posted on Sunday, December 17, 2006 1:00 PM
by
Jim
Toby! How the Hall are ya? (updated)
White Sox sign Toby Hall to a two-year, $3.65 million deal
What surprised me most about this Toby Hall deal is not that the Sox were able to sign him, even though Kenny Williams had really given no indication that they were thinking about him (unlike the Phillies trade). The only links to the Sox were provided by national media sources who saw the opening.
No, what surprised me most is that the Sox got him cheaper than the Cubs signed
Henry Blanco. Blanco signed a
two-year deal with the North siders for $5 million, and the best you can say about Blanco is that he's as good as Hall. That's if you give Blanco extra credit for defense and game-calling, because Hall is the superior hitter. Hall is also three years younger.
Williams tipped to this signing during
his conference call, saying, "It'll be considered a smaller move for the public, but we think that it'll be a big move internally; but more a peripheral kind of thing."
It's not peripheral to
me, Kenny.
Next up: Alexis Rios? With
Vernon Wells staying put for $126 million over seven years, the Toronto Blue Jays now have an extra outfielder.
Rios could be expendable, and it's something to think about. Rios is young (26), sound defensively all over the outfield, and he was on the verge of a true breakout season until a staph infection hampered him for about two months.
The Jays need pitching, since they missed out on both Ted Lilly and Gil Meche. I wouldn't feel comfortable giving up any of the starting five for him, but if they'd accept a prospect/project, a deal could be done.
If nothing else, he's worth a few Duran Duran jokes.