Black Sox Faction

Many mite, but I have no real problem with the Sox only getting two All Stars this year despite being surprisingly having a top record. The team with the best record in baseball - Tampa - also has only two. And the Cubs? Seven. A bit of over kill, despite their best in the NL record.

Like I notioned above - I don't have a major problem with it. Every year there are many great choices to make the team. The fan vote and the rule that every team has to be repp'd severely tie in a roster set @ 32. It happens every year and makes for tough decisions and much arguments.

So- Carlos Quientin, near the AL lead in HR's and RBI's, deserves spot. He has slowed from his lightning start when he really carried the team early on - but he's consistently on base and driving in runs. Joe Crede? OK, that's kool. No way ever did I expect or even thnk to hope it. He also keyed the Sox beginning with a giant start to the season before slowing down, but remains playing well. 16 errors are uncharacteristic.

But there are more deserving elements of the team not in the game - well, not yet.

Jermaine Dye has similar numbers to Carlos Quentin - but the consistency!! He has not had a bad week - and the last three weeks he has been giant. And here is that ambivilence: I feel glad that even one or the other -in this case Quentin - got in - there were many other contenders. And the added cavet is that Dye can be still voted in by fans on the internet. I'm busy with that as I write this.

But the real loss is in the pitching. Three potential Sox All sStas and they are all batters. Jenks and Gavin Floyd had the best shots - but there other stoppers and starters as deserving. Shit -the AL Staff is loaded. And the most consistent Sox pitcher all season - Danks - only won 6 despite the low ERA. Tere is just no room for every deserving player. It's nice we got two and lets vote for another.

Although the Cubs may be a bit over represented -some years it just goes this way. Although Fukedome's spot is a gift, the other six all were well deserving.

Sammy's Back!

With the news of Mark McGwire's recent Hall of Fame rejection fresh in our minds, recent reports have Sammy Sosa, yes that Sammy Sosa, being offered a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers.

"Sammy came across as hungry and humble, just looking for an opportunity," Daniels said. "We're not placing any expectations on the situation. It's a second chance for him."

This seems like a desperate move, but as we know, the Rangers and Sosa have a history together. This is low risk, but why the fuck would you try to fix your mistake from 1989 now? Especially now that he is 38 and probably unable to hit over .175?

And in other baseball news...

Zambrano, who was paid only $6.5 million in 2006, is asking for a reasonable $15.5 million in 2007. The Cubs are offering $11.025 million. That's quite a gap. DCS was on top of this topic back in December. It's going to impossible for Hendry to convince Zambrano that he should be paid less than Ted Lilly. Frankly, I'm embarrassed that Hendry offered this amount to Big Z. He should just bite the bullet and get him signed to a long term contract before opening day now. You know you are going to pay him, just do it now and move on to other things.

The White Sox and Joe Crede, bad back and all, have agreed to $5 Million to avoid arbitration. That seems like a reasonable price, one that even Mr. Far could get behind.

Finally, next year is going to be last year of Yankee Stadium, the new $1 billion dollar ballpark will go up in 2009, so MLB is giving the seventies citadel one last hurrah by hosting the All-Star game there in 2008. They aren't going to blow up the stadium like Shea, but the Yankees won't play there anymore.

Less than a month before pitchers and catchers report...