Friday, January 25, 2008 - Posts

10 questions to ask Kenny and Ozzie at SoxFest

I've never been to SoxFest, but there's one reason I'm dying to go -- the occasionally tense question-and-answer sessions with Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen.

Alas, I'll remain 800 miles away from Chicago for this year's event.  However, here are 10 questions I'd love answers to if anybody here is attending and feels like piping up:


No. 1:  Since you cleared out the cupboard this offseason, will you pay more than slot money if necessary to get a top talent with the eighth pick in the draft?

No. 2:  Nick Masset -- what the hell?  (Or to rephrase:  Did you ever find out where his velocity went, and if it's not back, how will you handle it since he's out of options?)

No. 3:  What do you think of the middle-infielder market hitting rock bottom?

No. 4:  Do you ever envision a situation in which Carlos Quentin plays right field and Jermaine Dye handles left?

No. 5:  Specifically, what do you see Buddy Bell bringing to the farm system's development?  How will he do his job differently?

No. 6:  How concerned are you about the potentially steep defensive downgrades at third base, center and right field backing a staff that doesn't get a lot of strikeouts?

No. 7:  Do you realize that when you say "grinder," a lot of people think, "player who needs to work his hardest to be mediocre?"

No. 8:  Why do you think leadoff hitters need to steal bases and can't hit for power?

And two questions that would never get answered:

No. 9:  How come Greg Walker kept his job when Gary Ward was fired under similar circumstances, but with hitters performing closer to their career levels at the same point in the season?

No. 10:  Honestly, what did you expect Darin Erstad to do?


Two more to throw your way:
  1. Who here is going?
  2. What questions would you ask?
posted Friday, January 25, 2008 2:40 AM by Jim with 6 Comments

Why don't you sit this next one out, stop talking for a while?

Brian Anderson is a lot like Jose Canseco these days -- he keeps talking even though he seemingly has less and less to go on. 

Of course, Canseco's problems are a little bit more complicated.  Not only did a publisher turn down his planned sequel to "Juiced" due to a lack of newsworthy items, but now he may or may not have tried extortion on Magglio Ordonez.

Anderson, on the other hand, is just a bad ballplayer who is trying to get into a good situation without playing baseball.  He tells all -- once again -- to Scott Merkin:

"Really, I blame myself because it took me however long to get this wakeup call," said Anderson, who has yet to face live pitching, but said he's swinging pain-free in regard to a left-wrist injury that ended his 2007 season on July 6. "I'm in the best shape of my life and I have confidence in my hitting.

"When I would go to Spring Training in the past, I knew [hitting coach Greg] Walker was there and hoped he had something up his sleeve for me. Now, I feel set with my swing, aside from making some small adjustments.

"Not knowing is the most frustrating part," added Anderson, concerning his tenuous status. "I've told myself this whole offseason I want to play in the big leagues in center field, but I still work for the White Sox and have to get myself ready."

(Aside: I'm a little surprised that Merkin yields the floor to Anderson as much as he does, considering Merkin essentially works for the team and Anderson has been a thorn in the backside of Sox management for a couple years now.  Bully to him, though, because it's still an interesting story, and one I felt went underreported as it was happening.)

While it is an improvement in attitude from his last time around, during which he expressed his displeasure about a lack of communication between his camp and the Sox front office's, one question remains:

Why is he still talking?

This is coming from somebody who was sympathetic to Anderson's plight.  But it's harder and harder to care considering:
  1. It's been 16 months since he was last productive with the White Sox.
  2. It took a couple months for him to start hitting at Charlotte.
  3. Shortly after, he missed the last two months of the Triple-A season.
  4. He wasn't healthy enough to play any winter ball.
Actions speak louder than words, loose lips sink ships, life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friends -- there are any number of clichés that Anderson would be best suited to live by for the time being.

Simply put, if he hits like he says he's capable of doing in Spring Training, that could open up a whole world of possibilites for Kenny Williams.  Anderson, with some help from Jerry Owens, could man center field and solidify the Sox's up-the-middle defense, and Nick Swisher's presence could reopen trade talks revolving around Paul Konerko.

And if there's no playing time to be found with the Sox, Williams will have no choice but to cash him in before he's out of options.  As long as he performs, playing time will follow, somewhere, somehow.  That seems obvious, but it's taken Anderson over a year to realize it.  He'll be off to a nice start when he has more base hits in a month than gripes.

Now that I think about it, forget the earlier clichés.  I have better words for Anderson to live by:

"Good pitching beats good hitting, but good hitting beats good bitching."

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A couple Sox blog-related notes:
posted Friday, January 25, 2008 2:20 AM by Jim with 3 Comments