Williams speaks to the team

[29andPoplar]

Article on the White Sox site:

 

http://whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?y...sp&c_id=cws

 

Interesting comments, many of them. One, he wants everyone to know he's evaluating players on how good their at bats are. He is preaching OBP. Not a surprise to anyone who's been around him or talked to him at length.

 

He's not getting much info on Crede's back situation. Doesn't mention the Boras camp by name but it's obvious.

 

Fields will stay at 3B.

 

He will not call up players in Sept. just for the sake of calling them up, and those who don't need to be added to the 40 man yet won't be added.

 

Good stuff.

Edited August 16, 2007 by 29andPoplar

[29andPoplar]

That gives me A lot more hope for the lead-off spot for next year. If Williams is true to his word, Owens will not be the leading off for this team in 2008.

 

Tony, agree. I believe strongly he's aiming higher.

[elrockinMT]

Article on the White Sox site:

 

http://whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?y...sp&c_id=cws

 

Interesting comments, many of them. One, he wants everyone to know he's evaluating players on how good their at bats are. He is preaching OBP. Not a surprise to anyone who's been around him or talked to him at length.

 

He's not getting much info on Crede's back situation. Doesn't mention the Boras camp by name but it's obvious.

 

Fields will stay at 3B.

 

He will not call up players in Sept. just for the sake of calling them up, and those who don't need to be added to the 40 man yet won't be added.

 

Good stuff.

 

 

I don't belive it when he says he isn't getting much info on Crede's situation. Joe Crede is under contract to the Sox and not Boras so the Sox can and should get any info they want.

[Dick Allen]

Article on the White Sox site:

 

http://whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?y...sp&c_id=cws

 

Interesting comments, many of them. One, he wants everyone to know he's evaluating players on how good their at bats are. He is preaching OBP. Not a surprise to anyone who's been around him or talked to him at length.

 

He's not getting much info on Crede's back situation. Doesn't mention the Boras camp by name but it's obvious.

 

Fields will stay at 3B.

 

He will not call up players in Sept. just for the sake of calling them up, and those who don't need to be added to the 40 man yet won't be added.

 

Good stuff.

Ozzie wants a few callups, Gio and Broadway among them. I wonder who wins this one.

[29andPoplar]

I don't belive it when he says he isn't getting much info on Crede's situation. Joe Crede is under contract to the Sox and not Boras so the Sox can and should get any info they want.

 

Well on the surface it may seem logical but unfortunately it doesn't exactly work that way. His rehab is being coordinated by Boras Corp. and they are not known for full disclosure and free and easy communication.

[Balta1701]

Well on the surface it may seem logical but unfortunately it doesn't exactly work that way. His rehab is being coordinated by Boras Corp. and they are not known for full disclosure and free and easy communication.

Well, the question is...are things any different when Mr. Crede is still under the Sox's control rather than a FA?

 

I mean, I can't imagine any other team in baseball being willing to give him a 1 year, $4-5 million deal next year, can you?

[GreenSox]

I'm glad he's preaching OBP.

Has he told Ozzie about that?

And can anyone on this staff teach/coach it?

Ozzie Guillen? Greg Walker? If the adage "if you can't do, teach" applies maybe so. But those 2 swung at everything.

 

Plus, what's the point in preaching OBP to someone like Uribe, who would likely lose his power? Or Erstad, a grizzled veteran who's been swinging at everything for 10+ years?

[sf_soxfan]

Perhaps I should take offense -- but i tend to agree. It's taken me years to find a good comfort level out here:

 

"Staying in San Francisco, there are a lot of weird people," said Buehrle with a smile after Wednesday's 3-2 loss to Oakland. "I don't like this place too much, let's put it that way."

[beck72]

Here's the peice on Fields:

 

On the hot corner: With the specter of Joe Crede's 2008 return from back surgery hovering over the White Sox, some speculation has arisen as to Fields moving to left field next season to keep his potent bat in the lineup. Judging by Williams' comments Thursday, though, Fields will be staying at third for at last the remainder of the 2007 campaign.

 

"Josh needs to focus on third base," Williams said. "He has shown me that he obviously can hit here. I know it doesn't seem this way because we're used to Joe Crede, but I watch 29 other teams as well, and Josh handles himself well at third base.

 

"It's a tough decision, because you don't want to shortcut his development at third base when there are still so many questions on whether or not Joe's going to come back and come back in the fashion that he was before. So you can very well find yourself in a situation where you move one guy out, then you try to bring him back in if the other guy can't do it, and you cut off your nose to spite your face."

 

Fields maintains a focus on solely what he has to handle during a given game, a plan working for the American League rookie leader in home runs.

 

"I'm trying my best and learning a lot of things and getting great experience," Fields said. "I'm taking that and I want to do good now, but I have a long ways to go. I'm young and have to remind myself [of that]."

 

----IMO, this says Josh will get more experience playing 3b in the bigs this year. Yet he may very well go to the OF in spring. Josh is probably the long term 3bman of this club, and needs more PT there. And he could start at 3b if Crede isn't ready opening day 2008. Yet the smartest move is temporarily moving Fields in order to get the most out of Crede--to win in 2008 and possibly in a trade. A healthy Joe is worth far more to the sox [via trade or production] than a guy coming right out of back surgery.

 

[elrockinMT]

The White Sox have cut their nose off to spite their face many times in the past so I don't buy what KW is saying. Nothing against Fields as I think he is a very good prospect swinging a real good bat, but his future is in LF and Crede at 3B for this team. There are lots of former Sox this team has let go that are stars and we could have kept them.

Edited August 17, 2007 by elrockinMT

[ShoeLessRob]

The White Sox have cut their nose off to spite their face many times in the past so I don't buy what KW is saying. Nothing against Fields as I think he is a very good prospect swinging a real good bat, but his future is in LF and Crede at 3B for this team. There are lots of former Sox this team has let go that are stars and we could have kept them.

Like who? Carlos, Maggs? I doubt if Lee or Magglio we're still on this team we'd have a world series ring from '05.

[SoxAce]

After the 1st few games, he looked like a free swinger, and was going to have a very average driven OBP. That isn't the case. Richar has really seen A lot of pitches in his AB's, and as Williams said, taken a very professional approach to the plate, something you can't always see in the box score.

 

I really fee like the hits will come for Danny.

 

Not to mention he can take a walk and right now has a better BB:SO ratio even if it is in limited at-bats.

 

And Fields is very athletic and a move to LF wouldn't hurt our outfield one bit defensively or from his offensive production. I've said this alot on these boards, I've never been as excited about any sox prospect comming up (this counts Reed cause I just loved him as a fan but not as much as a potential superstar) as I am with Fields. He is going to be a major stud for us.

[daa84]

Not to mention he can take a walk and right now has a better BB:SO ratio even if it is in limited at-bats.

 

And Fields is very athletic and a move to LF wouldn't hurt our outfield one bit defensively or from his offensive production. I've said this alot on these boards, I've never been as excited about any sox prospect comming up (this counts Reed cause I just loved him as a fan but not as much as a potential superstar) as I am with Fields. He is going to be a major stud for us.

agree on fields' offense completely.....not only his #s, but just the way he goes about his business offensively...yes he Ks alot, but as long as he takes his share of walks......already he swings at far far less bad pitches than crede...when he hit the HR in oakland the other day it was sweet to see him take two pitches just off the corner to get the count to 2-0, and then just sit dead red and unload on a fastball....offensively i like him a ton...he needs to work on D, but hes athletic enough to improve to be a pretty solid guy there....

 

Keith Laws perspective in his ESPN chat today....

Brent (Indianapolis): Do you think Josh Fields of the White Sox is good enough to stay at 3rd base, or should he move to the outfield. Looks like a legit power hitter, but below average hitter and fielder. What do you think? Thanks.

 

SportsNation Keith Law: I'd give him time - he moved up very quickly, and was a two-sport guy in college who focused more on football. I think he'll be an above-average third baseman, offensively and defensively, given a few years to finish developing.

 

as far as richar goes i also agree.....lets put it this way...his 8 walks so far are only 5 away from uribe's total of 13 from 2006

Edited August 17, 2007 by daa84

[Balta1701]

as far as richar goes i also agree.....lets put it this way...his 8 walks so far are only 5 away from uribe's total of 13 from 2006

Richar is doing exactly what we should have hoped he'd do when he came up; looking like he has promise. The kid's been bloody raw at every level, he bounced around in the D-Backs lower levels for several years basically just learning the game but hung on on sheer talent, and finally started to move up in the last few years. He was bound to struggle when he first came up, but at least he's having some decent at bats and hopefully learning a few things.

[Dick Allen]

Richar is doing exactly what we should have hoped he'd do when he came up; looking like he has promise. The kid's been bloody raw at every level, he bounced around in the D-Backs lower levels for several years basically just learning the game but hung on on sheer talent, and finally started to move up in the last few years. He was bound to struggle when he first came up, but at least he's having some decent at bats and hopefully learning a few things.

Actually, I was hoping for a little higher than .171 avg. and a little better than .244 slugging pct. Its still early though.

[Balta1701]

Actually, I was hoping for a little higher than .171 avg. and a little better than .244 slugging pct. Its still early though.

Like I said, his numbers were almost guaranteed to be bad when he came up. There was just no way around it. He simply hasn't played enough baseball in his lifetime to be ready for what the big league pitching staffs were going to throw at him. The hope is that the learning curve will be very steep and will go a long way, and I think he's shown some evidence of that.

[gosox41]

Interesting comments, many of them. One, he wants everyone to know he's evaluating players on how good their at bats are. He is preaching OBP. Not a surprise to anyone who's been around him or talked to him at length.

 

 

Hey KW, welcome to 5 years ago where OBP has been all the rage since "Moneyball" came out, and was far from unkown before that.

 

Why not get someplayers taht can get on base????

 

 

Bob

[Dick Allen]

Like I said, his numbers were almost guaranteed to be bad when he came up. There was just no way around it. He simply hasn't played enough baseball in his lifetime to be ready for what the big league pitching staffs were going to throw at him. The hope is that the learning curve will be very steep and will go a long way, and I think he's shown some evidence of that.

I think you may be stretching it a little bit. He's 24 and has over 2000 ABs in the minor leagues. He has 800 more ABs in the minors than Josh Fields. BA coming into 2006 had about 1500 less minor league ABs than Richar had when he made his debut, and he got no slack.

Edited August 17, 2007 by Dick Allen

[greg775]

The offseason always sucks but in this case it'll be nice to not hear KW, Oz and Jerry make dumb

comments for a while.

This season is wasted and is Ova.

I feel for you who had season tickets. Hopefully the ballpark experience was still fun in this season of no offense.

[Soxfest]

Williams puts this mess together and wants yet another meeting, guys tuned him out long ago!

[WHITESOXRANDY]

I love what Kenny said about OBP ! But, why has he never assembled a team with many of these type of players ? Is he just learning now what the rest of us have known for years ?

 

I wouold love for the Sox to put a team on the field with a .355 OBP. We could keep Thome, Konerko, Dye and Fields. Richar might get there in a couple of years. We could bring Rowand back. Owens maybe eventually. I can't see a reason to keep Pods over Owens. Owens is younger, heathier and cheaper and might still have upside.

 

We'd have to get rid of A.J., Crede, Uribe, Erstad, Cintron, Ozuna, Hall - all low OBP.

 

I've always said that the base doesn't know how you got there, The more base runners , the more runs scored. It's pretty much that simple.

[29andPoplar]

A comment on Owens in view of yesterday's pregame meeting with Williams. I know there is a lot of love for him on this board. Which is fine, some will like certain players and others less so. Anyways Williams has a meeting and tells the young players specifically to focus on having good at bats.

 

Owens, in the leadoff spot, proceeds to go 0-6 with several bad at bats.

 

Of course it is unfair to look at one game and make an overall judgement. But for me I have watched this guy long enough to say he isn't that good and this is not a guy you want as a starting OF on a team going for a division title. He is clearly dominated by decent fastballs and taking a walk appears to be a foreign concept.

 

Now I know leadoff hitters don't grow on trees but I would hope the White Sox do better than Owens.

[29andPoplar]

I love what Kenny said about OBP ! But, why has he never assembled a team with many of these type of players ? Is he just learning now what the rest of us have known for years ?

 

Good question and I think you will start seeing more emphasis on this at the draft. They took a few guys this year who can handle the bat. Less Tom Collaro's and more guys who are smarter hitters.

[klaus kinski]

My question is who is evaluating the great evaluator Ken Williams?

[NorthSideSox72]

My question is who is evaluating the great evaluator Ken Williams?

All of Soxtalk.