Ever get the feeling that Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen kinda sorta got really, really lucky that year they won the World Series? How about this Kenny comment from
the Chicago Tribune blog:
NASHVILLE - Despite earlier comments by manager Ozzie Guillen, general manager Kenny Williams said the White Sox have no interest in free agent center fielder Andruw Jones.
"Andruw Jones is not on our list," said Williams, adding that he liked Jones but wanted players who can help lower the team's strikeout total, raise their on-base percentage and work deep counts.
So Ozzie says they like him, Kenny says his OBP and ability to work deep counts aren't up to proud White Sox standards. (I'll grant him that Andruw strikes out a ton.)
The reader who sent this to us submits:
Jones has 152 walks in the last two years. I may have missed a player or two, but I have him ranking 26th in the majors over those two years. Number of White Sox ahead of him: One.I submit: Jones' P/PA last year was 3.96. Number of White Sox regulars who ranked higher: Two (Thome and Dye).
More to the point, though, what the hell is Kenny Williams worrying about OBP for? His manager is a guy who thinks the problem with the offense is not enough bunts and hits and runs and free outs and raw, unvarnished anger. You might want to talk to that guy if you're worried about getting on base, K-Dubs.
As I always say, the problem with these two men is their consistency. If they would remain consistent, everything else would fall into place. A consistent consistency is the most difficult part of being consistent. Keeping your consistency consistent is something I've dubbed consistinency.
Labels: andruw jones, ken williams, white sox
...before we inevitably get to more ARod bashing. Reader Chris sends this link to an article by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Terence Moore, about what a huge mistake it is to let Andruw Jones walk.
He is the hidden reason the Braves produced Cy Glavine, Cy Smoltz and Cy Maddux, along with all of those consecutive years of team ERAs that ranked first or second in baseball.
I don't think I can say this any better than Chris did, so I'll just turn it over to him:Tom Glavine's Cy Youngs were in 1991 and 1998. In 1991 Andruw played 0 games for the Braves as he was 14 years old and on another continent. In 1998, he played in all of Glavine's starts and had what appears to be a really good year defensively.
John Smoltz won the Cy Young in 1996 when Andruw played a whopping 31 games with the Braves as a rookie by which point Smoltz was already 19-6 and deep in the Cy Young hunt.
And, somehow, Greg Maddux managed to win his 4 Cy Young awards even though 1 was with a completely different team and the other 3 happened while Andruw was in the minor leagues.
Edit: a few of you have pointed out that Aaron Gleeman had this story last Friday. Here's what he said:Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Greg Maddux combined to win six Cy Youngs with the Braves, but only one came with Jones in center field. In fact, when Glavine won the first of those six awards in 1991, Jones was 14 years old. Moore calls Jones "the hidden reason" behind the Cy Youngs, but he was at Single-A when Maddux won the award in 1993, 1994, and 1995. Also, Jones' MLB debut came 120 games into the 1996 season, yet the Braves led the NL in ERA in 1992, 1993, 1995, and 1996.Labels: andruw jones, terence moore
