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.

Like this one.

The main question I have to ask of White Sox upper management is this: Why?

Why extend Ozzie Guillen’s contract when it didn’t expire until after the 2008 season, including a club option for 2009?

What possible reason could there be?

I can’t even imagine the meeting between Jerry Reinsdorf, Ken Williams and Guillen…

JR: Ozzie, we love what you’ve done with the team.

Ozzie: What??? You do? Bleep.

KW: Here have more money.

JR: We want to send a message to the players that we are content with our leadership. I mean, one bad year doesn’t mean a thing. Kenny is gonna right the farm system and you’ll take care of the big boys.

Ozzie: Bleep.

KW: How much money do I have?

JR: None.

KW: Who we got in the system?

JR: Nobody.

Ozzie: Bleep.

KW: Here Ozzie, take more money.

Well, I’m sure it went something like that anyway.

But back to my original question. How can Reinsdorf and Co. be satisfied with the job Guillen has done? Firing him may be excessive, but extending his contract four years more than his original contract? That may be even more excessive!

Anybody else have some interesting reasons the contract might have been extended? I’d also be interested in seeing other people’s take on the KW, JR, Ozzie meeting.

Just, out.

Look here.

The White Sox are considering extending manager Ozzie Guillen’s contract. His current contract doesn’t expire until the end of the 2008 season, but the team already has an option to pick him up through 2009.

It’s simply more examples of the White Sox stubbornness.

The team needs a new direction — sooner than later.

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.

It seems I’m not the only one talking about the White Sox and Ozzie Guillen’s tirade. That’s good, I think, because the only way this team is going to get better is to realize there’s a problem. Ignoring the problems and scapegoating people doesn’t solve anything.

Scapegoating isn’t all that rare in sports. Take this guy. He’s a scapegoat. Or this guy. Or even this!! Literally, a goat!

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Rogers, probably the best baseball writer in the city, had this to say today:

Guillen was steaming because Danny Richar and Jerry Owens couldn’t get the go-ahead run across the plate in the ninth inning of an 11-inning loss and lashed out at his players. But does the fault really lie with the players failing to get the job done or with the composition of the roster?

It seems to me the problem is having to count on unproven neophytes such as Richar and Owens in the first place.

Guillen probably should be yelling at general manager Ken Williams.

He oversaw the deterioration of the farm system and made a series of miscalculations after the World Series parade in 2005.

Clearly, there’s blame to go around. Buster Olney asked a good question today, too:

A question that the White Sox players can legitimately ask now is this: Has Ozzie Guillen quit on them? By burying his players the way he has, has Guillen quit on the 2007 season, with a month to play?

Jerry Reinsdorf gave Ozzie an ‘A’ for the job he’s done this season and told Kenny Williams that he had the best offseason of his career this past Winter.

Reinsdorf deserves blame too, because that’s just silly.

And there’s no doubt in my mind that the three big whigs — Ozzie, Kenny and Jerry — truly believe they’ve done no wrong.

But then I see this.

I see one team that has a worse winning percentage than the White Sox: The Devil Rays. The Devil Rays are spending $24 million this season. The White Sox are spending $108 million.

A quick glance at the 2007 standings and payrolls of the rest of the AL Central:

Team………………Record……….Games behind……..2007 payroll

Cleveland Indians…76-57…………….-…………….$61,673,267
Detroit Tigers……..72-62…………..4.5……………$95,180,369
Minnesota Twins….67-66…………..9………………$71,439,500
Kansas City Royals.59-73………….16.5………….$67,166,500
Chicago W Sox……57-77………….19.5………….$108,671,833

I apologize for the crudeness of that standings box — I’m not very savvy with this stuff.

Does that look lopsided to anyone? White Sox fans should be furious. They should be up in arms. But, they’re not. They defend Kenny and Ozzie, and the awful trio of Jose Contreras, Jon Garland and John Danks.

Instead, they say things like “If we were in any other division, we’d be a contender.” Or, better yet, “Kenny will right the ship.”

I don’t have the information handy, but I dare say that this is the worst season ever by a team spending that much money. Take another look at this chart. See that big red line from the top of the screen all the way to the bottom? Yea, that’s the White Sox.

Seriously, the only other team I can remember with a tremendously high payroll and unbelievably poor results are the 2006 Chicago Cubs. That team finished the season with 66 wins and spent over $94 million.

Everyone’s expecting the White Sox to go out and get Michael Young and Torii Hunter in the offseason, but the White Sox can’t afford to do that. Literally.

They’re bad now. And they’re going to be bad for a long time.

I realize I’m on a point now that’s wholly different from where I started.

I guess it’s sort of a microcosm for the White Sox’ season.

Just, out.

Ozzie Guillen did his best Lee Elia imitation on Wednesday night (AP Photo).

ESPN’s headline after the White Sox game Wednesday night read, “Guillen blows gasket as White Sox lose 15th of 18.”

Well, there’s a surprise.

OK, so the Sox have lost 15 out of their last 18 games and sit 2.5 games behind the Royals for last place. This is precisely what I asked for in this space not so long ago.

Jon Garland, who was praised by baseball managers, media and lunatics alike for winning 18 games in back-to-back seasons, hasn’t won a start since July 27. In the six starts between, he is 0-3 with an 8.49 ERA.

Let me just point out for the record here that in Garland’s second 18-win season his ERA was 4.519. His 4.890 ERA this year isn’t much different. He’s on pace for similar strikeout, WHIP and walk numbers, and he actually had allowed 24 home runs at this point in the season last year, while he’s only allowed 18 this year.

I’m just throwing this out there for those who thought wins meant anything.

Ozzie Guillen is one of them, for sure.

Combine Garland’s awful season with an embarrassing rookie campaign for John Danks and an even more embarrassing season for Jose Contreras, and you see the heart of the White Sox’ troubles.

It’s easy to pin the blame on the bullpen, as I have done before, but what can you really expect from the bullpen when three of your starters have combined to not reach the 7th inning 25 times this season. You heard that correctly: Garland, Contreras and Danks have started 75 games this season and in 25 of them have not made it through the 6th inning.

Admittedly, 13 of those come directly from Danks, whose numbers this season don’t give me a single shred of hope. He doesn’t strike guys out, he walks a lot of hitters, and he has given up … how many home runs? 26?! That’s good for fifth in ALL OF BASEBALL.

Guillen is angry and confused at a pitching staff he praised endlessly not so long ago.

He can be angry all he wants, but this is his fault, too.

Just, out.

46-7.

That was the cumulative score of the four-game series between the White Sox and Red Sox.

Can’t we all just get along?

CBS Sportsline called the White Sox the biggest bust team of the season in their power rankings this week. I’m generally inclined to disagree with statements that say the Sox are a bust, mostly because so many people predicted the Sox to finish in fourth.

But last in the division? Behind the Royals?

Their run differential took a massive hit this weekend, bringing their total to 150 more runs allowed than scored. Their expected win-loss record with such a sum is 50-80, even worse than the Royals expected 60-69.

And through it all, Jerry Reinsdorf defended Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen, telling Mike North the following:

I would give Ozzie an ‘A.’ It’s much harder to manage a team when the players are not performing and keep them playing hard. Most teams that were good teams and had high expectations, when they stink up the place and play poorly, there comes a point where they pack it in.

…

I’ve told Kenny this: I think he had his best offseason this year. His ability to reload the system with arms, I thought it was uncanny the way he pulled it off.

Even the fellas over at the South Side Sox blog asked “What’s worse: the play on the field or the fact that everyone in a decision making position thinks they did/(are still doing) a great job?”

No team spending as much money as the Sox should be this bad. They’re paying people to perform worse than AAA players!

That’s it. No more Sox posts this season!

Just, out.

OK, strike that last comment. I love doing Sox posts — they just make my blood boil.

As I write this, the White Sox are losing 6-2 to the Kansas City Royals.

A loss would put the White Sox in a tie with the Royals for last place in the AL Central.

A lot of people would like to see the White Sox win a few games and look like the “team of old” so that their hopes of a re-emergence in 2008 will be validated.

Not me, though.

No, I want the White Sox to lose today and continue losing. If I had my way, they’d lose every game from here on out. I say this as an ardent White Sox fan.

Am I crazy? Maybe. Just a little. But, if you haven’t already stopped reading, hear me out.

As I’ve said before, the White Sox are being run by folks who think they’ve put together a top-notch ball club — one more than capable of returning to the World Series. They think when they see someone pitch as well as Jose Contreras did in late 2005, early 2006, that they’re seeing what this pitcher is truly capable of.

Well, that may be true sometimes, but with just about every single White Sox player, it’s simply not the case.

If you want to know how good a player is, take a look at his past performance. If you want to project how good a player will be, take a look at his past performance.

Consider this: Entering 2002, Jermaine Dye had a .272 career batting average. Not too shabby, and certainly a player that belongs in the major leagues in one capacity or another.

Dye batted .315 in 2006 and was an integral part of the White Sox beloved 3-4-5 part of the order. Now, random fluctuations in batting average like this happen, mainly due to luck (his OBP in 2006 also jumped about 50 points from his career norm).

It wouldn’t be surprising to see a player have a monster season in maybe his third or fourth season as a big leaguer, a phenomenon known as a breakout season. The past, in such a case, hasn’t given us a large enough sample to rule it out.

But Dye is 33. Players don’t just break out at 33. Some players have monster break outs when they’re 37, but substance abuse cases aside, you just don’t see this happen.

This is the backbone of the arguments people who predicted the Sox to finish in 4th place or worse this year.

And they are the ones who have been validated. Dye is hitting .245 with an OBP of .308. These are exactly the types of numbers you’d expect Dye to post to bring his averages back to the level we’ve come to know.

And with all the regression the Sox are experiencing this season to bring their individual numbers back to their career averages, my only hope is that somebody in the organization — with any amount of power — opens his/her eyes to what is going on.

It clearly didn’t happen before the White Sox signed Jermaine Dye to that 2-year, $22 million deal. Maybe it’ll happen now.

The White Sox are entering the 9th inning now, down 7-3. A loss would bring their record to 56-70.

Here’s hoping they finish 56-106. That should get someone’s — anyone’s! — attention.

Just, out.

A lot happened inside and outside of the respective clubhouses of the White Sox and Cubs yesterday.

If you haven’t heard, Jermaine Dye signed a two-year extension, locking him up through 2009 with a mutual option for 2010.

Kenny Williams and the White Sox seem lost. And a Kenny without a plan is scary.

They’ve re-signed Dye and Mark Buehrle for the next few years and they’ve got one truly good looking prospect in Josh Fields. That’s it. The entire rotation and bullpen is a disaster and, besides Jim Thome and Paul Konerko, the rest of the lineup is miserable. Juan Uribe, Darin Erstad, Scott Podsednik, and Jerry Owens are all extremely bad at baseball.

There’s a few things troubling me even more than the horrible hitting. Obviously, the bullpen is a wreck. I’m aware that good bullpens can come and go even with the same personnel (White Sox 2005 bullpen was stellar, despite a conglomeration of horrible pitchers), but other than Bobby Jenks, they’re just horrible. All of them.

The White Sox starting pitching is equally troublesome. Jose Contreras has returned to his New York Yankee ways. Is it possible Don Cooper didn’t find anything wrong with Contreras’ delivery and he just turned it on for a year? I think so. But who knows.

John Danks is bad. Jon Garland is bad. Surprisingly, Javier Vazquez has been adequate.

But what does Kenny do? He signs two guys to build the team around. But, and this may come as a surprise to him, he has no other pieces! That’s it. It doesn’t matter how good your 3-4-5 is if the rest of the starters have an OBP under .320 and a slugging percentage under .400.

I’ve even heard that the White Sox are somewhat interested in picking up Erstad’s $3.5 million option. God help us. He’s AT BEST a bench warmer all season on just about any other team. Hilariously enough, one radio announcer called Erstad, and I quote, “The type of player a team likes to have.”

Yea, if I were running a team I’d definitely rather have his 0.1 VORP than anyone elses. Oy.

How exactly does one measure how much ‘experience’ and ‘leadership’ a player brings? I’ll tell you how. They lie. There’s no way to determine a player’s influence on another, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to play Erstad over a guy with better numbers, simply because he brings that ‘intangible’ to the table.

Williams doesn’t seem like the man with the plan he once was. I’m cinching up and hunkering down for another 88-year lull.

Just, out.