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White Sox: Five things to know
PHOENIX -- This isn't the way the treasure map is supposed to lead. From the World Series title to 90 wins to the outhouse in three seasons?
Whatever happened to the
"Guys are embarrassed," catcher A.J. Pierzynski says.
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| Healthy this year, Jim Thome leads the Cactus League in homers. (AP) |
"Horse----," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says.
Wait. My bad. Guillen was describing third baseman Joe Crede's hitting this spring, not the travails of last year's White Sox.
Anyway. Those red faces in White Sox camp here in the searing Arizona sun aren't the result of the guys having forgotten to apply their Bullfrog sun block.
No, the flushed faces are leftover from last season's 72-90 record (2007 Sox motto: Hey, we finished three games ahead of the Kansas City Royals!).
And to fix it, general manager Kenny Williams went shopping for a new shortstop (Orlando Cabrera) and a new center fielder (Nick Swisher); Guillen and his staff tried to sharpen things early in camp by placing a heavier emphasis on winning spring games than ever before; and veterans like Pierzynski, Konerko and Jim Thome arrived on Day 1 with a sharper edge.
Will it work?
Can the White Sox find love, happiness and October again in 2008?
With Cleveland bringing back the same key parts from last season's 96-win team, and with a loaded Detroit club preparing for an all-out assault on home plate, I honestly don't know.
But I do know this: If Konerko bats .198 with a .297 on-base percentage during the month of April, as he did last year, and if Jermaine Dye bats .221 with a .315 on-base percentage during the month of April, as he did last year, then the White Sox will be set up for another whiteout.
And I do know this: If the Sox lose Thome for a month early, as they did when he strained his rib cage and sat between last April 29 and May 20, then, they may as well go ahead and concentrate their efforts on another Disco Demolition Night (or the modern equivalent, Rap Demolition Night).
These three sluggers go missing in action for large chunks of the early part of the season, well, there's a better chance you'll hear more from the late, great columnist Mike Royko this summer than from the White Sox.
Konerko rebounded some later and finished with a .259 average (lowest of his career over a full season), 31 homers (lowest in a season in which he played in 150 or more games since 2002), and 90 RBI (lowest of his career in a season in which he played in 150 or more games).
Dye, who finished fifth in the 2006 American League Most Valuable Player balloting, finished '07 with a .254 average (down from .315 a year earlier), 28 homers (down from 44) and 78 RBI (down from 120).
"I think they're in a better spot this spring, for sure," White Sox hitting coach Greg Walker says of Dye and Konerko. "They're professionals, and they've never had the type of year they had. They have a good look in their eyes now.
"Last year, it was totally a mental situation with them. We lost Thome, we lost Crede, and the division was full of good teams who weren't going to wait for us to get right. And they didn't wait, and they buried us.
"If you feel sorry for yourselves in this game, guess what? You win 72 games and get buried."
There are plenty of reasons for the diminished production from Konerko and Dye. The absences of Thome and Crede meant Konerko and Dye didn't see as many good pitches as usual. Two rookies, center fielder Jerry Owens and third baseman Josh Fields, were frequently atop the order and, as Walker says, "they did real good, but they were just trying to find out if they believed they were major leaguers in their own minds."
"Our big boys had a lot of at-bats with none on," Walker continues. "I think they tried too hard, and they sometimes tried to freelance at the plate when there was no one on."
"I've had years where I've driven in 100-plus runs, and those were simple because guys were healthy and on base," Konerko says. "I drove in 90 last year, and those were the hardest 90 I've ever driven in."
The White Sox finished last May 7½ games out of first and they trailed Cleveland by 12½ games at the end of June, and that was that.
"Nothing was going to be a good year no matter what," Konerko, 32, says by way of placing his slow start into context with where the club was by mid-summer. "You reach a point as a player where having a good year personally just is not enough.
"The year before, I hit .313 with 30-some homers and 100-some RBI. And you know what? That wasn't a good year either, because you're expected to have good numbers and lead your team to a winning season.
"When you're younger, you worry about putting up your personal numbers, but when you're an older player, it's individual numbers and leading your team to winning. You reach a point where you have to have everything, otherwise, you go home unhappy."
Walker says he thinks both Konerko and Dye are in good spots this year because he sees the "eye of the tiger. They're really focused on doing well." And though spring statistics and $1 will get you a cup of coffee come September (but not at Starbucks -- you need more money than that), Konerko is cruising along this spring at .360 with a .439 on-base and .500 slugging percentage. Dye, though, is at .217 with a .280 on-base percentage. He does have three homers (Konerko has one).
Meantime, Thome's 15 RBI lead the Cactus League.
"We were coming off of the world championship in '05 and a 90-win season in '06, a really super offensive season in '06," Walker says. "I don't think anybody believed what happened last year could happen.
"None of us handled it very well, including myself. I hate to say it, but I could see it coming. When Jimmy went down, it was like, 'Oh no, this isn't our year.'"
"Everyone got off to a slow start, the whole team -- myself included," says Pierzynski, whose .263 batting average was down from .295 the year before, and whose 14 homers and 50 RBI also represented a decline from 16 and 64. "It wasn't just those two. It was myself and Crede and even Jim.
"It was one of those years. Going into a year you look at what could happen if everything goes right, and at what could happen if everything goes wrong, and you figure it'll be somewhere in the middle. Everything went wrong last year."
The embarrassment -- and determination to right the wrongs -- is evident throughout this organization, from top to bottom.
"We re-looked at how we did everything," Walker says of Guillen and the coaching staff. "We went back to the basics. This is the first spring I can remember where, come the first spring game, we were ready to compete. In the past, we felt like we were a week behind everyone, but it worked."
Pierzynski noticed a difference this spring.
"This has been the best camp since I've been here," he says.
Added Konerko: "Since I've been with the White Sox, this is the best spring as far as the way we've played," Konerko says.
As Guillen notes, it's not where you start, but where you finish. But April and May sure play a big role in that.
