The Devil (or Guillen's) Advocate (also criticisms)

[Gregory Pratt]

Ozzie Guillen isn't the only manager to make mistakes and serious ones at that. Let's look around the Central.

 

How many of you would be calling for "competent" management and starting/ending your posts with "f*** you Ron Gardenhire!" if you were Twin fans and he took Ponson over Baker and Ortiz over Garza? Last year, they brought up questionable offensive players -- that dude with the stupid ass stance stands out, although his name doesn't come to mind immediately but I know he plays third -- and that's on Gardenhire and Ryan.

How many of you would've s*** bricks when Leyland fell in love with Neifi Perez like Dusty Baker did? Oh, ho ho ho, I can see it if Ozzie Guillen kept Neifi Perez up.

 

Look. I know it's chic to call Ozzie all sorts of things. He prefers Veterans! (all managers do) He hates young players! (no he doesn't) He's a racist! (ay Dios mio!) but I think he has earned an advocate and not because he won a World Series but because he's a damn good manager. He handles a starting pitching staff the way it should be handled, he believes in doing all the little things, he has faith in his players and lets them work their way out of jams, he keeps the pressure off his players and takes it on himself. His players love him, generally.

 

That's not the point, though. "OZZIE SUX!" "f*** YOU GUILLEN!" " I H8 U!" it's all so silly, and if we're going to bash him for making questionable choices, we should look at the questionable choices made by other managers, particularly in our own division.

 

That said, I don't think Ozzie is doing anything wrong with BA. BA should be in AAA and is not better in any way than Erstad right now, which doesn't necessarily speak to Erstad's greatness.

I don't know what Erstad'll hit this season but I'm sure it'll be better than what he's doing now.

 

There are a couple of things that bothered me. That have.

 

AJ Pierzynski, what are you doing? What are you doing? That at-bat against Nathan was the worst AB I've ever seen from a pro hitter, at least in memory. He just rolled over one, it was pathetic, and so has his approach all year long. Worse, he looks like he doesn't care behind the plate, like he's tired already, and his act is getting old right now especially after he b****ed about Toby Hall taking away his at-bats.

 

If he doesn't want at-bats taken away he should hit as if more than a LOOGY were going after him.

 

Thome's feast-or-famine is really getting old.

Crede is back to who he always was. Last year, I believe it was BP -- they were asked what they thought of his numbers and they said, "I always believed in his power but not necessarily this average," and I think they're right.

 

Which brings us all to everyone's favorite argument, one I've made before and that countless others have made before me: our offensive approach as a team is miserable.

 

Another thing that bothers me, is, first: Are we for real this season? They don't look hungry, just don't. I'm usually optimistic but damn, when Jim Thome's bat speed is crap, and everyone's bat speed is crap, it's like, What are you doing? What did you do this off-season? Don't you understand that the pitchign has been excellent?

 

And then I ask myself, If we aren't serious about contending this year, if our players and management aren't serious about contending or even if they are but we fail, that means we started Danks' arbitration clock early, for no reason, and that's bulls***.

 

Do these hitters know that the season has started?

Are we a .500 team this year?

 

Also: attendance has seemed a little down at the games I went to, although those were cold days and cold games, so maybe that has a lot to do with it, but if the attendance isn't what it was last year, are we cutting payroll?

 

'Cause if we are, we aren't going to compete in this division. We don't have the talent or the EYE for drafting talent to really compete.

 

 

 

Greg Walker said today,

 

“We are off to a rough start here offensively. We’ve been inconsistent and a lot of guys don’t feel comfortable at the plate right now and the conditions aren’t really conducive to hitting. You just have to battle through it . . .

 

“Overall, we are not real happy as an offensive team the way we are swinging the bats. Not a lot of swagger right now, but there are signs. We really didn’t swing the bat the last week of spring training. I didn’t like the way we were swinging the bat. When we left Tucson, we weren’t hot by any means.”

 

Why does he have a job?

[insert people talking about how we had a good offense last year, how good our players are, but none of them were grown here except perhaps Konerko.]

 

It's depressing.

Don't waste good pitching!

But that's exactly what we're doing.

 

To anyone who says Why Panic, I say, Why not?

Listen. There are some hideous trends. Crede's back to sucking and I think he will be all season long -- that's who he is, besides last year; Thome's looking to hit the Dan Ryan from Cleveland but his bat speed isn't as good as last year and he's a year older; Dye looks lost, but I think he'll get better as it warms up -- still, it's alarming; Pierzynski looks old and tired, though he isn't the first and shouldn't be the second.

 

Those are all very alarming things.

[ShoeLessRob]

Jose Batista is the 3rd baseman with the weird stance and butt sticking out.

[Kalapse]

Whole lot of opinions being masqueraded as fact in there.

[Gregory Pratt]

That's SoxTalk. I think I make it pretty clear that I'm just representing my thoughts on the team, its approach and all that.

 

--

 

How f***ing ironic is it that the one person who would have a REASON and a VALID excuse for not being in shape and not swinging the bat well -- that's Uribe -- is lighting it up?

[ShoeLessRob]

How f***ing ironic is it that the one person who would have a REASON and a VALID excuse for not being in shape and not swinging the bat well -- that's Uribe -- is lighting it up?

 

You know what that means right? Give AJ, Gooch, Crede, and Dye weapons then ship them off to a foreign country for "vacation" next offseason.

[Rowand44]

Jose Batista is the 3rd baseman with the weird stance and butt sticking out.

Tony Batista.

[Kalapse]

I have no interest at all in debating any of the same tired bulls*** that I've wasted so much time arguing on here over the past month so I'll only address one point.

 

I don't really get the Thome criticism, compare his numbers this year to those of Konerko's and you'll see who the weaker player has been Jim is still sporting a .442 OBP and the second most hits on the team despite being a 'feast of famine' hitter. He swings hard and strikes out a lot, that's the way he's been his entire career, get used to it. He's also going to walk more than anyone else in the lineup, hit a pissload of homeruns and knock in some runs if this team ever finds a competent hitter to bat second.

[Capn12]

Let me spit some numbers out here:

 

.275

.372

.256

.243

.442

.316

.389

.343

.310

 

Can you guess whos OBP is whos?

 

I don't think the worrying about Thome is justified. Its just as much up to the guy BEHIND him to produce...yeah, Paul Konerko and the Suicide Shrug. Thome has K'd alot. Is that anything we didn't expect? Not really. He is getting on base, and also has the 3rd highest batting average on this godforsaken offense right now. He is doing his job.

[ShoeLessRob]

Tony Batista.

 

Oops, oh well... I got the last name right. Who is Jose Batista then? I recall that name.

[Capn12]

Damnit Kalapse, ruining my "Guess the OBP"!!

[rangercal]

I will stand behind Ozzie until he retires

[Kalapse]

Damnit Kalapse, ruining my "Guess the OBP"!!

It was a good point none the less.

[Capn12]

I will stand behind Ozzie until he retires

While you are back there then, will you at least point out when the other team brings in a LOOGY to face his awesome back to back to back lefties at the top of the order, so he can pretend to use the bench?

 

(BTW that .256 OBP is from out current savior and saint, Sir Darin grindErstad)

[rangercal]

While you are back there then, will you at least point out when the other team brings in a LOOGY to face his awesome back to back to back lefties at the top of the order, so he can pretend to use the bench?

I don't know if you were around in the 80's and 90's or if you just jumped in 5 years ago or so, but I have seen too many mediocre seasons. Ozzie brought in a ring his second year, and has fielded solid teams since he became manager. Nothing you crybabies say will change my view.

[Kalapse]

I don't even hate Ozzie or want him fired. I just wish he would drop the stubborn bulls***, the childish attitude and the personal vendettas.

[Rowand44]

I don't know if you were around in the 80's and 90's or if you just jumped in 5 years ago or so, but I have seen too many mediocre seasons. Ozzie brought in a ring his second year, and has fielded solid teams since he became manager. Nothing you crybabies say will change my view.

Ouch man, that one hurts.

 

I don't even hate Ozzie or want him fired. I just wish he would drop the stubborn bulls***, the childish attitude and the personal vendettas.

Which wont ever happen.

[fathom]

Which wont ever happen.

 

[Kalapse]

Which wont ever happen.

Well, if he ever decides to grow up, he'll be cool in my book.

[Gregory Pratt]

Kalapse, isn't that guy from Toronto your favorite manager in baseball today or something? And you're complaining about Ozzie being childish?

 

I don't really see where there are huge differences between them personality wise.

[Capn12]

I don't know if you were around in the 80's and 90's or if you just jumped in 5 years ago or so, but I have seen too many mediocre seasons. Ozzie brought in a ring his second year, and has fielded solid teams since he became manager. Nothing you crybabies say will change my view.

 

Oh c'mon ranger, can you HONESTLY say that the reason we won in the playoffs was because of all the great things Ozzie did?

 

Did you SEE the pitching in the postseason? You can't attribute that to Guillen. The pitching was so far beyond unbelievable, we caught the perverbial lightning in the bottle, in the form of lights out starting pitching, at EXACTLY the right time.

 

I'm not a fly by night ChiSox fan. I've been around more mediocre years than I care to think of. I just don't get the whole "Well we won a ring under Ozzie, anything he does is a-ok with me!!" conjecture that some like to exude.

 

Ozzie is WAY too petty, bullheaded, obsessed with his own vendettas, and too clingy to the guys that he thinks are the grinder Hall of Famers. I don't want Ozzie fired, or run off. But I DO want him to wake up and realize that there is a better way to handle his players, his lineup, in game decisions.

[Chet Lemon]

It's too early for me to try say "if it keeps going this way, we will not make the playoffs" or something. The only possible negative trend I could see happening is the offense being overly-reliant on the long ball to win games.

[Gregory Pratt]

I mean, Gibbons has fought a player, sent Dave Bush down to AAA for being upset about being pulled, and he had a feud with Brian Anderson. I mean, Shea Hillebrand.

[Kalapse]

Kalapse, isn't that guy from Toronto your favorite manager in baseball today or something? And you're complaining about Ozzie being childish?

 

I don't really see where there are huge differences between them personality wise.

I like John Gibbons because he's crazy as hell and doesn't manage the team I root for. He's a horrible manager and I'd never want him to manage the Sox but I love to watch Blue Jays games just to see what insane thing he'll do next. The shots of him in the Jays' dugout when things are going to hell for his team on the field are just priceless.

 

I never said I liked Gibbons' managerial style or even the way he carries himself, just the trainwreck that is his managerial career tends to entertain me.

[Gregory Pratt]

Okay. Just wanted that cleared up.

[greg775]

Capn12, Oz deserves a free pass for a while because of the Series title.

I just think when people criticize Oz it should be Oz/KW both.

KW works closely with Oz, no?