The more the Mark Teahan-Josh Fields-Chris Getz trade rattled around in my head -- and the longer it went unconfirmed -- I had the thought that Kansas City was getting off too easy.
It's a wash in terms of personnel, but the salary relief is too big too ignore. Teahan is set to make somewhere in the area of $4 million next year, and for that kind of savings, you'd think the Royals would have to throw in an interesting relief arm, at least (if it isn't mandatory for the Sox to acquire a Kansas City reliever by law).
A couple of other items.
*Mark Kotsay will be back next year, officially, signing a one-year, $1.5 million contract. He's not bad in a Ross Gload type of role, but he's another reason why $4 million for Teahan seems to be an awful lot without anything else in return. They're both left-handed, and they're both not suitable to start.
*Scott Podsednik and Ramon Castro officially filed for free agency, and the Sox have 15 days to exclusively negotiate. Kind of a funny paragraph from Scott Merkin:
For the next 15 days, the White Sox have an exclusive negotiating period with their free agents. Podsednik figures to receive an offer from the White Sox, and if the team acquires Teahen and re-signs Podsednik for the top of the lineup, then only upgrading the bullpen would seem to be left on the agenda.
Yup. May as well give the Sox the pennant right then and there.
*Dreams of Bobby Abreu were dashed when he re-signed with the Los Angeles Angels to the tune of two years and $19 million, with a club option for $9 million. It seems like a fair price to me.
*Jon Garland is a free agent again. Be on the lookout for Mary Kate.
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Arizona Fall League:
- Mesa 8, Peoria 1
- Brent Morel went 1-for-3 with a walk.
- C.J. Retherford and Jordan Danks combined to go 0-for-9 with four strikeouts.
- Kyle Bellamy allowed a hit and struck out two in a scoreless inning.
- Justin Cassel and Jacob Rasner were both roughed up.
Larry has a big-assed summary of White Sox winter ball thus far at South Side Sox, so read it.
