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Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Chi. Tribune (r.r.): Sox sign Crede to one-year deal

Third baseman Joe Crede and the White Sox agreed Tuesday to a one-year contract worth $2.675 million and avoided salary arbitration. The 27-year-old was third among AL third baseman with a .971 fielding percentage and fifth in home runs with a career-high 22 for the World Series champions last season. He batted .252 with 62 RBIs in 129 games. With Crede signed, the White Sox have no remaining arbitration-eligible players.

See also: MLB.com’s story and the official release from the White Sox.

VG Posted: January 17, 2006 at 08:22 PM | 31 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
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1. Dewey, Steven Wright Wannabe and Soupuss Posted: January 17, 2006 at 08:34 PM (#1825543)

I'm glad the team was able to get something worked out, and this deal isn't that outrageous.

2. Chris Pummer Posted: January 17, 2006 at 08:36 PM (#1825550)

Not a bad payday for a guy who a lot of people wanted to get rid of for Joe Randa or Mike Lowell six months ago.

I think this is a fair deal.

3. The Kids Are Enright (1k5v3L)

Posted: January 17, 2006 at 09:01 PM (#1825619)

Now if Crede would just end the christian rock shtick..

4. Sox Machine Posted: January 17, 2006 at 09:02 PM (#1825621)

That'll ease the pain of being robbed of the ALCS and/or WS MVPs.

5. Matt Clement of Alexandria Posted: January 17, 2006 at 09:07 PM (#1825630)

I've got Crede as an average fielder and a significantly below average hitter. People were raving about his glove in the postseason, so if that's true, he's a solid enough player, but I don't see it in the results.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with a below-average player with a bit of upside at $2.5M, so it's a fine deal for KW and Sox fans. I was just surprised to see how blah Crede's defensive stats were, in my head I thought the glove was what made up for the weak bat.

6. Dewey, Steven Wright Wannabe and Soupuss Posted: January 17, 2006 at 09:16 PM (#1825648)

That'll ease the pain of being robbed of the ALCS and/or WS MVPs.

I just now looked at his stats in the ALCS and World Series -

.333/.351/.750 in 37 plate appearances. And that ignores his glovework and the placement of certain hits. Wow.

7. Dewey, Steven Wright Wannabe and Soupuss Posted: January 17, 2006 at 09:21 PM (#1825656)

I was just surprised to see how blah Crede's defensive stats were, in my head I thought the glove was what made up for the weak bat.

Juan Uribe has terrific range going to his right. Crede played accordingly.

Crede doesn't have great range, but he's got good reflexes, a strong, accurate arm and soft hands.

His real weakness (and this is a serious one, IMO) is a propensity to not get to or drop popups. Someone here (I forget who, sorry) said that he's got depth perception problems that limit him severely on balls hit in the air. Whatever the case, I hold my breath when there's a high popup on the third base side.

8. Urban Faber Posted: January 17, 2006 at 09:35 PM (#1825678)

If it was a combined postseason MVP like the NHL has, Crede would definitely have been it. Konerko had some big hits and so did Dye, and the pitching of course was great but one guy didn't really stand out there.

9. Spivey Posted: January 17, 2006 at 09:35 PM (#1825681)

Crede had an above average ZR last year - his ZR was pretty average the years before - not surprisingly, his UZR was also average those years.

He looked very good to me last year, and ZR reflects that - I'm not sure what his UZR was. I think he was legitimately a good fielder last year, and assuming he can keep that up I think he's better than average as a 3B.

10. VG Posted: January 17, 2006 at 09:41 PM (#1825690)

Juan Uribe has terrific range going to his right. Crede played accordingly.

I agree, but even so, my impression is that Crede does a really good job of cutting off balls to his left that would be tough plays in the hole for Uribe. I don't know if any of the zone-dependent measurements would agree with my eyes, however. Crede definitely is weak on pop-ups.

11. Hang down your head, Tom Foley Posted: January 17, 2006 at 09:44 PM (#1825698)

It seems like we were told for a long time that Crede and Borchard would be the saviors of the franchise. The Sox won the World Series the year those two turned 27, so it worked out just like we expected.

12. Urban Faber Posted: January 17, 2006 at 10:10 PM (#1825777)

And Borchard led the Sox in batting average last year ... if you overlook that he only had a dozen or so ABs.

13. Sox Machine Posted: January 17, 2006 at 10:19 PM (#1825799)

His real weakness (and this is a serious one, IMO) is a propensity to not get to or drop popups. Someone here (I forget who, sorry) said that he's got depth perception problems that limit him severely on balls hit in the air. Whatever the case, I hold my breath when there's a high popup on the third base side.

That's another reason why I heart Juan Uribe, who does a pretty good job of taking charge of balls hit in that triangle. Pods is usually slow to get there, too.

14. Sox Machine Posted: January 17, 2006 at 10:21 PM (#1825808)

15. Urban Faber Posted: January 17, 2006 at 10:24 PM (#1825814)

Yeah, the biggest hit of the season was probably his extra-inning homer against Cleveland for the only win of the home series with two weeks to go. Without that, we might be saying things like "How could they not have fired Guillen yet?"

16. VG Posted: January 17, 2006 at 10:27 PM (#1825824)

Yeah, the biggest hit of the season was probably his extra-inning homer against Cleveland for the only win of the home series with two weeks to go.

I am grinning at the memory, and a little verklempt.

17. Sox Machine Posted: January 17, 2006 at 10:31 PM (#1825831)

That's one time where I automatically recall Hawk's voice and don't cringe.

18. Urban Faber Posted: January 17, 2006 at 10:41 PM (#1825854)

I was in the car for that one, and I will never forget Rooney immediately calling it a home run with no mystery, and Farmer telling everyone "You can come off the ledge now."

19. VG Posted: January 17, 2006 at 10:58 PM (#1825889)

The only sound I heard was the roar of the crowd as I watched it sail over the fence to my right.

Can't wait to see you guys Saturday.

20. SuperGrover Posted: January 18, 2006 at 03:32 AM (#1826239)

$2.675 million? Considering Joe came from here, there's a good chance he know makes more than his entire hometown combined.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer kid or a nicer family. Congrats Joe. Now, how about we work on carrying that late season success over to 2006, umm kay?

21. SuperGrover Posted: January 18, 2006 at 03:38 AM (#1826242)

Dammit. Try this link instead (Crede's place)).

22. SuperGrover Posted: January 18, 2006 at 03:39 AM (#1826243)

WTF!?!? I'm not a smart man.

Last damn try

23. SuperGrover Posted: January 18, 2006 at 03:41 AM (#1826248)

OK, now I KNOW that one looked fine in the preview. For some reason, the code seems to append an extra http:// to the beginning of all anchor tags.

Anyway, go to http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westphalia,_Missouri if you'd like to see facts about Westphalia, Missouri. Or not. I don't care.

24. VG Posted: January 18, 2006 at 04:33 AM (#1826273)

Well, you care a little, SuperGrover, or you wouldn't have tried so hard. Heh, heh.

25. Anthony Giacalone Posted: January 18, 2006 at 08:01 PM (#1827096)

I just now looked at his stats in the ALCS and World Series -

.333/.351/.750 in 37 plate appearances. And that ignores his glovework and the placement of certain hits. Wow.

Don't forget his 18 games in September leading up to the postseason -- .379/.419/.759, six homers in 58 at-bats.

Don't forget his August when the Sox were blowing the big lead (.103/.148/.172) or his May (.155/.211/.286).

This just in . . . Crede's a streaky hitter.

This is a long-standing trend with Crede. Last year he had a .496 OPS in July and a .606 OPS in May. In 2003, he had a .575 OPS in April and a .602 OPS in May. His streakiness is the most likely reason not to expect a break-out from him, IMO.

26. Eraser-X is emphatically dominating teh site!!! Posted: January 18, 2006 at 08:28 PM (#1827156)

If they had lost that game, it would have just been "the battle of the crappy thirdbasemen". Since they won the way they did, it instead became "The greatest game I've ever been in attendance for" (even surpassing the Andy Hawkins no-hitter loss).

27. Anthony Giacalone Posted: January 18, 2006 at 08:56 PM (#1827211)

Just went to mlb.com to watch that game again. Wow! I love that game -- the Sox season in a microcosm.

Hafner's homer was a monster shot. And then A.J. stepping on Boone's back . . .

BTW, did Crede's two homers land in exactly the same spot?

28. Anthony Giacalone Posted: January 19, 2006 at 01:46 AM (#1827799)

See also: MLB.com’s story and the official release from the White Sox.

I hate to be snotty, Vince, but isn't this sentence redundant?

29. VG Posted: January 19, 2006 at 02:04 AM (#1827833)

I hate to be snotty, Vince, but isn't this sentence redundant?

Legitimate question. The release is pretty short, just the barebones details. The MLB.com story includes some quotes from Rick Hahn and more context, such as regarding the relationship between Boras and the White Sox. I probably could have skipped the official release, but it was easy to add it.

For sure, MLB.com reporters have a troublesome set of objectives to fulfill, given that they cover their employer, essentially.

30. Anthony Giacalone Posted: January 19, 2006 at 04:46 AM (#1828053)

I was just kidding, Vince. I thought that it was great that you posted other links. I like the listing of multiple sources trend.

And I agree completely, the job of mlb.com reporter has to be very difficult. Although the "Baltimore Orioles show that they love orphans with holiday fund raiser" stories do make me really crazy.

31. Eraser-X is emphatically dominating teh site!!! Posted: January 19, 2006 at 04:53 AM (#1828063)

BTW, did Crede's two homers land in exactly the same spot?

Yeah, in fact, when he made contact there was this weird deja vu feeling that permeated the ballpark.

His heroism in Sept--Oct was in large part just him hitting that same shot over and over again (off of Kelvim Escobar for instance).

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Chi. Tribune (r.r.): Sox sign Crede to one-year deal

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