From the Tommy Bahamas release:

The first team shirts to be released will be the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox — just in time for their season opener on April 4th at Fenway Park in Boston.  They will be followed by the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies in mid May; the Seattle Mariners and Chicago Cubs at the end of May and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels in early June. All eight team shirts are currently available for viewing at www.tommybahama.com and select Tommy Bahama’s retail locations. The shirts will be sold exclusively through Tommy Bahama retail channels.

“We are very excited about these new Major League Baseball team shirts,” said Terry Pillow, CEO Tommy Bahama. “These unique and beautifully made “Collector’s Edition” shirts are just the type of thing we had envisioned when we began our relationship with MLB.  Our talented design team worked very hard to create these special shirts and we’re hopeful that Tommy Bahama and MLB fans will be equally excited when they see them.  These are just the first of our series of MLB team shirts, and we look forward to creating “Collector’s Edition” shirts for all of the teams in the MLB in the upcoming baseball seasons.”

One of the hardest things to do during the beginnings of Spring Training is to cover a baseball team objectively.

There are several things to contend with, the first being the fanbase of any team that didn’t win the World Series. First of all, only the real hardcore fans care about pitchers and catchers, infield drills
and the promising second baseman who has turned a solid year in A ball into a ST invite. The last thing these folks want to hear is how their club won’t contend, won’t win a World Series and how much of what
certain owners, General Managers, managers and pitching coaches say during these first few days of intrasquad contests is utter nonsense.

Yes, hope springs enternal. I get that. As a tremendous baseball fan myself, I am also swept away by the idea of Opening Day within sight, and the realization I no longer have to sit through the interminable
NBA and NHL regular seasons with nothing else to occupy my time.

I cannot, and will not, however, allow that annual rite of spring hardball stop me from doing my job.

The legendary Dick Young, before he became the poster boy for the Tom Seaver trade (and rightfully so), once wrote something that has stayed with me my entire career. While the exact quote escapes me, the
sentiment does not.

I am answerable only to you; the reader. Not the clubs or sport that I cover, not to my editor or company that pays my salary, but you, the person who spends his/her precious time each and every day reading my
work.

If I think the Pittsburgh Pirates are starting to look a major league organization with a clue about how to build a solid club for its long deserving fans (and I do), I will do so. If I think that manager John
Russell is the wrong guy for the job (and I do), I will write that as well. That doesn’t make me many friends in Pittsburgh, and Russell might want to punch me in the mouth, but I’m not going to sugarcoat my
analysis to appease. It is what it is. It’s my opinion, and I have been wrong plenty of times. I can live with that.

I can also relate to the fan who thinks that the local media might be too harsh on some and plays favorites with others (I live in New York). I can also understand how some believe the national media doesn’t know its ass from its elbow when it comes to evaluating the respective local team said fans root for and follow on a regular basis.

All of these opinions, frustrations, observations and pet peeves are valid. Even the ones that may seem illogical or lack statistical evidence. At the end of the day, all that matters is that we all love baseball. Think about it; how many hours have we spent arguing our friends, family and perfect strangers about the merits of the hit and run, or the value of bullpen roles?

One of my favorite people in the world to talk baseball with is Paul Greco, my business partner. He also happens to be my cousin. We agree on very little. Yet I respect his knowledge, his expertise, his
athletic pedigree (though his superior baseball playing and coaching skills have been marred by a world class soccer career), and his passion.

I also love him like a brother, so I can forgive the fact that he’s wrong about pretty much everything.

My point is, there’s room for everyone at the table, and I for one, am excited to get things going. I just wanted you to know where I am coming from.

***

The Atlanta Braves feel like they can make some noise in the NL East this year, and they just might. I hope they do, because otherwise, I am going to be focusing on who should replace Bobby Cox all year.

Though they have very different ways of exposing their near-insanity,Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen have a good thing going in Chicago. For all of their ups and downs, the Chicago White Sox are never dull.
I also think they’re going to have a pretty good 2010.

The NL West is wide-open this year, and it’s too bad Reds GM Walt Jocketty still thinks Dusty Baker is the guy to bring the Reds to the next level. Managers do matter (and I’m talking to you, Trolley),
especially when they run their pitching staff like its 1964.

On that same note, the brilliant move of Greg Maddux joining the Cubbies to oversee their pitching on a organizational-wide basis won’t matter much this season. Sadly, Lou Piniella, like Baker, is a magna
cum laude graduate of the Dallas Green School Of Pitching. Sweet Lou is great for baseball, and I love the guy, but his resume in this area speaks for itself. The Rhyne Sandberg Era is likely right around the
bend, and that, Cubs fans, just may be the start of the work starting to turn for you.

The best divisional race in baseball this year will be in the AL West. The Oakland A’s will even be in the the thick of it, I think. Though I still suspect that GM Billy Beane is better at moving his assets around than building a winner, he has assembled a pitching staff that could play a big factor in the final outcome. For a guy that thinks closers are overrated, he does a damn good job of developing them. I know I get myself in trouble when I talk about Beane, but I really do admire what he’s done. Though I have spent a lot of my 13 years in journalism debating his Hall of Fame credentials with his supporters, count me as one baseball fan who would be tempted to convince his club to pony up the dough, franchise control and teleportation device (so he wouldn’t have to leave the Bay Area for more than eight hours a day) to have him run my club.

Ultimately, his distrust – and frankly, disrespect – for the field manager’s role is what would convince me to pass. Maybe, just maybe, if treated his skippers like leaders of men instead of Muppets, he’d actually get to a World Series one fo these days.

Throughout each episode, The Club will focus on the realities and challenges both on and off the field for the men who run one of MLB’s most storied franchises. Beginning this month through to the Trade Deadline on July 31, MLB Productions’ cameras will capture footage at The Club’s Spring Training camp in Arizona, during roster meetings, on Opening Day, on the road for away games and to get a look at Reinsdorf, Williams and Guillen away from the ballpark. The series will also feature personnel who work within the front office, including Assistant General Manager Rick Hahn, Pitching Coach Don Cooper and Batting Coach Greg Walker.

“The success of The Pen last season showed that fans want to learn more about their favorite teams, players and managers on and off the field,” said Tony Petitti, president and CEO of MLB Network. “This season we’ll give fans unprecedented access to one of the most dynamic managers and front office staffs in Major League Baseball.”

“The core of our baseball operations staff has been together now for many years,” said Ken Williams, White Sox general manager. “The White Sox can be described pretty accurately as a family, even down to the unique relationships we all enjoy with one another. We understand that fans want a glimpse inside a baseball club’s front office, want to see how decisions are made and want to watch as a spring training roster comes together to form a team. We hope The Club provides that type of insight into the White Sox this summer for baseball fans.”

The Club is produced by MLB Productions. Gary Waksman is the Lead Producer, Robert Haddad is the Coordinating Producer, and David Check is the Executive Producer. Throughout production, Haddad will post video blogs following each shoot to the MLB Productions website.

“It’s our goal to come up with new ways to give fans behind-the-scenes access to Major League Baseball clubs and its players,” said David Gavant, Executive in charge of Production and Vice President, MLB Productions. “With The Club, our second reality-based series, we will give viewers an exclusive look into the daily lives of the White Sox front office staff both on and off the field.”

The Club is the fifth series produced for MLB Network by MLB Productions, following Prime 9, Baseball Seasons, Triumph & Tragedy and The Pen.

It’s not like that frustration is without justification. After all, Linebrink will make $5 million in 2010 and $5.5 million in 2011 to complete his four-year, $19 million deal that was signed after the 2007 season. And Linebrink hasn’t come close to earning that salary in his first two years on the South Side.

It hasn’t been all bad during Linebrink’s tenure on the South Side, either. For the first three months of 2008, Linebrink pitched like somebody who deserved $19 million over four years.

An injury derailed the rest of Linebrink’s 2008, as he only appeared in 14 games from July through the end of the year in which he allowed five home runs in 13.1 innings. In his previous 33 innings, Linebrink had only allowed three home runs.

Linebrink’s first half of ‘09 was successful on the surface—that is, he held a 1.93 ERA heading into the All-Star break. He even held hitters to just a .696 OPS.

Granted, Linebrink didn’t pitch in a whole lot of high leverage situations before the All-Star break. In those 32 appearances before the All-Star break, Linebrink’s leverage index was 1.00—which couldn’t be more average.

He had a couple of notable struggles in high leverage situations, though, such as April 26, May 16, and June 18. And he was stranding runners at an unsustainable rate, too.

So when Linebrink’s second-half ERA ballooned to 8.49, nobody was really surprised. His walk-to-strikeout ratio imploded while allowing five home runs in just 23.1 innings, one more than he allowed in his 32.2 innings before the All-Star break.

As those runners Linebrink allowed to get on base began to score more often, Linebrink’s numbers took a major hit. His first-half success was fool’s gold—that is, his ERA and opponent OPS may have looked nice, but they weren’t the real deal.

While Linebrink’s slider and splitter rated pretty low, his fastball was the problem. For a pitch that he threw at the highest rate since his days with the Padres, it didn’t have a whole lot of success. FanGraphs rated it at -0.90 run/100 pitches, which is not going to come close to cutting it for somebody who throws his fastball over 70 percent of the time.

Behind that rating was poor command. Linebrink’s fastball location chart shows some pretty sinister command:

(image via TexasLeaguers.com)

Now compare that to his called strike location chart:

(TexasLeaguers.com)

Those charts show that Linebrink threw 320 fastballs in the second half of 2009. Of those, hitters swung at 47.5 percent while swinging and missing at just 6.9 percent. And 16.6 percent of those fastballs were put in play.

In essence, Linebrink’s lack of command came back to bite him in the second half. From the end of the All-Star break to the end of the season, one in every five at-bats Linebrink pitched ended in a single. That was a slightly higher percentage (20) than at-bats that ended in a strike out (19.17 percent).

It wasn’t just command, though—Linebrink’s control wasn’t there in ‘09, either. After posting a career-best 1.75 BB/9 in 2008, Linebrink’s BB/9 rose to 3.70 in 2009, the highest it’s been since he was with the Astros back in the early 2000s.

If you’re a Linebrink optimist, you can point to his extraordinarily high BABIP of .372 in ‘09. In his career, Linebrink’s BABIP is .296. That has to normalize, right? And if it does, he won’t be as bad as he was last year, right?

Well, that’s too simplistic of an explanation for Linebrink’s struggles. He allowed the highest percentage of line drives (23.7 percent) in his career since 2003. That’s no coincidence given his poor command and unwillingness to throw his splitter.

Ultimately, Linebrink’s BABIP shouldn’t be expected to stay at the level it was at in ‘09, there’s no guarantee it regresses back to his career average.

Linebrink’s 2009 comes down to this: he didn’t have a feel for his slider and splitter, so he threw his fastball a lot. And his fastball was an ineffective pitch because he had poor command of it. And there haven’t been a whole lot of pitchers in baseball history who have got by when they can’t hit their spots with their fastball.

So is there a light at the end of the tunnel for Linebrink? Unfortunately, there’s nothing to indicate that there is.

It would be inaccurate to say that Linebrink built his previous success by playing half his games at Petco Park, though. In his best year of 2005 (2.76 FIP), Linebrink allowed an .826 OPS at home and a .367 OPS (no, that’s not a typo) on the road.

In fact, from 2004-2006, Linebrink never allowed a higher road OPS than home.

But in 2007, that all began to change. Linebrink’s FIP that year was 5.14, the highest of his career. And that was the year in which his home/road splits began to fit conventional wisdom: with the Padres, he allowed a .542 OPS at home and a .938 OPS on the road. With the Brewers, that split was .730/.795 between home and road.

However, Linebrink actually allowed the lowest percentage of fly balls in his career in ‘07, coming in at a 37 percent rate. To date, 2007 is the only year in Linebrink’s career in which his ground ball-to-fly ball ratio was over 1.00.

The real red flag wasn’t in those GB/FB numbers, though—it was in the number of fly balls that left for home runs. Fifteen percent of fly balls Linebrink allowed that year went for home runs, which tells you that a lot of the fly balls he was giving up weren’t soft flyouts to the left fielder.

And that’s where playing half his games at Petco—at least, until he was traded to the Brewers—likely helped Linebrink’s success on the surface. His HR/9 of 1.55 that year has stayed consistent in his two years with the White Sox (1.55, 1.45).

So really, this has been a three-year slide for Linebrink. It’s not like he came to Chicago and forgot how to pitch—instead, he was struggling as early as 2007, it was just masked by a 3.71 ERA.

It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility that Linebrink experiences some sort of career rebirth, but he’s going to have to find a way to improve his command and control of his three main pitches.

But there haven’t been too many pitchers who have reversed a three-year slide at age 33. Don’t expect Linebrink to buck that trend.

That was on the surface—just looking at the numbers. But, beneath that, the White Sox believe they acquired a player who will help improve team chemistry.

Teahen is expected to be the exact opposite of clubhouse malcontents such as Nick Swisher or Orlando Cabrera. And, in turn, the Sox seem to expect him to add an unquantifiable dimension to the team.

In the three or so months since being dealt to the White Sox, he’s certainly proved to be an entertaining figure. His twitter, @ESPY_TEAHEN, is done through his dog and has provided a couple of gems:

*How come the Pro Bowl doesn’t decide who gets home field advantage for the Super Bowl?…. Probably because no all-star game should.

*Heard Ankiel is gonna be #24. I thought for sure 24 would be up there with 5, 10 & 20. What’s the deal KC?

*Enjoying a #Starbucks at #Soxfest. Just got told by a Sox fan I’m no longer Unrecognizable. Success! I’m really doin’ it!

*Figuring out there is one upside to being the older dog….my mom has someone smaller to put those damn outfits on http://twitpic.com/yacvz

*Marks Cheating on Boulevard Wheat with 312 in Chi. It tastes good but he feels terrible.

While I’m obviously rooting for everybody to succeed on the White Sox, I’ll be pulling a little bit more for Teahen to succeed. He obviously has a great sense of humor, and from all reports from SoxFest, he’s definitely a likable guy.

But to put even part of the burden of team camaraderie on Teahen is unreasonable. Why?

Because it’s far easier to build camaraderie through winning than it is through bringing in the “right mix” of players.

Teahen can get along well with everybody in the clubhouse, but that won’t necessarily lead to wins. On the other hand, winning usually leads to a team getting along well.

Take the Mariners, for instance. They brought in Milton Bradley, who’s renowned for being a “clubhouse cancer.” But he’s also a pretty darn good hitter, and in a low-pressure situation in Seattle in which he can DH, his numbers could be pretty good.

And if he hits well and the Mariners win a few games, chances are his teammates will respect him and he won’t be a “cancer.”

My point is this: Teahen’s great personality won’t matter if the White Sox aren’t winning. And that personality won’t directly breed winning.

Although, if the Sox do win, Teahen could become one of the city’s most likable athletes. That’s not really an opportunity he was afforded in Kansas City.

Credit: Alan Alabastro for TPNW (c) 2010

Teahen and Dravecky visited with students at the Hutch School, which provides state-certified K-12 education for pediatric cancer patients and young family members of patients.

“It’s always great to be recognized for what you do for the community,” said Teahen at the event.  “But with everything this award stands for, to get recognized by a group like this is pretty cool.”

Teahen, 28, played the first five years of his career for the Kansas City Royals, hitting .269 with 59 home runs and 293 RBI.  He was traded to the White Sox on Nov. 5, then later that month was named the Hutch Award winner.  He is penciled in to start at third base for the ChiSox in 2010.

For the better part of the offseason, the general consensus has been that a bullpen spot was there for Williams, who was neither awful nor good in 25 appearances with the Sox in 2009, to lose.

Despite an abnormally high walk rate (6.11 per nine innings), Williams held down a spot in the White Sox’ bullpen by having good success against left-handed batters. Against lefties in ‘09, Williams only walked four of 43 batters while holding them to a .549 OPS.

Granted, that was in a small sample size, but Williams’ three-quarters delivery and mid-90’s fastball did prove to be somewhat successful in LOOGY situations. Against righties, though, Williams was lit up for an .868 OPS while walking eight of the 37 batters he faced.

If used properly—only against lefties and sparingly in medium or high-leverage situations—Williams could theoretically be somewhat effective. He only should become a liability when used against righties, especially in medium or high-leverage situations.

But Williams may not get that chance in 2010 thanks to a potential Don Cooper project.

“Threets seems to be the most interesting cat,” Cooper said. “It was only Jan. 8, but he has enough stuff to control lefties.”

At 6-foot-5 armed with a mid-90’s fastball, Threets could be one of those pitchers that improves under Cooper. He’s a non-roster invitee to training camp and could find himself in the majors if he pitches well and/or Williams tanks.

The problem with rewarding Threets a job based on his spring training performance is that the sample size of March won’t be big enough to really determine if he’ll sustain success. The entire body of a player’s work needs to be looked at, and that body of work isn’t exactly impressive for Threets.

Despite his imposing frame and fastball velocity, Threets hasn’t been much of a strikeout pitcher in his career. His strikeout numbers the last five years have been unimpressive, and those numbers have been coupled with an abundance of walks. His K:BB ratio over the last five minor league seasons has hovered around 1:1, which certainly won’t cut it in the majors.

Maybe there’s a flaw in his delivery that hasn’t been noticed by former coaches. Maybe Don Cooper can fix that flaw. And maybe, with that hypothetical flaw fixed, Threets could be a somewhat effective major league reliever.

But the Cooper fix isn’t a guarantee. While his career strikeout numbers were far better, Andy Sisco comes to mind when looking at Threets—and he was anything but a Cooper success story.

So even if Williams tanks in the spring and doesn’t make the opening day roster, it might not be a good idea to replace him with Threets. Instead, if Threets has a good spring, the Sox should go the same route with him as they did with Williams last year—send him to Charlotte and consider him for a mid-season promotion if he continues to pitch well in the minors.

Granted, if Williams tanks to the point where the Sox don’t think he can be effective in the majors anymore, then the team will likely be left with Threets as the only left-handed option. But it probably would be better to take Jhonny Nunez—who at least held his own against lefties between Birmingham and Charlotte last year—rather than Threets.

When Paul Konerko signed his five-year, $60 million contract in November of 2005, it gave the White Sox continued stability at a position that had been a strength for the better part of the previous 15 years. Despite the annual Konerko-to-the-Angels for Chone Figgins/Casey Kotchman rumor, Konerko was, for better or for worse, entrenched as the Sox’ first baseman.

Konerko’s contract will expire after the 2010 season, although he is willing to stay with the team for the rest of his career. He’s roughly in the same position as Jermaine Dye was after 2009—that is, the player wants to stay with the team, so it’s up to the team to decide if they want to bring him back.

There are still a whole lot of games to be played before the Sox have to make a decision on Konerko, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the team’s options after this season.

1. Re-sign Konerko to a one or two-year deal.

This would be the most obvious option, as right now, the White Sox don’t have an advanced first base prospect in the minors. For argument’s sake, let’s say Konerko roughly fills out his CHONE projection (found at FanGraphs) and is a two-win player in 2010.

If teams are still paying heavily for a win, then bringing back Konerko would probably cost about two years and $12-$14 million. I would have to assume Konerko would settle for a two-year deal that would cover ages 35 and 36. There’s a pretty decent crop of free agent first basemen set to hit the market next winter (Adam Dunn, Lance Berkman, Derrek Lee, Lyle Overbay, and maybe Nick Johnson), so it’s unlikely Konerko could find a better contract on the open market.

Would it be reasonable for the White Sox to give Konerko two years and $12-14 million? I would have to think so despite his declining offensive skills. Barring some unexpected setback, Konerko still should be good for 25 home runs and an above-average OPS while playing passable defense.

It’s unlikely that Konerko would play 150+ games a year at first base for the duration of this deal. While that might mean a Mark Kotsay-type player would get more playing time than he deserves, allowing Konerko to DH more frequently would, in theory, help him avoid a nagging injury that could really hinder his offensive numbers (see: 2008).

With nine and a half months until the Sox have to make a decision on Konerko, re-signing him for $6-7 million per year would be reasonable. Obviously, a lot can change from now until November, and that’s where the next few options come in.

2. Promote Dayan Viciedo to the major leagues and either let Konerko walk or retain him as a 1B/DH.

The chances of this happening are slim, but the chance does exist now that Viciedo will play some first base in the minors in 2010. There have been some to call Viciedo a bust, but it’s easy to forget the challenges of adjusting to an entirely new culture for a 20-year-old.

That’s not saying Viciedo’s 2009 numbers (.279/.317/.390 with 12 home runs in 505 at-bats) can be explained solely by culture shock—his swing is long and he’s incredibly aggressive at the plate.

This season will be very important for the future of Viciedo. He can’t blame poor performance on culture shock or getting used to facing far superior pitching to what he saw in Cuba, so if he repeats the same numbers he had in 2009, then it’ll be time to get concerned over his future.

But if Viciedo starts to show some power and a little more patience, there’s a good chance the team will begin to consider him as the first baseman of the future starting as early as 2011.

However, a Viciedo promotion should not signal the end of Konerko’s run with the White Sox. Instead, keeping him around as a sort of safety net in case Viciedo tanks would absolutely be the right move. Plus, having Konerko and Viciedo on the roster in 2011 would allow the two to alternate between first base and DH, hopefully avoiding the potentially-nightmarish DH situation the team faces going into 2010.

3. Let Konerko walk and sign or trade for a first baseman.

If the Sox let all their 2011 free agents go and keep the same budget, the team would have about $25 million to spend on free agents and arbitration for Carlos Quentin, Tony Pena, and potentially Bobby Jenks (if he isn’t traded) and John Danks (if he doesn’t sign an extension before then).

Lyle Overbay would be a somewhat realistic option if the Sox went the free agent route. However, while Overbay gets on base a lot, he wouldn’t be able to replace the home run power of Konerko, so the team would probably better off spending the money they would give to Overbay on Konerko.

4. Move Mark Teahen to first base and find a new third baseman.

The chances of this happening are far lower than any of the other three options, but if the Sox exhaust all other avenues or Brent Morel develops faster than expected, it would be an option. Teahen hasn’t played a ton of first base—just 34 games—but he’s also not foreign to the position.

However, it’s unlikely Morel forces the team’s hand so soon and third base free agent crop for 2011 doesn’t have the reasonably-priced mid-range talent the Sox would covet to fill the position.

The most likely scenario I see would be Viciedo not proving to be ready for the majors in 2011 and the Sox bringing Konerko back for two years. That would give Viciedo more time to develop, and it’s not like the team couldn’t call him up in 2011 to play in a 1B/DH platoon situation with Konerko.

So, unlike Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko may get his wish and stick around with the White Sox past 2010.

I can picture it now. Thome is sitting around with his family, probably watching TV. He has his phone out, checking it every five minutes. Eventually, he starts thinking he won’t get that call he so badly wants, so he puts it in his pocket.

A few minutes later, Thome shifts positions on his easy chair, causing his phone to move slightly in his pocket. He thinks it’s going off, so he immediately pulls it out and checks it.

Nothing.

His wife’s phone goes off later in the evening, and of course, Thome’s hand darts toward his phone only to realize that there’s nothing.

Then, just as he’s about to go to bed, his phone actually goes off. Getting excited, he opens it, but it’s just Jeff Cox asking if he wants to renew his season tickets.

Cox realizes it’s a wrong number, and to avoid an awkward conversation, he quickly wishes Thome well and hangs up.

Thome wants to return to the White Sox. They seem like a perfect fit: the team doesn’t has neither a DH nor any left-handed power. Thome is willing to come back for cheap to accommodate the team’s nearly maxed-out payroll.

And yet, Ozzie Guillen wants to test his managerial mettle by using a revolving door of designated hitters, including Andruw Jones, Mark Kotsay, Jayson Nix, and even Omar Vizquel.

The intentions behind Guillen’s desire to not fill a roster spot with a DH-only player are good. He’s hoping to keep the DH spot warm so Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko can take a few days off from playing the field while not leaving the lineup. That’s good—keeping the Sox’ two best power hitters healthy will be key for the team to contend this year.

But on those days where Quentin and Konerko do play the field, the Sox’ DH cupboard looks pretty bare. Jon Heyman is a notorious Scott Boras mouthpiece, so when he says that Andruw Jones—a Boras client—is in the best shape since the turn of the millennium, it should be taken with a grain of salt.

There’s really no harm in the White Sox signing Thome. Just because he’s on the roster doesn’t mean he has to play every day—remember, this is a player that approved a trade to a National League team last August for a chance to win a World Series.

Something tells me Thome wouldn’t have a problem taking a seat on those days where Quentin or Konerko need to rest. If done right, Thome could sit against lefties—against whom he only had a borderline poor wOBA in ‘09—and Quentin/Konerko could DH those days with Jones filling in as the right fielder or (gulp) first baseman.

One more thing: Jim Thome deserves a chance to win a World Series. He’s played nearly two decades and has been close a few times, but he’s never tasted the glory of a championship. One of baseball’s consummate professionals and better power hitters deserves a chance at that, and with the pitching staff the White Sox have, the team has at least a shot going in to 2010.

All it would cost the White Sox to bring Thome back would be about $3 million and Jayson Nix’ roster spot. Is that really reason enough to not give Thome that call he wants and tell him the Sox are interested in bringing him back?

Like Thome, I’m holding out hope that his phone will buzz with a call from the White Sox soon. Problem is, it’s highly unlikely that the Sox change their strategy and place that call anytime soon.

Jake Peavy, Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd, and John Danks are all reasons to think the White Sox can win. A bullpen led by Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks with other solid parts like J.J. Putz and Tony Pena is another reason to think the Sox can win in 2010.

Then there’s the offense.

As of right now, the White Sox don’t have a designated hitter. They have a few, but that’s not exactly a good thing.

Ozzie Guillen says he wants to test his managerial mettle and rotate Andruw Jones, Mark Kotsay, Jayson Nix, and Omar Vizquel in and out of the DH spot in the lineup while sporadically playing them in the field. The team seems to be shying away from having a true DH—that is, a DH that can’t play the field—probably because they want to have the flexibility to use Carlos Quentin as a DH in an effort to keep him healthy all year.

The plan is good: giving Quentin a break from playing right field while keeping his bat in the lineup has nothing inherently wrong with it. Keeping Quentin healthy will be key for the White Sox in 2010, as he appears to be the only 30-home run threat on the roster.

Paul Konerko’s on the downswing of his career and hasn’t hit 30 or more home runs since 2007. Gordon Beckham, Alexei Ramirez, and Alex Rios shouldn’t be counted on to hit 25, let alone 30, home runs. And unless some medical miracle is performed on Jones, he shouldn’t be expected to come close to that 30 home run mark either.

And that’s why losing Quentin to an injury would be catastrophic to the White Sox’ lineup. With his power out of the lineup, the White Sox’ lineup would have a tough time scoring.

Why? Because the White Sox have no insurance for Quentin.

If Quentin goes down, that would mean that Jones and Kotsay would end up playing every day. And if that happens, all of a sudden the Sox would be lucky to get much production out of two traditional power positions.

It’s not so much that I’m concerned with Jones—if healthy, he could conceivably hit 20+ home runs—but the notion of Kotsay playing every day doesn’t inspire a whole lot of hope. As a bench player who can play a little first base, I have no issues with Kotsay.

But he hasn’t had an OPS better than the league average since 2004 and he hasn’t been worth more than a win since 2005. He also hasn’t played more than 100 games since 2008.

Ideally, the White Sox would have signed somebody who can play a little outfield and DH most of the time. Jack Cust is far from a perfect option, but he signed for just $2.65 million with the A’s after being non-tendered by the club in December.

While Cust saw a dip in power last year (likely thanks to a lesser ability to hit fastballs), having that extra 25-home run guy to keep Kotsay from being an everyday player would be huge in filling a hole left by an injured Quentin.

While a Cust/Jones combination would certainly be a dropoff from any pairing involving Quentin, it certainly would not be as much of a dropoff as a Jones/Kotsay pairing. But Cust isn’t available anymore.

The pickings for players who can play outfield/DH are pretty slim. The best option out there is Jim Thome, although he doesn’t fit the team’s desire of a DH who can play the field.

The White Sox aren’t going to find a DH who can play the field at this point, though. Why not bring Thome back on a one-year deal and take him out of the lineup when Quentin needs to DH? Jones could then fill in as the right fielder, and if Quentin goes down, Jones could play there permanently with Thome as the DH.

There’s no reason why the White Sox shouldn’t go out and sign Thome for a cheap one-year deal. As we get closer to spring training, Thome’s already-low price should drop (if it hasn’t already) to a range that the White Sox can afford.

If the White Sox fail to make the playoffs in 2010 because of a lack of offense, it won’t just be because they didn’t get any insurance for Quentin. But signing somebody who could provide some middle-of-the-order power could somewhat help to offset poor production from Juan Pierre at the top of the order.

What this all boils down to is this: if the White Sox miss the playoffs because of a lack of pitching, Guillen and Kenny Williams can’t be faulted. On paper, the White Sox have great pitching and there’s not a whole lot of second-guessing going on there.

But if they miss the playoffs because of a lack of offense—especially if the team doesn’t bring in a DH and has Kotsay seeing significant playing time—then it will be the fault of the team’s management for an utter lack of foresight.

Armed with that 88 mph fastball and a surprisingly good slider and changeup, Garcia pitched pretty well in his nine starts in 2009. He pitched better than his 4.34 ERA indicated, as his ability to keep the ball down (44.7 groundball percentage while only allowing four home runs) and limit walks (1.93 walks per nine innings, about one and a half walks below the league average) keyed his success.

But how repeatable is Garcia’s success from 2009? On the surface, not very.

First of all, Garcia’s health needs to be addressed. Nobody knows if he can even make nine starts again next year given his arm and shoulder problems the last few years.

Luckily for the White Sox, if Garcia does go down, there’s a good chance Dan Hudson will be ready to step in and do a decent enough job as a fifth starter. Ideally, he could get some more time to develop his secondary pitches as a member of the Sox bullpen or Knights starting rotation, but if push comes to shove, he could fill in for an injured or ineffective Garcia.

Even if Garcia stays off the disabled list, it won’t mean he’s entirely healthy. Garcia can’t afford to lose any more velocity on his fastball, and a dip into the mid-80s’ would be tough for any righthander not named Greg Maddux to overcome.

So, with the possibility of an injury in mind, let’s take a look at the three projections that are out for Garcia:

FIP=Fielding Independent Pitching, BABIP=Batting Average on Balls in Play, LOB%=Percentage of baserunners allowed that did not score

Out of these three, I would wager that CHONE’s has the highest probability of being the closest to Garcia’s actual season line. Garcia’s 1.93 BB/9 was great last year, but it was a severe deviation from his career average of 2.87. It’s also unlikely that he’ll allow so few home runs in 2010, as he has allowed about a home run every nine innings over his career.

These projections are understandably pessimistic given a few of Garcia’s numbers and his recent history of mediocre-to-poor pitching. Obviously, these are just projections—by no means are they guaranteed to be 100 percent accurate.

Garcia still has a chance to repeat his ‘09 success—it’s as simple as him having good command on his fastball and secondary pitches while limiting his walks.

There’s no telling what kind of adjustments opposing hitters will make against Garcia next year, either. He heavily relied on his slider (29.2 percent), changeup (12.7 percent), and splitter (12.5 percent) while only throwing his fastball 43.4 percent of the time. All of those secondary pitchers were rated as above average while his fastball was rated as below average.

And that’s half of where Garcia’s 2010 hinges. He can get away with a mediocre fastball so long as he has three other effective offspeed pitches—and if those pitches stay effective, there’s a good chance Garcia will as well.

Garcia isn’t going to get batters to chase those pitches out of the zone, either, so he has to throw them for strikes. He did a great job with that in 2009, especially his slider (which went for a strike three of every four times he threw it).

So, going even deeper, whether or not Garcia can consistently throw his offspeed and breaking pitches for good strikes will determine whether or not he’s effective. He doesn’t have much room for error, so not only does his control have to be good, but his command has to be good as well.

Obviously, Garcia’s fastball is important to his success too, as he needs it to set up his slower stuff. If he can’t locate his fastball, then his slider, changeup, and splitter lose a lot of their effectiveness.

Garcia can get away with a mediocre fastball, but he can’t get away with a bad fastball. So the other half of Garcia’s success will depend on whether his fastball is at least acceptable or not.

It’s boom or bust for Garcia in 2010—if his fastball is decent but his slow stuff isn’t, he’s in trouble. Conversely, if his slow stuff is good but his fastball isn’t there, he’s in trouble. But if both halves are there, Garcia should be fine.

So, with all that in mind, here’s what I think Garcia will do in 2010: He won’t be as good as he was in 2009, but he won’t be so bad that the team feels the need to replace a healthy Garcia with Hudson. His BB/9 and HR/9 likely will rise, but his BABIP (which was 10 points higher than his career average in ‘09) won’t.

If Garcia makes 15 starts, I expect him to be bad in six of them (~four to five innings and five+ runs allowed), decent in seven of them (~six innings, four runs), and good in two of them (~six+ innings, less than four runs). Basically, that very rough estimate comes down to Garcia being reliable in about three of every five starts he makes.

Depending on your standards, that’s either good or bad. In a weaker rotation, a fifth starter who struggles in 40 percent of his starts is a detriment. But, on paper, the White Sox don’t exactly have a weak rotation. As long as Garcia isn’t a liability, he won’t hurt the overall success of the White Sox’ pitching.

So when push comes to shove, Garcia won’t be close the biggest problem the 2010 White Sox have.

Of course, with Guillen, the on-the-field stuff isn’t the whole story. Every year, he manages to rub somebody the wrong way, and as a result, every year people wonder if Guillen’s next off-color outburst will cost him his job.

But, for better or for worse, Guillen isn’t getting fired anytime soon. He’s far from a perfect manager, but he’s also proved to be one of the most successful managers in franchise history to this point.

Obviously, as somebody who has closely followed the White Sox for all of Guillen’s tenure as manager, I’m a little bit biased when it comes to evaluating Guillen. That’s where Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times comes in to this article.

Jaffe was gracious enough to send me excerpts from his upcoming book, Evaluating Baseball’s Managers that is due out in early 2010. One of those well-researched excerpts was on Ozzie Guillen, so from here on out, I’m going to take a look at what Jaffe had to say about Guillen and then add in my own comments.

Before I begin, though, I do have to note that Jaffe’s research does not cover the 2009 season. With that in mind, here are some of the things Jaffe notes about Guillen (all block quotes are from Jaffe’s work on Guillen):

1. He doesn’t heavily rely on his bullpen.

He relies on his bullpen less than any other 21st century manager. Only five AL bullpens in history have averaged less than an inning per relief appearance: Guillen managed three.

Guillen hasn’t been blessed with a lot of good bullpens during his six years as manager. The 2004, 2006, 2007, and, to a far lesser extent, 2009 bullpens have all struggled, leading Guillen to try to squeeze as much as he can out of his starters before going to his relief pitching.

Granted, that Guillen’s bullpens don’t average a inning per appearance isn’t necessarily indicative of trust in starting pitching. Of the 12 left-handed relievers who have appeared in 25 or more games under Guillen, only two (Matt Thornton ‘09 and Neal Cotts ‘04) have averaged over an inning per appearance.

So unless a left-hander is a long reliever (as Cotts was in 2004) or flat-out dominant (as Thornton was in 2009), Guillen is likely to use him in a more situational role.

As a result of using left-handers mostly against left-handed batters, Guillen will frequently use his right-handers to get less than three outs. Guillen’s main right-handed setup men over the years have been Cliff Politte (2004, 2005), David Riske (2006), Mike MacDougal (2006, 2007), Ryan Bukvich (2007), Ehren Wassermann (2007), Octavio Dotel (2008, 2009), Scott Linebrink (2008, 2009), and Tony Pena (2009).

Of those pitchers, only four averaged an inning or more per appearance: Riske ‘06, MacDougal ‘06 Dotel ‘09, and Pena ‘09.

That being said, Guillen certainly relies on his starting pitching. Since 2004, only seven teams have had three or more starters with 200+ innings pitched—and three of those were managed by Guillen (2005, 2007, 2008). Only in 2004 did Guillen not allow multiple starters to throw 200 or more innings.

So what’s the lesson in all of this? Guillen will ride his starters as long as he can before yielding to the bullpen. And when he does yield to the bullpen, he’s more likely to use relievers in situational lefty/righty roles than just giving his relievers a full inning of work.

2. Guillen and Kenny Williams have good communication and a similar strategy.

Further strengthening his position, Guillen possesses a strong working relationship with GM Kenny Williams. A story from Guillen’s rookie season reveals how this partnership helps Guillen. Veteran reliever Mike Jackson was unhappy with how Guillen used him. When an irked Guillen reported to Williams that one of his pitchers was causing problems, the GM had a simple solution. He did not want to know the man’s name. Instead, Williams said Guillen should inform the pitcher to clean out his locker – he was through with the club. Then Williams wanted Guillen to tell the entire team what Williams had just told him, including how Williams did not even know the man’s name in order to make sure they got the message not to complain about the manager. Only then did Williams learn the newly unemployed’s identity.

If Guillen wants a player off the team, chances are he’ll be off the team. Brandon McCarthy, Nick Swisher, Javier Vazquez, and Brian Anderson are the most prominent examples of this influence—remember, after the White Sox were eliminated in 2008, Williams went up to Swisher and told him to be ready for next year.

About a month later Swisher was off the team, traded to the Yankees for pennies on the dollar. And not surprisingly, Guillen’s dislike of Swisher caught some headlines early in the ‘09 season.

While players in Guillen’s doghouse often find themselves playing elsewhere, Williams and Guillen work together to bring in players who they both mutually like. As a result, the White Sox are in a never-ending search for speed and athleticism.

That strategy has worked (Carlos Lee for Scott Podsednik and Luis Vizcaino in ‘05, the signing of Alexei Ramirez), it has also backfired (Darin Erstad, Jerry Owens). Sometimes, it seems like the White Sox value athletic ability over baseball ability, which is why the Juan Pierre trade is somewhat disconcerting.

This quest for athleticism and stolen bases goes back to Guillen’s days as a player. He never was close to being a power hitter—instead, he was a speedy, defensive-minded shortstop with a career-best OPS of .666.

The White Sox have tried to portray their style of play under Guillen as “Ozzieball,” that is, bunting, stealing bases, and offense that isn’t predicated on home runs. A quick look at the team’s home run totals reveals something else, though: under Guillen, the White Sox have hit 200 or more home runs four times. In the two years the team did not hit 200+ home runs, they finished below .500.

So while Guillen often laments the Earl Weaver-style offense his team has, it’s been successful for the six years he’s been the team’s manager.

3. Guillen is volatile, but it’s calculated.

Perhaps the most important element of Guillen’s authority is his personality. His often profane utterances indicate a key character trait: he does not worry about ruffling feathers. If he is upset about something, he will make it known. Guillen does not operate out of fear of dangers. Living on the balls of your feet rather than your heels creates an innate sense of authority. Players know that he will confront them if he wants to, just as they know the GM, owner, the media and most of the fans support him. These elements bolstered Guillen’s standing before winning the World Series. Obviously, capturing Chicago’s first world title in 87 [sic] years further strengthened his position. Guillen possesses as much security as any manager can wish for, and most can only dream of.

Guillen doesn’t have outbursts to just have outbursts. Every time he rips a player, manager, team, or columnist, it’s with the backing of the team’s upper management. And as a result, Guillen’s personality gives him a great position of authority within the organization.

His outward intensity is the exact opposite of Jerry Manuel’s calm, collected personality that didn’t make it seem like Manuel was all that authoritative. There’s far more accountability under Guillen, and part of that has to stem from his personality. Jaffe adds this about Guillen’s authority:

Authority is good only if used appropriately, and Guillen uses his clout to create and enforce expectations for his players. His dumping of closer Shingo Takatsu illustrates this point. Though the Japanese import provided quality work as closer in 2004, finishing second in the Rookie of the Year Award voting, he started 2005 terribly. A month into the season, Guillen demoted him from the closer role, despite the lack of a proven replacement. Three months later the Sox waived Takatsu outright, in what Guillen described as the hardest decision he ever helped make. It did not matter how good Takatsu was last year, or even that Guillen personally liked him – a player had to help the team win.

So even if a player is one of Guillen’s guys, he still has to perform up to a winning standard to keep his job. It’ll be interesting to see how that applies to Juan Pierre this year—something tells me that Guillen won’t do anything if Pierre’s on-base sits in the .320 range, though.

So those are the three main points I picked from Jaffe’s writeup on Guillen. From reading the rest of the excerpts he sent me, Jaffe’s Evaluating Baseball Managers is well-researched and well-written. Perhaps most interesting is his work on dead ball era managers, including Charlie Comiskey (which Jim reviewed over at Sox Machine).

Evaluating Baseball Managers can be pre-ordered from McFarland’s website here. I’ll leave you with my favorite part of what Jaffe sent me:

Guillen is the closest thing we have these days to Billy Martin. Guillen is not as extreme as Martin (no one is) but they have similar tendencies. They only care about winning, have no interest in second place, and combine a ruthless pursuit of victory with a touch of humanity for their players. Both make their teams play as well as possible.

Mark Teahen, third baseman and outfielder for K.C. the past five years, was today named the winner of the prestigious Hutch Award, presented annually to the Major League Baseball player who best exemplifies the honor, courage and dedication of baseball great Fred Hutchinson, both on and off the field.

Teahen was traded to the Chicago White Sox on Nov. 5, so when the 28-year-old visits children at the Hutchinson Center’s Hutch School in Seattle and receives his award at Safeco Field on Jan. 27, 2010, he’ll be representing his new club.  Legendary pitcher and 1989 Hutch Award winner Dave Dravecky will be the featured speaker at the luncheon, which raises funds for cancer research.

But more importantly, he’ll be representing the many MLB players who give freely of their time and resources to benefit others.  For nearly the entirety of his tenure with the Royals, Teahen served as a key spokesman and fundraiser for the YMCA Challenger Baseball program, a division of Little League Baseball that gives children with physical or mental challenges the opportunity to play on specially designed baseball fields. In addition, he has donated time to the Royals AbilityCAMP, an interactive baseball camp for kids with disabilities, and he has supported other causes and foundations focusing on the well-being of children.

“I am extremely excited to accept the Hutch Award, and I am humbled to be added to the prestigious list of former recipients,” Teahen said. “I am honored and am thankful for all of my friends and family who help me accomplish the many successes I’ve been fortunate to achieve.”

Teahen said the Hutch Award and its connection with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center mean even more to him because this year he witnessed his mother’s successful battle with breast cancer.

The Hutchinson Center was founded by Fred’s brother Bill, a prominent Seattle surgeon, after Fred died of cancer at age 45. The Hutch Award was established in 1965 and was first given to Mickey Mantle. Other Hutch Award winners have included 2008 recipient Jon Lester, Mike Sweeney, Mark Loretta, Craig Biggio, Jamie Moyer, Willie McCovey, Willie Stargell, Omar Vizquel, Sandy Koufax and Carl Yastrzemski. In all, 11 Hall-of-Famers have received the Hutch Award. For more information about the Hutch Award, including a full list of past recipients, visit www.fhcrc.org/hutchaward.

2006 SP Legendary Cuts #62 – Sloppy Thurston

When I first got back into collecting cards in 2007, I tried to make up for thirteen years of absence by sampling every product I could get my hands on. The second hobby box I purchased from the local card shop was 2006 SP Legendary Cuts.

I instantly fell in love with the product. If I was thinking clearly back then, I probably would have finished the set. Instead, I showed great restraint and only collected the White Sox cards in the set. I sold the rest through eBay.

Back then, I solely focused on the White Sox cards in each set. Since then, I have expanded that original criteria into chasing one complete set and a few players that I admire. Mainly, I have stuck to my guns.

I’m a sucker for cards that feel retro without actually “borrowing” from a classic design. If a company fills a set with retired players that normally don’t get a lot of “card love” nowadays, I will usually gravitate towards that set. If I ever get into a lull in my card collecting, I may decide to chase this set.

The design is sharp and it looks even better in person. The scan does not do the card proper justice. It even feels different. It’s printed on very solid stock and at first glance reminded me of porcelain.

Last year, the unexpected happened. SP Legendary Cuts turned into some type of hybrid product which featured mostly current players. It was not one of my favorite releases of 2008. 2009 continued that trend. If you are intrigued by baseball history and love collecting retired players, you can’t go wrong with this set from 2007 or earlier. It’s a shame that card companies tinker with a winning formula. I can still concentrate on the earlier sets. So I got that going for me.

1992 Pinnacle #227 – Dan Pasqua

Once upon a time, there were a plethora of baseball card companies in existence. Each had many different releases. Sometimes the sets were so diverse, that one could not distinguish which cards came from which company without looking at the tiny print.

2009 is a much simpler time, in that respect. There are only so many places where cards come from today. By 2010, there will only be one card company that will be fully licensed to produce cards. That company would be Topps. As of next year, only Topps will be able to produce images of players with logos. Any other company will need to get creative.

Back in 1992, only card sets that came with baked goods and cereal had to airbrush logos out. Pinnacle has long since ceased production of baseball cards. Still, the memories of this age are fresh in my mind. It may have been the overproduction era, but there were so many choices.

Innovations in how cards were presented were born out of healthy competition between card companies. Where will the Dan Pasquas of today find a home? Today’s Dan Pasqua is someone like a Nick Swisher, with one difference. Dan Pasqua would not showboat or complain about where he ended up on the field. Dan Pasqua would play wherever the manager assigned him.

He did not fuss or cry foul if he wasn’t in the lineup. He came to the park ready to play and did his job to the best of his ability. There was no flash, yet Dan occasionally had a flair for the dramatic, when he would hit a mammoth home run. His numbers may not show it, but I felt confident every time that Dan came up against a right handed pitcher.

I, along with many other collectors, miss Pinnacle. I miss all of the other fallen brands too. There was a feeling I would get when I went to the card shop and had a smorgasbord of packs to choose from. Pinnacle always stood out when I was in a pinch. Dan Pasqua stood out to me when the Sox were in a pinch. Whenever I run across a Pinnacle card in my collection, I always think about this card of Pasqua and collecting as a teenager. Looking back, I wouldn’t trade either memory for the world.

If you click that link, you’ll see this at the end of the article:

Williams likes the versatility of the Sox’s outfield, in which Alex Rios and Jordan Danks can play center and right exceptionally well.

That note has been part of a growing trend that has propelled Danks into supposed consideration for next year’s opening day roster. A few more:

Nov. 9: Specifically, Williams anticipates contributions in the future from outfielder Jordan Danks, catcher Tyler Flowers and pitcher Daniel Hudson.

Danks already has received rave reviews in the  Arizona Fall League for his defense and hitting, and he has vaulted himself into consideration to make the opening day roster.

Nov. 4: Another sudden consideration is the emergence of Jordan Danks in the Arizona Fall League. Danks is batting .379 with two home runs, 14 RBIs and three stolen bases in 16 games for the Peoria Javelinas and was selected to play in the AFL’s Rising Stars game Saturday night at Surprise.

Danks, 22, wasn’t projected to reach the majors until 2011, but his progress in the AFL caused team officials to consider him as no worse than a potential mid-season call-up. Scouts who have seen Danks this fall are impressed with his skills but are curious to see how he’ll adjust to inside pitches.

Before I get started, let me just say that I think Gonzales does a fine job covering the White Sox for the Chicago Tribune. I really mean that. I just don’t think he—or the organization—should start to pencil Danks in on the opening day roster next year.

Yes, Danks is hitting extremely well in the Arizona Fall League. His .952 OPS is impressive, but perhaps even more impressive is his 13/15 BB/K ratio. That’s a very encouraging sign for a player who can strike out a little too much and can be pretty aggressive at the plate.

But here’s the hitch: Danks isn’t alone in mashing in the AFL. That .952 OPS is 16th-best in the league, and he’s one of 18 players with an OBP above .400.

Small sample size has a to do with it. Any time you get a group of promising offensive talents with a small sample size of at-bats hitting against often marginal pitching—not to say the AFL has bad pitching across the board, but there is an awful lot of junk in the league—the results are going to be puffed up a bit.

I’m not buying that Jordan Danks has suddenly become an opening day major leaguer because of 70 at-bats. If Danks were hitting this well in the minors, 70 at-bats wouldn’t be enough to promote him to the majors unless somebody got hurt.

Remember, it took Gordon Beckham 175 minor league at-bats before he was called up—and that was with Josh Fields and Wilson Betemit at third.

And that brings me to another point: Beckham’s success in the AFL and subsequent success in the majors last season is in no way tied to Danks. They are completely different players with different skill sets, pedigrees, and ceilings. In no way is there any causation there, so saying “Beckham had success in the AFL and then the majors, so why can’t Danks?” is a poor statement.

This isn’t trying to put down Danks—I think he has a pretty bright future ahead of him in the majors as at least a plus defensive outfielder. What these 70 at-bats are telling me more than anything is that Danks’ offensive slide in the second half of 2009 can at least somewhat be explained by wrist and finger injuries that was diagnosed in late June.

In other words, these at-bats are serving to confirm that Danks is still on the career path he was back in May. His ETA should still be middle-to-late 2010 or 2011. Rushing him would likely lead to opposing pitchers exposing his weaknesses, leading to a lot of strikeouts and a low OBP.

Does Danks deserve a look in spring training next year? Of course he does. Like I said, his AFL numbers shouldn’t be viewed as more of a breakthrough than a continuance of his pre-injury success with the Barons.

But even if he impresses like Beckham did, the White Sox should still send him to the minors for a little more experience while evaluating whether their current outfield option would be better than Danks.

So that means the White Sox need to pick up a corner outfielder at some point this offseson. Randy Winn is bad offensively but can play both left and right field extremely well—and if the Sox could snag him on a cheap one-year deal, it wouldn’t be the worst thing the team could do.

Plus, Winn would be a good way to get some value (by way of defense, not offense) out of the “gap hitters” Kenny Williams appears to be searching for in the offseason. Also, having an affordable corner outfielder like Winn would give the Sox an easy in to play Danks if his development does progress quickly, as a player like Winn would fit nicely as a fourth outfielder as well.

The White Sox’ brass say they like having options with Danks and some other rookies at other positions. However, Danks should only be realistically considered as an option if the Sox have exhausted all other possibilities over the next five months.

Watch Baseball Digest TV’s Interview With Jordan Danks Here

1991 Score Traded #81T – Brian Drahman

Sometimes it’s the most common cards that elude you. Even in the overproduced era of baseball cards, I still have commons that I have never seen.

A year ago, I lacked a Barry Jones card to complete a 1991 Donruss Sox set. Finally, I got that card in a trade and was able to finally put ‘91 Donruss to rest.

Today, I finally completed the 1991 Score Traded set. I had a few cards left to pick up but I was never able to find the cards as singles. I broke down and just bought the whole set. It was simpler than tracking down singles that were only available in a set.

I found an unopened set online with free shipping. I was the only bidder so I ended up paying $3.50 for the set. When it arrived in the mail, the postage was $3.89. It literally cost more to ship the set than I shelled out. That’s the way it works, when dealing with cards from the overproduced era. That’s why you don’t see a lot of commons up for sale.

The sad thing is that I now own rookie cards of Ivan Rodriguez, Jeff Bagwell and many others in this set that I picked up for a song. I am happy about that aspect, but something still saddens me about having to obtain cards this way. If I were a set collector, I would be thrilled. I only collect the White Sox and a few select players.

The only thing I really remember about Brian Drahman is the palmball. I can remember Ken Harrelson and Tom Paciorek making a huge deal about Brian throwing one. The pitch was a mild success in the hands of Drahman. He stuck around the majors for four years, mainly because of that one pitch. It must have impressed other people as well. He is currently the pitching coach for the minor league Great Falls, Montana team.

The Voyagers, which are an Advanced Rookie class team, have been an affiliate of the White Sox since 2003. Ex White Sox players never fade away. They just become White Sox employees. I can respect that. It’s nice to have continuity. It’s also nice to complete a pesky traded set with a common reliever.

Fields career – .229/.302/.416/84 OPS+
Jacobs 2009 – .228/.297/.401/84 OPS+

Getz career – .262/.323/.346/73 OPS+
Bloomquist – .263/.318/.332/75 OPS+

Pretty freaking eerie, right? Did I mention that both Fields and Getz are below average defensively? They are. So what’s this trade about then? Saving money, replacing Callaspo, or replacing Gordon? My opinion (take it for what’s worth, I’m wrong a lot) is that this paves the way for a Gordon trade and Callaspo/Fields take over the 3B/DH spots. Which I guess would mean that Jacobs is on his way out too but with Moore you never know.

I think centerfield/rightfield/catcher/bullpen were greater needs than 2B and 3B so this trade screams the word odd. But these two players do appeal to Moore’s philosophy of low OBP and sub-par defense. He certainly has a type.

In other words, here we go again.

So at first glance you would suspect that I didn’t care for the trade and you would be right but probably not for the reasons you may think. I am not overrating Teahen, he is what he is. A useful player that you can put just about anywhere who won’t hurt you offensively or defensively. He doesn’t help you much either though which is why I’m not upset he was traded.

And it’s not really Fields or Getz that has me annoyed, no as usual it’s Dayton Moore. Again 2B and 3B were not pressing needs like say catcher or centerfield. Fields and Getz have both shown flashes of potential that may or may not come out in KC and they come cheaper than Teahen so maybe Moore is hoping to shed payroll so he can wade into the free agent pool. Whatever the reason it’s just an odd trade. I get that a lot of people like it and that’s fine. The 2009 Royals were a disaster so roster turnover is to be expected.

To help understand what KC is getting I turned to  faithful (and somewhat cynical) White Sox blogger Andrew Reilly of the 35th Street Review. (I offered him my thoughts on Teahen which you can read here.)

I suspect, Royals fans, that you want to know exactly what the Chicago White Sox just sent you in the mail. Who are Josh Fields and Chris Getz? What have they done? What will they do for their new team?

First the good news: Chris Getz. Make no mistake, Getz may a terrible player someday and we saw last year what happened when the American League finally compiled the book on him. Witness his fantastic April (.340 average, .396 OBP), followed by a miserable May and June (.200/.263, .247/.301). But Getz also rebounded nicely, finishing the year as the Sox’ second-best rookie and being the least painful bottom-of-the-order bat in recent South Side history. His defense, while not fantastic, will serve you well and won’t (read: can’t) make the Royals any worse. You will not curse him, but at the same time you will probably never revere him, either. Knowing what I know about Kansas City baseball, this will probably be a nice change of pace.

On the other hand, I promise you will very quickly grow to hate Josh Fields. Not because Fields is a bad person (which he isn’t), nor because he’s a bad baseball player (which he is), but because for a long time Fields has had all the trappings of becoming a potentially great baseball player. Savage power at the plate coupled with respectable skills at the hot corner should spell stardom, but in Fields’ case that power has been handcuffed to an alarming number of strikeouts in a very short amount in time. In 2007, he gave us fans 23 homers in 100 games, with 125 whiffs to match; in 2009, he struck out (76) almost as often as he played (79). When he connects, Fields can deliver some awesome feats of hitting, but the only problem with that is that Fields, simply put, never connects. You will want very badly to see this man live up to his promise, and he will never deliver on it.

Ever.

Thanks for the third baseman, though. Between the weak-hitting second baseman the Sox had last year and the terrifying third base prospect waiting in Charlotte for the call back to the bigs, the future was starting to look ugly.

What the Sox get with Teahen is an average left-handed bat who can play third base, second base, or right field—although UZR says he can’t exactly play any of those positions well.

Teahen’s walk rate has plummeted in the last two years, falling from 9.2 in 2006 and 2007 to 7.4 and 6.6 in 2008 and 2009. As a result, his OBP fell from the .350 range to the .310-.320 range. On top of that, his contact rate has fell along with his walk rate.

His current approach at the plate—essentially, one of less patience—is a strong departure from his famed Moneyball days. Some scout quotes on Teahen from the book (page 31):

Good approach to hitting. Not a lot of power right now…he takes pitches.

Teahen doesn’t project. He’s a corner guy who doesn’t hit a lot of home runs.

Teahen not only is a corner guy who doesn’t hit a lot of home runs, but now, he doesn’t even have a good approach to hitting.

Maybe some of that change has been because of poor coaching from the Royals. Or maybe some of that change has been that Teahen got sick of being a corner outfielder who doesn’t hit many home runs.

If the Sox can find a way to get Teahen back to his patient days at the plate (i.e. get his walk rate back up), then he at least can be a good OBP guy somewhere in the lineup. If not, though, he’ll become essentially an expensive utility player.

Teahen is a better defensive right fielder than Jermaine Dye, but he’s still not above-average. So if Teahen is playing a corner position, he won’t have much power or much defense.

A lesser worry for me is that the Sox will move Teahen to third and Gordon Beckham to second. I’d have to hope the Sox know about Teahen’s deficiencies at third and would rather keep Beckham progressing defensively there instead of moving him to second. But that infield shift is not something we can rule out just yet.

But it’s not like the Sox gave up a whole lot for Teahen. Getz has a lot of work to do with his offense, defense, and fragility before he can be considered an everyday major-league second baseman. Fields didn’t have a position within the organization and, unfortunately for him, Kansas City probably isn’t the best place to revive his career.

What’s interesting now is that the White Sox do with second base. Will Jayson Nix become the everyday starter? Will Beckham shift to second? Will Teahen play second base, which he did only three times last year? Will the White Sox acquire a second baseman via the free agent or trade market now? Does this mean C.J. Retherford might crack the majors as a reserve infielder?

It’s only November 5, and already we have a bunch of questions that’ll have to be answered over the course of the winter. That’s a nice way to kick off the hot stove league.

1960 Leaf #66 – Earl Battey

This is my first foray into 1960 Leaf. It arrived on Thursday. I had never actually seen any of these cards in person, so I was in for a little culture shock when it arrived. The card is ever so slightly under the standard size.

Whenever I would see a picture of 1960 Leaf cards, the design always made me think of the fifties and sixties team promos that were 5×7 or 4×6. Something in my brain made me think that the 1960 Leaf cards were exactly the same. I can see how foolish I actually was, now that I have my first card in hand.

This was around a time where cards came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. My thinking wasn’t out of line. It was just flawed without seeing an example in hand.

This is one of my first cards of Earl Battey too. Earl was a great catcher that was blocked by Sherm Lollar in the Sox organization. His sporadic starts did nothing for his average. He was a lifetime .209 hitter with the White Sox. When he was shipped off to the Senators, he blossomed into a great overall player, winning three gold gloves. By the time that the Senators moved to Minnesota and dubbed the Twins, Earl was a star.

1960 Leaf is strange for many reasons. This was the first Leaf baseball set since the forties and the last until the eighties. There are variations that zoom in on just the face, if you didn’t think the mugshot bust shots weren’t creepy enough. The set was packaged in a wrapper with marbles. Yes, those round little objects that kids used to play with in a circle (before they played video games) were packaged with these cards.

This is also one of the last cards of Earl Battey in a White Sox uniform. By the time this card came out, he had already went to Washington.