Everett Not Happy

[Ozzie Montana]

Man Carl, STFU PLEASE and just do your job. Enough of this personal s*** and hit the damn ball.

[Wanne]

"I did it because I thought it was better for the team and better for him. I move a lot of people around in the lineup. Just because he moved a couple of spots down, that doesn't mean nothing. If Carl has a bad feeling about it, get four hits and I'll move you back."

 

 

This pretty much sums it up....'nough said.

[The Ginger Kid]

Crazy Carl is whining about being dropped to #6 in the lineup. Why he's even in the lineup puzzles me. Just what the Sox needed. WTF is wrong with this guy?

 

Daily Southtown

 

Inside The Sox

 

Ozzie irks Everett, and vice versa

Saturday, September 24, 2005

by Joe Cowley

Staff writer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last place Ozzie Guillen expected to hear criticism from was his own clubhouse.

Second-guessing on the part of the media and fans? The second-year White Sox manager knows that comes with the territory.

 

But his clubhouse seemed to remain a sanctum that was not infiltrated by negativity.

 

Until now.

 

Unhappy with a demotion from third to sixth in the batting order, designated hitter Carl Everett made his feelings known before Friday's game.

 

"Put it this way: It's always me," Everett said. "Someone has to sit or be moved down, it's always me. We've been winning with (him hitting No. 3) all year long, so why would he (Guillen) change it now?"

 

Everett arrived at the ballpark to find that his usual No. 3 spot in the order was occupied by catcher A.J. Pierzynski, while the switch-hitting Everett was moved to sixth for only the fourth time this season. He has occupied the No. 3 spot 83 times.

 

Guillen doesn't take criticism from his players well, and Everett is no exception.

 

"Well, good, I won't even put him in the lineup (today)," Guillen said. "Carl always thinks it's a personal problem, and I don't know why he always thinks like that. The way he's swinging the bat right now, I'm trying to get him to relax a little bit and take the pressure off of him. It's not just because it's him.

 

"Right now, as a group, we're not swinging the bat well. You got to look yourself in the mirror and say, 'There's a reason I'm being moved down.' If I thought he was swinging the bat good, I would leave him alone. I make the lineup the best I can. It's a shame when people say something to the media before they say something to me, but then again, sometimes people don't want to hear what I have to say. I say the truth.

 

"I did it because I thought it was better for the team and better for him. I move a lot of people around in the lineup. Just because he moved a couple of spots down, that doesn't mean nothing. If Carl has a bad feeling about it, get four hits and I'll move you back."

 

The timing of the friction between Everett and Guillen couldn't be worse, as the Sox have watched a 15-game lead in the American League Central through Aug. 1 slip to 1½.

 

But Everett — who went 1-for-3 Friday in the Sox's 3-1 win over Minnesota — has a point.

 

He began the season as an everyday starter and was reduced to a part-time role when Frank Thomas returned from the disabled list May 30. Thomas returned to the DL on July 22 and Everett again became an everyday player, but he has been penciled in at five different spots in the batting order.

 

Everett had not expressed displeasure with Guillen until Friday.

 

With the pressure of the division race bearing down on the Sox, tempers seem to be flaring.

 

"The thing that bothers me is when a player says, 'Why me? Why is this happening to me?' " Guillen said. "I move (Aaron) Rowand back to the seventh spot when Rowand isn't so hot. I moved J.D. (Jermaine Dye) down. When you're not swinging the bat well ... if you want to talk about Paul Konerko, I can't move Konerko because he has 30-some home runs. I try to make the best lineup I can to win each game."

 

Everett entered Friday's game hitless in his two previous games and 9-for-64 (.141) in his previous 17 games.

 

"It's a funny thing about it," Guillen said. "I watch the game and I watch everyone swing the bat. Carl's not swinging the bat well. If he thinks he's swinging the bat good, I don't know what game he is watching. I'm going to do what's best for this team.

 

"If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. Don't prove me right. Go out there and prove me wrong. If he proves me wrong, if he has better swings and at-bats, he's going to be back up there. If that was the case, I would have left him alone."

 

And of course he's going to get ripped for it...

 

Morrissey

 

There was a group of people listening to Dustin Hermanson in the White Sox clubhouse Saturday. Carl Everett wasn't one of them. Pity.

 

Hermanson was talking about the concept of team in team sports, which should be redundant but sadly isn't these days. He said that if he's not pitching well or if he's injured, he understands that having somebody take his place might be best for the team.

 

 

"It's simple," he said. "If you're a professional athlete who cares about your team, it's easy to do."

 

Hermanson's clubhouse stall is probably 10 paces from Everett's stall, but the two men are worlds apart in terms of attitude. During the most important stretch of the Sox season, Everett is upset about being dropped in the batting order. Amazing.

 

He's batting .156 in his last 19 games, and yet he still griped to a writer—and not to manager Ozzie Guillen—about being dropped from third to sixth in the lineup. It must be the goodness of Guillen's heart that has kept Everett in the lineup at all.

 

"It's tough for me because I think I have a great relationship with my players and great communication," Guillen said. "If you're batting third and all of a sudden you're batting sixth, you better look at yourself in the mirror and ask why. Don't go around behind people and say, 'Why me?' and whatever.

 

"It's a shame because my door is open. If [they] want to ask me about it … the thing is, I don't think they want to hear what I'm going to say."

 

The Sox need this like they need another Cleveland victory. They don't need any more tension than they already have. In the last two weeks, they have had the Damaso Marte saga and Guillen's complaints about fans' boos. A team that has watched a 15-game lead in the American League Central shrink to 1½ games doesn't need extra servings of turmoil.

 

The Sox beat the Twins 8-1 Saturday night. A.J. Pierzynski, batting third, knocked in a run with a double in the third inning. Everett, batting sixth for the second game in a row, went 1-for-4. Sure seemed like Guillen made the right decision. Everett declined to comment afterward.

 

When he was holding court on the subject of selflessness Saturday, Hermanson probably didn't know about Everett's carping. In all fairness, somebody should have told him their attitudes soon would be compared in newspapers and on radio talk shows. But some of us were in the process of having our faith renewed and were a bit distracted.

 

"My ego is checked at the door for these guys," Hermanson said. "I still want to be in there during close games. But we have a guy who throws 100 m.p.h. and he's healthy. All I care about is getting the rest of these guys into the postseason, whether it's me or somebody else [as the closer]. Whoever does it, I just hope someone does it. I'd like it to be me. I want to be the one on the mound at the end of every game, but I know I have to do what's best for the team."

 

Hermanson was the Sox closer most of the season until a nagging back problem took away some of his effectiveness. Now Bobby Jenks is getting most of the opportunities.

 

Besides pitching, the best thing about this team when it was winning consistently was the way players seemed to understand they were better together than individually. Even Everett kept his mouth closed when he was sharing time with Frank Thomas as designated hitter.

 

What is it they say? That tough times don't build character, they reveal it? That seems to be what's going on here.

 

It's not as if Everett is the only one who has been moved in the order. Center fielder Aaron Rowand has been up and down the lineup card all season.

 

"I've never had much of an ego," Rowand said. "You have some of the best players in the world sitting in this locker room. It never has bothered me whether I'm hitting seventh or first or fifth or whatnot. … Everybody out here wants to play. As long as I'm in the lineup, I could not care less whether I'm hitting ninth."

 

Cubs fan Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers showed up in his Cubs uniform and a Sox cap to lead cheers at U.S. Cellular Field on Saturday night. That was weird. I would like to report a player complaining about his spot in the lineup was even weirder, especially during the last steps of a race to the playoffs.

 

It wasn't. Pity.

 

rmorrissey@tribune.com

Edited September 25, 2005 by The Ginger Kid

[Jordan4life_2007]

Has Carl the "cancer" returned?

[qwerty]

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40381

[The Ginger Kid]

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40381

 

thanks, I tried to do a search but couldn't.

[qwerty]

thanks, I tried to do a search but couldn't.

 

It's cool, the more carl bashing the better.

[southsider2k5]

for Hermanson. Hopefully the whole f***ing team was listening to him last night, because that was the best TEAM effort I have seen in a while. Guys were bunting, hitting the other ways, and trying to move runners along. Only a week more to go guys...

[The Critic]

Of course OZ says he's quiting after winning the WS, so it's all probably a mute point.

 

Or a moot one.....

[DBAHO]

So yes with Everett most likely not going be back next season, who's the DH going to be?

 

I'd still like Durazo on an incentive laden deal, or even Nomar if he was willing to split time at DH/3B/SS, so that Uribe could still be that super utility guy, but that's not going to happen. Of course Overbay and Tracy would be the 2 main trade targets. I think this shows how important it is to keep Konerko as well, you can't lose Everett, Thomas AND Konerko. That's potentially 80-100HR's in a season right there. Other guys worth mentioning, Mike Piazza, J.T Snow, Daryle Ward, Reggie Sanders, Jacque Jones, Juan Encarnacion, Jose Cruz Jr., and of course Brian Giles.

 

Of course a trade with the SP could be possible if Naoyuki Shimizu would still like to join us from Japan, or better yet, Daisuke Matsuzuka.

[SS Gload]

man, I miss Big Frank.

[fathom]

for Hermanson.  Hopefully the whole f***ing team was listening to him last night, because that was the best TEAM effort I have seen in a while.  Guys were bunting, hitting the other ways, and trying to move runners along.  Only a week more to go guys...

 

Yes, I saw a lot more concentration at the plate by our hitters. PK had some terrific swings, and Dye had a great AB for the homer (even though Mays had nothing). Ironically, Everett was still swinging out of his ass on every pitch. His approach at the plate has been selfish for a long time.