SHARK1104 wrote:
I noticed that the White Sox flipflopped Jermaine Dye & Paul Konerko in the batting order last night before their latest loss, a 2-0 shutout to the Anaheim (NOT LOS ANGELES) Angels. Unfortunately, neither Dye nor Konerko had a single hit, as the Sox were lucky to get 3 hits the whole game. Manager Ozzie Guillen hinted something about lineup changes as the Sox face John Lackey tonight & Jon "Five" Garland tomorrow night. In my book, Garland is known to me as "five" because of the number of runs he seemed to give up on average with the Sox before the offseason trade. As for the changes, what does Ozzie do at this point? It's reached a point where the Sox need to call up Jerry Owens from Triple "A" Charlotte right now, even though I've heard he's slumped himself in the minors lately. Any other ideas, Sox fans?
There's not a whole lot you can do with this lineup. I think it's unlikely that Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko or any other hitter in that lineup suddenly hit at a higher average just because they are in a different spot in the lineup.
There are also few lineup changes that they can make.
Quentin has been one of the few steady players in the lineup, and he has locked down LF.
Swisher has been bad, but they aren't going to give up on him.
Dye, Konerko and Thome are all making $10 million plus though I am reaching a point, particularly with Konerko, where they bench him for about a week or so....Maybe it does nothing, maybe it helps, but that's about the one opening I can see to bringing up Jerry Owens, and, at least giving him a chance to play and trying a different approach (moving Swisher to 1B).....The benching can also be considered for Swisher, and I am in no way calling Owens an answer to our offensive woes, just trying a different approach.
2B is the only position where they can clearly try something different. When the team can't hit, can you keep a Juan Uribe in the lineup? Why not give Ozunu extended time.... He also offers speed, but I'm sure he'd get exposed as a backup if given too much time.
I would try something like this in the short-term....
CF Owens
SS Cabrera
DH Thome
LF Quentin
3B Crede
C AJ
RF Dye
1B Swisher/Konerko
2B Ozunu
(again, benching Konerko or Swisher is hardly a long-term solution, just a temporary wakeup call)