Wise to DL with Separated Shoulder/Anderson to Start in CF

[caulfield12]

It's simple....Ryan Sweeney, pure/short/compact stroke, which looks even better because he's LH and younger.

 

BA...long/looping/disjointed swing that looks like the swinging gate from Atticus Finch's picket fence half the time...complete susceptibility to low and away breaking stuff (ala Uribe)

 

Last year, Ryan has a 350 OBP and 733 OPS. ANY WHITE SOX FAN WOULD DIE TO GET THAT OUT OF BA FOR A FULL SEASON.

There's your difference. Sweeney is younger, left-handed, has a better arm (although BA is a better overall CFer) and has a much better eye at the plate, thus the higher OBP.

 

Sweeney is a very good athlete who should hit for more power than he does, but his swing isn't geared for tapping into his raw ability, and he may wind up being just a guy who struggles to hit 10 homers at the big-league level because of the lack of loft in his stroke. He hit .286 last year despite battling a bunch of hand and wrist problems, so perhaps a little more health will create a little more pop, but don't bet on it. He doesn't hit lefties well at all, but he should continue to have part of the center-field job in at least the better side of a platoon arrangement. espn.com

That said, he still obvious has many holes in his game too, which is why KW was willing to part with him and hold on to BA for at least one more season.

Edited April 13, 2009 by caulfield12

[iamshack]

It's simple....Ryan Sweeney, pure/short/compact stroke, which looks even better because he's LH and younger.

 

BA...long/looping/disjointed swing that looks like the swinging gate from Atticus Finch's picket fence half the time...complete susceptibility to low and away breaking stuff (ala Uribe)

 

Brian has shown the ability to shorten his swing. I think it's a tad difficult with such sporadic playing time.

 

I don't want to argue with you, because this mule has been beaten badly enough, but PT, PT, PT. Just give the kid some damn PT.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

Anderson and Ryan Sweeney went through the same development system. Why is Sweeney having success? He's just flat out more talented with the bat.

 

Far more likely than an organizational conspiracy against Brian - the simple possibility that BA spent a long time being unable to shorten his swing.

 

It seems better to the eye now, but we need results at some point. One of these two guys figured out major league pitching, the other hasnt. Opportunities have been there. Brian even showed more promise than Sweeney with the bat when both were a few yrs younger. But ML pitching stops some guys' careers in their tracks.

 

 

 

We call the Sox bad developers of talent, but theyve traded away so much that I dont know how well we can fairly evaluate this.

Sweeney's swing came with him. He was ready to hit singles in the Major Leagues well before he started doing it in Oakland. The Sox left him down in the minors to develop power, which he didn't.

 

It is debatable whether the Sweeney of today can be a more talented player than the Brian of today, simply because Sweeney profiles as more of a corner OF but will have a harder time sticking there because of a lack of power. Anderson is a true CF with power, but the average and OBP aren't there. I'd personally put the chances of Anderson becoming a .265/.320/.460 hitter and sticking in CF somewhere higher than the chances of Sweeney hitting for enough power to become a corner OF. Sweeney can play CF, so he will stick around, but I don't think any team is going to look at him as a long-term solution at the position. Both players are definitely 4th OF with Sweeney getting the chance to show he can be more than that through everyday playing. Brian however is never going to do anything if he's coming in as a defensive replacement and getting a few starts here and there in the middle of garbage Sunday lineups.

 

I wouldn't say there's an organizational conspiracy against Brian; I think it's simply organizational stupidity with regards to CF. You can't tell me the Sox didn't have the talent to acquire Josh Anderson who was traded for a right-handed middle reliever with mediocre numbers and without electric stuff and who also most likely won't be ready until next year at the earliest. The Sox would have had no problem bettering Detroit's package without giving up a huge piece of their future yet they passed because they were clearly content with Wise or Owens.

 

It doesn't matter who they have and have not traded. It appears the Sox philosophy on minor league talent, at least during the period where BA was coming up, was let the kids play until they fail. Let them mash, don't worry about fundamentals, and we're not going to change anything until the player stops performing. The problem with that is when you have a highly-talented 1st round pick like BA, he's not going to fail at all until he reaches a level where he can't get by on talent alone. For Brian, that level was the Majors. Now if you can see that the kid cannot catch up to a Major League fastball while in the minor leagues, then you try to fix it. You don't say, "okay, let's call this guy up and make him a starter, and then when he can't hit we'll just go ahead and change his whole swing at the Major League level while the fans are booing and the manager is throwing him under the bus." That doesn't work very well. If you believe Hawk will at least occasionally serve as an organizational mouthpiece, he's even said this. He's gone on about how the Sox are so great because they don't change anything until a player f***s up. Walker has said the same thing in papers, and in reference to BA. Maybe that works with established veterans at the MLB level, and maybe it works with your average prospect in the minors, but it's not going to work for everyone. The Sox f***ed up with Brian, pure and simple.

 

And anyway, what is done is done. BA is who he is. He has the potential to become better through regular playing time, but even if he doesn't, he's still better than what we have right now. It's not rocket surgery.

[iamshack]

Sweeney is a very good athlete who should hit for more power than he does, but his swing isn't geared for tapping into his raw ability, and he may wind up being just a guy who struggles to hit 10 homers at the big-league level because of the lack of loft in his stroke. He hit .286 last year despite battling a bunch of hand and wrist problems, so perhaps a little more health will create a little more pop, but don't bet on it. He doesn't hit lefties well at all, but he should continue to have part of the center-field job in at least the better side of a platoon arrangement.[/i] espn.com

 

Kinda makes you wish we could have them both and platoon them, doesn't it?

[TLAK]

Look at the pitch Brian swung at against Humber on Saturday. Then resume your arguments.

 

[Dick Allen]

Look at the pitch Brian swung at against Humber on Saturday. Then resume your arguments.

There's not a player in baseball that hasn't looked that bad at one time or another.

[Kalapse]

Alexei whiffed on a near identical pitch against Davies I believe.

[Princess Dye]

And anyway, what is done is done. BA is who he is. He has the potential to become better through regular playing time, but even if he doesn't, he's still better than what we have right now. It's not rocket surgery.

 

I guess the one thing that just irks me is the implicit notion that Brian would be better with more ML playing time (has had 600 at-bats) and yet the complete impossibility of Owens improving on his already better major league stats (was given 380 at-bats).

 

But the thing is I'll foremost look at the player as controller of his destiny. Owens cant stick in the majors because he is a slap-hitter that hasnt proven enough as a basestealer considering his speed.

 

There are things Anderson wasnt ever going to do, and wont ever do. Both have huge huge holes.

Edited April 13, 2009 by Princess Dye

[iamshack]

And Thome against freaking R.J. Dickey

[knightni]

And Thome against freaking R.A. Dickey

[daa84]

im fine with owens being called up....hopefully he wont play much anyways, and he can PR off the bench...I wish it was kroeger i guess, but seeing as how he didnt play CF in ST im ok with it being owens...I just hope to god Ozzie doesnt play him more than 1 start in the 15 days Wise is out

[Princess Dye]

I just hope to god Ozzie doesnt play him more than 1 start in the 15 days Wise is out

 

From what i was reading it's usually a 6 to 8 week healing time for something like that.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

KHP, there's a corollary to your thoughts on JD...

There's a lot here...

 

BA was not more of an athlete than a player. Yes, he was toolsy, but he's not some guy who didn't start playing baseball until later in life.

 

BA's attitude supposedly was an issue. So was Orlando Cabrera's attitude. The difference? OC hit well so he kept his job. Brian could have been handled better so that he'd have hit enough to stay. And also, the attitude stuff is WAY overblown here. The guy is making the league minimum and, especially in 2006, would have brought in a decent return at least. KW would have sent his ass packing in a heartbeat if BA's attitude was such a huge problem.

 

I don't know what your point is about trading players out of the organization. The Sox kept BA. Shouldn't that be a positive towards BA then? And I think McCarthy was dealt because he had a wild delivery, an arrow-straight fastball, and a wiry frame, and Danks was in every way a better prospect.

 

The organizational philosophy is retarded when it comes to BA. You can't just make one stupid mission statement and apply it to everyone. You handle prospects on a case-by-case basis. What works for a talented player in college is probably not going to work against Major League pitching. It's one thing if you're talking about a pitcher, i.e. you don't want to just rush in and try to make large changes to a pitcher's delivery, but it is completely different for a hitter. You may not want to tear down his whole swing, but you can get him to make some changes that will allow for him to become a better player as he moves up levels, instead of the same exact player as he moves up levels.

 

Rowand and Crede got everyday playing time. Crede hit better than BA did in the minors and it took him years to develop his bat.

 

No organization is supposed to basically give up on a first round pick because he pouted a couple of times. That is retarded. The way the Sox have handled BA is retarded.

 

See, you're back to resorting to personal attacks on BA from the team or "sources" that were launched through the media. BA is a scapegoat. And once again I'll ask this question since you apparently didn't give it much consideration, if Brian was such a bad influence, why did they not trade him for a prospect? If they didn't like his attitude, or his tendencies to sleep with women, and they didn't like the fact that he got sick (I believe) playing in a South American s***hole and didn't want to go back, then they could have dumped his ass. It's not like he's making too much money to do so.

 

Now you're criticizing Brian's approach at the plate. Okay, fine. What are the minor leagues for? Don't you think the coaches down there should have noticed and attempted to correct all these things before the Sox promoted him to the Bigs? That's yet another indictment of the previous regime.

 

No, BA never at any time looked worse than Owens. BA had nice Springs in 2007, 2008, and 2009 yet broke as a 4th OF all three seasons. You have a selective memory here. If you can find the old ST stats, look them up. I've been riding on the Jerry Owens/Darin Erstad Hate Train for a long time so I know.

 

I wouldn't jump and shout with glee that we've traded guys like Olivo, Morse, and Reed to Freddy Garcia. You're supposed to do those things. You're supposed to try to assemble the best pitching staff possible. Just because they didn't pan out doesn't mean the Sox didn't like them, and it doesn't mean the Sox at the time wouldn't have rather traded other players. People get hung up on this s***, like Kenny Williams is a magician and he waves this magic wand that makes other GM's stupid. Look, Seattle's scouts obviously loved those guys and they thought they were getting a terrific deal. The prospects didn't pan out, but that is no surprise, because prospects often do not pan out. Yet, still to this day, Morse is a MLB bench player, Reed is a MLB 4th OF, and Olivo is a starting C in the big leagues. I'd say overall Seattle's people did a pretty good job identifying talent, but it just didn't turn out the way they'd have liked it to. Any time you make a deal where you give up the best player in the deal you put yourself at great risk of losing.

[Wanne]

I guess the one thing that just irks me is the implicit notion that Brian would be better with more ML playing time (has had 600 at-bats) and yet the complete impossibility of Owens improving on his already better major league stats (was given 380 at-bats).

 

But the thing is I'll foremost look at the player as controller of his destiny. Owens cant stick in the majors because he is a slap-hitter that hasnt proven enough as a basestealer considering his speed.

 

There are things Anderson wasnt ever going to do, and wont ever do. Both have huge huge holes.

 

I don't think anybody's said he'd be better...let's just give him a fair shake to see what we have. And please don't people start bringing up the whole '06 bs....two different animals.

[Princess Dye]

No, BA never at any time looked worse than Owens. BA had nice Springs in 2007, 2008, and 2009 yet broke as a 4th OF all three seasons. You have a selective memory here. If you can find the old ST stats, look them up. I've been riding on the Jerry Owens/Darin Erstad Hate Train for a long time so I know.

 

Which is the better predictor of MLB regular season success?

 

1) Actual MLB regular season at-bats, albeit sporadic ones

 

2) Spring Training success, where hitters are facing pitchers who won't be on the team...or perhaps are more established but experimenting with pitches and/or consciously saving their best in some way.

 

 

 

I only ask because it sounds like your argument is that it's #2. Definitely clarify though if that's putting words in your mouth.

Edited April 14, 2009 by Princess Dye

[WCSox]

No organization is supposed to basically give up on a first round pick because he pouted a couple of times. That is retarded. The way the Sox have handled BA is retarded.

 

The problem with this analysis is that you don't know for sure that he simply "pouted a couple of times." I don't think that anybody here does. A LOT goes on behind closed doors that nobody here is privy to.

 

A friend of my sister's knew BA when she was at Arizona. And from what I've heard second-hand, he had serious maturity issues back then. So I wasn't terribly surprised that he worked his way into Ozzie's doghouse in 2006.

 

I'm not defending the way that Ozzie and Kenny have handled BA. But it's pretty silly to rush to judgement when there's A LOT that even people who follow the team closely don't know about the situation. Oh, and he still struggles to hit .220. That doesn't help either.

 

[caulfield12]

There's a lot here...

 

BA was not more of an athlete than a player. Yes, he was toolsy, but he's not some guy who didn't start playing baseball until later in life.

 

BA's attitude supposedly was an issue. So was Orlando Cabrera's attitude. The difference? OC hit well so he kept his job. Brian could have been handled better so that he'd have hit enough to stay. And also, the attitude stuff is WAY overblown here. The guy is making the league minimum and, especially in 2006, would have brought in a decent return at least. KW would have sent his ass packing in a heartbeat if BA's attitude was such a huge problem.

 

I don't know what your point is about trading players out of the organization. The Sox kept BA. Shouldn't that be a positive towards BA then? And I think McCarthy was dealt because he had a wild delivery, an arrow-straight fastball, and a wiry frame, and Danks was in every way a better prospect.

 

The organizational philosophy is retarded when it comes to BA. You can't just make one stupid mission statement and apply it to everyone. You handle prospects on a case-by-case basis. What works for a talented player in college is probably not going to work against Major League pitching. It's one thing if you're talking about a pitcher, i.e. you don't want to just rush in and try to make large changes to a pitcher's delivery, but it is completely different for a hitter. You may not want to tear down his whole swing, but you can get him to make some changes that will allow for him to become a better player as he moves up levels, instead of the same exact player as he moves up levels.

 

Rowand and Crede got everyday playing time. Crede hit better than BA did in the minors and it took him years to develop his bat.

 

No organization is supposed to basically give up on a first round pick because he pouted a couple of times. That is retarded. The way the Sox have handled BA is retarded.

 

See, you're back to resorting to personal attacks on BA from the team or "sources" that were launched through the media. BA is a scapegoat. And once again I'll ask this question since you apparently didn't give it much consideration, if Brian was such a bad influence, why did they not trade him for a prospect? If they didn't like his attitude, or his tendencies to sleep with women, and they didn't like the fact that he got sick (I believe) playing in a South American s***hole and didn't want to go back, then they could have dumped his ass. It's not like he's making too much money to do so.

 

Now you're criticizing Brian's approach at the plate. Okay, fine. What are the minor leagues for? Don't you think the coaches down there should have noticed and attempted to correct all these things before the Sox promoted him to the Bigs? That's yet another indictment of the previous regime.

 

No, BA never at any time looked worse than Owens. BA had nice Springs in 2007, 2008, and 2009 yet broke as a 4th OF all three seasons. You have a selective memory here. If you can find the old ST stats, look them up. I've been riding on the Jerry Owens/Darin Erstad Hate Train for a long time so I know.

 

I wouldn't jump and shout with glee that we've traded guys like Olivo, Morse, and Reed to Freddy Garcia. You're supposed to do those things. You're supposed to try to assemble the best pitching staff possible. Just because they didn't pan out doesn't mean the Sox didn't like them, and it doesn't mean the Sox at the time wouldn't have rather traded other players. People get hung up on this s***, like Kenny Williams is a magician and he waves this magic wand that makes other GM's stupid. Look, Seattle's scouts obviously loved those guys and they thought they were getting a terrific deal. The prospects didn't pan out, but that is no surprise, because prospects often do not pan out. Yet, still to this day, Morse is a MLB bench player, Reed is a MLB 4th OF, and Olivo is a starting C in the big leagues. I'd say overall Seattle's people did a pretty good job identifying talent, but it just didn't turn out the way they'd have liked it to. Any time you make a deal where you give up the best player in the deal you put yourself at great risk of losing.

 

We traded Webster, Reed, Chris Young and Rowand...so that BA could be the everyday CFer on a team defending the World Series championship.

 

I don't buy the whole idea that KW thought that BA wasn't ready then. The risk was too high to go into the season with BA if there was any doubt about his ability.

 

What happened is that they had no choice but to try to get more offense in the line-up that season...it was fine when we were 26 games over .500 at the break, but then the starting pitching and Jenks went south at the same time and they had to try to beef up the line-up.

 

If anything, they were TOO patient with BA that year. Wise was moved down in the line-up after two games this season...Anderson had MANY games to prove himself, and it's not like BA was treated too harshly by the fans. I don't remember even when he was hitting 170 or 180 in June that the fans were particularly harsh with him like they were with Wise last week.

 

The reason BA wasn't traded was because he still had some upside, and the return was negligible...so it made more sense to hold onto him and hope things magically would start to click.

 

I'm not talking about BA's overall ST statistics, but about how poorly he played the first 2-3 weeks. We can argue all day long, but it's not like BA really deserved to win the starting job...it was known to all of us that it would likely be a "platoon" with BA and Wise/Owens...so if you want to say he was "demoted" to 4th/5th outfielder, that's fine I guess.

 

KW made Seattle look even more stupid when they dumped Borchard and got back the best LH set-up pitcher in baseball in Thornton.

 

He's not a magician...I have never claimed that. I used to be one of his biggest critics in 2002/2003 (along with Manuel), but I slowly changed my opinion about him...he's between 5-10 of all MLB GM's. You can say he's 12-18 or whatever, but if you look at the likes of Shapiro, Ryan/Smith and Dombrowski, none of them won the World Series this decade.

Edited April 14, 2009 by caulfield12

[jjbabins]

Just a thought here, but...Delwyn Young was designated for assignment today. Could be a possibility - I wouldn't doubt if Kenny atleast gave it a thought

[Princess Dye]

We cant really talk about their personal lives since we're mostly just reaching when that gets into the discussion.

 

 

 

 

Another problem with attacking the "old regime" Sox development system. Isnt it the same old regime that developed Rowand and Crede? Those are the very examples KHP cites of guys who got needed ML at-bats until they came around.

 

 

Crede's a 3B and those guys get a long leash if they can field it. OF is a different animal. Rowand had to come in and prove himself in a hurry. At even a younger age, Aaron showed in his first 600 at-bats that he was ready for a wider array of pitching than Anderson did/has.

Edited April 14, 2009 by Princess Dye

[NorthSideSox72]

Just a thought here, but...Delwyn Young was designated for assignment today. Could be a possibility - I wouldn't doubt if Kenny atleast gave it a thought

Welcome to the board!

 

[caulfield12]

The problem with this analysis is that you don't know for sure that he simply "pouted a couple of times." I don't think that anybody here does. A LOT goes on behind closed doors that nobody here is privy to.

 

A friend of my sister's knew BA when she was at Arizona. And from what I've heard second-hand, he had serious maturity issues back then. So I wasn't terribly surprised that he worked his way into Ozzie's doghouse in 2006.

 

I'm not defending the way that Ozzie and Kenny have handled BA. But it's pretty silly to rush to judgement when there's A LOT that even people who follow the team closely don't know about the situation. Oh, and he still struggles to hit .220. That doesn't help either.

 

 

Some players just don't fit in with their original organization, for whatever reason.

 

Garza and Delmon Young haven't worked out very well (so far with Young) in Minnesota, and both those teams gave up VERY early on each player. And we're talking about two guys in the Top 10-25 of all major league prospects in terms of ability. Or David Ortiz.

 

Change of scenery trades have worked wonderfully for the Sox this decade. We know them all, no need to list them all off again.

 

Hawk was telling about a player who was one of the top prospects in the organization that was released on the spot during the "organizational" meeting early in spring training...compared to that, KW and Ozzie have given BA many many chances.

 

Felix Pie didn't have nearly the number of AB's on the NorthSide b4 they dumped him.

 

 

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

Which is the better predictor of MLB regular season success?

 

1) Actual MLB regular season at-bats, albeit sporadic ones

 

2) Spring Training success, where hitters are facing pitchers who won't be on the team...or perhaps are more established but experimenting with pitches and/or consciously saving their best in some way.

 

 

 

I only ask because it sounds like your argument is that it's #2. Definitely clarify though if that's putting words in your mouth.

Obviously the sporadic MLB numbers mean a lot more because they are against Major Leaguers in real game situations, but you also have to look at those numbers in the proper context. Anderson is not the type of player who can sit that long and come up with hits on a consistent basis, so his numbers only would seem to prove that he can hit to that degree off the bench, but they don't prove that he cannot hit in regular playing time. They don't say he would hit better in regular playing time either, but it's hard for me to imagine him actually being worse when given the opportunity to get comfortable in a starting role at this stage of his career.

 

Anderson's ST numbers were important because those numbers were what was supposed to win or lose him the job. Instead, it looks like his numbers were mostly disregarded and the defensive advantage he brings was never a factor.

[WCSox]

Some players just don't fit in with their original organization, for whatever reason.

 

Garza and Delmon Young haven't worked out very well (so far with Young) in Minnesota, and both those teams gave up VERY early on each player. And we're talking about two guys in the Top 10-25 of all major league prospects in terms of ability.

 

Yeah, I agree. And I imagine that Ozzie's old-school approach and lack of tolerance for certain things makes "fit" very important in his clubhouse.

 

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

The problem with this analysis is that you don't know for sure that he simply "pouted a couple of times." I don't think that anybody here does. A LOT goes on behind closed doors that nobody here is privy to.

 

A friend of my sister's knew BA when she was at Arizona. And from what I've heard second-hand, he had serious maturity issues back then. So I wasn't terribly surprised that he worked his way into Ozzie's doghouse in 2006.

 

I'm not defending the way that Ozzie and Kenny have handled BA. But it's pretty silly to rush to judgement when there's A LOT that even people who follow the team closely don't know about the situation. Oh, and he still struggles to hit .220. That doesn't help either.

I don't think it is rushing judgement at all. Kenny Williams has a strong track record of jettisoning clubhouse cancers. Rick White made a comment to the media, then he was DFA'd the next day I believe. Jon Rauch, who at one time was a far better prospect than BA ever was, was gone because he had dinner with his family instead of hanging out with the team. Granted, Rauch wasn't the same guy he had been, but he was still a nice prospect. Lofton was also sent packing and rumors were that KW tried to find a deal for OC last season at the deadline. I'm sure there are other examples as well. If Brian was as big of a problem as has been reported in the media he'd have been long gone. I'm not saying he didn't have maturity issues that ticked some people off, but the whole thing has been way overblown.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

We traded Webster, Reed, Chris Young and Rowand...so that BA could be the everyday CFer on a team defending the World Series championship.

 

I don't buy the whole idea that KW thought that BA wasn't ready then. The risk was too high to go into the season with BA if there was any doubt about his ability.

 

What happened is that they had no choice but to try to get more offense in the line-up that season...it was fine when we were 26 games over .500 at the break, but then the starting pitching and Jenks went south at the same time and they had to try to beef up the line-up.

 

If anything, they were TOO patient with BA that year. Wise was moved down in the line-up after two games this season...Anderson had MANY games to prove himself, and it's not like BA was treated too harshly by the fans. I don't remember even when he was hitting 170 or 180 in June that the fans were particularly harsh with him like they were with Wise last week.

 

The reason BA wasn't traded was because he still had some upside, and the return was negligible...so it made more sense to hold onto him and hope things magically would start to click.

 

I'm not talking about BA's overall ST statistics, but about how poorly he played the first 2-3 weeks. We can argue all day long, but it's not like BA really deserved to win the starting job...it was known to all of us that it would likely be a "platoon" with BA and Wise/Owens...so if you want to say he was "demoted" to 4th/5th outfielder, that's fine I guess.

 

KW made Seattle look even more stupid when they dumped Borchard and got back the best LH set-up pitcher in baseball in Thornton.

 

He's not a magician...I have never claimed that. I used to be one of his biggest critics in 2002/2003 (along with Manuel), but I slowly changed my opinion about him...he's between 5-10 of all MLB GM's. You can say he's 12-18 or whatever, but if you look at the likes of Shapiro, Ryan/Smith and Dombrowski, none of them won the World Series this decade.

We traded Reed for Freddy, Webster for Everett, Rowand for Thome, and Young for Javy Vazquez. Those were all no-brainers at the time IMO. We got the best player in each deal and each deal gave us a better chance of winning during a window of opportunity. I think all the MLB players acquired played a much bigger role in the decision to trade those players than BA's presence did. Also, the Sox could have looked for a stopgap alternative if they didn't want BA out there in 2006. Walker admitted later that BA wasn't ready, and everyone knew it, but Kenny didn't get an alternative. The Sox wanted BA to fail before they made changes, which apparently he wasn't very receptive to. This had all come after tons of comments that all BA had to do was play D, yet he still was trashed in the papers, and he still was made a scapegoat even though the offense wasn't the problem with the 2006 team, it was the bullpen, which Anderson actually helped by playing CF.

 

Any manager that tries to make up for bad pitching by adding offense and further weakening defense is an idiot. There was definitely a choice in the matter between starting Mackowiak for his bat and starting Anderson for his glove.

 

The Sox had forced themselves to be patient with BA because *they completely failed to develop him into an MLB-ready player.* Yet, they still trashed him in the media.

 

Negligible return? How do we know this? Josh Anderson just brought a halfway decent MR prospect and Anderson was a better prospect due to his power potential. If KW has shown us anything, it is that he is not afraid to flat out dump a bad clubhouse influence. He's not going to care about the return if he deems it necessary. If Kenny felt that BA wasn't worth his or Ozzie's time then he'd have taken a A-baller or two and called it a day.

 

Yes, we all figured Ozzie would platoon BA and Wise/Owens if BA got any time at all. However, it was supposed to have been a fair competition and once again it wasn't. Who cares what BA hit at the very beginning of spring? Why is that a factor? The final cuts were made very late and BA's numbers were there then. If anything, I'd much rather have a guy who is ending the spring on a high note anyway.

 

If anyone made Seattle look stupid it was Cooper, not Kenny. Kenny pulled the trigger and Coop did the actual work. Would you also say that St. Louis made Minnesota look stupid for giving up on Kyle Lohse? I wouldn't. The guy sucked, just like Thornton sucked in Seattle. He needed a fresh start and better advice from a better pitching coach, and he got it.