Since he shares a dugout with Ozzie Guillen, Don Cooper doesn't always get the credit he deserves when it comes to quotability. Soak this one in:
"Lack of conditioning, lack of preparation makes cowards of us all."
If that doesn't fire you up, what will? Anyway, Cooper's urging his pitchers to show up to spring in better shape, with Mark Buehrle trying a shoulder-strengthening program in the offseason.
Writing fatigue is making a coward of me, so let's just go with a massive link dump:
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*Everybody's saying the same thing about the free agent pool -- it's worth it to wait. Kenny Williams says agents shouldn't take that approach, though:
"I don't know if January is going to be January as it has the last two years, where some very good players have been out there," Williams said. "If I'm those players and those players agents, I don't know if I'm going to wait for that team to come sweep me off of my feet in January. You might want to take the best deal you can get, as early as you can.
This leads us to a...
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*...funny question in Scott Merkin's mailbag:
I'm a huge Scotty Podsednik fan. His positive energy at the top of the lineup is electrifying. Please tell us he'll be in a White Sox uniform for years to come.
-- Caroyln, Chicago
If you believe the Sox are more interested in Podsednik's services than Kenny Williams is letting on, then it's interesting to see the dance they're doing. Williams said that Podsednik wanted more than the Sox were willing to pay before the GM meetings in Chicago, but Joe Cowley (in a radio interview) seems to think they're closer than they appear. You could read the quote about players jumping on deals early as a message to Pods if you want to.
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*John Grabow certainly heeded Williams' advice about signing early, as this Baseball Think Factory headline says:
Cubs sign Grabow to some dumbass contract
Grabow will cost the North Siders $7.5 million over two years, reportedly, which seems really high for a guy who walks a batter every other inning. You may remember that Paul had an interest in Grabow in his offseason plan, but at a much more reasonable deal -- one year, $2.5-3 million.
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*Gordon Beckham relays interesting info from Chris Getz:
"From what I have heard from (former Sox second baseman Chris Getz), it is kind of difficult to communicate with Alexei. I will make sure we know the signals we can give each other, or different words we know in each other's language so we can figure out who is covering the bag."
I still think Getz is trying to save face from the time when he covered second on a ground ball to the right side in the Metrodome.
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Arizona Fall League:
- Scottsdale 17, Peoria 9
- Jordan Danks homered, walked, drove in three runs and scored three times. He also struck out once.
- Brent Morel had three hits for the second straight game (or third, if you count his four-hit game on Tuesday). He doubled, walked and drove in three runs.
- Sergio Santos struck out two over a scoreless inning.
A couple AFL links:
*Baseball America has a Jordan Danks write-up: Trouble pulling the fastball, versatile outfielder, great baserunner.
*Morel, who has 19 hits in his last 33 at-bats and the same number of walks and strikeouts (three), is getting plenty of attention from MLB.com and the Tribune.
*DVR reminder! Catch Sox prospects in action in the AFL championship game on MLB Network at 2:30 EST/1:30 CST.
