Here’s Ozzie Guillen:
“It’s no doubt we need better at-bats from Gordon. You can say he hit a couple balls hard, and I let people know he was swinging the bat better, but I don’t know how many strikeouts he has. He’s got to cut that down big time. When you strike out like that, you have to hit 40 home runs, and hit .250, if you’re going to strike out 100-plus times. When you’re batting ninth, that’s a lot.”
and:
“When you’re batting ninth, (you’re) the one guy has to put the ball in play. A lot of swings and misses, and only one home run. When you swing and miss and strike out that much, you got to be Jim Thome. You got to be that type of guy. But I’m really concerned about the strikeout situation. You batting ninth and you strike out, that’s not a good combination. Is he fighting for his at-bat? No doubt about it. But he takes it like a professional. He plays hard. All the stuff is positive about him. I know it’s not easy playing when you’re in his situation. It’s not easy to keep you head up. I went trough it . A lot of players went through it, but he’s handling it every well. But you look at two or three strikeouts a game, and I don’t think that’s the game he should be playing. As long as he’s here, he will be playing. I don’t say he’s playing bad, he’s struggled offensively all year long.”
