It seems to me that just about every year of late one of the tallest midgets manages to win themselves a pennant or a championship. Phillies, Rockies, Cardinals, the AL Central wasn't considered to be any great shakes in '05 when the Sox won the title.

I'm definitely eating shit for running my mouth in the fantasy league.

I'm not ready to concede that this is a shitty division just yet. Liriano and Slowey have laid 4 eggs so far, and the Twins were lucky enough to salvage one of Slowey's starts before getting blanked when Perkins was unbelievable. And hey, they're still hitting .309 w/RISP. Unsustainable, Schmunsustainable!

The front end of the Sox bullpen is strong again. But with the back end, I have a feeling many 2 run deficits will get blown open like on Friday night until changes are made.

Cleveland does in fact appear to be in trouble. As I've said before, I think Cliff Lee is hurt and not being forthcoming about it. Carmona could still turn it around, but my confidence isn't high for Pavano.

Detroit will lose a lot of games 10-6.

KC might possibly have the AL Central's most dominant pitcher this year in Zach Grienke. And they'll keep a lot of leads with Cruz and Soria in the bullpen.


We'll see. The Central isn't strong, but I'm not high on the West either.

Holy Crap! This is strange.

EDIT: Also, Jim Edmonds is still on his couch.

I saw him play 3 games in spring training. It's also arguably a small sample size, but I saw him make 3 errors in one game. On one play, the ball went right past his left shoulder and he didn't even bother to stick a glove out. Who knows if he could've made the play or not, but he didn't even make an effort. If you're playing 3rd base, and you're trying to fill Joe Crede's shoes, you need to make a better effort than that. Or even, just make an effort at all.
At the plate, his timing was waaaay off. Now it looks like that part has gotten a little better, but I'm still suspicious. I guess time will tell, but I was most underwhelmed with what I saw in March.

And the Konerko/Dye HR's are great. What a cool thing.

That's what they are going to get...a little help. If they are lucky.

The 2008 Philles were not underdogs, but yeah, there have been a lot of upsets in the past 15 years. But the wild card system is so young. I think if you look back at 100 years in 2095 you'll see that by and large the better teams are more likely to win. It will just take a lot of postseasons to get a large enough amount of data to cancel out the randomness of the small sample size inherent in the playoffs.

My instinct is that there is a solid correlation between regular season winning record and postseason results through the history of baseball. But that's just a guess, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong. There's probably a Hardball Times article about it or something.


It's inarguably a small sample size, but those are both legitimate concerns. I'm just saying the larger sample size of his minor league career, 2007, and the promising signs from the 2009 season so far suggest an overall valuable player. Over the course of the season I predict something like .265/.345/.480 with 18-20 HR and mildly subpar defense. Value-wise, not to different from non-2006 Joe Crede. I think he has room to grow in the future if he can improve his approach against right-handed pitchers. Porcello will be a real test for him because that's the type of pitcher he does not historically do well against.

FWIW, I just scanned through the standings and World Series results since 1995. Only the 98 Yankees and the 05 White Sox are the winningest teams of their year to win a championship.

There's probably a stat and I'm not even gonna make an attempt because it's just not who I am but, I'll bet there'd be a stat as far as which division victimized the rest of the league the worst throughout the season and how often the champs and or wild card from said division end up winning it all.

Gordon Beckham is hitting .368/.442/.632 in Birmingham. Nice. If he keeps it up he could be playing major league baseball in 2010.

In the best case scenario, Beckham at SS, Getz at 2B, and Ramirez in CF would be a fantastic use of the up-the-middle spots for 2010. But I think the team will be reluctant to convert Ramirez to a CF, since they consider SS to be his "natural" position. So less exciting but probably more likely are a few other scenarios depending on other factors.

If Viciendo and Allen are not ready in 2010 but Beckham is, the team could use Thome's departure as an opportunity to pair Fields and Konerko at DH/1B and play Beckham at 3B. If Viciendo is ready in 2010 and the current infielders all still deserve starting gigs, the infield could become pretty crowded and it might force the team to trade someone. That's pretty unlikely though; if there are four to five positions available between Viciendo, Fields, Ramirez, Beckham, Getz, and Allen, one to three of them are likely to underperform, get injured, etc.

Regardless this team could be drastically different next year. I wouldn't be surprised if they offered Dye a market-appropriate one-year deal for 2010, as most of the club's outfield prospects are still a few years away. But it will be pretty difficult to keep Thome if the infield positions continue to stack up like they could and it looks like the DH spot will belong to one of Konerko/Viciendo/Fields.


Not even the Sox — the Cardinals won 100 games to Chicago's 99 in 2005. But regardless, you need an enormous sample size to find the correlation. All I'm saying is that I intuitively believe it's there and all else being equal I would take a division-winning team with a 90-72 record over an 89-73 wild card team any day.

Last night's Sox "game" (if you can even call it that) was the worst game of baseball I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of baseball. The Sox were only credited with 3 errors I think, but there were at least 6. Alexei Ramirez might need to sit on the bench for a couple games. I like the kid and all, but last night he looked like a Little Leaguer playing pro ball.


It was Mayor Daley's 67th birthday, and he was in a suite at the ballpark last night. His cake had the entire skyline of the city on it in fondant. It looked super cool, and it was delicious. Dick Durbin was at the party too. I had no idea he was a "little person." I could've rested my beer on his head he's so short.

Tough loss, yesterday.
I despise the Blue Jays. Losing 2 of 3 to them is very disapointing, I don't care if Toronto is off to a good start.

How can you hate the Blue Jays?

Playoffs. 1993.

Losing two of three was unfortunate, but it was great to see Conteras go round for round with Roy Halladay. An encouraging sign even if it was a loss.


Considering what happened Saturday I think I'm OK with the decision to keep playing him. He's been a plus defensive shortstop so far, so Friday's game seems more like an anomaly. I'm more concerned about his plate discipline, although he is at least so far walking twice as much as last year.

The main thing I'm not following about the Jays is why they have 4 lefty relievers in the AL East. Sure the Rays are relatively left-handed, but they do have Pat Burrell, Evan Longoria, BJ Upton, and Dioner Navarro. The Red Sox are predominantly right-handed on purpose because of the Green Monster. The Yankees with Jeter, A-Rod, Teixiera, Posada, and I guess now Swisher aren't exactly neutralized with lefties either.

Does Fiat Records still post here? I'd like an explanation.

Do they have a choice? I assume when you're so dragged down by injuries that you have Burres starting, you don't really have the luxury to play matchups.

I think with the supply-heavy reliever market this year, they had options. Injuries or not, their make-up on the back-end has to be on purpose.

I've also noticed Seattle went by way of the old Anaheim way until Fuentes arrived and has an all right-handed bullpen.

I guess we can officially say this is a lost season. I don't know where to start: the bats are dormant, the relief core is shit & the starters' arms are going to be like jello by the middle of the season. Well Cub fans, you can gloat now if you want. I decided I don't wanna be a White Sox fan anymore anyway, just about every White Sox fan I've run into up here in Lake County are boorish homophobes. One guy I drink with even equates fans who go to Wrigley Field as being faggot lovers.

Yeah, but this division is really, really, REALLY bad this year. If .500 is within reach, the season is not lost.

overstatement of the year...

do the sox suck...yes

did they suck this time last year....yes

does the al central suck...yes

as long as the sox can stay at .500 through the all star break well be ok...now us doing any damage in the playoffs- thats a different question all together

I agree that it looks like it is going to be a long summer on the South Side. I wasn't really expecting much from the Sox this season and they are meeting that expectation a little too well.

I'm not giving up on being a Sox fan though. It isn't like they've gone a hundred years without winning a World Series.

...oh, and I forgot to mention having a redneck dickwad as an announcer who butchers the English language at every turn.

CJ Retherford is destroying AA right now. I wonder if he can work himself into the 2010 or 2011 major league picture.

Would be a fun time to live in Birmingham now. That team has an excellent lineup.


Dotel, Linebrink, Thornton, Jenks, and Broadway all have sub-3 ERAs. Carrasco has a 3 ERA and has been a very useful swingman. Even Gobble was good in one of the two games he's pitched so far. How is that "shit"?


If a month and a half of bad performance and some homophobic fans are enough to sour you on the team, you probably weren't a good match for this team... or any other professional sports team.

what did you think of Harry Carry?

Harry was great until he got sick.

what do you folks think about the Peavy rumors floating around on mlbtraderumors.com this morning?
seem to have come out of left field and don't see how that would make sense for the sox.

any word on who the Sox would be giving up for Peavy?

Poreda, Beckham, Alexei, Flowers
are the name that are coming up but I guess Beckham can't be traded.
I doubt it will happen anyway. Peavy doesn't want to pitch for Ozzie, the AL, or non-contenders.

more than likely this would have to involve lance broadway...not worth it for a team that’s gonna be gutted after thomes contract is up…id say stick it out the next two years with a mediocre to sub-par ball club…the sox farm system is sparse as it is…and we don’t want to become the Yankees where we just start buying players

if this in any way involves gordon beckham that would be the dumbest move kenny will ever make as a gm

looks like the trade is going to happen, if peavy approves.
still don't know the players involved.
i can't believe this is really going to happen.

What!? Peavy to the White Sox?!

9:39am: MLB.com's Corey Brock says Poreda and Clayton Richard are believed to be part of the deal.

yeah that's the rumor. Peavy to the Sox.

I just logged onto mlbtr.com & saw for myself...what a drag. Hey, way to go, Hendry, you bonehead - nice pick up on that sassy no-hit loser Bradley while the unwashed reprobates 7 miles south pick up your prized arm! Maybe dude needs another heart attack recovery bed to ink another great deal. What a drag.

But good for you, Sox fans.

Poreda and Richard +2 would make a lot of sense. The Sox would need to give just 1 good prospect and a couple filler prospects and it would be a good deal for San Diego. It's just Peavy for 4 months and a week they're trading, afterall. The Brewers only had to give up LaPorta for Sabathia, and even then I thought they got hosed.

EDIT: Nevermind, he's not a rental. Great deal for the Sox.

If this is Poreda and Richard and some no-names, it's bad for the Sox, but not terrible. If it involves Beckham, I'm going to have to really reconsider my financial exposure to the team. But that's pretty unlikely.

Really still hoping Peavy vetoes this. Jake, you do not want to pitch at the Cell.


Wait, what do you mean? He's under contract through 2012, isn't he?

Why? Because the ball flies out, a poor Sox defense or just a tougher opponent in AL teams?

He's a pretty damned good pitcher.

Mostly home runs, but the AL would make a difference too. Look at his home/road splits. He's a damned good pitcher in the best pitcher's park in baseball. He's never put up ace-like road numbers and there's no reason to think he would put up ace numbers at the Cell. Good pitcher, but not worth his salary, and the team is going to lose a lot of the fininacial flexibility that it would have had coming with Thome and/or Dye leaving.

Home 281 ERA, 3.73 K/BB, .334 opp slg
Away 382 ERA, 2.54 K/BB, .419 opp slg

The Sox can expect to see a lot of the second line and not much of the first line. Still a good pitcher, but just not worth the money.

He is, I edited the post. I didn't remember that he extended this offseason.

I still think they have the best player in this deal by far. I'm not that high on Poreda or Richard. Poreda appears to project like a back of the rotation type of guy. He doesn't have walk rates that are impressive enough to mask how hittable he has been throughout the lower levels of the minors.

If the Sox are willing to bear the financial burden, then they got a great deal. I'd imagine Boston or the Yankees would have given up more.

Well, I need to know who else is involved. If it's Poreda, Richard, and two bums, I don't hate that deal. If Flowers, Allen, etc. are involved, then it gets a lot worse. Poreda is probably a closer ultimately, unless his secondary pitches can develop further.

Decreasing depth while simultaneously increasing financial commitment has gotten this team in trouble before.

I don't know anything about Poreda or Richard, but their numbers aren't impressive at all. I'm surprised nobody's offered more. I don't want Peavy in this division at the expense of a couple mid-rotation guys.

Richard is what he is, basically a mediocre long relief guy. Nobody would sweat him leaving. Poreda is a first-round pick and has a great fastball. I think he could definitely be a very good closer although so far the team has still been encouraging him to develop his secondary stuff. Floor is OK reliever, ceiling is very good closer or good #4 pitcher maybe.

I don't hate losing Poreda as by the time Peavy left the team, some of the low-A pitching prospects would be ready. But it depends on who else would go in the trade... and this team's MO with the two Swisher trades gives me less-than-great confidence in these kinds of things.

The loss of financial flexibility may mean that the team can't buy out arbitration years for Quentin, Danks, Beckham, etc. or otherwise retain young, useful players like that. It's just discouraging in light of the team's organizational culture.

But they're in a really good spot as far as leverage goes for the next 3-4 years. Thome's done after this year. They have an option on Dye for '10. If Konerko has a good season, he becomes tradeable for his final season of his contract next year. Buerhle's halfway through his contract. AJ has one year left next year. Who's left? It doesn't seem crippling like the Soriano deal was to the Cubs.

It's not crippling, it just (once again) ties up a lot of money in an even-at-best deal, and that can prevent them from doing things that will have a positive cost expectation, like locking up young players or targeting top draft picks.

It also prevents them from taking advantage of the economics that will presumably still be at work this offseason - instead of getting free agent pitchers at serious discounts, they will be paying Peavy his pre-recession contract.

I don't hate the deal if it's Poreda and some dispensible guys, but I can't get very excited about it either.

how does the rotation of buehrle, peavy, danks and floyd not excite you? especially if what we give up isnt much?

yes it ties up money but the sox have shown theyre willing to spend it so i dont see what the big deal is, especially if a lot of what ties up our current cap is gone in the next year or two

Floyd has not been very exciting this year, and while he can bounce back, that's a good but by no means dominant rotation.


I'm not confident that those guys will actualy go though - the team has trouble letting go of its veterans. If Flowers doesn't improve defensively they will have no solution at catcher, so it's entirely likely they will re-extend AJ. I don't think Konerko is going to get traded because of the trade protection in his contract, and if he has a good year (which he will) they're going to want to bring him back for next year anyway. I'm sure either Dye or Thome will leave, but I would almost be surprised if the team let both of them walk.

I'd be much happier about those contracts coming off the books if they had more to replace those players with... but again they still haven't done enough to build depth, so they're stuck constantly paying the full price for contributions and never getting performance beyond salary.

i think everyone knows thome is gone...dye on the hand i could see us keeping...does aj really cost that much that his contract would bring down the payroll?

and danks and floyd will be the two who benefit the most from peavy coming to town

Yeah, about $6 million a year. Arguable whether he's been worth that depending on how much you think his awful defense subtracts from his value, but regardless it's a lot of money that could be used elsewhere.


I don't understand what this means.