While Manny Ramirez was traded away on Thursday, July 31, lost in the shuffle was the trade of another future hall of famer, one Mr. Ken Griffey Jr. At 3:30PM Eastern time, a half hour before the trade deadline, the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox agreed on a deal that sent Jr. to the White Sox in return for minor leaguers Nick Masset and Danny Richar.

This deal should help the White Sox, as they get someone to step in in place of the inconsistent Paul Konerko and Nick Swisher, but with Jim Thome at DH, and Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye at the corners, and Swisher and Konerko in CF and at 1B respectively, playing time will have to be cut somewhere in order to get Junior ABs. It seems likely that that player would be Paul Konerko and his batting average hovering around the Mendoza Line.

However, despite the improved offense, this deal does not make the White Sox title contenders, as Junior has hoped for in waiving his no-trade clause to come over. This team still needs more pitching.

What the hell is Sam Zell doing!? Why the hell is he trying to sell the name of Wrigley Field?

I’ll tell you why. Zell doesn’t give a dam about the Cubs. After all, he is a minority owner in the White Sox, which if Bud Selig realized and decided to do things legally, would make Zell sell his shares in them. But he doesn’t care. His butt buddy Jerry Reinsdorf happens to own the White Sox and said he didn’t care. Very interesting. Isn’t this a conflict of interest?

Zell is just looking to make a buck while MLB sorts out the complications of blocking out Mark Cuban and installing John Canning, a crony who will just be another extension of the Trib.

The writing is on the wall: Zell is a minority owner in the White Sox. Jerry Reinsdorf said he doesn’t care that Zell has stake in both, saying the Cubs is temporary. He happens to be the right-hand man of Bud Selig, so Selig signs off on the waiver. They like John Canning and want to install him as the owner. They are going to do whatever they can to keep Cuban out, while they install this crony who is just an extension of the Trib. So they figure, in addition to screwing over the Cubs, why not piss them off as well, and let Zell make a buck. Unless they plan on adding another 20M a year contract, this money is going into Zell’s pocket. If JR is a man of high integrity as he claims to be, then why is he sticking his nose into the whole ownership situation with the Cubs? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?

While I think what Hitler did was a horrible thing, I wouldn’t mind it had Selig, Reinsdorf and Zell died.

With pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training later this week, the 2008 baseball season is just around the corner. With that in mind, it’s time to take a look at Chicago’s prospects this year.

Following the 2007 season in which the Cubs went 85-77, won the NL Central and made the playoffs for the first time since 2003, the Cubs look to make the next step as the 100-year anniversary of their last World Series title approaches and win it all. After their off-season, they are certainly in a position to contend.

With all of the heavy lifting done last off-season during the Cubs $300 million spending spree, many positions were already set on offense heading into the winter, with Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee set to provide the power in a lineup that will include newcomer Kosuke Fukudome, whoever wins the second base and shortstop battles for which Ronny Cedeno, Ryan Theriot, Eric Patterson and Mark DeRosa are battling for, and likely Felix Pie in center, and rookie Geovany Soto catching.

While the battles are not sorted out, all these players battling for a job have some amount of major league experience, and those who ultimately end up winning the starting jobs will undoubtedly make the offense better than last year. The losers will help fortify an already strong bench with Daryle Ward and Henry Blanco. The only question on offense seems to be if Fukudome can handle the transition to MLB. The Cubs certainly hope so, since they shelled out $48 million over four years for a hitter with a career batting average of .305 and an on-base percentage of .397 in Japan.

While the offense doesn’t have many question marks, the pitching does. With Bob Howry, Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, Steve Eyre, Michael Wurtz and a couple others, the only question mark in the pen is who will close, since Ryan Dempster is being moved to the rotation. The top three spots in the Cubs rotation are set with Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill. Jason Marquis, Jon Lieber, Dempster, Sean Marshall, and a few others will fight for spots four and five. While it may seem that they are deep in the rotation, they are not. However, they should be serviceable, as they have a few bodies to eat innings and not tax the pen the way they did in 2005 and 2006.

While things are looking good over on the North Side, they aren’t so bright on the South side. Following a season in which they went 72-90 and battled for the worst record in MLB at times, just two years after winning it all, don’t expect much on the South Side.

After a season in which the offense ranked last in the major leagues in batting average and on-base percentage, the White Sox have done very little to improve the offense. Their Thome-Konerko-Dye-Crede/Pierzynski middle of the order is old and slow. 2007 was no collective slump; it was the offense showing its age. Bringing in Nick Swisher to replace Scott Podsednik is a plus, but it won’t save the team. Same with Orlando Cabrera replacing Juan Uribe. Whether Uribe or Danny Richar is their second baseman, they won’t have any major effective. Same goes for the outfield with Jerry Owens, Carlos Quintin and Brian Anderson battling for the last spot.

If Joe Crede’s back doesn’t hold up following surgery last season, Josh Fields will replace him at third. If both are healthy, however, the White Sox have already said that they will not be playing on the major league team together. They won’t play Fields in the outfield and Crede at third. If they were playing together, they could at least have a decent offense, but they don’t want to. The real reason behind this is because Joe Crede’s agent is Scott Boras, a long-time foe of owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

While the offense will continue to be anemic, don’t expect the rotation to bail out the team the way they did in 2005. Don’t even expect them to keep the team afloat. After Mark Buerhle and Javier Vazquez, the White Sox have no one.

Trading away John Garland to get Orlando Cabrera has stripped their rotation of depth. Jose Contreras is old and continuing to show that he was just a one-year wonder. Following the horrendous performances of John Danks and Gavin Floyd in 2007, the White Sox are kidding themselves if they believe Floyd and Danks can hold up the back end of the rotation.

The pen is better after signing Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink to go with Big Bobby Jenks, but with the rotation as horrible as it is, don’t expect them to have the ball with the lead very often.

The Cubs said they made their first steps towards a title in 2007, and they are poised to continue on that path. The White Sox, in the words of Kenny Williams were embarrassed by the 2007 season, and will be damned if they go through that again. Looks like they’re going to be damned once again. Look for a repeat of the 2007 baseball season in Chicago, only with better results (if you’re a Cubs fan), or worse results (if you’re a Sox fan)

John Paxson. Kenny Williams. Jim Hendry. Jerry Angelo.

What do these 4 men have in common? Aside from being GM’s of Chicago sports teams? I’ll tell you what. They all suck. None of them are any good. Angelo is a moron when it comes to constructing the Bears. Kenny Williams thinks he can build a team to win it all while being cheap. John Paxson thinks the team he’s built can contend for a title. Jim Hendry likes to acquire garbage, and when he has a chance to get rid of that garbage for something useful, he either hangs on to the player and lets him walk, or he waits until his value is so low that all other teams offer him in return is garbage. Why can’t we have competent GM’s around here!!??

So with the recent news of the Detroit Tigers acquiring Miguel Cabrera AND the D-Train, Dontrelle Willis from the Florida Marlins, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim signing Torii Hunter in free agency, the White Sox have laid another major dud and continue to show they are a one-and-done deal. What’s going on here on the South Side?

Just 2 years ago they won a World Series title (Though I must say, that was not legit either, as the Sox only made the playoffs because Buerhle tried to kill Pronk. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.) and now they are bumbling around, coming off a 90-loss season.

Since the White Sox like to pick apart the flip-flops of Jay Mariotti, I think it’s time to return the favor, and pick out their flip-flops:

Didn’t Kenny Williams say after the Sox won the 2005 World Series that they wanted to win “two or three world championships”, reduce the Cubs to second status and take over the town and that you can’t win 2008 in 2006?

Then how about at the trade deadline in 2006 when they could have gotten Alfonso Soriano for Brandon McCarthy? I recall them saying that McCarthy was too big a part of their future, yet while the White Sox were stumbling and bumbling following Ozzie calling Jay Mariotti a fag, they refused to put McCarthy in the rotation while it was stinking up the joint. And then what did they do that off-season? They traded him to the Texas Rangers for scrubs.

Then how about when they signed Mark Buerhle and Jermaine Dye to contract extensions during 2007? Didn’t Kenny say that the Sox had a grand plan this off-season that included Cabrera and Hunter?

And then how about after this season: “Last year did not sit well with any of us. We’ll be damned if we’re going to go through that again. We will aggressively pursue a championship. We’re trying to win the 2008 championship. We were embarrassed last year.”

If by aggressively pursuing a title you mean re-signing a Dominican murderer, trading one of your best arms for the O-Cab and signing Scott Linebrink in free agency, okay Kenny. What happened to this Spiderman like video of Torii Hunter climbing the Chicago skyline and telling the whole world how badly you wanted him? What happened was the White Sox lowballed him.

And how about Miguel Cabrera, Ozzie’s “4th son.” Wasn’t Kenny Williams bragging about how it was a done deal and all that was left was to dot the i’s and cross the t’s? And what about that Venezuelan Motherfucking fag on his 4th son who he says has lost 30 pounds: “I think he is going to bring more leadership to the ballclub.” He said that in the present tense too. What’s going on here? They were just doing their best Cubs impression during the MacFAIL era: Say they’re after someone to keep PR, but not really interested in them.

And how about these remarks following the Tigers getting Cabrera and Willis: “All this has done is put the Tigers in a better position to contend with us. We certainly are not going to shy away from the challenge, especially knowing that no matter what your roster looks like on paper, it takes well-rounded teams in major-league baseball to compete for a championship.” Okay Ken. You are right that it takes a well-rounded team to compete and with this deal, the Tigers are pretty well-rounded. They have a true modern-day version of a Murderer’s Row lineup, with Granderson, Polanco, Sheffield, Ordonez, Cabrera, Rentaria, Pudge, Guillen, Inge, and the Frenchman Jacque Jones. They have kick-ass rotation with Bonderman, Verlander, Willis, and Kenny Rodgers. They got Todd Jones closing out games for them, and they will get Zumaya back at mid-season.

You think the White Sox are well rounded? LMAO!! Who do they have in their rotation other than Buerhle? They are kidding themselves if they think they can win with a bunch of kids. Ask the Cubs how that turned out. And what about the lineup? I thought they wanted to add speed and some guys who could put the ball in play? Their Thome-Konerko-Dye-Crede middle of the lineup is old, and can do nothing but swing for the fences.

At the rate Ozzie and Kenny are going, they’re the leading candidates to do a remake of Abbott and Costello. The Blizzard of Oz said the Sox were interested in Andruw Jones. Very interesting. His agent turns out to be Jerry Reinsdorf’s best friend, Scott Boras. The White Sox hate him so much that it is practically the organizations policy not to deal with anyone he represents, which means Joe Crede is going to be gone by the end of the 2008 season at the latest one way or another. Later on, Kenny Williams said: “He is not on our list.”

Then who is? Are you going to bring back Aaron Rowand, or is he just going to turn into a former legend? Will you pony up the dough? What are doing with that money that was supposedly earmarked for Hunter and Cabrera? If that money isn’t going to go into Rowand, then who is it going to? Does JR have a secret plan to spend it on his other team, the Bulls and get Kobe? Doubt it.

Kosuke Fukudome anyone? Get out of here. Since when are the White Sox going to win a bidding war? He’s going to sign with the Cubs if it turns into a Cubs-Sox bidding war. What will the White Sox do then? Go and cry that the Cubs are turning into the Yankees and Red Sox? Hey, White Sox, it’s called big-market team. You got the money, spend the money. The Cubs are playing by the rules. There is nothing that says they can’t do what they’re doing. Why don’t you do it too? You guys got the money. Baseball is flush in cash. Start spending it. You aren’t a small-market team. You play in the nation’s 3rd biggest city. You put 3 million asses in the seats. Start acting like it.

The White Sox are in for a long, slow, painful re-building process. “We were embarrassed last year.”

Guess what, Ken? You’re going to be even more embarrassed in 2008.

Last month, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen got a contract extension through 2012, despite the fact that he was calling the shots on one of the shittiest teams in the majors. With that being said, about Ozzie getting an extension he shouldn’t have gotten, where is the extension for Chicago Bulls head coach Scott Skiles? Both the Bulls and White Sox are owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, so it only makes sense to give an extension to Skiles. I don’t care if Ozzie won a World Series. They had 1 good season, and then proceeded to play like shit afterwards.

Ever since Ozzie called Mariotti a piece of shit and a fucking fag, the White Sox have been playing horrible. Skiles may not have won a title, but he is building this team back after Krause left a horrible mess, and has gotten them into the playoffs 3 years in a row, and last year, led the Bulls to their best season since the Jordan era ended. Winning one title is not enough. Winning consistently and making the playoffs on a consistent basis is the key. Skiles has done that. Ozzie never will. Where is Skiles’ extension?

I was reading a White Sox message board recently, I came across this:

http://beachwoodreporter.com/audio/Please_Stop_Believing.mp3

Telling Cubs fans to stop believing. Get a grip, White Sox fans. Furthermore, the song is sung horribly off-key. You’re giving Steve Perry a bad name. It’s bad enough that you’ve ruined the use of this song for anyone else, but now making him look bad, that ain’t cool. You keep showing that you’re entire baseball vocabulary is Cubs Suck.

With Octoberquest complete and baseball’s playoffs underway, the new magic number for 8 teams is 11. The Cubs are one of those teams. I’m really feeling it this year. So many things have happened since 2003, I really feel it. The Red Sox broke their misery in 2004. The White Sox broke their misery in 2005, leaving the Cubs as the only miserable team in baseball. Furthermore, the White Sox beat us to it in our city. Top it off with the fact that our next biggest enemies following the White Sox, the Cardinals, won it all in 2006.

This year, with the Cubs making the playoffs, all 5 of my teams did good this year. My Buckeyes made it to the national title game in both football and basketball only to lose to Florida in both. The Bears made it to the Super Bowl, only to lose thanks to Grossman. The Bulls made the playoffs only to get bounced in the 2nd round by the Pistons. How much more suffering am I supposed to take?

A few ominous signs this year have also given me an optimistic look. In June, Sam Zell’s attempted to screw the Cubs by vetoing the deal for Jacque Jones because he didn’t want to put more debt on the new owners tab, when this would have taken $600,000 off. Ever since the Cubs failed to trade the Frenchman, he has been a big part of the playoff run. Until September, the Cubs had never won a game with me in attendance. That all changed on September 5th, when they finally won with me in attendance. Last week, San Diego Padres outfielder Milton Bradley got into an argument with an umpire. It led to a full-blown confrontation, with Padres manager Bud Black needing to restrain Bradley. In a very Cubs-esque moment, Bradley tore his ACL when his manager spun him to the ground in an attempt to restrain him. Another sign: The crew chief of that umpiring crew that angered Bradley was an old friend of the Cubs, Bruce Froemming, he who has been screwing the Cubs for 35 years and is retiring after this year. You see, ever since he became an umpire in 1972, he has been making life hell for the Cubs. He ruined Milt Pappas’ perfect game that year. Pappas had retired the first 26 batters, and had a 2-2 count on the 27th hitter. The next 2 pitches were extremely close, but Bruce called them both balls, ruining the perfect game. Ever since then, he has always made sure to make calls to screw the Cubs. Seeing him screw someone else, that is a sign.

I take all these events as a sign that the external forces are weakening and this is the year it’s gonna happen. Next year is here!! Go, Cubs, Go

“I’m not rooting for the Cubs because I’m a White Sox fan. I hope they don’t win.”

I opened my Sun-Times this morning, and read that from the Blizzard of Oz. Will he ever learn? After reading that, I’ve given up all hope. He continues to pick fights. Calls Magglio Ordonez a Venezuelan Motherfucker, calls Mariotti a piece of shit and a fucking fag, orders his pitchers to bean players, he trashes the Cubs when his team is in last place, he does it all. He does nothing to change the perception that the entire White Sox organization is nothing but anti-Cubs. He continues to show he is a loser. Fuck you for all eternity, Ozzie

I was looking at the standings on MLB.com today, I noticed the White Sox are tied for last place in the AL Central with the Royals. My, what a fall they have taken. Winning the World Series 20 months ago to thinking they were king of the world and could do whatever they want to now being in last place. This is by far worse than the fall the 1998 Marlins took after winning the World Series in 1997.

Being the most classless organization ever, the White Sox are getting what they deserve. They employ a constipated hick as their play-by-play man. They have an owner who thinks he is so great because he and the dick of a commish Bud Selig are butt buddies. They apply stupid financial principles to anyone they want to sign. They have a GM who makes any trade he can. They have a manager who thinks he is an automatic success and has a free ride to do whatever the hell he wants because he won a World Series. The entire vocabulary of their rude, dumb, obnoxious, field-jumping, umpire-attacking fan base is Cubs Suck. When things go wrong, they blame everyone but themselves. Their favorite culprits are Jay Mariotti, Scott Boras, the Cubs, and the umpires.

They hate Jay Mariotti because he writes negative about the organization. Boo-hoo, he rips you. Get your eyes checked, White Sox. Jay doesn’t rip everyone, he doesn’t just speak the truth, he blasts the truth. Speaking the truth does not make you great. Blasting the truth makes you great. Ever notice you’re the only team that has issues with him? All the owners in this town are dicks, Riensdorf, McCaskey, Tribune, Dollar Bill, they all suck. Jay Mariotti does not have an axe to grind with you losers, you losers think you have an axe to grind with him. Guess what: Mariotti will be in business for a long time, and when he hacks off, there will be people to take his place and continue making hay. I don’t think someone who is successful like Mariotti is a piece of shit and a fucking fag.

They don’t like Scott Boras because he is a hard negotiator. They hate him so much that they refuse to draft any player he represents, they refuse to sign anyone he represents, and because the best 3rd baseman they had since Robin Ventura is represented by Mr. Boras, once he is a free agent following the 2008 season, he will be gone, if he isn’t traded before then. This is part of the dumb financial principles they apply. And the reason is because they have an axe to grind with him, apparently because of how he treated Kenny Williams during the A-Rod derby. More on this to come.

Ozzie really is the umpires bitch. And he should be. The umpires should have it in for the Venezuelan Motherfucking fag. You don’t go around telling the press that an umpire is a lair and that he has a vendetta against your team. (See Hunter Wendelstedt).

They always go around blaming the Cubs because it’s all they can do. Cubs Suck is the entire vocabulary of their shit fans. White Sox fans are not real fans. They just hate the Cubs and need a team to root for. Remember those old Us vs. Them ads from marketing?? Yup, those were taking shots at the Cubs. How about Ozzie, saying he had to park his car at McDonald’s for a Cubs-Sox game at Wrigley? Or how about him saying Wrigley is not a ballpark, it’s a museum? Or how about when they blamed the Cubs last winter for spending $300 million on free agents and driving up the price for everyone? Why did they do it? Because they have nothing better to do. They are more focused on seeing the Cubs fail than their own team do good. For some un-explained reason, they think the Cubs are their enemy, and thus need this anti-Cubs agenda.

Now, on to the team: This team has a gazillion holes. Their farm system is shit, which explains why their scouting director was canned a couple months ago. The dumb principles they apply will only hurt this team. This team is going to need a Cubs-like spending splurge to return to contention right away. Otherwise, they’re going to have to endure a very long rebuilding process. In this market, all the White Sox will be able to get with the principles they apply is sub-standard crap. Sometimes you need to forget about principles and just pony up the dough and get the marquee players. It worked real good when re-signing Konerko and Buerhle, it’ll work good for other players too. Here’s to the White Sox sucking for all eternity, YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!