Tim Raines isn't going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and you only have to look at
the Chicago Tribune voters' poll to come to that conclusion. He made only one of the nine ballots (Mark Gonzalez might change his mind next year), and if he's not getting any love from one of Raines' home fields, he's not going to get that much elsewhere.
I'd set the over-under at 31 percent.
We've discussed Raines' candidacy, and while he isn't a slam-dunk choice for some, that's still a startling dearth of support considering:
- They voted Andre Dawson in.
- Harold Baines and Don Mattingly received more votes than Raines.
OPS+ isn't an end-all, be-all stat, but that
Raines beats
Dawson in that particular column (123 to 119) says something -- mainly because in 410 fewer plate appearances, he reached base
503 more times. He also scored 198 more runs. I like Dawson, and probably is my favorite of the cluster of outfield candidates (others being Jim Rice, Dave Parker and Dale Murphy) -- but Raines did a better job at the plate, and beat him on the bases, too.
Meanwhile, Baines was largely one-dimensional, and Mattingly was done at 34. So with friends like these, it's going to be an uphill battle for Raines.
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Because Nick Swisher plays center field hard, is fan-friendly, sports a goatee and wears No. 33, it didn't take people very long to
start comparing him to Aaron Rowand.
Add
this to the list:
''At first, it was tough to swallow,'' he said. ''I felt like it was a dream. But I'm coming to the best city in sports. I'm a huge Chicago Bears fan. Plus, I'm coming to a great organization that wants to win and that wants me. Just about now the news is setting in, and I'm getting really excited about it.''
Yep, he should do.
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A.J. Pierzynski is
the third member of the White Sox to be previewed for the 2008 season. The Paul Konerko rumors scared me a bit, in terms of which players are the safest to preview at this point. Here's my best guess:
- Certain: Scott Linebrink, Bobby Jenks, Javier Vazquez, Nick Swisher
- Almost certain: John Danks, Josh Fields, Jose Contreras, Jim Thome, Orlando Cabrera, Toby Hall, Pablo Ozuna, Konerko
- Maybe: Danny Richar, Jerry Owens, Gavin Floyd, Carlos Quentin, Matt Thornton, Mike MacDougal, Ehren Wassermann
- Maybe not: Juan Uribe, anybody else in the bullpen.
- Can't be: Joe Crede
Then again,
I slotted Brandon McCarthy in the "certain" category last year ... and Kenny Williams traded him three days later.
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John Walsh at The Hardball Times released
his Best Outfield Arms of 2007. White Sox outfielders finished as follows:
- Jermaine Dye: 20th out of 27 in right field.
- Nick Swisher: 27th out of 30 in center field.
- Jerry Owens: 28th out of 30 in center field.
No Sox player qualified in left field, but
Scott Podsednik brought up the rear at that position last year. Carlos Quentin has a lot of work cut out for him.