Breaking News!

Our fifth starter has been announced, finally! John Danks, who I love, is our "official" fifth starter! So now we have a complete pitching rotation that may look like this:

1. Mark Buehrle, LHP
2. Jose Contreras, RHP
3. Jon Garland, RHP
4. Javier Vazquez, RHP
5. John Danks, LHP

Does that not look good?

Infielder Reviews

# 8 Alex Cintron. We locked him up in the off-season and he can play anywhere in the infield except first base. He came through in the clutch against Pittsburgh last year and he should do the same this year. He's a switch hitter so we can use him against any pitcher if any of our infielders need a day off. A-

# 24 Joe Crede. Our third baseman and one of the best defensively in the league. He goes all out in the field and can make some Spider-man like catches. He can hit, too! 30 homers and 94 RBI for a defensive third baseman? Sounds pretty offensive to me... A

# 15 Tadahito Iguchi. TADAHITO (clap, clap, clap clap clap)!!! This guy makes the best plays at second base yet they don't even count for fantasy! If they did though... you'd be winning leagues like crazy! Anyways. I like the way he hits and he can bang some homers as well. Dude's only 5'-10" and he can play ball with the best of 'em. A

# 14 Paul Konerko. If I say anything bad about Paulie I may jinx him... So I'm going to just say that he can hit homeruns and drive in runs... anything yet? Good... he can play first base really well... Paulie also made the final outs for each of our playoff series' in '05 A+

# 38 Pablo Ozuna. The ultimate utility player! He can play first, second, short, third, and all of the outfield! I love Pabs! .328 average last year and he only played in 79 games! What a trooper. I love his style though he needs to improve in the outfield. A little touching up in that catagorie and you have one of the best utility players in the game. B-

# 5 Juan Uribe. The best shortstop EVER!!! Ok maybe not that good but he can play. He was part of the final out of the 2005 World Series (along with Paulie and Jenks *see pitching reviews*). He can hit, too, but not so much power as just getting on base. B+

Catcher Review

Pitchers are done so the Catchers, naturally, should be next!

# 44 Toby Hall. I like his style plus he adds a right-handed veteran bat to put in against all the tough lefties we usually face. He and Vazquez seem to wrok well togther but that's just what I think. Can't wait for the regular season on him. B+

# 12 A.J. Pierzynski. A.J. is a grinder and has been since we got him! I love how, when he got punched by Barrett last year, he didn't punch back and get ejected. Though that would've been good to of seen some life out of the Sox and know they're alive I like the way A.J. reacted. Pure all-star last year even though he didn't get to play in the game. A

White Sox Pitching Review

OK, so the team is about to go into their 107th season in the Majors. My team review begins now:

# 54 David Aardsma. Acquired from the Cubs for Neal Cotts, this fire throwing right-hander has come out of nowhere to be one of our best bullpen arms. He can throw in the mid 90's, usually. A good addition to our already good bullpen. B

# 56 Mark Buehrle. Our "ace" since Loaiza left the team. He has one of the best pick off moves I've ever seen and can pitch a game in under 2 hours. A great left handed starter and we have him! He did go 12-13 last year with a 4.99 ERA but he should improve on that this year. B+

# 52 Jose Contreras. A consistent starter since 2005 when he was a crucial key to our championship run. I need to see more wins out of him yet he gets 'em when we need 'em. The other thing is that he baffles hitters with his 3 arm angles. You never know where hes coming from! B

# 34 Gavin Floyd. He is an OK pitcher, young and vulnerable, but OK. He does get cocky at times and misses his spots A TON! Yet he does show signs of being good and can impove on everything with Dr. Cooper, AJ, and Toby. He's in the running for our 5th starter spot. D

# 20 Jon Garland. One of the winningest pitchers on the Sox in the past 3 years. He went 18-7 last year with a 4.51 ERA. He's in serious contention for a Cy Young award(if Johan Santana suddenly dies...). A

# 40 Charlie Haeger. I saw him pitch in his first game against the Angels last year and he walked like 7 guys in 2 innings. He is a knuckleballer so that could've been some of the problem. I do like his stuff though and he could be a potential set up man in our bullpen. Wouldn't think of him as a starter just yet. B-

# 45 Bobby Jenks. One of the best closers in the league. 40+ saves a year and he was on the mound for the last out of the World Series in '05, which we should all forget. When he's on and focused you can expect a 100 MPH fastball which is awesome for a closer. A

# 57 Boone Logan. I don't know too much about Boone but he does have some control issues from what I've heard. Too early for me to make a comment. ???

# 47 Mike MacDougal. If Jenks goes down, which I hope he doesn't, Mike would be our closer. He can also throw around 100 MPH and has wicked poise on the mound. I like his stuff and he should be our go-to guy in the bullpen. Next to Jenks, of course. B+

# 46 Nick Masset. Picked him up in the Brandon McCarthy trade so I don't know much about him either. I heard he can hit 98 MPH on his fastball, but I have no idea yet. Too early for him, too. ???

# 51 Andrew Sisco. Also acquired in the McCarthy deal. And I also know nothing about him! ???

# 37 Matt Thornton. Great arm in the bullpen for anytime to have, but last time I checked: We do. I like the way he pitches and he shows great confidence on the mound. He can throw mid 90's like Aardsma. I like him! Another person to consider for the closer spot if, and I mean if, Jenks goes down. A-

# 33 Javier Vazquez. I didn't like him before but now I'm starting to have second thoughts. He's a strike out monster and can win ballgames. Needs to improve on his ERA a smidge but other than that he may become a favorite in my mind! B+

Sox Fall to Padres

Another game today resulted in another crushing, bruising, defeat by Ozzie & Da' Sox. Despite Thome Knockin' Our Sox Off twice we still managed a loss to the low-rised Padres... that makes me embarassed as a Sox fan...

I'm going to stop posting for now... Until the Sox actually start...

Say It Aint So Joe

Third baseman Joe Crede hit a homer in todays game against the Rockies. Yes the Rockies. Again.

7-4 was the final score, even with Crede's home run. He went 2-3 with a homer (how many times can I post that?). He is the first recipient of my "Knockin Our Sox Off" home run game. Its an "award" to who hits the longest home run. So Joe, congrats on Knockin Our Sox Off!

Thats really all I want to type about this game.

Sox Lock Up Vazquez Through 2010

You all know how much I dislike this pitcher. Sure he strikes out a ton of hitters and wins some games, but I just don't like his style of pitching! The Sox signed him through 2010 which makes me as happy as a butterfly in the rain. Yes... I just said that.

With my projected rotation shaping up like this:

• Mark Buehrle
• Jon Garland
• Jose Contreras
• Gavin Floyd
• Javier Vazquez

You can tell Vazquez is out numbered by good pitchers. Although I have yet to see Floyd throw a pitch I'm confident in his ability and control on the mound.

Sox Obliterate Cubs, 13-2

Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye were two major components to the White Sox's beating up of the North Side Scum.

Jon Garland started the game, pitched 3 innings striking out 1 and only allowing 2 hits. No Runs.
Then came Charlie Haegar in the 4th inning he struck out one also, but only went 2 innings. But enough of the pitching, lets get to the killer offense!

Brian Anderson and Robert Valido's first at bats resulted in strikeouts. Then up came Paul Konerko to face Rich Hill (who pitched awesome... yes I said that...) and crush a 3-2 fastball 400 feet out of the park. Followed by a Jermaine Dye fly out to second. The second inning comes up with a K for Josh Fields, and a double play. In the erd inning things didn't go much better. But the Sox lit up in the 4th. The inning started out with a walk to Valido, and a walk to Paulie. Up cam Jermaine Dye with 2 on, no out, smashed some 2-1 high cheese for a 3-run bomb. Wait, it gets better. No, really!

Fields grounded out, then came a first-pitch jack from Rob Mackowiak (the "official" Cubs killer of the team). Nothing happend after that until the 5th inning when Paulie crushed another home run! I love this guy!

The damage quieted down for awhile. Until the 8th inning when Rob Mackowiak hit a single, moved to second base on a Wiki Gonzalez strike out, then was driven in on a Gustavo Molina (no relation to Jose, Bengie and Yadier) home run. I dont know who he is either!

The Sox scored 2 more runs in the 9th for a final score of:

Sox 13 - Cubs 2 (ha ha ha!)

Another Game, Another Loss

I did not listen to the game because it wasn't on the radio... or TV...

Jose Contreras started the game, pitched 2 innings allowed 4 hits, 2 runs and 3 walks. This is the guy who won 17 straight games from 05-06. Can you believe that? I know this is spring training (emphasis on the word: training) and the guys are just practicing. And I know that the games don't really matter. But to us fans, they really, really, really do.

On the offensive side mlb.com has Josh Fields (pictured above) driving in 2 runs. Paul Konerko driving in 1 and Ryan Sweeney driving in 1. Yet they have the final score listed 10-3. According to my 7th grade math the total RBI should add up to 4. Am I right? But according to my sister "They're so bad that when they score runs they don't even count." and she's a big a Sox fan as I am! So either it was a) a typo b) somebody didn't listen in math class or c) they don't even care.

Our relivers did a good job combining for a total of 3 K's out of 5 pitchers! Dewon Day got another look today. I liked what I heard when he pitched on Wednesday, and he equaled that in todays "outing". I wonder what he'll be like in the regular season. Maybe he'll be our next Neal Cotts. Or maybe he'll end up like Cliff Politte... think happy thoughts...

Sox Fall to D-Backs 8-5

Another game lost and a hard lesson learned. And that is, you ask? Don't send all the good players to the easy game! Today all we had against the Diamondbacks were Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome and Josh Fields! But we did manage to score more runs than we did yesterday!

The good thing is that we got a look at Andrew Sisco and David Aardsma. Both members of the Rubber Maid's. Sisco hurled 1 inning and gave up 2 walks, while Aardsma went an inning and gave up 2 runs. Lance Broadway pitched and gave up a homer to Carlos Quintin. Oh and I didnt even mention Vazquez. 2 and 1/3 innings with 5 earned runs, 2 walks and an ERA of 19.29. Ouch.

On our offensive side, Thome drove in a run. So did Josh Fields, Casey Rogowski, Robert Valido and new catcher Toby Hall.

The offense did as well as they could. It was our pitching that bothered me. Thats all the games for now.

Well, there will be more games they just wont be on The Score.

[Next Game Info]
The next game is on Sunday against the Cubs! That game will be on The Score (AM 670) and the Cubs' side WGN (AM 720). I'm going to be listening to The Score because I'm a Sox fan. The game, of course, will be hosted by Ed Farmer and Chris Singleton. Oh and it's at 2:05 PM CT.

Lineup for 3/1

Get your pencils and scorecards ready, here are the correct lineups for todays ballgame.

Owens, CF
Valido, SS
Jimmy, DH
J.D., RF
Mackowiak, LF
Fields, 3B (Still my favorite)
TobyH, C
Rogowski, 1B
P-Lo, 2B

And on the mound:
Javy Vazquez, SP

Sox lose 12-4 in Spring Opener

There should be a Street & Smith curse. You know... like how they have the Madden Curse? Yeah well Street & Smith magazine chose the Sox to finish 2nd in the division behind the Tigers. Based on how today went they may be competing with the Indians for #4.

Mark Buehrle started the game (which I missed the first 6 batters of) for the Sox and pitched quite well actually. He went 2 innings gave up 6 hits and allowed 4 runs. But thats not all! Jon Garland came in in relief for Mark in the 4th inning went 2 innings allowed 8 hits and 7 RUNS! What're you thinking, Jon? He told Farmer and Singleton that he threw nothing but fastballs except when he tossed in one changeup. Then after Garland's little "stint" came Bobby Jenks. He faced 2 batters, walked one hit the other, then had to leave due to shoulder stiffness. Ouch.

Mike MacDougal came in and he was the first decent pitcher we had since the first pitch Buehrle threw. He faced 2 batters, made one ground into a double play, and stuck out the other. Then came my (relief) guy, Matt Thornton! He threw 1 inning faced 5 batters and struck out 2 of 'em. I really like Thronton and I have since he came from the Mariners. Then was John Danks! Yeah! HE KO'ed 2 batters in his first ever appearance in a Sox uni. I like him! And don't forget he's one of the 5 "Rubber Maid's" as I call them. Dewon Day finished out the game with an inning pitched, a K and 3 hits.

Then on the offensive side, Brian Anderson was the only guy who came close to hitting a homer. Well... never mind I lied. I just forgot who else came close. Iguchi was the only guy who did 1/2 a good job today. He had a double, a ground out, and a K. Juan Uribe stole a base! And so did Darin Erstad (SB #1 of my Erstad count).

Again final score:

White Sox - 4 Rockies - 12.

Tomorrows Lineups

The lineup was announced and here it is

Erstad, LF

Gooch, 2B
Jimmy, DH
Paulie, 1B
J.D., RF
A.J., C
Crede, 3B
Anderson, CF
Uribe, SS

So Brain Anderson gets the start in center field. Pods isn't starting in left, so we get to see Darin Erstad for the first time! And that is him in the picture diving up the wall clearly robbing a homer from Milton Bradley. Uribe batting last surprises me.

So there ya' go!

GO WHITE SOX!!!

Buehrle to open Spring Training

The starters for tomorrow's game were announced! For the Sox (as the title says) will be my guy Mark Buehrle. Even though whitesox.com has Contreras listed as their first starter they have opted to go with Mark Buehrle, which in my mind is a smart move. I like the way he pitches even if he looses 13 games.

Pitching for the Rockies will be their new ace (him and Jeff Francis) Aaron Cook. He's an ok pitcher but not that good. Cant wait for Dye, Thome, and Paulie to beat up on him.

If the lineups are announced before the game like... today... I'll post 'em and you know I will. Pierzynski will get the start behind the plate, I know that much.

[Game Info]

Ahh, the first time I've typed that out of many this year. So the game will be on WSCR AM 670 The Score with my guys Chris "The Ranger" Rongey, Ed Farmer and Chris Singleton. The game is slated for 2:05 CT. And remember, Cook vs. Buehrle!

1st Spring Training Game

Ahh... I can smell the spring grass already. Sure its covered with snow but not in Arizona!



The Sox are playing a split-squad game (where half the team plays one team and half the team plays another) and the game thats going to be on WSCR is the game against Cleveland. That means we get to hear Travis Hafner play for 3 innings, while Grady Sizemore gets to go all the way. And we get to C.C. Sabathia pitch against the Sox, then get nailed in the but by a Gooch line drive and be out the whole season.



Cant wait to see Sweeney again. Cant wait to watch Dye, Thome, Paulie, and Crede crush over 30 homers again. Oh boy... and Contreras win 17 straight again? Maybe? Ok fine...



What about Guillen blowing up in an umps face (pic to the right)?

Boy Guillen is a piece of work. But he's our piece of work, 'ya know?

Spring Has Finally Arrived!

OK, I am back for yet another Chicago White Sox season. And this year they have a slogan entitled "Back to the Grind". I know kind of corny but thats we we need to do is get back to the grind this year and build towards another championship year. Most of the building blocks have been set, and we have plenty of prospects waiting in the minors if we need them.

Ryan Sweeney is a guy I am looking into putting in center field, as well as Brian Anderson (2nd half Brian Anderson that is) and possibly Darin Erstad. Oh... I didn't mention that? Yeah, well in the off-season one of our moves was signing Darin Erstad to fill in in center field if we need him to and he can also fill in for Paulie at 1st if he needs a day off. Its a win/win situation having Erstad there. But back to Sweeney. He is a good looking prospect with an OK arm and he can hit. Last year for the Sox he played in 18 games and had 8 hits. They don't have his minor league stats up but I will find them... Ah Ha! Found 'em! Last year he had 13 homers and 70 RBI in 118 games. 133 hits is average for a minor leaguer, although he had 449 at bats so he had major league hits numbers for a rookie, 'ya know?

Our bullpen has 5 fire-armed rocket throwers. 5 of our relievers can throw 95+ MPH. Bobby Jenks who can hit 100. Mike MacDougal who can throw around 97-98. David Aardsma who can reach 97 but stays around 94-95. Andrew Sisco, who we picked up in the Riske - McCarthy trade to KC, can hit 98. Matt Thornton who is an awesome pitcher late in the game can hit 97. This group of throwers whom I have nicknamed "The Rubbermaid's" can be brutal to face late in the ballgame.

Toby Hall and A.J. Pierzynski have been working with the pitchers for about a week now and I like the idea of having Hall catch on some days, but Pierzynski getting the majority behind the plate.

The starting rotation is a big one. Even with the loss of Freddy Garcia we should do quite well with this rotation:

• Jose Contreras
• Mark Buehrle
• Jon Garland
• Javier Vazquez
• Gavin Floyd

I'm not quite sure about Contreras going opening day but I guess if that's what Ozzie & Kenny like then we should go along with it for awhile. Buehrle is always a good pitcher even if he loses 13 games. Garland is an 18 game winner every year. Vazquez won 6 straight last year, and Floyd was on the mound when Rowand broke his nose! How much better can you get?

Uribe Gone In 2007?

Shortstop Juan Uribe may have to sit out the entire 2007 season. Due to a run-in with a shooting he has been acused of killing the man. He is set to appear in court twice a month in this year which may force him to sit out.

"Very simply, if it turns out he is in more trouble than we originally thought, decides not to report, or is distracted and can't play at a championship level, Alex will take his job," Williams said via e-mail Saturday night.

Of course, the Alex referred to in Williams' text is Alex Cintron, recently signed to a one-year, $1.9 million deal that avoided arbitration with the Sox. Cintron played in 91 games last year and started 64, but his multi-positional ability was his true value. The switch-hitter made 35 starts at shortstop, 23 at second base and six behind Joe Crede at third base. For his career, Cintron has started 286 games at shortstop, 74 at second base and 39 at third base

This means, Alex Cintron may get to play a little shortstop this year, if the case of Uribe really does turn out worse.

Will Thome Make The 500 Club?

DH Jim Thome has the chance to make it to an exclusive club consisting of over 20 players. This year, 2007, he could make the elusive 500 club.

Going into the season he will have 472 career home runs. He will only need 28 home runs to get to the club. Last year he hit 42 round trippers so he should easily have 507 (35 homers) by the end of the season.

When Big Jim was in Philadelphia he played first base and was frequently injured. Before the Phillies "Slugger Jim" played for the Cleveland Indians. He was also a first baseman there, but did play some DH.

In those times he was injured so much that he couldn't even get to 450 home runs. In 05 for the Phillies he only had 3 due to extensive injuries.

Lets pre-welcome Jim "Big Jim, Jimmy, Slugger Jim, Bopper, Big Stuff, (The) Thominator, Mr. Incredible" Thome to the 500 club

Cintron Signs 1-Year Extension

Cintron was very helpful against the Pittsburgh Pirates last year belting a grand slam and a walk-off home run. He was also key player to their end-of-season run towards the playoffs. Every team needs a utility guy like Cintron. Last year he batted .285 in 288 at bats. With 5 home runs and 41 RBI you can tell he is a killer of the bench. And with his new

He did start a few games at short and some at second. Compiling a total of 91 games played out of a possible 162. He also tallied 10 stolen bases out of 13 tries.

Cintron will play some more utility in the infield and will most likely start his fair share of games.

Boy am I glad we re-signed him!

McCarthy Traded to Texas

You can forget everything I said in the last post.



Brandon McCarthy was traded in exchange for the Rangers' 3 top minor league pitching prospects. John Danks, Nick Masset and Jacob Rasner.

Nick Masset was 0-0 last year with a 4.15 ERA. He appeared in 8 games and pitched 8.2 innings for the Rangers late last year.

Johnny Danks is a starter who went 4-5 last year in the minors. He had 72 strikeouts in 14 appearences with an ERA of 4.33.

Jake Rasner is a troubled starter with an '06 record of 6-16 in the minors. With an ERA of 5.41 and 144.2 innings pitched.