crector
11-06-2003, 01:44 AM
At the press conference where it was announced that JM was fired as manager, KW went out of his way to proclaim that he wanted to have a team made up of "grinders." Specifically, he singled out Carl Everett as the prime example of what a grinder is. Everett was a prime factor in the Sox's post-All Star break surge and he posted some of the best numbers of his career during the half season or so that he was with the Sox.
A reasonable person listening to KW would have assumed that it would be a cinch that the Sox would go and resign Everett for at least 2004. However, it appears that the Sox are just letting Everett go without even trying to negotiate with him.
To be sure, Everett did his faults as a player. Specifically, his fielding was atrocious, making him prime DH material on a team with several other DH type players. If JM was more practical in his tinkerings, he could have solved the problem by having Everett at DH and Thomas at 1b. As for Konerko, he could have been sent down to Triple A until he got his act together, used in his original position of Catcher or just simply benched.
This leads to the question, should KW make the necessary effort to sign up the grinder Carl Everett or let him go join another team?
A reasonable person listening to KW would have assumed that it would be a cinch that the Sox would go and resign Everett for at least 2004. However, it appears that the Sox are just letting Everett go without even trying to negotiate with him.
To be sure, Everett did his faults as a player. Specifically, his fielding was atrocious, making him prime DH material on a team with several other DH type players. If JM was more practical in his tinkerings, he could have solved the problem by having Everett at DH and Thomas at 1b. As for Konerko, he could have been sent down to Triple A until he got his act together, used in his original position of Catcher or just simply benched.
This leads to the question, should KW make the necessary effort to sign up the grinder Carl Everett or let him go join another team?