Chicago White Sox $127,789,000 Minnesota Twins $112,737,000 Detroit Tigers $105,700,231 Cleveland Indians $49,190,566 Kansas City Royals $36,126,000
March 31, 2011
White Sox Opening Day payroll: $127,789,000
A WAR-based look to this year’s White Sox-Twins battle
So, how weakened are the Twins, and is the retooled White Sox offense and bullpen enough to make up the six games the team trailed Minnesota by in 2010? What follows is by no means a definitive outlook, but an educated projection, position by position, on how the two clubs stack up. (Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, is the standardized figure I’m using to compare players and teams.) …
Jermaine Dye retires
Jermaine Dye, the former All-Star outfielder who remained on the sidelines last season when he did not receive any contract offers to his liking, has formally decided to call it quits, according to a published report.
“It’s time to start my second life,” Dye said in the report by FOXSports.com.
Dye’s last active season was 2009, when he batted .250 in 141 games with the Chicago White Sox, with 27 homers and 81 RBIs. But those overall respectable numbers were diluted in the eyes of possible suitors by a second-half swoon in which he hit only .179.
“It’s unfortunate the way it ended,” Dye said. “But I went out on my terms. I guess I could have signed a Minor League deal. But I didn’t get any offers this year. With the last year I had, I’m happy. I’m at peace with it.”
The Dodgers were known to have interest in Dye in the most recent offseason, but wouldn’t offer him more than the split contract, for a $1 million Major League salary, they eventually gave to another outfielder, Marcus Thames.
Dye, who turned 37 in January, closes the book on a 14-season career that produced 325 home runs and 1,072 RBIs along with a lifetime average of .274. He also won a World Series Most Valuable Player Award with the White Sox in 2005.
Thanks for all your contributions Jermaine and wishing you good luck going forward.
Sox to use 4-man rotation to start the season
Buehrle on April 6 vs KC, humbe to start in penr—
Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) March 31, 2011
UPDATE:
White Sox will need 5th starter on April 10 and 20th, which will probably be Humber—
Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) March 31, 2011
Make that April 9 for the first White Sox fifth starter appearance, which would most likely be Humber—
Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) March 31, 2011
March 30, 2011
FutureSox looks at the White Sox starting pitching prospects
The Brazilian righty [Andre Rienzo] is going to pitch in Winston-Salem this year and can arguably still be called a sleeper. He’s still flying mostly under the radar despite having the best statistical season of any White Sox minor league starter in 2010. Given the comparison to De Los Santos (and previous trades of Dan Hudson and Brandon McCarthy) it’s almost too obvious to say he could be trade bait. However, the fact that the Sox took it slowly with him last year compared to those three could be a sign that they intend to keep him instead of inflating his value for a trade.
BTW, Hector Santiago, Terry Doyle, and Andre Rienzo, threw a shutout against the Sox tonight.
I just installed Firefox 4
I love it. Firefox 4 is so damn fast. 2 quick observations:
1. The tabs were moved below the address bar, the ‘RSS Feed’ button was moved to the top of the Bookmarks menu, and the ‘Reload’ button was moved to the right end of the address bar. If you want these back right-click on a blank space on the menu bar or the tab bar (see how) and click ‘Tabs on Top’ to move the tabs below the address bar (see how), or select ‘Customize’ and drag the ‘Subscribe’ button to the address bar (see how), or select ‘Customize’ and move the ‘Reload’ button to the left of the address button (see how).
2. The Add-on toolbar isn’t on by default. To turn it on, right-click on a blank space on the menu bar or the tab bar again and click ‘Add-on bar’ or press the Control and slash buttons together (Ctrl+/) (see add-on bar).
March 29, 2011
JJ looks at Edwin Jackson’s slider
But Jackson’s slider saw the most improvement. He threw it about one in every four pitches with Arizona at an average of 85.4 miles per hour, and it was a few ticks above average at 0.56 w/RC. With the White Sox, Jackson threw his slider 36.1 percent of the time at an average of 87.6 miles per hour—and, not surprisingly, the pitch was worth 2.28 runs above average per 100 pitches.
JJ also looked at Gavin Floyd’s curveball and John Danks’ changeup.
Jeff Marquez clears waivers
Pitcher Jeff Marquez was expected to accept an assignment to Triple-A Charlotte on Wednesday after clearing waivers.
Good. We’ll see how his Spring Training K & BB ratios hold up.
Gonzales also reports the minor league teams where some of the Sox prospects will be assigned to. Jared Mitchell will go to A+ Winston-Salem; Josh Phegley and Andy Wilkins to AA Birmingham; Mike Blanke, Trayce Thompson, Jacob Petricka, and Addison Reed to A Kannapolis.
Too many fastballs for Gavin Floyd?
Over the last three season, Gavin Floyd threw fastballs about half the time. Unfortunately, the 92 MPH pitch is the least effective of his five offerings: …
Jake Peavy throws 45 pitches, retires all 13 batters he faces
The reaction from Jake Peavy after retiring all 13 hitters faced during a controlled Minor League intrasquad game Tuesday morning could have been expected. … So Peavy fosters great optimism about Tuesday’s 45-pitch effort, including strikeouts of Alejandro De Aza, Stefan Gartrell and Carlos Quentin, whom he retired four times. He’s also a bit cautious as he works toward a potential late-April return to the Majors.
“We hope, with the medication, the anti-inflammatory and all that good jazz and all the treatment. I’m getting tons of treatment in the training room,” Peavy said. “Hopefully that, and with the shoulder one more time, it will start to taxi that load a little better. We hope that’s something that happens. I’m going to push to make it happen.
“Being able to put those innings on and come back tomorrow and feel normal soreness and not anything that we’d deem painful and not normal soreness. We hope that’s the case and I certainly think having the medication in the system and the treatment we’ve done, that should be reasonable this time.”
A Sunday start for Peavy during extended spring training is next on the agenda, followed by what he hopes will be an April 8 rehab start at Triple-A Charlotte against Norfolk. Peavy will join the White Sox in Chicago on April 9, missing the season opener and home opener, which is a first in his big league career.
If the pitch count continues to rise, possibly hitting the 100 mark in an April 13 rehab start, and the shoulder continues to bounce back, there’s an outside shot Peavy could start for the White Sox on April 20. But as Peavy has promised on a few occasions, he won’t return until he’s completely ready.
March 28, 2011
Fangraphs looks at the White Sox and JJ looks at the Jake Peavy trade
Fangraphs (Jack Moore) ranks the entire White Sox organization 14th:
When it comes to the product on the field, the White Sox continue to be above average, as they have throughout much of the Kenny Williams Era. Occasionally, they produce great teams (the 2005 World Series team) and duds (2007′s 72-90 clunker). However, the best bet for a Kenny Williams’ White Sox team is competency as opposed to greatness or mediocrity – his teams have won an average of 85 games per season since he took the reins prior to the 2001 season.
That was a pretty good article but the evaluation of the Jake Peavy trade stuck me as premature. As I have said before I didn’t like the salary Kenny took on but I don’t have a problem with the players he gave up. JJ looked at the Peavy trade in his blog and he didn’t have a problem either. If only Kenny could have forced San Diego to eat some salary…
Spring Training attendance: 91,749
Monday’s crowd of 5,317 at Camelback Ranch gave the White Sox a final home attendance of 91,749, marking the franchise’s fifth-highest Spring Training total.
Dayan Viciedo swinging the bat
Viciedo swinging in cages, hopes to resume shagging flies later this week. Will stay in AZ when Sox break camp Tuesday while thumb heals—
Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) March 28, 2011
White Sox vs. Reds at 3:05 pm CT; televised on CSN
Game at 3:05 CT. The White Sox host the Reds at Camelback Ranch today. John Danks’ first pitch is at 3:05 p.m. CT.
March 27, 2011
Jeff Marquez gone [UPDATE]
Marquez's locker empty,also not at pre-game workout. All signs point to waivers, looks like 11-man staff, lillibridge and Milledge on team—
Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) March 27, 2011
Team cannot announce who is placed on waivers, so secrecy of roster after Saturday's game makes sense.—
Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) March 27, 2011
UPDATE: Merkin @ CWS:
Although the White Sox cannot yet officially confirm their last four moves before breaking camp, the team’s 2011 Opening Day 25-man roster appears to be set. And reliever Jeff Marquez looks to be the odd man out.
