posted on Friday, March 28, 2008 3:23 AM
by
Jim
Anderson previewed; Masset needs new excuses
For the first time in years,
Brian Anderson is in Ozzie Guillen's good graces. He'll head north with the team for at least the first eight days of the season, and thus,
he's the 20th White Sox to be previewed for the 2008 season.
Of all the words Anderson has used to explain, defend and decry his plight, he might've finally gotten over it
with these three: "I blame myself."
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Those three words will also apply to Nick Masset should he be the last man cut from the White Sox. He spit the bit in his final appearance of the spring, and it isn't because he gave up seven hits and six runs in 4 1/3 innings, because those totals are similar to Gavin Floyd's in his final spring start. But Floyd didn't walk anybody, whereas Masset walked four batters, and that's why Masset doesn't offer anything to the club.
None of the quotes favor Masset...
Ozzie Guillen: "When you have a bad outing late in spring training, that can't help."
Guillen again: "I wouldn't say that it hurt [Masset], but I was a little disappointed about the
outing today," Guillen said. "A good outing would have made it tougher, but we
have to wait and see exactly what we need."
Don Cooper: "If you look at Ehren Wassermann's track record so far, [every time] Ozzie
Guillen has brought him into the game, he has gotten it done. He's an asset and he gets ground balls."
...but as always, the fact that Masset is out of options looms over everything. And he isn't just out of options --
as The Cheat discovered, Masset can declare himself a free agent if he passes through waivers, since he's already been outrighted once. Wassermann's wisdom tooth extraction only adds another possible out for the Sox, as it's not often
you'll hear a major-league manager say that he doesn't know how a player is "going to react from the dental problems."
I just can't understand what the Sox are waiting to see from Masset. I mean:
He didn't pitch well in Chicago.
He didn't pitch well in Charlotte.
He didn't pitch well in the Rangers system.
He didn't pitch well as a starter.
He didn't pitch well as a reliever.
He didn't bring his now-mythical 98 m.p.h. fastball to Chicago last year.
He didn't bring it to Tucson this year after having a full winter of rest.
He didn't pitch well 25 pounds heavier.
He didn't pitch well 25 pounds lighter.*
He doesn't strike enough batters out.
He doesn't get enough ground balls to compensate.
He walks too many batters either way.
It seems to me that if the Sox want a guy who can pitch multiple innings, even though he'll likely get smacked around for the duration, they already have a guy who can do the job. His name is Andy Sisco. At least he has options.
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From the Sun-Times' White Sox blog, the first comment on
the entry regarding Joe Crede's bruised foot:
Crede is USELESS. Why dont we trade him for some real talent that you actually have to pay for?
He is injury prone and only medicore at best.
TRADE the injury plagued BUM!!
And the first comment on
the entry regarding Josh Fields' demotion:
Fields is a has-been who does not have the talent to contend. Why cant this
organization pay for REAL ballplayers??
Fields is HORRIBLE!!!!
He is also overrated and his fielding is of serious question. TRADE THE
BUM!!!!
I wouldn't be so bothered if this stuff wasn't lumped into the same category as halfway-thoughtful online writing, simply called "blogs."
*Fun fact: "Nick Masset" can be rearranged to spell "Snack Times".