What to do with AJ Pierzynski? The boys didn’t get into the October post season, so immediately questions turned to the off season plans. So far, a little movement has been made in that Jake Peavy was resigned, but still there is the question of should the team re-sign AJ or go with another back stop? AJ filed for free agency as soon as he could and clearly as the season played on, he knew he would be a free agent.

In 2012 he has had an absolutely amazing season with career numbers. He has even managed to improve his ability to throw out runners. Oh and he will be 36 next month so it isn’t like this improvement and career year he had is leading into his prime. No, AJ is well past his prime and theoretically should not have had the kind of season he did. Especially when you consider that he is playing catcher. While catcher isn’t the most demanding position on the field (that is short stop) it does put a ton of wear and tear on a guy. » Continue reading “Should He Stay Or Should He Go Now?”

It’s a new week. Hope your Turkey Day weekend was fun and if you went shopping, it was worth it and more importantly, you were nice to people. There are still plenty of shopping days before the big December holiday. And of course, today is Cyber Monday where you can get all kinds of great deals online. Enjoy that shopping. It would be nice if the White Sox could go shopping too, but doesn’t look they will be able to.

As for the news of the wekend and day:

 South Side Sox takes a look back at a trade that rocked some Sox fans’ world.

 Hardball Talk says the Sox may have misread the market for Mark Buehrle.

 In more Mark news, Rob Neyer says he won’t come cheap or short.

 Interest in a Cincinatti Reds prospect? Perhaps.  » Continue reading “South Side Hits: November 28, 2011 White Sox Links”

It’s the baseball off season. It sucks! The White Sox don’t appear to be in a position to make any big splash in the free agent market. In fact, they are primed to possibly trade many a player because well, there just doesn’t appear to be funds to pay these guys. Some of them we probably need to part with and others well, who knows.

In an effort to help me and other fans this off season until February rolls around, I asked for music suggestions for a play list. I LOVE music. I find it can express my mood or thoughts so much better than I can at times using words. Some of these songs are probably extremely familiar to you and others might not be. A lot of them just remind us of the White Sox team in general. Some may make you laugh because of what they represent. In any event, I give you some songs to help you through these dark hours.

Harvester of Sorrow: You know this as the walk-up music for Paul. He’s used the same song since 1999. He’s never changed it. Its Metallica. It’s awesome. It’s PAUL.

Your Love: Another player walk-up song. This time our wonderful Bacon. He’s had a rough go of it at the plate. But you have to love a guy who uses a song that is older than he is. It’s is an amusing and catchy song.

All In: Some may not enjoy much Lifehouse. However, this is a good song. Last season, it was appropriate for the bet of going “all in” to win the ultimate prize. Sadly, things didn’t work out that way, but it could still work. It’s a happy and peppy song (for those who are into that sort of thing) and can still provide hope even if the official slogan for 2012 is All In.

» Continue reading “Music To My Lonely Off Season Ears”

Alexei Ramirez signed a 4-year, $32.5 million extension to keep him in Chicago through the 2015 season with an option for the 2016 season worth $10 million. The deal buys out a couple of free agent years for Ramirez so from a financial standpoint, it is a good deal for the team to know where the money will be going for a few years.

Alexei during BP

Freddy Garcia signed a minor league deal with the Yankees and he got an invite to spring training. With his joining the Yankees, there are now several former White Sox players on the team including Nick Swisher, Neal Cotts, Bartolo Colon, Brian Anderson, Boone Logan, Andruw Jones and Andrew Sisco. I know some fans really wanted Sweaty Freddy back due to uncertainty with when Peavy will be ready to start the season, but I think it might have been more sentimentality for wanting Sweaty back.

And in other former White Sox player news, Mark Kotsay reportedly has reportedly agreed to a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers.

With Ramirez now locked up for a bit of time, fans are now hoping that the team can work out a deal for John Danks. Given how well he has pitched the past few seasons and seeing some of the money deals like recent free agent lefties have gotten, he probably doesn’t  have too much incentive to actually want to sign a deal and not test the free agent waters, but you never really know what is going through a player’s head. Hopefully for everyone’s sake, something can be worked out, because I do love good lefty pitchers.