By Ricky O’Donnell
Few Sox players over the years have drawn more admiration from broadcaster Hawk Harrelson than Joe Crede. “Mike Schmidt, Brooks Robinson, those guys are great,” Hawk (probably) once said. “But I’ll tell you what, gimme Joe Crede at third base any day of the week”.
Remember, Harrelson is also the guy who, as Sox general manager, traded Sammy Sosa to the Cubs for George Bell [It was Ron Schueler, not Harrelson. Sorry.]. But Harrelson isn’t the only one who appreciates Crede work at third base. He’s also one of the Sox’s true fan favorites. Crede’s play in October 2005 might have something to do with that.
After a stellar 2006, the best season of his career, Crede started to slip last season. He hit just .216 with only four home runs in 47 games before a back injury sidelined him for the rest of the year. Top prospect Josh Fields was called up and proved all the hype surrounding him was warranted. Fields clubbed 23 home runs in just 100 games, and looked to be the best Sox prospect since Magglio Ordonez. While Fields wasn’t nearly as glove-savvy as Crede, fans and management seemed to realize that 24-year old power-hitting third basemen don’t come along every day, especially not in the Sox normally barren farm system.
To clear a spot for Fields – and because his contract runs out after this season and he’s represented by agent Scott Boras – the Sox tried desperately to trade Crede throughout spring training. When Williams couldn’t find equal value, he had to make one of the hardest decisions of his career: keep Crede as the starting third basemen and send Fields down to AAA Charlotte.
Most felt it would only be a matter of time before Fields got called up and claimed his throne as the Sox third baseman of the present and future. But if Crede continues to play like he has been the first 11 games, Fields may just stay in the minors all season.
While drawing full conclusions from such a small sample size is dangerous, Crede has been nothing short of phenomenal thus far in 2008. He clubbed two grand slams this week, one that proved to be the game-winner Monday against the Twins, and now leads the Sox in RBI, homers, and total bases. While he still doesn’t take as many walks as some would like, Crede continues to be one of the premier defensive third basemen in baseball. Even if the Sox lose him next year with only a few draft picks coming as compensation, it seems that Williams has made the right call, at least so far.
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Week in Review: The Tigers will snap out of this early season funk eventually, but it’s nice the Sox already got to play them six times while they’re still in it. The Sox finished the week 3-2 after taking two of three games from Detroit to close out the week.
Week in Preview: Oakland heads to town on Monday as Nick Swisher meets his former team for the first time since being traded to Chicago this winter. Road trips to Baltimore and Tampa Bay follow. Don’t call them the Devil Rays either, it’ll cost you five bucks.
Turn on the Bright Lights: Gavin Floyd strikes The Sox Report as the type of guy that would be more interested in listening to Interpol than throwing a no-hitter. Even so, Floyd, in the best outing of his pro career, held the Tigers without a hit on Saturday for more than seven innings in leading the Sox to a 7-0 victory.
D-Train D-Railed: The real reason why the Sox didn’t sweep the Tigers this week? Dontrelle Willis got hurt. Before injuring himself by slipping on the mound while delivering a pitch, the Tigers starter was off to a horrendous first inning on Friday. Willis walked the first two Sox batters and then threw a wild pitch before leaving the game. Some think Willis’ performance has slipped this season because he’s put on extra weight. Since we don’t think he’s taking the same stuff that Gary Sheffield is taking, maybe he should lay off the same food that Todd Jones is eating.
Silver Lining of the Week: Carlos Quentin isn’t particularly gritty or grindy, more just plain good. That’s why it was unusual to see manager Ozzie Guillen come to his senses and hit Quentin, a slower corner outfielder with a propensity to get on base, in the leadoff hole on Friday with Swisher out. While the Sox lost, Quentin wasn’t the problem. He reached base three times, getting a hit, a walk, and being hit by a pitch.
Immortalized: The White Sox unveiled a new monument on Friday, a tribute to the 2005 World Series champs. Four players are depicted in bronze statues for their contributions during those playoffs: Paul Konerko, Orlando Hernandez, Juan Uribe, and Joe Crede. And yes, it’s official, Uribe is now the worst athlete of all-time to ever be immortalized in with a statue. Somewhere, Jud Buechler is wondering when his statue is coming.
That’s Ozzie: “I don’t like that guy behind the plate. And I’m going to let him know. He don’t like me, I don’t like him. One reason is, if you don’t like me as a man and what I do, I respect that. But if you don’t like me, and all of a sudden you’re going to take it out on my players, you’re wrong. That’s unprofessional. And I just let him know I don’t like him the first day I see him, and I think he feels the same way about me. And we have to move on. Every time he’s behind the plate, we might have a problem. We might. We have. The last couple times behind the plate, we have a problem. And he tried to be smart with me, and I do what I have to do and he does what he has to do. And I got a good sleep last night.”
Beachwood Sabermetrics: A complex algorithm performed by the White Sox Report staff using all historical data made available by Major League Baseball has determined Ozzie may need to put a little more money into that “MLB fines” account.
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Ricky O’Donnell is the proprietor of Tremendous Upside Potential.
Posted on April 14, 2008