FanHouse Kenny Williams

CHICAGO -- On a day this week when the stock market had one of the encouraging spikes investors have enjoyed more frequently over the past few months, Kenny Williams let out a sarcastic cheer for what it meant to baseball.

"Let's go, let's party," he said. "We've got cash again."

Then, the White Sox general manager quickly returned to reality, at least the version of reality that he and his colleagues have been describing this week at the GM Meetings.

"I don't think it works that way," he said. "We might need to see six months of recovery before we buy into that. We need an advertiser or a sponsor or two to come back to us."

CHICAGO -- Expansion of instant replay is expected to be one of the topics discussed when baseball general managers begin their formal meetings on Tuesday, but one of its longtime proponents is not optimistic that his group can effect any change.

"Whatever the instant replay discussion is, I'm going to raise my hand [in favor]," said White Sox GM Kenny Williams. "However, I don't know at the end of the day that vote is going to mean much."

This postseason was full of mistakes by umpires, leading to a national debate about whether the use of replay should be expanded beyond its current scope. Williams said he's been pushing for the use of replay for seven or eight years, but he's come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what he or other general managers want.

The rumors started early on Thursday morning that the Kansas City Royals had agreed to trade Mark Teahen to the Chicago White Sox for Chris Getz and Josh Fields. Neither team would confirm the deal throughout the day, but 24 hours later it has become official.

Teahen and cash will be heading to Chicago for Getz and Fields. While it can't be known for sure, odds are the amount of cash the White Sox will receive from the Royals for the arbitration eligible Teahen is what kept the trade from being completed for 24 hours.

As a whole, the baseball season in Chicago has been a disappointment. The Cubs were expected to contend for a World Series title only to be thrown off track by injuries and Milton Bradley, while on the other side of town the White Sox have failed to exceed expectations. As is usually the case when this happens to large-market teams, wholesale changes are made.

The White Sox parted ways with Jim Thome and 2005 World Series hero Jose Contreras, and it's likely other players such as Jermaine Dye, Bobby Jenks and Paul Konerko could be following them out of town this winter. Still, that doesn't mean everybody in the White Sox organization is leaving.

The White Sox will take on outfielder Alex Rios, and the remaining guaranteed $59.7 million on his contract (which runs through 2014), for the stretch run after successfully claiming him off of waivers from the Blue Jays, according to multiple reports.

Chicago will not send a player to Toronto in exchange for Rios, making the deal a straight salary dump.

Because of the money involved, it's a fascinating transaction.

When it was announced on Friday that the Chicago White Sox had acquired Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres for four pitchers, it caught everybody by surprise. Even Peavy's agent, Barry Axelrod, was caught off-guard, saying that on a scale of one to 10 the shock factor was about a 9.5.

Why would a team that's in contention to win a division trade for a pitcher they're not likely to have until September, if at all, this season?

It's a risky proposition, and one that White Sox general manager Kenny Williams is willing to take. If Sunday morning was any indication, it's one that may pay off sooner than expected.

A major league source has confirmed to FanHouse that the White Sox have obtained injured Padres ace Jake Peavy -- who earlier this year rejected a trade to Chicago -- for lefties Clayton Richard and Aaron Poreda and right-handers Dexter Carter and Adam Russell.

The deal was completed 23 seconds before the 4 PM ET trade deadline, White Sox general manager Kenny Williams said.

"In my world," Williams said, "if you get to a situation where you have a chance to get to the playoffs, you certainly want a chance to dream about being in the playoffs and getting to the World Series and winning the World Series. I simply did not feel as though we were positioned right now to match up against some of the big boys when we're in a short series. You're talking about the Yankees, you're talking about Boston."

Somebody call Tommy Lee Jones and tell him he can stop searching every warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in the Chicagoland area for missing White Sox pitcher Bartolo Colon has been found. Of course, had he started his search at a Waffle House it probably wouldn't have taken nearly as long to find him.

Colon is scheduled to start in Charlotte for the White Sox' Triple-A affiliate on Thursday but was nowhere to be found this week as the White Sox tried in vain to reach him. Where Colon was I'm not quite sure, but at least Ozzie Guillen was nice enough to explain why he was so hard to find for us.

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

Sorry for the delay, kiddos, on the Power Rankings. I'm sure you spent the entirety of Wednesday wondering "WHERE IN GOD'S NAME ARE THEY??? WITHOUT THEM I'LL HAVE NOTHING TO BANTER SENSELESSLY ABOUT TO MY CO-WORKERS!!!1" Or something like that. Either way, it's time to debate the worthlessness of your favorite baseball team in numerical form once again. Do enjoy.