White Sox players usually try to shrug and give a "that doesn't involve me" quote when it comes to Guillen-fueled drama, but Matt Thornton spoke up on Bruce Levine's radio show on Saturday. As it turns out, some players think Oney Guillen's Twitter tirade at Bobby Jenks is a problem.
"What happened here with Oney tweeting what he did, that's crossing a pretty big line in my personal opinion. That's something that's gotta be addressed quickly and taken care of and snuffed out real fast. Anytime you bring clubhouse stuff out in the open, I don't care what it is, it's that person's personal business and also the clubhouse's personal business. That's the first time all this stuff has really irritated me. It doesn't matter what's true and what's not true, I don't care about that. The fact that anything was said at all is ridiculous. It's definitely gotta be addressed and taken care of real quick around here."
It's worth listening to the whole thing, because Thornton sure sounds serious about the matter. He's equally enthusiastic about the team's prospects, although it wouldn't hurt for him to have a great year heading into free agency, either.
And really, I'm most thankful that Thornton spoke up because it confirms that this is just a little bit insane. You learn to roll your eyes at a lot of stuff after the last six years, but hey, there is a line after all. Neat.
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The Chicago Tribune released its Hall of Fame ballots, and out of the seven eligible voters, not a single one voted for Jeff Bagwell -- while four voted for Lee Smith. Odd.
But at least Tim Raines received five votes.
You can fill out your own ballot, courtesy of KenWo at South Side Sox. We'll tally them up and see how they compare to the results later this week. My own personal ballot, if I had one, with a one-sentence justification:
- Roberto Alomar: Maybe the metrics say differently, but I thought he was great defensively.
- Jeff Bagwell: Need legitimate steroid ties before I think about not voting for him. Few first basemen could do more.
- Bert Blyleven: Fifth all time in strikeouts, ninth in shutouts, ferocious curveball — plenty to put on his plaque.
- Kevin Brown: I’m sold on him the least, but he led some great staffs, and his best six years (1996-2001) were eye-popping for such a hitter-dominated time (cumulative 2.53 ERA).
- Barry Larkin: Could do everything at a premium defensive position, and for a long time.
- Edgar Martinez: Forget Jim Rice – hitters are legitimately scary when there’s no way to pitch to them.
- Mark McGwire: My 16-year-old self wondered what was up with his forearms in ‘98, but baseball didn’t care because he helped erase the rest of the strike stink.
- John Olerud: Courtesy vote, because he demoralized Sox pitchers.
- Tim Raines: Reached base more times than Tony Gwynn, and few, if anybody, ran the bases better.
- Alan Trammell: Being a shade behind Larkin is still plenty good enough.
Part of the reason I'd vote for Brown is that I'm suspecting few else will. I'd just like him to clear 5 percent so we can keep him in the discussion when John Smoltz and Curt Schilling are up for consideration. And I just like the conversation.
