The Hawk speaks

[southsider2k5]

http://blogs.suntimes.com/whitesox/

 

Harrelson optimistic about Dunn, Ventura, White Sox

By Daryl Van Schouwen on January 22, 2012 9:56 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

 

Caught up with broadcaster Ken Harrelson recently as he was making his way to a first tee somewhere in sunny Florida. He warmed up for his round of golf by talking White Sox baseball. As you might expect, the Hawk is optimistic about the 2012 season.

 

S-T: Hawk, give Sox fans something to be optimistic about. This payroll-slashing, replenishing phase general manager Ken Williams is taking them through after last year's all-out "all in" bust is depressing them.

 

Hawk: First of all, [the roster is] not set yet. I'm very optimistic. We have some situations with a big upside -- Adam Dunn literally and figuratively. Hopefully [Alex] Rios, and hopefully [Jake] Peavy is healthy. [Gordon] Beckham I think is going to come back. One of the big things is going to be the attitude. [New manager] Robin [Ventura] is going to be fantastic, I really do think so.

 

S-T: More moves to be made in your view?

 

Hawk: Kenny is not done yet, I know that. Even if we trade one or two of our veteran players, I'm still optimistic because we have some good young talent out there. And let's face it, last year was probably the worst defensive outfield play I've seen in a major league outfield. It was horrendous. That's going to be turned around and we're going to have a good defensive outfield. [Dayan] Viciedo has a chance to be a monster. And Tyler Flowers, looks like he's going to be a good player. So there is a lot to be optimistic about.

 

S-T: Should De Aza play CF?

 

Hawk: That's going to be up to Robin. It will work itself out at spring training. I'd like to see De Aza. To me, he's made himself into a big league center fielder. Alex, I think he'll be more comfortable in left field.

 

S-T: Are the Sox still trimming payroll?

 

Hawk: I don't think Kenny is done yet. And I'm not talking about trimming, I'm talking about one way or the other. [but] I wouldn't expect them to go out and sign a huge free agent.

 

S-T: What do you like about this team?

 

Look at the September [brent] Morel had last year. With Ramirez, Beckham and Konerko that's a pretty damn good infield. With improved outfield play, it's a different looking ballclub. The most important thing we have on our team is your pitching, and the way you protect your pitching is by catching the ball. You have to catch the ball. It's that simple. And we didn't catch the ball last year. That puts a lot of pressure on the pitching staff and that in turn puts a lot of pressure on the offense. Again, I'm ready to go. Ready to go right now.

 

S-T: With Santos shipped off to Toronto for pitching prospect Nestor Molina, who is going to close?

 

Hawk: Well, it would be unfair to say Addison Reed will be the closer. That will work itself out. We have a lot of games in spring training for Robin to make up his mind.

 

S-T: Was it time for a [managerial] change?

 

Hawk: I think so, yeah. And Ozzie felt the same way. Ozzie, the first five years he was here were terrific. People forget if we don't lose Maggs [Ordonez] and then [Framk] Thomas we probably would have won it that year. His second year we won the world championship. But the last three years have not been the same.

 

Any time you say something good toward the new manager it's something negative toward the old manager. Robin is a breath of fresh air.

 

S-T: You were a Comeback Player of the Year (1968). You have said you believe Dunn will be the Comeback Player of the Year. Did you see anything physically wrong or was it all mental?

 

Hawk: I said I hope he will and I think he can be Comeback Player of the Year. [His bad 2011] performance was self induced. He got into a position where it got worse, got deeper and deeper. He's going to really enjoy Robin Ventura. Robin his first year went 0-for-41 and he grew in stature in the eyes of his of teammates. And Adam, I told him that was the worst season I've seen anyone have. I said I had some bad ones but nothing like that ... he laughed, but he handled the adversity it well, like a real solid professional and teammate. If a guy like Albert Belle struggles like that, so what. But a guy like Adam, that's when it hurts more.

 

S-T: Will new hitting coach Jeff Manto make a difference?

 

Hawk: The toughest uniform job in baseball. Toughest job in baseball is the general manager. Second toughest is the hitting coach. Thirteen guys to take care of. You're not going to connect with all of them. Greg Walker is going to be happy [in Atlanta] and I think our hitters will. A lot of guys will miss Walk. I will because I love him like a second son. That's not the issue, though. The issue is was it time for a change and the answer probably is yes.

 

S-T: Does Robin know what he's in for? The next game he manages will be his first.

 

Hawk: Like Ozzie did as a player, every game he played in he managed. Look what they did in St. Louis [hiring Mike Matheny), a guy who never managed, either. That to me is not an issue. It's the individual and we know Robin very well. Kenny and I were talking in his office, I guess three or four weeks to go in the season. He told me who he was thinking about. He prefaced it by saying he never managed before. When he said "Robin Ventura" I said 'Kenny, you just made my winter.' I knew Ozzie was going and I thought it was going to be a critical decision who they brought in. With the exception of one (current) other guy, nobody would have been better.''

 

S-T: Nobody will pick the Sox to win the AL Central. Why do they have a chance?

 

Hawk: There are so many positive things that can happen. There's not too much more downside for some of those guys -- Adam, Alex, Beckham. This has a chance to be a helluva ballclub. The Tigers took a big hit (Victor Martinez injury). And Mr. Expectation is a horrible a guy. He will jerk you around and kill you if you allow him to. That's what happened to us a little bit last year.

 

S-T: When did the red flag go up for you last season?

 

Hawk: I took my wife to the airport with a week left in spring training. I said, 'I think we're in trouble.' She said, "why?" I said, 'the last two years we had flat spring trainings, we came out flat and it did not get any better. The thing is happening right now. We're flat and we're not playing well. Our outfield defense is going to be terrible. I don't think we're going to get it done even though our talent is as good a talent as anybody if not more. Sometimes talent is overrated and attitude is underrated. And the attitude the last three years has just not been there. There are reasons to be optimistic.

 

S-T: Robin has to get this team, with its many veterans, to buy into what he's doing.

 

Hawk: For Robin it will take time because he's not an in-your-face guy like Bobby Valentine.

 

S-T: You mentioned Tyler Flowers. Will we see less of A.J. Pierzynski behind the plate?

 

Hawk: I'd like to see A.J. rested a little more, yeah. A.J. still puts the best numbers down [calling pitches] in the American League. But Tyler is emerging. Is he ready, I don't know. As long as A.J. is around, he's your No. 1.

[Balta1701]

That outfield defense stuff and the spring training stuff sound pretty revealing.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Wow, that was a pretty good piece. I was expecting fluff, fluff and more fluff.

[daggins]

It's still mostly fluff. I'm glad he is down with the idea of Alejandro De Aza, MLB Centerfielder. The OF defense has a chance to be better but right field in USCF is apparently to be perpetually manned by statues.

 

I liked the dig at Belle too.

[Princess Dye]

It charges me up to hear Hawk speak. What can I say. When he talks about Dunn being literally and figuratively large. Making total nonsense statements followed by harsh criticisms of what has been going on here.

 

He's such a mixed bag and while I wouldn't do his job the way he does it, I can't help but appreciate him on some level.

 

 

 

edit:nonsense #1 Morel's september being indicative of...anything

Edited January 23, 2012 by Princess Dye

[Jordan4life_2007]

It's still mostly fluff. I'm glad he is down with the idea of Alejandro De Aza, MLB Centerfielder. The OF defense has a chance to be better but right field in USCF is apparently to be perpetually manned by statues.

 

I liked the dig at Belle too.

 

He didn't say anything ridiculous. At least not for him. I expected a bunch of excuses for '11 and everybody is going to break out and have a career year in '12 spew.

[Balta1701]

edit:nonsense #1 Morel's september being indicative of...anything

Except for the obvious fact of a developing kid hitting the ball hard, which is what people who paid attention to Morel expected to see eventually, sure. Indicative of nothing.

[Balta1701]

He didn't say anything ridiculous. At least not for him. I expected a bunch of excuses for '11 and everybody is going to break out and have a career year in '12 spew.

If he was actually calling out the OF defense in the spring, then that's actually pretty impressive, because that means he was calling the huge regressions for Pierre and Rios before they happened.

[southsider2k5]

It's still mostly fluff. I'm glad he is down with the idea of Alejandro De Aza, MLB Centerfielder. The OF defense has a chance to be better but right field in USCF is apparently to be perpetually manned by statues.

 

I liked the dig at Belle too.

 

I'm not sure what you expect from a teams announcer.

[daggins]

I'm not sure what you expect from a teams announcer.

 

Fluff, which is what this is. It would be difficult to read it as anything else. Which I guess is why I made that post.

 

But this is the part of the offseason where I am desperate for anything baseball related.

[southsider2k5]

Fluff, which is what this is. It would be difficult to read it as anything else. Which I guess is why I made that post.

 

But this is the part of the offseason where I am desperate for anything baseball related.

 

For the guy who is pretty much the real face of the organization to say what he said, that really isn't fluff. I'd challenge you to find another announcer who had those kinds of things to say about their own team.

[daggins]

It charges me up to hear Hawk speak. What can I say. When he talks about Dunn being literally and figuratively large. Making total nonsense statements followed by harsh criticisms of what has been going on here.

 

He's such a mixed bag and while I wouldn't do his job the way he does it, I can't help but appreciate him on some level.

 

 

 

edit:nonsense #1 Morel's september being indicative of...anything

 

I didn't watch his Sept. too closely so i'm not sure if there was any change in his approach or if he was just lucky. The power was obviously flukey but any improvement that isn't purely luck-based must be seen as a good sign.

 

Also it sounds like you have a touch of Stockholm Syndrome w/r/t Hawk Harrelson.

[Balta1701]

I didn't watch his Sept. too closely so i'm not sure if there was any change in his approach or if he was just lucky. The power was obviously flukey but any improvement that isn't purely luck-based must be seen as a good sign.

Big time change in his approach from earlier in the year. By his own testimony and to everyone's eyes, he was swinging tentatively and just trying to make contact through the summer, because he was scared of doing something wrong and getting benched for it. He started opening up and just swinging hard at the ball in September. In fact that shows up in his numbers...the strikeouts went up in Sept., but the power came with it.

 

Definitelyl needs to find more of a balance this year.

[Princess Dye]

Except for the obvious fact of a developing kid hitting the ball hard, which is what people who paid attention to Morel expected to see eventually, sure. Indicative of nothing.

 

 

OK I will agree with you that a developing kid hit the ball hard during a month.

 

I'd love to hear how far you want to go with how promising that sample size is.

 

 

 

 

The totality of Morel's past numbers don't doom him at all, not saying that. but the numbers within one great month don't do anything yet. Unless we want our minds to take us there.

Edited January 23, 2012 by Princess Dye

[GoSox05]

I liked that he mentioned the spring training stuff. The last few years of spring training have been crap.

 

I don't know how much it matters, but it would be nice to start the season out looking good.

[Balta1701]

OK I will agree with you that a developing kid hit the ball hard during a month.

 

I'd love to hear how far you want to go with how promising that sample size is.

 

 

 

 

The totality of Morel's past numbers don't doom him at all, not saying that. but the numbers within one great month don't do anything yet. Unless we want our minds to take us there.

The sample size of positive performance in September is equally valid for future prediction as the sample size of terrible performance was in the rest of the year, acceptable?

 

I certainly wouldn't expect Brent Morel to be a .220 hitter who puts up a .900 OPS for his career, just like I wouldn't expect him to put up a .625 OPS for the rest of his career either based on April-July.

 

I still think he winds up somewhere between .750-.800 with really good defense, maybe a little lower or higher if he gets a really bad or good hitting coach, and nothing I saw last year suggested why he couldn't be that guy.

[southsider2k5]

I liked that he mentioned the spring training stuff. The last few years of spring training have been crap.

 

I don't know how much it matters, but it would be nice to start the season out looking good.

 

Especially because the most successful years we had recently involved big Aprils.

[Princess Dye]

Also it sounds like you have a touch of Stockholm Syndrome w/r/t Hawk Harrelson.

 

i've expressed love for my captor since the early 90s

Edited January 23, 2012 by Princess Dye

[oldsox]

Hawk's comments about the bad OF defense are certainly valid, and they are also indirectly an indictment of GM Kenny Williams, since he is the one who put that outfield together at great expense and with little offensive production to compensate for the poor defense.

[Princess Dye]

The sample size of positive performance in September is equally valid for future prediction as the sample size of terrible performance was in the rest of the year, acceptable?

 

I certainly wouldn't expect Brent Morel to be a .220 hitter who puts up a .900 OPS for his career, just like I wouldn't expect him to put up a .625 OPS for the rest of his career either based on April-July.

 

I still think he winds up somewhere between .750-.800 with really good defense, maybe a little lower or higher if he gets a really bad or good hitting coach, and nothing I saw last year suggested why he couldn't be that guy.

 

 

OK, well it looks like we're in agreement. Something happened for a month that "people were looking for"

 

And the future is wide open, nothing last year suggested he can't be or not be a certain kind of guy.

 

Agreed then.

[Balta1701]

OK, well it looks like we're in agreement. Something happened for a month that "people were looking for"

 

And the future is wide open, nothing last year suggested he can't be or not be a certain kind of guy.

 

Agreed then.

The one thing worth saying though...if he hadn't put together that month of September, then there'd be a lot more reason to wonder "maybe Brent Morel will get stuck in this scared to get benched mode and never learn to hit big league pitching". It was certainly a plausible outcome in most people's eyes through most of the season.

[southsider2k5]

Hawk's comments about the bad OF defense are certainly valid, and they are also indirectly an indictment of GM Kenny Williams, since he is the one who put that outfield together at great expense and with little offensive production to compensate for the poor defense.

 

Or the guy who kept rolling the worst defenders out there every single day...

[daggins]

For the guy who is pretty much the real face of the organization to say what he said, that really isn't fluff. I'd challenge you to find another announcer who had those kinds of things to say about their own team.

 

I spent a good 10 minutes trying to find something like this and it just doesn't exist. Part of that is that, in fact, announcers are paid to fluff their teams. Part of it is that this material tends to be hard to Google. Part of it is that Hawk is actually pretty unique in his position within the organization as a mouthpiece, and part of it is that the article really isn't very critical of the Sox or KW. It is critical of Ozzie (ok, but thats easy) and it points out some very obvious truths about the Sox (the OF defense has been lousy for years, and they have lousy Spring Trainings) but still maintains that the Sox are right there with the other teams in the ALC in terms of talent (thus shielding Williams from scorn). It defends Rios and Dunn. It grasps for optimism in every possible detail. Its fluff.

[southsider2k5]

I spent a good 10 minutes trying to find something like this and it just doesn't exist. Part of that is that, in fact, announcers are paid to fluff their teams. Part of it is that this material tends to be hard to Google. Part of it is that Hawk is actually pretty unique in his position within the organization as a mouthpiece, and part of it is that the article really isn't very critical of the Sox or KW. It is critical of Ozzie (ok, but thats easy) and it points out some very obvious truths about the Sox (the OF defense has been lousy for years, and they have lousy Spring Trainings) but still maintains that the Sox are right there with the other teams in the ALC in terms of talent (thus shielding Williams from scorn). It defends Rios and Dunn. It grasps for optimism in every possible detail. Its fluff.

 

Of course it grasps for optimism. That doesn't mean it is fluff when compared to what you are going to be reading in 29 other cities right now. The fact you couldn't find anything comparable is proof of that.

[iamshack]

I spent a good 10 minutes trying to find something like this and it just doesn't exist. Part of that is that, in fact, announcers are paid to fluff their teams. Part of it is that this material tends to be hard to Google. Part of it is that Hawk is actually pretty unique in his position within the organization as a mouthpiece, and part of it is that the article really isn't very critical of the Sox or KW. It is critical of Ozzie (ok, but thats easy) and it points out some very obvious truths about the Sox (the OF defense has been lousy for years, and they have lousy Spring Trainings) but still maintains that the Sox are right there with the other teams in the ALC in terms of talent (thus shielding Williams from scorn). It defends Rios and Dunn. It grasps for optimism in every possible detail. Its fluff.

You also won't find another announcer who is allowed to be as much of a blatant homer while calling games as Hawk is...

 

He's one of a kind, our Hawkeroo...