A SUPER GUY........

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cws/news/cws_news.jsp?ymd=20050228&co\
ntent_id=952702&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp

He should just shut up and move on! We all have, so why does he keep dragging us
back
in with his petty comments. He can take his $$$ and attitude towards the white
Sox and
shove it! We'll move on and NOT talk about him any more... until we play Tigers.

--- In YouCanPutItOnTheBoard@yahoogroups.com, markp8867@n... wrote:
>
> LOL...great point.  Maggs had his chance to sign with the White Sox
> and he declined for basically $1M more per year on average.  In
> terms of Magglio's salary, that's about a 6.7% raise to play for
> perennially one of the worst teams in baseball.  That was all his
> choice, nobody elses.  The only way the Tigers are going to win is
> with pitching and currently they have one of the worst staffs in the
> AL with really little hope of getting any better.  Magglio sold out
> winning for just a little bit more money and now he's upset.
>
> O-E-O-POOR-MAGGLIO!
>
> --- In YouCanPutItOnTheBoard@yahoogroups.com, kuks41@w... wrote:
> >
> > I think that Magglio signed up with the right team since he has
> aquired
> > a motor mouth and Detroit is the motor city...What do you
> > think?......Charm in Florida but born and raised on the South side
> in
> > the Windy City....
> >

We'll all be the ones to have the last laugh at Maggs.  :-)

-Mark-


--- In YouCanPutItOnTheBoard@yahoogroups.com, markp8867@n... wrote:
>
> LOL...great point.  Maggs had his chance to sign with the White
Sox
> and he declined for basically $1M more per year on average.  In
> terms of Magglio's salary, that's about a 6.7% raise to play for
> perennially one of the worst teams in baseball.  That was all his
> choice, nobody elses.  The only way the Tigers are going to win is
> with pitching and currently they have one of the worst staffs in
the
> AL with really little hope of getting any better.  Magglio sold
out
> winning for just a little bit more money and now he's upset.
>
> O-E-O-POOR-MAGGLIO!
>
> --- In YouCanPutItOnTheBoard@yahoogroups.com, kuks41@w... wrote:
> >
> > I think that Magglio signed up with the right team since he has
> aquired
> > a motor mouth and Detroit is the motor city...What do you
> > think?......Charm in Florida but born and raised on the South
side
> in
> > the Windy City....
> >

LOL...great point.  Maggs had his chance to sign with the White Sox
and he declined for basically $1M more per year on average.  In
terms of Magglio's salary, that's about a 6.7% raise to play for
perennially one of the worst teams in baseball.  That was all his
choice, nobody elses.  The only way the Tigers are going to win is
with pitching and currently they have one of the worst staffs in the
AL with really little hope of getting any better.  Magglio sold out
winning for just a little bit more money and now he's upset.

O-E-O-POOR-MAGGLIO!

--- In YouCanPutItOnTheBoard@yahoogroups.com, kuks41@w... wrote:
>
> I think that Magglio signed up with the right team since he has
aquired
> a motor mouth and Detroit is the motor city...What do you
> think?......Charm in Florida but born and raised on the South side
in
> the Windy City....
>

http://www.suntimes.com/output/baseball/tra-news-detours27.html

I think that Magglio signed up with the right team since he has aquired
a motor mouth and Detroit is the motor city...What do you
think?......Charm in Florida but born and raised on the South side in
the Windy City....

Sox rebuff Ordonez's comments

Guillen: OF should worry about his $100M, own team
By Scott Merkin / MLB.com
TUCSON -- Ozzie Guillen issued his final comment about Magglio Ordonez
on Sunday afternoon. At least, Guillen hopes it's the final time he's
addressing matters concerning the former White Sox right fielder until
regular-season contests with the Tigers begin in April.
In a Chicago Sun-Times article running in Sunday's edition, Ordonez once
again questioned general manager Kenny Williams' comments regarding his
injured left knee, stating that the team "made things sound worse than
they were." Ordonez also directed a shot at White Sox chairman Jerry
Reinsdorf by saying he's now playing for an owner in Mike Illitch who
wants to win.
This critique followed Ordonez's less-than-complimentary comments about
the White Sox when he signed a five-year, $75 million deal with Detroit
in early February. Guillen's message to Ordonez then was to focus on his
new team and stop worrying about the White Sox.
News and features:

"When you get a $100 million contract from any team, I would care less
about what the team I was playing for is doing," Guillen said. "To keep
going back and forth, it's not worth talking about him anymore.
"I don't know his point. He wants to make Kenny and Jerry and the White
Sox organization look bad, but he won't do it. He said that we are not
willing (to make the commitment) to win. We will see at the end of the
year."
Ordonez claimed during the interview at Detroit's Spring Training in
Lakeland, Fla., that the final decision to return with the White Sox was
"not all about money," despite the team offering $60 million over five
years, with further money deferred. He claimed to "not be happy with
some of the things going on" and further criticized the team's move away
from a power-based attack in a home field that seems suited for home run
hitters.
With the Ordonez soap opera, as Guillen referred to it, now volleyed
into the White Sox's home court, the team chose not to return serve. In
fact, most of the comments were focused on Ordonez's supreme ability and
not on the acrimonious ending to his relationship in Chicago.
"I'm good friends with the family, and Magglio is a tremendous
ballplayer," Guillen said of Ordonez. "I hope he stays healthy and helps
those guys get what they want to get and just worry about the White Sox
when we face them."
"He's the best all-around player I played with, period," added White Sox
first baseman Paul Konerko of Ordonez. "I'm going to miss watching him
because he was something special."
Whatever the final reasons, the White Sox have clearly moved on. They
are hoping Ordonez does the same soon.
"It's kind of one of those things where business meets the baseball
end," Konerko said. "It's kind of a shame it happens now and again."
"I wish him good look in spending his money the right way," Guillen
added. "You are a professional, and if you walk away and get money
somewhere else, then God bless you and enjoy. They put a great team
together over there, but by talking about the White Sox, it means you
are not worried about your own team. You go around here and nobody even
talks about him."
Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to
the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Dye is Mr. Integrity

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.comTony against
suing Jose
Saturday, February 26th, 2005
Mark McGwire has not shared the advice he's getting from his lawyers
about Jose Canseco's book, but one attorney thinks it would be a bad
idea to sue: Tony LaRussa.
The Cardinals manager went to law school and then passed the bar in
1979, but went to work managing the Chicago White Sox instead of opening
a law practice. LaRussa told reporters yesterday that as far as he can
recall, a libel case would be awfully hard to win.
"I vaguely remember law school, but I remember that when you start
getting into libel and slander, that's one of the toughest proofs in the
world," LaRussa said in Jupiter, Fla.
McGwire, described as an avid steroid user in Canseco's recently
released "Juiced," played for LaRussa in Oakland - as did Canseco - and
St. Louis. Canseco said in the book that he and McGwire used to
regularly inject each other in the clubhouse bathroom stalls, but on "60
Minutes" said it might only have happened twice.
Of the many players accused in Canseco's book, so far only Rafael
Palmeiro has threatened to sue, but he has not yet taken any legal
action.
T.J. Quinn
With News Wire Service

Josh Fields has major ambitions
By JOHN HELSLEY
February 26, 2005
Former Oklahoma State two-sport star Josh Fields claims he didn't miss
football this fall.
He didn't have time to miss it.
  After his first professional baseball season ended in September, Fields
shipped off for six weeks of instruction in Florida and later spent a
similar stretch polishing fundamentals in Arizona.
"I'm getting a crash course in minor league baseball," Fields said
before leaving Stillwater, Okla., for his first spring training with the
Chicago White Sox in Tucson, Ariz.
The rushed education, orchestrated by the White Sox, is designed to get
Fields to the big leagues - perhaps as soon as this season.
"He's on track to be well ahead of schedule," said David Wilder,
director of player development for the White Sox. "He's a major league
talent."
Baseball America ranks Fields, Oklahoma State's No. 2 all-time passer,
as the No. 4 prospect in the White Sox organization. The team's
first-round draft pick and the 18th selection overall last June, Fields
flourished in his pro debut at Winston-Salem in high Class-A ball.
Some credit Fields as being the difference in the Warthogs' run to the
playoffs. After a struggling start, Fields rebounded to hit .285 with
seven home runs and 39 RBIs over 66 games.
In Baseball America's Draft Report Card edition, Fields filled the third
base slot on the Draft All-Star Team and was ranked as the No. 4
prospect for "Best Raw Power" in all of baseball.
"He actually exceeded our expectations," Wilder said. "He went to high A
ball and held his own. He was one of the better players, not only on our
club, but in the league."
It didn't start so smoothly for Fields, who struggled at the plate his
first few weeks at Winston-Salem. His batting average suffered, and his
power potential wasn't apparent.
"I don't even know if I'd even classify the first of the season as a
struggle," Fields said. "I wasn't doing anything good. It was very
frustrating. I had to adjust.
"But I skipped a couple of levels, and I went up against some good
pitching. Like everything, being there and doing it day after day, you
get used to it. And one day, I got a bleeder for a base hit, and things
just kind of started rolling from there."
There was the adjustment to the wooden bat for Fields. And better
players and competition. But there were other issues, too.
"The whole thing is an adjustment," Fields said. "It wasn't just
baseball. That was my first time being away from Oklahoma that long. And
I was used to hanging around with college kids. I was one of the
youngest guys there.
"The travel. The lifestyle of a pro baseball player. It was definitely
an adjustment. And a challenge."
The challenges will keep coming.
Intrigued by Fields' rapid progress, the White Sox have invited Fields
to the major league complex for spring training. This time, he's on the
field with Frank Thomas and Paul Konerko and Freddy Garcia and Orlando
Hernandez.
And with Joe Crede, whom Fields hopes to someday displace at third base.
Chicago's plan is for Fields to start the season at Double-A Birmingham.
If things go well for him there, a promotion is not out of the question.
Crede, a former top prospect, is a .256 career hitter. He is coming off
a disappointing season - a .239 batting average, 21 home runs and 69
RBIs.
"All Josh has to do is continue playing," Wilder said. "We want to
definitely make sure that fundamentally he's sound, and he has a number
of games and experiences that when he does get there, he won't be
surprised by the level of the game."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=pro&story_id=022605c6_whitesox

3 a.m. homer for Iguchi
Jet lag yet to hit Sox import
By AP
TUCSON, Arizona -- Tadahito Iguchi's body clock is a bit out of whack,
so when he hit a home run on his second day of spring training, it was a
rather remarkable accomplishment. Yeah, sure it was just batting
practice, but he's still trying to shake off jet lag after arriving at
the Chicago White Sox spring camp two days ago.
"Not bad for three o'clock in the morning," White Sox general manager
Ken Williams said yesterday.
"Yesterday was a little strange. I didn't sleep well," Iguchi said
through an interpreter.
Iguchi's homer off veteran reliever Cliff Politte will surely be big
news back home where there is a 15-hour time difference.
His every move is being monitored by about two dozen Japanese
journalists and cameramen. Every ground ball he fields in practice is
charted. He has his own news conference in a yard next to the complex.
His presence is a much bigger stir than a year when ago when Japanese
saves leader Shingo Takatsu joined the White Sox.
Iguchi, signed to play second base, will make $2.3 million US this year
and $2.4 million in 2006. Chicago has a $3.25-million option for 2007
with a $250,000 buyout.
Now he's working to adjust to just about everything. He had visited the
United States about 10 times previously, including a trip to the 1996
Olympics where Japan won the silver medal in baseball.
"Coming straight to the big leagues from Japan is different. I grew up
in this game and went through every level," White Sox manager Ozzie
Guillen said.
"Today it is tougher. I don't think it's because of the language and the
culture, but because they are in the spotlight right away," he said.
"When you come from Japan and come straight to the big-league level, you
have something to prove."
Iguchi, 30, batted .333 with 24 homers and 89 RBIs last season. He's won
two stolen base titles, three Gold Glove awards and been an all-star
four times.

ok one thing about guillen that i learned, great guy, played with
raines, thomas, cora, and baines, so there is a lot of respect for
him, esp when people thought there was going to be an argument
between thomas and ozzie last season and thomas was like at camp two
days early, no arguments what so ever, im glad he's our manager, he
is in the middle, he is friend and mentor, which a lot of players
are needing these days since there is a lot of pressure on these
guys, trust me i know, im a softball player, he's there to guide
them along to a world series, which im hoping they will get to this
year, but anywhoot, that was my random rant on Guillen!

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/PressPoint/show.php?id=20121

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/8222317

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cws/schedule/tentative_2005_season_sc\
hedule.jsp

I know it's not Christmas but I thought you might like this anyway....I
made some magnets with this and they turned out nice... Charm in Florida

http://www.geocities.com/scrubbycity/santa.jpg

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/022305/MIK_B5LPJ4UK.077.shtml

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/8220964

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7019512/

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=2973555

Chips ahoy: Konerko has good vibes

Welcome aback: Ozzie puts on show

I agree with Ozzie.  Let's keep A-Row as healthy as possible!

-Mark-

MLB: Safety first, ChiSox tell slugger
Aaron Rowand, who has a habit of running into outfield walls, could
switch positions.

JOHN MOREDICH
Tucson Citizen

Chicago White Sox outfielder Aaron Rowand spends much of his time
banging into walls and diving for every ball within reach.
White Sox management appreciates the effort, but is trying to keep
slugger Rowand healthy this season.

That might mean a switch from his starting center field position to
left field to keep him on his feet and out of the trainer's room.

"I worry a little bit that when you play center field like Aaron,
you've got a good chance to get hurt," White Sox manager Ozzie
Guillen said. "Every time he dives for the ball, every time he goes
to the wall, I don't want him to miss playing time.

"We're going to talk about where it would be better for him to stay
healthy and play all year long."

Rowand has always been a little reckless, injuring himself a couple
of years ago while riding a dirt bike. That left him in
rehabilitation instead of batting cages.

Chicago is doing everything it can to keep him available every day,
especially after he hit 24 home runs and drove in 69 runs last year.

"As long as we win, it doesn't matter where I play," Rowand said.

The White Sox have the luxury of moving Rowand, thanks to the
acquisition of Scott Podsednik during an offseason trade with
Milwaukee. Podsednik could move to center, where he has played
before, while Jermaine Dye patrols right field.

Rowand has played left field twice in his major league career.

"He talked to me and I said, 'Go take fly balls in center field,' "
Guillen said. "But I talked to (Chicago general manager Ken
Williams) and we're going to have another talk about where it can be
better for him to stay healthy and play all year long."

Notable

Moving into the No. 3 spot in the White Sox starting rotation is
Jose Contreras, moving Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez down a notch.

Playing at rival Minnesota after an opening series at home against
Cleveland is the primary reason, as El Duque has been a better road
pitcher in the past.

"I think Contreras pitched really well when we played in Chicago,
and El Duque has a lot of experience and he's a good road pitcher,"
Guillen said. "I think in the first start, he'll be pitching on the
road."

Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi made his first appearance yesterday,
getting a pep talk by the manager and a "welcome here" discussion.
The Japanese all-star is playing in the majors for the first time.

"He comes from Japan," Guillen said. "They have a different culture.
They have different ways. They look at the manager in a different
way... . I want him to feel part of the team. I want him to know he
is a member of the White Sox."

--- In YouCanPutItOnTheBoard@yahoogroups.com, kuks41@w... wrote:
> http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?
page=pro&story_id=022205c5_white_sox

You gotta love Ozzie!!  LOL   I think he has put together a great
staff too.  I can't wait to read highlights from his 'pep' talk!

--- In YouCanPutItOnTheBoard@yahoogroups.com, kuks41@w... wrote:
>
>  That's Guillen's staff
> Tuesday, February 22, 2005
> TUCSON, Ariz. — Never mind.
>
> That big team pep talk Ozzie Guillen was promising for Monday isn't
> happening until today, a happenstance Joey Cora explained simply.
> "Read the (bleeping) schedule," he said.
> It's Cora's schedule. He typed it into his computer, he printed it
out,
> and he posted it on the bulletin board just inside the White Sox's
> clubhouse at their spring training complex.
> Guillen, working himself up toward his state of the ballclub
address,
> just got the day wrong.
> "I knew it was (Tuesday)," Cora said. "You know Ozzie. He was
getting
> ready for it last night, as a matter of fact. I'm sure he's going
to get
> even more pumped as we get closer.
> "It's going to be a long one, after what we talked about (Sunday)
night.
> It's going to be a good one."
> If Guillen's chat is long on passion, it probably can't be helped.
The
> man and the men he has surrounded himself with are all wired that
way.
> Perhaps it is an old-fashioned notion in an era of free agency,
when
> loyalty comes with a price tag the Sox have historically been
unwilling
> to pay. But, to these men, the Sox jersey is more than just a work
> shirt.
> The three coaches Guillen has hired since being named Sox manager —
> third-base coach Cora, bench coach Harold Baines and first-base
coach
> Tim Raines — all were former Sox teammates of Guillen, as was
hitting
> coach Greg Walker.
> Rounding out Guillen's coaching staff are bullpen coach Art
Kusnyer, who
> had a cup of coffee with the Sox in 1970 and has coached in the
> organization for 18 of the last 26 years, and pitching coach Don
Cooper,
> who has been shepherding Sox arms at one level or another since
1988.
> "And a few of them don't need the job. They want the job," general
> manager Ken Williams said. "There is a difference."
> The difference shows in meetings, Williams said, because neither
his
> title nor Guillen's means much when most of the men at the
boardroom
> table have known each other for 20 years. And why would Baines, or
Cora,
> or Raines, or Walker play yes men to their bosses when they can
match
> — and in some cases surpass — the career accomplishments and
> earnings of either?
> Baines and Raines will both garner more than a few Hall of Fame
votes
> when they become eligible in 2006 and '07, respectively. Cora has
been
> an All-Star and played in the ALCS three times. Walker had three
seasons
> of at least 24 homers for the Sox over the four years from 1984-87
in
> which both Guillen and Williams made their big league debuts with
the
> club.
> More important, though, is the difference they might impart in the
> clubhouse.
> "Last year we had a couple guys who spent a lot of years with the
White
> Sox — I don't think they had a passion for the White Sox uniform,"
> Guillen said, not having to mention Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez
by
> name. "Hopefully, this group of coaches will come out and push
that to
> the players."
> To that end, their résumés ought to help. As in the NBA, the trend
> in baseball has been toward field staff that played the game,
mostly
> because the players otherwise tend not to listen.
> "If you have coaches and they don't have major league experience,
> sometimes the players take advantage," Guillen said. "Now, with my
> coaching staff, they can't."
> For all their collective service time, Guillen's staff may have an
even
> better weapon for getting through to what in the past has been a
> fractured, jaded and less than passionate team.
> "Not only were we White Sox at one time or another, but in the
case of
> Harold and Greg, they won, and in the case of Tim Raines, myself
and
> Ozzie, we won, too," Cora said. "So we really feel something
special
> about this organization."
> Baines and Walker were on the Sox's AL West champs in 1983.
Guillen,
> Cora and Raines were on the division winners in '93. Baines played
with
> current Sox Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko, Mark Buehrle and Jon
Garland on
> the 2000 AL Central titlists.
> "When you're lucky enough to have guys who have played in the
> organization and have the pride to be a White Sox, you can
hopefully
> breathe that into the players you put on the field," Baines said.
> "You're playing not just for the money, but for the Chicago White
Sox.
> "I've played on several teams. A lot of teams don't have that. You
have
> to start somewhere. This is the beginning of hopefully something
good."
> Good, but not necessarily permanent. Already, Cora's name has been
> mentioned in at least one managerial job search, and he'll move
toward
> that career goal when he manages a Venezuelan team in winter ball
next
> offseason.
> "Maybe eventually," Cora said of his career aspirations. "But I'm
really
> enjoying my time here with the White Sox and with Ozzie, moreso
with
> Ozzie as the manager and my boss than anything else.
> "I would like to keep being by his side, learn all I can from him
and
> keep working with him. I enjoy it.
> "Who knows? Maybe down the line sometime Ozzie can win a World
Series
> here, and maybe I'll get somewhere and he goes with me. He'll be
my man,
> he'll do the schedule for spring training and all that stuff. I'll
get
> him back."
> Maybe then Guillen will read the, ahem, schedule.
> Phil Arvia can be reached at parvia@d... or (708)
> 633-5949.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=pro&story_id=022205c5_white_sox

By Phil Rogers
Tribune baseball reporter
February 21, 2005, 11:23 PM CST
TUCSON, Ariz. -- One came by boat with his wife and a few friends. The
other sneaked away from Fidel Castro's team in Saltillo, Mexico, working
his way north until he reached San Diego and political asylum.
With Orlando Hernandez and Jose Contreras, their styles are as unusual
as their stories. Their presence on the White Sox guarantees this will
be a fascinating season, and possibly a successful one.

The plan is for Contreras and Hernandez to work beside each other in a
starting rotation headed by Mark Buehrle and Freddy Garcia. If things
click for the two Cubans—if "El Duque" can stay healthy and Contreras
can throw more strikes and avoid early-inning meltdowns—they could
become a major story line in the American League.
Several Cuban pitchers have become big-league stars, most notably Camilo
Pascual, Luis Tiant, Hernandez and his half-brother Livan Hernandez. But
not since the mid-1950s, when the White Sox had Sandy Consuegra and Mike
Fornieles and the then-Washington Senators had Pascual and Pedro Ramos,
has a major-league staff had two Cubans working together. What will that
mean?
"That is one of those questions for the end of the year," Hernandez
said. "If we do what we can, you probably won't have to ask the question
because you will see what it means. It will be a big year for both of us
and for the team. We will enjoy each other and help the team win."
In the beginning
Hernandez and Contreras were both widely pursued when they made
themselves available to major-league teams. The Yankees got them both,
outbidding the Anaheim Angels for Hernandez and the Boston Red Sox for
Contreras.
The Red Sox had pursued Contreras with such ardor that his rejection
prompted club President Larry Lucchino to deem the Yankees baseball's
"Evil Empire."
Easy lives have not come with their big contracts. Each man has been
torn apart emotionally by the inability to go home and pay last respects
to a deceased father. For El Duque it was four years ago, right before
he faced the Seattle Mariners in an AL Championship Series game. For
Contreras it was four months ago, just after his first season with the
White Sox ended.
But things seem to have taken a good turn for both. The White Sox signed
Hernandez as a free agent, reuniting the two Cuban legends. They will
work for a pitching coach, Don Cooper, who long ago forged a personal
bond with Tiant.
Hernandez speaks English but prefers to do interviews with help from an
interpreter, most often third-base coach Joey Cora. Contreras, who came
to the United States in 2002, five years after Hernandez, is not as
comfortable with the language.
El Duque, wise beyond his years, however many they may be—he's listed
as 35 but could be quite a bit older—wants to help Contreras, whom the
Sox acquired from the Yankees for Esteban Loaiza last July 31. Contreras
is listed as 33.
The breakup, reunion
While both pitchers have spent most of their careers with the Yankees,
they overlapped only for small parts of the 2004 season. Hernandez had
been traded to Montreal in the three-team deal that sent Bartolo Colon
to the White Sox before Contreras' first spring training as a Yankee.
The Yanks re-signed El Duque after he missed 2003 with a shoulder
injury. They were together briefly in spring training last year, but
when the season started Hernandez stayed behind to finish his recovery
from shoulder surgery.
Hernandez didn't join the rotation until July 11, and Contreras was
dealt to the Sox three weeks later. He had allowed 28 runs in 151/3
innings over five career starts against Boston, an unforgivable sin in
George Steinbrenner's world.
Only recently had Contreras been reunited with his wife and daughters in
New York. He was confused by the trade and saddened that he would not
have Hernandez as a teammate.
"I never expected that," Contreras said. "I was devastated because El
Duque had just gotten there. I thought he was going to help me. He was
sad about it too. I told him goodbye and we hugged each other. I told
him, 'Don't worry about me. We'll be together again soon.'"
The countrymen share many things, including some unusual baseball
practices. They play catch with a heavy, oversized baseball that scares
trainers and pitching coaches. They also toss around a softball, in the
belief it makes it easier for them to execute the same pitches with a
baseball.
The coach
Cooper might be the perfect pitching coach for the Cubans. As a teenager
with baseball aspirations, his two favorite pitchers were Tom Seaver, as
technically sound as anyone, and Tiant, who won 229 games by being
unconventional. Tiant was famous for twisting so much in his delivery
that hitters could read the back of his jersey, yet he was precise with
a vast repertoire of pitches.
"I've always felt that Cuban pitchers, the ones who float up on shore,
they can really pitch," Cooper said. "You know they've got heart and
[guts] or they wouldn't take the trip in a raft. They just know how to
pitch. It seems like they all share a feel for pitching."
After warming up to start a game, Tiant once tossed a ball into the
seats to a 15-year-old Cooper, who years later would repay the favor by
recommending Tiant for a job as a minor-league pitching coach with the
White Sox. Cooper still looks forward to trips to Boston because he gets
to visit with Tiant, who spends much of his time in retirement at Fenway
Park.
Like Tiant, Hernandez is a trip on the mound. He starts his delivery by
raising his left knee so high that he could bloody his nose if he lost
his balance. It's anyone's guess what will happen from there.
"That's classic," Cooper said of the leg kick. "It's the same thing as
Tiant twisting, wheeling and throwing. They used to say Tiant had 1,000
different pitches from 1,000 different places. I'd say [Hernandez] has
500 different pitches from 500 different places."
Winners
Hernandez has an average build but a contortionist's body. When he
stretches before a game, it's as if every one of his hinges is
double-jointed.
Contreras, on the other hand, is all about power. He brings a hulking
presence to the mound and has the ability to intimidate hitters.
Having learned to win in Cuba, both used the Yankees' firepower to put
together enviable won-lost records. Between them they are 81-51, a .614
winning percentage.
If they hold up for 60-plus starts this season and the White Sox win at
that same pace, it would translate to a 39-25 record in those starts.
Few teams see such possibilities out of their third and fourth starters.
But that's the view through rose-colored glasses. The reality is they no
longer have Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams to help them win, Hernandez
hasn't made 29 starts in a season since 2000 and Contreras must rebuild
his confidence after ending his first two seasons with a 4.85 ERA.
Potentially dominating
Contreras' ability to fluctuate between domination and self-destruction
makes him the Cuban Bobby Witt. But the White Sox are paying him $6
million a year because they believe he still may emerge as an ace.
"He's got a chance to be dominating," Cooper said. "He has the 95
[m.p.h.] fastball he can run up there, at the top of the strike zone,
and then he has the forkball from hell."
Cooper believes Contreras must do a better job with his first three
pitches to hitters. He reduces his effectiveness by falling behind in
the count.
Hernandez first saw Contreras pitch when he was in Cuba's developmental
leagues and believes his friend just needs to get back to being himself.
He believes Contreras should rely more on his forkball, his best pitch.
The White Sox had counseled him to throw more fastballs and fewer
forkballs last season, when he was 5-4 with a 5.30 ERA in 13 starts in
August and September. He had 42 walks in only 74 2/3 innings.
"One thing that has hurt him is he listens to everybody," Hernandez
said. "Everybody tells him what to do. He wants to make them happy, so
he does it. Everybody sees he has all the pitches to be successful. They
say he throws too many fastballs or too many forkballs or too many
sliders. ...
"He was a good pitcher before he got [to the U.S.]. He needs to pitch
like that."
Fleeing Cuba
Hernandez had been forced to work as a hospital janitor because Castro
feared he might defect, and he left Cuba under mysterious circumstances,
like thousands of his countrymen. He said he fled on a raft, winding up
on a small island without food or water.
Contreras had been viewed as more loyal to the Castro regime until
disappearing when the national team was in Saltillo, Mexico.
To avoid being declared eligible for the draft, which would have robbed
him of his leverage and given lesser teams a chance to claim him,
Contreras established residency in Nicaragua. That's where the Red Sox
put a full-court press on him.
General manager Theo Epstein at one point rented all the hotel rooms in
the small town where Contreras was staying so the Yankees would not have
as much access to him. But Contreras wanted to be on El Duque's team,
and there was little the Red Sox could do to change that.
Had Contreras known the Yankees were about to trade Hernandez, he might
have been more open-minded about Boston. But he had more important
things on his mind.
A tough go
While Contreras enjoyed the perks secured by the four-year, $32 million
deal he signed after a bidding war between the Red Sox and Yankees, his
wife, Miriam, and their two daughters were left behind in Cuba. They had
been told late in 2002 that they would have to wait five years to be
given the documentation necessary to leave their homeland.
Contreras says he would dream about his daughters, only to wake up and
find himself alone. "They wouldn't be there and I would start to cry,"
he said in a 2004 interview.
But Miriam, 11-year-old Naylan and 3-year-old Naylenis succeeded in
traveling from Cuba to Florida's Big Pine Key last June. They made the
trip in a group of 22 refugees aboard a speedboat. Contreras flew to
Miami for the reunion, only about six weeks before he would be traded.
"It's what I dreamed about the last two years," he said.
Hernandez saw his friend's loneliness when they were together last
spring. He believes Contreras is much happier now, which could lead to a
turnaround on the mound.
"The family thing, that was really, really tough on him," Hernandez
said. "When you leave [Cuba] like we left, you know you cannot go back.
You do not know if you will ever see your family again. That is real,
real tough."
Contreras enjoyed his time in Chicago last summer. He tells Hernandez he
will like living and playing here.
Hernandez, who has seen it all, isn't too worried.
"I don't know what the difference will be between New York and Chicago,"
he said. "It doesn't matter to me. I'm going there to play baseball, and
that is my life. It will be a good year."
Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune

That's Guillen's staff
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
TUCSON, Ariz. — Never mind.

That big team pep talk Ozzie Guillen was promising for Monday isn't
happening until today, a happenstance Joey Cora explained simply.
"Read the (bleeping) schedule," he said.
It's Cora's schedule. He typed it into his computer, he printed it out,
and he posted it on the bulletin board just inside the White Sox's
clubhouse at their spring training complex.
Guillen, working himself up toward his state of the ballclub address,
just got the day wrong.
"I knew it was (Tuesday)," Cora said. "You know Ozzie. He was getting
ready for it last night, as a matter of fact. I'm sure he's going to get
even more pumped as we get closer.
"It's going to be a long one, after what we talked about (Sunday) night.
It's going to be a good one."
If Guillen's chat is long on passion, it probably can't be helped. The
man and the men he has surrounded himself with are all wired that way.
Perhaps it is an old-fashioned notion in an era of free agency, when
loyalty comes with a price tag the Sox have historically been unwilling
to pay. But, to these men, the Sox jersey is more than just a work
shirt.
The three coaches Guillen has hired since being named Sox manager —
third-base coach Cora, bench coach Harold Baines and first-base coach
Tim Raines — all were former Sox teammates of Guillen, as was hitting
coach Greg Walker.
Rounding out Guillen's coaching staff are bullpen coach Art Kusnyer, who
had a cup of coffee with the Sox in 1970 and has coached in the
organization for 18 of the last 26 years, and pitching coach Don Cooper,
who has been shepherding Sox arms at one level or another since 1988.
"And a few of them don't need the job. They want the job," general
manager Ken Williams said. "There is a difference."
The difference shows in meetings, Williams said, because neither his
title nor Guillen's means much when most of the men at the boardroom
table have known each other for 20 years. And why would Baines, or Cora,
or Raines, or Walker play yes men to their bosses when they can match
— and in some cases surpass — the career accomplishments and
earnings of either?
Baines and Raines will both garner more than a few Hall of Fame votes
when they become eligible in 2006 and '07, respectively. Cora has been
an All-Star and played in the ALCS three times. Walker had three seasons
of at least 24 homers for the Sox over the four years from 1984-87 in
which both Guillen and Williams made their big league debuts with the
club.
More important, though, is the difference they might impart in the
clubhouse.
"Last year we had a couple guys who spent a lot of years with the White
Sox — I don't think they had a passion for the White Sox uniform,"
Guillen said, not having to mention Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez by
name. "Hopefully, this group of coaches will come out and push that to
the players."
To that end, their résumés ought to help. As in the NBA, the trend
in baseball has been toward field staff that played the game, mostly
because the players otherwise tend not to listen.
"If you have coaches and they don't have major league experience,
sometimes the players take advantage," Guillen said. "Now, with my
coaching staff, they can't."
For all their collective service time, Guillen's staff may have an even
better weapon for getting through to what in the past has been a
fractured, jaded and less than passionate team.
"Not only were we White Sox at one time or another, but in the case of
Harold and Greg, they won, and in the case of Tim Raines, myself and
Ozzie, we won, too," Cora said. "So we really feel something special
about this organization."
Baines and Walker were on the Sox's AL West champs in 1983. Guillen,
Cora and Raines were on the division winners in '93. Baines played with
current Sox Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko, Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland on
the 2000 AL Central titlists.
"When you're lucky enough to have guys who have played in the
organization and have the pride to be a White Sox, you can hopefully
breathe that into the players you put on the field," Baines said.
"You're playing not just for the money, but for the Chicago White Sox.
"I've played on several teams. A lot of teams don't have that. You have
to start somewhere. This is the beginning of hopefully something good."
Good, but not necessarily permanent. Already, Cora's name has been
mentioned in at least one managerial job search, and he'll move toward
that career goal when he manages a Venezuelan team in winter ball next
offseason.
"Maybe eventually," Cora said of his career aspirations. "But I'm really
enjoying my time here with the White Sox and with Ozzie, moreso with
Ozzie as the manager and my boss than anything else.
"I would like to keep being by his side, learn all I can from him and
keep working with him. I enjoy it.
"Who knows? Maybe down the line sometime Ozzie can win a World Series
here, and maybe I'll get somewhere and he goes with me. He'll be my man,
he'll do the schedule for spring training and all that stuff. I'll get
him back."
Maybe then Guillen will read the, ahem, schedule.
Phil Arvia can be reached at parvia@... or (708)
633-5949.