Fields making the most of his chance with Sox
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The White Sox aren't expecting Josh Fields to play Gold Glove defense at third base like Joe Crede, the player he's replacing.
The Sox, however, are expecting Fields to be much better than he was against the Cubs on Saturday and the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.
Fields made an error in each of the games, and could have been charged with a couple more.
"He's only had a few bad days," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "When you say bad days, really bad days."
Perhaps it's just a case of Fields working out some defensive kinks. When the White Sox open the regular season in two weeks with a game against the Kansas City Royals at U.S. Cellular Field, the 26-year-old infielder is looking forward to showing what he can do.
"I expect to do what I know I can do," Fields said. "I'm excited to get the chance to go out and show everyone I am healthy and I am a lot better than I showed last year. I think the White Sox have obviously seen that in spring training."
They have, aside from the past two games.
While his defense has slipped a bit, Fields has been tearing it up at the plate. In addition to homering in two straight games, the former Oklahoma State quarterback is batting .415 in the Cactus League.
"He's going to hit, there's no doubt," Guillen said. "He's not taking his glove to his offense. I'm pretty sure he's going to play good enough third base to help us. I don't have any doubt."
Now that Crede (Twins) and Juan Uribe (Giants) are gone, Fields is looking forward to joining the Sox' starting lineup.
"I feel good about what I've done in spring training so far," Fields said. "And I feel really good about the preparation I put in this off-season, to come in and do it. I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but I'm doing what I know I can do. It's been hard coming in the past couple spring trainings and you're not completely where you know you need to be."
In past springs, Crede was a hurdle Fields never was able to clear. Dealing with pain in his right knee also slowed the White Sox' 2004 first-round draft pick.
"It kind of started in 2007, but it was one of those things where you're thinking the pain will go away with some rest," Fields said. "It came back last year and got really bad. The pain basically locked my leg down. It started in spring training with some tendinitis symptoms and basically got worse from there."
Fields showed plenty of promise in 2007, hitting 23 homers and driving in 67 runs in 100 games for the Sox after Crede went down with a bad back.
Spending most of last season with Class AAA Charlotte, Fields struggled while batting .246 with 10 HR and 35 RBI.
On Oct. 9, Fields had arthroscopic knee surgery and is finally healthy.
"It's baseball," Fields said. "If you're banged up, you still go out there and try to play. Now I'm excited to go out there healthy. Hopefully, I lead the team in most games played.
"Getting my knee done and putting in all the work, I feel really good about that. Last year, I found a way to play through it. I was giving my best effort, but it wasn't necessarily good enough. Now I get the chance to show people I'm better than I was last year."