White Sox pitchers and catchers reported to spring training Saturday, and it's no surprise that the talk of Tucson involved neither.
Unless
Nick Masset's weight is of concern to you, that is.
Instead, The Joe Crede Situation was taken up a notch, while Ozzie Guillen warmed up his jaw. To summarize:
No. 1: The Joe Crede Situation
Crede
showed up to Tucson in good health...
"I'll be ready," said Crede, without hesitation or pause. "There's no doubt."
...and then denied earlier reports that Kenny Williams offered him a multi-year contract.
"We were never approached with a contract," said Crede on Saturday. "We
were not approached with any amount of years or money or anything. I
never turned down anything from the White Sox.
"I don't know how the fans interpreted the article, but we were never
approached with any amount of money or years with a contract so there
was nothing for me to turn down. People think we turned down a contract
because I don't want to play in Chicago, but I want to play here."
Williams clarified:
"We were in Detroit, I called from the bus to see if
they were open to the idea of talking multi-year so that Joe wouldn’t
come into this last year and feel the added pressure, rather than
taking the time," Williams said. "But I was told point blank that he
was going to be taken into free agency and there was no interest in
that discussion. So that’s where we left it and we haven’t revisited
it."
Mark Buehrle opined:
"[Crede] makes plays look so easy out there that you almost expect everyone
to do it," Buehrle added. "But they aren't as good as Joe. If Joe does
get traded, I'll be sad to see him go, but it's a part of baseball."
This means: Not much. I can sympathize with Buehrle and the rest of the defense-dependent pitching staff, but the end of the Josh Left Fields experiment signaled the end of the Crede era to me.
The San Francisco Chronicle says the Sox will accept prospects instead of proven big-league pitching, which sounds better to me than Noah Lowry. Still waiting for the sad ending.
No. 2: Ozzie Guillen's spring training
Hoping for a kindler, gentler, less conspicuous Oz?
You're out of luck:
"I'm getting back to being Ozzie," Guillen said. "I'm going to have fun
and smile with the players, but if I have to scream at someone, I'm
going to do it. I don't [care] if I'm going to be on every TV and
people hate me for that. I get paid to win."
Hoping to see Ozzie in the nude?
Keep your fingers crossed:
"If we win this year, I might run naked down Michigan
Avenue, like people expect me to do," Guillen said. "I suffered a lot
last year. My family says that when I win, 'take advantage because when
you lose, you are going to take the blame.' "
And
how will that change spring training?
''It's not fun when you have to watch something you don't want to
see,'' Guillen said. ''We're going to get beat, we're going to have
real bad games in spring training. But if I see quality at-bats,
quality outings ... I'm not going to come in here and talk to you guys
and say, 'Well, he gave up 14 runs, but he got his 55 pitches in.'
''If you don't do your job, I'm going to let you know. You put every
inch of what you have to get ready. Hopefully, we can compete and play
the game the way we're supposed to play.''
That it should be a fun year. But like a lot of what Ozzie says, I think he's exaggerating his "laid-back" attitude just a little.
He wasn't exactly genteel in the first half. He
chewed out Mike North and A.J. Pierzynski, said Brian Anderson
wasn't a baseball player, criticized
Scott Podsednik for his brittleness, made fun of
his hitters' numbers and
their propensity to strike out, called out
Juan Uribe, threatened to
deport all his relievers and threw Tadahito Iguchi
under the bus for missing two bunts. And I'm sure there are a few other instances I missed, too.
Guillen mellowed some after the Sox officially fell out of contention, and
his critcism became less direct. Maybe this is what he's comparing his current attitude to, but I think he knows pyrotechnics would have been pointless. Look no further than his roster, on which at various points he had three outfielders with five homers between them, a shortstop unable to play two days in a row because of a sore elbow, a catcher with one functioning shoulder, a pitcher going through an ugly divorce, a corps of relievers that may not have made the cut in Tampa, and a veritable crapload of rookies, none of them polished enough to make graceful transitions to the big leagues, two of whom were routinely playing out of position, and one of whom was the worst White Sox player in recent history.
Ozzie had plenty of opportunities to blow up. For instance, he could've ripped Andy Gonzalez a new one for committing three errors in one game, but why bother? It's not like Gonzalez wasn't putting in work and trying hard -- he was a rookie with a golden opportunity to earn a roster spot. He just wasn't good, and Ozzie berating him for that fact wouldn't have made him any better. The circumstances forced him to let his players play while he held his tongue.
Now he can raise his expectations, because the new additions have their own set. I think we can all agree Orlando Cabrera, Nick Swisher and Scott Linebrink have
slightly better track records than Gonzalez, Luis Terrero and Dewon Day.
Furthermore, Fields, Jerry Owens and John Danks saw enough regular playing time to officially expect more from them. Gavin Floyd has the opportunity of a lifetime and momentum from September. Jermaine Dye received an extension and trade protection, Jose Contreras is a new man, and Toby Hall is healthy.
In other words, he has big leaguers on his roster, and he can go back to treating them like big leaguers. Ozzie's not changing his M.O. -- it's more like he's resuming it.