Ozzie Guillen has two thirds of the lineup down

Dyck:

… “I know my lineup,” Guillen said. “I got my lineup against lefties and righties already.” But when pressed for the exact batting order, Guillen came up with several possibilities, even though he claims that “it’s easier than in the past.” He listed Pierre, Gordon Beckham, Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko as the first four. And he seemed certain that Mark Teahen would bat eighth and Alexei Ramirez ninth. Five through seven? “(Mark) Kotsay fifth and A.J. seventh, or … (those) two lefties will bat fifth and seventh with (Alex) Rios in the middle,” he said. “Or I might put Kotsay in the middle.” …

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Woodjock 2010 (pictures and video)

Brown:

• Peavy sang with an Alabama twang and played guitar with country fried joy on two original tunes. One mentioned his new team and another proclaimed he loved all mankind — including “black people, Muslims and gays.”

• Peavy and Beckham also went Simon and Garfunkel for “Take It Easy” which, on Beckham’s musical scale, sounded like success at the karaoke bar. “I’m a shower singer,” Beckham said. “Been practicing a lot. Taking a lot of showers. Also doing a lot of driving.” He admitted being from Georgia helped him find the right pitch. …

Merkin:

There even was a duet later in the evening by Gordon Beckham and Peavy of The Eagles’ No. 1 hit “Take It Easy.”

Beckham made a strong showing of his music skills, which he admitted were limited before going on stage, although Glenn Frey and Don Henley probably won’t be asking the second baseman to join their upcoming tour. Beckham’s decision to perform was out of respect to Peavy and the spirit of the night.

“Singing the song and not sounding like an idiot might be harder than hitting a curveball,” said Beckham with a laugh. “But Peavy asked me to do it, and here I am. When Peavy is on the mound or even doing something like this, he just gives others confidence.” …

More pictures.

UPDATE: Here’s video of Beckham and Peavy:

Ozzie Guillen on Daniel Cabrera

Gregor:

The Sox are looking at the hard-throwing righty as a relief pitcher, and Cabrera continued to impress manager Ozzie Guillen during Saturday morning’s batting-practice session at Camelback Ranch.

“He’s got a shot, a legit shot,” Guillen said. “This guy’s been showing us what he can do, and we like it. We’ve got an open spot and that’s the reason we brought him here. He just needs to throw one pitch over the plate, hopefully two.”

Walker’s probable lineup

Gregor:

Walker’s not sure what the regular lineup is going to look like.

Pierre is going to lead off, likely followed by Gordon Beckham, Quentin and Konerko. Walk said Teahen could hit fifth, likely followed by Rios, A.J. Pierzynski, Ramirez and whoever the DH is that day.

Jockfest 2010 [UPDATE #5]

Gonzales:

Pitcher Jake Peavy is organizing the “Jockfest 2010” music jamfest with teammate Scott Linebrink and several other baseball players at the Old Venue in Scottsdale, Ariz., on March 11. The event will raise money for various charities. Peavy and Linebrink play guitars. The concert is limited to 1,500 people, and tickets can be purchased at Woodjock.com.

UPDATE: Merkin:

Joining Peavy and Linebrink as part of the night’s entertainment will be Bernie Williams, an extremely accomplished guitar player and former Yankees stalwart. Bronson Arroyo, Barry Zito, Tim Flannery, MLB.com columnist Peter Gammons, Aubrey Huff and umpire Joe West complete this eclectic list.

UPDATE #2: Gonzales:

Meanwhile, there have been additions made to Jake Peavy’s WoodJock concert scheduled for March 11 in Scottsdale. Keni Thomas, a country singer and former U.S. Army soldier who was part of the Black Hawk Down operation in Somalia, will perform. Thomas sang the national anthem before Game 1 of the 2009 World Series. MyContent.com will be streaming the show live.

UPDATE #3: Gonzales:

Also, Omar Vizquel is tentatively scheduled to join Jake Peavy’s Woodjock charity event March 11 in Scottsdale. Vizquel said he was in the process of selecting a song to sing.

UPDATE #4: Reifert:

Scheduled to participate along with Jake are Barry Zito, Bernie Williams, Bronson Arroyo, Ben Broussard, Tim Flannery, Scott Linebrink, Aubrey Huff, Brandon Medders and Peter Gammons.  Others are expected to join the showlist over the next week.

UPDATE #5: Gonzales:

Beckham is the latest major league player to agree to participate in Jake Peavy’s Woodjock 2010, a charity event scheduled for March 11 at The Venue in Scottsdale. Beckham will join Sox teammates Scott Linebrink, Omar Vizquel and Peavy, as well as current and former major league players Barry Zito, Bernie Williams, Bronson Arroyo, Aubrey Huff, Brandon Medders and Ben Broussard. The players will perform a mix of tunes ranging from country, rock, jazz, blues, bluegrass, classical and Latin.

Pitching and defense

Wade:

The 2010 White Sox seem to want to be the next team in this lineage, who improve by focusing on pitching and defense. They’ve got the pitching part down pat. Jake Peavy, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Mark Buehrle, and Daniel Hudson (or Freddy Garcia, whoever wins the fifth spot) form the top rotation in the division and one of the best in the AL.

They improved their defense, too, I don’t think that’s too much to assert, but did they improve it enough? …

Ozzie wants a new identity

From Cowley’s ‘What Ozzie wants: A new identity for Sox‘ column:

The 2010 model is about pitching and defense, getting on base and creating pressure, scoring runs by any means necessary. There is still power, but it’s more spread out.

The 2010 model is about getting on base? is any 2010 acquisition on base threat? Juan Pierre? .339 OBP for the last 3 years. Mark Teahen? .330. Andruw Jones? .304. Omar Vizquel? .301. A ‘during the 2009 season’ acquisition like Alex Rios? .330. Mark Kotsay? .315. And we lost a starter with a .380 OBP. I don’t see any ‘getting on base’ player. I hope the pitching will be strong. Otherwise 2010 will suck. Big Time.

And as soon as I finish I see this.

Omar Vizquel likes his art

Hoynes:

Talked with Adam Katz, Vizquel’s agent, at the winter meetings. Yes, the Indians were interested in re-signing Vizquel, but Vizquel made it clear that he wanted to go to a big-city team that had a thriving art community and lots of museums. Honest. Cleveland was on his list, but Chicago held a bigger allure. It had nothing to do with what the Indians did or didn’t do.

Jayson Nix added to Ozzie Guillen’s DH committee

Merkin:

Guillen ultimately made the decision to bypass the return of Jim Thome or the addition of a full-time, left-handed designated hitter to use this position as a rotating talent slot. Guillen will employ Mark Kotsay, Andruw Jones, Jayson Nix and Omar Vizquel as the DH, while giving a day off without giving a day off from time to time to position-player starters such as Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin.

There are plenty of doubters who believe the offense will not succeed at its optimum level with the variety of players filling this slot. But Guillen believes he can better suit his offense to different styles of pitchers by using this flexibility to maneuver the lineup. …

Somehow the addition of a 700 OPS bat to the DH committee doesn’t make me feel any better.

Omar Vizquel to wear No. 11

Merkin:

No. 11 holds a special meaning in the annals of White Sox history.

It was once worn by Jim Essian and Don Kessinger, solid players, if not exactly infinitely memorable in franchise lore, and was last worn by Rudy Law during the 1984 season. At that point, the number was retired by the White Sox in honor of its most famous and accomplished owner in shortstop Luis Aparicio.

But while the only native Venezuelan to ever be elected to Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame will not be coming out of retirement at age 75, his jersey will be back in action for the 2010 campaign.

The White Sox announced Monday that Aparicio has given his consent for Omar Vizquel to wear No. 11 in his first year with the White Sox, as the number will be un-retired by the organization for Vizquel to wear in tribute. …

UPDATE: Vizquel wanted no. 13 at first, but Ozzie (who wears no. 13) and the Sox marketing dept. objected.

And here’s a picture.

Fangraphs on Ozzie’s ‘rotating DH’ idea

Klaassen:

Seriously, a Jones/Kotsay platoon is the first option? Keep in mind that a league-average hitter is a replacement level DH. While Jones might still have his uses as a bench/platoon player, CHONE projects him as a below average hitter (.324 wOBA, -7/150 in context-neutral linear weights). If you think that’s bad, Kotsay projects at .297 wOBA, -16/150 context-neutral. That’s not useful at any of the positions Kotsay backs up at this point, much less DH. Even if efficiently platooned, that’s ugly. Heck, Mike Jacobs (-6) would be an upgrade, and would also keep the Chicago/Kansas City pipeline active.

They really didn’t have room for Thome? He probably adds just a few runs for the Twins, but he would be at least a one, maybe two win improvement over Jones/Kotsay. …

Ozzie’s underpants theory of baseball

1. Replace your DH that gives  you a .900 OPS and with a combination of 3 guys with .700, .700, and .600 OPS (stats are for last 3 years)

2. ?

3. Win your division

(South Park’s Underpants Gnomes video)

Tyler Flowers the current favorite for the backup catcher position

Gonzales:

Williams said the possibility of rookie Tyler Flowers becoming the primary backup catcher to A.J. Pierzynski becomes a strong consideration each day.

“As we sit right now, he’s probably the leading candidate to be the backup,” Williams said. “… Tyler Flowers is going to hit. And that’s one thing we have to consider.”

Another consideration is that teams are starting to sign catchers, even at eye-opening prices. The New York Mets doubled free agent Henry Blanco’s salary by agreeing to a one-year, $1.5 million contract as a backup catcher.

The Mets have yet to land a starting catcher but are considering free agent Bengie Molina. The Sox had interest in Blanco but could shift their sights on Mike Redmond, a dependable contact hitter who was a member of Florida’s 2003 World Series champion team, in which Guillen served as a coach.

More at the link: Jake Peavy, Omar Vizquel, Andruw Jones, Brent Lillibridge, Jayson Nix, Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, Brandon Hynick.

Andruw Jones to play everyday? Omar Vizquel to DH?

Ozzie on Andruw:

“That first talk I had with Andruw, before we signed him, he said he wanted to play every day,” Guillen said. “I said, ‘Well, you want to play every day? Make sure you come up to Spring Training and (take charge).’ We are not going to give you that job, we not. You come here and show you can play, and I’ll be more than happy to put him out there. It’s going to be a nice competition.”

and on the DH and leadoff batter:

“Everyone is going to play,” Guillen said. “Right now, we don’t have a true DH, so I have a chance to move people. I can put (Omar) Vizquel at DH and as leadoff hitter if we don’t have one. There’s (Mark) Kotsay, (Paul) Konerko, Andruw, Vizquel, even (Mark) Teahen. “You have that spot open. We can do a lot of things with it, and that makes life a lot easier.”

Boras tried to convince Kenny on signing Joe Crede

Heyman:

Kenny Williams, White Sox GM. The White Sox weren’t expected to do much, but they’ve already traded Chris Getz and Josh Fields for Mark Teahen, and signed Andruw Jones and Vizquel, two big-time former stars. Williams surprised folks by forging a deal with Boras for Jones, whom he has coveted for years (they tried many years ago to pry him away from the Braves). Boras, who’s had a sticky relationship with Williams, also tried to sell him on signing Crede rather than trading two young players for the talented unproven Teahen. But apparently détente has its limitations.