HOW THEY GOT HEREJuan Uribe: Uribe lost his starting shortstop job due to his maddeningly undisciplined plate approach, which became harder to forgive as weight gain lessened his range in the field. He could return to his roots, as he began his White Sox career as a utility man in 2004 and played more than half his 134 games at second.
Danny Richar: Kenny Williams traded Aaron Cunningham to acquire Richar
June 16, 2007, in the process naming him the heir apparent to Tadahito Iguchi. Richar had no problems in Charlotte but took his time figuring out big-league pitching. He appeared on the cusp of getting it before a season-ending slump relegated him to a question mark.
Pablo Ozuna: Injuries have defused the Secret Weapon the last year and a half, starting with a hamstring pull June 30, 2006 after singling to lead off
a game against the Cubs, which raised his average to .432. Since then,
he's hit .240 with a .277 on-base percentage, worse than Uribe. He broke his leg stepping on bag wrong May 27, though the tough SOB still made it to second for a double.
Alexei Ramirez: The Sox
took a flier on the Cuban Dec. 16, signing him to a four-year, $4.5 million contract. He's a shortstop by nature, but has the ability to play second and center as well.
WHAT THEY BRING TO THE OFFENSERichar: The sole lefty of the bunch, Richar's
minor-league track record shows the potential to be the effective part of a platoon. However,
his major-league splits were balanced nearly perfectly in his first go-around. He sported a favorable walk-strikeout ratio (14 to 25 in 149 at-bats) before crashing in the last two weeks. He runs well, although it doesn't show in the stolen base column.
Ozuna: Along with being the best contact hitter of the group, Ozuna has a flair for the dramatic. You know the resume -- his first homer tying a game with two outs in the ninth inning, a walk-off bunt, two RBI on an infield single, etc. He's a ball of energy who can implode on the basepaths.
Ramirez: He hit .334 with a .518 slugging percentage
in the Cuban League, whatever that means. Has some speed, and though he tends to get caught stealing a lot, they like to run in the Carribbean leagues.
Uribe: His all-or-nothing swing generates a lot of
¡Profundo! action, and he can carry a team with his hot streaks, although they're increasinly fewer and far between. Has excelled at driving a runner home from third, and is usually goot for 20 homers and 65-75 RBI a year, against all odds.
WHAT THEY BRING TO THE DEFENSEOzuna: He came up as a second baseman, though he's only played 13 games there since joining the Sox. He could handle third base for a game at a time, and will get more time to react at second.
Ramirez: To be determined.
Uribe: He has the strongest arm of the bunch, and while he didn't match his peak as a shortstop the last two seasons, he's no slouch at the toughest position on the diamond.
Richar: He made all the routine plays and turned two well in his limited stint in the majors last year, and has the most recent experience at second in this group.
HOLES IN THEIR BATSRamirez: He hasn't played above Cuban League, which, at best, is equivalent to Double-A.
Uribe: His batting average has dropped in four straight years, and while he nearly tripled his walk total from 2006 to 2007, he saw an increase in strikeouts and decrease in extra-base hits. Plus, after going 19-for-23 stealing bases in Colorado, he's 15-for-42 in Chicago. There's no easy solution to what's ailing him.
Richar: Greg Walker fixed him, and he's yet to recover.
Ozuna: He has little patience and even less power, meaning that his offensive output is almost entirely dependent on smoke and mirrors, which works more than it should, somehow.
LIMITS IN THE FIELDUribe: He hasn't played second in a couple years.
Richar: Evidently, he had less range that it appeared,
scoring second-worst in the American League in Chris Dial's zone rating-based system.
Ozuna: As aforementioned, he's only played in a baker's dozen of games at second with the Sox.
Ramirez: To be determined.
PREDICTING A WINNERThis is probably the hardest race to handicap, due to a number of factors:
- Uribe is making more than the other three combined.
- Uribe could be dealt before the start of the season.
- Ozuna is Ozzie Guillen's favorite.
- Ozuna hasn't played since May.
- Richar hit like mad in Charlotte, like sad in Chicago.
- Ramirez just got away from Castro.
On top of that, there's a bona fide dark horse in spring training invitee Jason Bourgeois, whose biggest obstacle is that he's not on the 40-man roster. He hit .306/.365/.440 between Birmingham and Charlotte with 38 steals, and then went on to outperform Richar and Ramirez handily in winter ball. If Ozzie is indeed moving toward an unforgiving, merit-based system in spring training that emphasizes small ball, all the other elements are right for Bourgeois to make a serious move if he keeps performing.
That could be a hidden implication of shipping out ol' ¡Profundo! A Uribe trade could open the door for Bourgeois if the return is, say, an A-ball reliever (don't ask how I came up with that), freeing up a spot on the 40-man in the process.
Fearless prediction: If Uribe stays and everybody performs to their Arizona-inflated standards, I can see a Uribe-Richar platoon to start the season, with Uribe backing up Josh Fields when Jim Thome needs time off. If Uribe goes, I'd give Richar the inside track with Ozuna getting plenty of PT as well, though not in as regulated a tandem. Ramirez and Bourgeois could be the keystone combination in Charlotte, if Bourgeois doesn't end up in the outfield there.