posted on Sunday, September 03, 2006 9:46 PM by Jim

Chris Widger

Chris Widger was one of those guys who summed up the Sox's tremendous amount of fortune in the first half of 2005.

Kenny Williams picked him off the scrap heap -- he was playing independent-league baseball and beer league softball when the Sox came calling -- and he started the season like he'd started 130 games the year before.  In fact, for a couple of months he was better than he'd been in the new century.

Widger hadn't hit a professional homer since 2000, but he went deep in his fifth start to the surprise of everyone.  And then he kept hitting.  By the end of May, Widger had put up a line of .347/.396/.551.  Nobody beat the Widge, and the Delaware native found himself as part of one of the most productive catching tandems in all of baseball.

He even proved himself to be more versatile than expected, starting a game at third when Juan Uribe and Pablo Ozuna were unavailable. 

Unfortunately, the wheels fell off soon afterwards.  In the last four months of the season, Widger posted a line of .185/.242/.293, although he did make an impact in the World Series when he walked with the bases loaded to drive in a key insurance run in the 14th inning of Game 3.  He also managed to maintain his 3.30 catcher's ERA despite his struggles at the plate. 

However, given the way he came crashing down to Earth, I wasn't in favor of bringing him back -- though his reputation as a good teammate and his role of union representative certainly worked against me.  There was no way Widger would return to the highs of early 2005, and I thought somebody like Miguel Olivo would be a better option.

While Olivo signed with Florida for $800,000, the Sox signed Widger to a one-year, $650,000.  Widger had turned into a pumpkin long before the start of the season; by late May, he was covered in mold and caving into himself.  On July 23, with Widger hitting .184 and mired in an 0-for-21 slump, the Sox dumped him unceremoniously for a catcher six years his senior. 

Widger took offense to his release, and eventually hooked on with Baltimore, where he's hitting worse than he did with the Sox as of this writing.

Comments

# re: Chris Widger

Sunday, September 03, 2006 10:08 PM by Gregory Pratt
I think this eulogy is poorly done, mate, and not in writing but in tone. It's so disrespectful to Widger, and unnecessarily so. He took offense to his release, but also had nothing but kind words for the Sox.

Carl Everett got better treatment than Widger.

# re: Chris Widger

Sunday, September 03, 2006 10:12 PM by hawksview
Thanks Chris.

# re: Chris Widger

Sunday, September 03, 2006 10:30 PM by Jim Margalus
I appreciate the input, and I did forget add that he had an outstanding catcher's ERA last season. That's been amended.

The problem is that Widger was terrific for the first quarter of his White Sox tenure, and abysmal for the last three. There was no in between, no graceful decline, and had I stopped at what was good, this would've been uncomfortably short. I didn't even mention that he was 2-for-26 in throwing out baserunners last year.

Had he and the Sox parted ways after the season, it would've been easier to balance the two. Geoff Blum's is a good example -- I spent a large portion of the piece discussing that he did jack for the Sox for all but one at-bat of his stint in Chicago, but he had the fortune of leaving on a high note.

Widger, on the other hand, would be hard-pressed to leave on a lower note, one that he sustained for quite a while. Unlike Politte, it wasn't an unfortunate injury -- it was just ability.

I will admit the pumpkin line was probably over the top, but given that his play led to the re-re-acquisition of Sandy Alomar Jr., backup catcher has been a sore spot for me before the season even started.

# re: Chris Widger

Monday, September 04, 2006 11:37 PM by Jeeves
I s'pose this is the last time I'll say this, but...

Wiiiiiiiidger!

It's a shame he couldn't recapture his magic from the start of the season. I really thought that Kenny had unearthed another gem, but I guess there was a reason he was playing beer-league softball.