Geovany Soto and Jesse Crain's returns to Chicago coupled with actual prospects to watch during Spring Training made Thursday's announcement of non-roster invites probably the most interesting in...well, human history. With pitchers and catchers reporting coming in the next month, The Catbird Seat gang got together to dish about the upcoming season and then insult the Twins a bit.
Read MoreThe White Sox continued their Extreme Bullpen Makeover on Thursday when they acquired lefty reliever Dan Jennings from the Miami Marlins in exchange for Andre Rienzo.
Read MoreAt the non-tender deadline, the White Sox had five guys to decide whether to...well, you guessed it...non-tender. And as it turns out, they non-tendered a guy!
It was not Dayan Viciedo.
Read MoreWhy aren't people nice to Lucas Harrell? The 29-year-old former White Sox hurler, who will always have given us those six decent innings vs. the A's on the night right after Daniel Hudson got traded, signed a contract to play in Japan. It's a new opportunity for him but hardly the crowning achievement of any American pitching career.
On May 2, 2013 David Laurila of FanGraphs posted a detailed profile of Harrell, after he had sinkerballed his way to 193 innings of 107 ERA+ ball the previous season. Two days later the Tigers put up eight runs on him and chased him before the fifth inning in a 17-2 romp, and his results have been trash ever since.
Still, this from Brett Anderson is some unexpected shade.
Read MoreCabrera would be an ideal signing next offseason. When the Sox know they are ready, know what they are shooting for, and would be seeking maximum output for the first season of the deal. Instead, they have consider Cabrera's worth as a long-term solution, and consider whether they are at the point in their rebuild/retool to be punting away second round draft picks.
Read MoreRick Hahn took his first step toward turning the flaming bag of crap that was the 2014 White Sox bullpen into something ... well, less crappy, as the team reportedly agreed to terms with left-hander Zach Duke on Tuesday.
Read MoreChances are, if a waiver claim player threatens your job security, you never had job security. You might not have even had the job.
This is the reality that the out-of-options Jordan Danks, whose ten-day stranglehold--again, probably not, as it turns out--on the fifth outfielder slot was rudely interrupted by the Sox claiming J.B. Shuck off waivers, a speedy, left-handed spare outfielder who is about half as tall as Danks and strikes a third as often.
Read MoreThese are people on the White Sox 40-man roster. Grown men. Proud men. They've dedicated their lives to a challenging, brutal craft and many have lived their last few years fighting against the odds to keep it going, even as the once dreamed about financial windfall become faded and childish fantasies, they've trudged on dutifully and fought to keep playing until they're asked to go.
Let's fantasize about cutting them.
Read MoreNo, the much-anticipated Carlos Rodon promotion isn't here yet, but the White Sox called up a host of players ahead of Tuesday's series opener against Minnesota, promoting seven players from Triple-A Charlotte.
Read MoreIf you were making a list of depressing things that could happen to the White Sox roster, Chris Sale and Jose Abreu going down with injury would easily rank No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
Ranking third would more than likely be an injury to Adam Eaton, and that's exactly what happened — yet again.
Read MoreIt started with a pain in the ass. When Nate Jones originally reported health issues way back when the team was basically still stretching in Glendale, it was for a gluteal strain. He recovered long enough to appear in 2 games and face 5 batters. Of those 5, he walked 3 while allowing the other two chances to hit the ball. They obliged and he failed to record a single out. ERA: infinite. The gluteal strain reappeared and that was that. While out of commission, it morphed into a back issue which extended his stay on the disabled list and while progress reports along the way were never completely encouraging nothing seemed particularly damning either. Until Wednesday afternoon when it was announced that the short-lived White Sox closer had undergone Tommy John surgery on Tuesday.
Read MoreAs we wait to see what (if any) moves the White Sox will make during the next two weeks leading up to the July 31 trade deadline, the team made a couple of small moves Thursday involving a few names you may recognize.
Read MoreThe doom and gloom that came with Wednesday's walk-off loss to the Red Sox, an impressive outing by Chris Sale wasted, was made less doom and gloomy with a couple of bits of news that are great for the future of the White Sox.
Read MoreThe moment it happened I knew it was coming. It shouldn't be worth addressing and, yet, it is.
Read MoreApparently the White Sox are not particularly satisfied with the performance of their Scott Downs unit.
Read MoreJose Abreu has survived his weekend slate of simulated games alive and will return to full action on Monday, where he will be forced to play defense in Los Angeles. Or he could play left field instead of Adam Dunn. That would be fun.
Abreu doesn't promise to solve the White Sox problems with striking out all the time, or struggling to reach base, but he could probably help the .123 ISO they recorded in May. Paul Konerko went 7-43 with two home runs, two doubles and no walks in his absence.
Read MoreMatt Lindstrom as the White Sox closer was always artificially installed. He never read as the best pitcher in the bullpen, nor was he expected to develop into it by season's end, nor did his stuff project to play well in the role. Once the season started, he struggled immediately and mightily, yet the Sox weathered his troubles even though his potential didn't justify it.
Read MoreA mere hours after James depressed us all with his retrospective on Chris Sale's injury spin, the White Sox brought smiles to our faces with this bit of news.
Read MoreOur intensely regional nightmare may soon be at an end. After a short but positive bullpen session held Tuesday, the White Sox are in the process of pegging a return date for Chris Sale. An imminent one.
Read MoreAbreu's ankle has bothered him pretty much for the last two months and he hasn't been able to play the field since the beginning of the Arizona series. There's a hint of inevitability to this move, but it doesn't look great that the Sox were contemplating giving him a day off during this week, never worked themselves up to do it, and are now forced to make the more severe move when things predictably deteriorated.
Read MoreThe Catbird Seat is a White Sox blog by White Sox fans that focuses on intelligent and humorous baseball commentary. Brought to you by ESPN's SweetSpot Network.
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