Over at The 35th Street Review, Andrew made a case for Jermaine Dye as the Player of the Decade. Read the whole thing, but in a nutshell:
Five seasons. One-hundred sixty-four home runs. Four-hundred sixty-one runs batted in. Fifth- and fifteenth-place finishes in MVP voting. An All-Star. A Silver Slugger. Most Valuable Player of the 2005 World Series.
I understand where he's coming from, but here's one point against Dye -- he played on only two White Sox playoff teams.
And he played with the only three guys who made the postseason as a member of the White Sox on three separate occasions -- Frank Thomas, Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko.
We can effectively rule out Thomas for this discussion, but it has to come down to Buehrle and Konerko, doesn't it?
If I were to throw a dark horse into the conversation, I'd go with Scott Podsednik. For one, he was the driving force behind "Ozzieball," which was for all intents and purposes a clever ruse. The Podsednik Paradox only reinforced the idea that Podsednik (or his ilk) was a necessary component to a winning ballclub. And no matter how hard Podsednik tried to drive the Sox away with his injuries, the Sox kept coming back due to a startling lack of outfield production. Hell, he outplayed Dye in his final year, against all odds.
Ultimately, though, I keep coming back to Konerko, if only because Buehrle pitches once every five days, and it's hard for him to rub off on the entire team. When I look back at the aughts, I figure I'll remember a bunch of streaky, slothly sluggers who managed to reach the playoffs three times in a single decade for the only time in franchise history, even if they rarely looked dominant while doing so.
Konerko seems to fit that billing better than anybody else. What do you think? (Poll below the jump)
[polldaddy poll="2248678"]
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Arizona Fall League:
- Surprise 8, Peoria 6
- Jordan Danks went 1-for-3 with two walks, two strikeouts and three runs scored. He stole his fourth base.
- Brent Morel singled three times for the second consecutive game. He was caught stealing.
- C.J. Retherford went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
- Justin Cassel gave up six runs on two hits and four walks, while retiring only two batters.
