As far as I understand it, Scottie Pippen and Frank Thomas are being paid to represent their prospective teams as a public figure, attending games (for free), signing autographs, and occasionally writing something nice about the franchise. I would like to go Billy Beane and take this generic public relations move and turn it into an actual tactical advantage for the team on the field, or court, of play.

The Chicago Bulls are set to embark on a season with a much different and more difficult road in the Eastern Conference. The Milwaukee Bucks are a real threat to take the division, The Boston Celtics refuse to show their collective age, the Orlando Magic are hell bent on winning (luxury tax be damned!), and the Miami Heat were the overwhelming Vegas favorites before they started adding those quality pieces to an already fearsome threesome. How would the Bulls turn a seemingly innocuous position into a game changer?

The Bulls find a way to pry Delonte West from his new team, the Minnesota Timerbwolves, and make him the team ambassador.

This is working under the assumption LeBron can do nothing but shut down whenever he sees the former teammate who broke an unspoken rumor- do not sleep with your friend’s mom. We could send him to big games and let him stalk the King ala Stephen Marbury 2009, lurking in the stands. This might result in some fines, but it would disrupt the Miami Thrice and open up the Eastern Conference to teams without three stars entering their prime.

Imagine buying Bulls tickets to see LeBron choke as West stares at him from courtside seats. The fans would be chanting unmentionable insults and Derrick Rose would drive by Dwayne Wade and dunk on a defensively ineffective Bosh in the circle. It would be great and it would be a divisive move announcing to the NBA the Bulls are ready to win big without Jordan.

Well as painful as those first months were, those memories are distant ones now. The Sox have been the hottest team in baseball for the last month or so as they made their climb atop the AL Central standings, and they have been playing thoroughly entertaining baseball during that stretch (I’ve blocked the last Twins loss out of my memory entirely. Let’s just say, I was not entertained.)

The bats have come alive with Paul Konerko and Alex Rios being the lone constants throughout the season. In almost every game the Sox have a different bat heating up. And in the past month it seems as if every bat in the lineup has been clicking.  Alexei Ramirez (.362 BA in July), Omar Vizquel (.333), Juan Pierre (.305) all have consistently populated the base paths. Carlos Quentin (.305, with 6 of his 11 hits in the month as home runs) when healthy, is terrifying to opposing pitchers. And Andruw Jones, while a shadow of what he once was, still puts together tough at-bats (.350 OBP in July, with a healthy mix of patience and power).

Heck, even Brent Lillibridge has gotten into the act, giving some rest to the Sox infielders and giving Ozzie a good bat off the bench in late innings (.423 BA overall in limited at-bats ).

While all those numbers are encouraging, the best news is that Gordon Beckham appears to have gotten his groove back. He’s hitting .421 for the month of July and it looks like the three games off that Ozzie gave him at the start of July helped him get on track. Since June 22nd, he’s raised his batting average forty-two points and has halved his strikeout rates from previous months. This boost from Ramirez and Beckham means that opposing pitchers have no room to relax in the Sox lineup.

I don’t even know where to start with the Sox pitching staff. From Buehrle and Garcia doing their thing, to Floyd and Danks hitting their strides, it’s been fun to watch. Ozzie seems to have found his guys in the bullpen (I’m still holding out hope that Linebrink finds himself, if not for us, then to be used in a trade). Ignoring the question mark that is Bobby Jenks, the only glaring question is whether Daniel Hudson can fill the 5th starter slot and not deplete the bullpen while he’s at it.

Last night, Hudson proved that he has the stuff to stay in the starting rotation. He started the game with a grotesque 11.25 ERA from his start against the Royals where the Sox bats saved him. And he left the game with 2 outs in the seventh inning with a runner on first, having lowered that ERA to 5.06. He allowed one run early on and then settled down, scattering five hits and striking out six (including all three swinging in the second inning). Those numbers would’ve been even better had he not fallen victim to a tight strike zone. One at-bat, in particular, saw Jack Wilson, the Mariners’ ninth batter, get the full benefit of Hudson’s tiny strike zone. Here’s hoping Hudson can keep it up down the stretch for the Sox.

By Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net,

Say what you want about the 2010 Chicago White Sox, but at least they hold true to form. Everyone talks about how up-and-down they are, how they (warning: a cliché as painful as Jim Belushi coming) “are consistently inconsistent.” But it’s not entirely true. About 20% of the way through the season, they give you exactly what you expect. The Sox look terrible against average and winning teams, but they can handle the bad teams. With one exception:

I’ve organized and broken down the record of the 14-19 White Sox by opponent. It’s listed in order of best winning percentage to worst, with the team’s record in parentheses, followed by the Sox record against each opponent. (As of Tuesday, May 11^th)

Tampa Bay Rays (22-10) 1-2

New York Yankees (21-10) 1-2

Minnesota Twins (21-12) 1-2

Toronto Blue Jays (19-15) 3-5

Texas Rangers (18-14) 1-2

Seattle Mariners (13-19) 3-0

Cleveland Indians (11-18) 1-5

Kansas City Royals (12-21) 2-1

You’ll notice the only exception is the inexplicable and unjustifiable 1-5 against the bottom-feeding Indians. But don’t take my word for how bad the Indians are, watch this video from one of their own announcers. Against losing teams the Sox are 6-6, or 5-1 without the Cleveland anomaly. Versus winning teams they’re 6-11.

There are many reasons for this, but we can save those for future articles. For now, let’s focus on the deep literal hole in the two-hole of the lineup. We all expected Gordon Beckham, one of last year’s top rookies to be “coming out swinging like Tiger Woods’ wife” (Apologies to Ludacris) this season. Well, he’s been swinging; and missing. He’s been more disappointing than both Austin Powers sequels combined.

Manager Ozzie Guillen said he is not a fan of Beckham’s body language after Thursday’s loss. “When you see him put his hands on his hips, it’s not baseball- shaking his head every time he makes out.”

Beckham, who hit .270 with 14 HRs last year, went 0-for-4 with three Ks last night. He added two errors in the field. His batting average is dropping like the readership of that crappy Milwaukee Brewers blog that stupidly picked a fight with us last summer. “Bacon” is now at a pathetic .193 and says his problems are more upstairs than they are in his swing. He added “a lot of this is self-inflicted.”

Maybe he was brought up too soon last year? Maybe he needs to go back to Charlotte to figure it out? He’s striking out a whopping one out of EVERY four at bats!

Most Sox fans are expecting his career to develop like Aimee Teegarden in “Friday Night Lights,” becoming more pleasant to watch and with an increased role every year. Instead his career is going down hill like the lives of every child star from “Different Strokes.”

Whatever the issue is, Bacon needs to quickly become crisper, and produce more meat for this batting order. Right now his presence is somewhat Artie Lange-like, a layer of useless flab weighing down a rather punchless lineup.

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

h/t: Smells Like Mascot

White Sox Jake Peavy; ‘I Don’t Like The Cubs’

Wow, that really gets me upset.  Peavy doesn’t like the Cubs?  I mean that seems pretty inconsistent with everything we heard last season.  What a jackass this guy is, right?  Well before you Cubs fans turn on him (and Sox fans choose to worship him for this nonsense), take a second look.  Here is Peavy’s ACTUAL quote from the article:

”I hate every team we play, that’s all there is to it,” Peavy said. ”From 2 o’clock until 10 or 11 o’clock at night, I don’t want to be friends with the other side. You’re not going to see me have relationships with anybody. Off the field, that’s fine. I’m a firm believer in taking care of that off the field or in the tunnel.

”No, I don’t like the Cubs. I don’t like the Minnesota Twins. Great guys, but I don’t like anybody we’re going to play. I’m a member of the White Sox, and I want to go to battle with the 25 guys we have in here. I don’t care about being friends with anybody else. … Inside the lines, it’s a dog-eat-dog world. I want to win all six games against the Cubs [this season], and it’s as easy as that.”

Gee, that headline was awfully misleading, don’t you think?  In fact you could probably get that quote from most baseball players about every other team but their own.  If my team’s players didn’t have that attitude I would be upset.  Must have been a slow news day.

Baseball in Chicago is back.  Get ready to be mislead and riled up for no reason all summer by “newsmen” looking for a story.

Thanks to Adam Z. who not only tipped me off to this goofy video, but also created it.

Every spring the city of Chicago gets a jolt of life when the Cubs and White Sox rivalry is renewed. This little hate-fest typically begins simmering around the time pitchers and a catcher report for spring training and is boiling over by the first Red Line Series.

This is a great rivalry since both sides see little common ground. Cubs fans cannot stand Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and Sox fans cringe every time Ron Santo’s voice graces the radio. Cubs fans think the White Sox do not have any fans and White Sox fans do not think the Cubs have any fans who actually know what the score is. Cubs fans think the fans the Sox have are all white trash. Sox fans who have been to Wrigleyville think Cubs fans must have blacked out everything that happened after the game when they make those kinds of accusations.

The one thing we both have common is that we both have fiery managers. Whether you are heading to the 35^th Street Red Line stop with White Sox tickets or the Addison Street Red Line stop with Cubs tickets, you are equally likely to see the home team’s manager storm the field, berate the umpire, and quickly be ejected from the game. The same goes for post game interviews, depending on how the team played, you are equally likely to see the manager screaming obscenities at reporters with the gall to ask what went wrong.

In the spirit of these hot-headed managers and the eventful 2009 Celebrity Death Watch, I think somebody or at least some bar should start a Chicago Managerial Cardiac Attack Watch.

Let’s look at the tale of the tape.

Age:

Lou Piniella: 66

Ozzie Guillen: 46

Temper:

Lou Piniella: Old School

Ozzie Guillen: Latin Fever

Argument Style:

Lou Piniella: Encroach umpires personal space with gut and kick dirt

Ozzie Guillen: Stand next to umpire, yell in ear, and flail arms

Post Game Breaking Point:

Lou Piniella: Face goes from simply flustered to deep red

Ozzie Guillen: English becomes increasingly indiscernible apart from profanity

Saving Grace:

Lou Piniella: No more Milton Bradley

Ozzie Guillen: Twitter

going to eat in half hour why dye no have a job ?

3 day of Spring Training and im already boreddddddd

what I saw on the field today was a lot of grass…

This post is not a commentary on how good of a coach Ozzie or anyone else is, its just a look at the difference in personalities between the two Chicago managers.  Take a look at Lou Piniella’s hilarious reaction to the news that Ozzie is on Twitter:

“What is Twitter?” Piniella said Wednesday.

Informed that it was a social media outlet that gives users an opportunity to convey their thoughts in a sentence or two, the Cubs manager said: “Really? Ozzie, he needs more space than that.”

“First of all, I don’t know how to Twitter,” he said. “And second of all, I’m not going to learn how to Twitter.”

“But I’m really not a Facebook or Twitter guy,” he said. “I’m a prime-rib-and-baked-potato guy. I hate to say that, but it’s true.”

Oh Lou, your folksy one-liners always amuse us.  So Lou wants to have a prime rib dinner while Ozzie would rather broadcast his nonsense to the whole world to try to get more attention.  Okay Sox fans, this is your cue to flip out in the comments.

On another note, this clip comes from a new website over at the Chicago Now network.  The blog, titled Chicago Sports Mob, has a noble goal.  Written by Matt of Zoner Sports fame, the purpose of the site is to bring other Chicago Blogs to the eyes and fingertips of a larger audience.  Maybe NQTC will be featured there if we are lucky, but either way you should stop by the new site and check it out.

The MLB free agent market this off-season is weak at best, and the White Sox and Cubs are in desperate need for a left handed bat.  What, the three headed monster of Carlos Quentin, Alex Rios, and Andruw Jones isn’t intimidating?  And I thought everyone was content with the class, power, and conistency of Milton Bradley and Kosuke?

Maybe Kenny Williams and Jim Hendry are looking in all the wrong places.  And it’s about time there is a Slovakian in the big leagues.  Enjoy.

So, which club house would Hossa fit in more with?  My bet is that he and Mark Buehrle would hit it off great and it would be fun hearing Ozzie say Hossa or Slovakia.  However, the Cubs may make more sense, since Hossa’s team has lost in the Stanley Cups Finals the last two years, and with this being the Cubs year, the third time may be the charm for Hossa, and in this case a Cubs World Series.

h/t: TPS

When I initially heard about the trade, I figured it was a good trade for two reasons: 1) Josh Fields did not have a spot on this team as the most recent winner of the annual Brian Anderson/Joe Borchard award; and 2) while Chris Getz performed only a little bit off the pace of AL Rookie of the Year, Gordon Beckham, the Sox were smart to sell high on the 26 year old who had outperformed most expectations for him.

Remember at the beginning of 2009, Brent Lillibridge and Jayson Nix were expected to play over Getz. Ignoring Lillibridge’s lilliputian production, Nix remains and could serve the same role as last year (slugging utility man) or could start at 3B if Teahen stays in the outfield.

What’s that? Kenny Williams announced Teahen will start at 3B and Gordon Beckham will move to 2B?  Well Crap… as smart as Kenny is, this is a stupid announcement. I’m sure that we’ll hear that he wanted to make this announcement early so that the wunderkind Beckham could spend the entire offseason perfecting the pivot turning the double play from the 2B position. But is this necessary?  No!

The Sox had a Rookie of the Year runner-up at 2B in 2008. That same individual, who goes by Alexei Ramirez or “You ‘Effing Moron” depending on your mood, was pretty horrible at SS in 2009.  With 75 more total chances in 2009 at SS than at 2B during his rookie year, Ramirez’ error total rose from 11 to 20 total errors. We should have seen this coming as (in an admittedly small sample size) he couldn’t go 24 total chances at SS in 2008 with committing an error. This pace would’ve put him at 23 errors if he played SS full-time in 2008.

So considering that one of the major failings of the White Sox team in 2009 was their collective team defense, wouldn’t the organization want to put the players in their best natural positions? I say make it official: Ramirez back to 2B, slide Beckham to SS (his college position, not his “I played it once in the Cape Cod League position) and then tell newbie Mark Teahen that he’ll play at the hot corner or in RF depending on what they can muster in free agency. While Jermaine Dye is likely out, the Sox could always resign him for cheap and hope he bounces back like he did in 2008 from a similar slump in 2007.

Hell, let’s see if Kenny aims for a Jason Bay or Matt Holliday in free agency, although with their new championship, the Yankees will likely sign them both to 8-figure/year salaries.

h/t: Luol’s Dong

THE BEST CUBS

Player	Position	WPA
Derrek Lee	1B	3.57
Angel Guzman	P	2.15
Ted Lilly	P	1.86

THE WORST CUBS

Player	Position	WPA
Geovany Soto	C	-0.95
Ryan Theriot	SS	-1.19
Mike Fontenot	2B/3B	-1.82

THE BEST SOX

Player	Position	WPA
Matt Thorntnon	P	2.85
Gavin Floyd	P	2
Jim Thome	DH	1.9

THE WORST SOX

Player	Position	WPA
Alex Rios	OF	-1.81
Carlos Quentin	OF	-2.45
Jermaine Dye	OF	-3.14

Quick note: No Milton Bradley. But more importantly, Theriot’s value may be far lower than we thought. His light-hitting, shaky patience at the plate, and terrible baserunning may be actually costing the team. And give Angel Guzman credit for a great season.

As for the Sox, the three worst players on the team might be there starting outfield next season. Ouch. A strange thing on both is how much of a factor middle-relievers seem to be on both sides of town. Both Thornton and Guzman were excellent this season, but interestingly enough they were extremely value.

According to D4L, Ozzie put on quite the show:

He got ejected in the 9th inning when he argued a ball call that looked like a sure strike three on Adam Everett.  After the ejection, Guillen proceeded to throw his gum in the ump’s direction and tell him that he was an a-hole, repeatedly, before retiring to the clubby.

His days have got to be coming to a close, but in the meantime we have to make sure to enjoy his lovable managerial style.