Time to stoke the hot stove embers; calendars now say "December,"
And free agent White Sox members venture to the sales floor.
Will the South Side fans berserk go, if the Sox dismiss Konerko,
J.J.Putz elsewhere finds work or Pierzynski is shown the door?
Could and would the White Sox choose to push Pierzynski out the door?
A.J.'s here forevermore.
Sorry, Joe Cowley's Tuesday night tweets made me emo.
The players closed out November with their arbitration decisions, and there are no surprises. J.J.Putz and PaulKonerko both declined, and are now on the open market.
Chuck Garfien did a nice job tracking down Putz for a reaction, and Putz told Garfien two strange things -- not in what he said, but how he said it.
No. 1: Putz said, "eight or nine teams have shown preliminary interest," which sounds like he's reading straight from a cheat sheet.
No. 2: Flag on the play for dropping "it is what it is" on the mere prospect of living in Arizona but training in Florida.
With so much interest in Putz, I'm thinking the Sox probably can't afford to pursue him. It's reminiscent of last year, when the Cubs and Astros set a high bar for negotiating with relievers by overpaying JohnGrabow and BrandonLyon. This year, JoaquinBenoit's three-year, $16.5 million deal with Detroit looms large, although at least he's coming off a legitimately outstanding season.
Last year, Putz was the cheap option, so perhaps the Sox could allow him to ascend the order of relievers and try to grab another bargain. JasonFrasor and FrankFrancisco accepted arbitration, here's a quick list of Putz peers:
- GrantBalfour
- KevinGregg
- JesseCrain
- MattGuerrier
- DanWheeler
- JonRauch (though I'm pretty sure this bridge was burned)
Another name I might tack onto this list is ScottDowns. There are a lot of decent left-handed relievers on the market, and Downs has a history of keeping righties in check, with reverse splits in some seasons.
The most obvious 2011 Putz candidate is KelvimEscobar, who is now throwing after undergoing surgery on a torn right shoulder capsule in May. I don't know if the White Sox could capitalize on more shoddy Mets medical evaluations, but there don't appear to be too many sleepers otherwise.
Konerko's decision was made official at the last minute, but there's not much to say. He's getting multiple years one way or another.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*If you haven't scored Kenny Williams' 55 significant trades yet, there's still time.
*Brett Ballantini sums up where the Sox stand with a week before the Winter Meetings, offering up some bold predictions about the open positions.
(I'll give one away - he suggests A.J. Pierzynski will re-sign for two years, $7 million. That's not an objectionable price; the cost is that it extends Pierzynski's 10-and-5 rights through 2012. They better be right about both Pierzynski and Tyler Flowers, if that's the case.)
*Kenny Williams remains mum until the meeting begin. Gird your loins for the first Kenny Cryptogram then.
*Fans of White Sox history might be interesting in seeing this great photo gallery of the calm before the storm on Disco Demolition Night (h/t South Side Sox).
*White Sox Observer reviews Ramon Castro's 2010.
*And finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't tip my cap (and a 40) to The Cheat. You may have seen that he's stepping down from the managing editor position at South Side Sox. Considering he's the godfather of White Sox blogs, it's a sad day. He started blogging almost two years before I launched this site in February 2006, and he helped a ton in pointing people my way and helping me build an audience in the formative years. So I'm thankful for that, and also for his six-plus years of excellent work. The White Sox blogosphere would be massively stunted (or way more than it already is) without his efforts.
