Mannyhood

For the next month, Bridgeport, the neighborhood home of Comiskey Park, shall be known as Mannyhood. Or just call it Bridgeport, I don’t care, the point is Manny Ramirez is presently on his way to join the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland. The odd thing is that the White Sox had the best team batting average and scored the most runs in the AL in the month of August. SO why are they adding a bat, especially now when the bullpen is depleted with Threets, Putz, and Thornton injured and Brian Fuentes could have possibly been had via waiver claim and has now landed on the very team that they’re in a race with to win the Central division? Well folks, I’ll tell ya. Manny is playing for a contract in this last month. That’s it. It’s that simple, sure there are other variables involved, but all can be broken down back to that fact. Of course, regardless as to how he performs in this last month Manny will get signed somewhere, but with a typical motivated Manny-like performance it’ll be the difference between $2M a year and $5 or 6M a year. He’ll be motivated, but will he produce? My guess is he’ll produce. I think it’s a good…let’s call this taking a chance on Manny a gamble because that’s what it is, it’s a good gamble for the White Sox to take. The options out there for relief help were and are still weak. If Sox fans are upset that they missed out on Brian frickin Fuentes on the waiver wire, they obviously think the Sox are way worse off than I do. The Sox would certainly not win the Central if their fate was to be decided by Fuentes. He’s pretty expensive and essentially, he’s a LOOGY (Lefty One-Out GuY). Well, at least that’s all I’d ever use him for as righties have pretty good numbers against him, but lefties are hitting below the Mendoza-line. By the way, Ron Gardenhire said that Capps will retain the closer job and Fuentes will have more of a set-up role, just to give you an idea what they’re planning on doing with him. A pretty costly set-up man, right? I don’t blame them for trying to shore up their bullpen, but my point is the money the White Sox are paying to Manny is better used on the gamble rather than trying to acquire Fuentes. Besides, All-Star Matt Thornton wasn’t as hurt as originally thought as he said he feels great and he should be back on the active roster soon. Chris Sale has stepped it up and is a better option than Fuentes anyway and better than a washed up Scott Downs or an inconsistent Jason Frasor as well. The Sox bullpen imploded in recent weeks, but it seems to be back on track starting with Bobby Jenks. The September call-up is Wednesday, since it will be September of course, and they’ll be able to add more arms, inexperienced arms, but arms at the very least as the bullpen trouble stemmed from a work overload. The starting pitching picked it up after April and May, but they still have only thrown five complete games all year. The pitching all around will continue to have its ups and downs, but as evident from yesterday’s game they need to try to out-slug the opposition down the stretch run here. No matter what the numbers are or how it’s achieved, the goal in baseball is to score more runs that the other team in nine innings. Manny will contribute to that.

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Bears Family Night "Practice"

Family Night Bears practice under Friday night lights was just that, strictly for the family this past Friday night. There wasn’t much to see for someone trying to cover the practice with a critical eye, no sir. It was more of a “players on display” sort of showcase than a true practice. More players were there just going through the motions rather than it being a competitive practice with players fighting for a job. There were a lot of skeleton drills (7-on-7) as well as individual drills, spreading each positional group throughout the field, followed by some special teams and finally wrapped up with 11-on-11 plays.

The individual drills were lack-luster and had the tempo of a frosh team with the knowledge of having no shot at a conference championship this year. The ONLY interesting part of these drills was the one-on-one mentoring for Johnny Knox by one Isaac Bruce. He was teaching Knox how to escape a corner back jam and get a free release at the line of scrimmage as getting off the line cleanly is vital for the timing of the Martz offense. He taught him a rip move and a swim move to counter the jam, and a flat out juke to get off the line without even being touched.

As for passing drills, Jay Cutler only took about one-third of the snaps with the majority being taken by Hanie and the rest by Lefevour. Cutler connected with Greg Olsen on 7 of 12 passes on 7-on-7 and 10 of 15 on 11-on-11. The only trouble is, especially in 11-on-11, Cutler would have been sacked on at least 8 of those passes. The throws also wouldn’t have been as crisp because even after he was tag-sacked, he still stepped up and fired a pass. Of course, the same happened for Hanie and Lefevour as well, though their passes weren’t as accurate with a lot of over-thrown passes which will be INT’s in a live game.

There was nothing shown on the 11-on-11’s as far as play calling went. It looked like a West Coast offense. Twins left, twins right with the backfield and tight ends frequently going in motion. Had you been told that you were going to get a taste of the Martz offense, you would have been cursing that you were burned and accused that person of being a liar at the end of practice.

As for the special teams, it was just a chance to make sure the personnel knew which team was out there and where his spot on the field was. And maybe a little bit of discipline in making sure that guys stayed in their lanes and didn’t get sucked in. Other than that it was the “Meatball Hour” with the mouth-breathing fans cheering in a ridiculous manner because a returner “broke” one for a TD. Um, no. There was hardly any contact and it was a game of tag allowing returners to sprint through lanes that would have already been collapsed.

Family Night practice keys:

-The O-line is god-awful and will probably ruin the health of our franchise QB.
-The backup QB’s are not efficient and the season is over if Cutler does in fact go down with an injury.
-I hope you enjoyed it meatballs because there won’t be much to cheer for this year.

Tune in for the last two weeks of Cover three tonight and next Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

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Was There a De-Pantsing of Kenny Williams?

White Sox fans have mixed feelings about what down at the non-waiver trade deadline. I guess that you could say that this blogger is “glad”. Glad that the Sox acquired a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher, who we know can pitch in the American League, as opposed to sticking with a pitcher in Daniel Hudson in which we HOPE can pitch in the American League. Also, another very vital nugget of information according to White Sox beat writer Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times is that the White Sox projected Hudson to be a number five starter/middle reliever at best. So, with his low ceiling of potential the Sox must feel that they got the better of that trade as the Nationals have said that they could see Hudson as a top of the rotation pitcher in the future.

It is evident that White Sox GM Kenny Williams’ goal was to obtain a big bat to wedge into the middle of his lineup. A deal was all but done to get Lance Berkman into a south side uniform, but he invoked his 10 and 5 rights and vetoed the trade. Just another former Houston Astro who didn’t want to play on the south side for whatever reason along with Roy Oswalt, both of whom were moved before the trade deadline that ended at 3PM Central time on Saturday. Maybe they’re still bitter over the ’05 spanking they took in the World Series…..but that’s neither here no there. It’s also evident because Kenny tried to trade for Manny Ramirez, but that trade was nixed by the Dodgers. One is because they still feel they have an outside shot at making the playoffs either by winning the NL West or the Wild Card and two is because the White Sox essentially wanted him for free and only contribute $1M of the $7M left on his contract and not give up any players (the Dodgers were asking for Dayan Viciedo in return). It would be an interesting move to say the least, as Mannywood is still on the disabled list with a strained calf in what is his third DL stint just this year. It would have marked the second time in as many years that the White Sox traded for a player on the DL, last year of course being for Jake “Where’s my latissimus dorsi” Peavy. Also, if you look at history, you would know the possibilities of a healthy and motivated Manny Ramirez, especially in White Sox Park at the peak of summer.

Still, other fans, the mouth-breathing meatball types, feel that Kenny was pants by Nats GM Rizzo. The thinking being that Rizzo told Kenny that if he trades for Edwin Jackson that Kenny could flip him to Washington along with another prospect or two for Adam Dunn. Sure Kenny took an indirect shot at Rizzo when he said that it was frustrating to work with such new, young GM’s, but if you think that Kenny is so dumb and underprepared to trade for Jackson and get “stuck” with him then you need to find a new team to root for or be fired from baseball all together. Kenny probably wanted to flip Edwin Jackson to the Nats if possible, but will most definitely take the upgrade he’s made to the rotation. If he absolutely didn’t Jackson and only sought Dunn, then he would have only made the trade had it been a done deal with another team in the mix to complete a 3-way trade. Rizzo was adamant in his quest to trade for Gordon Beckham in a Dunn deal, pun intended, and that is why by time Saturday rolled around the trade talks between the Sox and Nats were on a respirator. I happen to like this non-move in not dealing away Beckham for a two month rental who can’t play the field and would be unhappy only DH-ing in the AL.

On top of all this, White sox pitching coach Don Cooper loves the high ceiling Edwin Jackson has. He has already had a side session with Jackson and has tweaked a few things. He wants the 6’3” Jackson to stand taller on the mound in order to stay on top of pitches and get the proper downward tilt on them. Jackson’s fastball average ranks fourth in the Major Leagues at 94.0 mph. He also has a nasty slider. His ERA may be inflated now, but I’m interest to see what adjustments he’ll make to win games for this club.

As always tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com.

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White Sox Trade Rumors

The trade deadline is looming and the rumors are swirling around players on both sides of town as well as players throughout the league. Dan Haren has all ready been dealt from the D-Back to the Angels in what looks to be purely a salary dump transaction. Arizona is getting a bag of nothing in return as far as talent goes, but it does free up about $30M in the books. They got a couple of low-end prospects and Joe Saunders who had a heck of a year in 2008. He went 16-7 last year, but he was fortunate to receive the run-support that he did to acquire those wins as his ERA was 4.60 and his WHIP was 1.430. On top of that, he’s injury prone so good luck with that Arizona.

The names being mentioned around the White Sox have been Adam Dunn of the Washington Nats, Prince Fielder of the Brew Crew, and as of late Luke Scott and Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore O’s.

Adam Dunn is a younger Jim Thome. He’ll hit more homers than Big Jim and his OBP is nice and high, which I value, but he’s another base-clogger. Sure he’ll get on base, but what’s the point if he can’t score without playing station-to-station baseball. Not only that, but he’s strictly a rent-a-player. The Sox would have to give up a ton of good talent in order to acquire him from the Nats GM Rizzo just to use his services for the remainder of the year. It really depends on the talent they would have to give up to get him because the Sox could definitely use a power bat from the left side of the plate. Since he’s proven that he can hit 40+ home runs in a season (and is currently on pace to due so again) he has been given the pass to strikeout as many times as he pleases, so I don’t want to hear that side of the argument. And the less at bats Kotsay gets, is a good thing. Let’s use him for what he was brought here for, pinch hitting in later innings. His Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 games is an abysmal -98.0 and his Wins Above Replacement according to fangraphs.com is -0.8. SO he’s cost the White Sox 80% of a win and hypothetically owes THEM money, $3.1 million to be approximate.

Prince Fielder is obviously a great power bat from the left side as he has proven that he can hit 50 homers in a year (it’s very possible for him to do the same again this year). Imagine the damage he can do at White Sox park; however, the Brew Crew will be asking for the moon in order to send him to Chicago. The likes of Gordon Beckham or Carlos Quentin with Daniel Hudson thrown into the mix. Yes, Prince is an overweight fat-body, but he’s not quite the base clogger that Dunn is. His OBP is up there at a .399 clip and his OPS is .904 and I like the fact that he can score on a single from second. He doesn’t bring much to the table as far as defense goes though, so he’d be a VERY expensive DH who can spell Konerko from time to time at 1B. The other variable to remember is that he’s under contract through 2011, so the Sox would be “borrowing” him for the rest of this year and all of next. I suppose there’s always the slightest of chances that they’ll sign him in the open market after that, but it’s most unlikely because his agent Scott Boras, whom Kenny Williams is not a fan of dealing with, will be asking for Ryan Howard money.

Tune in Thursday from 7 to 9 for a special edition of Cover 3, Monday August 2nd we'll be back to regular schedule.

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By: Robert Zielinski Jr.

The White Sox: 3-Game Skid, Vizquel Vs. Viciedo

After going 26-5 in their 31 games prior, the White Sox are on a three-game skid courtesy of their divisional rival Minnesota Twins. What should have been a 4-game series split, ended up as a 3-1 series loss after a tough defeat yesterday. The White Sox reverted to their old ways after winning the first game of the series and began to boot the ball around the infield and make mental mistakes. Dayan Viciedo made a critical error on Friday night on what should have been a 5-4-3 double play and turned into a run scoring, game changing gaffe. It was a fielding error on a hard hit ball to third, so I’m not that down on him especially since the Sox knew coming in that he’s not in the lineup for his fielding. He’s the future first baseman/DH. Which brings me to my next point…Omar Vizquel needs to be at third base as much as possible to shore up the defense. Although both players have the same amount of errors of 2 at 3B, Vizquel has played more than twice as many innings. Obviously he doesn’t have the kind of “pop” in his bat that Viciedo does, but “Defense wins championships” is a sports cliché for a reason! He also seems to have settled down Alexi Ramirez whose Ultimate Zone Rating is a solid 8.6 with a UZR/150 of 15.4 thus far. Vizquel isn’t tearing the cover off the ball, but he’s not exactly being detrimental to the lineup either. He gets his hits as shown by his .265 BA and he can actually lay a sacrifice bunt down to advance the runners. Now I know Viciedo is up in the Majors for a reason and he needs to get his at-bats being a big part of the future core of the White Sox, so I’d suggest making him the full-time DH. I know this isn’t what Ozzie wants as he likes the flexibility of his roster, but this is the circumstance that the Sox are in. What happens when Teahen is ready to come off the disabled list? That’s another blog for another day as I think that day is still closer to a month away. If they don’t want to go that route, put him back in triple A. We’re only about six weeks away from the September call-ups anyway, and maybe he can get more work as an everyday third baseman.

The White Sox lost the series finale at Target Field after going into the bottom of the ninth with a 3-run lead. Big Bobby Jenks didn’t record an out before he was replaced by rookie Sergio Santos who was called upon and asked to do what he’s never done before. He was asked to close out a game, with inherited runners and on the road no less! Needless to say, it didn’t work out. I’m not that down on Bobby either as he had converted his last 15 save opportunities, but this loss was so tough that I’m now skeptical of the whole shorten-the-game idea. Essentially, in order for that idea to work and be properly executed, you’re asking at least three pitchers to have their good stuff on a nightly basis. Don’t get me wrong, it has worked perfectly for a few clubs throughout the years, particularly a bullpen that has been anchored by a future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera. I’m just saying my own foundation on that sort of game plan has been rocked and I’d like to hear arguments from both sides.

Tape & Pine Tar

The Cubs won a tough series matchup against the Phillies. The most impressive part was getting the victory last night on Sunday Night Baseball when they defeated the Doc himself, Roy Halladay. They took three of four and really took them to the woodshed the two games they won. Starlin Castro’s bat is really starting to come around and guess who finally joined the party….Aramis “Too little, possibly too late” Ramirez. Even after the series versus the Phillies victory, the Cubs still stand 9.5 games behind the division leading St. Louis Cardinals. Even the Cincinnati Reds are ahead of them by nine games. What a hole the Cubs have dug themselves into, but it’s a rather pathetic remark aimed towards the NL Central as a whole when I say that the Cubs still have a legitimate shot at going on a run to take over the division, or have an outside shot at climbing over seven teams to win the wildcard slot.

Bears training camp is just around the corner. People are making a big deal about the fact that Devin Hester is working out with former Martz-offense receiver and future Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce. In my opinion, it would be a better story if he WASN”T going the extra mile to gain an edge for his game.

As always tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

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By: Robert Zielinski Jr.

NBA Free Agency: Is LBJ to Chicago Possi-BULL?

Well, where to start? Wade and Bosh are signing in Miami. LeBron is making his decision announcement tomorrow night in Connecticut. What? And this just in…..Carlos Boozer is a Bull. It’s a 5-year $80MM deal, which still preserves their maximum salary offer to LeBron James. It puts the cap figure at $13.8MM leaving just enough space to squeeze in LBJ. Hopefully James hasn’t completely made up his mind all ready and the Bulls can use this signing as a ploy to recruit James into wearing a Bulls uniform. It’s hard trying not to read into things as any thing can happen, but I deduce that since the announcement is coming from Connecticut, James will NOT be returning to the Cavs. If he was, why wouldn’t he just do it in Cleveland or Akron? Sounds like he’s seeking a safe-haven in case Akron erupts into a riot. (That may be hyperbolic, but you understand). The Bulls as an organization have said that they have not officially been told “no” in the James sweepstakes. Though that certainly does not necessarily mean “yes” either.

Tape & Pine Tar:

All this NBA free agency talk is coming in the wake of the news that White Sox ace Jake Peavy is almost certainly done for the season with a detached latissimus dorsi muscle. When asked if he’d be out for the remainder of the season….. “I can’t say,” Peavy replied. Well, that’s not good. Even if he does’t return by the end of the season, how sharp could he be? Peavy throwing if he comes back could be detrimental to the team instead of beneficial. Ozzie has yet to speak to Kenny Williams today, so he does not know if the Sox are pursuing a starting pitcher as of right now. Sources have said, however, that the White Sox are “all over” Adam Dunn. There’s no word yet on which players may be involved in a package for Washington, but there’s still three weeks before the non-waiver trade dealine.

As always tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com.

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Ballpark Etiquette Certification Card

The Zambrano stuff is just TOO easy. I’m going to go a different route this time. I went to both White Sox winners this past weekend, so far the most part it was a good time. Yes, I know, you’re happy for me. But dammit, people need to learn some ballpark etiquette! Hell, I’d be in favor of requiring all fans to go to a ballpark etiquette class every other year just so they can get through the damn turnstile. If it’s to a means of everybody in the park to having an even better time, I’m all for it. You must present your “Ballpark Etiquette Certification Card” with a photo ID before you can even present your ticket for game entry. I’m joking of course, but it’s really not a bad idea to generate some extra revenue if one had to pay a fee to receive said card and could create an entire department of jobs, but I’d rather there weren’t any “Etiquette Nazis” asking fans to present their card or be removed from the premises. All I’m really asking is for people to use their common sense to display some common courtesy and not be completely oblivious to those around them. There are many subtle things people can do or not do to make the game more enjoyable. For instance, all of the chairs are connected to each other and the quarters are close so it would be nice if you didn’t bounce your leg up and down as it’s brushing mine. Don’t kick the back of my seat if you don’t want me to “accidentally” spill something on you or smash your face into a jelly. If you’re a sore-loser Cubs fan leaving Comiskey early because your “Cubbies” are losing in the 5th inning and as you walk past two nice 50-something ladies who try to tell you that your fly is open, DON’T simulate masturbation and ejaculation as you stand on the stairs near the tunnel. The next courtesy goes for all levels of the ballpark, but especially for the upper deck where the seating is much steeper. During actual play of an inning, under no circumstances unless a medical emergency, stand out of your seat. Sit your ass down! You do not need to stand during any transaction with a vendor. If you’re such a slob that you can’t reach your wallet and it’s absolutely necessary to stand to get out money, do so rapidly between pitches so that no one behind you misses any of the game. One pitch can mean the whole game. If you stand, the row behind you has to stand and the row behind them had to stand and so on. I paid $35 to watch the game in the 500 level in the 18th row and all I can see is the back of your douchy haircut pulled back in a white headband with your sleeveless shirt to show the section that you have a pregnant worm for an arm. And when the people behind you DO tell you to sit your ass down, that’s not your cue to blow kisses at them, it means sit the F@CK down hillbilly!

As always, tune in to Cover 3 every Monday evening, except for July 5th, from 7 to 9 on sportstownchicago.com

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