Choice II

[guillen4life13]

i've read some posts and many of you are comparing the original Choice to Willie Harris.

I don't understand where you're coming from for quite a few reasons:

Willie Harris is probably (based on his minor league #'s) going to be a productive 2nd baseman. You are already dubbing him the choice without giving much of a chance for him to prove himself.

Royce Clayton has had more than 10 years to prove himself, and he ain't done it. If your argument is that because Willie Harris hit in the low .200's/high .100's, he is a Royce Clayton equivalent... ask yourself how many AB's Royce had. How many has Willie had? Who shows more heart on the field? Who doesn't complain?

who stole 50 some bases in the minors in 2001? Who was leading the International League in SB's? How many SB's did Royce have? Granted, Royce Clayton's baserunning woes might have had something to do with Gary Pettis. As might Wee Willie's baserunning "gaffes" at the show.

I know that some of you (maybe the majority of you) agree with me on this one, but I still think it needs to be said.

[RKMeibalane]

The comparison of Harris to Clayton is more of a joke than anything else. I know that Harris probably will be a more productive player than the Choice ever was. The reason those posts were made by myself and others was that we thought it was interesting that Manuel continued to give the struggling Harris playing time, just as he did with Clayton.

Having said that, it is beginning to look as though Ken Williams has been "stirring the pot" on several of Manuel's decisions over the past two seasons, especially this past year. Williams wants to prove that he is a capable general manager, so he refuses to allow himself to look bad by abusing his authority and interfering in the day-to-day operations of the team itself.

A general manager is responsible for handling trades, free-agent signings, and any issues regarding personel that are too big to be dealt with by the manager and his coaching staff. A GM is not supposed to interfere in private matters that any manager is capable of handling quietly. It was largely Williams' fault that the Konerko-Thomas situation got out of hand, because everyone in Chicago knew that Williams had meetings with Manuel, Konerko, and Thomas before the start of the second half.

Then of course, there was that situation involving the buffet table.

[duke of dorwood]

Harris is just a bit more likeable than the Choice too. And I dont think he has his own island yet.