I’m sad to see that the Fire Joe Morgan guys beat me to this little number in Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune.

The headline:

Hit-and-run to join White Sox’s arsenal
Guillen will stress small-ball tactics at camp

Here’s Ozzie Guillen, as quoted by Tribune writer Mark Gonzales:

You’re going to see a lot of crazy stuff in spring training, regardless of the baserunning. You’re going to see hit-and-run [plays] when it’s not a hit-and-run situation. You’re going to see people bunting when it’s not a bunting situation.

Maybe people are going to criticize me for the way we’re playing in spring training, but we have to go with a different approach. In spring training we’re going to turn the switch on right away.

OK, so let me get this straight. In order to improve the team’s likelihood of winning, Guillen is going to hit-and-run and bunt more? At times when doing so would be absolutely, positively, strategically incorrect?

I just don’t get this man.

But nothing frightens me more than the end of the article:

“We need a backup playing shortstop,” Guillen said, which could mean that Alex Cintron could be dealt or not tendered a contract by Dec. 12.

“Right now the decision between [Juan] Uribe and someone else we don’t know yet. We want Uribe to lose some weight and show up in shape.”

The Sox could give Uribe a $300,000 buyout and attempt to re-sign him if they fail to land a free agent like David Eckstein, who can bat leadoff and play shortstop, or fail to trade for a younger shortstop.

Judgment day is approaching rapidly. I’ve said it a hundred times and I’ll say it again: If David Eckstein is wearing a White Sox uniform at any time during his or my lifetime, I will disavow any loyalty I ever felt toward the White Sox.

Just, out.

Just look at how scrappy David Eckstein is. Seriously, if the White Sox sign David Eckstein, I’ll question my loyalty to the South Side. (AP Photo)

I was in St. Louis this weekend with some friends, and when I’m there the conversation invariably turns to the Cardinals.

The people of that city love their Cardinals. And they love their scrappy little intangible-filled shortstop by the name of David Eckstein.

When I returned home today, I found this article in the Chicago Sun-Times.

St. Louis Cardinals free agent- to-be David Eckstein (above) is becoming target No. 1 on the Sox’ offseason wish list. He would give them a leadoff hitter with a career .349 on-base percentage and a sure-handed shortstop. Plus, he and Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski worked together last offseason in a feud for TNA Wrestling. Team Eckstein won.

Let me make a few things clear here. Eckstein’s vaunted .349 career OBP is about 15 points higher than the league average.

His .357 career slugging percentage is about 63 points below league average.

When he throws from short to first he looks like he needs to sit down and take a break afterward because of all the strain such an effort puts on him.

The 5-foot-7, 177-pound Eckstein has a positional Marginal Lineup Value (PMLV) of -7.4. Basically, this tells us how many runs are contributed by a batter beyond what an average player at the same position would produce in a team of otherwise league-average hitters. You can read more about this stat here.

There are other stats I can throw at you to prove the point, but to do so would be overkill.

The Sox don’t need intangibles. They don’t need “veteran” leadership.

They need players who will improve the team’s league low .711 OPS. Or their .395 team slugging percentage, which is better than only Kansas City’s .390.

Moving from Juan Uribe’s -14.1 PMLV to Eckstein’s -7.4 at least shows that the team wants to improve, but I have a feeling they could do better for cheaper.

Intangibles and experience are expensive non-assets these days.

Just, out.