***AJ Pierzynski Appreciation Thread***

[soxfanreggie]

Best wishes to someone who was a big part of the franchise the past several years. I have enjoyed having you on our team and look forward to way him coaching/broadcasting in the future.

[DonnieDarko]

Pierzynski was one of my favorite players during his tenure with the White Sox. I've been a fan technically all my life (even though I never really payed that much attention as a kid until 2000), but my fandom was solidfied in 2005 in large part because of that team...so by extension him as well.

You will be missed, AJ. Good luck and Godspeed. Maybe one day after Ventura, we can see you in the dugout as manager.

[thomas35forever]

These comments by AJ all but confirm management was never interested in bringing him back. What a shame.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/12/...er-in-chicago/

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by thomas35forever

These comments by AJ all but confirm management was never interested in bringing him back. What a shame.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/12/...er-in-chicago/

While it is a shame I do understand that the White Sox feel like they need to see what they have in Flowers and I guess the only way they thought they could do that was to let AJ walk. Too bad, I think the White Sox will have a LOT of strikeouts in their lineup in 2013.

[Noneck]

This sure doesnt seem like it was a money thing, like with Buerhlre. Reinsdorf pushed for AJs last contract but not this time. Something must have happened between the two.

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by Noneck

This sure doesnt seem like it was a money thing, like with Buerhlre. Reinsdorf pushed for AJs last contract but not this time. Something must have happened between the two.

I don't think that it was anything personal, 2011 was the year we went "all in," I think it's clear that 2013 is going to be more of a rebuilding year. We have our hands tied with a couple of major contracts left over from 2011 but the organization wants to see what they have in the young guys. It's time to find out if Flowers fits into the White Sox long term plans.

[white sox bill]

As much as I liked AJ, what are the chances of him duplicating (or almost duplicating) 2012? He will likely tail off a bit if not a considerable amount. Maybe thats what RH was speculating.

[hawkjt]

Listening to some of the talk show jocks, they are pretty much ripping AJ on the way out of town. Bad teammate,bad guy,prick,selfish,unliked.
If that is true, then maybe it had to be done. Tyler better have a much improved season next year or the Sox has no shot.

[skobabe8]

Originally Posted by hawkjt

Listening to some of the talk show jocks, they are pretty much ripping AJ on the way out of town. Bad teammate,bad guy,prick,selfish,unliked.
If that is true, then maybe it had to be done. Tyler better have a much improved season next year or the Sox has no shot.

Like who?

[DeadMoney]

Originally Posted by skobabe8

Like who?

Rozner and Spiegel. Spiegel mentioned that he got the info from someone "very close to the team" and wanted to share it. Prefaced it with saying how he normally doesn't do something like this, and he's not a guy that has sources or info very often, but felt that this part of the story was important to pass along.

Mentioned several specific things too:
- Early in the season Robin wanted to allow young players to have their girlfriends on the team charter and AJ was furious over it and would tell anyone who would listen.
- Mentioned that AJ felt like the veterans should get special treatment, while Robin was trying to treat all the same.
- Talked about how Coop and Parent both disliked AJ and didn't want to even talk with him at times.
- Suggested that AJ's nickname throughout the clubhouse was "Satan".
- Said pitchers didn't want to throw to AJ.

There may have been other things he mentioned and some of these may not be summarized up exactly as they were said, but this is the gist of what they were saying. I mean, take it all for what it's worth, but Spiegel generally isn't the type to throw things out there like this (a la Bernstein). Rozner also backed him up on several of the things he was saying and added to several of the stories.

[Bobby Thigpen]

Originally Posted by hawkjt

Listening to some of the talk show jocks, they are pretty much ripping AJ on the way out of town. Bad teammate,bad guy,prick,selfish,unliked.

Because those guys all know good character.

[SI1020]

Isn't Rozner the guy that did the hatchet job on Dale Tallon?

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by SI1020

Isn't Rozner the guy that did the hatchet job on Dale Tallon?

I wonder if he's from the same station that had the positive steroid test on AJ?

[Frater Perdurabo]

Originally Posted by DeadMoney

- Early in the season Robin wanted to allow young players to have their girlfriends on the team charter and AJ was furious over it and would tell anyone who would listen.
- Mentioned that AJ felt like the veterans should get special treatment, while Robin was trying to treat all the same.

I am not saying these things are true, but I think they are completely plausible. Robin certainly seems like a "treat everyone the same" kind of manager, while we all know Ozzie played favorites and favored veterans. I'm not throwing Robin or AJ under the bus, but am giving each of them credit for not taking any of this public earlier. It moreover seems like these accusations come from third parties, not Robin or AJ personally. We all know that if Ozzie was still here, he would have been bitching about it in the media.

[BainesHOF]

Heard the Score segment earlier today. DeadMoney was accurate in his summary. I think it was also said that Pierzynski didn't have any respect for Ventura and said so in the clubhouse. Obviously you can't have that. As I wrote earlier, Pierzynski's attitude took a turn for the worse in the second half of the season. It was time to part ways.