Run Up The White Flag! (Trib Rxns 9/2)

Q: What do you call a dick with no foresight?

A: Rick Morrissey.

In his latest contribution to the cess pool of bad sports writing, Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey has accused White Sox GM Kenny Williams of "running with (his) tail between (his) legs", and of being a "traitor."

Morrissey also likens Monday's trades of Thome and Contreras to the now-infamous 1997 "White Flag Trade", where the Sox traded away 3 good pitchers for 6 minor league prospects at 3.5 games out of first place on July 31 of that year. My question to Rick Morrissey is "have you been watching the last 20 games, at all?" This is the worst fielding team that I have ever seen. They're not coming back. They aren't hitting. They aren't doing anything to back up quality starts from their pitching staff. John Danks, going into last night's game, hadn't lost in 5 starts... but he hadn't won a game either.

Where do you think that the Peavy & Rios money comes from? Do you honestly think that Sox fans, who actually take pride in NOT showing up to support shitty teams, are going to come out in record numbers after this latest road swing? Kenny had no choice but to offload as much money as he could. In all likelihood, Thome wasn't being brought back next year... Contreras definitely wasn't. So where in this do you see anything remotely resembling a "white flag"? It's simple economics.

For the record, they're holding a poll on the Tribune's website asking the question "Does Monday's trade of Jim Thome and Jose Contreras compare to the 1997 White Flag trade when the Sox traded Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin and Roberto Hernandez to the Giants?" The poll results: 5618 responses- 85.3% say "No", 14.7% vote "Yes". Clearly, I'm not the only baseball fan who thinks that Rick Morrissey is full of shit.

Even Phil "Exposed Dong" Rogers got in on the act yesterday, questioning Williams' off season moves and speculating the effect that they'd have had on this year's White Sox:

"But where would they be if they had 11 wins from Javier Vazquez, 22 home runs from Nick Swisher or hundreds of grounders fielded cleanly by Orlando Cabrera, Joe Crede or Juan Uribe? Those were the veterans Williams discarded after last season, when he quietly cut the payroll by about $25 million." Okay. Let's break this little gem down.

1. After watching Vazquez crap his own pants in seemingly every outing at the tail end of last year, there's no way that the Sox would/could bring him back. The guy was jokingly nicknamed "Big Game Javy" specifically because he sucked in the clutch, and proved it in the playoffs last year. The public outcry to get Javy out of a Sox uniform, one which I'll stand by and say was extremely justified, was far too loud for Kenny to ignore; I'm sure that Kenny even agreed. The returns weren't even half bad- we got a gem of a catching prospect (Tyler Flowers) and a touted, albeit serviceable in reality, middle infielder (Brent Lillibridge) for Vazquez.
   
2. Nick Swisher? He actually pouted about lack of playing time when they brought in Griffey Jr. last year. A grown-ass man, pouting like it's the Little League World Series. Pouting while sucking shit at a .219 clip. Stretch, Phil Rogers. Gitonback.
   
3. Orlando Cabrera called the press box in Toronto last year from his cell phone, in the dugout, to command the official game scorer to reverse his decision on an error. Remember when Jermaine Dye almost ripped Cabrera's face off with his bare hands? Remember when Cabrera played for 6 different teams in the last 6 years, because his teammates generally seem to think he's an asshole? I sure do.
4. Joe Crede. I love Joe Crede. However, Joe Crede's back is totally screwed, and he's played in 88 games this year. Phil? Hello?
5. You're pining after Juan fucking Uribe? Seriously?

I think that I subscribe to the Tribune because, at some base level, I must enjoy the anguish of reading what these idiots have to say. I can hardly wait to read the workmanship surrounding the Cubs/Sox game tomorrow.