We asked 92 people who the most important member of the White Sox is, and we took the top 40 answers. You said Jake Peavy.The survey saaaaaaaaaaaaaays, "Indeed."
Peavy took 58 of 92 possible first-place votes as the most important member of the 2010 White Sox, with only Carlos Quentin receiving serious consideration otherwise.
Here are the rest of the results.
Looking at the rankings, a few reactions -- and I'm open to defenses and new ideas if somebody wants to put a name to a selection...
No. 1: Who was the person who slotted Peavy in the 10th spot?Who were the two to put Quentin there?
No. 2: It looks like one person thinks Dayan Viciedo will receive non-trivial at-bats.
No. 3: Andruw Jones isn't the only one with a lot variation, as there isn't a real leading consensus on Paul Konerko, either.
No. 4: Linebrink's spread is the definition of "sh*t or get off the pot."
No. 5: If Mark Teahen's had a great spring and Andruw Jones had a so-so one, I think you could flip their votes.
No. 6: A definite majority wouldn't place Omar Vizquel on the25-man roster of importance.Of course, Ozzie Guillen wants to bat himleadoff in certain situations.
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Speaking of Vizquel, some moron more on batting order ideas:
I wrote in White Sox Outsider 2010 (BUY IT!) that, for some reason, the essence of Mark Kotsay gives managers butterflies in their stomachs. I'll admit that I too got a strange feeling in my gut when I read this paragraph:
The latest revelation is manager Ozzie Guillen is considering batting Mark Kotsay in the third spot against right-handed starters to give the Sox a balance of left- and right-handed hitters at the top of the order.
That Guillen has Kotsay as an option is a tribute to Kotsay's production because Guillen doesn't want to bat a left-handed hitter high in the order just for the sake of balance.
I wouldn't call it butterflies. I'd call it a of sadness, regret and four-hour-old pasta.
There's an exceedingly friendly, brawny and conspicuous dead horse that's begging to get whupped on again, but you don't have to talk about gentlemanly mashers to underline the issue. Allow me to produce three sets of numbers from over the last two seasons:
- Carlos Quentin vs. LHP: .232/.358/.487
- Carlos Quentin vs. RHP: .278/.367/.535
- Mark Kotsay vs. RHP: .289/.346/.427
Yes, Quentin has reverse splits, and it's by design. He stands on top of the plate to discourage pitchers from coming inside, and as a result, he can pull outer-half pitches that most right-handed hitters have to settle for taking the other way.
I could use this as a reason to launch into the idea that all this lineup "revamping" resulted in having a No. 3 hitter who's only better at scoring from second on a single more frequently, but I'm going to take Satchel Paige's advice here.No need to complain about the past when there's an in-house way to kvetch right in front of our eyes.
The Cheat takes a good hard look at leading likely lineups.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*Mark Teahen had a nice day at the plate -- 2-for-4 and a homer -- and if you're looking for reasons for optimism, there's an interesting box at the bottom of Joe Cowley's article on him.Over the last five seasons, four of the five White Sox hitters with the worst spring averages went on to have great starts when the season rolled around.
*Matt Thornton has had a quiet spring for all the right reasons -- he's feeling good and throwing well. Talking about last year, however, got an interesting story out of him:
Thornton recalled a game against the Boston Red Sox last year when he was brought in to face Victor Martinez and had a baserunner on second. Martinez singled on a first-pitch inside fastball. Game tied, save blown.
''If I'm able to come in and throw a breaking ball for a strike in that situation,'' Thornton said, ''something just to get him off the fastball and move forward in the at-bat that way ...''
That's what this spring has been about for Thornton -- using the slider 2-0 in the count or 0-2. The results: One hit allowed in four scoreless innings pitched.
*Bobby Jenks threw another scoreless outing and had no calf problems doing so.
*Sergio Santos still looks like lucky No. 7, although credit Greg Aquino for doing his damndest to pull off the upset. He threw another scoreless inning.
