Chris De Luca's piece
on Juan Uribe in the Chicago Sun-Times is chock-full of salient points and good insight from Kenny Williams, bolstered by another great game by Sox's utiltyman-turned-third-baseman
Saturday afternoon. Uribe drove in the Sox's first run with a double, scored the second, and saved perhaps two runs on defense with a pair of clutch double plays.
I do have one issue with it. Here's the lede:
Saturday marks one full month since Pablo Ozuna was cut loose by the White Sox. Somehow, they have managed to stay atop the American League Central.
The backlash after Ozuna's exit was surprisingly nasty for a utility player. Yes, he was reliable, as far as bench players go. Yes, he was on that World Series-winning team in 2005. Yes, he could get you an occasional hit off a left-hander.
If baseball were a democracy, Ozuna still would be in a Sox uniform -- instead of coming off the bench these days for the Los Angeles Dodgers -- and Juan Uribe would have been the infielder shown the door.
All of this hand-wringing over Ozuna's untimely demise was before All-Star third baseman Joe Crede moved to the disabled list because of back problems. It turns out the Sox haven't missed a beat defensively with Uribe's glove work at third. It's the kind of steady -- sometimes spectacular -- play that Ozuna never could have provided.
Basically, it's kind of interesting that he pooh-poohs the Ozuna love when
his colleague virtually led the mob after the Sox designated Ozuna for assignment:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In one of
the stranger White Sox moves of the season thus far, the club announced
on Tuesday that Juan Uribe has more value to them than Pablo Ozuna.
It was no surprise that the club reinstated Paul Konerko from the
15-day disabled list prior to the start of the series with Kansas City,
but the decision to make Ozuna the odd-man out seemed, well, a bit odd.
Ozuna brings more consistency to the plate than Uribe, is a better
pinch-hitter and pinch-runner, plus can play all three infield spots,
as well as act as an emergency outfielder if need be. He was hitting
.391 against left-handers this season, as well as .353 in the month of
June.
Uribe was hitting .206 this season with an oh-so-lovely .258 on-base percentage.
It didn't take a genius to realize that
Uribe fit the team's needs better and it's great to see him vindicate both Williams and himself in the wake of the "controversial" roster decision and the Crede injury
If he wants to pursue a starting job, then the Sox probably aren't the right team for him next year. If he's content being a utilityman, however, he may not have to change his address, because none of the three infield positions are completely set for next year. Consider the current in-house options:
Shortstop: Alexei Ramirez, presumably. This can be penciled in, but a sophomore slump isn't out of the question, considering the strength of his game is creating a random series of events.
Second base: Chris Getz might be the front-runner, but hasn't proven himself yet. Realistically, he'd need a platoon partner, a bill Uribe fits.
Third base: Josh Fields, except that whole thing about not being able to put a bat on a fastball above 92 m.p.h. is going to cripple his progress.
Even if the Sox pursue a stopgap solution at one of the two non-Ramirez positions, there will still be opportunites abound for Uribe -- especially since he has shown he can perform cold off the bench. Since losing his starting job at second in mid-May,
he has hit .281/.319/.427 in 96 plate appearances.
Considering he has not held a grudge for the Sox taking away two starting jobs (if you count shortstop a couple weeks after he signed a one-year contract), I wouldn't count Uribe out of the picture next year. If cost isn't prohibitive -- and the $4.5 million he's making this year surely isn't -- he'll still be a great fit as long as he sees himself as one.
By the way, if you want to figure out how many times Ozuna would've been needed, just see how many pinch-running opportunities Dewayne Wise has received. The answer: two, and the first was the day Ozuna was released.
*************************
If you were blacked out from the live broadcast of Saturday's game -- or bored to sleep during it -- see if you can find a clip of Matt Thornton's inning of work. It was a thing of beauty.
After Octavio Dotel tried throwing all fastballs against Jack Cust only to watch him tie the game Friday night, Thorndog played Gallant to Dotel's Goofus. Easy Heat tripled up on sliders, and Cust wasn't prepared to handle any of them. The result: A three-pitch strikeout.
Also, Thornton appeared to set a good example by
requesting rest from Ozzie Guillen, which is something more Sox relievers should do (see: Politte, Cliff; MacDougal, Mike; Hermanson, Dustin; Linebrink, Scott).
*************************
Minor league roundup:- Norfolk 4, Charlotte 0
- Jason Childers struck out the side in a 1-2-3 inning.
- Dave Cook had two of the Knights' six hits.
- Tomo Ohka threw a quality start in defeat.
- Tennessee 8, Birmingham 4
- Lucas Harrell struggled, allowing six runs (four earned) on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out one.
- Victor Mercedes and Lee Cruz hit solo homers; Cruz has homered in three straight games.
- Miguel Negron went 2-for-3 with two walks, and has reached base 20 times in his last seven games.
- Winston-Salem 6, Lynchburg 2
- John Shelby went 2-for-3 with a homer, double and two RBI.
- Joe Persischina and Greg Paiml had two hits apiece as well.
- Jacob Rasner allowed one unearned run over five innings.
- Henry Mabee struck out four over 2 1/3 shutout innings of relief.
- Kannapolis 10, Hickory 0
- Jim Gallagher went 3-for-6 with two solo homers.
- Eduardo Escobar fell a homer short of the cycle and drove in two.
- Gordon Beckham went 1-for-4 with two walks; Christian Marrero drew three walks.
- John Curtis drove in two; Justin Greene went 3-for-4 and scored two runs.
- Jason Rice threw six shutout innings, allowing four hits, two walks and striking out four.
- Princeton 7, Bristol 2
- John Kateon went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
- Juan Silverio went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .219 and committed his 20th and 21st errors at short.
- Dan Puls allowed one run over five innings of relief.
- Idaho Falls 8, Great Falls 6
- Tyler Kuhn went 2-for-5 with four RBI, including a three-run homer and a double.
- Kyle Shelton had two hits including a two-run shot.
- Kent Gerst went 2-for-3 with two walks and his 10th stolen base.