Thursday, December 13, 2007 - Posts

Mitchell! (updated)



While waiting to see what names the Mitchell Report uncovers today, I figured Joe Don Baker could help us bide the time.

Frank Thomas is the only player who could really disappoint me by being on the list.  I'm pretty much resigned to any other possibility.

Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte are expected to be named.  That's a hell of a start.

UPDATE: Report's out.  Jim Parque is named, but well after his Sox career.

Another interesting segment:

Matt Karchner pitched for two teams in Major League Baseball between 1995 and 2000, the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. Members of my investigative staff contacted him as part of our effort to interview former major league players.

Karchner said that during spring training in 1999, he observed two of his Chicago Cubs teammates inject themselves with steroids in an apartment that Karchner was sharing with them. Karchner declined to identify the players. He said that one of the players brought the steroids to the apartment but was afraid of needles and therefore asked the second player to administer the shot. The second player injected the first player with steroids in the buttocks and then injected himself.

Later that season, Karchner was offered steroids by certain of his Cubs teammates. Karchner would not disclose the names of players who offered him steroids, but he said that the conversations he had with them involved the general cost of steroids and discussions of “stacking” to build lean muscle necessary for pitchers. Karchner did not report either of these incidents to anyone at the time.

Unless I'm missing something, the Sox seem to come out largely unscathed.
posted Thursday, December 13, 2007 10:38 AM by Jim with 11 Comments

Love me tender, love me not

The Sox bid farewell to arguably their worst player in the last 40 years by not tendering a contract to Andy Gonzalez.

There's a chance Gonzalez could be a useful player somewhere, but his presence on the 25-man roster was just about toxic.  I'm probably as surprised as anybody not named "Andy Gonzalez," since I thought he would be an OK utility infielder by 2008.

The 40-man roster now stands at 39, which makes their failure to protect Fernando Hernandez in the Rule 5 draft all the more interesting.  There apparently wasn't a scenario in which Gonzalez would've stuck around, so why the Sox prioritized Gonzalez before Hernandez as they did confuses me a little.  Kenny Williams might've figured both of them to be dead meat after adding a free-agent outfielder, but you know what they say about counting chickens.

It's a move that is more likely to be meaningless rather than meaningful, but sometimes these deadline decisions pack a punch.  Take the non-tendering of David Riske last year -- if Riske accepted arbitration, they would've doubled the amount of reliable relievers in their bullpen last year.  If he didn't, they would've had two draft picks.  Grr.

Looks like we're still waiting for official word on the status of Joe Crede, but I imagine they tendered him.  The worst case scenario is that they agree to a contract but can't find a taker in a trade, and now that the $12-15 million earmarked for a new outfielder will be going unused, I think they could absorb the hit.

Either way, I think we can put an end to the rumors circulating around Josh Fields.
posted Thursday, December 13, 2007 1:42 AM by Jim with 7 Comments

Cross Rowand off the list

In 2006, the Cubs finished in last place with 66 wins.  It took a commitment of $300 million toward free agents and a new manager to lift them to 85 wins in baseball's weakest division.

In the White Sox's case this offseason, maybe they didn't need a new manager coming off a 72-win season -- but they would need to spend roughly the same amount in order to propel them over the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers.  One huge splash wasn't going to cut it.

I suppose that's the silver lining after watching Kenny Williams miss out on the top two remaining free agent outfield options -- Kosuke Fukudome and Aaron Rowand -- in a 24-hour period.  The Sox already have too many eight-figure salaries tied up in over-30 ballplayers, and while Fukudome and Rowand would have definitely filled a hole, they are nowhere near sure things.  For all we know, they could've just been another old player paid too much by 2010.

The Cubs made a smart move, regardless of how it turns out.  They filled a hole completely, from skill set to position to handedness, and they can go into Opening Day with confidence without making another move.

The Giants, on the other hand, are in the same position as the Sox -- too many old players, and too many outmakers.  Rowand's now the best position player they have, but with the Rockies, Diamondbacks and Dodgers stacked with young talent and the Padres boasting the best pitching staff in the division, the Giants could actually fall from their win total of 71 last year.

In that way, it's like stopping the last moment to tie your shoe before crossing the street, only to watch a fellow pedestrian get pasted by a bus.

Williams is taking heat, while whitesox.com is in full spin mode, and not without reason -- he talked big and didn't deliver.  However, watching the Giants invest $12 million a year to barely improve should temper the vitriol somewhat in time.

I do feel bad for the season ticketholders, though.  There's a solid defense in that those who pay thousands of dollars should get a chance to watch as many major leaguers on the field as possible.  It's not like they get any benefit from the Sox sporting a lower payroll.
posted Thursday, December 13, 2007 1:18 AM by Jim with 9 Comments