For the second straight winter Baltimore second baseman Brian Roberts is at the center of a number of trade rumors. Roberts has been linked with Cubs both last winter and this one, but more recently, the White Sox have engaged the Orioles in talks about the two-time All-Star.
"They wanted Floyd plus,'' one person familiar with the talks said.
While the talks aren't necessarily considered dead, White Sox GM Ken Williams said to Chicago media outlets through a spokesman that he hasn't spoken to the Orioles since November. And one other person told SI.com that the chances for a deal were "pretty iffy,'' based on Baltimore's requests.
Floyd is six years younger than Roberts and coming off of a 17-8 campaign in 2008, so it might seem silly for the pitching-starved Orioles to request more than a young top-of-the-rotation starter in return for Roberts, who is only under contract for one more season.
It seems the White Sox' blow-up doll controversy will deflate without any real repercussion (aside from maybe karma). According to the Chicago Sun-Times, officials from the commissioner's office contacted the White Sox to discuss the incident but have decided not to levy any punishment, which seems to suit GM Ken Williams just fine:
"I will assure Major League Baseball that the doll was not violated in any way, shape or form," Williams said. "In all seriousness, it is a little bit of a disappointment because we have proactively tried to -- and just did so this spring training -- organizationally, we brought in some people to discuss a better work environment, whether it's gender issues or racial issues.
"I don't know what a formal apology on behalf of the club is going to do, other than me assuring everyone we are on top of it and we addressed the issue."
Williams is half right: a formal apology won't mean jack if the fans don't think it's sincere, and Williams' glib comment about dolls being violated suggests he thinks this is a joke. There's a misconception that the clubhouse is some kind of sacred boys club where "guys can be guys" which is completely naive: the clubhouse is a working environment for dozens of people (including trainers, attendants and members of the media) who never put on a uniform. Some people have suggested that the team's biggest mistake was allowing this to become public, but that's just as asinine: it's like saying racial jokes are fine when only told in the company of white people. You don't have to be female to disapprove of misogyny.
When the White Sox broke policy by negotiating an extension for Mark Buehrle mid-season, they had to have known they were running the risk of ruffling ruffling the feathers of Jermaine Dye, another free-agent-to-be. Not surprisingly, Dye's feathers are officially ruffled. From the Chicago Tribune:
For the last few days Jermaine Dye has kept to himself in the White Sox clubhouse, off in a corner with headphones on. It has not gone unnoticed among his teammates and the apparent reason is management's refusal to talk about extending his contract as it did Mark Buehrle's.
General manager Ken Williams took a jab at what appears to be Dye's sulking. ...
"I know because of where we are [in the standings] there are some guys focusing on themselves rather than the team and that's kind of a byproduct of being in the position we're in. That's not totally unexpected and I've seen it before. Nothing he can say, nothing [the media] can write, nothing that can happen ... is going to surprise me.
I can understand why Dye feels the way he does, but I have to imagine things would be different if he was still putting up the type of numbers he managed last year, when he hit .315 with 44 home runs and 120 RBI. Instead, he's on pace to hit just .229-31-86. He's a better hitter than he's showing this year, but his career numbers suggest last year was a bit of a fluke, too. He'll be 34 years old come Opening Day 2008, so it's really in the Sox's best interest to wait and let the market set his salary for next year before deciding it they want to hold onto him.
The Sun-Times has learned that a change of heart in both the Buehrle and White Sox camps during the last 48 hours has led to talks about the sides somehow getting together and agreeing on a contract extension by the end of the week.
That sentiment also was expressed by one Sox player, who said the ''climate'' was right for Buehrle to sign an extension in the next few weeks.
''Call it a calm before the storm,'' the player said.
Now neither Buehrle or the White Sox are willing to confirm that any of this is true just yet, but I'd consider the Sun-Times to be a reliable source here. Of course none of this means that Ken Williams has stopped trying to make a deal. It's just that now he's trying to move players to clear the salary room needed to keep Buehrle.
More on this story as it develops. (Sorry, I just feel so "newsy" saying that.)
The White Sox are in a peculiar position; they don't have a bad team, they just happen to be in arguably the best division in baseball. As a result, they're 25-27 on the year, and struggling as the 4th place team in the AL Central. Manager Ozzie Guillen is taking the blame for a lot of the problems, and has said the team isn't ready to give up yet. But if GM Ken Williams decides otherwise, the Giants could be ready to make a deal.
If the White Sox decide to sell, the Giants might be interested. Two of general manager Brian Sabean's top talent evaluators, Paul Turco and Ted Uhlaender, scouted the Sox in Chicago and Toronto last week. Outfielder Jermaine Dye is a free agent after the season and could be on the block.
The Giants are currently last in the NL West, but within a few games of .500. They consider themselves to be a big-market team and certainly need some top-notch players to keep their fans happy. And when you think about it, outside of Barry Bonds, the next big bat for the Giants is Ryan Klesko or Ray Durham. Yeah. I think Jermaine Dye would fit in perfectly.
Way back at the beginning of the season after the White Sox got off to a slow start against the Cleveland Indians, Ozzie Guillen said that he should be fired if the White Sox didn't play to their expectations. They haven't. On Tuesday Guillen said he wasn't ready to give up on this season yet.
''And as long as this continues, besides blaming the players, you have to blame me. [Hitting coach] Greg Walker is working every day. [Pitching coach] Don Cooper, the same way. My job is to put the people in the best situation to have success.
''Because if I'm going to fail, I'm going to fail the right way. I'm going to lose my job pushing the right buttons. I'm going to leave here and say, 'You know what? I did everything in my power, in my situation, to win.' I'm going to put people there to perform for my team. They can take it either way. They can get mad if they're not in the lineup. Meanwhile, it's my job to win with the best players, not with my best friends.''
[...]
''One thing I tell people, when I leave here, I'm going to leave with my head up,'' he said. ''I have two missions: call [clubhouse manager Vinnie Fresso] and wait for somebody on the street. Those are my missions when I leave the game. You can count on that. You can write it down.
''I'm not going to sit here and say, 'I won this thing two years ago, we had a good year last year, I have a good [winning] percentage.' If Jerry thinks I'm not doing my job or this team would play better without me, I'll move on because the only thing I want for the White Sox fans and the owner for this ballclub is to have success.''
Though some people want to think that Ozzie is giving the White Sox a hint that he wants out, I think this is just another case of Ozzie being Ozzie. This is just what he does to try and deflect the blame from his players. I don't think the White Sox are ready to fire Guillen at the moment, but if the same play the team exhibited in Minnesota continues through the rest of the season, they might be ready come October.
Back in 1997 the White Sox sent Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin, and Roberto Hernandez to the San Francisco Giants it what was infamously known as the "White Flag Trade." It was called this because at the time of the trade the White Sox only trailed the Cleveland Indians by 3.5 games in the AL Central, and Jerry Reinsdorf went on record saying that the Sox had no chance of catching Cleveland.
"If Kenny came to me with that conversation today, I think he's a loser,'' Guillen said Tuesday, when asked if he and general manager Ken Williams have discussed that trade scenario. ''If I were to tell Kenny that, I'm a loser. And I know Kenny is not a loser. I know Kenny is going to do everything in his powers to win this division this year, and so are we.
''It's never been talked about,'' Guillen said. ''Maybe Kenny has it in his mind, but he's never said one thing to me about it. I want to go all the way to the end with these guys, see what we can do with these guys.
"I'll be honest with [the media], I'll be honest with the fans, I'll be honest with me. If we get to that point, I'll be the first one to tell people, 'It's going to be hard to compete.' But as long as we feel we can win, we're going to keep those guys.''
I find it kind of odd that it's May 30th and the Sox are only 5.5 games out of first, yet Ozzie already has to answer these kinds of questions. I've made it clear that I don't think anybody is going to overtake the Indians in the AL Central, but the wild card is well within reach.
No matter which side of Chicago you live on, or who you root for, you're kind of dealing with the same problems. Both the Cubs and White Sox seem to be underachieving, and they're facing the prospect of losing some key players to free agency come this offseason.
Well, amongst most fans the answer for both teams seems to be the guy playing third base in the Bronx. The Cubs want A-Rod to come and save their franchise. The White Sox want A-Rod to come and revive theirs.
"A-Rod is going to play for the city of Chicago," Guillen deadpanned. "He's going to talk to Mayor [Richard] Daley. When we're in town, he's going to play for the Sox. When we leave town, he'll play for the Cubs. When we play against each other, and we're home, he'll play for us; when we play at Wrigley, he'll represent the Cubs.
"Say it's so. Mr. Daley will pay the Cubs, just to make everybody happy in Chicago. Now he's a savior for both teams."
I do find it kind of odd that we sit here on May 16th and everybody is talking about what Alex Rodriguez is going to do in November. If Rodriguez did opt out of his deal with the Yankees and come to Chicago, the most likely destination would be the South Side.
Ken Williams and Jerry Reinsdorf have never really been coy about their admiration for him, so I'd expect the White Sox to make a strong push for him if he's available.
Though the Cubs could use him, it's probably not going to happen. With the team up for sale it's not likely the new owners will want to buy a baseball team, take on it's current salaries, and then commit another $125 million or so for Rodriguez.
The Fanhouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups
Philadelphia Phillies (8-11) vs. Washington Nationals (6-14)-7:05PM Est.
Look out world, here come the Phillies! After getting off to a horrible start that's basically had Charlie Manuel talking to himself and screaming at others, the Phillies have won four games in a row. With two more games scheduled against the Nationals, they could make it six in a row and be on the brink of .500. Aaron Rowand has been crushing for the Phils, and with John Patterson going for Washington, it's highly possible the entire Phils lineup wakes up tonight.
Cleveland Indians (10-7) vs. Texas Rangers (8-11)-7:05PM Est.
The Tribe has won three straight, including a two-game sweep up in Minnesota, and find themselves tied for first in the AL Central with the White Sox. Tonight C.C. Sabathia looks to continue his early season dominance. Sabathia comes into the game 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA. He'll be going against Brandon McCarthy, who's been making Ken Williams look like a damn genius thus far. McCarthy is 1-3 for the Rangers with a 10.20 ERA.
Arizona Diamondbacks (10-11) vs. San Diego Padres (12-8)-9:40PM Est.
This is tonight's best pitching matchup as Jake Peavy and Brandon Webb face off against each other. Webb won the NL Cy Young last season, and Jake Peavy might win it this season if he keeps up his current pace. He's 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA and he'll be going against a Diamondback team that is struggling. After starting the season off in first place, the DBacks have now lost five straight games and they're falling to the bottom of the division. Randy Johnson got rocked last night, but thankfully Webb is their ace, and they'll look to him to get things back on track.
It's pretty tough to replace a town legend, especially the year after he helped his team win the World Series. That's what Brian Anderson had to do last season after the White Sox sent Aaron Rowand to Philly for Jim Thome.
Let's just say that it didn't turn out too well.
Sure, Anderson plays Gold Glove caliber defense out in centerfield, but he doesn't do much at the dish. Anderson finished the 2006 season with a .225 batting average, and that was only after he hit .296 over the last month of the season to pump it up.
This season the Sox signed Darin Erstad to play centerfield, and as a result, Anderson isn't getting any playing time. He's only had 8 at bats this season, and only one of them resulted in a hit. Considering that he was a former first round pick for the White Sox, the organization has expected a lot more out of him.
So how's Anderson dealing with such a lack of playing time, and a manager that seems to have little to no faith in him? He just doesn't care anymore.
Even the always-confident Anderson has reached the ''whatever'' point in the process.
''You know what? If I have to go somewhere else, that's the business,'' Anderson said. ''I might have more opportunity in another organization, but you do want to get it done with the team that drafted you.
''I don't know what plans they have for me. I'm kind of tired of thinking about that. I'm to the point where I don't care about what they want to do -- keep me, trade me, send me down. Pretty much everyone on this roster is from a different team, so it wouldn't be the first time it happened.''
If it were up to Ozzie and B.A., he wouldn't be in Chicago right now, but the decision isn't theirs. It's Ken Williams, and he's just not ready to give up on Anderson yet.
''I've seen so many guys come into this level, struggle, have to take a step back to take two steps forward,'' Williams said. ''If you give up on every one of your young players because they haven't had success right off the bat, I don't know if you'll have much of a team left. I would disagree that [Anderson's] better off somewhere else.''
If it were up to me, I'd send Anderson down to Charlotte to let him get some at bats. He's not going to magically find his swing in a batting cage or during BP. I don't think trading him would be the best option because with Scott Podsednik's frail groin, Darin Erstad's age, and Jermaine Dye's impending free agency, it's probably not the brightest of ideas to get rid of a young player with potential. Especially when he plays defense the way he does.
For the second straight winter Baltimore second baseman Brian Roberts is at the center of a number of trade rumors. Roberts has been linked with Cubs both last winter and this one, but more recently, the White Sox have engaged the Orioles in talks about the two-time All-Star.
It seems the White Sox' 
When the White Sox broke policy by negotiating an extension for 
Just when I think 
The White Sox are in a peculiar position; they don't have a bad team, they just happen to be in arguably the best division in baseball. As a result, they're 25-27 on the year, and struggling as the 4th place team in the AL Central. Manager 
Way back at the beginning of the season after the White Sox got off to a slow start against the Cleveland Indians, 
Back in 1997 the White Sox sent Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin, and Roberto Hernandez to the San Francisco Giants it what was infamously known as the "
No matter which side of Chicago you live on, or who you root for, you're kind of dealing with the same problems. Both the Cubs and White Sox seem to be underachieving, and they're facing the prospect of losing some key players to free agency come this offseason.
It's pretty tough to replace a town legend, especially the year after he helped his team win the World Series. That's what Brian Anderson had to do last season after the White Sox sent Aaron Rowand to Philly for Jim Thome.
