The White Sox have officially announced they will be playing a game against the Charlotte Knights a few days prior to the season's start.  Sounds like a good idea in theory.  Get to see some young guys get out there and play in a competitive game against the big league squad.  Let the young pitchers get a shot against the guys who will be going to batter for the Sox this year.  Give the guys who barely missed the team plant one more seed of doubt before the AAA team heads down to Charlotte.  Good idea, right?

No.  This is not a good idea.  Here's why.  Getting a final shot for the minor league team will definitely benefit them, which is good, but what does it give to the Major League team?  What good is it 4 days before the season to have a game in which around 25-30 guys in your organization will HAVE to play against each other.  No sitting guys out so they can rest, no this guy doesn't want to travel, no we used that pitcher before and we want to set some things up.  9 hitters and at least 3 pitchers will have to go out there from the big league team, but for what?  So we can benefit the minor league team?

Call me crazy but I couldn't give a damn about the Charlotte Knights 4 days BEFORE the season.  25 guys made it out of Spring Training on your roster, and now you want them to prove it again?  And you also want the minor league guys to prove again why they didn't make it?

And all of this is before the game is ever played.  What happens if theres a double play ball?  Do you want the minor league runner to take out your major league guy, or do you want him to pull up and concede the double play?  Both are bad, one he could hurt a major league guy, the other he looks like he doesn't care.  Can the minor league pitchers pitch inside?  You don't want to hit a major league guy 4 days before the season.  but you also want to prove to Ozzie and Kenny that you can pitch inside and that you can, and will, get the hitters on the big league team out.

What if you are a minor leaguer?  Wouldn't you want to give it everything you got?  Wouldn't you risk injury in this game to prove first hand that you belong rather than waiting for a meaningless minor league game?  Would you not mind "accidentily" taking out the starting shortstop so that you, the AAA shortstop, is suddenly needed on the major league team?  I don't see why not.

So what's the point of this game?  The guys who make it out of Glendale made it out for a reason, the ones who didn't, didn't for a reason.  So why give them one last shot?  And even if they do make a huge impact, it's probably too late anyway.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment