Will Ohman, the latest of Chicago White Sox GM Kenny Williams’ off-season acquisitions, likely will reliably do what he’s paid for: get those one or two lefty hitters out in the seventh or eighth innings, as he’s done for the most part since 2005 for the Cubs, Braves, Dodgers, Orioles and Marlins.
No more, no less. Ohman’s the type of pitcher teams pick up at a middle-level salary to stick around a season before he moves on, as priorities change and someone younger and cheaper stands to take his place. With the White Sox, it’s hoped his arrival to bolster the southpaw contingent in the bullpen won’t persuade manager Ozzie Guillen to concoct an ill-advised move of Matt Thornton to closer and Chris Sale into the starting rotation. Sale as closer, Thornton as setup man and Ohman as lefty specialist provide the right kind of balance.
But at some point in 2011, Ohman likely will have to put closure on a troubled incident from his Chicago past. The after-effects did not linger because he was moved out of the Cubs organization after the 2007 to take a grand tour of baseball, including Camden Yards, where ex-Cubs president Andy MacPhail has imported a long line of his favored former players, most of them under-achievers, to establish a kind of Wrigley Field East.
In the middle of the 2007 season, Ohman had a decline of performance under new Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who busied himself tinkering with lineups and his bullpen to see who merited keeping and who to exile. By August Ohman was ticketed for Triple-A Iowa. But with the demotion looming, Ohman claimed he had an arm ailment for about 2 1/2 months about which Cubs medical personnel knew about — and kept from Piniella so he could continue pitching.
Ohman turned him into a pariah in the clubhouse, as his comments questioned the credibility of much-admired trainer Mark O’Neal, among others. One Cub walked up to a group of reporters at Coors Field in Denver to claim Ohman never showed up early to have O’Neal and his staff work on his arm. Even while Ohman was still a Cub, another player referred to him as “our former left hander.”
Before the incident, Ohman was one of the more lively Cubs, quotable and opinionated, and the butt of a tremendous Ryan Dempster spring-training prank in which all the wheels of Ohman’s SUV were removed and stashed in different parts of HoHoKam Park in Mesa. He got chippy with media a couple of times, but otherwise seemed a decent fellow.
Obviously, Ohman’s accusations did not follow him elsewhere or cause him to be blackballed. Baseball’s very forgiving when it comes to putting the need for talent over the necessity to dampen down controversy or deal with tough issues head-on. And, as he’s proved for four teams since he was cast out of Cubdom, Ohman will earn his paycheck.
But now he’s come almost full circle, to within eight miles of the origin of headlines he surely did not want in 2007. At some point four seasons later, he’ll need to clear the air, close the book and move on with his career, as is always done in baseball.
Original Story:
http://www.whitesoxrant.com/2011/01/w...
