30 Clubs in 30 Days: A Day or Two Late
By Matt Adams
MLB Network’s 30 Clubs in 30 Days program made their stop in Glendale and profiled our good friends that play for the Chicago White Sox. The show is loose in nature, sending an anchor of former MLB pedigree out to the camp of each major league team to conduct interviews, hang out and try to get a general feel of the team. The feel of the White Sox currently? If we’re to buy what they’re selling, nice and relaxed. With no pressure of course. It began with the obvious, mentioning the new coaching staff and the necessary task of getting Alex Rios, Adam Dunn and Gordon Beckham back on track as well as the departures of Mark Buehrle and Sergio Santos. All things we’ve (most of us, anyway) come to terms with and moved on to seeing how all those things will affect 2012.
So hows about a little recap, hmm?
Paul Konerko defended statements made upon his arrival to camp regarding the low expectations of the team. Getting out there and playing, letting the young guys get shots. If we end up winning, good. If not, no big deal. As was addressed by many when he first spoke this way, it’s not really the way you want to hear your team captain talk, but it’s logical, and it’s real. Paulie also spoke about his desire to stay in a White Sox uniform, mentioning that it’s always been a goal of his to play his career on one team. It’s nice to hear that was a priority for somebody, and that excelling at his job didn’t change his outlook on that too much. It doesn’t hurt that The Chairman has never really been afraid to ok the throwing of money in Paulie’s direction, either.
Gordo Mic’d! On the field keeping loose and gabbing away. Bacon benevolently gets in the face of some teammates and also talks a little trash with himself. We don’t hear a lot of Gordo in a non-interview (twitter notwithstanding) situation so it was nice to see him flash some personality, and brag about his hair. I feel like we haven’t seen muc of that while on the field since his rookie campaign. Though, why was he continuously calling coaches “dad”?
Matt Thornton gave us a little tour of the facility. He declined to offer an explanation of his new unkempt look, but he did manage to catch Chris Sale in the weight room while he toiled with a pair of 5 pound weights. You gotta start somewhere.
John Danks was interviewed; he’s ready to be a leader as an “elder” statesman of the young guys. For as much talk as is being thrown around regarding the youth movement it’s pretty noticeable how aged the team actually is. We’re not an old team top to bottom but old enough to maybe request we slow down on all that “The Kids Can Play” type stuff.
Jake Peavy’s interview could have been from last year, I don’t know. He’s ready to come back after a rough year, after a tough time dealing with injury. It all seemed pretty familiar to me but perhaps I’m wrong. Not to repeat myself from last year but I’m ready for Jake Peavy to come back from a rough year, after a rough time dealing with injury, and win some games.
Adam Dunn, no matter what anybody says, is a great guy. All last year he kept the best possible attitude you could imagine while being the worst player in the game and he gave a nice loose interview talking about…wait for it…moving on to 2012 and forgetting about 2011. He said he wants to play every day and if the season were to start tomorrow, he’d be ready for it. He also joined in the general consensus of teammates and put his stamp of approval on the coaching staff. And apparently he’s willing to pick up the dinner check, so he’s got that going for him. Which is nice.
I haven’t seen a bunch of the episodes yet this year but I noticed that some camps got a visit from Dan Pleasac. We pulled Harold Reynolds, which is a tough break as he can have some issues saying things that make sense. Naturally he’s a big fan of AJ Pierzynski batting in the 2 hole because he can “handle the bat”. The Joker thought he could “handle the bat” too but he met his demise soon after.
The 2012 forecast came via Mr. Reynolds and John Hart, both pretty much seem to share the same feeling that I do. The team can’t be expected to do too much but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that things come together, given the amount of actual talent that resides here. Harold straight out picked the Sox to capture one of the Wild Card spots, and in this particular instance I’m not going to accuse him of spewing nonsense. What can I say, I’m a dreamer.