Off to the Ball Game!

I'm headed down to the White Sox game tonight, to see Jose Contreras and the Sox take on Johann Santana and the Minnesota Twins, and I'll surely be back with some musings or rantings tomorrow.

In the meantime, a couple of observations with the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline approaching. For the record, the waiver/trade process can be a very confusing one, so here's a link to a site that explains how this works.

Over on Chicago's South Side, the White Sox have already been busy. This weekend, the Sox designated backup catcher Chris Widger for assignment, and replaced him with Sanday Alomar Jr, who was acquired from Los Angeles. (I suppose nowadays I need to specify the Dodgers, and not the poser team from Anaheim) These are familiar surroundings for the 40 year-old Alomar, who is about to begin his 3rd tour of duty with the Pale Hose, having last been here in 2004. The one year that Alomar missed out on brought a World Series trophy to the Sox, a career capstone that Alomar has yet to achieve, so you can expect him to play hard for a repeat. Age nonwithstanding (and Widger was no spring chicken at 35), this is an improvement for the Sox. Widger lacked in game preparations, and failed to make an impact in games he caught this season. In addition, Sox pitchers had an ERA over 5 in games Widger caught. While blame can't be placed solely on the catcher, this shakeup could serve to make some improvements to the Sox chemistry, as Widger did catch every six games or so.

In addition, the Sox acquired reliever Mike MacDougal from Kansas City, also for a prospect. MacDougal, when healthy, was strong in the Royals bullpen, and should serve as a good late inning spark for the Sox. This will help in shortening the length of the starting pitchers' appearances, something Ozzie Guillen has said is becoming necessary.

The rumors are running rampant about more deadline moves coming out of the South Side, and several national outlets reported yesterday that a deal was all but done to bring Alfonso Soriano to the Sox in exchange for starting-pitcher-in-waiting Brandon McCarthy. These rumors were dismissed, and the trade does not appear to be happening, saving me from a meltdown. McCarthy just might be the pitcher of the White Sox future. With Buehrle and Garland inconsistent this season, and Buehrle, who will be a free agent, already expressing a desire to pitch for his hometown Cardinals, it looks like the starting five we see today will not be set in stone for years to come. While Contreras is becoming nothing short of a franchise player, there is a good chance either Freddy Garcia and his inconsistencies, Javier Vasquez and his sixth inning terrors, or both could be gone as well this offseason. That said, McCarthy is waiting in the wings, and has shown tremendous potential to be the Sox ace of the future. Should the Sox deal him for Soriano, not only would they miss out on this, but they also would acquire a player with essentially no place to put him. What would likely happen is, Soriano would play in left field, and Scott Podsednik would move to center, relegating Brian Anderson to the bench. While Anderson's numbers have not been strong, he is beginning to show vast improvement at the plate, and his glove is certainly solid out in the field. While many are calling for his head, I am most definitely on the Brian Anderson bandwagon, and encouraging Sox fans to show patience, and to have a little faith that this young prospect will come around. Soriano, on the other hand, would pretty much be acquired to block another AL Central team, or possibly the Yankees, from acquiring him. While there is something to be said for making sure your rivals don't get stronger, the priority is bettering your own team, and spending your pitcher of the future on a block player is not a smart way to look at things. It seems, and I hope, that Ken Williams agrees with this philosophy, but it will take the next few days to know for sure. I can say this, though. I don't believe Williams and the Sox are done yet.

One final thought on the other side of town. There's another rumor going around Chicago that the crosstown Cubs are looking to acquire Alex Rodriguez from the Yankees, possibly for Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones. If the Cubs were smart, and willing to take on at least most of A-Rod's salary, they'd pull the trigger on this deal. Acquiring arguably the best player in baseball would be a good way for the Cubs to show their fans that they do care about the future of the team, and that while this year is essentially over and done for, they are buyers and not sellers, and are looking towards success in the near future. Rodriguez is getting a bad rap in New York, as Vinnie mentioned in a previous post, and he just might have the chance to shine in a new venue. While I'm more concerned with the dealings on the South Side, this one could be an interesting one to follow, and I will be doing just that...