Jump to content

AJ Pierzynski Appreciation thread


Kyyle23

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 164
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 10:20 AM)
Just got an email from a pal who listened. His synopsis:

 

Last season Robin allowed girlfriends to fly on the charter jet on road trip. Apparently wives were only allowed with Ozzie. All season long, AJ openly complained about this, sometimes in front of said gf's. This pissed a lot of the single Sox off big time.

 

He was just pissed that he was stuck with his wife, he would have preferred to bring a girlfriend as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 10:20 AM)
Just got an email from a pal who listened. His synopsis:

 

Last season Robin allowed girlfriends to fly on the charter jet on road trip. Apparently wives were only allowed with Ozzie. All season long, AJ openly complained about this, sometimes in front of said gf's. This pissed a lot of the single Sox off big time.

 

 

Spiegel did mention this. Also said that AJ often clashed with Ventura because he did not respect him. Rozner mentioned that Cooper, Parent and the rest of the staff did not get along particularly well with AJ either. I don't know why people are surprised by this. Pierzynski is a child. Anyone who cares about which other people are on the team charter has some issues. He is a guy that needs to find something to be annoyed by. I appreciate AJ for all of the good things that he did and for being the guy that called guys out for things. He is an asshole though. Always has been. We heard less about it here because AJ was allowed to play as much as he wanted. Rozner and Spiegs mentioned how many players grew tired of AJ and that they referred to him as "Satan" in the clubhouse. Bottom line: Pierzynski will not replicate similar production on offense next year, pitchers do not like throwing to him, he is horrible defensively, and it's time to see what the Sox have with Tyler Flowers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

AJ may have been an ass, but NO ONE can argue about what he did on the field. Yes, he didn't throw well, but he called a good game, was an everyday player, and could hit. He was also extremely bright and as ball players go, few were more clever. AJ may not have respected Ventura, but in the one year he played for said manager he had a career year.

 

AJP is a huge loss. I like Tyler and yes it's time to give him the reigns, but AJP will be sorely missed by the Sox and most of the fans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 10:48 AM)
Spiegel did mention this. Also said that AJ often clashed with Ventura because he did not respect him. Rozner mentioned that Cooper, Parent and the rest of the staff did not get along particularly well with AJ either. I don't know why people are surprised by this. Pierzynski is a child. Anyone who cares about which other people are on the team charter has some issues. He is a guy that needs to find something to be annoyed by. I appreciate AJ for all of the good things that he did and for being the guy that called guys out for things. He is an asshole though. Always has been. We heard less about it here because AJ was allowed to play as much as he wanted. Rozner and Spiegs mentioned how many players grew tired of AJ and that they referred to him as "Satan" in the clubhouse. Bottom line: Pierzynski will not replicate similar production on offense next year, pitchers do not like throwing to him, he is horrible defensively, and it's time to see what the Sox have with Tyler Flowers.

Personally, the "As soon as it's official and AJ is gone, so we will start bashing him and telling some supposed stories out of school" routine, doesn't work for me. AJ was so hated and no one could play for him, that he signed 3 or 4 White Sox contracts. Rozner, who I really like, and Speigel, should be embarrassed they spent their show with this crap. Now, if they want to have someone actually speak on the record, that could be different.

Edited by Dick Allen
Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 10:48 AM)
Spiegel did mention this. Also said that AJ often clashed with Ventura because he did not respect him. Rozner mentioned that Cooper, Parent and the rest of the staff did not get along particularly well with AJ either. I don't know why people are surprised by this. Pierzynski is a child. Anyone who cares about which other people are on the team charter has some issues. He is a guy that needs to find something to be annoyed by. I appreciate AJ for all of the good things that he did and for being the guy that called guys out for things. He is an asshole though. Always has been. We heard less about it here because AJ was allowed to play as much as he wanted. Rozner and Spiegs mentioned how many players grew tired of AJ and that they referred to him as "Satan" in the clubhouse. Bottom line: Pierzynski will not replicate similar production on offense next year, pitchers do not like throwing to him, he is horrible defensively, and it's time to see what the Sox have with Tyler Flowers.

 

All of this is spot on, and none is much of a surprise. Most of this was out in the open over the last eight years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (kwolf68 @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 10:53 AM)
AJ may have been an ass, but NO ONE can argue about what he did on the field. Yes, he didn't throw well, but he called a good game, was an everyday player, and could hit. He was also extremely bright and as ball players go, few were more clever. AJ may not have respected Ventura, but in the one year he played for said manager he had a career year.

 

AJP is a huge loss. I like Tyler and yes it's time to give him the reigns, but AJP will be sorely missed by the Sox and most of the fans.

 

I cannot disagree with one word of this post. However, AJ's time is past and we will see what we have in Flowers. It is time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do respect what AJ did on the field. But like with anyone else, it's just the amount of respect his overall play deserves and nothing more. You really put your pitcher in a bind when you are not a threat to throw people out at second. Last year has to be called an aberration in this regard, since we have a large sample size to go off.

 

And Flowers might not be the answer for that either, but it's time to solidify that spot defensively. It's very rough to constantly have a catcher that is inflating his BA by swinging at everything, and then NOT having the defensive component either.

 

Because we love AJ the player, we tend to like him more than we should. Again, last year has to be seen as an aberration or we are fooling ourselves. The guy we know is a guy who swings a ton (to just get to, say, .280 avg), lets walks be damned, and thus lets opposing pitchers extend their stay in games.

Edited by Jose Paniagua
Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 10:57 AM)
I do respect what AJ did on the field. But like with anyone else, it's just the amount of respect his overall play deserves and nothing more. You really put your pitcher in a bind when you are not a threat to throw people out at second. Last year has to be called an aberration in this regard, since we have a large sample size to go off.

 

And Flowers might not be the answer for that either, but it's time to solidify that spot defensively. It's very rough to constantly have a catcher that is inflating his BA by swinging at everything, and then NOT having the defensive component either.

 

Because we love AJ the player, we tend to like him more than we should. Again, last year has to be seen as an aberration or we are fooling ourselves. The guy we know is a guy who swings a ton and lets opposing pitchers extend their stay in games.

 

From most indications the improvement wasn't on AJ's side. It was Cooper figuring out a way to quicken guys like Floyd and Peavy to the plate to better compensate for AJ's "arm".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 10:27 AM)
Scandalous. Sports radio must really be dying if they have to spend time talking about girlfriends on the team plane.

 

 

One more thought: you post on a sports message board. If sports radio is mired in the irrelevant, we're all here are wading in it right next to 'em.

Edited by Jose Paniagua
Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 11:15 AM)
One more thought: you post on a sports message board. If sports radio is mired in the irrelevant, we're all here are wading in right next to 'em.

 

Even less so...

 

Everybody knew A.J. was a dick. He's probably a bigger jerk than Jay Cutler.

 

I don't know how you don't "buy" something like this. It most likely happened. It's so out there that it's hard as hell to make up. There were reasons the Sox did not want to retain AJ. The first is that he was getting old and not going to be as productive, the second was that he wasn't exactly a good clubhouse guy. There's no reason for the Sox to spend $7.5 million on him when Flowers has shown flashes of being a ML quality hitter and is a much better defender.

Edited by chw42
Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 11:24 AM)
Even less so...

 

 

Well the thing with internet versus thrown-at-you media..... there's just more of everything. That includes the irrelevant as well as the relevant.

 

So here the tradeoff is we have MORE expert statistical analysis, more attention to farm system, etc. than the radio can provide.

 

But we also have MORE utter foolishness, crap, etc. And there's no gatekeeper here to hang up on a caller (though we can edit/block each other some)

Edited by Jose Paniagua
Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 11:00 AM)
From most indications the improvement wasn't on AJ's side. It was Cooper figuring out a way to quicken guys like Floyd and Peavy to the plate to better compensate for AJ's "arm".

And an infield coach that had Alexei go to second base instead of 3 feet in front of it. The ball is faster than the swipe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 11:24 AM)
Even less so...

 

Everybody knew A.J. was a dick. He's probably a bigger jerk than Jay Cutler.

 

I don't know how you don't "buy" something like this. It most likely happened. It's so out there that it's hard as hell to make up. There were reasons the Sox did not want to retain AJ. The first is that he was getting old and not going to be as productive, the second was that he wasn't exactly a good clubhouse guy. There's no reason for the Sox to spend $7.5 million on him when Flowers has shown flashes of being a ML quality hitter and is a much better defender.

I love Cutler and Pierzynski, but I've ran into both on several occasions away from the field. One is a down to earth, normal guy (Pierzynski) and the other would rather you blindly ran onto the Dan Ryan (Cutler).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a hard time believing that AJ did not respect Robin.

 

Half the damn games when we were on offense, AJ was standing next to Robin chatting him up in the dugout. I also find it hard that Hawk could speak of AJ so reverently if he didn't respect Robin, considering how much Hawk respects Robin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 28, 2012 -> 10:54 AM)
Personally, the "As soon as it's official and AJ is gone, so we will start bashing him and telling some supposed stories out of school" routine, doesn't work for me. AJ was so hated and no one could play for him, that he signed 3 or 4 White Sox contracts. Rozner, who I really like, and Speigel, should be embarrassed they spent their show with this crap. Now, if they want to have someone actually speak on the record, that could be different.

 

 

Spiegel did say on the show that he was just given this information this week otherwise he would have brought it up long ago. Spiegel doesn't typically beat on a guy after he leaves. Rozner OTOH has always said these things about Pierzynski. These comments are nothing new. It surprises me that anyone who doesn't live under a rock would be surprised by these comments. They both did note all of the good things that AJ brought. Nobody was "bashing" Pierzynski. Especially not when all of it is true.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...