d.j. carrasco

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Alas, respectable baseball, we knew it well

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

OZLET, V-XI

SCENE I. A pressbox.

Working one Clown, with quill:

So how does this play out if the product remains subpar?

By May, expect a coach to be sacrificed. By June, a few players. Why would Reinsdorf want to pay for a Pierzynski on a fifth-place team when he can have a cheaper Tyler Flowers? Why does he need a Paul Konerko when he can slide Mark Kotsay there?

But all eyes will be on the relationship between Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen. Can they live with each other in a purge or will fingers be pointed as the marriage has soured?

Either way, this slow start has a certain amount of doom and gloom about it, and the ending won’t be a pretty one.

OZLET

Has this fellow no feeling of White Sox business, that he
sings at grave-making?

CORATIO

Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.

OZLET

‘Tis e’en so: the hand of tabloid employment hath
the coarser sense.

First Clown

[Sings]
But age, with his losing steps,
Hath robbed me in the clutch,
And hath shipped my beard intil the land,
As if I had never been such.

[Throws up a No. 7 road grey]

OZLET

That jersey had a ballplayer in it, and could hit once:
how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were
shroud of Owens, that hath spoiled thy number! It
might be the covering of a grinder, which this ass
now o’er-reaches; one that would circumvent God,
might it not?

CORATIO

It might, my lord.

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Hey, Mr. DJ, I guess we don’t have a deal

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

A tip of the hat to Scott Merkin and Mark Gonzalez — they were definitely on to something when they said D.J. Carrasco, Ozzie Guillen’s “Team MVP” two months ago, might not be loved tender.

Here’s how expendable the Sox thought he was:

Carrasco, who made $440,000 last season, was offered a $160,000 raise. That wasn’t what he or his agent had in mind, and the gulf became apparent during a lunch Wednesday at the winter meetings involving Carrasco’s agent and a Sox official.

That’s a little bit of a slap in the face for a guy who was worked harder than any other Sox reliever last season, isn’t it?

Ultimately, it’s not a huge loss, if only because for as well as he pitched, the Sox went 18-31 in his appearances. More than half the time, he entered a game with the Sox leading or (more often) trailing by at least four runs. His velocity and occasional lack of command didn’t exactly make him suitable for higher leverage.

Yet it feels unfortunate for a handful of reasons, but the following chart sums it up nicely.  Names have been changed to shield the embarrassment:

G IP HR BB K W-L ERA WHIP
Carrasco
80 132 7 43 92 6-1 3.82 1.33
“Scott L.”
107 102.1 17 32 95 5-9 4.22 1.40

And yet the Sox tried to offer that Carrasco was only worth one-seventh of what “Scott L.” is getting paid.

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Shot at record a ‘Bridge too far

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Some of you may have been disappointed by Brent Lillibridge’s RBI “single” in Monday’s 6-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians. As well you should.

Not only did Lillibridge drive in his first and only run of the season with a 60-foot nubber — he needed Jhonny Peralta to mishandle it as well. Why didn’t Lillibridge make like a real Sox shortstop and call the official scorer during the game? There’s no way that should’ve counted.

However, it turns out that Lillibridge wasn’t in control of his destiny in his quest for immortality . Had that been ruled an error, Li’l Bridge would still have an uphill climb toward setting the record. As it turns out, somebody has beat him to it — and he’s playing right across town.

The Cubs’ Sam Fuld is up to 99 plate appearances without an RBI this season. But unlike Lillibridge, who used medium-range flyballs to pad his total, Fuld appears to be a victim of incredibly bad luck. He’s batting .280/.404/.354 this season.

Even more amazing, he’s 5-for-20 with RISP, but still doesn’t have an RBI. Maybe the Sox aren’t the only team that fails to treat second base as “scoring position.”

(It might also bring a new meaning to “being Chicagoed.”)

Cardboards Gods isn’t to blame. At the time, Lillibridge had more plate appearances than Fuld.  Then Fuld started three straight games over the weekend, racking up 12 plate appearances to blow by everybody on that list. Such is the rapidly changing nature of ignominy.

So while the Lillibridge anti-fans might rue this day, it may turn out that he wouldn’t have had a shot at the title, anyway.

He’s just another Toby Hall, now. In 2007, Hall went 100 plate appearances with just one RBI. He racked up his first one on the Fourth of July, and didn’t get his next until after Labor Day. He finished the year with three in 120 plate appearances, which isn’t all that unique, as it’s been achieved 193 times.

If you want a real reason to get riled up — Lillibridge played the exact kind of game Ozzie Guillen wanted to see when Lillibridge was demoted to Charlotte in May. He slapped two infield singles, drew a walk and went from first to third on a hit-and-run.  Guillen had urged Lillibridge to make better use of his speed instead of trying to muscle the ball past the outfielders, and maybe he’s heeded that call. He has only struck out once in 15 very sporadic plate appearance, which could serve as further proof.

It’ll still take a great spring for Lillibridge to overcome his poor first impression — or a Chris Getz injury, which is more likely. But his White Sox future, unlike his shot at infamy, is still alive, like it or not.

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