Gregory Pratt

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 01:24 PM) Yes, I took constitution classes, but can someone refresh me what the process for a new Veep would be if he steps down? Bush nominates a replacement. Must get majority vote from both houses.

I only watched Chappelle's show once and this skit was on. http://youtube.com/watch?v=SBVdE8MRM7M It was on at a rather humorous time.

From a Sun-Times piece about Barrett-Pierzynski: Wow.

Their rotation looks fair enough. Might even be the best in that division, if it stays healthy.

No.

The rumor was, KW was trying to nail McCarthy's girlfriend and they fought over it. It started on a Cubs blog, and a minor one at that. No go. It's probably not true and there's nothing at all to suggest it is.

Who are you to say that his leash on him would've been short? I'll bet it wouldn't have. He doesn't keep shortleashes. And he said, "He's not f***ing Cy Young" in response to comments that he should replace one of the five with him and then went on to say that he's not as good as the other five RIGHT NOW. There's nothing dumb about believing that Ozzie's handling of pitching staffs -- let them pitch their game, they are the Starters -- is generally a good thing and one to be strived for.

http://soxmachine.com/blogs/soxmachine/default.aspx Gotta comment. Heard the audio. It's right there. The audio. That sounds hateful to some of you? Jeez. And he didn't say, "I hate him." Said, "I hate 'em," referring to the comments. When he made the comments about the playoffs, he said: "I wish him the best of luck. We won ninety and what. How many'd we lose? How many games?" "90 and seventy two." "Well he lost five of those seventy two. We might be in the playoffs if not for him." And then North says, "Didn't Buehrle kills us worse than anyone?" and he says, "Oh yeah, Buehrle knows that. Oh yeah, he know. He know that." Ozzie ripped McCarthy to shreds. Right. I can't believe the reaction to this. It's so silly. He had a few criticisms, said some good things, wished him all the best of luck. Anyone who hasn't heard it should listen to it for themselves.

Magglio started it, if I recall correctly. [insert rebuttal of "OZZIE SHOULDN'T HAVE REPLIED!" here] Ozzie didn't rip Politte in the media, or Cotts, or McCarthy in season. He didn't even really rip him. All he said is, "We might've made the playoffs if not for him" and it seems like something he said in passing. Not like he sat there saying, "McCarthy cost us a playoff return!" or anything. I need to hear that interview. Maybe Zito was misinformed but I'm basing my opinion that Ozzie's good to his players and they generally think that from his remarks about what Konerko told him. QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Mar 2, 2007 -> 10:19 PM) How can you say after last year, he was good in dealing with a pitching staff? If by "old-school" approach you mean tiring out arms so they can't perform in August and September when it really mattered, I guess you're right. If it means bringing up a green kid from AA or AAA when a starter's injured to keep the guy who GOT you in the playoffs in 2005 by pitching clutch as a rookie in the bullpen, I guess you're right. GP, we fundamentally disagree here because from Game One as a Big League Manager - I've seen a guy who never knew when enough was enough from his guy on the mound. Good pitchers like to go six innings. They like to get their work in. Ozzie lets them. And he lets them get kicked, too, for the experience. So they can learn. It's valuable for a pitcher to be allowed to go out there and compete. Period. -- I can't possibly be the only person here who thinks everyone's overreacting and that Ozzie's a damn good manager. I'm leaving this discussion. I can't stand to defend Ozzie from everyone and their mother. Heads, I got your PM. You'll get yours.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Mar 2, 2007 -> 10:17 PM) WTF are you talking about? You said that Manuel mishandled Garland. You said that Ozzie, in some way, 'stuck with' Garland like Garland was a bad pitcher before Ozzie came here. He wasn't. Garland was a perfectly acceptable league average starter from his second year in the bigs till now. He was bound to have a fine year, Ozzie or not. Your comment makes ZERO sense. He wasn't TOLD? Didn't two Sox batters get hit? Shouldn't t be an 'instinct' thing? At least Tracey tried to hit him... After the second bean, both teams were warned. There's no way that Ozzie would've had Javier suspended over it. Just wouldn't be worth it and there's no reason to when you've got a minor leaguer there. As far as Garland -- it's general knowledge that Ozzie stuck with Garland longer into games while Jerry "dicked around" with him, taking him out at the first sign of trouble and messing with his confidence.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 2, 2007 -> 10:13 PM) Maybe if there weren't accusations of such a bias coming from within the organization. I've never heard that from within the organization. Link? or please, refer me to a radio broadcast with the whos and the whats.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Mar 2, 2007 -> 10:12 PM) Okay, let me explain it to you. Javier Vazquez was in the game when the batters were hit. Vazquez had MULTIPLE chances to throw at a Texas batter. Did he do it? No. Did he get berated? No. Even if you think Tracey was wrong for missing (because he did throw at a batter) -- you yell at him in public. There's absolutely no need to do it to him in public for all the cameras to see. Javier wasn't told to hit the batter or he would've, I'm sure of that, and he wasn't told to because he was and is a valuable piece of the organization's short-term and intermediate plans. Tracey was a brief call-up who disobeyed his manager OR is just so bad he can't hit the broadside of Hank Blalock's ass. I'm not sure I'd have yelled at Tracey in public but I'd have definitely been pissed and I don't blame Guillen for taking offense that a kid who was, at the time (and for the foreseeable future) a minor league scrub -- I can't blame him for being upset and letting Tracey know. Tracey shouldn't have sit there sobbing into his hands. And Guillen wasn't necessarily yelling at him in public. It was in the dugout. Maybe he should've taken it in the dugout but he has the right to let his players know what he wants them to know in the dugout at any time he wants.

I'm not defending everything he said. I just think it's ultimately not a big deal. It's not like he called him a piece of s*** or anything like that -- like with Maggs. Some of you are far too eager to jump all over Osvaldo. And while we're getting into this, I love the suggestions or the first few pages that Ozzie would like, say, BA or McCarthy or Tracey or whoever more if they were Perez' or something. Guess nobody told him that Jon Garland's white. QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 2, 2007 -> 10:07 PM) Maybe because he should learn when to shut his goddamn mouth. He's in the third biggest market in America. Maybe he can keep thoughts to himself once in a while. Nah.

I can't understand the nonsense Ozzie gets on Sean Tracey and Brian Anderson's and Brandon McCarthy's behalfs.

I just don't understand the disconnect between some Sox fans online and those at the games, and I don't understand the Ozzie-hatred over pitching when he's actually quite good at it. Or the "veteran-loving" distaste of him as if he's doing anything particularly new or as if Brian Anderson is some sort of future superstar. Ozzie Guillen's one of the better managers in the game. So what if he's eccentric or talks a lot sometimes? Doesn't bother me.

Perhaps. I would counter that most of you who hate Ozzie or think he's a garbage manager are in the minority of Sox fans as any visit to US Cellular Field will attest to. Hell, I know a lot of smart baseball people who think he's one of the best at dealing with a pitching staff, mainly for his old-school approach.

I'm with Whalen -- seems like it's much to do about nothing.

Hey guys! Context! http://blogs.dailysouthtown.com/whalen/ Ozzie's comments. McCarthy's are his right before, but I'm excerpting Ozzie's specifically to show how much of a monster he truly is.

I was recently told that David Wells used to tell Jerry Manuel to "get the f*** out of here" when he tried to make pitching changes. Is that true?

He just has different values than traditional American values of political correctness.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 2, 2007 -> 08:35 PM) This is why I mentioned before, following Tim Hardaway comments and such, that Williams should specifically instruct the team not to say anything outrageous if they're asked about gays in professional sports. Or really anything with political connotations. You figure a reporter somewhere is dying for the opportunity to ask Guillen what he thinks on the issue, hoping for some homophobic rant. I'm afraid what he may say beforehand. I'm under the impression that Ozzie isn't a homophobe. And I don't know anyone else on the team who spouts off about things. I know McCarthy's a huge Conservative Republican but to the best of my knowledge he didn't talk about that publicly or get asked. Someone mentioned earlier that he'd talk about it all the time in the dugout. I don't know anything about that, though. Besides him, though, I can't think of anyone on our team that would take such bait besides Ozzie. And I don't mind it at all.

I'd like to point something else out. There was banter earlier that Konerko and other veterans disapprove of Guillen, blah blah blah, scared of commenting, don't want to rattle cages, they're "class acts," blahblahblah. Well, when Ken Macha was fired, Barry Zito went on the record as saying that Paul Konerko told him that Ozzie would "take a bullet for his players" and that they all respected him for it and liked him and Zito took it as an example of what a manager should be. There are complaints all the time about Ozzie's handling of pitching but I imagine that his pitchers themselves appreciate him. Garland, for a good example, for giving him the chance to go out there and prove himself after the Manuel mishandling. The others? And Gar., too, for being allowed to go deep into ballgames and work their own problems out. Do all his players love him? Probably not. Seems like most do have a lot of respect for him and should. Is he rough around the edges? Sure. Does he prefer veterans, generally? Definitely. But let's not pretend that he'd, oh, insist on playing a crinkley veteran over a "superstar" or even a clearly better player. The suggestion seems to be, "God forbid we ever have a young stud like Miguel Cabrera because Guillen would dick around with him!" Please. As if Brian Anderson -- who looked bad even when his numbers became "respectable" -- is a superstar of any sort. Or Brandon McCarthy. Ha. Every manager generally prefers veterans. I know Ozzie's made bad decisions. Everyone does. I feel that Mack/Anderson was forced on him by Anderson's approach to hitting, results hitting and attitude, by most accounts. Still a bad decision but a defensible one. I dread the day he loses his job as Manager.

I'm with those calling this a non-story or supporting Ozzie. I'm not under the impression that Ozzie's bad with The Kids or anything like that. If not for him, Garland might not be where he is, for one. And it's not like he's been sabotaging the Next Great Centerfielder in Brian Anderson or anything like that. And let's look at his feelings on Sweeney. Please. Ozzie hates the kids? Right.

Poor Padres.

Same might be said for us. Lance Broadway! Yeah! But seriously. John Danks.