The 2007 White Sox bullpen suffered its first casualty with
the outrighting of Ryan Bukvich to Charlotte. Bukvich will opt for free agency instead.
No tears will be shed, of course, but it's a little unfair to say anything harsher. He did what he was supposed to do -- pitch well in Charlotte, not so well in Chicago. Unfortunately, a handful of relievers above him didn't get the job done, and thus he was forced into action.
The good news is that, with 35 2/3 innings pitched in 2007, he saw just enough time to be remembered fondly, at least to those of us enamored with obscure references.
(In college, we would pass the time in class by trying to out-think each other with random ballplayers. The scoring was completely subjective, because the name had to be barely recognizable. The desired response: "Who the he- ohhhhhhhhh, that guy!" It might be the one game in which
Junior Felix and
Scott Bankhead are valuable contributors.)
So Bukvich, with a few dozen innings in his only year, shares a wing in the Failed White Sox Scrapheap Reliever Hall of Fame with such luminaries as
Chuck McElroy,
Rick White,
Tim Fortugno and
Rob Dibble. That's not bad company, if you're looking at it right.
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Other moves: Pablo Ozuna and Joe Crede were activated from the 60-day disabled list, leaving the 40-man roster at 39. That opens a spot, which will likely be filled by
Jack Egbert. In the
Arizona Fall League all-star game, Egbert started and threw one scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.
Ryan Sweeney drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the top of the 10th.
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Not to get political here, but
this is important:
Senator Barack Obama makes no bones about it: He is a White Sox fan.
Even in the heart of the World Series-crazed Red Sox nation, he's a White Sox fan. He proclaimed as much before a several-thousand-strong crowd on Boston Common earlier this week. And in a pointed dig at new Red Sox fan Rudy Giuliani, he added, "Unlike some people, I don't change the team I root for depending on where I am."
Don't take that as any sort of endorsement, because I ignore primary season as much as my job allows. I only say this because Dennis DeYoung performed in my area tonight, and I almost felt obliged to defend him in an office conversation, even though I can't stand his voice.
There are only three Sox fans more prominent than Obama (Mayor Daley doesn't count outside of Chicago), and we can't afford to lose one. It's not like I want the Sox to become celebrity darlings, but it'd be nice to be able to rattle off a list of famous Sox fans without "lead singer from Styx" batting cleanup.