White Sox

[Schwks]

Boy are there bigger losers in the off-season then the White Sox? First they trade a solid closer under team control for two more years at middle relief salary for a fringe prospect. Next they trade a bonafide power hitting outfielder, Quentin, again under team control for another year(two?), for two minor league prospects who can at best be termed question marks.

What exactly is Williams doing? The team had a solid rotation, a solid hitting core(assuming Dunn mounts a recovery into Cust territory) and a potentially very good bullpen: Thornton, Santos, Reed. They had an off year last year and he is selling off reasonably priced, valuable parts for $.10 on the dollar.

Why would he not be going for it for one more year?

[Vander]

Not sure anybody can explain the Santos trade. I thought he could get younger as he wants to do, cut some salary like he needs to do and still go for it if he gets some kind of rebound from Dunn, Rios, and maybe Peavy. Quentin going makes sense. They have De aza and Viciedo ready to go and though they didn't get much in return he showed in 2005 you can add by subtracting. He didn't get much for C. Lee then either and I thought he went crazy yet he explained after the fact how the salary save helped acquire other parts that won a WS. Quentin was an injury prone horrible outfielder that they can replace in house. Their outfield defense really hurt them the last 2 years. Even if you put Viciedo out there and he's terrible you still got better. De aza in center allows Rios to move to left (he was no center fielder but may not be a bad left fielder) and Tank can't be much worse than Quentin with a better arm. They can contend as is but sure could use a real stopper. I like Danks but he's not a #1 and Peavy just can't be counted on anymore. I think Kenny rolled the dice with him and so far has lost. Really don't know why they ever signed Dunn. Thought it was a bad move then now 1 year in it looks like they have to drag a several million $ anchor around. Still think that division is winable if they get something out of Dunn/Rios and 1 more year out of Konerko. Even without a stopper. Let's see what Kenny has up his sleve.

[Gekko]

Early word is Quentin to hit cleanup!

[TOXIC ASSETS]

Quenton is another guy I will be completely ignoring. An injury prone, attitude-challenged power hitter, who doesn't hit for average, going to one of the worst parks for hitting in the majors. Quoting a line from the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode....NEXT!!!!