Snobs vs. Slobs

With the Sox pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training this weekend, I figured I would tie up some loose ends that have occured over the last couple of weeks. Nothin worthy of a piece in itself, but good for a short (very short) notes post.

The Sox signed the son of a Hall of Famer
Eduardo Perez’ father is one of the more shady HOF selections, though Tony Perez certainly belongs in the Hall of Very Good. Eduardo will never even come close to the Hall of Very Good. The Sox signed him to a minor league deal in the hopes that he can work into the first base rotation. Why? I have no idea. Maybe he can bring that magic that only a former Devil Ray can provide. His career stats kind of stink, as he is a .247 hitter with 79 homers over 13 seasons. On the upside, he has a career SLG over .500 against lefties. Did I mention that he’s 39? Ugh.

Ken Harrelson is up for the Ford Frick award
Seriously. He also won some award from Comcast or some other such dopes. I can’t even begin to tell you how stupid this is. I don’t know what kind of photos he has of Reinsdorf, but apparently longevity is the only thing you need to have in order ot be nominated for what is a very high honor. If there is any justice, Harrelson won’t make it. Heave the Hawk, please.

Jose Contreras will start the opener
Not a huge surprise, as Contreras is looked at as more of a “big game pitcher” (whatever that means) than Mark Buehrle. Buehrle has started the last five Sox openers. The bigger issue is that Don Cooper and Ozzie Guillen want to drop Buehrle to the no. 3 slot in the rotation, behind Jon Garland. Cooper explains:

‘’Ozzie gave this to me a while ago,’’ pitching coach Don Cooper said of the rotation order Tuesday. ‘’I have everything mapped out, working backward from the regular season to spring training and as it stands right now it’s Jose Contreras, Jon Garland, Buehrle, Javier Vazquez and then whoever steps up and grabs that No. 5 spot.’‘

All this does is hammer down Buehrle’s exit at the end of the 2007 season. Williams and Guillen don’t really mess around if they don’t like a guy, which is probably not the way to run a baseball team. Goodwill is pretty important with the fans and the fact that no one seems to want Buehrle within the organization (and, for all his faults, Buehrle has been a model player who gives lots of mostly quality innings) does not bode well. Of course, if the team makes the playoffs, none of this matters.

A.J. Pierzynski loves wresting and Springer
I am not a real fan of either of these things, but I do find Jerry Springer to be a fun guy to have around in America. He’s pretty ridiculous and no matter the validity of his guest, they’re almost always entertaining. A.J. apparently feels similar to me or has some love for Springer’s show, as he was a guest bouncer about a month back. If nothing, that means that A.J. spends some time in Chicago in the offseason. (The photo is here. Thank you, Deadspin.)

Similarly (in there there is also fakeness and fighting) A.J. was involved in some wrestling thing over last weekend. I can’t find any actual writeups on the match which he managed (against David Eckstein, no less!), but it as just a taping. As soon as the thing is shown on TV, I’m sure we’ll hear all about it.

Jim Thome went to the Oprah show
Peoria native Jim Thome went a different route vis a vis daytime TV, in that he was an audience member on the Oprah Winfrey show (I didn’t watch the whole show, so all my knowledge is coming from, again, Deadspin. Thanks, Will.). Dr. Oz (Who, apparently, isn’t believable as a doctor without wearing srubs) is talking about vaginas and Oprah makes some jokes and throws it to Thome. Needless to say, he looks quite uncomfortable. His choice quote “I’m just trying to be low-key here.”