Widger wins backup battle, catches on with Sox

 

TUCSON, Ariz. -- For the first time in two years, the end of spring training was kind to Chris Widger. Among the last to go in spring training for the New York Yankees in 2003 and the St. Louis Cardinals last season, Widger beat the odds in White Sox camp and will open the season on a major-league roster for the first time since 2000 with the Montreal Expos.

 

Despite owing Ben Davis $1 million this season, the Sox officially outrighted him to Class AAA Charlotte on Thursday, leaving Widger with the backup catcher role. Davis still has more than a week to decide to accept the demotion or make himself a free agent and forfeit the $1 million.

 

Manager Ozzie Guillen pulled Widger aside in a hallway Thursday morning to officially notify the 33-year old he was making the team. The news was gratifying.

 

"Yeah, after the last couple of years I was on the up-and-down road,'' he said. "Last year, mentally I was frustrated. I ended up going home for 3-3-1/2 months and played 2-1/2 months of independent ball.

 

"It's nice to know that if you put the work in, everything pays off. They gave me all the chances in the world to make this team, and I got all the playing time I could ask for. I couldn't have asked for anything better out of spring training.''

 

Widger appeared to earn a spot on the Cardinals roster last spring only to find out that Cody McKay was named the backup. McKay is the son of Cardinals first-base coach Dave McKay.

 

A report later said Widger felt Tony La Russa never wanted him around, although Widger has since denied making that comment. The Cardinals' manager responded by saying Widger needed to look in the mirror and take responsibility.

 

"I knew from the first day I walked into [the Sox'] locker room, it's a little bit different; the atmosphere is a little bit different,'' Widger said. "Things are run a little bit different in this place. It's laid back, and as long as you play the game the right way and play hard, Ozzie's happy and you have fun.

 

"You can tell that everybody in here enjoys going out and playing the game. That's what I had missed from the last couple of years.''

 

At the end of last spring, the Cardinals dealt Widger to the Mets, but he declined to report. He ended up returning to baseball at the end of the season, playing for Camden of the independent Atlantic League, a short drive from his home in Pennsville, N.J.

 

"I got tired of the politics of the game, the business of the game,'' Widger said. "Whether it was right or wrong for me to think that, the point was that my head wasn't where it was supposed to be and I needed that time off to go clear my head.

 

"It made me come out and not treat it as a business but to go out and have fun. I mean it's baseball, have fun."

The Widg!

I hope he can get "widgy with it."

I hope he can get "widgy with it."

 

A for effort!