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.
The thing that makes me the most mad/frustrated about Ozzie’s reasoning for not wanting a full time DH is that it seems like it has more to do with him wanting to test his ability as a manager than it does with what’s best for the team. Every time he’s quoted about it he says that he’s excited to see how he does with a rotating DH. It isn’t like if we sign Thome or Branyan they are going to be forced into the lineup every day. If he wants a rotating DH so damn bad he might as well rotate thome and jones instead of kotsay and jones.
I will be at Soxfest Saturday and Sunday. I will wear my Mitchell & Ness replica 1984 Carlton Fisk batting practice jersey in honor of Pudge’s recent comments.
Poor Betemit. Ozzie is ripping him left and right. It’s not his fault the White Sox poor scouting and front office made the bad decision to pick him up.
Betemit made seven figures to be utterly incompetent. Both sides should hear about it.