Character, the new blueprint for success, or so they say?

[HOOTIE]

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/sportsevent/ ... 1309990001

Kenny said they accepted less talent for character instead. Does this imply CLee was lacking charcater, and Pods has it?

Improving era 1.30 will do wonders. The offense scored 124 fewer runs this year. Kenny said they got blown out alot in 04, that they wanted more oba, less power. The 04 team had a .333 oba average, versus the champs .322. If you have a 4.91 era, you are going to get blown out alot. So why don't they say, in 04 the pitching was bad, in 05 it was great? What they are saying is scoring less runs, having a lower oba, but gaining character was the difference.

Does Manny have great character? He's always disrupting the clubhouse in some way. Yet he got a ring in 04. But now character is the way to go? And how exactly do you know if a guy has good character?

Chicago's post season era was 2.55. Wow. The worst pitcher was at a 3.47 era. Chicago had a .476 slugging% in the playoffs, versus a .425 regular season slugging %. Seems great pitching, and slugging was the key in the post season.

[bronxxbomber]

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/sportsevent/ ... 1309990001

Kenny said they accepted less talent for character instead. Does this imply CLee was lacking charcater, and Pods has it?

Improving era 1.30 will do wonders. The offense scored 124 fewer runs this year. Kenny said they got blown out alot in 04, that they wanted more oba, less power. The 04 team had a .333 oba average, versus the champs .322. If you have a 4.91 era, you are going to get blown out alot. So why don't they say, in 04 the pitching was bad, in 05 it was great? What they are saying is scoring less runs, having a lower oba, but gaining character was the difference.

Does Manny have great character? He's always disrupting the clubhouse in some way. Yet he got a ring in 04. But now character is the way to go? And how exactly do you know if a guy has good character?

Chicago's post season era was 2.55. Wow. The worst pitcher was at a 3.47 era. Chicago had a .476 slugging% in the playoffs, versus a .425 regular season slugging %. Seems great pitching, and slugging was the key in the post season.

well said. it's like the gm forget that the pitching held up most of the season and their bats woke up in the playoffs.

[Half Massed]

Well, he's just fluffing them up. Trying to instill a bit of legend in them and all that. As long as he doesn't say they win due to a hearty breakfast each morning, I'll be ok.

[Niffoc4]

Its funny that Williams would mention character as a plus for this team, because I was just reading about how guys like Bobby Jenks were talented players with character/makeup problems who put it together this year... basically that Williams had placed talent in front of character and it worked...

[stumpak]

It's amazing how this sort of analysis alludes sportwriters and TV talking heads. The real story is not that the Sox discovered some sort of magic formula, the real story is that a team degraded its offense over the offseason, installed an productive offensive philosophy and still managed to win it all because his pitching was so good. No GM is perfect, but I am sick of hearing that the Sox are soem sort of new paradigm when they managed to make their team WORSE than it otherwise would have been over the last off season.

[Big Pimpin]

Its funny that Williams would mention character as a plus for this team, because I was just reading about how guys like Bobby Jenks were talented players with character/makeup problems who put it together this year... basically that Williams had placed talent in front of character and it worked...

I had read something along those lines as well. Guys like Jenks, Freddy, AJP, Everett, they all had character issues, but the White Sox were willing to take the chance on them and it certainly paid off.

It's amazing how this sort of analysis alludes sportwriters and TV talking heads. The real story is not that the Sox discovered some sort of magic formula, the real story is that a team degraded its offense over the offseason, installed an productive offensive philosophy and still managed to win it all because his pitching was so good. No GM is perfect, but I am sick of hearing that the Sox are soem sort of new paradigm when they managed to make their team WORSE than it otherwise would have been over the last off season.

You can argue this all you want, but I see no validity to this contention. You may think they're not as talented, but going from sitting home watching the playoffs to winning the WS proves, without question, that they made their team far better over the last offseason.

[davidmarver]

People are also looking for a way to set their championship team apart from the others. Since numbers won't support that kind of claim, they look for superficial attributes. Kinda lame, but that'd be the explanation.

[bigh0rt]

People are also looking for a way to set their championship team apart from the others. Since numbers won't support that kind of claim, they look for superficial attributes. Kinda lame, but that'd be the explanation.

Strangely, I agree.

[RAmst23]

I think we looking back and studying these White Sox, people will probably come to the conclusion of "How the hell did that happen?" The offense downgraded, and the pitching got better really out of nowhere. Jon Garland posts an ERA of 3.50 with 18 wins, and Contreras pitches 200+ innings and racks up 15 wins. If anyone wants to point at who the important members of the White Sox were this year, it should be these two.

[baseball6791]

People are also looking for a way to set their championship team apart from the others. Since numbers won't support that kind of claim, they look for superficial attributes. Kinda lame, but that'd be the explanation.

Strangely, I agree.

As do I.