Catching up on some news that happened while preparing for the return of the curse of the creature's announcement of the transition, two items bring to mind a couple old chestnuts of the recent past.
The first is Jake Peavy's recovery from the detached latissimus dorsi, which -- if you can believe it -- is ahead of schedule. Is there any injury that isn't rehabilitated earlier than expected? This was an exceptionally rare injury, and here we are in December, and we're getting reports like this:
"With my eyes, he looked free and easy and was going through what he was doing pretty [darn] well," said Don Cooper, who was joined by White Sox head athletic trainer Herm Schneider at Peavy's workout. "I was immediately talking about how he looked looser, freer, easier and quicker." [...]
"Just a very happy day for me," Cooper said. "He's still a ways away, but he's building up distance, strength and his amount of throws.
"Seeing [Peavy] look like he did on Dec. 5, it makes me think about how he's going to be on Jan. 5 and then Feb. 5 and then March 5 and then April 5. It was very encouraging."
At this point, I wonder if back and shoulder labrum injuries are the only severe ones to fear. But before we speak too soon, let's hope Jared Mitchell can cut the bases tighter when spring rolls around.
I"m still reluctant to trust Peavy's self-assessments (he said, "I feel normal"), and we've debated that at length before. I'm still counting on him for the kind of start Jose Contreras had after he came back from Achilles surgery -- his body is 100 percent ready, but his stuff lags behind early on. At the very least, it seems we can rule out the Sox collecting insurance money to pay for Adam Dunn. Unless, of course, Peavy injures himself in another way.
On a related note at White Sox Examiner, J.J. says Peavy's questionable status "could very well be the biggest factor between the Sox contending for the division crown or falling out of the race by the dog days of summer."
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A couple of weeks ago, I said this winter provided a ton of portfolio fodder for Rick Hahn. Regarding Paul Konerko's tricky re-signing, Scott Merkin talked to Hahn about how it all went down. There's a lot of good stuff regarding the wrinkles:
Hahn prefers to not directly talk with a player in the negotiating process, keeping the dealings primarily between himself and Landis, using Konerko as an example. According to Hahn, White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who has a close relationship with Konerko, had a couple of offseason conversations with the team's leader, but those were "more of an expression of appreciation and desire and hope." [...]
This final agreed-upon offer to Konerko was different from the original one made, and Hahn explained how there are very few situations where the team can say of an opening offer, 'Here it is. Take it or leave it.' Without going into too much detail, Hahn mentioned how initially there were disagreements with Konerko's camp over length and structure, and by the end, they had to work through issues about deferral and cash flow flexibility to get it done.
While reading this, the one thought I hadn't had before: I wonder if Jerry Reinsdorf let Williams and Hahn go nuts to use the most out of both their talents, in the event Hahn gets a GM position somewhere else next season.
I don't think that is exactly what Reinsdorf had in mind, but maybe it's a nifty byproduct. in an event to maximize the window of opportunity in 2011, Reinsdorf maximized the wiggle room for Kenny Williams and his right-hand man.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*Jesse Crain will be making $4 million in 2011, and then $4.5 million in each of the following two seasons.
*The White Sox made a lot of minor-league coaching changes. The results:
- Joe McEwing gets promoted from managing Winston-Salem to Charlotte.
- Ever Magallanes is now the organization's infield instructor. He managed at Birmingham last year.
- Bobby Magallanes, Ever's brother, will take over the Barons.
- Julio Vinas will take over for McEwing at Winston-Salem.
- Tommy Thompson is the new Kannapolis manager.
- Ryan Newman will manage Great Falls this year, getting moved from Bristol.
- Pete Rose Jr. will take over at Bristol. (Note: I originally had Newman and Rose flipped)
- Devon White is the organization's new baserunning coach.
Rose is obviously the interesting one, considering his name and his legal troubles of the past, so I have a feeling we're going to be getting more reports from the Appy League this year.
*James at White Sox Observer posts his guide to the stats he likes. It's worth reading if you're vaguely familiar with the terms.
