White Sox skipper finally has the team he wants
In the opinion of Bodog Sportsbook, Ozzie Guillen is on baseball's hot seat.
The Las Vegas-based oddsmaker has placed Guillen third on the potential chopping block, behind the man he replaced as Sox manager - Jerry Manuel of the New York Mets - and the Texas Rangers' Ron Washington, who made big headlines recently for admitting he used cocaine in 2009.
Guillen likely soared near the top of a dubious list due to his son Oney's Twitter misadventures during spring training, which annoyed his boss, White Sox general manager Kenny Williams.
In reality, Guillen is only poised to take some of the heat if the Sox don't advance to the postseason for the third time in the last six seasons under his watch.
Offensively, this is the team Guillen has been pining for since he returned to the South Side as manager in 2004. There is some power potential with Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko, but this team has many more of the type of contact hitters and adept base runners that Guillen contends he needs to win.
"The game has changed," Guillen said with an unstated jab at major-league baseball's steroid era. "You're not going to see the big boys going out there and hitting 50, 60 home runs anymore. We've hit for a lot of power here, and we still can because we play in a ballpark where the ball is going to carry when it gets warm.
"But in the meanwhile, I got tired of seeing us hit all of these home runs one day and then get shut out the next three days."
The hit or miss approach took its toll on Guillen last season. The White Sox finished tied for last with Seattle in hitting with a .258 average. They also tied for last with Texas in being shut out (13 times) and finished among the bottom in runs (640), on-base percentage (.329) and slugging percentage (.411).
With aging sluggers Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye in the lineup, the White Sox' offense was prone to lengthy slumps. That was especially true after the all-star break, when Dye batted .179 and hit only 7 home runs, Thome batted .240 and hit 9 homers, Konerko batted .243 and hit 12 and Quentin batted .241 and hit 13 HRs.
"We had to change it up, get away from the softball mentality," Sox hitting coach Greg Walker said. "I know this is the style Ozzie has been pushing for since he got here. Put the ball in play, run the bases and keep it moving. Score from second base on a single. Go from first to third on a single. I think we have the guys here to do that."
The White Sox have a legitimate leadoff hitter in newcomer Juan Pierre, although Scott Podsednik filled the role nicely last season after being added to the roster on May 1.
They have Gordon Beckham batting second after a stellar rookie season, a healthy Quentin hitting third, Konerko batting cleanup and some question marks after that.
If Alex Rios gets back to the five-tool player he was with the Toronto Blue Jays as recently as 2008, that will be a big plus. And ditto if 34-year-old Mark Kotsay keeps his back healthy and hits like he did in spring training.
A.J. Pierzynski is as solid as they come at catcher and he should be extra motivated since he's playing for a new contract and would like to stay around for a couple of seasons. Shotstop Alexei Ramirez already appears to be benefiting from Omar Vizquel's presence, and new third baseman Mark Teahen started hitting during the last week or two of spring training.
The White Sox head into Monday afternoon's season opener against the Cleveland Indians believing they can be successful winning games by scores of 2-1 and 3-2.
With the best starting rotation in the AL Central and a bullpen featuring Bobby Jenks, Matt Thornton and a healthy J.J. Putz, pitching is not going to be the problem this year.
"We have got some great arms here," said No. 2 starter Jake Peavy. "I'm excited about our team. We have a scrappy baseball team. We should play better defense than we did last year, we should be more active on the bases and make things happen rather than waiting for the big home run.
"I like our makeup. We've got a good little scrappy bunch and we're going to play hard."
"I got tired of seeing us hit all of these home runs one day and then get shut out the next three days."
Sox manager Ozzie Guillen