Looking Ahead to 2010’s Dashed Expectations

By Andrew Reilly | September 15, 2009

We all know by now that 2009 is a disaster, and that’s all well and good, except everything that’s wrong with the Sox right now is everything that informed last spring’s wildly psychotic expectations. Carlos Quentin, for example, would not get hurt. Jim Thome would not continue his decline into old age and diminished skills. Last season was just a down year for Jermaine Dye in the outfield. And on and on it went.

But with this season almost in the books and two of the biggest question marks (Thome and Jose Contreras) out of town, who will carry us just short of what little the team needs from then next year?

Alex Rios. Not that Rios will be terrible, but expect a smattering of weird local projections insisting he’ll put up another 30-homer, 100-RBI season even though he’s never put up a 30-homer, 100-RBI season. People seem to forget this about Rios, that while he’s pretty good he’s not quite franchise good. And yet they will. And so will he.

Gordon Beckham. There is no such thing as “a book,” and the league would never assemble such a thing on young Bacon Spice, even if one did exist. Do you want to know the real reason he’s closing the season on a 17-for-76 slump? Because he’s awesome, that’s why.

Alexei Ramirez. It’s kind of funny how Ramirez’ sloppy defense was entirely overlooked heading into the season as the Sox moved him over to short, and it will be even funnier after his disastrous time in center next year spelling the DFA’d Alex Rios.

Carlos Quentin. It’s sad to say, but if it weren’t for Alex Rios, DeWayne Wise, Brian Anderson, Brent Lillibridge and Jerry Owens, Quentin would be the worst outfielder the Sox have trotted out this season. Next season though, watch out because he will soooo not get hurt and he will totally not have already faced every pitching staff in the American League, which doesn’t matter anyway because there is no book. You think people have figured out White Sox hitters? I got news for you: no one has figured out White Sox hitters – not even White Sox hitters themselves! And this is how they will succeed! Just like this year!

Team of Destiny!

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Hope Is But Fuel For The Nightmare Inferno

By Andrew Reilly | September 15, 2009

You know what’s going to be cool about next year? April, man. And maybe even May, too. [Mouthpiece Sports]

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The Sport of Jesters

By Andrew Reilly | September 15, 2009

The White Sox could be champions, if only we were talking about a different game. [The Beachwood Reporter]

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We Only Have Ourselves to Blame for Alex Rios’ Struggles

By Andrew Reilly | September 14, 2009

Hey, did you know Alex Rios is having a rough go of it with the Good Guys? What were the odds? That’s currr-AY-zeee!

Anyway, as much fun as it is to bemoan the less-than-stellar output of the $68 million, two-time All-Star* and fifth-best rookie** of 2004, can anyone really get too upset over that heinous 13-for-97 start to Rios’ Hall of Fame run on the South Side? Bizarre feelings of entitlement to the money Jerry Reinsdorf is paying him aside, not really, but not for the reasons you’d expect.

To be fair, this could just be a case of Rios having a down year; this happens to even the best of them and better now than during the impending years of glory awaiting the Sox beginning May 2010 and ending October 29, 2014 as the Sox bring home their third trophy in five seasons. His track record suggests he’s better than what we’ve seen of him, and even the previously-burned will begrudgingly admit Rios, in the end, is still a worthy addition to any respectable team. Or, in this case, to the 2009 White Sox.

But the thing is, no one really complains about Rios’ numbers, only that Rios’ numbers are especially low for someone making as much as he is; where DeWayne Wise is merely terrible, Rios is not just terrible but also some kind of thief.

When the Sox landed Rios, everyone knew there was a good player hiding in there somewhere, even if the Jays demanded absolutely nothing in return. That said, the only way to assume the Rios pickup was some kind of genius move is to also assume Kenny Williams never fails (even though he, like even the best of general managers, has in the past and he, like even the best of general managers, surely will again). Rios didn’t line up the terms of his contract with Toronto, nor did he claim himself off waivers. Rios may be somehow putting up numbers that make us all long for the days of (sigh) Brian Anderson, and judging by his remarks to the press he probably understands this, but by now not one but two separate GMs have endorsed his market value. We can fault Rios for his performance, but ultimately have only Ricciardi and Williams’ significant faith in number 51 to blame for the poor return on their (not our) investment.

(*) Other locally significant All-Stars since 2000: Mike MacDougal, Kosuke Fukudome, Milton Bradley.
(**) Other locally significant high finishers in Rookie of the Year voting since 2000: Josh Fields, Nick Swisher, Shingo Takatsu, Ross Gload, Mark Prior.

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More Advancement

By Andrew Reilly | September 11, 2009

Ssssssshhh! You, complaining about the low batting average – quiet down over there! Carlos Quentin is thinking! Again! [Mouthpiece Sports]

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There Is Only One Carlos Quentin Profile Piece And It Goes Like This

By Andrew Reilly | September 11, 2009

Carlos Quentin, as the legend goes, is a thinker. Not just a thinking man’s ballplayer – he went to Stanford, so he’s probably smarter than you – but a real-life thinker, a sort of pine tar philosopher constantly examining and reexamining his swing not just as a means of hitting a baseball but as an implement to a larger goal of helping his team win.

The legend also goes that, because he is so driven and singularly focused, Quentin can give the wrong impression to observers and outsiders alike. Some may see a man who doesn’t have time to care, while those close to the misunderstood genius insist Quentin actually care more than we will ever understand. The bat-chewing, the wrist-smashing, the playing hurt: Carlos Quentin is not weird. Carlos Quentin is Advanced.

Did you read that in today’s Sun-Times? Maybe you did. Did you also read that on the team’s official site five months ago? That’s also possible.

From WhiteSox.com, April 16, 2009:

It’s not so much about the results for Quentin, as much as it is about finding the right feel at the plate. The study continues for the cerebral hitter, trying to perfect a discipline that’s almost impossible to perfect.

From the Sun-Times, September 11, 2009:

Back in 2005 and ’06, Podsednik was Quentin. Tough to interview. Always working. Chasing a perfection that just doesn’t exist in the game of baseball.

Perhaps it is foolish for us to expect to learn more about this mysterious man patrolling left field, his cosmic genius defying the prose of even the most fervent and devoted of scribes. We live in a world of endless information, genius batters, cool kids and team-building general managers, and perhaps this is a time for us to accept our own limitations and realize there are but some things, alas, that we mortals are simply not meant to know.

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Things We Know About This Weekend’s Series in Los Angeles of Anaheim

By Andrew Reilly | September 11, 2009

I. The universe, correcting itself, will leave the Sox crushed.

Remember all that stuff about the Sox wailing on superior teams, thus rendering superior teams non-superior and putting the Sox technically atop a pile of American League corpses? Yeah, those days are probably over. Mike Scioscia, sharp cookie that he is, will be managing to get his team ready to hold their own other good teams; Ozzie Guillen, no slouch by any means, finds himself managing an early Spring Training session. Scioscia plays for today; Guillen can worry about that tomorrow. Fun as it might sound to believe the Sox can play spoiler, the only thing the Good Guys have spoiled is what outside chance at the postseason they ever had in the first place.

II. So many light years to go. . .

. . . with the magic number at 17 and the Tigers playing the Blue Jays, expect a weekend of stagnation where the Good Guys’ euthanization is concerned.

III. The 2009 American League Central might be the worst division of all time.

Discussing the lamest non-race of all time, everyone points to the 2006 National League Central (the one the Cardinals won with a laughable 83 wins, but at least had injuries to key personnel to hide behind before laying waste to the playoff pack). The Sox, right now, at 70-71, sit six behind the division-”leading” Tigers, who in turn sit nine back from the Angels in the race for home-field advantage. Nine games. To take it a step further, the Tigers would find themselves stuck in a deserved third place in the West, while the third-place Mariners would be thinking “October” in the Central right now. What’s that, you say? The West only has four teams? That’s irrelevant, because by my count the Central only has three.

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Philosophical Dilemmas, White Sox Baseball Be Thy Name

By Andrew Reilly | September 10, 2009

What makes a rookie great? And what’s a year worth, anyway? [Mouthpiece Sports]

But more importantly: what did Kenny Williams know, and when did he know it? [Mouthpiece Sports]

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Kenny Williams Feels His Pain And His Alone

By Andrew Reilly | September 10, 2009

It’s funny to hear Kenny Williams lament publicly how much the Sox’ lame season disappoints him, as though anything that’s gone wrong should be a surprise to even the most optimistic of Sox fans (or, for that matter, Sox personnel). To hear Williams tell it:

Asked if he takes any consolation knowing the Sox likely will be the favorites to win the American League Central in 2010, Williams showed just how unhappy he was.

“That doesn’t take away the sting that I feel right now,” he said. “That doesn’t take away the churning of my stomach.

“When you can beat the New York Yankees three out of four, Anaheim two of three and then Cleveland comes into town and you lose two of three, Baltimore comes in and you lose two of three, you beat the Boston Red Sox three of four, almost sweep, and you go on a road trip and do nothing. Then you come back and the Oakland A’s pound you…no, none of what I see ahead takes away the beatdown I feel right now. [Expletive] no.”

It’s good to hear the man in charge bleeding for the team he loves, and no one doubts Williams’ belief in the teams he assembles, but what’s shocking is Williams’ reaction to the 2009 season; the only way to be disappointed by something is to have unmet expectations, and given the Sox’ problems going into the season you have to wonder why, exactly, anyone would have expected anything from these Sox at all.

Did Williams think a three-man rotation would carry the team down the stretch?

Did he think the seventh center fielder would be the last center fielder?

Did he think trading for a pitcher with an injury already considered season-ending (even before it actually ended his season) would somehow improve the team’s chances?

The conventional wisdom says that the GM knows things we the public don’t, and we should all hope that’s true. At the same time, how can it be possible that the man who put such a flawed team together didn’t see any of this coming? When Joe Fan and Jane Blogger can sit down in April and identify every problem with the team, and the GM can theoretically identify those problems (and others we the public don’t even know about), should any of this come as a shock? Is anyone allowed to feel pain when a team does exactly what it was built to do? Yes, there were some aberrations along the way, i.e. the crushing of the Yankees and Angels, but no one sits back in April, looks at a team and says “This looks like a team that will perform unexpectedly well against superior teams.”

Rather, it’s a game of end results, and the Sox have reaped exactly what Williams hath sown. One could almost take comfort in that, if those results weren’t so darn miserable.

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Chris Getz and Gordon Beckham Raise An Interesting Intellectual Debate

By Andrew Reilly | September 9, 2009

The Sox, if you ask them, have not one but two legitimate Rookie of the Year candidates. As Guillen told the Sun-Times today:

Guillen continued to push for Beckham, and now Chris Getz, to be in the final argument for rookie of the year honors. But he made one thing clear for the Sox public relations department.

”You know, no one talks about Getz, but Getz has had a great year, too,” Guillen said. ”Those two guys grew up in this organization and hopefully they get it.”

”The only bad thing about it is maybe the [Sox] PR department will make me fly from Venezuela when they hear the news, and that’s [a negative]. I don’t fly from Venezuela for anybody’s award.”

Hilarity of that last bit aside, what about Getz’ chances as Rookie of the Year? Consider the numbers of the Sox’ prized freshmen:
Getz: 97 games, .271/.330/.366, 46 R, 18 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 31 RBI, 22 SB
Beckham: 83 games, .274/.350/.458, 45 R, 23 2B, 1 3B, 10 HR, 52 RBI, 6 SB

On the surface, what we’re looking at are two players with two different sets of abilities; one who can hit well and run better, and one who does almost the opposite. Considering also the fact he was drafted in 2008, Beckham would seem to have the obvious advantage, and it’s unlikely anyone will argue Beckham as the superior player of the two.

But the debate about Getz and Beckham raises an interesting question of what is truly more valuable in baseball (and especially to a team like the Sox so sorely needing to make decisions about what kind of team it wants to be). Beckham is a hot-hitting corner infielder, even though he’s technically a shortstop by trade; Getz is essentially the second coming of Ray Durham. Beckham can bring home some runs, but batting so high in the order he’s supposed to; Getz doesn’t score a lot, but it’s hard to cross the plate when you’re counting on Scott Podsednik to drive you in. Beckham has adapted quickly to fielding a new position; Getz has at least improved (not to mention he induces substantially fewer heart attacks than his predecessor).

All told, everyone knows Beckham is the superior of the two, and the more likely to win the honors. But Guillen, amidst his ravings and ramblings, actually makes sense here.

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Eleven Years Gone

By Andrew Reilly | September 8, 2009

When you’re all out of love, the best you can do is hate; all told, that’s not such a bad way to run out the clock. [The Beachwood Reporter]

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Sox Still In It, Says Sox GM

By Andrew Reilly | September 5, 2009

You have to feel bad for Kenny Williams sometimes. Sure, he makes his living playing chess with humans and has earned the respect of his peers across his chosen line of work, but when the jackals of the internet and small-time press (this writer included) make a second career out of second-guessing his every move – even the ones that won’t really hurt his team – even the most banal of explanations come off as a justification. Which is kind of weird, considering the Sox’ trades of Jim Thome and Jose Contreras don’t really need a lot of explanation. As Williams said in yesterday’s press conference:

“The fact of the matter is, if we were not in the position to take [Thome's] spot and put a quality hitter in that place, then I don’t probably even go down the line and make the overtures. But at any given time, we had Carlos Quentin or Alex Rios or Jermaine Dye or Paul Konerko sitting on our bench. I felt that, giving [Jim] the opportunity and putting them into one of those positions could only be a wash as far as our ability to challenge for the championship.”

I’m sure we all got a good laugh at that last part, most of us writing it off as typical Williams huffing and puffing about grinding and being here to win it and whatnot. At the same time, it’s statements like these that probably reveal more about the true nature of Williams, not as some small-time Steinbrenner with a reckless arrogant streak, but maybe as a more benevolent Vince Lombari-type not just expecting but assuming the absolute best from his players. Carlos Quentin will hit .285 with 35 home runs. Paul Konerko will not ground into a double play. Jermaine Dye will hit the cutoff man on the fly. Alex Rios will not forget how many outs there are and stay on second two outs. Of course we all know how thinking like that was worked out, but it’s good to see the man in charge keeping his chin up.

But the more telling bit is the last part, how swapping Thome out for Dye, Konerko et al does not affect their ability to compete. Notice how he doesn’t say “impair” or “bolster,” simply that it’s “a wash.” Williams has (and will continue) to get subtly lambasted for making comments like these, but in this case he’s absolutely right. It’s like he can’t win, although his team’s incessant losing probably doesn’t help matters.

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The Commander Will See You Now

By Red | September 4, 2009

Alright. I have to be honest.

With all due respect, I hate the Chicago White Sox.

It’s not because you guys prevented my beloved Red Sox from repeating as World Series champs in 2005, dismissing us in a quick and painful ALDS. It’s not because of your manager, Ozzie Guillen, the human irritant. It’s not even because I hold a grudge over that whole Black Sox scandal thing.

It’s because of one man.

Carlton Fisk.

I grew up in a Red Sox-loving home, where dinners were “earned” by responding to correctly to Carl Yastrzemski trivia, and a photo of Tony Conigliaro hung next to a photo of Jesus.

And my favorite player, above all, was Carlton Fisk.

I had the shirt. The baseball cards. The poster. Even the puffy hand, which was exceptionally cool since they hadn’t even been invented yet back then. But I had ‘em. And I charted the man’s every move and tried–haplessly–to emulate his moves on the Little League diamond. He was the Commander. He was Pudge. He was the guy who took shit from no one, especially no one named Thurman Munson.

Well, we all know how that one turned out. After the 1980 season, management forgot to mail Fisk his contract (yet, tragically, remembered to mail Luis Aponte’s). Fisk, sensing the dis, jumped ship to Chicago for a cool $3.5 million.

As a kid who loved all things Fisk, I was devastated. Watching Fisk come back to Fenway in some of those godawful White Sox unis (including this lovely number-around-the-balls get-up) was bad enough. Seeing him always seem to come up huge against us with a key hit or home run was even more painful. It was like he’d been born again, enjoying some of his best seasons and actually logging more time with the White Sox than the Red Sox.

At least the man had the good sense to enter the Hall of Fame in a Red Sox cap. But in my eyes, the damage was done. I’d been robbed of a chance to watch my childhood hero play out his career with the hometown team. And it leaves a void that just won’t ever be filled, despite my best hooker- and alcohol-fueled efforts.

So please understand that, beginning tonight, I’ll be heartily rooting against you guys.

And, somehow, somewhere, I have a feeling that my man Pudge will be doing the same.

——

Red is one-half the crew behind the surprisingly tolerable Red Sox-centric Surviving Grady. The World Series celebrations were nice, but you can guess who he still hasn’t forgiven. He lives in Boston.

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The Three People You’ll Meet At Today’s Cubs-Sox Game

By Andrew Reilly | September 3, 2009

We’re Totally Gonna Pull It Off Bro. Most likely a Cubs fan, this person will explain how being seven games out is okay, because there’s, what, like 50 games left? And 50 is more than seven, right? Right indeed, young Brosepher. And remember, Billy Bro-cean, transfer back to the Blue Line at Jackson, not Washington. It’s Gonna Happen.

I Can’t Believe These Tickets Were So Cheap. The casual observer, and either an indifferent Cubs fan or a Sox fan with a life. Both teams playing such forgettable baseball, it’s hard to blame either for not noticing or not caring. Day game or not, these people will be gone by the seventh.

God I Hate Being A Baseball Fan. Could be a fan of either team, really. Will sit quietly, stewing over the fact their team is so bad and they couldn’t find anyone to take their tickets off their hands. Their team could be up by six, and it would be viewed with equal skepticism and derision as if they were down by nine. When they get angry today, they’re actually expressing frustration over the past five months’ worth of terrible baseball by their terrible team.

Wrigley Field can be a cold place sometimes, but as summer fades away the Friendly Confines become, for an afternoon, just that: two rival camps, long separated by deep-seated animosity and generations of petty hatred united in misery, each hoping to inflict one last ounce of pain on the other and both wishing this would all just end. One side wins, but both still walk away in defeat.

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Peavy In, Peavy Out

By Andrew Reilly | September 3, 2009

The best thing to do with Jake Peavy is a resounding “yes.” Just ask someone. Anyone, really. [Mouthpiece Sports]

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The Sox Might As Well Shut Down Jake Peavy. Or Don’t. Whatever.

By Andrew Reilly | September 3, 2009

It’s an honest question, really: with the season all but over, what should the Sox do with midsummer acquisition Jake Peavy? With His ankle mostly healed but his elbow not responding well to a comebacker last week, Peavy’s previously questionable status has since become a point of contention; one school of thought says to get him back for one good go-round to make sure the pieces all work, while the other says there’s no point in having him pitch meaningless games. Both ideas are right, but unfortunately both are wrong as well.

Let’s for a second assume the best. Let’s say Peavy’s elbow is no big deal and he’s back to the form that won the 2007 NL Cy Young Award. Then what? What, really, do the Sox get out of No. 44’s return to the bigs? Two, three wins? A 4-20 September instead of a 2-22 September? A respectable third place instead of a floundering fourth? No one’s saying Peavy’s return would be worthless, but it’s hard to see how it would be anything but useless.

Now let’s take the other tack and say Peavy’s healthy but the Sox decide to simply shelve him until 2010 as insurance. Are the Sox really any worse off for it? They won’t win too much without good pitching, but at the same time the Sox haven’t really established a pattern of winning with good pitching this year. Peavy’s an acknowledged competitor, and his pride might be a little wounded, but we have to have faith in the idea that he understands the position in which his team finds itself; considering his willingness to help San Diego save a few bucks on payroll, this seems like a safe bet. The Sox end up about where they would have, and Peavy gets a nice payday for not doing his job. No one wins, but no one loses – except the Sox, but they’d be doing that anyway.

What’s important isn’t the decision the Sox make; what’s important is that, for all the wrong reasons, they can afford to make it at all. Do they really need a good pitcher to help them finish out a bad season? Do they dare insult themselves and their new star by calling it a day? The answer, sadly, doesn’t matter because at this point, the season doesn’t matter, either.

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