With Juan Uribe apparently staying and only one bullpen spot left, how the White Sox’s Opening Day roster is coming together encourages general manager Ken Williams.
“I evidently feel a lot better about the team than some of the ‘experts’ who are around,” Williams said Friday after manager Ozzie Guillen gave his players a pep talk. “So that’s actually a good thing. Ultimately, I will thank some of you for getting us a little bit of an edge that we haven’t had in the past couple of years.”
Williams expressed his confidence even though the exact roles in the bullpen are undefined, no final decision has been made on a third baseman and a search for a long reliever is ongoing.
Guillen did clarify that Uribe, who was put on waivers earlier this week, will remain with the team.
“Juan is going to be here,” said Guillen, adding the second baseman has “played great” in spring training.
But Guillen hasn’t anointed Uribe as the starter despite his .333 spring average.
The manager already has named Pablo Ozuna as the Sox’s opening day starter against Indians ace C.C. Sabathia.
“We’ll see how [Uribe] plays and hopefully he continues to play the way he is playing right now and we get the best out of him,” Guillen said.
Uribe isn’t known for his plate discipline, but Williams believes the Sox will put up a better battle than last year by working deeper into counts and adjusting to specific situations.
“And if we continue to do that, we’ll have one of the better offenses in the league,” Williams declared.
Williams admitted the success of utility player Alexei Ramirez, who made two impressive plays at second base in the third inning against the Giants, has surprised him.
“We believe in the talent,” Williams said. “But also we get a savvy player who has knowledge of the nuances and can set up a pitcher here and there. Certainly being accomplished at three positions is a bonus.”
Williams isn’t as surprised by the rebirth of outfielder Brian Anderson, based on his observations in the minors and before Anderson suffered a left hand injury.
“It’s the difference between being able to hold onto the bat and get it through the zone,” Williams said. “He still needs to do a better job on the breaking ball on the outer portion of the plate and still remain aggressive to hit the fastball, but all it does is make our ’08 picture a bit better.”
Williams didn’t seem so apprehensive about the possibility of sending Josh Fields to Triple-A Charlotte despite his hitting 23 homers in 100 games last season and playing better this spring than veteran Joe Crede, who will make $5.1 million this year as the Sox attempt to trade him.
“On one hand, not the most ideal situation I want to be in,” Williams said. “But on the other hand, you have two very good players. From a personnel standpoint, it’s an ideal situation. We’re getting closer to having one of those conversations because of the caliber [of the player].”
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mgonzales@tribune.com
