Dadawg_77
11-25-2003, 01:34 PM
http://premium.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2465
Purchased the contracts of 1B-L Ross Gload from Charlotte and RHP Enemencio Pacheco from Birmingham (Double-A). [10/15]
Exercised their option on RHP Esteban Loaiza for 2004. [10/31]
Named Ozzie Guillen manager. [11/3]
Named Dave Wilder special assistant to the general manager. [11/5]
Exercised their option on SS-B Jose Valentin for 2004. [11/6]
OK, it's easy to get worked up over the worst thing to happen since Hawk Harrelson was handed the reins, but let's remind ourselves of the good things that happened here. First, they've got Jose Valentin and Esteban Loaiza locked up, and while they're not cheap, barring getting into some really expensive bidding in the Tejada or Colon auctions, they're not in a bad place. Second, Dave Wilder's a bright guy who seemed to have been oversloughed in the usual nonsense of Milwaukee; with the Cubs he'd been a good executive, with the good sense to disagree on bad ideas like the Karchner trade. If anything, Wilder might be more qualified for Kenny Williams' job than Kenny Williams, but you could have said the same thing about Dan Evans before he left in the wake of the Williams hiring.
But as for the bad news...it's hard to see Guillen turning out well as a manager, or the Sox profiting from hauling in another Marlins coach on the basis of how perky he was during the interview. Some statheads have made the point that Guillen won't manage well because he didn't walk well or was almost the definition of a dumb baserunner, but it's a little more fundamental than that. Guillen didn't bunt well either, but he always tried, so people considered him an effective little ball player. But he wasn't, neither being a Brett Butler or a Doug Flynn, and worse yet, he didn't seem to notice, instead devoting himself to self-pitying whines about how fans were dopey for preferring Cal Ripken over lights the likes of himself, or Felix Fermin.
But wait, Ozzie was always considered a smart player, being credited for doing the sneaky sort of stuff that a Leo Durocher might do, right? Well, again, not really. If you try the hidden ball trick day after day, or think it's cute to go for face-level swipe tags, or always trying to fake runners by pretending to go for pop-ups, it ceases to surprise anybody. And years before he was finally injured in his knee-wrecking collision with Tim Raines, he'd been a menace to outfielders on pop-ups he wasn't particularly good at flagging down.
Ozzie's problems are really a bit more simple: he didn't know he had limitations, and he didn't adapt for them. Is this really what you want in a manager? Add in his incessant bitching about Joey Cora's martyrdom--Ozzie was the last person in the Chicago area to notice Ray Durham's a hell of a player--and generally alternating between being petty and bullying younger players, or his aspirations to get into a catfight with Frank Thomas, and you have to wonder whether this is really a leader of men. Ozzie was actually good at one thing, which was being like Andy Van Slyke when it came to entertaining writers and understanding that they can help you craft an image that, along with the happy coincidence of being a shortstop named Ozzie, managed to fool some of the people some of the time that he was a player with considerably more value than he actually had.
The real question isn't whether Ozzie will turn out badly as a manager, it's trying to sort out why he was tabbed. Kenny Wiliams inherited a talent-laden winner, and he's failed to deliver. So rather than generate any enthusiasm, why not buy it off the rack? Ozzie's notionally popular and has been generously treated by the local media, so why not name him and acquire some small measure of grace for a team that may well be the most disappointing franchise in the majors over the last several years? As cockamamie stunts go, there might be some logic to it, but it's a pathetic reflection on how little has been achieved from such a promising position.
Purchased the contracts of 1B-L Ross Gload from Charlotte and RHP Enemencio Pacheco from Birmingham (Double-A). [10/15]
Exercised their option on RHP Esteban Loaiza for 2004. [10/31]
Named Ozzie Guillen manager. [11/3]
Named Dave Wilder special assistant to the general manager. [11/5]
Exercised their option on SS-B Jose Valentin for 2004. [11/6]
OK, it's easy to get worked up over the worst thing to happen since Hawk Harrelson was handed the reins, but let's remind ourselves of the good things that happened here. First, they've got Jose Valentin and Esteban Loaiza locked up, and while they're not cheap, barring getting into some really expensive bidding in the Tejada or Colon auctions, they're not in a bad place. Second, Dave Wilder's a bright guy who seemed to have been oversloughed in the usual nonsense of Milwaukee; with the Cubs he'd been a good executive, with the good sense to disagree on bad ideas like the Karchner trade. If anything, Wilder might be more qualified for Kenny Williams' job than Kenny Williams, but you could have said the same thing about Dan Evans before he left in the wake of the Williams hiring.
But as for the bad news...it's hard to see Guillen turning out well as a manager, or the Sox profiting from hauling in another Marlins coach on the basis of how perky he was during the interview. Some statheads have made the point that Guillen won't manage well because he didn't walk well or was almost the definition of a dumb baserunner, but it's a little more fundamental than that. Guillen didn't bunt well either, but he always tried, so people considered him an effective little ball player. But he wasn't, neither being a Brett Butler or a Doug Flynn, and worse yet, he didn't seem to notice, instead devoting himself to self-pitying whines about how fans were dopey for preferring Cal Ripken over lights the likes of himself, or Felix Fermin.
But wait, Ozzie was always considered a smart player, being credited for doing the sneaky sort of stuff that a Leo Durocher might do, right? Well, again, not really. If you try the hidden ball trick day after day, or think it's cute to go for face-level swipe tags, or always trying to fake runners by pretending to go for pop-ups, it ceases to surprise anybody. And years before he was finally injured in his knee-wrecking collision with Tim Raines, he'd been a menace to outfielders on pop-ups he wasn't particularly good at flagging down.
Ozzie's problems are really a bit more simple: he didn't know he had limitations, and he didn't adapt for them. Is this really what you want in a manager? Add in his incessant bitching about Joey Cora's martyrdom--Ozzie was the last person in the Chicago area to notice Ray Durham's a hell of a player--and generally alternating between being petty and bullying younger players, or his aspirations to get into a catfight with Frank Thomas, and you have to wonder whether this is really a leader of men. Ozzie was actually good at one thing, which was being like Andy Van Slyke when it came to entertaining writers and understanding that they can help you craft an image that, along with the happy coincidence of being a shortstop named Ozzie, managed to fool some of the people some of the time that he was a player with considerably more value than he actually had.
The real question isn't whether Ozzie will turn out badly as a manager, it's trying to sort out why he was tabbed. Kenny Wiliams inherited a talent-laden winner, and he's failed to deliver. So rather than generate any enthusiasm, why not buy it off the rack? Ozzie's notionally popular and has been generously treated by the local media, so why not name him and acquire some small measure of grace for a team that may well be the most disappointing franchise in the majors over the last several years? As cockamamie stunts go, there might be some logic to it, but it's a pathetic reflection on how little has been achieved from such a promising position.