Kosuke Fukudome
is making the leap from Japan to the big leagues, thus beginning a week that could make or break any hope the Sox have for contending in 2008. If Kenny Williams snags him, he'll at least provide a reason to tune in. At most ... well, Fukudome could be very good, but it'll be the pitching after Javier Vazquez that makes the difference either way.
If he doesn't ... yikes. Even if he were to dust off his thinking cap and action pants, the lack of prospects or desirable contracts have him hamstrung.
Chris De Luca
maintains the Cubs have the upper hand, hopefully similar to the way the Sun-Times said
the Sox had the inside track on Torii Hunter before Thanksgiving weekend. But since we've already talked Fukudome to death, I'd like to instead focus on the last two paragraphs of De Luca's column:
As for [Ozzie] Guillen, he is facing bigger issues that should raise the Sox' ante for Fukudome.
''[If] we start the season not hitting, one thing I worry about is the players start looking at each other's faces and battling each other,'' Guillen said. ''I think our ballclub has to forget what they did last year and just think about what they're going to do this year.''
Given that the current makeup of the club is almost exactly the same as last year's, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which Sox hitters don't dive into a downward spiral if they stumble in April. Remember
what Greg Walker said in June?
"If there was a magic answer, we have enough smart people in this room
where we would have been able to figure something out," Walker added.
"I said it all year. I saw it in the guys' eyes early this year." [...]
"As a group, this has been a very frustrated locker room. What you get
out of that is bad results, and that's exactly what we are getting. But
if you give into it, this game won't feel sorry for you. It has a long
history of if you feel sorry for yourself or get frustrated, it piles
on. It will bury you. That's what happened to us."
(Note: If you read the article, you'll see not one, but two references to "swagger.")
Not only is Walker still here, but I don't think I'm wrong in saying that Kenny Williams' two major additions could make the Sox lineup so uptight, two-thirds of it could eat coal and crap diamonds.
If the Sox somehow land Fukudome, Carlos Quentin, who is so hard on himself that
he needs a counselor to take the load off, replaces Jerry Owens,
AKA the Californiest guy on the team now with Jon Garland in, well, California. Orlando Cabrera is
considered an intense vocal leader, and would take the place of Juan Uribe, depicted as upbeat or flaky, depending on who's talking.
There's no reason to jump to conclusions in mid-December, but I'm a little concerned that this weighs on Ozzie's mind right now. If nothing else, because he's treading on my turf.