No sugarcoating necessary with Stone
TUCSON, Ariz. -- In Steve Stone, the White Sox are getting more than your run-of-the-mill baseball broadcaster. Much more.
During his 20 years in the booth with the Cubs, Stone provided adroit insight and didn't hesitate to offer his opinion -- good or bad.
Signed to a one-year contract by the Sox last week to provide analysis opposite radio play-by-play man Ed Farmer, Stone is looking forward to resuming a career that abruptly ended after the 2004 season.
Stone walked away from his job with the Cubs after a firestorm sparked by his critical comments about the club and then-manager Dusty Baker.
The most severe criticism actually came hours after a day game, when Stone was a guest on WGN radio and the Cubs' playoff hopes were going down the tubes.
"You want the truth? You can't handle the truth,'' Stone said at the time. "The truth of this situation is an extremely talented bunch of guys who want to look at all directions except where they should really look and kind of make excuses for what happened. At the end of the day, boys, don't tell me how rough the water is, you bring in the ship.''
Several Cubs players, notably relief pitcher Kent Mercker, also were upset with some of Stone's candid comments late in the 2004 season.
He's with the White Sox now, and Stone said he's going to continue being himself.
"It's the style that I have,'' Stone said after working his first exhibition game with Farmer on The Score (WSCR 670-AM) on Friday.
"Within the framework of understanding you have a product to sell -- in our case, the Chicago White Sox -- and the wonderful experience that it is in Chicago to come to the ballpark, which is something I truly believe, I really don't say anything on the air that I don't believe.
"I don't anticipate that being a problem. I think that I know (chairman) Jerry (Reinsdorf) very well, I know the people associated with the White Sox very well, and so for me, going out and explaining a baseball game and how to do it and how not to do it, just comes second nature. I don't view myself doing anything different.''
If the Sox play as poorly as they did last season, manager Ozzie Guillen expects Stone to be critical.
"That's his job,'' Guillen said. "Those people (broadcasters) up there, they have a tough job. Especially when you travel with the team, hang around. The players, manager, the coaching staff, they have to understand they have a job and they have to do their job.''
Even though Stone spent two decades working for the Cubs, Guillen considers him a friend.
"We are, but if he feels something, if he wants to say something, don't hold back,'' Guillen said. "Same thing with Hawk (Ken Harrelson), Farmio and D.J. (Darrin Jackson). If they talk about somebody's family or something that happened off the field, then I will get (peeved). But if we play horrible, don't expect them to say anything good.''
White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski agrees with his manager … to a point.
"You have to be honest,'' Pierzynski said. "I think we all understand that if things are going bad, we're going to take a beating because that's just the way this game is. They have a job to do and they have the right to say whatever they want to say about you.
"But I think you should try to be as positive as you can about the team that you work for.
"I think broadcasters should be homers to a point, because they're getting paid by the team to broadcast the game. I don't think they should disrespect the other team, but the White Sox are paying their salaries, so they should be a little bit of a homer.''