As FanHouse went over in our Footprints in the Snow on the Chicago White Sox earlier on Friday, the Sox aren't expected to be big buyers this offseason after making big moves to land Jake Peavy and Alex Rios last summer. Still, that doesn't mean they won't be making smaller moves to tweak their roster in the coming weeks.
In the most important "real life benefiting The Dugout" moment since Barry Bonds dressed up like Paula Abdul, rosy-cheeked Faulknerian idiot man-child and Dugout regular Jim Thome has been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. This reunites him with another Dugout regular, Manny Ramirez, who he has not played with since they both played for the Cleveland Indians in 2000.
Tonight's important next chapter in Dugout lore is after the jump. Hey, I've got to root for the Indians somewhere.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Now that the hands are dealt -- expect for one or two more this month -- we can examine the pennant races to come.
There wasn't much point in assessing the races until after Friday's non-waiver trade deadline, when we know what we're dealing with. Some important pieces will change hands after they clear waivers this month, but they probably won't be difference-makers.
Before we get to the predictions, though, let's talk about one trade that didn't happen.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Marlins and Tigers are on fire.
Exactly two weeks ago, Florida was eight games behind Philadelphia. Since then the Marlins have gone 9-3, all in interleague play, to close within a game of first place. The hot streak includes four one-run wins and Thursday's 11-3 victory that sealed a sweep of the Orioles and ran Florida's win streak to five.
During this 12-game stretch, Hanley Ramirez has batted .400 with three home runs (one of them a grand slam Thursday) and 19 RBI while Cody Ross has hit .400 with five homers and 12 RBI.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead. You Oughta Know... That Ryan Zimmerman just keeps getting hits. It's easy to forget about Zimmerman because the Nationals have been playing so poorly this year, but Zimmerman extended his streak to 27 games on Saturday.
Zimmerman was hitless until his eighth-inning solo homer, which turned out to be the deciding run in the Nats' 2-1 victory over the Diamondbacks, their third win in a row.
Zimmerman's streak is getting to the point that it's worth paying close attention. This doesn't hapen every day. The last player to have a hitting streak of at least 27 games was Moises Alou, who hit in 30 consecutive games for the Mets in 2007. The franchise record is 31 games, set by Vladimir Guerrero in 1999.
Zimmerman will face Arizona's Max Scherzer today. Zimmerman has never faced Scherzer. Starting on Monday, the Nats will be in San Francisco for a three-game series in which they'll face Randy Johnson, Matt Cain and Barry Zito.
Saturday Spotlight is a weekly lightning-round of questions delving into the personalities and stories of Major Leaguers.
Omar Vizquel is best known for his outstanding work at shortstop, but you may also know that he's a musician, an artist and a pretty fancy dresser. On his way to the Hall of Fame, he's now finishing out his career in Texas, tutoring young phenom Elvis Andrus.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what's ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Marlins have had an interesting opening three weeks. After Sunday's 13-2 loss to the Phillies, which was so ugly that outfielder Cody Ross pitched the ninth inning, the Fish have dropped six in a row. That came immediately after they started 11-1.
"We're not an 11-1 team, and we're not an 0-6 team -- we're somewhere in the middle," manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
So now the Marlins are 11-7, having scored 93 runs and allowed 89 runs. That type of run production ought to leave them at a little over .500, which is where many prognosticators figured they'd be when the season began.
When it comes to playing shortstop, there haven't been very many in the game who did a better job of catching the baseball throughout their career than Omar Vizquel. There's a reason the man has won 11 Gold Gloves in his career, after all. So how does he do it?
Well, a lot of baseball players spend their offseasons relaxing and recovering, while working out just to stay in shape. Some don't do anything and wait until the last minute before Spring Training to get ready for the long season. Then there's Omar Vizquel, who spends his offseason utilizing his ability to catch things, things like anacondas.
Omar Vizquel played for Bruce Bochy for two seasons in San Francisco before Vizquel signed a deal to play for Texas this season. His final assessment of Bochy as a manager is not so great.
"I don't think Bochy was my type of manager," Vizquel said when asked about his former field boss during a discussion of managerial styles. "I always went along with his decisions. I never said anything in the paper about him, but sometimes I wished he could be more aggressive with the moves that he made. But everybody has his style, and you can't change that."
And what better time to start talking about your manager in the paper than when he's not your manager anymore?
As FanHouse went over in our Footprints in the Snow on the Chicago White Sox earlier on Friday, the Sox aren't expected to be big buyers this offseason after making big moves to land Jake Peavy and Alex Rios last summer. Still, that doesn't mean they won't be making smaller moves to tweak their roster in the coming weeks.
In the most important "real life benefiting The Dugout" moment since Barry Bonds dressed up like Paula Abdul, rosy-cheeked Faulknerian idiot man-child and Dugout regular Jim Thome has been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. This reunites him with another Dugout regular, Manny Ramirez, who he has not played with since they both played for the Cleveland Indians in 2000. 
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead. 
Saturday Spotlight is a weekly lightning-round of questions delving into the personalities and stories of Major Leaguers.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what's ahead.
When it comes to playing shortstop, there haven't been very many in the game who did a better job of catching the baseball throughout their career than Omar Vizquel. There's a reason the man has won 11 Gold Gloves in his career, after all. So how does he do it?
Omar Vizquel played for Bruce Bochy for two seasons in San Francisco before Vizquel signed a deal to play for Texas this season. His final assessment of Bochy as a manager is not so great.
