Screw Baseball Prospectus. Screw Sabermatics. Screw ESPN’s pre-season rankings. Screw that crazy guy in the bar who says my team will suck this year. Spring Training is all about hope, not dire mutterings. This is the time of year for Royals’ fans to talk openly about winning the division. This is when the Padres look at all the young talent they brought in and say, “mmmm, maaaay-beeee.” This is the time of year where fans can be lulled into thinking that Billy Beane knows what he is doing. This is the time for Nationals’ fans to think that they have turned the corner. In fact, Nationals’ fans are already bragging about how Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez chose them (for slightly less money) over the Cubs. Change has finally, and truly, come to Washington D.C.
It is no different for Cubs and Sox fans. While none of the players are being asked to breathe through their eyeballs, it does seem that fans are breathing a little easier as reports filter out of both camps. On the North Side, a certain Alfonso Soriano looks determined to make everyone (including himself) forget last year. On the South Side, highly touted Alex Rios seems to have found his stroke and his head. Two items he clearly misplaced at the end of last season.
DAVID HAUGH at the Tribune spent some quality time at Ho Ho Kam to help catch us up to date on the Soriano saga.
One after another Wednesday at HoHoKam Park, the line drives exploded off the bat of Alfonso Soriano during Cubs batting practice.
Behind the cage hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo didn’t see a single one land, his eyes focused intently on Soriano’s hips and his words aimed specifically for his ears.
“Espidad, espidad!’’ Jaramillo repeated.
Asked later for a translation, Jaramillo explained the command reminds the free-swinging Soriano to slow down his breathing, which slows down his mind and thus his approach to the ball.
Jaramillo doesn’t necessarily have to speak the same language to connect with a hitter he mentored for two seasons with the Rangers. But, in Soriano’s case, it improves his hearing as well as his hitting.
“Sure it helps,” Jaramillo said. “I love teaching in Spanish.’’
Coming off a 2009 season marked by injury and insult, Soriano reported to spring training more eager than ever to learn.
This was no ordinary offseason for Soriano, the Cubs’ most polarizing player now that Kevin Gregg has cleared customs.
Never having rehabilitated from arthroscopic surgery, the fear of the unknown drove Soriano to work out longer and harder at the Cubs facilities in the Dominican Republic to recover from the Sept. 5 procedure on his left knee. Of course, coming off a career-worst .241 batting average with 20 home runs and 55 RBIs in 117 games, including 118 strikeouts in 447 at-bats, served as a pretty good prod too.
Whatever caused Soriano’s recommitment to conditioning, he arrived two weeks ago looking more like an NFL cornerback than an aging outfielder.
“I am 34 years old but more importantly my body and my mind feels young,’’ Soriano said.
Indeed, Soriano’s willingness to accept Jaramillo’s ways reflects a younger player with something to prove more than a seven-time All-Star. Already Jaramillo has narrowed Soriano’s stance to improve his balance and adjusted how high Soriano raises his left leg as the ball nears home plate. The average observer may not notice a thing different about Soriano’s swing but then Jaramillo has made a career of seeing the trees where everyone else sees a forest.
“The bat speed is still there,’’ Jaramillo said. “It’s all timing. He just has to gather himself and learn how to coach himself and realize right from wrong in his swing. He’s trying to get back what he had in the past.’’
Actually, since we can rule out stolen bases or Gold Glove fielding, it is fair for fans to hope that his batting is better than it has ever been before. If his average ticks up by 5 or 10 points above his career, he will be a nightmare for pitchers in the bottom half of the order. And I can assure you that that is one nightmare Lou will gladly have.
I just had a vision of Lou singing a duet with Alice Cooper for a Cubbie promotion. Hopefully that will fade after I down my breakfast beer.
On the South Side, Sox fans and team mates were trying to figure out what the heck went wrong with Alex Rios. It was almost as if he forgot how to play baseball. ‘Deer in the headlights’ described his good days. Yet, this January, he showed up at Greg Walker’s house, went to a park and started swinging. 5 swings later everyone agreed that, whatever had happened in the past, it was all better now. JOE COWLEY at the Sun Times digs a little deeper for the reasons behind the slump and the re-emergence.
On Wednesday morning, Alex Rios was grouped around five Latino teammates, holding court with the Spanish-speaking coalition.
Tuesday, it was time spent with ‘’the animal slayers,’’ as A.J. Pierzynski, Scott Linebrink and Mark Buehrle talked big-game hunting in Africa.
The day before that, Rios was hanging out on ‘’Rodeo Drive’’—a row of lockers so labeled by Matt Thornton because of their big-contract residents.
More often than not, a major-league clubhouse resembles a prison yard, segregated by color, language or culture.
The one person who has played warden, walking the yard and interacting with almost every group this spring, has been the seemingly laid-back Rios, who mostly was a loner last season.
‘’It feels more natural now than it did last year because when I came over it was just in the middle of the season or later in the season,’’ Rios said. ‘’I didn’t really know anybody, and that’s a weird feeling. It almost was lonely. Now, I feel like I’m just in a regular spring training. It feels like home.’’
That’s fine, but the Sox and their fans would rather it feel like home after Rios hits .280 with 20 home runs and 25 stolen bases and the team holds a champagne celebration in October. Then he can kick up his legs on the table and call it home.
For now, this will have to do.
‘’Changing teams in midseason, I would have to imagine, is not the easiest thing in the world,’’ Paul Konerko said. ‘’It just throws off on-the-field stuff, it throws off your personal life, just a lot of things that go on. It can’t be easy at all.
‘’And when he got traded here, it’s not like he was coming to a team that was running away with the division and you’re just added on to that. We were chasing, and so the feeling can be, ‘OK, we brought someone in, and he’s the answer for us to figure this thing out.’ That probably was put on him unfairly.’’
I can relate to that. Long ago I changed bands mid tour. The old bass player got healthy and I suddenly needed a new gig. I must have spent two weeks wandering around trying to learn songs on the fly, figure out who was who and not trip over my damn amp. Every day seemed like some weird alien adventure, and not in the fun way where you get the cool chick with the green skin who does things no man can pronounce. More like I was the appetizer in an episode of “V”. But, eventually, I got past it and ended up pulling the whole tour and seeing fun new parts of the world. It appears that Alex has made a similar accomplishment. So, good luck to him.
A kind overflow of kindness: there are no faces
truer than those that are so washed. How much
better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!
Leonato - Much Ado About Nothing
Yesterday, at Ho Ho Kam, Cubs’ new center fielder Marlon Byrd walked up to Carlos Marmol and Jeff Diamond and informed them that they were tipping their pitches. Not to be outdone, Diamond noted that several batters were giving away the pitch they were looking for with their stance. That may be the most useful information to come out of any spring training camp this season. Caught now, it can be worked on and corrected. Caught in June, which has been the norm in MLB, it is too little too late.
But, overall, it is the stuff that is not happening that is the most interesting. On the Northside, as GORDON WITTENMYER of the Sun Times reports, there are no curses. Or, maybe more importantly, they have a guy who broke one of the biggest ones there was.
He’s no Greek Orthodox priest. But a 38-year-old non-roster bench candidate who hit .223 last year might hold the key to breaking that whole curse thing on the North Side.
That is, if he makes the team.
What’s certain is that Kevin Millar has done what nobody in the Cubs’ clubhouse has done—end a curse—and he’s willing to share the formula his self-proclaimed ‘’bunch of idiots’’ in Boston used six years ago to bring down the Curse of the Bambino.
‘’Being in a place like Boston, I went through a lot of the same things,’’ he said. ‘’There was a huge curse there, 86 years. It was almost like every year was ‘The Year.’’’
Of course, he’s dealing with 15 more years of inertia with this one. And a drought that doesn’t include so much as a World Series heartbreak in the last 64 years—even the Red Sox had four World Series appearances over the same span before breaking their curse.
‘’You get a group of guys believing, and you get a group of guys that don’t worry about a lot of stuff but winning games,’’ Millar said. ‘’We’ll see what happens.’’
That’s as big a part of the formula as anything. But it also includes about six parts swagger, two parts big-stage experience, three parts slowing down the heart rate and one part ignoring the press clippings—along with just a dash of timing and an occasional shot of whiskey.
‘’Jack Daniels brings your heart rate down,’’ Millar said.
When it all comes together, it makes and breaks history.
While our own bleeder of the Cubbie Blue, Tyrone Briggs, may be a teetotaler, I would bet he would camp by the clubhouse with a case of Jack if that is what it takes to win a World Series for the Cubs. Hell, he might even pop for chips and dip too.
On the South Side, everyone is pleased by the trade that is not happening. Quick synopsis for those who missed it; Jake Peavy got asked a question by Kenny Williams and he answered it honestly. Somehow that lead to rumors of Beckham being traded to the Padres with a zillion other guys. As DAVID HAUGH at the Tribune notes, it ain’t gonna happen.
Without question the most fascinating sight Tuesday at Camelback Ranch came on a practice field far away from the White Sox-Dodgers “B” game intended to break up the monotony.
On that field Jake Peavy stood chatting with his catcher like so many other meetings on the mound. But this catcher, in full gear complete with shin guards and a chest protector, was Mark Buehrle.
One young boy with binoculars thought he had a scoop. “Dad, I think Buehrle’s catching Peavy over there!’’ he said excitedly.
Now that would be a big story. But the Sox aces merely were being good company men and following a script for an upcoming Sox commercial.
It was a good reminder that things aren’t always what they seem in Sox camp.
Take the artificial buzz created over the rumors the Sox will dangle Gordon Beckham in a trade package for Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, so far the only thing besides manager Ozzie Guillen’s tweets to make anybody atwitter at spring training.
The speculation mentioned more Sox names going to the Padres besides Beckham, but that’s when I stopped listening. Beckham is the most untouchable Sox player since Frank Thomas in his prime.
The Sox drafted Beckham, developed him and now he has a chance to spend a decade on the South Side doing what Ryne Sandberg did on the North. Even to consider trading Beckham at 23 would risk protests in the streets of Bridgeport. General manager Ken Williams is bold and understandably covets a left-handed slugger such as Gonzalez. But he’s not stupid.
“That’s all a TV thing,” Guillen said. “I don’t see why people are still talking about it.”
That’s easier to understand. Outside of Daniel Hudson’s dominant showing against a bunch of Dodger minor-leaguers and Williams’ son, Kyle, running a 4.36 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine, there hasn’t been much Sox-related stuff yet worth talking about here.
Rather innocently, Peavy started it all by telling CBSSports.com that when Williams asked for a reference on Gonzalez over the winter, he gave a glowing recommendation. That gave the story sprinter’s legs.
So Peavy spoke highly of a friend. Big deal. He didn’t go to Williams suggesting the Sox make a trade for Gonzalez to replace first baseman Paul Konerko. Nobody’s feelings should be hurt or slighted because Peavy answered Williams’ question.
In other words, the Sox (of all teams) fell victim to not being controversial enough. Nature abhors a vacuum and media needs a rumor. Those are two constants you can take where ever you go.
Oh well, no harm no foul. The Sox continue to do exciting things such as run bunting drills and duck when Daniel Cabrera pitches. Yesterday, in a 27 pitch outing, he gave up 4 runs and only threw 11 strikes. There is something about knowing that a pitch is coming at around 100 mph and not knowing where it is going to end up that makes hitters a little nervous. Suffice it to say that the Dodgers who faced Cabrera yesterday wouldn’t have minded a few shots of Jack themselves after that.
The Bulls are, once again, unable to run 5 on 5 drills because they do not have enough healthy players. This is not good news as they are headed into the snot knocker portion of their schedule. The Hawks are worried that their kids might be fatigued after an Olympic tournament that saw the U.S. team go far deeper into the medal rounds than predicted and the Canadian team suffer through more drama than predicted. For the record, the U.S. were predicted to be knocked out in the first round and the Canadians were supposed to run away with this thing. The Fire are worried about all those new players coming in under a new coach. They need those guys to gel and gel quickly if they are going to get where they want to go. Keep in mind that they missed the championship round by one goal and fired their coach. This team is not about losing. The Sky are worried about rebounding after a dreadful season that saw them poised to go deep into the playoffs and instead they imploded at the end of the year and missed the whole party. The Red Stars are worried about competing at the pro level. In this, their second, season they feel that they have a lot to prove and that they have the players to prove it. The Bears aren’t worried at all, everything is sunshine and roses at Halas Hall, which is why Bears’ fans are slamming Prozac. And washing it down with bourbon.
And the Cubs and Sox? What are they worried about? A lot or a little, depending on your point of view. If you are a devotee of Baseball Prospectus, then both teams’ seasons are over before they begin with neither team even being given a 30% chance of making the playoffs. Of course, last year, BP had the Cubs winning almost 100 games and the Sox 10 games under .500. So much for the experts then.
From the teams’ points of view, they are limiting their worries to one position at a time. For the Cubs, it seems that they may not have to worry about the one position that has vexed them for years. Center field. GORDON WITTENMYER at the Sun Times takes some time out of his break-dancing lessons to fill us in.
Anyone who wonders how much agility stocky Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd has should have seen him after practice Monday, when he pulled off a break-dance spin move and leaped to his feet in one motion.
Wait till he adds a fly ball to the act.
‘’The reason people say I can’t play defense is because they haven’t watched me play and they see my size,’’ the 6-foot, 245-pound Byrd said.
But Cubs hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, who had Byrd for three years with the Texas Rangers, believes Byrd was one of the top three defensive center fielders in the American League last season.
‘’Ask [Los Angeles Angels manager] Mike Scioscia, ask [Seattle Mariners manager Don] Wakamatsu, ask [Oakland Athletics manager Bob] Geren, ask [Rangers manager Ron Washington] if I can play center field,’’ Byrd said. ‘’Ask those guys that watched me play 19 times a year, or 162 times, and they’ll let you know.’’
Regardless of whether Byrd inspires visions of Gold Gloves, two things seem certain:
First, his addition improves the outfield—potentially dramatically—considering that Cubs center fielders ranked among the worst in the majors last season, according to various defensive formulas, and that Kosuke Fukudome will play his more natural position in right.
Second, Byrd’s style of play suggests he might be one of the more exciting Cubs center fielders in recent memory.
And not just because he plans to bring his break-dance moves to Wrigley Field.
More important, he’s moving from the American League West, which is full of large outfields, to the National League Central, which generally has smaller outfields, including Wrigley.
‘’Which means I get to play shallow,’’ he said, ‘’which is my forte.’’
I have never got why people say Byrd is a lousy fielder. He is around a .990 average as a fielder over his career and has had 2 errorless seasons. Cubs’ fans, despite what I read on their message boards, should be thrilled with this guy. He is a good bat, a great guy and a solid team player. Plus he can catch the ball. I am not sure what more you want out of that position.
On the South Side, they seem to be worried about John Danks not being at the same level as CC Sabathia. Well, I guess everyone needs something to worry about. JOE COWLEY, also at the Sun Times, dials up the 411.
It’s the one topic that gets pitching coach Don Cooper to go from chewing his gum to attacking it.
‘’Performance and consistency over years dictate for people in the media, people in fantasy leagues, fans, what number a pitcher is,’’ Cooper said Monday. ‘’Is this guy a No. 1? Is he a No. 3?’ I don’t put numbers on guys. I don’t. Doesn’t interest me; it’s not important to me.’’
The measuring stick for Cooper?
‘’I word it like upper-echelon pitchers,’’ Cooper said. ‘’What do upper-echelon pitchers do? What’s the common denominator? Innings, wins, hits to innings, walks to innings, going to the post every five days, going seven or eight innings deep every time.’’
That leaves left-hander John Danks on the outside looking in.
But, frankly, at 24, that’s a good thing.
‘’There’s plenty of room for me to improve. ... I surely hope there’s room for me to improve,’’ Danks said. ‘’I know I’m going to go out there and do what I can to improve.
‘’Who knows? But deep down, I think there’s plenty of room for improvement, and there will be improvement.’’
That’s what the White Sox are counting on. They like that Danks understands what it takes to be in the same conversation as a CC Sabathia or a Josh Beckett. Heck, for one night on Sept. 30, 2008, he even held upper echelon in his hand, throwing eight scoreless innings in the ‘’Blackout’’ play-in game against the Minnesota Twins.
As Danks enters his fourth season with the Sox, the hope is that taste will keep him hungry.
‘’He’s still trying to achieve that,’’ Cooper said. ‘’But this is only three years for [Danks]. I mean, to label a guy upper echelon ... unless you’re a special guy like a [Tim] Lincecum, I think that’s an earned thing over time. [Danks is] still in the process of earning that status.’’
Well, 2010 might be as good a year as any to make that jump.
Danks is one of those guys who seems to shine in big games and do okay the rest of the time. If he can get it in his head that they are all big games he could be a force to be reckoned with. Even so, I’d rather have him on my team than not.
There is one thing I do not have to worry about. I cancelled my Baseball Prospectus subscription years ago.
Well, first and foremost, congratulations to the U.S. Olympic team for winning more shiny round things than any other country. That accomplishment will be celebrated for about another hour and then the world will move on. While I am a little bummed that the U.S. Hockey team only got the Silver Medal, I am not suicidal over it. Let’s face it, the Winter Olympics features a lot of sports that no one in America plays in the winter. We are not a nation of curlers. We tend to shun ice dancers and keep them away from our children. The Biathlon? We tend to frown on commandos skiing through our streets with loaded rifles. The Winter Olympics are eye candy right when the landscape is at its most blah. That’s all well and good, but please don’t tell me that they are important.
What is important is the fact that an almost blind quarterback learned the Mike Martz system and had success with it. You think I’m kidding, don’t you? Well, NEIL HAYES at the Sun Times is here to prove that I am not.
It wasn’t until their final game together that Mike Martz learned his quarterback couldn’t see.
It came as a shock. Martz had helped Steve Fairchild set national junior-college passing records despite him being slow of foot and weak of arm, only to discover that he also suffered from night blindness. Fairchild could not detect color beyond 20 yards and only saw smudges where his receivers were supposed to be.
That was 1975. The Bears’ new offensive coordinator was fresh out of graduate school and testing theories at San Diego Mesa Community College that would help him become arguably the greatest offensive mind of his generation. That Fairchild had been so successful despite his handicap helped convince Martz he was doing something right.
Martz claims he has learned something from every quarterback he has worked with. He will begin teaching Jay Cutler the lessons he learned from his first quarterback more than 35 years ago during a minicamp tentatively scheduled for May.
‘’That helped reinforce things where you feel a defender and time the windows vs. zones and the ability to anticipate where the guy is in man-to-man coverage and lead him properly,’’ Martz said Sunday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
‘’That was a reassurance that we were on the right page when we were telling these guys what to do.’’
Many of the college quarterbacks whom Martz was scouting Sunday wait for receivers to be open before throwing the ball. Martz’s system hinges on the quarterback releasing the ball before the receiver is open. It’s a leap of faith that can take some getting used to. When an offense is built around anticipation and throwing to a spot on the field rather than to a receiver, a quarterback doesn’t need to be able to read the bottom line on an eye chart, as Fairchild learned.
‘’I didn’t have good vision at night, but I had good anticipation with the ball, and that’s what Mike is all about,’’ said Fairchild, who was Martz’s offensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams and now is the head coach at Colorado State.
‘’I was a kid who did not get recruited out of high school. I wasn’t sure I was going to play football anymore. I started with him and completed a bunch of balls and thought I could complete everything. He had receivers to a spot at a perfect time coordinated with my drop, and he had a feel for this timing thing—and he still does.’’
Cutler has got to be better than a guy with night blindness. Doesn’t he? DOESN’T HE?!?!?!
Neither patience nor trust seemed to be Cutler’s strong suits last season. That means Martz is going to have to get this kid’s head straightened out before he does anything else. I don’t know if he will use those cool Star Wars (TM) helmets that Luke Skywalker trained with to learn the Force, but he is going to have to come up with something to get this kid to believe in the system.
I was not thrilled with the hiring of Martz for one simple reason; his offense is so different than what they had and the Bears don’t really have the players to make it work. Okay, I guess that is actually one and a half reasons. Lovie Smith insists that this is the year that Devin Hester will learn how to think. I think I have a better chance of becoming a professional jockey. Smith insists that he has all the tools he needs to win with this offense. I insist that he has a bunch of tools. None suited for the job ahead.
I don’t mean to rip on the players, but after watching fundamental mistake after fundamental mistake last year it is hard for me to buy into a program that requires the players to display keen intelligence and skill. If some of these guys couldn’t recite the alphabet without cue cards last year, there is no reason to believe that they will be reciting Chaucer in 2010.
Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be proven wrong here and watch the Bears rip through a winning season and have success in the playoffs. I just think there is a better chance of me gracing the cover of GQ before that happens.
Like 40 or 50 billion other people, I saw Avatar. Unlike most of them, I noticed a flaw in the film that has been driving me nuts. I asked a couple of film critics about it and became afraid that I was going to be the subject of a restraining order or two. So, I will ask the wonderful readers at Jay The Joke if they can explain it to me. If you have seen the movie you will note that all the animals on Pandora are sextopeds. In other words, 6 legged creatures. But all the Na’Vi, the 10 foot tall blue nature lovers, are bipeds. In other words, descended from quadrupeds. To put a long rant short, there is no way they could have evolved on Pandora. So, where the heck did they come from?
Okay, I’ve got that off my chest so I’ll move on.
Last night, during Chicago’s official “Buy B3 a Beer Day”, ELLIOTT HARRIS from the Sun Times came out to catch the action. And, bonus for me, buy me a beer. During the course of the evening we talked about a wonderful variety of subjects. We also got to sample free soups. Now that you know that you should know this; nothing I have written thus far has anything to do with the point of today’s blog.
In fact, for a while I wasn’t sure what the point would be at all. But, after slogging through a wide variety of articles (the Bears are doomed, MJ bought the Bobcats, the Bulls are better than expected, the Hawks are just insanely good, etc.) I finally decided to talk about the best of the new and the best of the old.
For the former, I will turn to CARRIE MUSKAT from MLB.com who takes a look at the Cubs’ luckiest find in a long time, Esmailin Caridad.
Esmailin Caridad was in the right place, right time for the Cubs, and may be the right-handed setup pitcher the team needs.
Caridad signed his first pro contract with a Japanese team when he was 16 years old. He didn’t get a call up to the Japan big leagues until 2007 when he pitched very briefly for the Hiroshima Carp, appearing in two games.
“I liked Japan,” Caridad said Friday. “I like it here better.”
A free agent after that season, he was pitching back home in the Dominican Republic when Cubs player development director Oneri Fleita saw him. Cubs general manager Jim Hendry just happened to be coming to the Dominican for a few days and Fleita, who had gotten a tip about the youngster from a friend of long-time scout Jose Serra, asked Caridad if he would throw for him.
“Jim watched him throw a couple innings and said, ‘Why haven’t we signed him already?’” Fleita said.
On Dec. 19, 2007, Caridad signed with the Cubs and was invited to the Cubs’ spring camp.
“Everything in life is about timing and in Esmailin Caridad’s case and the Chicago Cubs’ case, the timing couldn’t have been any better,” Fleita said.
Now, Caridad is 26 and appears to have a spot in the Cubs bullpen.
“He’s on the team,” Lou Piniella said Thursday. “He’s almost got to pitch himself off it. I don’t think he will. I like this young man. He competes, he’s got a good arm, he can pitch a lot. He handled himself here quite well the last two months of the season.”
In 2008, Caridad was with Class A Daytona, then moved up to Double-A Tennessee. Last year, he made 25 starts for Triple-A Iowa and went 5-10 with a 4.17 ERA, striking out 114 over 131 2/3 innings.
Late last season, Caridad was called up to the big leagues and appeared in 14 games. He compiled an impressive 1.40 ERA over 19 1/3 innings. Could he be the right-handed setup pitcher the Cubs need?
“He’s got the stuff for it,” Piniella said. “Does he have the experience, savvy? We’ll have to wait and see. He does have the stuff. One good thing about this young man is he’s not scared.”
Caridad saw Piniella’s comments.
“I’m ready for the season,” the pitcher said Friday. “When I started this spring, I put my energy and concentration into the game.”
At 26, Caridad is older than most of the other bullpen candidates.
“He’s got a young arm,” said Mike Mason, who was the Iowa pitching coach. “He makes a lot of youthful mistakes. He overthrows. Last year, when he came up to the big leagues, it was kind of his niche—short doses of high energy pitching.”
Which would seem to be the description of a setup pitcher.
“If it was up to me, he’s one of those guys who will be a seventh- or eighth-inning guy who’s going to come in and try to blow balls by batters,” Mason said. “We’ve been working on his breaking ball, which is improving, and if he ever gets that, you never know what he’s going to be.”
Anyone who watched Caridad at Iowa might wonder where the oomph in his fastball came from. The right-hander’s fastball averaged in the upper 80s at Iowa. But last season, the radar gun also flashed 95, 96 mph.
“It’s confidence,” Mason said. “When he first signed, he was a little bit apprehensive about how he went after it. He wanted to make sure he threw strikes first. Now, he’s pretty much got that down and he’s throwing strikes and now he’s just letting it go and he’s able to maintain his strike zone command and letting it go, and that’s why the 95, 96 is coming out. It’s trust. He’s trusting his stuff a little more.”
I wonder if the “find some guy on vacation from Japan, by accident, in the Dominican Republic” is actually a corporate philosophy? Either way, it worked for them and it worked for him. As a side note, maybe they can snag some Kim Chi in Seoul and get themselves a speedy lead off hitter.
Just a thought.
On a sadder note, Sox legendary slugger Jermaine Dye is being forced to consider a career in the dynamic fast food industry. JOE COWLEY at the Sun Times tries to figure out how that happened.
Standing around as a spectator at the Phoenix Open was not how Jermaine Dye was supposed to be spending his Thursday afternoon.
He was supposed to be somewhere with a wooden bat in his hand. He was supposed to be somewhere joking with teammates, getting ready for the monotony of spring camp. Shagging fly balls, one more sprint. Somewhere, anywhere.
Instead, he’s waiting.
‘’I’m shocked,’’ Dye told the Sun-Times. ‘’I really am in disbelief, but what can I do?’’
Nothing.
And that’s the hardest part for the free agent to accept.
Over the last five seasons with the White Sox, Dye was first among American League outfielders in home runs and second in RBI. He has a World Series ring from 2005 and an MVP trophy from that Fall Classic. Then there was an All-Star appearance in 2006, and Dye even was a .302 hitter with 20 home runs in the first half of 2009.
Now, having just turned 36, Dye is being told by Major League Baseball that his services are no longer needed—or at least not enough to where Dye feels it’s ‘’really worth it.’’
So he waits.
‘’I still feel like I’m a productive player and feel like I can contribute, but teams want me as a backup player, and that’s something I’m not ready to do,’’ Dye said. ‘’I feel undervalued, basically. I don’t think I have to go out there and prove anything to anyone. My numbers the last five or six years show I can help someone.’’
There have been calls. Heck, there have been offers. But many of them have felt like slaps more than a serious negotiation.
‘’There’s nothing close,’’ Dye said. ‘’Still a few teams calling, couple teams made offers, but nothing really worth it. Anaheim made an offer, but they could only offer me 200-250 at-bats. Toronto made an offer; they wanted me to play right field every day, but the money was ridiculous.’’
Then there were the Cubs, who offered Dye $3 million to be their fourth outfielder. That meant sitting behind Kosuke Fukudome, who in two years was hitting .258 with 21 homers. Dye said no thanks, and a few days later the Cubs gave $3.3 million to 31-year-old Xavier Nady, fresh off a seven-game ‘09 season that ended with a second Tommy John surgery.
‘’I want to play every day,’’ Dye said. ‘’Cleveland was interested but never made an offer. Tampa was supposed to call, and we’re still trying to work that out. There have been offers, but like I said, nothing worth it.’’
How did it reach this point?
That’s what Dye has been trying to figure out. Yes, he had a terrible second half in which he hit .179 with just seven homers. Yes, his defense has slowed, but he’s willing to split time among the outfield, first base and even designed hitter if need be.
The problem for Dye, as with other older free agents this year, is that they are in a very tough spot. Teams are no longer willing to pay top dollar for a part time player, no matter how marquee the name may be. He may feel that he is worth several mil and should be on the field every day, but the reality is that he has older knees, limited range and is becoming a one dimensional player. That holds true with a lot of older players. Omar Vizquel being the exception that proves the rule.
On the other hand, if Dye wants, Elliot and I can show him a place that needs another soup maker.