Playing Without A Safety Net - Life in the AL Central

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As Rick Hahn pointed out, the most important thing to take away from the various AL Central projections is that it's probably going to be a tight race. Sure, if you take two teams with "true" 81-win talent, give one good luck and the other bad they may wind up very far apart. But right now we don't know where that luck is going to fall, and most projection systems seem to think that the Indians, Tigers, White Sox, and Royals are pretty close in terms of present talent. Over the course of 162 games, injuries will likely play a huge role in differentiating between these four teams. While there are certain things teams can do to mitigate against injury - Herm Schneider is considered one of the best in the business at doing just that - the best thing a front office can do is prepare as many Plan Bs as possible in the form of depth. So which organization is in the best shape in terms of backup plans should Plan A go awry? 

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The Catbird Speaks - 11.13.14: A crisp, clean, but unprofessional ~36 minutes

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Nick Schaefer, Matt Adams and James Fegan squeezed in their most concise podcast ever, discussing the day's news and rumors in an amount of time that listeners might describe as "enough" and "not too long" or "a little too long but not way too long."

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Winter Meetings Rumor Thread

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There were a lot of little tidbits that punched out of this week’s Winter Meetings chatter. It’ll take a lot of work to get through it all, and it will feel dumb to dedicate a full post to any one because they’re rumors.

Also, roundtables are a good way to mitigate all of us lacking the desire to write on our own.

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Where are the holes the Sox should fill?

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We've been discussing recently what the White Sox should not bother doing. They should not bother trying to wade into the morass of the free agent catcher market if Tyler Flowers (who naturally followed up Monday night by going 0-3 with 2K) is going to tease at being a league-average hitter. They should not pay up for two starting rotation upgrades if they can get Carlos Rodon to be one of them for the small price of the rookie minimum and the biggest draft bonus in franchise history.

But where should they spend the monies? Obviously.../glances at Tuesday night's box score...somewhere.

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Chris Sale improves, but his luck stays the same

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Well, you can't face Justin Verlander every night.

One night after rudely banishing the old lion of the Central into further ignominy, the White Sox offense...well, didn't do enough to fill out a sentence. To talk about the bottom half of the innings Thursday night, besides to wonder if the producers had time to breath before throwing it to commercial, is to talk about Max Scherzer, since he was one doing the work.

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The Games Must Go On - Game Preview & Lineups 4/22

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While we continue to mourn and hold our collective breath after yesterday's news that Chris Sale will spend an undetermined amount of time on the disabled list, baseball games, unfortunately, must continue. And the White Sox will look to survive their first post-Sale start on Tuesday when Charlie Leesman takes the bump for the second of a four-game set against the Detroit Tigers.

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