Ozzie, It's Time for a Change

[Chisoxfn]

Ozzie, It's Time for a Change

By Jason Gage

ChiSport.com

 

The Sox September struggles have been blamed on a tired rotation and bullpen, but the Sox offense has it’s problems too. The club has averaged 4.98 runs per game on the season, but in September, they are averaging just 4.15 a game, and have scored 3 or fewer runs in 10 games (out of 19 September games).

 

It would be easy to put an asterisk next to this as run production is expected to slide when you lose the league’s MVP (Carlos Quentin). However, Paul Konerko’s re-surgence cancels out Quentin’s loss.

 

The real for reason for the drop-off is a combination of the following (stats are based upon the last 30 days):

 

1. Jermaine Dye: .267 AVG, .276 OBP, 3 HR, 10 RBI

2. Alexei Ramirez: .242 AVG, .283 OBP, 5 HR, 15 RBI

3. Jim Thome: .221 AVG, .303 OBP, 7 HR, 15 RBI

4. AJ Pierzynski: .250 AVG, .250 OBP, 0 HR, 4 RBI

5. Nick Swisher: .133 AVG, .205 OBP, 3 HR, 6 RBI

 

Bottom Line:

Three Of the Five Hitter’s included on the above list have spent a significant portion of September in the top 5 spots in the lineup. Ozzie talks about going with the hot-hand and it’s time he makes some adjustments to the lineup to reflect such:

 

1. Konerko Bat’s 3rd. Konerko is batting .318 with 6 HR’s over the past month and has been the Sox best run-producer. Moving him into the 3 spot will give our best run producer more opportunities to “produce” runs.

 

2. Play Wise. Wise may be a career minor leaguer, but the man is hot (.289, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 14 Games). As long as Wise is producing, there is no reason to not have him penciled into the #2 spot of the lineup.

 

3. Less Bunting. This is both against Ozzie’s approach as well as my personal approach. I am a proponent of bunting and manufacturing runs, but the White Sox have consistently failed in executing and it’s time Ozzie puts this managerial tactic to the chopping board.

 

My New Lineup (w/o Griffey):

1. Orlando Cabrera - SS

2. Dwayne Wise - LF

3. Paul Konerko - 1B

4. Jim Thome - DH

5. Jermaine Dye - RF

6. AJ Pierzynski - C

7. Alexei Ramirez - 2B

8. Juan Uribe - 3B

9. Brian Anderson - CF

 

My New Lineup (w/ Griffey):

1. Orlando Cabrera - SS

2. Dwayne Wise - LF

3. Paul Konerko - 1B

4. Jim Thome - DH

5. Jermaine Dye - RF

6. Ken Griffey Jr. - CF

7. Alexei Ramirez - 2B

8. AJ Pierzynski - C

9. Juan Uribe - 3B

 

Those are my suggestions, but do you guys/gals think it's time Ozzie makes a move? The Sox are about to play there biggest series of the season and I don't think Ozzie should just sit back and hope the slumping guys heat up. I think he should be proactive and make sure the best hitters are getting the most ab's.

[klaus kinski]

Right, but I might put Wise in lead off and Cabrera in his natural second spot (why we got him)

[Chisoxfn]

I wouldn't mess with OC right now. He's absolutely raking.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

I think it's worth a shot. I'd change things a little based on matchups such as Dye 4th ,Thome 5th against lefties. Move Alexei up vs lefties and AJ down.I don't know about Wise against lefties either but I haven't looked at the splits. Hard to say Swish would be better. I'd also have Anderson higher in the lineup vs lefties probably 7th behind Alexei.

[lostfan]

I think it's worth a shot. I'd change things a little based on matchups such as Dye 4th ,Thome 5th against lefties. Move Alexei up vs lefties and AJ down.I don't know about Wise against lefties either but I haven't looked at the splits. Hard to say Swish would be better. I'd also have Anderson higher in the lineup vs lefties probably 7th behind Alexei.

He sucks vs. lefties really bad. Like in the low 100s. For his career he is well below the Mendoza line, but then again this whole season he's batting like 70 or 80 points higher than he ever has.

Edited September 22, 2008 by lostfan

[joeynach]

This is an issue that has been with this team for some time now. They tend to break down, taper off, cool off, whatever u want to call it towards the end of the season. This is a result of KW's composition of this team, not Ozzie. It even happened in 2005, but the effect was far less dramatic. The cause is the reliance upon older sluggers and run producers for much of the lineups production. Guys like Thome, Konerko, Dye, Griffey, AJ, etc all fall into this category. The one fortune area is Konerko, who b/c of injuries has only played 114 games. As we have seen hes playing near the top of his game recently, unlike the other older guys who have already played 140-150 games. They will always tend to cool off towards the end of the season rather than heat up. That is why losing CQ is so huge b/c he was in essence a balance act against the aging sluggers (him being a young slugger). Alexi too has gone a little cold in Sept, he has never played this many games before. Its the same thing over and over.....we have a lineup of guys (except for maybe CQ) who hit their walls at about 140 games....and were past that point.

Edited September 22, 2008 by joeynach

[caulfield12]

This is an issue that has been with this team for some time now. They tend to break down, taper off, cool off, whatever u want to call it towards the end of the season. This is a result of KW's composition of this team, not Ozzie. It even happened in 2005, but the effect was far less dramatic. The cause is the reliance upon older sluggers and run producers for much of the lineups production. Guys like Thome, Konerko, Dye, Griffey, AJ, etc all fall into this category. The one fortune area is Konerko, who b/c of injuries has only played 114 games. As we have seen hes playing near the top of his game recently, unlike the other older guys who have already played 140-150 games. They will always tend to cool off towards the end of the season rather than heat up. That is why losing CQ is so huge b/c he was in essence a balance act against the aging sluggers (him being a young slugger). Alexi too has gone a little cold in Sept, he has never played this many games before. Its the same thing over and over.....we have a lineup of guys (except for maybe CQ) who hit their walls at about 140 games....and were past that point.

 

It's a bit of a mystery. It's not like Ordonez and Carlos Lee were not in their prime years of production from 2000-2004. In fact, they've posted better (somewhat inflated due to NL) numbers since those years than they did with the Sox. Arguably, both have become better hitters. If Thomas didn't have so many injuries, maybe things could/would have been different as well (of course, that can be blamed on age and carrying so much weight, right?).

 

Maybe part of it is the September weather, the ball doesn't jump quite as much in our park as in July and August.

 

Maybe there are more pitchers we haven't seen (due to Sept. recalls) and we tend to struggle against rookies and pitchers with so-so stuff, crafty lefties or guys we've never seen before?

Edited September 22, 2008 by caulfield12

[Felix]

Why even have a lineup with Griffey at all? He hasn't earned playing time, and has been just as bad if not worse than the rest of the team.

[Wanne]

I like Option A...a lot! I'd switch BA and Juan though. I just like having Juan in that 9-hole for some reason. Agreed that Dye needs to be moved out of the 3 spot too. As far as Griffey...it just seems like Ozzie's waiting for him to come alive and giving him every opportunity. But it's a no-brainer IMO whether to have BA or Griffey in center. At least there's no Swisher. Good god has he turned into a headcase when things go bad for him. Complete s*** body language which carries over for him in the box.

[elrockinMT]

Don't tinker with the line up and leave it to the pros to perform. Trust our team and manager IMO