Posts tagged JermaineDye at FanHouse

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Tom Fornelli and Eamonn Brennan discuss the ALDS between the Rays and White Sox.

Eamonn and I took a look at this series and broke it down into six key areas: Starting rotation, Bullpen, Defense, Lineup, Bench, and Manager. Then for good measure we throw in our five-star lock of the week predictions, because we're psychic mediums in our spare time.

All of the debating goodness after the jump.

After losing their best hitter, Carlos Quentin, for just about all of September, the White Sox nearly missed the playoffs this season, and needed to win three straight games against three different teams to get to Tampa. The reason for this is because the White Sox offense lost any kind of consistency it had while Quentin has been relegated to the bench.

They're a team that relies heavily on the home run, and without Quentin in the lineup they've become more long ball dependent than ever before. While Carlos still lead the team with 36 homers this season, he's the one White Sox slugger who decides to throw some doubles, singles, and walks in his arsenal as well, and when Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome hit their moonshots, he's usually on base.

Of course, not having Quentin available for their series against the Tampa Bay Rays won't help their chances to get by the young upstarts, but should they pull it off, Carlos thinks he might be available for the ALCS.

But the subsiding pain has raised Quentin's confidence to the point where he thinks he could be ready should the Sox advance to the AL Championship Series.

The Chicago White Sox are barely managing to hang on to their one-game lead over the Minnesota Twins thanks to a recent rash of injuries, but as is often the case with the White Sox, all anybody wants to do is talk about their manager. That's why The Sporting News recently sat down to do an interview with Ozzie Guillen, and as you'd expect, Ozzie spoke his mind.

Ozzie's answered questions on Lou Piniella, the Chicago Cubs, his team, and just about anything he was asked. He also made sure to fill the pages with plenty of expletives as he is wont to do, and here are some of the highlights courtesy of the Daily Herald.

- Ozzie on the best manager in Chicago: "Me. Because our division is hard. Maybe all the people in the National League will be all mad, but I will trade (for a) National League Central (schedule) in a heartbeat. I will take that with my eyes closed."
- On media treatment toward the Cubs: "If (Carlos) Quentin was playing for the Cubs, he'd already be MVP. If (Alexei) Ramirez was with the Cubs, he would be National League Rookie of the Year. They talk about (Cubs rookie Kosuke) Fukudome more than they talk about Ramirez."

He's one of the most hated players around the league, and I understand the the thought process behind every fan that boos him when he steps to the plate or is introduced to the crowd. He is A.J. Pierzynski and he may have just saved the White Sox season on Sunday afternoon.

The Sox were on the verge of being swept at home for the first time this season and possibly falling even further behind the Twins when some heads up thinking by Pierzynski saved the day. After Paul Konerko singled home Brian Anderson with two outs in the ninth inning and sent the game into extra innings, A.J. led off the bottom of the tenth with a single.

That's when the odyssey of A.J. began. First he showed once again that he's the smartest base runner the White Sox have by tagging up from first on a deep fly to center by Carlos Quentin, and getting into scoring position with one out. Then a few seconds later he became the dumbest base runner in the world when he took off for third on a Jermaine Dye grounder to short.

A.J. was quickly caught in a rundown when the gears in his brain began grinding. There's no way a slow-footed catcher was going to be able to outrun a bunch of middle infielders, so he needed a new plan.

The Chicago White Sox have a bit of a post game tradition. No matter the case, when a player is doing an interview on the sidelines after a victory, Toby Hall is going to get him with a shaving cream pie to the face. Toby's gotten them all this season, even team captain Paul Konerko (which Paulie didn't appreciate too much judging by the look on his face afterward).

Still, when you do something over and over again, eventually your teammates are going to figure it out. Sure, it took nearly five months to do so, but Jermaine Dye knew what was coming as he talked to a local reporter after Chicago's 13-5 win over Seattle on Monday night. So when Toby tried to sabotage JD's interview, Dye was ready for it and blocked the attack. Unfortunately, he may have hurt Hall in the process.

Backup catcher Toby Hall said his right shoulder was fine after teammate Jermaine Dye blocked his attempt at placing a shaving cream pie in his face during a post-game interview following the Sox's 13-5 win over Seattle.

Hall had his right shoulder wrapped in ice but assured reporters he didn't not re-injure his shoulder, which he separated in spring training of 2007.

This is the first celebration related injury the White Sox have suffered since Juan Uribe had to miss a few games after receiving an super-atomic wedgie (waistband over head) from Jose Contreras back in 2006.

I woke up this morning to about 15 different text messages on my phone, and I'm sure you can all guess what they were about. It seems the White Sox made a deal early this morning to bring future Hall-of-Famer Ken Griffey Jr. to the south side of Chicago, and I have no idea why.

An aging outfielder who is probably better suited for the DH role is not what the White Sox need as they try to hold on to their lead in the AL Central. The Sox already have a Hall-of-Famer playing DH right now, which means that Junior would have to play the outfield, and with Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye out there, that means he'll have to play center.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that Griffey plays center while Nick Swisher and Paul Konerko share time at first, with Paulie also giving Jim Thome a day off occasionally as well. Still, that doesn't really make sense either.

I know that Kenny Williams was trying to make this exact same deal back in 2005, but that it fell through and didn't happen. Which turned out pretty well for the team that year, but was Kenny so disappointed in not adding Junior then that he just had to now?

I have to believe that this deal isn't the last one you'll be seeing the White Sox make before the deadline today, though I don't think that Swisher for Street deal will happen. The Sox gave up a lot of prospects for Swisher this past winter, and dealing him five months later for a two-month bullpen rental just seems like bad business to me.

Man, I wish it was 1998.

When I heard the words "Ken Griffey, Jr. has been traded", I actually bugged out a little which, in hindsight, seems kind of silly. As of this morning, when Griffey was in fact traded to the Chicago White Sox, he's batting .245/.355/.431 with 15 homers and 538 at bats.

In other words, health provided, he's on pace for his worst season as he heads to the North(Ed Note: Sorry, lack of coffee and/or intelligence caused that.) South Side. Assuming he approves the deal of course.

The Reds have traded Griffey to the White Sox, pending his approval. Griffey will decide Thursday morning whether he will approve the deal, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. It is not known what the Reds would receive in return.

Griffey, as a player with 10 years of major-league service, five with the same club, has the right to block any deal. The White Sox attempted to acquire him from the Reds at the trade deadline in 2005, but the trade reportedly was nixed by Reds ownership for financial reasons.

It would seem pretty unlikely that Griffey would squash a deal like this. He gets to head to a contender relatively near his home now, and the White Sox, with Nick Swisher, Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin already in the outfield, would be able to offer him playing time and some beneficial DH "rest" (although he stinks as a DH career stat wise).

But the bigger points are that 1) Griffey gets a decent shot at a ring and 2) this isn't that huge a deal, sadly. As Mr. Calceterra pointed out, "Wow, with his bat between Albert Belle's and Frank Thomas's, the White Sox should really make some noise!"

Maybe the All-Star Game is a meaningless to the players and just an excuse for Bud Selig to admire himself for a week. That doesn't mean that the selections should be stupid. Today, the MLB 'Haus gives you All-Star Grievances.

Grievance: John Lackey deserved a spot. While the Angels pitching staff is very well represented with Francisco Rodriguez, Joe Saunders, and Ervin Santana all making the team, John Lackey is probably deserving of a spot as well. I know he missed about a quarter of the season thanks to an injury, but in the ten starts he has made since coming back, he's been damn near untouchable. His record is only 6-2, but his 1.96 ERA and WHIP of 0.92 are better than his three teammates that did make the squad.

Grievance: Ian Kinsler should be starting. While Ian Kinsler did make the All Star team, the fact he did so only as a reserve is insulting. While Boston fans stuffed the ballots for their man Dustin Pedroia (don't get me wrong, it's their right to do so) Kinsler was busy being the best second baseman in baseball. Pedroia deserves to be on the team, but he should be the man on the bench. He's hitting .313 with an OPS of .815 with nine homers and 41 RBI, but Ian checks in at .332 with an OPS of freaking .936 with 14 homers and 53 RBI. Tell me, who deserves the starting spot more?

Grievance: Ichiro making the team. Ichiro Suzuki is one of my favorite players in the game today, for reasons that have to do with his playing ability and the things he says, but he shouldn't be on the team this season. His starting spot should probably go to Jermaine Dye (who didn't make the team), Grady Sizemore, Carlos Quentin, J.D. Drew, or Milton Bradley. I know that each team has to have a representative, so Ichiro is Seattle's, but when a team has absolutely no chance of making the playoffs they really shouldn't have any say in who gets homefield advantage during the World Series.

Maybe the All-Star Game is a meaningless to the players and just an excuse for Bud Selig to admire himself for a week. That doesn't mean that the selections should be stupid. Today, the MLB 'Haus gives you All-Star Grievances.

Grievance: Jermaine Dye not making the team. I swear in recent weeks I've become Jermaine Dye's publicist telling anybody who will listen that he is far and away the most undervalued outfielder in the game today. Still, I thought enough people knew about him to at least get him on to the All Star team. JD is hitting .308 and OPSing (not sure that's a word, but screw it, I'm angry) at .919 with 19 homers and 52 RBI. His only crime is that he plays in the American League where outfielders are raking this season, and that people still think the Yankees are good.

Grievance: Lack of White Sox pitchers and Joe Crede's selection. Now I'm probably going to come off as sounding like a bit of a homer here, but there just aren't enough White Sox on the team this season. They're in first place in their division, and lead the league in pitching, yet their only All Stars are Carlos Quentin and Joe Crede. While Quentin deserves the nod, Evan Longoria should have gotten Crede's spot. Also, as I mentioned, the Sox lead the league in pitching, yet not a single member of their pitching staff made the team. Does that make sense to you? Gavin Floyd is 10-4 with a 3.22 ERA and a WHIP of 1.12, John Danks is only 6-4 (it's not his fault the Sox average about .00003 runs every time he starts) but has an ERA of 2.52 and WHIP of 1.17. How neither of them make the team baffles me.

Grievance: Jason Varitek as the third catcher over A.J. Pierzynski. Great, another White Sox player. I know, I know, but if you look at the rest of the teams from the AL Central, everybody that deserved to be on the team is on the team (you could argue Carlos Guillen doesn't deserve his spot, but what other Tiger takes his place?). The Sox are the only team in the division to really get screwed here. Anyway, Varitek was chosen by his fellow players over Pierzynski even though he's only hitting .218/.300/.358 with seven homers and 27 runs driven in. Pierzynski, on the other hand, is hitting .296/.333/.442 with seven homers and 33 RBI. Oh, and he's the guy calling all the pitches for the pitching staff with the lowest ERA in baseball. Obviously, his personality is what cost him here, which is idiotic. Is the American League looking to win this game or hang out with friends?

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Philadelphia Phillies (35-26) vs. Cincinnati Reds (29-31) - 1:05PM Est.

You can't blame the Reds for trying to strike while the iron is hot, especially given the way that Jay Bruce has lit the world up since making his debut with the big league ball club last week, and they'll hope that success carries over to the pitcher's mound as well. Today the Reds will be handing the ball to Homer Bailey as they just called him up from Louisville and they're hoping he'll do a lot better in his second tour of duty.

Bailey was supposed to be Edinson Volquez when the Reds brought him up last season, and though he showed some signs of why the Reds are so high on him, his first season in the Majors wasn't that great.

He'll look to get his career started this afternoon against one of the most potent offenses in all of baseball.

Oh, and there's the whole Ken Griffey Jr. looking for homer # 600 as well.