January, 2010

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Designated hitter: Lance Broadway?

Friday, January 29th, 2010

A trade once considered unremarkable, the Lance Broadway-Ramon Castro deal now has a pretty … um, unique … footnote:

It may be the first trade in Sox history in which both parties have been accused of assaulting women.

Castro was accused of rape in 2004; the charge was dismissed in return for a no contest plea on a misdemeanor indecent assault charge.

Now, a Houston man has filed a suit against Broadway, accusing him of the following series of events:

“[Broadway]’s taken his shirt off, he takes a running start from Ivan’s left-hand side, punching Ivan in the left side of the face, knocking him out. It broke his orbital socket, broke his cheekbone…shattered his nose, detached his retina….”

Sorrels said that McGuire kicked Pinney in the face after he had dropped to his knees. Afterwards, according to Sorrels, a brawl broke out and Broadway punched several women, knocking one out. (A Dallas Police Department spokesperson told Hair Balls that an investigation is ongoing).

I’d forgotten Broadway was in the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization.  The Mets non-tendered him.

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Two thoughts about Thome the Twin

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

No. 1: Here’s a list of various contracts the Sox have eaten, at least in part the past five years.

  • 2005: Ben Davis, $1M (all)
  • 2006: Chris Widger $650,000 (half)
  • 2008: Pablo Ozuna: $1.05M (half)
  • 2009: Mike MacDougal: $2.65M (almost all)
  • 2009: Wilson Betemit: $1.3M (most)
  • 2009: Jim Thome; ~$1.5M (total sent to Dodgers)
  • 2009: Jose Contreras: Cash considerations (close to Thome, probably)

The Sox spent $5 million on players who didn’t play in Chicago last year. Thought that was interesting.

No. 2: Compare the attitudes!

Chicago:

When Thome didn’t play for two or three days, Guillen didn’t want the media to go to Thome about the situation. And Guillen didn’t want to have to answer the same questions, as to why he was halting Thome’s pursuit of 600 home runs.

“For me, it’s all about at-bats,” Guillen said. “I don’t believe Jimmy can play once or twice per week.

Minnesota:

“We play ‘em all and everybody is going to get at-bats,” Gardenhire said. “A guy like Jim, he’s not going to just come off the bench. He’s going to get his time playing and mix in at DH. … That’s the way you keep the guys going and keep everybody a part of it. We’ll get plenty of at-bats for him.”

The latter team had no need for a left-handed power hitter, but couldn’t turn down the opportunity to add a good hitter on the cheap. The former team did need a left-handed power hitter, but felt that Mark Kotsay, his .700 OPS and his two back surgeries in four years was a better use of $1.5 million.

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When is flexibility constraining? When you’re Ozzie Guillen

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The first rule of talking about Ozzie Guillen’s decision to pass on Jim Thome is, “Don’t talk about Jim Thome.”

There are reasons on passing on the Gentleman Masher himself.  He lost something off his bat speed, he missed more fastballs, his contact rate overall dropped, his strikeout rate increased, and he lost something off his isolated power, too.  He’d still be productive with another year of a gentle decline, but he’s a risk to fall off a cliff, get hurt, or both.

Here’s why the Thome decision is causing so much outrage.  Even at age 38, high-maintenance and declining, Thome still handily outproduced the players he’s being pushed aside to make room for:

PA HR BB K BA OBP SLG
Thome 417 23 69 116 0.249 0.372 0.493
DH Stew 732 22 73 120 0.247 0.321 0.407

Plus, Andruw Jones, Mark Kotsay and Omar Vizquel don’t. solve. anything.

Thome’s too old.  So are they.
Thome’s too slow. They don’t get on base enough to matter.
Thome hits for a low average. So do they.
Thome’s an injury risk. He’s better conditioned than Jones, and Kotsay’s had two back surgeries in four years.

It’s not only remarkable that Guillen is choosing the clearly inferior option (with negligence on Kenny Williams’ part) to satisfy his fetish of managing a National League team in the American League.  It’s that, no matter how you look at it, any benefits are immediately nullified.

Inflexible about flexibility

The Sox made versatility a priority this offseason, re-signing Kotsay, signing Jones and Vizquel, and trading for Mark Teahen.  Those four players cover the entire diamond, and that’s great.

Unfortunately, Guillen’s on the verge of turning it into Rob Mackowiak all over again.

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Guillen passes on Thome

Monday, January 25th, 2010

"Perpetually on deck," Skanberg, MSPaint

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SoxFest: Democracy? Inaction?

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Supposedly, we should know by today or Tuesday whether Jim Thome will return to the White Sox in 2010.  And I guess we should be thankful that it’s still a rumor, considering how strongly he wanted to manage a National League lineup in the quintessential American League park. Maybe the people will be heard after all.

I’m going to wait until Guillen retreats to Venezuela before launching full-bore into the issue.  It’s a risk of a lot of wasted words at this point.  I’ll just share one thought I had after reading the Trib story:

First, playing time earmarked for left-handed hitter Mark Kotsay and Andruw Jones would be trimmed because Guillen reiterated his commitment to rotate players into the DH role to maximize roster flexibility.

What the hell has Andruw Jones done to deserve earmarked playing time?  Over the last two years, he blimped up and burned an organization that invested heavily in him… and that’s about it.

I’d recommend Joe Cowley’s perspective and the Cheat’s analysis of the Angels comparison the interim, but I’ll have plenty to say if Thome — or an equivalent — isn’t on board.

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From the weekend:

*After following Mark Teahen’s tweets over the weekend, I almost feel bad for questioning his presence on the roster.  I hope he’s able to reverse his slide, because otherwise he’s going to be the player you hate to hate.

*J.J. Putz talked to Chuck Garfien about his elbow problems, saying the Mets never gave him a physical, even though they knew about the bone spurs. It’s amazing that this still happens, nine years after Mike Sirotka.

*Carlos Quentin’s plantar fasciitis hasn’t caused lasting damage to his knee, as was originally feared.

*My wish-I-could’ve-seen-it-moment: A fan rattling off evidence of Greg Walker’s ineffectiveness during a Q-and-A.  Since he hasn’t been fired, I can say that I’ve devoted an entire essay in White Sox Outsider 2010 to why he’s still around when others have gotten the axe.

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SoxFest open thread

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

SoxFest is upon us, which means it’s our last chance to fill up on unnecessary drama before everybody shows up to spring training in the best shape of their lives.

(It’s also the first and only time Juan Pierre will be considered a “heavy hitter.”)

For the weekend, I’ve embedded a Twitter list for everybody who should be providing updates.  Feel free to drop anything you saw, read or learned of import in the comments.

In the meantime, SoxFest Eve gave us Ozzie Guillen’s baffling concept of the American League.

“But [the DH by committee] gives this ballclub an opportunity to give people more at-bats and to be flexible in different ways.

“We are not a home-run team anymore.”

By choice.  We’ve already complained plenty about this, but this is the more interesting passage.

Adding Thome almost certainly would mean the White Sox having to go with 11 pitchers on the staff instead of 12, which is not a preference of Guillen. Even with what shapes up to be one of the best rotations in all of baseball, Guillen understands the need for a middle reliever to help reduce Mark Buehrle’s workload early in the season and to guard against a starter such as Freddy Garcia working five or six innings.

In 2005, the Sox went with six relievers for the first month and a half, even with a fifth starter who was lucky to finish five or six innings. Luis Vizcaino was the long man.  Everybody seemed to survive OK.

At least Guillen was good for one intentionally funny line:

Betemit make errors while he was DHing.

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The Wall of Shape

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Q: How many White Sox players will show up to spring training in the best shape of their lives?

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Hope springs early

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

It feels like spring training with all the feel-good stories popping up.  On Wednesday, we had Alex Rios and his “five swings,” Scott Linebrink learning lessons, Carlos Quentin recovering from plantar fasciitis and Camp Cora in full swing.

Today?

These guys better pace themselves, because at this rate, we’re going to have nothing to talk about when pitchers and catchers report.

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Speaking of Jones, 7-11 won’t be paying for his salary.  The Sox now find themselves $500,000 poorer with the convenience store dropping their sponsorships of the game time.  First pitch will now take place at 7:10 p.m.

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Danks, Sox bridge gap

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
Start feeding him money.

Start feeding him money.

John Danks became the last arbitration-eligible player to sign a 2010 contract, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $3.45 million.

My first reaction was that there would be no long-term deal this year.  Then I realized that Tuesday was the deadline for arbitration filing, and Danks is undergoing his examination today.  Consider this a stopgap measure.

Over at South Side Sox, Colin put together a list of more comparable pitchers beyond Mark Buehrle and Jon Lester.

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Christian Marrero Reading Room:

*Now that Danks has signed, the Cheat updated his handy-dandy payroll chart.

*I’ll say this for Scott Linebrink: At least he’s not resorting to a convenient excuse to explain his failures:

“If I had a nickel every time I heard I was tipping pitches, I wouldn’t have to draw a salary,” Linebrink said. “That’s one of those scapegoats that can be used for pitchers.

“Everyone tips. Hitters are good enough, especially with up-close video, where they can slow it down and zoom in and see if you are squinting one eye on a certain pitch. You might be doing it subconsciously, something not too glaring. I was told that last year by a few people. I kind of laughed at it.”

*New Era continues to make terrible caps, as evidenced by the new spring training lids.

*Mark Gonzalez rounds up the action from the winter mini-camps. Among the developments:

  • Carlos Quentin is said to have fully recovered from plantar fasciitis.
  • Dayan Viciedo is using Camp Cora to work at first, not third.
  • Don Cooper said Erick Threets “seems to be the most interesting cat.” He’s officially on the radar.

*Jim Thome and Paul Konerko did some bonding.  Odds of Thome crashing SoxFest increase.

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Pena on board; Danks remains

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Add Tony Pena’s salary to the books.  He and the Sox agreed to a $1.2 million contract, meaning every arbitration-eligible player is set for 2010 with the exception of John Danks.

Expect to wait until late Wednesday for any news on a new contract for Danks, as he’ll be undergoing an examination that day to determine if the circulation issues he had in the middle of 2009 are truly a thing of the past.

Danks’ situation is comparable to two other lefties who got off the fast starts — Mark Buehrle and Jon Lester.  Both received extensions to buy out at least a year of free agency, and here’s how their deals break down (* denotes club option):

Mark Buehrle Jon Lester
2004 $3.5M 2010 $3.75M
2005 $5.75M 2011 $5.75M
2006 $7.75M 2012 $7.62M
2007 $9.5M* 2013 $11.625M
2014 $13M*

The four years and $28M remaining on Lester’s contract seem like the right numbers for Danks.  Lester is the better pitcher, but he negotiated after his second big-league season instead of his third, so he left some money on the table.  The bigger question is whether Danks’ contract will end like Lester’s, with a guaranteed fourth year and a club option for a fifth.  Jerry Reinsdorf does not like to go past three years, but Danks has a little more leverage than Buehrle, who negotiated his extension after his worst season.

Anybody want to take any guesses?

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