35th Street Mess

.. Or "pissant", the term Reinsdorf used to describe Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti, answering the question posed by Bob Sirott the host of WTTW's Friday Night Show that Reinsdorf was a guest on tonight.

Gotta love the chairman's gusto if not his tact in this instance.

If you needed anymore proof that the majority of Chicago sportswriters are lazy and/or incompetent all you had to do was look at the amount of coverage the Sox got when Rob Gallas resigned and Brooks Boyer was named to replace him.

My unofficial count:

Daily Herald ......... 3 columns
Sun-Times .......... 1 column, 2 articles.
Tribune ............... 1 column
Daily Southtown ... 1 column

(These figures only account for the columns and articles appearing in each of the paper’s sports sections. The Sun-Times also had an article about it in its business section and the Tribune had one in its Tempo section.)

So six columns and two articles devoted to a story that merited no more than a blurb in a notes column. The columns ranged from hire-Cubs-marketing-guru-John-McDonough-or-the-Sox-have-no-chance to cut-ticket-prices-or-the-Sox-have-no-chance. Explicit in all of these columns and articles was that the White Sox organization had no clue about anything. Implicit in many of these same columns and articles was the idea that the White Sox cannot survive in Chicago.

Oh yee of little faith. In case you missed it (and chances are you did if you just read the Chicago papers.)...

An article published in Forbes Magazine on 4/26 listed MLB franchise values, revenues and operating income for the year 2003. According to the article the White Sox operated at a profit of $12.8 million. Sure the Sox 2003 payroll ranked 22nd in MLB, but their gate receipts ranked 19th and they still made $12.8 million, or the second highest profit in baseball last year. To be fair, the All-Star game played at the Cell added to the chairman’s bottom line, but doesn’t account for the lion’s share of that profit.

All the problems the media say the Sox have and they are still able to turn a tidy profit? Makes me think someone over there on 35th knows what he’s doing or more likely most of the problems the Sox have are overstated by the lemmings that comprise the Chicago sports media.

No, Loaiza isn’t going to finish second in the Cy Young voting this year. His strikeouts are way down from last year and his homeruns allowed are way up. Not, of course, an ideal combination. All that said, what Loaiza is doing is going deep into games providing solid if not spectacular innings keeping the Sox offense within striking distance and Thursday’s performance v. the Jays was no exception. This appears to be the best we can hope for from all of the Sox starters. They don’t have a legitimate #1 in Buehrle, Garland, or Loaiza, but none of them has pitched as poorly as a #4 either.

An ATA plane buzzed The Cell near straight-away center tonight. It looked about as low as the highest reaches of the old upper deck. If it buzzed Wrigley like that during a game the Tribune Co. would be in court tomorrow demanding 20% of ATA’s profits.

Why was Sox head groundskeeper wearing a Nike baseball hat tonight instead of his usual Sox one? I don’t know what kind of speculation this is going to fuel, but I can tell you this, it won’t be good.

The Good....

Arnaldo Munoz (SP) Birmingham, 22

4-0, 1.46 ERA, 24.2 IP, 11 H, 7 BB, 25 K

Munoz has been converted from a reliever to a starter this year. At 5’9”, Munoz doesn’t possess the overpowering stuff these numbers would seem to indicate. He does however have one of the nastiest curveballs around. Another plus in Munoz’s favor is that he’s a lefty. It remains to be seen if his small frame will allow him the stamina to remain a starter. Give the organization credit for trying him as one though.

The Bad...

Joe Borchard (OF) Charlotte, 25

.233/.321/.356, 73 AB, 2 HR, 10 BB, 17 K

Borchard continues to struggle, but his walk rate is a cause for optimism. Something that makes Borchard’s plight easier to accept for me is that no one taken after him in the first round of the 2000 draft has distinguished themselves any better. In the 1997 draft the Astros chose Lance Berkman the pick after the Sox took the memorable Jason Dellaero.

Ugh.

And The Inexplicable...

Michael Morse (SS) Birmingham, 22

.323/.373/.645, 62 AB, 5 HR, 4 BB, 16 K

After two less-than-ordinary years in the Sox system, .672 OPS in 2002 at Kannapolis and .690 Winston-Salem in 2003, the club’s third round choice in the 2000 draft has gotten off to a fast start at Birmingham. At 6’5”, Morse would be the tallest shortstop in the majors. I remain skeptical about Morse being able to hit, but with the organization’s dearth of middle-infielders his development bears watching at least in the short-term.

It’s been written that White Sox founder Charles Comiskey’s tight-with-the-dollar ways is what prompted his players to throw the 1919 World Series. In light of that, I can't think of a more appropriate tribute than a statue honoring him -- that has its back turned to the players.

Just as exasperating as Tuesday night’s 11-7 loss to the Indians was, that’s how exhilarating today’s 9-8 comeback victory was. I turned the game off in the 7th figuring the hangover effect from such a tough loss the last night as the main reason for such a listless performance.

What a wonderfully windy day it was here in Chicago. I’m sure it’s one Indians first baseman, Ben Broussard will never forget.

They say everything in baseball evens out, so the Sox lost one they should have won on Tuesday and won one they should have lost today. More evidence that maybe there is something to that saying is that last year’s oft-hexed Paul Konerko hit the pop-up that tortured Broussard.

I don't know about you, but each time I see Uribe bat I see Albert Belle. The batting stances of both are remarkably similar. No chance of getting Belle-type numbers out of Uribe though I suppose. To dream ...

I'm ecstatic that Konerko has started off so well this year, but I can't help but think of what might have been. If we had this Konerko last year or a reasonable facsimilie, or even one that didn't just plain suck, we win the division. Interesting note Konerko has struck out just three times in 68 AB's this year, (1 K per 22.7 AB's) last year he struck out 50 times in 444 AB's (1 K per 8.9 AB's.) Those numbers might be an indication of a new approach for Paulie and that might be a reason to think his start could be somewhat sustainable.

Wouldn't you know on the day I start this blog the Sox would have to suffer such a difficult loss. With as many left-handed hitters as the Indians have I would have left Cotts in to pitch the 8th instead of replacing him with Politte or with the day off Monday, maybe Marte could have been used for a full two innings.

I think the Sox have a good enough bullpen to contend I just think it's going to take time for Ozzie to learn how to use them properly. This loss isn't a "total loss" if he learned from it. Politte isn't the best choice he has to pitch high-leverage innings to a lefty dominant lineup as his three-year OBP v. lefties of .356 as opposed to .258 v. righties indicates.

I finally had enough of the media coverage in Chicago regarding the White Sox, so I've decided to start this Blog.

As this evolves it will be a place where I'll share my opinions on everything White Sox, from media coverage to personnel moves no stone will be left unturned. Should be fun ... Oh yeah, be sure to pass this site along to your many Sox fan brethren.