In less than two months' time, Orlando Cabrera's South Side stay has already been more frustrating, unpredictable and downright confusing than any of Carl Everett's various tenures in Chicago. That's something I doubt anybody called, considering Cabrera came to the White Sox considered a consummate professional and Everett a homophobic, dinosaur-denying, allegedly-child-abusing troublemaker of sorts.
The weirdest part: The criticism has grown the loudest
after he started hitting.
The Sox shortstop went 2-for-4 with a walk
Wednesday night, making it six in two games against the Indians and a line of .357/.404/.595 over his last 10 games. He's also delivered run-scoring hits in consecutive days after entering the Cleveland series a miserable 5-for-40 with runners in scoring position.
But that can't compete with the White Sox Controversy of the Week™ (brought to you by the law offices of Peter Francis Geraci) -- an in-game phone call placed by Cabrera to the U.S. Cellular Field press box
Thursday to dispute an error.
According to Chris De Luca, it's at least the second time he's done so this season.
That has since snowballed, as situations with the White Sox often do:
And now what we're looking at is an incredibly goofy cold war in which everybody comes out looking less than smart.
Here you have Cabrera, who came to the Sox with Gold Glove pedigree and the claim that
the Sox got smarter at shortstop. In the last week, he's made two of the more indefensible mistakes on the basepaths, and he's managed to turn a minor issue into something people in need of filling inch counts or air time can latch onto.
He's also claiming his manager doesn't have his back, not long after
he said that Mike Scioscia was smarter than Guillen and the rest of baseball. I doubt Guillen was offended since he's a Scioscia lover himself, but it's kind of funny. To me, at least.
Then you have Guillen, who probably would have been better off telling the media one thing and telling Cabrera another -- not that that's something anybody could reasonably expect Guillen to do. That Williams has supported Guillen probably says something about Cabrera's conduct (compare it to
the spat between Brian Anderson and Guillen, where Williams tried to bridge the gap), but management is supposed to play the adult here.
And then you have the media, some of whom are surprised by the idea that Cabrera isn't interested in sticking around.
This Joe Cowley one is the most extreme viewpoint of the lot:
Everyone knows Cabrera is a free agent after this season, but the last
thing the Sox expected was for him to act like a gun-for-hire, simply
putting in his time and riding off into the free-agent sunset.
Cabrera was as noncommittal as noncommittal could be when he was first asked about a possible extension with the White Sox upon his arrival at spring training. He
didn't change his stance in April, either. Therefore, I
counted on the latter happening. Compare his quotes then to what
he told Mark Gonzalez after this phone call dispute:
It appears this will be Cabrera's first and final season playing for
the Sox. The free-agent-to-be declined to say whether he feels
comfortable with the Sox.
"That's a tough question for me," Cabrera said. "I don't want to
address it right now. We can talk about it in a couple of weeks."
The only difference is that Cabrera was feeling good in February, whereas he's pretty pissy at this moment. Otherwise, the answer is the same.
Ultimately, that he placed a phone call doesn't particularly bother me. If he cares about his stats that much, then he must care about playing well. People said the same about Frank Thomas (
who just turned 40, if you want to feel old), and his stats helped the Sox bunches. If Cabrera plays well, the Sox benefit from it now (in terms of wins) and in the future (in terms of compensation).
At the same time, it's disappointing that Cabrera couldn't foresee complications, especially when he said he never had to take this matter into his own hands. It was obvious Cabrera likely wouldn't match his offensive output from last year, but when you add in
his baserunning troubles and this controversy, he may have had a career year in brains as well.
The lack of damage control on all sides ultimately could turn a non-issue into a harmful dispute. A stereotypical contract drive would make Cabrera desirable by other teams at the end of the year, meaning the Sox could offer arbitration without fear of him accepting it. But if the cold war and Cabrera's overall struggles continue, the Sox may want to cut ties swiftly and not offer Cabrera arbitration, meaning those two draft picks -- and the primary reason the Cabrera-for-Jon Garland trade made sense -- is out the window.
Williams
appeared to express remorse over failing to offer David Riske arbitration, so I'd hope he wouldn't be gunshy. But he's also incredibly stubborn when his core values are questioned, so I wouldn't count on anything yet.
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On a lighter note, Brian Anderson got doused with "a combination of mushroom juice, old chicken and spit from a collection of tobacco cups," and
Octavio Dotel nearly came to blows with strength and conditioning coach Allen Thomas.
I love this team. I really do.
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After watching Alexei Ramirez get doubled up on a fairly routine flyball to left with one out, I'm beginning to think Ramirez is basically Pablo Ozuna on crack.
He essentially provides the same value, except he's gaunter, faster, stronger, harder to predict, shows no signs of moderating his behavior, and provides lower lows and higher highs. The only difference is that The Cuban Missile can play center a whole lot better than
The Secret Weapon can play left.
The Sox would be much better served with only one on their roster. With Josh Fields and Danny Richar providing encouraging signs coming off the DL, perhaps one of them can make that happen.
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Oddly enough, the Sox didn't break any bats by my count Wednesday night. Then again, they haven't faced a starter who throws harder than 88 m.p.h. the last two days. Jake Westbrook seems like a good candidate to break that streak.
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Minor league roundup:- Rochester 12, Charlotte 0
- Jack Egbert was roughed up for nine runs on 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings, over which he threw 104 pitches.
- Jerry Owens went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, though he was caught stealing for the fifth time in 16 attempts.
- Danny Richar, playing shortstop, went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Josh Fields went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Birmingham 13, Jacksonville 3
- Miguel Negron set the tone by going 4-for-5 with a double and two RBI out of the leadoff spot.
- Dave Cook had a perfect day, going 3-for-3 with two walks and an RBI.
- Cole Armstrong went 3-for-5; Robert Valido had a pair of triples and two RBI.
- Kyle McCulloch threw a quality start, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and zero walks over six innings, striking out two.
- Derek Rodriguez (2 IP) and Joseph Torres (1 IP), struck out four batters over three perfect innings.
- Myrtle Beach 9, Winston-Salem 7
- Ricky Brooks took the loss in relief with a bizarre line: 2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. A leadoff error came around to score, and then he couldn't finish them off with two outs.
- Paulo Orlando and Greg Paiml had two hits apiece.
- John Shelby was the only Warthog to not reach base, going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Kannapolis 10, Hagerstown 9 (10 innings)
- Wander Perez, Henry Mabee and Hector Santiago finished the game with 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, with Perez stranding two inherited runners.
- Logan Johnson went 4-for-5 with a homer, four RBI and four runs scored.
- Jim Gallagher hit a three-run homer, his third of the year.
- Dale Mollenhauer and Lyndon Estill had two hits apiece.