All about Kenny

"The Club" finally premiered on the MLB network last night. The documentary supposedly showing an insider's view of the White Sox front office was announced last spring, right around the time that manager Ozzie Guillen conveniently got himself in some well-publicized hot water with his presence on Twitter.

The show promotes itself as a look at the tense, curmudgeonly but ultimately mutually-appreciative relationship between Guillen, GM Kenny Williams and owner Jerry Reinsdorf. By the looks of the first episode, which relived a bit of the Twitter saga, while also exploring topics that ranged from sprint training decisions to Williams' son Kyle experiences on NFL draft day, the show will be more about the GM than anyone else, and he'll be happy with the admiring tone.

"The Club" confirms the impression most fans probably have of Williams as an aggressive, powerful and somewhat humorless character--and one who likes his cigars as much as he likes to offer advice (One scene featuring Williams giving advice to his son is styled like something out of "The Godfather" with the GM dramatically sucking a stogie between bits of wisdom.) Though if it is all about Williams, who cares? He has earned the attention with a World Series to his credit, and some gutsy trades. If you're a Kenny fan, you'll like "The Club."

If you're an Ozzie fan, you still may like it. It predictably delivers some wacky Ozzie moments, and strives in the first episode to set up the battle of egos and emotions we already have heard too much about this year. Still, Guillen's got panache, and he's fun to watch even if some of what he says is stuff we've heard before.

Reinsdorf only lurks in the background of the first episode, mumbling through a few scenes, including a lunch with Bud Selig that seems staged only to emphasize that Reinsdorf is tasked with controlling Ozzie while Selig lurks not far away, ready to punish him for some potential offense.

There are worse ways to spend a Sunday night, and I will give "The Club" kudos for effectively telling the spring training stories of how Sergio Santos and Randy Williams made the team, and how closely Daniel Hudson missed making it. There was some good insider stuff from always-entertaining pitching coach Don Cooper, too. I can do without the Kenny-at-home scenes, but we'll let the GM have his showbiz moment.

Sox look ready for second-half pounce

The White Sox, having beaten the Angels two in a row this week, are still looking like a team ready to make its big move. Yes, they are still in third place, but it's all bunched up at the top of the A.L. Central, and going into the second half, the Sox are looking at least as good as the Tigers and probably better than the flagging Twins.

Now, the bad news: Jake Peavy, who seemed to be turning around his season of late, is probably headed to the DL. Until he walked off the mound in pain last night, the Sox pitchng staff, top to bottom, looked every bit as good as we thought back in spring training. Looks like Daniel Hudson gets another try.

Offensively, the Sox have been looking great, scoring without homeruns when they need to, dominating with power when they can. With the resurgence of Carlos Quentin and the pretty impressive arrival of Dayan Viciedo, the only sagging spots in the line-up have been those occupied by Gordon Beckham and Andruw Jones/Mark Kotsay.

What can the Sox do to help their chances in the second half? If Viciedo plays well enough to stay, that could solve the Beckham problem by pushing Omar Vizquel, Brent Lillibridge or even Alexei Ramirez to second base. That would still leave currently-injured Mark Teahen as a third base or DH option.

Of course, GM Kenny Williams loves to make moves, so trading for another veteran infielder or a regular DH (too bad Jim Thome isn't available) wouldn't be out of the question.

The Sox are back (?)

The White Sox have won seven of nine games behind improved pitching and some lively hitting from Carlos Quentin and others. Good signs of things to come? Maybe...

The Sox pitching staff was impressive against the Cubs over the weekend, but the Cubs have been pretty woeful of late. This week, they beat up Pittsburgh, but everybody does that (well, except for the Cubs).

More promising is that CQ has been pounding the ball recently, and while Gordon Beckham continues to disappoint and Mark Teahen is injured, it's Quentin's role in the line-up that is most significant for the Sox in taking more advantage of stellar seasons thus far from Alex Rios and Paul Konerko. If the meat of the line-up is getting on base and driving in runs, that should be enough for Sox pitchers like Mark Buehrle and Gavin Floyd, each of whom looked good in their last outing. And, amazingly, Freddy Garcia is still vexing everyone.

Unfortunately, Jake Peavy continues to be a source of stress, annoyance and disappointment. The dreaded "shoulder problems" issue has come up, for now only pushing back a start, but we'll see. Peavy actually has tried hard through a tough season to contribute to team unity and motivation, but the Sox need his arm, not his coaching abilities.

Meanwhile, a winning streak and some good vibes could go a long way toward mitigating the supposed tension between GM Kenny Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen. There have been almost daily reports about how the two don't need to get along to win, or that they actually do get along--whatever... Just win, baby.

Don't Twitter it all away

The Sox have been looking poised for a great year. Sure Mark Teahen isn't hitting and Bobby Jenks has already unraveled, but the make-up of the team and the game-plan seem sound, and there's a depth of talent pretty much everywhere.

So, it's very disconcerting to see controversies over the burgeoning Guillen Social Media Empire become a distraction. We were already a little worried about the distractions that might be caused by Ozzie's Twitter account. Though most of his Tweets have been either Ozzie-hilarious or Ozzie-non-sensical and have stayed away from talk about the team, son Oney's Tweets apparently got him in trouble with GM Kenny Willams. As a result, Oney Guillen has left the organization, and Ozzie reportedly, predicatbly is pretty steamed.

This blow-up comes not long after Ozzie nixed a plan for a new baseball website, allegedly under pressure from top management. I'm not too worried about Ozzie losing focus during games because of whatever social media forays and investments he's made, and I can't blame him for being mad about Oney losing (or leaving) his job over a spat with Kenny. Meanwhile, the Sox organization seems a bit too sensitive about what people are saying on Twitter, especially when it doesn't appear to be anything about baseball matters.

Let's just play ball.

Is this all just a PR stunt to drive ratings for MLB Network's "The Club," which will largely focus on the Sox front office? We can only hope so, but somehow, I doubt it.

Off the field: Twitter and "The Club"

The Tribune reports this morning on the controversy over White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen's new Twitter account (I tried to search for it on Twitter this morning, but the "find people" function was temporarily overloaded--with Ozzie followers, to be sure).

Sox management is concerned about Ozzie saying things that he shouldn't, going too far and talking off the cuff about matters best kept private--you know, basically being himself. I doubt the Sox need to fear Guillen saying much more than he alreay says publicly, which of course means that occasionally, he will say something, or say it in a way, that attracts a lot of controversy. But, that's just life with Ozzie.

Another interesting off the field tidbit that we haven't yet talked about: Jerry Reinsdorf, Kenny illiams and Ozzie, among others, are set to appear on the new MLB Network series, "The Club," this season. The series takes a close look at front office activities, though the Sox get to review the content, so presumably nothing at all will show up on the screen that embarasses the team.

Could off-the-field pursuits like Twitter and "The Club" prove to be unnecessary distractions? The Sox seemed poised for a solid year, possibly their best year since they won the World Series. If they fall short somehow, we know doubt will question anything and everything, including how much time management spent polishing their public personas.

Meanwhile, if you want to help me polish my public persona, you can find me on Twitter under "Doshea14" (Yes, the connection to Ernie Banks and Paul Konerko is intentional.)

Firing line

White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen says he's not worried about getting fired. He joins Cubs Manager Lou Piniella in that sentiment. Both teams have disappointed this year, the Cubs certainly more than the Sox. Yet, while the possibility of Piniella getting fired before he finishes out his contract next year has been discussed openly, I don't think anyone has been calling for Ozzie's head.

The Cubs are above .500, but that's not enough, of course, and they have a lot of excuses for they did not excel this year: Injuries, poorly-executed changes to a 97-win team, a few bad free agent signings, unexpected player slumps. Even so, this team should have done better, and Lou deserves a portion of the blame--along with GM Jim Hendry, certain individual players and the Cubs fan's eternal friend--fate. You could argue Lou shouldn't be back, though the team, despite new ownership, will not be re-building over the off-season. A few changes here and there, but if Lou gets fired at some point, it will be because of a poor start in 2010, not the disappointment of 2009.

Meanwhile, the Sox entered this year, like the Cubs, coming off a first-place finish in 2008. But, the most glaring needs-an everyday offensive and defensive threat in centerfield, better pitchers to round out the starting rotation--weren't addressed, or at least not until very recently. And the solution is more an effort to set the table for 2010 than to improve the team's chances now. The Sox are under .500 in a division that, despite Detroit's best efforts, is seen as under-achieving. GM Kenny Williams has stated as much, though he waited until late in the season to address obvious lingering problems.

So, should we be blaming Ozzie for the poor results? The Cubs have fallen further, but the Sox don't have nearly as many excuses for failing. The Carlos Quentin injury was a big factor, but players like Paul Konerko, Gordon Beckham and Scott Podsednik have had very strong years. Jermaine Dye started strong, but faded; Alexei Ramirez started poorly, but mostly came out of it; the starters, except for Mark Buehrle, slumped for the first two months of the season; and the bullpen was inconsistent. Kenny did acquire players like Jayson Nix, Wilson Betemit and Brent Lillibridge to add depth, though only has had much of an effect.

I guess it all depends on whether you want to blame the players for not performing up to par, blame the manager for not getting their best out of them, or blame the GM for tinkering too much or too little with last year's squad. When I look at the Cubs, I see a manager stuck between a GM who made the wrong moves and players who either under-performed, were injured for long stretches or became selfish distractions. When I look at the Sox, I see a manager whose GM made some moves, though not enough of them, but who still had his core line-up from last season to work with, plus two nice additions (Pods and Beck).

I feel like Ozzie should have gotten more out of this team, though I think he's the best man for the job next year managing a team that is already set up to improve. Basically, like Lou, he needs to start very strong and not allow his team to fall back for any reason. If there were a lot of great manager candidates out there, I might feel differently about both of them.

For the Cubs, I think Lou is the best option and regardless of what happens in 2010 probably will provide a bridge to Ryne Sandberg to manage the Cubs in 2011. If the Cubs win the World Series next year, I think Lou will retire, and if they don't, that there will be a mutual parting of ways. Meanwhile, Ozzie gamely and predictably has said that management will have to fire him eventually--that it's the only way he'll go. Will that be in 2010, or beyond?

A little flag-waving music?

So, Kenny Williams denied that shipping out Jim Thome and Jose Contreras were white-flag trades, even after he indicated he was looking to help Thome get a World Series (sort of implying he wouldn't have that chance if he stayed with the White Sox this season). Then, it's reported in the Tribune and elsewhere that the GM shopped a number of guys last week.

Kenny being Kenny, he said he was just trying to wake up his team, and the 4 wins that followed those trades suggested he did. The debate about whether or not the GM gave up and whether or not he was being sneaky is over-shadowing the fact that both moves were timely and correct. The Thome move is certaintly hard for fans to swallow, and the Sox only got one iffy minor leaguer for him, but it sets the Sox up well for next year, and is already giving Manager Ozzie Guillen more line-up and field position flexibility. It's been interesting seeing Carlos Quentin and Scott Podsednik in the DH role this week, the latter hinting at a creative way of redefining the DH spot with small-ball speed.

The Sox are no worse off right now without Thome. They dropped today's game to the Red Sox, and Podsednik went 3-4 on the DH spot. Rather, they lost because the rest of the line-up only managed 3 hits and Paul Konerko, Alex Rios and Quentin are pretty well mired in slumps.

Meanwhile, the Tigers had another amazing late comeback win and are looking awful tough to beat. The Sox are now 8 games out of 1st place. They play only division foes after Sept. 16, and with 6 games left against the Tigers, and 3 left against the Twins, it's time to hope for the best that those games will actually mean something when the dates arrive. For that to happen, the Sox need to get some help from the Tigers, while also refusing to think about whether or not their GM has waved the white flag.

Thome-time is up

Kenny Williams is as hit-and-miss with trades as any other GM, but the Sox' main man has got to be 10 times more coldly decisive than the Cubs' Jim Hendry, who is sometimes artful and imaginative where Kenny is more pragmatic. And a pragmatic GM is what Sox fans want, even if doing what must logically be done hurts sometimes.

Trading Jim Thome was probably something that had to happen now, even though many of us would have loved to see the hometown boy (sort of--Peoria) and all-around great guy hit his 600th career homerun while in a Sox uniform. But, Thome's also 39, and the already limited dimensions of his value are growing fewer.

Some may say the Sox players already hung out the white flag. If not, this may be it, though the Sox have some able-bodied and speedier players they can get in the line-up a bit more often (Jayson Nix?). Jose Contreras was traded, too, but the Sox may soon get an upgrade with Jake Peavy coming back--assuming he comes back this season. Best to re-assess this season after the exit from Minnesota, however that turns out.

Sox on the wane

As the Sox stayed in the game last night against the Yankees, I was still feeling pretty good about their play-off chances. The debacles against Baltimore and K.C. recently had me down, but I reminded myself they had won consecutive series against the Yanks and the Angels at home, and still have 6 games left against Detroit, with the Tigers only four games ahead as of last night.

I think a lot of Sox fans have given up already, and the dire talk from Kenny Williams and the Great and Powerful Oz about how much this team has under-achieved hasn't helped sway their opinions. Shouldn't the Jake Peavy and Alex Rios deals have bolstered the belief that this particular team can still win the division?

Instead, everyone is happily embracing the idea of having Peavy and Rios under long-term contracts and kissing this season good-bye. Don't forget, this still looks more than anything like the team that won Game 163 last year.

The Sox went on to lose 5-2 last night, and more than one person has reminded me since that even if they do win their own crappy division, it's merely an invitation to get spanked by the Yanks in the ALDS the same way they got spanked by the Rays last year.

You got me there, but going into today's game the Sox are still ahead of the Yanks in their season series 3-2, and they won 3 of 4 at The Cell, so there's still reason to believe, isn't there?

Cubs hit bottom... then soar to split

I started writing during the 8th inning of today's Crosstown Classic North game that the Sox had completed the sweep (sort of--the series won't officially be over until September). I either jinxed the Sox, or turned around the luck of the Cubs, depending on how you want to look at it.

The Cubs won 6-5, today, literally minutes after being down 5-1 and exhibiting again that they could not drive in runs even with a man on 3rd and no outs. It all happened in the bottom of the 8th. Milton Bradley struck out for out No. 2 while Micah Hoffpauir waited on 3rd and Alfonso Soriano, who moments before proved he was still alive by notching a basehit, waited on 1st base. Bradley was walking around the dugout with his bat still in his hands and his helmet still on, so stunned he may have been by his and other hitters' inability to convert baserunners into scoreboard digits. Then, almost at the instant the TV picture returned to the home plate, Derrek Lee, the one Cub who has been on a tear, plunked a 3-run homer into the basket. Moments later, Geovany Soto added a solo shot to tie the game 5-5.

And, suddenly, there was life... Reed Johnson started the bottom of the 9th, score still tied, with a single, was moved over to second on a perfect bunt by Andres Blanco, and scored the game-winner on a bloop single by Soriano. Yes, boys, it's that easy.

I literally had been very near giving up on the Cubs for the year, as dramatic as that sounds. Now, I'm going to wait until at least tomorrow. Prior to Lee's homer, I was just sick of things not working, and sick of Lou Piniella's What-am-I-supposed-to-do stance, which yesterday evolved into an I'm-about-to-do-something-but-not-quite-yet stance. I didn't see where Lou had any options, unless he moved Soriano to 2nd base to get the hotter, younger bats of Jake Fox and Micah Hoffapauir into the outfield. Bench Kosuke Fukudome for Johnson? Sure, but the problem has been that not enough of the dots have been getting connected on offense. It almost hasn't mattered how much talent allegedly was behind those dots.

That was happening again in the 8th inning until the consecutive homers, and I'm not sure everything was fixed by those miracles. We'll see. The changes that may need to be made might be in Jim Hendry's hands, rather than Lou's.

So, the Cubs earned a split with the White Sox after the Sox cruised to a 4-1 victory yesterday. They still looked great today, with Gavin Floyd silencing the Cubs and The Missile, Chris Getz, Gordon Beckham, Brian Anderson and Paulie all contributing timely hits today. Getz also unfortunately contributed a poorly-timed error to allow Hoffpauir on in the 8th. And, the bullpen that I've felt would come to be the Sox' second-half charm blew it today, though the loss was really on the hands of Scott Linebrink, who struck out Bradley, but then gave up the consecutive homers.

It's hard to tell how good the Sox are from this trip to Wrigley--they are 31-35. Yesterday, the used great fundamentals and a little power plus a knockout performance from John Danks to beat up on a Cubs team that looked broken down completely. Sox fans should take more from the last two impressive victories against the slugging Brewers than these two contests. While I'm hoping Hendry is going shopping, I'm hoping Kenny Williams is staying home at least a little longer.

Your 2009 Chicago White Sox

I was waiting a while to post my thoughts on what the off-season may have in store for the White Sox, partly because I couldn't get over how quickly White Sox GM Kenny Williams tried to promote Chris Getz as a starting second baseman next season. Within a day after the ALDS-concluding Game 4 loss, the papers speculated on the Sox' plans for 2009, and Williams strategically mentioned the injured and somewhat forgotten Getz as a possible key figure next year.


That's assuming everyone's favorite new player, Alexei Ramirez, moves to shortstop with the departure of free agent Orlando Cabrera. This is the one change for next year that everyone seems to agree will happen.

The other news of the past week that had me re-thinking various scenarios was Junior Griffey's knee surgery and the likelihood that he will play another year somewhere. Would the Sox consider picking up his option and operating a power/speed platoon of Junior and B.A. or Jerry Owens (remember him?) in center field? I'm probably the only one who feels this way, but I still kinda like the idea of a healthier Junior hitting in The Cell. But, with the reality of the rest of the line-up, it's not going to happen.

Since I lasted posted, my friend The Commish weighed in with potential conservative and aggressive designs on the 2009 Sox. I like his idea of pursuing Willy Taveras a lot, and that's just the kind of speedy CF and lead-off man the Sox need to play Ozzie Ball. He had a bad year hitting in Colorado (.251) but still stole 68 bases. Take a few more pitches and bunt a little more, and he could end up with 80 SBs. I agree the Sox would need to ship Dirty 30 to make it happen, which would be fine, though the Rockies could want one of our young pitchers and a speedy outfielder (B.A., Dewayne Wise, Owens?) instead. Dirty 30 will have a better 2009 than his horrible 2009, but I would still rather see the first deal than the second.

However, trading 1B/OF Swisher would make it harder to do another attractive deal--moving Paulie to the Angels, as The Commish suggests in his more aggressive scenario, for crafty, speedy, useful lead-off man Chone Figgins. I think it would be a coup, and would give the Sox their 2B replacement for the Missile.

There's also a possibility, however, that the Sox may re-commit to Paulie the way that he has promised to re-commit to getting in better shape for next year. If they did somehow trade both Swisher and Paulie, it would be imperative for them to sign a 1B free agent like Kevin Millar or Tony Clark (forget Texeira). Thome is no longer a full-season option at 1B.


That's a lot of different pieces falling into place. If Paulie-for-Figgy doesn't happen, you still need to fill that 2B spot, if only because there are proven second baseman better than Getz on the free agent market:

Orlando Hudson
Mark Loretta
Mark Ellis
Ray Durham (!)

Then, there's the issue of 3B--re-sign Joe Crede or take a shot with Josh Fields or Juan Uribe who somehow manages to keep providing enough value to hang around? Could the Sox do the above deals AND sign a free-agent second baseman, which would move Figgins to 3B? Wow... I don't see all this falling into place at all. Here's my three different scenarios:

Your 2009 Chicago White Sox starting line-up

Likely version:

CF Taveras
SS Ramirez
LF Quentin
DH Thome
RF Dye
1B Konerko
C A.J.
2B Getz
3B Fields or Uribe

Radical version:

2B Figgins
DH Thome
LF Quentin
RF Dye
C A.J.
SS Ramirez
CF Taveras
1B Millar or Clark
3B Fields or Uribe

Totally radical version:

3B Figgins
2B Hudson or Loretta
LF Quentin
DH Thome
RF Dye
C A.J.
SS Ramirez
1B Millar or Clark
CF Taveras

In my likely version, I want to be clear that I think Kenny is sticking to this idea of Getz starting at 2B despite the other possibilities. If he then pushes hard for Taveras and gets him, he'll call the off-season a success and watch his own free agents go bye-bye. That would be a step in the right direction, but not what the Sox will need to win it all next year. Move Paulie while you can and pack the line-up with speed.

One last thing: Jake Peavy apparently is available. Trading young pitchers and position players for him sounds like a Kenny Williams move, but Peavy I think would not do as well in The Cell or in the A.L. Could the Sox, as The Commish says, trade Gavin Floyd, maybe Clayton Richard and others for Peavy? If not, I predict the sox will have three southpaws--Buehrle, Danks and Richard--in the starting rotation next year.