Preaching Patience

"Beware the fury of a patient man!"

-John Dryden

If you had told me a few weeks ago, when I started this blog, that I would still be eagerly cheering for the Twins to reach the postseason, I never would have believed it.

If you had told me that the Twins rotation of Baker, Pavano, Blackburn, Manship and Duensing would be looking this solid I'd have rolled my eyes at you.

If you had told me a week ago that Joe Nathan and Matt Guerrier would implode today while the rest of our pitchers combined for a shutout, I'd scoff.

This was a horrible game, and I was so smug in the 9th. Even after the first home run I said that at least we knew he'd never give up two in an inning. I really hope no CSN cameras caught me because I probably looked like the most disillusioned and disheartened Twins fan they could find. Watching that second ball escape Span's reach I could hear Hawk Harrelson screaming in my head, "You can put it on the BOOOOOARRD!" and I wanted to hide.

I think the loss is primarily compounded by the fact that (A) we were one strike away from winning it, (B) our pitching was dominating them the entire game, and (C) we wanted to usher the White Sox out with a stiff boot instead of letting the parting image be something like this:

 You know what? Joe Nathan is still the best closer in baseball. Have we been spoiled to have someone so lock-down that we start harping on him because instead of matching his 1.33 ERA and 0.901 WHIP from last year he's spiked all the way up to a 1.71 ERA and 0.911 WHIP? How about how he's actually averaging several more K/9 innings and is 5 saves shy of breaking his total from last year?

Everyone goes through rough patches. Maybe he signed too many autographs pregame and his hand cramped -- if so, partially my fault and everyone else's along the line today. Ok, so because of this we're only 7-2 against the Sox at the Dome this year instead of 8-1. That is disappointing I know. And the fact that they're pretty much throwing in the towel on the season makes no difference? Trading away their biggest power threat for a minor league infielder in the middle of a "pennant race"? Oh, and I'm sorry, but if they lose 3 games to Boston at the Cell, how do they expect to fare at Fenway in a four game set coming up?

Listen, the Twins bullpen is stronger than it has been since Neshek left us. Crain seems to have found his form (or at least more so), Rauch has been delightful to watch, Mijares has matured into Rich Garces of the new era, and I think any team would be happy to have Nathan and Guerrier on it. We need to take our lumps and keep going, leave it to the White Sox fans to whine and cry, that's their job.

As Tertullian said, "To put it in a nutshell, every sin is traced back to impatience." This was one game. One which we seemed to have wrapped up, and that's what makes it hard. How about noticing how Kubel seems to have forgotten how he can't hit lefties and hit the ball with some authority off Buehrle today? Or how about how Mr. Olympiad Brian Duensing delivered again. Do you remember when people kept trying to talk about sending he and Humber off with Delmon for some super player to save the day? Those ideas were ridiculous. But, don't you think there are some teams salivating over Duensing now? Oh ye of little faith. Patience. Things will work out.

(The above is me preaching to myself essentially, maybe you weren't as disheartened as I, but I needed to reassure myself.)

I was trying to figure out what to write about this game all day and there's not much more to be said. Cuddyer made a beautiful catch that for some odd reason was overturned, and I still have no idea why. Maybe it's because Tim Tschida was on the field again? Who knows.

What I do know, is that Jay and I enjoyed some beautiful seats, literally right next to the Twins bullpen. Neither of us had the foresight to bring a camera, but thanks to Jay's iPhone we have some pictures and video:

TC High-Fiving the fans

TC stopping on his bike to wave.

Mijares signing autographs.

Some random kid displaying his Mijares signed ball.

The boys warming up.

Justin Morneau standing in during Duensing's warm-ups.

Nathan warming up.

Nathan warming up again.

Some fine footage of Jon Rauch, yes, he's HUGE.

As you can see, these seats were awesome. That, and Jose Mijares signing a ball to add to my collection somewhat counterbalanced the sad ending to the game. (Also the Leinenkugel's helped.)

Oh, and as I mentioned in my post yesterday, Betsy at For the Love of the Game took a ton of pictures from yesterday, so check them out! In the meantime, try to enjoy a day away from baseball as best you can. I'm going to spend mine at the State Fair with cheese curds and "beer on a stick".

Rejoice! I say again, rejoice!

Let me just say, yes, that was an awesome game to be at. I think my timing was right for coming back to Minnesota, it's already been a success (and I haven't even eaten the cheese curds at the fair yet).

I would like to give a huge thank you to two of my favorite Twins bloggers and two of the best Twins fans I'll meet, Katie of KC's Baseball Blog, and Betsy of For the Love of the Game, as both of them met me before the game and showed me their slightly-less-than-legal way of viewing Target Field (which amounts to scaling a wall in a parking garage and then being blown away by the beautiful future of outdoor baseball in Minnesota). My lack of a camera prevents me from posting this view, but I think Betsy might have us covered so check out her site! And for the record, it's probably a good thing we didn't jinx anything with "Sweep the Sox". Also, Katie apparently wears lucky jerseys, as Cuddyer had quite a night and she was representing him -- I vote we all pitch in to buy her a jersey for every player which she can then wear at the appropriate time.

I'd also like to give another huge thank you to Jay for taking me to the game with his friend's season tickets and putting up with me rambling on about SABR even though I'm sure he just wanted to punch me -- and no, Jay, I still think Punto and Cabrera are dreadful and I'd rather them be replaced.

Thanks also need to go out to Jose Morales, we all know why. 

As much as I love Redmond, I really think Morales needs to be our back-up to Mauer. If Redmond retires anytime soon, I'm sure there will be a position in Twins management open to him and I know everyone would love to have him within the organization.

Lastly, Tim Laudner, if you're reading this, you're great. 1987 World Series team: awesome, and Don Baylor was totally safe, you knocked him in during Game 7, umps know nothing.

I'm going to enjoy the game from the first row tomorrow, and I'll use my proximity to third base to get into Gordon Beckham's head. For now, check out some more White Sox whining from this last game, and I'll leave you with an Ozzie Guillen inspirational poster I found while scrolling around online:

Game 131: Where the Twins Do Everything Right

Maybe it's just a mostly forgettable season, but I can't think of the last game when this team has played such solid baseball.

Nick Blackburn's starting pitching? Fantastic. Reminiscent of his beautiful start in Game 163 last year.

Relief pitching? Not even Joe Nathan gave me anything to sweat about! Maybe he listened to us bloggers?

Our defense? Beautiful. I can only imagine being a White Sox fan and worrying about every single ground ball being a hit with how dreadful their defense has been all year. We're blessed.

Our line-up? Well, how can you complain when you've got Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel teeing off like it's BP?

OK, so I can't write a real post since I have to go to bed in time to wake up for an early early flight to Minnesota to watch Jeff Manship make his major league debut (instead of Rich Harden; I guess you win, Betsy and Katie). 

But please, if you're looking for extremely fun reading ... take today to expand your horizons beyond the Twins blogosphere. Indulge yourself in a guilty pleasure that I like to partake. The comment section of the in-game thread from the South Side Sox website during last night's game. It's a good way to witness other fans go to through the dismay, pain, and fear that we've seen in our tenure as Twins fans. 

He may be the President, but when's he gonna pick a better team?

I'll have more tomorrow after I go to the game!

Bring on the Dirty Laundry!

*Due to the increased importance of this series with the Chicago White Sox, my desire to say goodbye to the Metrodome during a meaningful series, and the lovely convergence of the Minnesota State Fair, I will be returning to Minnesota for Tuesday and Wednesday's games against the White Sox! Let me know if you're going to the game and make sure to say hi! I'm going to bring my lucky Rick Aguilera jersey and sit right down by the field close enough to trash talk Gordon Beckham and try to get inside his head. Let's go Twins!

Leaving for Atlantic City and returning to NYC in the middle of a game in time to watch the Twins have one of their signature Dome rallies in the 8th inning was the perfect way to spend a weekend! We played at the Taj Mahal and The Tropicana this weekend and had a great time. My poker buddies and I didn't win as much as we should have due to some bad beats, but we didn't lose money, which is the key. Similar to the Twins' season thus far, no? They haven't really made the big runs they should have been capable of with the talent of guys like Mauer and Morneau, but here we are going into September and postseason is in the air alongside Minnesota State Fair cheese curds!

Going into this season, I was eyeing this upcoming White Sox series at the Dome, its convergence with the State Fair, and already planning coming back for my last hurrah at our stadium, and I simply prayed that at the very least these games would be meaningful. With the Twins and Sox separated in the standings by only 1 1/2 games and the Twins only 4 1/2 back from the Tigers (who are about to play the suddenly decent Cleveland Indians), we are in great shape. And we could be in even better shape soon!

If the Twins are serious about acquiring Harden, I'm all for it. Penny would be a decent boost to our struggling rotation, but Harden could be the golden ticket. Before being traded from his career in Oakland over to the Cubs last year, Harden has been plagued by an injury history that would make even Michael Cuddyer groan. He holds a career 3.36 ERA and 1.22 WHIP and average just over a strikeout per inning. Plus he's on my fantasy roster already and it would give me one more reason to cheer for him.

If the Twins can sign him to an extension (preferably incentive-laden), that also just might give Mauer the whiff of looming success that he's been hoping for before re-upping.

I must also say that I'm very happy after watching Jon Rauch pitch, and from what I hear, Mahay didn't do awfully himself. At the least, they have adequately replaced Humber and Gabino -- now we just need to see a fresh face in place of Keppel. And speaking of Keppel, I'm not quite ready to give ultimate confidence to Rauch and Mahay just yet, because hopefully we all remember how dominant Keppel looked in his first few starts until his career stats began to catch up with him. But I'm willing to applaud Rauch and Mahay for their performances, and I'll definitely be rooting for them to keep up that level of success and make the Twins look brilliant in their waiver wire maneuvering.

SEPTEMBER CALL-UPS

Things have already been written about the September Call-ups, and I don't mean to add anything that hasn't already been said. But I will say that it looks as if by all means the Twins front office hasn't given up on this season, and judging by Gardy's words and the Twins' place in the standing we're going to have to wait to see some of our long-anticipated prospects hoist a bat or toe the rubber in the majors.

Obviously Morales was going to come up, I don't think anyone didn't see that coming. But the real question was whether the front office would keep the party line and bring back Buscher, Tolbert, Swarzak and Dickey, or whether we'd see some of our better prospects (who might not be as refined yet), like Valencia, Tolleson, Plouffe, Hughes, Huber, Slama, and Delaney. At least Gardy stated that he wanted to see Valencia up but he's being told that "it's not the time". I just wonder who exactly is telling him that! Gardy is the manager!

I still wouldn't be surprised if someone like David Winfree or Brock Peterson makes a surprise cameo in September, as soon its going to be time to cut bait on them and we might as well add some extra bats to our bench for the stretch run and get a look at them up here. Although the real question is who would we remove to add them to our 40-man now that we know Tolbert and Buscher are coming up. Perhaps Dickey? The real surprising thing is that Tolleson and Hughes haven't been announced as coming up as they're already on the 40-man roster and could provide some valuable bench bats -- and Tolleson has versatility in the infield and outfield just as Tolbert does.

In another somewhat overlooked move, Yohan Pino was traded to the Indians to complete the Carl Pavano acquisition. This could actually come back to haunt us as he's been on fire lately, and despite falling out of the picture the last few years he once was a very promising prospect. Chances are he would have been taken in the Rule 5 draft this year anyway, as there are many prospects to add to our 40-man roster this offseason and not enough spots for all those deserving. I wish him luck, but it's going to be tough to like Pino if he comes back and makes us look foolish!

Ok, hopefully I have some good news tomorrow to write in regards to Harden (or Penny if Harden doesn't work out). But in the meantime, check some of the great blogs on the left for some more Twins news!

Next Year: A Look at the Chicago White Sox

UPDATE: Disappointing loss last night. I'm not planning on doing a game recap, but you should head over to Jack Steal's site to read it there -- that's always where I check. Great site with good game updates and insights into how the Twins should improve. Check it out.

*Disclaimer: This is the 4th installment in a look at our AL Central rivals. I saved the White Sox for last partly because I dislike them so much, and partly because they're probably the team we tend to focus on the most. That's because something always seems to happen when we play them. Again, these conjectures are extremely premature as the season isn't even over yet, but this is my best guess as to what to expect next year from the South Siders. All stats are from '09 unless otherwise indicated.

The Chicago White Sox are probably the team I despise most in any area of sports: yes, more than the Packers, and yes, more than the Iceland team from Mighty Ducks 2. But I'm going to try to not let that stop me from an objective look at their team. Over at his blog, Josh Johnson has a terrific write up of why we should be worried about the Sox, and if you haven't already read it, you definitely should.

But, without further adieu, White Sox 2010:

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ROTATION

Mark Buehrle, LHP, 11-6, 3.78 ERA, 1.19 WHIP

*He of the perfect game. The man who likes to trash talk our home team in the press. He's also easily one of the best left handed pitchers in the American League -- and now that Santana isn't around he's definitely the best in the AL Central. He's really easy to hate because he always hurts us. He's been a model of consistency throughout his career, and all this from a 38th round draft pick in 1998. Since his rookie year in 2000 he's always started at least 30 games and pitched at least 200 innings while posting numbers very similar to what he's done this year (and barring something awful, I doubt that will change sometime soon). Even with the pick up of Jake Peavy, it would be hard to convince me that Buehrle is not the staff ace.

Jake Peavy, RHP ** Career 3.29 ERA, 1.19 WHIP (posted similar numbers before injury)

*When Peavy was almost traded to the White Sox in June but quickly flashed his no trade clause, Twins Territory breathed a massive sigh of relief. When it actually went through almost two months later it was a little bit easier to ignore as he wasn't going to make an immediate impact since he's currently on the DL. In fact, the day after he rejected the trade to the White Sox is when he landed on the DL, running the bases in Wrigley he hurt his ankle. When Peavy is healthy, he has a significant ability to miss bats, and his name will usually always be up there on the leaderboard in K's when he can stay healthy a full season. He's made two rehab starts for AAA Charlotte, and in his last start on Tuesday he went 4 innings giving up 3 earned runs on 5 hits with 5 strikeouts. The one-two punch of Buehrle-Peavy is going to be one of the best in baseball, and we get to see it on our arch-rivals for the next couple of years. But then there's stuff like this.

Gavin Floyd, RHP, 10-7, 3.94 ERA, 1.25 WHIP

John Danks, LHP, 10-8, 3.96 ERA, 1.31 WHIP

Lucas Harrell, RHP, 4-1, 3.29 ERA, 1.37 WHIP***(AAA numbers in 9 starts)

Daniel Hudson, RHP, 3.27 ERA, 1.27 ERA***(AAA numbers over 2 starts)

Jack Egbert, RHP, 5-8, 3.50 ERA, 1.24 WHIP***(AAA as a starter in 14 games)

Carlos Torres, RHP, 10-4, 2.36 ERA, 1.19 WHIP***(AAA as a starter in 21 games)

Wes Whisler, LHP, 9-10, 3.82 ERA, 1.41 WHIP***(AAA as a starter in 23 starts)

Jeff Marquez, RHP, 2-8, 9.85 ERA, 2.06 WHIP***(AAA in 11 starts)

*Gavin Floyd and John Danks have both locked up a spot in the Chicago starting 5. Both were acquired via trade. Danks came over from Texas in '06 for Brandon McCarthy (I think the White Sox got the better end of the deal...), and Floyd was acquired from Philadelphia in '06 as well when they dealt Freddy Garcia. Both of their numbers are pretty similar to their career marks so it's reasonable to expect they'll be about as effective in 2010. 

The 5th spot is the question. Contreras is playing out his final year now, and Colon and Garcia will both be gone as well. They have several starters who they could look to at AAA Charlotte, the most ready probably being Lucas Harrell and Daniel Hudson. Harrell started this year at AA Birmingham and could probably use a little bit more seasoning in AAA. Hudson is a guy to keep your eye on. While he hasn't had more than two starts at AAA, he's moving very quickly through their system. He was a 5th round pick back in '08 and started this season at Low A but is now pitching very well at Charlotte. His previous stop, in Birmingham, he started 9 games with a 1.60 ERA and 0.83 WHIP -- and numbers like these have been consistent at every stop he's made. Sound familiar? I'm not saying ... but I might be saying... just pay attention to him.

As far as the other prospects go, Carlos Torres did make two starts in the majors this season, and he ended up lasting 9.1 innings while giving up 7 earned runs on 9 hits with 8 strikeouts and 9 walks. He does have great numbers this year in the minors, but if you look at his track record these numbers are a little too good and he might be playing above his head. Jack Egbert also appeared in the majors this year, but he showed up in relief. And gave up 8 runs in 2.2 innings. So my vote would be for him to be the 5th starter (Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams might beg to differ). He has much better numbers as a starter though in AAA than as a reliever -- think 1.89 WHIP vs. 1.24 WHIP. So maybe we don't want to see him start for the White Sox?

Wes Whisler had a very bad major league debut as well, and over his career he's shown a very mediocre K-BB ratio. He might have some future but I don't know how bright it is. Marquez looks like a wash. He came over from the Yankees as one of the pieces in the Nick Swisher trade, and he wasn't really that much better with Scranton Wilkes-Barre. He seems to have hit a wall at AAA, but I'm sure he'll be given a little bit longer to see if he can pull things together.

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FIELD

C: A.J. Pierzynski, .311/.342/.462, 13 HR, 36 RBI

1B: Paul Konerko, .276/.342/.483, 22 HR, 72 RBI

2B: Chris Getz, .267/.325/.367, 2 HR, 28 RBI

SS: Alexei Ramirez, .275/.330/.411, 14 HR, 55 RBI

3B: Gordon Beckham, .297/.379/.477, 7 HR, 44 RBI

LF: ?

CF: Alex Rios, .265/.316/.430, 15 HR, 64 RBI

RF: ?

*OK, don't think too much about those question marks in the corner outfield. I think they have easy solutions, but I'll get to those in a minute. For now, let's just point out that I think so far the White Sox have a very nice mix of old and new talent. Chris Getz isn't going to wow anyone and will probably not appear on most lists of the best second basemen in the AL, but let's be fair: he's better than any second basemen we have for sure. He's actually shown much better plate discipline in the minors, and his .325 line isn't even that bad! Chances are he's a solid major leaguer who will never be outstanding but will do just fine. And Gordon Beckham? Well, White Sox fans have a nickname for him. And just like the pitching prospect who has rocketed up through their system, Beckham was also drafted in '08 and this year he's moved from AA all the way up to the majors. He doesn't really have huge power numbers at any stop through the minors but he's a fine fielder with a good average.

And Konerko and Pierzynski aren't really slouches in their lineup either. Konerko came over in '98 in a trade with Cincinnati for Mike Cameron, and while he's posted slightly lower averages in '07 and '08 before this year, his OBP has remained pretty constant throughout his career. You can probably expect a similar line next year. Pierzynski is having a good year in Chicago. He's hitting better than he really has over his stint there since '05 (he's a career .286 which is a slight dip from the .311 he's posting now). In fact, his numbers this year look a little bit more similar to what he was showing in Minnesota back in '02-'03.

As far as the rest of their team goes, Alexei Ramirez is a little hard to predict. His numbers aren't necessarily dissimilar from '08, which was his only other year of professional ball. He was signed out of Cuba and ended up being the runner up to Evan Longoria in the Rookie of the Year balloting last year. He's not easy to project, but he should be in the same ballpark (no pun intended). Alex Rios was a great pickup. As Josh Johnson wrote, the White Sox can afford to eat that contract with even the type of numbers he's putting up this year. And if he happens to turn things around? Kenny Williams will look like a genius. It will go down as one of the better ideas from the White Sox brass ever ... which isn't that hard when you compare it to ideas like this.

The corner outfield spots could very easily be answered. Carlos Quentin is a left fielder, although I think he's more suited for the DH role. And my gut tells me that the White Sox pick up the contract for Jermaine Dye. He has a 12 million dollar option with a 1 million dollar buy-out, and this year he's posting a .271/.352/.495 slash with 24 HR and 71 RBI. And it wasn't too long ago he garnered serious MVP talk before eventually being beaten out by someone else.

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BULLPEN

Bobby Jenks, RHP, 3.80 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 39-11 K-BB ratio, 42.2IP in 42 games.

Scott Linebrink, RHP, 3.53 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 44-21 K-BB ratio, 43.1 IP in 44 games.

Matt Thornton, LHP, 2.44 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 63-15 K-BB ratio, 51.2 IP in 50 games.

DJ Carrasco, RHP, 3.65 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 53-26 K-BB ratio, 74 IP in 39 games.

Tony Pena, RHP, 4.59 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 41-15 K-BB ratio, 49 IP in 53 games.

Jon Link, RHP, 4.66 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 55-23 K-BB ratio, 48.1 IP in 41 games.***(AAA)

Jhonny Nunez, RHP, 2.40 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 74-23 K-BB ratio, 63.2 IP in 36 games***(AAA-AA)

Derek Rodriguez, RHP, 2.08 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 46-18 K-BB ratio, 60.2 IP in 40 games***(AAA-AA)

Kelvin Jimenez, RHP, 4.59 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 43-19 K-BB ratio, 68.2 IP in 33 games.

Ehren Wasserman, RHP, 3.77 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 52-15 K-BB ratio, 57.1 IP in 39 games.

*Bobby Jenks looks more like his '06 numbers than the last two years, but he's ultimately their closer for the forseeable future. There was some talk of moving him but quality relievers are hard to come by. Which is why even though Matt Thornton could be bought out, I think they'll opt to pick up his option for this year. Look at his numbers, he's arguably the best reliever on their team right now despite the fact that he's not the closer. Linebrink is decent, and although he's not having the stellar season he had last year with the Sox, his numbers have been pretty consistent throughout his career. DJ Carrasco was a nice pick-up and it was a good move to make him a reliever. He was not a good starter with Kansas City, and although his WHIP has climbed a little bit since last year, he's still been a reliable man out of the pen. Tony Pena was acquired from Arizona this year for one of their better prospects, Brandon Allen, who might have been the future after Konerko -- that trade wasn't given the stamp of approval by White Sox fans, so maybe we aren't the only team that makes inexplicable moves. He'll stick around as he's cheap and affordable, although he's not having the best year. Jon Link might not be retained as he's only on a minor league 1 year contract. Kelvin Jimenez has bad numbers in the majors and probably is a long shot to make the pen. Ehren Wasserman's line for this year at AAA is even a little high for him as he's posted better numbers than that along the way in the minors, but he just can't seem to figure it out in the bigs, posting a 5.06 ERA and 1.59 WHIP in 57 appearances.

Derek Rodriguez is someone to keep an eye on. He's having a good year but his numbers are a little varied and he could be playing over his head. Jhonny Nunez might be the next big arm in their pen. His good stats this year don't look dissimilar from his other years, and I'm sure the White Sox would love to see one of the prospects they got from the Yankees for Swisher end up panning out, as Marquez and Betemit look like lost causes. Other options for the pen include some of the starters who don't end up getting that final 5 spot.

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BENCH

Carlos Quentin, OF-DH, .255/.324/.450, 13 HR, 32 RBI

Brent Lillibridge, INF, .157/.253/.186, 0 HR, 0 RBI

Josh Fields, 3B, .220/.301/.354, 7 HR, 30 RBI

Wilson Betemit, INF, .200/.280/.311, 0 HR, 3 RBI

Cole Armstrong, C, .250/.285/.425, 10 HR, 32 RBI *** (AAA)

*Carlos Quentin (forgive the photo, I couldn't resist) could play in the field too, but he's had a few nagging injuries that might mean he'd be better suited to take over Thome's role after he surely leaves next year.  Quentin had a monster year in '08, although he faded from MVP consideration after he suffered a devastating wrist injury when punching his bad in frustration after fouling off a pitch from Cliff Lee. They could use another outfielder with the departures of Scott Podsednik and Dewayne Wise, who I doubt they will retain even when he makes amazing, momentous plays. There will be plenty of options available for back-up outfielders in free agency though.

Josh Fields might find a new home this offseason, as it's pretty clear that Beckham has supplanted him on the depth chart as the starting third baseman. But he's cheap and they're in no rush. Betemit is probably almost a lost cause and he could easily be replaced with any number of free agents as they did this year with inking Jayson Nix to a one year deal and giving him the back-up infielder job.

Lillibridge, despite his bad numbers (in only 28 games mind you), should be fine. He's hitting slightly better at AAA and was a decent prospect acquired along with Tyler Flowers from the Atlanta Braves. Now Tyler Flowers is another story:

I have Cole Armstrong as the catcher as he should be cheap and replacement level, and I doubt they want Flowers at the majors just as Pierzynski's back-up. Flowers is a prize prospect hitting .300/.427/.525 with 14 HR and 50 RBI between AA and AAA this year, and he should be a cornerstone for them once Pierzynski's contract runs up after 2010.

The other real prospect is Dayan Viciedo.

The Sox seem to hold a corner on the Cuban import market. He's a solid hitter in AA right now but it's his fielding that could have some problems and they're contemplating a move to first base or possibly left field. That might actually work out for the best as Brandon Allen, their former top 1B prospect is now in Arizona.

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SUMMARY

The White Sox have primed themselves to dominate the Central now and also build for the future at the same time. As much as it pains me to say it, they have a smart GM and a solid team, and that's probably why I utterly despise them. They have the flexibility to pick up another impact starting pitcher if they want, or they could go young. They can retain Dye and even pursue a big free agent outfielder (or trade for one?). And they have some prospects to be afraid of coming up through the minors.

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Ludicrously early prediction:

93-69, 1st place, AL Central