Top 10 reasons why
Razor Shines won't be coming back next year:
10. Requested hammock for when Sox face rookie pitchers.
9. Hazed Andy Gonzalez by giving him the take sign with two strikes.
8. Fred Manrique needs money.
7. Celebratory ass pats left marks.
6. Had track record of helping players under 30.
5. Name scared focus groups.
4. Couldn't figure out shorter path between second and home for Paul Konerko.
3. Dave Gallagher needs money.
2. Gave signs using only middle fingers during entire month of May.
1. He never played for the White Sox.
***
The last one isn't funny, but it's likely true -- now that he's out of the organization and Art Kusnyer is stepping down due to health reasons, the Sox staff is entirely composed of former White Sox.
I'm not going to say that this is a right or wrong move, but without knowing what kind of relationship Shines had with the rest of the staff, it doesn't make much sense.
No. 1: Shines did a better job at third in 2007 than Joey Cora did in '06, although the league's most dysfunctional offense didn't force him to make nearly as many decisions. At worst, he was still an unknown quantity.
No. 2: Ozzie Guillen says that he wants to go in a different direction, but Kenny Williams isn't making any changes to the plodding, aging core. In fact, he handed extensions to station-to-station experts Jermaine Dye and A.J. Pierzynski, while making room for fellow sloth Joe Crede.
No. 3: Unless Razor had other job offers before his promotion last year, it didn't make much sense to remove him from the minor-league system only to give him the boot after one season. He had a ridiculously good track record, leading the Charlotte Knights to the playoffs in 2006, and
winning Manager of the Year at the helm of the Birmingham Barons in 2005.
Also noteworthy is the way Shines elevated the performance of his teams in year he served at both Double-A and Triple-A:
Shines did get to manage the cream of a very thin crop along his way -- and that 2005 Barons team also had the emerging
Chris Young roaming center -- but he also seemed to get the most out of his talent along the way.
Josh Fields turned the corner on Shines' watch last year, and
Ryan Sweeney was on the right track on Shines' squads in '05 and '06 before suffering a big setback this year at Charlotte.
The Sox are going to need production from those two in order to salvage what is currently one of the league's worst talent pipelines, while buying time for hopefully better drafts. That's why it seems unwise to dump the one guy who has seen those two work through issues firsthand for years.
It will be interesting to see where Shines lands, because perhaps that will give some indication of whether Shines may have been under consideration for another major-league post before last season -- Phil Rogers touted him as manager material during the 2006 season. That will at least give me some semblance of an answer on one front. Because I have little idea of what Shines did or didn't do this season, all I have are more questions.
And this picture: