you might think of Ozzie as a skipper inclined to live up to the “Ozzieball” rep, scrapping after one run and giving much consideration to “the little things.” If you did, you’d be wrong, because this is a classic case of do as I do, not as I say. For all the talk, Ozzie’s ballclubs have almost always been anything but the subtle nibblers he might publicly profess admiration for.
Instead, Ozzie’s squads have lived up to an older label associated with Chicago’s South Side: the Hitmen. That name for the 1977 team described a club that hit a then team-record 192 home runs. Playing in a different park now — and a veritable slugger’s paradise at that — Ozzie’s squads topped that total in four of his first five seasons as a skipper from 2004-2008.
The contrast between what Ozzie praises and what his lineup actually does is such that Joe Sheehan, my former colleague at Baseball Prospectus, coined a stat term to describe it: the Guillen Number, which is the percentage of a team’s runs scored on home runs. While Ozzie might be complimented for talking about doing the little things, his lineups have reliably relied on the home run. …
now if only Ozzie could stop the damn bunts…
Other White Sox links: J.J. looks at the unlucky John Danks, U-God plays a simulation of the lost 1994 post-season, and FutureSox notes SS Tyler Saladino, who had broken his hand this spring, was activated and assigned to Winston-Salem.
