CSF

3 up, 3 down. The heart of the Braves lineup. Not a single ball left the infield. Shingo Takatsu looked like he was in control. Sorry Billy, but Shingo should be the 9th inning guy from here on out.

For those who didn't have a chance to catch this guy's rant on the news tonight, it was priceless. He was saying he won't apologize like Koch did when he screwed up, and also said he's tired of the media hanging around his locker as he is not as media-friendly as Borowski, and thus will not speak to the media any further from this point on. Here's hoping for a repeat of his closer "success" in Chicago like he had in Minnesota. Couldn't happen to a nicer jackass.

Great thread.

Yup.

If that doesn't show why fan voting should be done away with, I don't know what will.

LOL. Nice article.

I believe Zito is the free agent. I've heard various rumors that he's Boston-bound either by the trade deadline or next year.

Williams talks tough, but we need action May 31, 2004 BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Crank him up, hear him talk. That's the Kenny Williams Wind-Up Doll, with a voice deep enough to double for Lou Rawls, making news all weekend on the first-place side of town. No one doubts the passion of the 40-year-old general manager, who isn't shy in his zeal to end the 86-year ache of the White Sox, a plague not nearly as romanticized as Cubbie futility and no less bloody. But in his fourth season on the job, it's high time Williams channels those passions into progress. Big and tough as the man talks, his bullhorn-loud proclamations will ring hollow if he can't direct the Sox to what appears an easily navigable American League Central title. Yes, he created a stir by ripping into Jon Rauch, the battered pitcher who broke team rules by fleeing the clubhouse and driving back to his old Kentucky home before Saturday's loss was over. Yet in the wake of numerous flops by Rauch and other No. 5 starters, who have combined for an 0-7 record and 10.09 ERA after the same slot went 3-12 last year, I have a bigger question for Kenny GM. How do you intend to fix the problem, patch the hole, fill the crater? What scares me about Williams was a verbal dropping that got lost in the Rauch rubble. Asked about the trade market, he expressed an eagerness to explore all avenues, including the well-established concept of pursuing pitcher Freddy Garcia from Seattle. But in reiterating his pledge to do whatever it takes to win it all, he also seemed to plant a curious seed. Nobody is untouchable, he said. Then, in case nobody heard him the first time, he repeated it. Assuming Magglio Ordonez is a somebody, let's hope Williams isn't suggesting to his general-managing colleagues that he would unload the rest of Ordonez's $14 million salary and deal him for a starting pitcher. Just in case he's serious, I'm here to inform Sox management -- you, too, Jerry Reinsdorf -- that such a salary dumping would be counterproductive, foolish and every bit as controversial as the White Flag Trade of seven years ago. A team doesn't trade its best and most popular ballplayer, a man of truly good character who was homegrown in the system and still has five prime years left, because it doesn't want to give him a lucrative payday. I'd much prefer to hear the happier news, in coming weeks, that Maggs has signed an extension. Ordonez is on record that he wants a long-term contract similar to those of Vladimir Guerrero and Miguel Tejada -- $12 million to $14 million a year for at least five years. Given Ordonez's all-encompassing value to an organization short on goodwill and fan-friendliness, he is well worth the investment. The Sox say they've made an offer that still stands, but knowing their past practices, be certain it's a lowball in any market-value context. Ideally, with Chicago's media pendulum shifting to the South Side and an exciting summer ahead, the Sox would be thinking of ways to add without subtracting. It will take an aggressive package to land Garcia, who will be as coveted as any arm on the July market, but the deal isn't worth doing if Ordonez is the bait. When a team hasn't won a World Series since 1917, as the Kenny Wind-Up Doll keeps repeating, you don't make your rotation stronger by trading one of the game's best right fielders. No, you find other ways of getting the deal done while upping the ante the next time you talk to Adam Katz, Ordonez's agent. Having been front and center in the tempestuous Sammy Sosa negotiations two years ago, Katz will keep a very low profile this time, as Magglio wants it. But we all know the rule of thumb in free-agent-year contract talks: The longer a season continues without a deal, the more likely a player will file for free agency and sign elsewhere. Name me the last player who re-signed with his team when allowed to seek his freedom. You can't. Nor would Maggs. All I know is, Williams better not screw it up this time with such a wonderful opportunity before him. Thanks to the pitching miseries of the Kansas City Royals, the AL Central is a two-team race. And while the Minnesota Twins always squeeze the max from their talent, offseason roster losses will take a toll. Clearly, this is the Sox's division to win. And with Reinsdorf supposedly committed to midseason payroll upgrades -- why not give Magglio his $70 million over five, then? -- the onus is on Williams to bring more cloth to the flagpoles. Since inheriting a division-title team from Ron Schueler, Kenny GM is 0-for-3 in attempts to make the playoffs. By no coincidence, he swung and missed badly on three deals preceding those seasons: Billy Koch (dumb), Todd Ritchie (dumber) and David Wells (dumbest). Since then, he has excelled in acquisitions when no one was looking, making his frugal boss happy by stealing Esteban Loaiza, Scott Schoeneweis and this year's find, Juan Uribe. Those are the sort of pickups that lead to Executive of the Year awards. But Williams can't be the Paul Konerko of the front-office set, so up and down that he drives us daffy. He has to build on his great deals and put the Sox over the top with the killer manuever. His outburst over Rauch confounded me, to be honest. No one expected much from the latest No. 5 starter, who hasn't been heard from since the 2000 Olympics. When he got rocked and bolted early, it should have been a sign to Williams that the kid is an emotional wreck and not cut out for the big leagues. The situation called for behind-the-scenes calm and advice, but the volatile boss only deepened the scars when he said through a spokesman, "He severely hampered his chances of ever pitching for the White Sox again. If any team has any interest in Jon Rauch, they should contact me." So much for Rauch having any trade value. Sunday, Williams wasn't any more stable about the situation, saying he would poll Sox players about Rauch's future. "At this time, if anyone has the question of whether I still mean what I said, I think the answer is I'm not exactly sure," Williams said. "And I won't be sure until I get the pulse of the guys in the clubhouse, his teammates, and see how they feel." Rather than waste energy on a wannabe, he should pour it into finding a legitimate pitcher. Can the Kenny Wind-Up Doll deliver? It's time to put a division title where his mouth is. Jay Mariotti hosts a sports talk show weekdays on WMVP-AM (1000) from 9-11 a.m. and appears on ESPN's ''Around the Horn'' at 4 p.m. Send e-mail to [email protected] with name, hometown and daytime phone number (letters run Sunday). Kenny Wind-Up Doll? Can this douchebag ever write a Sox column without giving someone in the organization a stupid nickname? This guy is the supreme asswipe.

Rauch to remain in Sox organization By Dave van Dyck Special to the Tribune May 30, 2004, 10:07 PM CDT Ken Williams wasn't in a forgive-and-forget frame of mind Sunday, but neither was he in a giveaway mood. AWOL pitcher Jon Rauch remained in the White Sox general manager's doghouse, but he also will remain with the organization. "He's going back to [Triple-A] Charlotte and back into the rotation," Williams said. "If an opportunity presents itself to get better [through a trade], yes, but we aren't in the business of giving away that sort of talent." One day after Rauch walked out of the White Sox clubhouse during the game without permission or explanation, Williams had calmed down but would not back down from his incendiary statements. "It's the first time I've ever had a player option himself down," Williams said. "He left me a message … saying that there was a misunderstanding. I don't know what the misunderstanding could be. It's a long-standing rule that you stick around until the end of the ballgame." Rauch also received no slack from manager Ozzie Guillen, even though Guillen was in Florida at the time of the apparent transgression. "It's going to be tough for the kid to come back here and contribute for us," Guillen said. "It's a funny thing about the way your teammates feel about you. "I cannot feel anything about the kid because I was not here." While saying he accepted Rauch's apology, Williams admitted he may have been wrong in asking teams to call him if they wanted Rauch. "To a large degree my comments [saturday] were a reaction more along the lines of a player than they were as a general manager," he said. "As a general manager I'm fully aware if I'm going to trade someone, it's a good idea not to announce to the world that this person is not in the greatest of standing with your organization. I'm fully aware of that. "There has been such a good, solid feeling of togetherness. It's one of those cliché words that teams and organizations throw out there, family, but I really feel that to such a degree this year that I haven't felt since I was a player in Toronto. That has to be paramount in our thinking." Williams said he won't decide whether Rauch can return to the White Sox "until I go out and get the pulse of the guys in the clubhouse, his teammates, [see] how they feel. "My reaction to [saturday's] event stems from the frustration of him not being out there to support his teammates in the event of a comeback. When a Frank Thomas comes out of the game for whatever reason or a Magglio Ordonez comes out of the game, you see them on the bench. Frank's been darn near at the top step on such occasions. What gives anybody with a lesser standing the right to leave before the ballgame is over? There could have been a brawl. There could have been an injury of some sort." The most ironic part of Rauch's early clubhouse exit, during his 5-1 loss, was that Williams discovered his absence while trying to praise him. "I came down at the beginning of the ninth, but from what I understand Jon was gone well before then," he said. "I was coming down to offer (him) encouragement and to tell him, 'You're going to go back (to the minors) at this point, only because we don't need that fifth starter until June 12. If we didn't have the off days, he was going, in my mind, to have made the next start. I had seen enough in him. As it was, the message was going to be a positive one. 'Go down, make another solid start, and you'd be back on the 12th.'" Now the question is, will Rauch ever be back? Copyright © 2004, The Chicago Tribune

Williams pining for pitching Borchard, others may be trade bait E-mail this story Printer-friendly format Search archives -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Dave van Dyck Special to the Tribune May 29, 2004, 10:39 PM CDT White Sox general manager Ken Williams is so eager to add a starting pitcher that he is willing to trade any of the franchise's top prospects, including former No. 1 draft pick Joe Borchard. In fact, during his latest talks with other GMs—and some of them were about No. 1-type pitchers—Williams rarely discussed giving up any of the present Sox. "There was very little discussion about moving major-league players, because I like the composition of this team," Williams said. "But nobody is untouchable. Nobody." While that may make potential free agent Magglio Ordonez safe for now, it also leaves Williams open for criticism in the future if one of his minor-leaguers becomes a star somewhere else. Why the risk? "Two words," Williams replied. "Nineteen seventeen." That, of course, is the last year the White Sox won a World Series. "If the question is 'Will I sacrifice a little bit of our future for present glory?' the answer is yes. But if the question is also 'Would I do something stupid?' the answer is ... maybe." While Williams got to laugh at himself, he was serious about making a trade to keep his surprising team among the American League's best. What kind of deal has Williams been discussing? While he isn't saying, it has been learned that Williams talked to Seattle about former All-Star Freddy Garcia and to Pittsburgh about Kris Benson, though not to Arizona about Randy Johnson. Insiders say the Mariners are waiting to see if Garcia can bring them more flesh closer to the trading deadline, while the Sox are the ones who are lukewarm on Benson. No deal appears imminent, but the names do show the type of pitcher Williams would like to add to his Central-leading Sox. His interest in a trade couldn't have cooled after Saturday's performance by Jon Rauch, which gave No. 5 starters an 0-7 record and 9.72 ERA. Clearly, Williams has been given the go-ahead from board Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to take on more payroll if necessary, with one source saying the amount is large. And if Williams has proved anything as GM, it's that he is not afraid to make a deal, even if it is unpopular. "You're not doing your team or your fans a service if you're not constantly in the mode of trying to improve your club," he said. While most of his cohorts like to wait for trades until after the All-Star break or near the July 31 trading deadline, Williams says he approaches the season differently. "The conventional thought is to break the season up into two halves," he said, "but we like to think of it as a football or basketball game divided into four quarters. After the first 'quarter,' you should be able to identify to some degree what your strengths and deficiencies are. "Plus, let's say you make a move in the second quarter that doesn't work out. Then you have an opportunity before the second half begins to correct it and go another route." The first quarter is over, and the No. 5 hole in the rotation is making Williams itchy to deal, no matter what the cost. Copyright © 2004, The Chicago Tribune --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought Brennaman and Lyons did a nice job today. They've done a far better job than any of the idiots at ESPN have done.

I'm trying to give Rauch the benefit of the doubt, but reading all of this stuff about his attitude is making it really tough.

All-Star Baseball 2005 sucks. MVP is probably your best bet.

Wunsch.

Ditto. Expect to see Payrod at 3rd in Houston.

Damnit! I would pick this week to start a new job so I can no longer hear Boers and Bernsie on the radio. Looks like I missed some great appointment radio today. BTW, I didn't take Hawk's comments too seriously. I just wish he would've ripped into Mariotti's show, not Boers.

Sorry if this has been already posted.

Wow. Kudos to Chris Berman and Sportscenter for giving some love to the Sox-Twins game. Also compared it to the Bears-Vikings game. Anytime you can get a replay of Peanut Tillman snatching the ball from the hands of Randy Moss is a good thing.

Cubs hang on to win 4-3. Cards had Pujols, Edmonds, & Rolen up against Borowski, and only Rolen's shot was hit hard (he just missed it). Now it's gonna be a Cub-fest all of today and tomorrow. Ugghhhh... :puke

Wood was supposed to throw a simulated game tonight, but had to shut it down after 8 pitches. He'll be further evaluated tomorrow. They better hope Glendon Rusch can duplicate performances like the one he had yesterday.

Phil Rogers from the Tribune. I used to like Greg Couch from the Sun-Times, but ever since he bashed Frank in the offseason for no reason whatsoever, I can't read him anymore.

ESPN just listed Wrigley "Traditions". The 1st one being the 7th inning stretch. The guy who popularized that tradition at that s***hole started doing it on the other side of town years before. ESPN makes it so easy for me to hate them.

Scott Rolen just homered. Come on Cards, 2 more and you got the lead.

Yeah, and if people didn't care about those 3 teams, too damn bad. Because that's all they're getting. And hooray for the "Out of the Box" segment, something that may last 10 seconds. Sorry, I think they're worth more than that.

Another gratuitous John Cusack shot. Excuse me......:puke