posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 11:15 PM
by
Jim
A one-two punch of redundancy
It's time for MLB.com's Third Annual This Is The Year Javier Vazquez Puts It All Together Story,
courtesy of Scott Merkin:
"There will come a time where he puts it together, and if he puts it
together and gets on a roll, he could win a Cy Young," said White Sox
general manager Ken Williams. "I don't think there's any doubt he's got
some of the best stuff in the league."
"I make a prediction this is going to be one of Javy's best
years," Guillen added. "This year he will prove to people how good he
is."
Compare:
2006:
"However, [Vazquez] has great raw stuff, an understanding of how to pitch and
is the innings-eater the White Sox covet, with the potential to win 15
to 18 games per season. Turning Vazquez back around shouldn't be much
of a project at all for Cooper and the White Sox -- probably less of an
effort than it was with Contreras, who brought with him a pedigree as
one of Cuba's greatest pitchers but who had not achieved consistent
Major League success."2005:
"[Poor mechanics, Vazquez] said, was the reason for the struggles with location and
velocity and, after working on his mechanics during the offseason, he
feels his problems are a thing of the past."I'll believe it when I see it.
Speaking of annual storylines, second prize goes to "Tadahito Iguchi's Place in the Batting Order." I offer you a
Joe Cowley-
Mark Gonzalez double-team:
''It all depends on Brian and Podsednik, how their situation is,''
Guillen said. ''I would really like to have 'Igu' down in the lineup.
On the days Erstad hits first and Podsednik hits second, then maybe I
put Iguchi down in the lineup at seventh. But right now, we're trying
to figure out a different type of lineup.''
Before that comes to a head, manager Ozzie Guillen would like to try
Iguchi again in the seventh spot because of his run-producing
skills--but only if he can get a better on-base percentage from those
at the top of the order.
Previously, on
7th Heaven:
2006:
"For starters, manager Ozzie Guillen seems more and more set on giving
Juan Uribe a solid shot to anchor the second spot in the lineup and
move Iguchi down in the order to a more run-producing role at sixth or
seventh. Guillen spoke to Uribe by phone on Monday night and said that
the shortstop was excited by the possible change."Despite having a full season of this storyline under my belt, I still have little concept of why this is such a hot idea. I'm not seeing where all this excess run-producing power is hiding.
The Emperor
averaged 25 homers over his last four years of Japanese ball. He's averaged 17 in his two seasons with the White Sox. That seems like a fair conversion to me.
You don't even have to look at his numbers. Just look at his swing. He changed it from '05 to '06, making it compact and inside-out, so it's not going to generate a ton of power. What it's good at is staying out of the double play -- he
cut down his GIDPs from 16 to 7.
He improved his batting eye, and he remains one of the Sox's best baserunners, and I'd rather have him putting those skills to use before Jim Thome, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye come to the plate, and not after.