Sun Times Article

[DBAHO]

From Doug Padilla,

The thickest team in the major leagues needs to go on a diet. Yes, the White Sox have too much beef and hardly enough greens. No salad, no asparagus, no peas and carrots. They need something to complement the meal.

 

 

 

As it is known in the industry, the Sox need table-setters.

 

This collection of power-hungry generators has the Sox low on energy. But this isn't a job for Dr. Atkins, cabbage soup or Jenny Craig.

 

This is a task for general manager Ken Williams, who must find a match out there and deal somebody in his power-heavy lineup for an on-base guy -- with a reliever thrown in for good measure.

 

Williams was correct last weekend at the winter meetings in New Orleans when he said that he is sitting on a nice little -- er, big -- collection of talent.

 

''We have some pretty darn good players, and I'd just as soon keep them unless it makes our team better,'' he said.

 

The Sox' problem is that they have too many similar players. There is run-producing Carlos Lee, run-producing Magglio Ordonez, run-producing Frank Thomas, run-producing Paul Konerko, run-producing Jose Valentin, even run-producing Joe Crede. They are drive-'em-home guys without anybody to drive home.

 

The Sox need troublemakers. They need more players whose first instinct is to work a count, who can spray the ball to all fields, steal a base and do the most uncommon of all Sox things -- score from first on a double.

 

Williams knows this, but he appears to have given up on the possibility of swapping one of his power guys for a player who can mess up pitch counts and chew up basepaths. For now, Williams is playing the role of a content general manager, singing the praises of his current inventory and saying his shopping season is on hiatus.

 

One of his latest plans is to find somebody flying under the radar, perhaps somebody from the non-tendered list or a guy deemed by the player-personnel side as being misused and unwanted by his current team.

 

''I understand how people can look at some of our players that have exited and say, 'Heck, what's going on? We had a pretty good club. Why are you letting everybody go?''' Williams said.

 

His answer to that question might be one that not many Sox fans -- not many of those who only care about winning games on paper, at least -- want to hear.

 

''The simple fact of the matter is maybe we're better off at this point and time with Aaron Rowand finally getting a chance to play,'' Williams said. ''This is not a guy that hasn't been productive, that hasn't shown he can play here. Willie Harris is another guy.

 

''Where I'm most concerned is not with those two guys and some of the younger guys we brought up mixing in with Magglio and Frank and Konerko and the rest of them. I'm concerned with our pitching. I've been concerned with it since the end of the season. What do we do with that, I don't know yet.''

 

Pitching certainly is the route to success. It is always the New York Yankees' primary concern, and the Atlanta Braves have been competitive for more than a decade because of a talented staff.

 

But a little offense -- or, rather, the right type of offense -- can go a long way. Just ask Esteban Loaiza, who could have won 23 games and the American League Cy Young Award had the Sox scored any runs in a pair of games against the Detroit Tigers. And just ask Mark Buehrle, whose awful first half could have been helped by a little more offensive production.

 

The Los Angeles Dodgers had the best pitching staff in baseball last season, but general manager Dan Evans is rumored to be on the way out and is looking toward the Sox to help him revamp his lineup and save his job.

 

The Sox are expected to land a talented starter in the next month, but it might be just as important for them to seek a balanced lineup.

 

There are only four more shopping days until Christmas, but there are 107 days left until Opening Day.

[Flash Tizzle]

The Los Angeles Dodgers had the best pitching staff in baseball last season, but general manager Dan Evans is rumored to be on the way out and is looking toward the Sox to help him revamp his lineup and save his job.

 

Excellent. Lets just screw Evans out of Perez, Mota, Miller, Jackson and we'll be set. I honestly can't believe Evans doesn't look at his options on the FA market or non-tendered list......atleast he would still keep his valuable pitching prospects.

 

The Sox are expected to land a talented starter in the next month, but it might be just as important for them to seek a balanced lineup

Talented starter......unless his name is Greg Maddux I'm not too excited about this claim. And who exactly expects them to do this? I sure as hell don't.