Though they fell short of the playoffs, the White Sox won 88 games this year. Notes from yesterday:
- GM Kenny Williams told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune he seeks "balance from the left side" of the lineup. Williams said A.J. Pierzynski could provide that balance, or he could find someone on the trade or free agent market. Luke Scott, Adam Dunn, Prince Fielder, Carl Crawford, Hideki Matsui, Adam LaRoche, and Bobby Abreu are a few of the available left-handed bats.
- Pierzynski told CSN Chicago that he wants to return, but he has to do what's best for him and his family and isn't going to come crawling back.
- Williams told MLB.com's Scott Merkin Manny Ramirez helped others in the lineup and brought life to the team, even if his .319 slugging percentage fell short of expectations.
- Manager Ozzie Guillen told Merkin he'd love to have Omar Vizquel back, suggesting the infielder could play another two years. The interest is known to be mutual.
Still think Victor Martinez makes more sense for the ChiSox than Pierzinski. Can start at catcher in 2011 and then split time there with Flowers down the road. 1B and DH may be open so Victor should be a great fit.
Also would be very suprised if Omar wasn’t in a Sox uniform again. Personally think he can go 3 more years….if he does, could be sitting on 3000 hits when he retires.
In the past 3 seasons….Omar has 201 hits. He’s currently sitting at 2799…..exactly 201 hits shy of 3000……gonna be tough to not drop off given his age, but he had his best season in 4 years at 43, so who’s to say he can’t get it?
I completely agree with you on V-Mart. Switch hitter balances the lineup, can split time at 1b and DH to allow Flowers some time to catch. High on base guy, on a team that lacks it.
I hope Williams is smart enough to not bring Manny back- he’s toast.
If the White Sox lose Konerko (Angels?) I’d still consider bring back Manny on a $4-5M deal. He could DH and still allow for 1B to be open for Victor.
Heck, even if you bring back Konerko, could keep Manny. Let Victor catch mostly full-time in 2010, Konerko at 1B, and Manny at DH.
Manny has taken a dive…but he’s still better than anything they had this year at the DH spot really.
Could look to trade for Mark Reynolds too though. Some wrote the White Sox off as a trade partner due to Teahen/Vicadeo at 3B but why not DH him? An option I’m sure KW will explore as well.
As if Williams would ever admit, “Manny was a train wreck, I sure screwed up there”?
I wouldn’t call Manny a train wreck, if he’d single handedly broken up a clubhouse or was even a slight distraction then he’d be a train wreck, but he didn’t. He just showed up and did the best he could, which isn’t much as a 38 year old. It was a desperate attempt to make a big move by Kenny, in which he failed miserably. While I’m not a big believer in bringing Jim Thome back, even though he was my favorite player, and he tried valiantly to get Adam Dunn, he had to do something more to boost the lineup which he didn’t do. While I’m a huge Kenny Williams fan, I haven’t seen his moves take this team to the playoffs in a couple years. Peavy was a factor for about 10-15 starts over a season and a half, Carlos Quentin is an injury plagued average power hitter, Floyd and Danks haven’t developed as they should have and have been inconsistent in the process, Dayan Viceido isn’t in the big leagues, and the list goes on. If we don’t see the playoffs next year there needs to be a change, especially with the window closing.
I agree partially with your assessment of William’s track record. Peavy was clearly trending downward at the time of his trade and Quentin was always injury prone and inconsistent in Arizone. And not resigning Thome was a huge mistake. But I disagree with your statement about Floyd and Danks not developing. Floyd was absolutely horrible with the Phils and while Danks may not be a #1, he is still a very good pitcher. It might be more fair to look at the talent that Williams gave up in trades. Chris Young, Gio Gonzalez, Hudson, Richard, etc. I think Gonzalez is a clear lose, while the other pitchers are likely the types that succeed in the NL but would get hit around in the AL. Young has also been inconsistent, but healthy.
I agree the Sox biggest need is 1 or 2 LH bats & VMart I think is the best option that is available. I think Crawford is gonna cost too much & it sounds like it take the whole farm system to get Prince. I wanted the Sox to sign Laroche last yr. I wonder what it will take to get Scott or Abreu & I wonder if Markakis would be available too. I would like to see Quentin replaced with a better fielder in RF. I wonder if there is any chance of dealing Peavy in a deal for Beltran.
Tim:
I don’t think that Luke Scott is really available. Unless the Orioles sign a free agent first baseman, outfielder, and decide to bring Ty Wigginton back, Scott is still an Oriole. He’s under team control for two more years, he’s their best power hitter, was just voted Most Valuable Oriole by the local media, is very well liked in the clubhouse, and has become a favorite of new manager Buck Showalter.
Unless Scott is part of deal for a much bigger piece of the puzzle, I see him as unavailable. The White Sox don’t strike me as a team that has a big puzzle piece to trade to the Orioles.