In a way, Rob Mackowiak pretty much symbolized the wasted opportunity that was and is the Chicago White Sox of the last year and a half.
That’s not to say that Mackowiak deserves any great blame for the failures the Sox have suffered. As of today, when Kenny Williams shipped him to San Diego for A-ball reliever Jon Link, he led the team in hitting at .278, and had been slugging .688 over the past month.
Not to mention that Mack had never had a more consistent full season than he did last year, when he set career highs in batting average and on-base percentage. Add in decent speed for a team that didn’t have much and a strong outfield arm, and Mackowiak had tools to help the team at a number of positions.
The problem was that he was mainly used at only one position, and it happened to be his worst — center field. His nervous feet didn’t pose nearly as significant of problems in left or right, but with more directions to choose from when chasing flyballs, it made it easier for Mack to select the wrong ones.
Thus, his defense offset a lot of contributions with his bat, and his season summed up the White Sox’s in many respects. They were tremendous at cancelling their strengths out, often in different ways from game to game.
It was never made clear why Mackowiak didn’t see more time at other positions he could handle better, aside from Ozzie Guillen’s complete disdain for Brian Anderson. Still, Anderson played about half the games, giving Mackowiak opportunities to go elsewhere. It just never happened — Ozzie had made up his mind that Mackowiak was an outfielder, and that was that.
For the record, let’s close the book on where Mackowiak would have been better utilized:
Third base: Joe Crede played the second-highest total of games on the Sox in 2006. Crede also broke down in September, and never righted himself this year before undergoing surgery. Would more time off have helped? It couldn’t have hurt, especially when Crede was just about useless at the plate in the final month last year, and most of this season.
Second base: There were times last year where Tadahito Iguchi couldn’t do much against right-handers. Mackowiak would’ve been a better option than Alex Cintron or Pablo Ozuna, though Cintron wasn’t bad.
Left field: I’ve gone over this before.
Leadoff hitter: Yes, we know it’s not a position, but since Ozzie treats it like one, we have to count it. Successful leadoff hitters should at least have above-average speed and a good OBP. Unfortunately, White Sox leadoff hitters aren’t allowed to slug higher than .400, so Mack was pretty much screwed.
When you factor in providing some rest for Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko at right field and first, there were plenty of places to stick Mackowiak for a game or two. Unfortunately, he rarely made it there.
That’s why Mackowiak’s Sox career is pretty much a microcosm of the last 18 months. He looked good on paper, but when viewed on the field, it just didn’t look right. It’s just a shame that there was nothing he could do about it.
