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.
OAKLAND -- Infielders and former infielders around the majors have long admired Adrian Beltre for his Gold Glove play at third base.
Now, many of them are looking at Beltre with a different kind of disbelief.
"I can't believe a guy is playing third base without a cup," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, a former All-Star shortstop. "That's ballsy. That's a dangerous place, especially third base."
Over the last few weeks, the Chicago White Sox have been a lot better at catching balls with their arms and thighs while in the batter's box than they've been in the field with their gloves. Their manager, Ozzie Guillen, is getting tired of it. Having seen three of his batters hit by a pitch on Saturday -- Carlos Quentin was hit as well in the game, but the home-plate umpire missed it -- Guillen gave the rest of the majors a warning.
Kotsay was designated for assignment by the Red Sox on Friday after only playing in 27 games this season -- hitting .257 with a homer and five RBI. Anderson recently lost his spot on the White Sox when Carlos Quentin returned from the disabled list, and after Dewayne Wise's memorable catch in Mark Buehrle's perfect game last Thursday, it's hard to think he'd have gotten back to Chicago anytime soon.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Before David Price took the mound Thursday, he said he was looking to rediscover his missing edge. "I just haven't had that edge, haven't had that mentality when I was out there," said Price. "I have to get back to the same way I was last year, the same way that got me to this point..."
For one night, at least, the 23-year-old lefty found what he was looking for.
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.
Well, I'll tell you one thing: baseball ain't boring, folks. At least if you're in the middle class anyway; the upper crust is (somewhat) starting to establish itself across MLB's ranks and the bottom portion of the league is certainly holding steady. But in the middle, well, goodness. We have a lot of would-be title contenders. How's your semi-crappy team faring in the all-important MLB FanHouse Power Rankings this week? Find out after the jump.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
When Paul Konerko finished 2008 with a dismal .240 average and only 22 HRs, most fantasy players were quick to write off the 33-year-old Chicago first baseman as finished. A deeper look into the stats revealed two consecutive seasons with poor BABIPs (batting average on balls in play), alerting the shrewd among us that Konerko might have just been the victim of an unlucky two-year streak. Sure enough, his BABIP is back to its normal level in 2009, and it was kind enough to bring along Konerko's batting average.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
By the looks of his season stats, you wouldn't know that Jordan Zimmermann has actually been one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors over the past month. We're talking a 1.90 ERA and a .198 batting average against. On that same note, Minnesota's Scott Baker is holding opposing hitters to a .205 average over his last five starts. The turnaround of these pitchers teach fantasy owners an important lesson about staying patient and swooping in when the time is right.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
No one said recovering from a torn pectoral muscle would be easy. And for Vladimir Guerrero's fantasy owners, many of his 130-plus at-bats were pretty painful to watch. But on Wednesday night, Vlad came back to life in a big way.
Greinke took the loss Wednesday as Kansas City fell 12-5 to Arizona, allowing six runs (four earned) on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.
And since Greinke went 8-1 in his first 10 starts he has gone winless in four straight starts. Over his past 26 innings, he has given up 31 hits and 20 runs (five of them unearned).