangs curveballs and causes a conga line around the bases (like Brad Radke in that old Sega Genesis commercial), and the Sox would be in the same place while Konerko and Swisher hit at a decent clip.
It's going to be a long summer. Feel free to bitch, kvetch and vent, but save your high blood pressure in case they're actually in a pennant race when late August rolls around. Aside from letting loose
the marmosets Walker, quiet hope is the only real course of action at this point.
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Minor league roundup:
- Charlotte 8, Richmond 2
- Jack Egbert pitched seven strong innings, thank L. Ron Hubbard. Two runs, one earned (solo homer), three hits, no walks, four strikeouts, 85 pitches.
- Chris Getz had a double, a walk and two RBI.
- Jason Bourgeois had two hits and two runs scored; Royce Huffman hit a solo shot.
- Josh Fields did not play.
- Birmingham 7, Mississippi 4
- Javier Castillo went 2-for-5 with a homer and drove in four.
- Dave Cook went 1-for-4 with his 11th homer, and a walk on top of that.
- Erick San Pedro, playing his first game for Birmingham, had three hits.
- Kyle McCulloch was unimpressive: 5 2/3 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 2 K
- Joseph Torres, Brian Omogrosso and Jon Link pitched 3 1/3 hitless innings in relief.
- Winston-Salem 4, Salem 3
- John Ely pitched 7 2/3 strong innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and two walks, striking out six.
- C.J. Retherford and Anderson Gomes hit solo homers.
- Kanekoa Teixeira picked up his ninth save with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
- Lexington 7, Kannapolis 6
- The volatile Miguel Socolovich struck out seven over three scoreless innings of relief.
- Christian Marrero went 2-for-3 with two RBI; Jim Gallagher doubled and tripled.
- Logan Johnson went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, his eighth.