Sorry to anybody who tried getting here all day Saturday and was rebuffed -- the server was down.
Catching up...
Kenny Williams made a nice little deal by
signing Luis Terrero, whose name can be re-arranged to spell "Terrier Soul." He'll be paid $410,000 if he makes the majors, or $78,000 in the minors.
I doubt he'll be anything spectacular, but as a fast, right-handed outfielder who can play all three positions, he fills a hole. When I read about this deal, the first thing I thought of was how he got posterized by Ross Gload. Terrero watched Gload's opposite-field flyball land in the left field stands for a go-ahead, ninth-inning grand slam
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Joe Cowley has a couple interesting items on the Sox in the Sun-Times.
1)
Brian Anderson update: Anderson says he's not worried about the ramification of leaving Venezuela early, and I don't necessarily blame him. He had a lot of stuff he needed to work on, and I don't think he'd jeopardize playing time just because he didn't want to be there. At the same time, Terrero will be of decent value for insurance purposes, if Anderson does have something like a parasite.
2)
A look ahead to 2007: One reason I like Cowley is that he's not afraid to share his feelings, and even if he has some crazy ideas (like trading away two pitchers for no major-league help), he gives us something to think about.
A couple of players who made his ideal Sox 2007 lineup a month ago reappear in this column in his list of "five hitters who might come," and they both played for Texas last year -- Michael Young and Gary Matthews Jr.
We talked about Matthews a little bit on
Crosstown Crossfire, since his agent is pushing him towards both the Sox and Cubs, but my opinion hasn't changed. What's remarkable is that Matthews has built a reputation as a great defensive player on one catch!
Cowley writes about Matthews, "Free agent Gary Matthews Jr. would be the perfect fit for the Sox in
the leadoff spot, not only because of his .371 on-base percentage, but
because of his defense in center field."
Yes, his
spinning, wall-scaling, home-run-robbing grab was remarkable, but little else about his defensive game is.
Zone rating ranked him as the worst regular center fielder, and as far as defensive statistics go, it's probably the most reliable one with which to judge defense. ZR ranks Brian Anderson as moderately above-average, and he did drop in the rankings as the year went on. Meanwhile, Rob Mackowiak was the worst center fielder who played more than 30 games in the position. We'd all agree with that.
Young is the other, and
he actually had a career year with the glove at short. He'd still be a definite defensive downgrade from Juan Uribe, but the Sox could live with it if 2006 were indicative of the future and not just a fluke. But given that the Rangers are losing offense with the departures of Matthews and Carlos Lee, he's not going to come cheap enough.