Dick Allen

It used to be you actually had to accomplish something to question losing your job. Josh is still getting AB. A lot more than he would on most teams. Either learn to layoff balls you cannot hit or find something else to do.

Its sunny on the northside.

I thought Ozzie said he wasn't going to waste his time ripping the team yesterday. Things are getting desperate at 35th and Bill Veeck drive.

QUOTE (chisox2334 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 06:07 PM) Even after a sit-down meeting with manager Ozzie Guillen, third baseman Josh Fields still wants answers from the White Sox organization — not only answers about his future, but also about what he felt was bad timing by the club in calling up highly touted prospect Gordon Beckham to play at his position. Fields called the situation ‘‘awkward.’’ » Click to enlarge image White Sox third baseman Josh Field still wants answers from the organization about his future. (Chris Sweda/Sun-Times) RELATED STORIES Guillen sounds off after Tigers beat White Sox, 5-4 ‘‘As a player you go through a thing where you kind of have people that have confidence in you — your front office and your manager having confidence in you — and I really don’t know this situation,’’ said Fields, who entered Monday hitting .242 with three home runs and 21 RBI. ‘‘It’s been weird. Ozzie sat me down the other day and tried to go through it a little bit, but it’s kind of hard to swallow. If I was still at .212 like I was for a while, it would be easier, but pulling my average up and the team getting into second place, it just kind of came surprising, I guess. “I asked [Guillen] a couple of questions, but I have more questions for [general manager] Kenny [Williams] and I haven’t been able to actually sit down and talk to him. I know the draft is coming up and stuff, but we’ll get to sit down here before long and we’ll get to ask all of the questions that I need to.’’ Asked if he was frustrated about the timing of the Beckham call-up, Fields responded, “I think so.’’ ‘‘Obviously, they have their reasons,’’ Fields said. ‘‘I’m just an employee, so I don’t make decisions. But you can always look at things and say ‘Why this, why that?’ We’re struggling now and I think everyone knows that, that’s the truth. As a team and individually, we were really struggling, but to then come back to within [3œ] games ... I mean, I would kind of consider this a big change, not just a small tweak. To be doing pretty well as a team at that time and then to make a big change, it’s still kind of a question that I’ll have to ask.’’ Fields isn’t even sure he will like the answer, but at least he’ll have one that eases his mind. All he is hoping for is that something gives. Whether that means him being traded or some other piece of the team being moved, that remained unclear for Fields, 26, who was in the starting lineup for the first game of Monday’s doubleheader vs. Detroit. ‘‘Right now it’s kind of sit and see how it plays out,’’ Fields said. ‘‘I’ve been getting in there and playing some third, I played the DH the other day, so it’s not like I’ve sat a whole bunch of games, Ozzie is still playing me. But it’s kind of an awkward situation for everyone. Not only myself, but teammates as well. You don’t want that to happen. ‘‘I think something will happen pretty soon, whether it’s something like them getting rid of me or something like that for someone else that can possibly help the team. You never know. I don’t think it will stay awkward for too much longer. They’ve won too long and know how to win, and they’ll figure something out.’’ Poor "I'm not hitting .212 anymore, I'm hitting .238 thank you with 3 long ones, and some day I may learn how to play defense" josh. Get him the hell out of town.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 06:17 PM) I'd just like to see this team at least once take the approach of taking pitches the other way. Goddamn...it's not Rocket Science. THAT falls on Walker and the horses*** approach most have on this team. On Saturday during BP that is all they worked on.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 05:10 PM) Am I still the only person here that doesn't think Walker should be fired? There's a few of us.

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 03:22 PM) Thank God for Konerko and JD this year! Konerko should have been released last year.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) season changing walk-off coming...wait for it... Where's Jeff Abbott, another overhyped White Sox farmhand, when you need him?

The Sox are hitting .350 today.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 02:36 PM) Thank God for JD this year. The rest of the team can start pounding the ball anyday now and help him out, I wouldn't be upset with that. Too bad the Reds didn't want to take his contract. Homer Bailey would have been great with the Sox.

QUOTE (DanksFan @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 02:27 PM) i wonder how demoralizing it is to go to any of these games except game 1 agaoinst Oakland and game 2 against Cleveland... people aren't gonna keep showin up for this s***... Dewayne Wise.. Give Me a f***ing Break. He is not a ML player. Check the scores of Friday night home games. They have been outscored 38-7 collectively. They usually get crushed. I think one of the split season packages has all those games with it. A lot of those people aren't going to want to re-new if it continues.

Its time KW took a look at the back of a lot of these players' baseball cards and realize he had no reason to be optimistic they could do what he thought they could do. Wise is not a major leaguer.

QUOTE (TitoMB345 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 02:15 PM) don't let that average fool you. he's still not in hitting shape. once he gets there, i fully expect his average to get closer to .200. he just needs a few more weeks, then he'll really start raking. /ozzie. I almost get the feeling that Ozzie is trying to prove the fans wrong when they say this guy sucks. Its amazing he is on a major league roster. He would easily make it through waivers IMO.

I think the collective baseball IQ of the current roster isn't very high.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 01:54 PM) Defensively.......not even close uribe catches the pop up yesterday that Ramirez never moved for Alexei is good with the glove, he just tries to be too fancy at times IMO. The other night he leaped for a ball and twisted his glove around to make a routine line-out look spectacular. Just make the play.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 01:52 PM) I hope the approach to holding runners on or changing the stretch used by pitchers is worked on next spring. If a hitter can't take the ball the other way, its Walker's fault. If White Sox pitchers can't hold runners on, Cooper is one word you will not see mentioned.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 01:45 PM) I think Ozzie should make Dwayne Wise do push-ups every time he pops up... WHO'S WITH ME?!?! I just wish he'd make him go home. Did anyone see the Sun Times piece yesterday that Ozzie got the idea to put Quentin 3rd in the line-up last year from an email from a fan? I can't believe he would admit that.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 01:40 PM) Let's see what the advanced scouting has to say about the guy hitting .115 Clayton may be in the pen shortly as his last two outings have not been good. Oakland teed off on him. He's not that good. KW would have stole Peavy had he said yes.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 01:33 PM) So frustrating, no one is stepping up and getting a big hit. 2 for last 42 with RISP (if you count sac flies). Did you see White Sox pinch hitters are 1 for 30 this year? That is hard to do.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 01:28 PM) Imagine if he was here last year with Quentin and Cabrerra. I asked Williams at Soxfest if he thought of bringing back Pods when the Rockies gave him the ML deal and he flat out said absolutely not... I am not a Pods fan but he is what this team needs. He wasn't very good last year. The fact is he was released by the Colorado Rockies this year. He's playing very well right now. If anyone thought that was possible he wouldn't have been without a job even for the couple weeks he was out of one this spring. I don't know how long it will last, but the Sox should ride it until it ends.

The White Sox drafted Polanco a couple picks after the took Carrie Schueler. He didn't sign.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 12:56 PM) And every ball that flew through the infield unmolested by Royce (Range of Josh Fields at 3B) Clayton led to additional pitches as well. If you asked any of our pitchers who'd they rather have playing SS everyday, privately, they all would have said Jose Valentin. Not to mention the fact that he was a really smart ballplayer in terms of instincts...we don't even have a baserunner with close to his aptitude on this current Sox team. We just have lots of low baseball IQ players, and that goes back to drafting. We can't blame the injuries to Rauch, Barcelo, Kelly Wunsch, Rocky Biddle, Bobby Howry, Jason Stumm, Danny Wright, Corwin Malone and MANY others on Jose Valentin alone, that would be silly. Eldred had a long history of injury problems before he came to Chicago... Valentin was back at SS. It didn't help. Royce Clayton wasn't the reason the Sox were mediocre in 2001 and 2002.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 12:40 PM) But has there been in talk of an injury to Bart? According to Ozzie at his press conference yesterday, Colon isn't leaving the rotation.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 12:30 PM) I was a big Valentin fan as well. He was an error machine, but you're correct about his range and arm (his 20+ HR power was nice as well). To my recollection, I only remember him costing us one game back in 2000 (the Sirotka/Pedro matchup, where the Red Sox on 1-0 on an unearned run). It also led to the pitching staff throwing more pitches and more stress on their arms. Eldred, Baldwin, Sirotka, and Parque all were never the same. I'm not blaming Valentin, he was a good player when the Sox acquired him and got a little worse every season, but it certainly didn't help them.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 12:36 PM) For one thing, the most dominant and successful element of our team right now is the bullpen, which is partially Cooper's oversight. Second, Colon has been getting by with smoke and mirrors (until recently) all season long. How he has done as well as he has with an 84-91 MPH fastball, throwing it 85-90% of the time, is beyond me. Everyone knows Clayton Richard has been a pleasant surprise, compared to the view many had of him this offseason as a pitcher who would get knocked out of the game in the 3rd through 5th innings (second time through the line-up). Contreras was/is coming back from a catastrophic, career-threatening injury at age 40+. Floyd has finally seemed to have righted the ship...and it looks like Danks might be the White Sox version of Cliff Lee (look at some of his inconsistency from year to year, where he goes from the Cy Young to the precipice of AAA and back and forth). The heavy toll/workload HAS to be a factor....it got the 2005 starters in the second half of 2006, their ERA's weren't even close to what they put up in our championship season. Buehrle is Buehrle. I don't know what more anyone could realistically expect. We knew we needed repeats from Quentin, Ramirez, Danks and Floyd, and none of that has happened...so it's really hard to say we can accurately predict how good either Floyd OR Danks can be when both of their careers have been so up and down. I don't know what everyone can realistically expect out of an offense that was so poorly put together, Dewayne Wise and Brent Lillibridge led off multiple games. Their best hitter has been hurt. Dye and Thome have missed time. A rookie is at 2b. The C and SS while decent hitters are low OBP, the 3rd baseman is a low OBP high K guy coming off a horrific stint in AAA, but yet when the Sox lose 8-4 the when will Greg Walker be fired thread begins. It is ridiculous. Again, be careful what you wish for. Everyone wanted Uribe and Crede out, you got it. Here's Lillibridge and Fields, what an upgrade. If the White Sox get better hitters, they will hit better. If they continue to trot out mediocre line-ups, mediocre results will follow.