Chris Colabello Has Career Day for Twins

What a day for Chris Colabello.

The Minnesota Twins first baseman had a career-high six RBIs Thursday, including two big doubles in his team's 10-9 win over the Chicago White Sox.

Something tells me that even though it was a bitter 37-degree afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field, the weather wasn't bothering him, considering he could be in Korea right now.

Colabello's three-run double in the third inning gave the Twins a 3-1 lead before he smoked his second two-bagger in the fifth, again off Jose Quintana, to make it 5-1. The 30-year-old added an RBI groundout in the seventh for good measure, probably because he just didn't want to show off.

However, it was the young Venezuelan Oswaldo Arcia who hit the go-ahead triple in the ninth inning to avoid a season-opening sweep and make all of Colabello's effort worth it. Way to go buddy! Former New York Yankees punching bag Phil Hughes snagged the victory in his Minnesota debut while Glen Perkins picked up his first save of the season after blowing it the day before in extra innings.

The Twins head to Cleveland to take on the Indians this weekend in a three-game series where manager Ron Gardenhire hopes to earn his 1,000th career victory.

[Sports Wire]

Season Previews: Chicago White Sox

With another baseball season just around the corner, it's time for one of our favorite things in all the world: Season Previews. Five years ago, they began as a semi-serious analysis and ended up as half-assed haiku. We're just gonna go with what we know. Moving right along with our preview of the American League Central, get a load of the 2012 Chicago White Sox.

Goodbye Mark Buehrle
And so long Carlos Quentin
Adios Ozzie

Danks, Floyd and Peavy
Phil Humber and Chris Sale
Matt Thornton closes

Crain, Ohman and Reed
Stewart, Santiago and
Nate Jones in the pen

Konerko at first
Morel across the diamond
Adam Dunn's DH

Gordon Beckham and
Ramirez turning DPs
Escobar rides pine

Check out the outfield
Dayan Viciedo and
Fukudome too

Chicago White Sox Trade Carlos Quentin to San Diego Padres

Sometimes when players are traded, they get all upset about where they end up and who they'll miss. In Carlos Quentin's case, he's pretty excited.

The Chicago White Sox traded the All-Star outfielder to his hometown San Diego Padres this weekend, and when he got the call he was conveniently already in town.

This is also good news for the Padres, who sucked it up in the National League West last season. They finished worst in their division at 71-91, 23 games behind his former team, the NL West-winning Arizona Diamondbacks. Padres general manager Josh Byrnes, who traded Quentin from Arizona to Chicago four years ago, is happy to have him back:

"Trading him is pretty high on my list of regrets. That group in Arizona had a lot of talent. Carlos always stood out for his intensity and his style of play. Having a chance to get him back became very appealing here this offseason."

Quentin, who batted .254 with 24 home runs and 77 RBI last season while playing right field for the White Sox, is expected to start out in left for San Diego in 2012. He's also expected to do wonders for the Padres' collective offense, since he's nailed 20 homers in each of the last four seasons, including 36 in 2008.

The White Sox acquired two minor league pitchers in the deal: right-hander Simon Castro and left-hander Pedro Hernandez.

[Associated Press]

John Danks Gets $65 Million, Five-Year Extension from Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox agreed to give John Danks a five-year contract extension worth $65 million on Thursday, keeping the starting pitcher on the South Side until 2016.

The 26-year-old lefty, who more or less sucked last season, went 8-12 with a 4.33 ERA in 2011. Obviously, this prompted general manager Ken Williams to give him an immediate $2 million raise for $8 million next season and then $14.25 million in each of the final four years of the deal. Perhaps he's crossing his fingers that Danks will return to his 2010 form, back when he won 15 games for the club.

Never mind his career 4.03 ERA... his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 3:1.

Then again, maybe the organization felt it was time to start panicking after losing their ace, Mark Buehrle to the Miami Marlins via free agency during the winter meetings. After all, Danks would have become a free agent after next season and for goodness sake, they wouldn't want that.

I mean, just look how excited he is.

[ESPN Chicago]


Speaking of the White Sox, this little fan must have been on Santa's naughty list.

Little Girl Gets Punked by Parents, Hates Her New Chicago Cubs Pillow Pet

Hilarious video of a little Chicago White Sox fan who apparently hates the Cubs so much it makes her want to scream and cry. Enjoy.

[The Last Angry Fan]

The Miami Marlins Are at it Again, Sign Mark Buehrle to Four-Year Deal

This is getting out of control really quick. Seriously, who the hell do the Miami Marlins think they are? And where THE HELL are they getting all this money? Man they're being aggressive.

Since signing free agent Mark Buehrle Wednesday afternoon to a four-year, $58 million deal, the team has now spent a total of $191 million on Heath Bell, Jose Reyes and now the long time Chicago White Sox ace. What is happening? If they go out and get C.J. Wilson (who might head to the Los Angeles Angels anyway but you never know) I am literally going to go into shock.

One snippet of news to bring them back down to reality with the rest of baseball: rumor has it the Marlins have moved on from pursuing Albert Pujols, who might just end up sticking around St. Louis after all of this nonsense. Of course, this probably just means they'll go after Prince Fielder. We'll keep you posted.

Buehrle went 13-9 with a 3.59 ERA last season in his 12th year with the White Sox, the only team he's ever known. He's going to be a nice addition to the already amazing starting rotation in Miami, including Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez and Ricky Nolasco. Not bad.

Speaking of the White Sox, they piped up Tuesday night and made a trade for closer Sergio Santos, sending reliever Nester Molina to the Toronto Blue Jays, in case that interests you.

[Sportsology]

Robin Ventura Shakes Headlock, Takes a Stab at Managing White Sox

Robin Ventura, best know for getting his ass beat by Nolan Ryan (I swear that will be on this poor sap's tombstone) has taken Ozzie Guillen's job as skipper of the South Siders.

The former White Sox third baseman joined the team this summer as a "special adviser" to director of player development Buddy Bell, which is apparently a lot like managing a ball club. Fun fact: Ventura has never so much as managed a little little league team in his entire life... Oh well.

The White Sox don't seem to care about this minor detail, however. They just had to snag him up before another club did. You know, one who preferred a skipper with zero credentials. Besides, they had to get a name out there that someone recognized so the world would'nt realize that no one wants to be in charge of that mess, let alone listen to Ken Williams babble on and on.

As if this Whole Mess is Terry Francona's Fault

According to several sources, including Ken Rosenthal, Terry Francona and the Boston Red Sox will be parting ways this offseason, which began some time Thursday morning when Sawx Nation woke up and realized this was all not just a bad dream, and they indeed had missed the playoffs.

The decision to let Francona go was on the shoulders of principal owner John Henry, who has apparently seen enough over the past month. He would not be fired, rather the club would simply not pick up his 2012 and '13 option.

Of course, now that Ozzie Guillen has left the Chicago White Sox to spend the next four seasons with the Miami Marlins, there is some speculation that Francona could take the job on the South Side, since he already managed five seasons with their minor-league system in the early 1990s. Speaking of Chicago, Mike Quade is bound to get canned, so there's a possibility Tito could end up on the North Side as well.

In what has been deemed one of the worst collapses in the history of baseball, Boston and their $161 million payroll (third highest in the majors) dropped 20 of their 27 final games due to a lethal combination of untimely injuries, crappy pitching, lethargic offense, and perhaps even some mismanagement. Yes, 2011 was a complete failure.

General manager Theo Epstein said, "nobody blames Tito for what happened in September. That would be totally irresponsible and totally short-sighted."

Totally.

Ozzie Guillen to Manage Miami Marlins and Their Stupid New Logo

Update: The Miami Marlins logo has been leaked via Twitter (how else?) and fans are having mixed emotions about it. We think it's lame, but don't really give a crap either way.

I guess we all pretty much knew already that Ozzie Guillen, upon his parting with the Chicago White Sox Monday evening, would end up managing the Miami Marlins next season... we just weren't sure when it would be announced.

The club, who handed Guillen a four-year, $10 million contract, wasted little time in making the reunion public, introducing the team to their new manager just hours before their final game at Tropicana Field Wednesday. Marlins owner Jeff Loria is not concerned in the least about the outspoken skipper "ruffling any feathers" upon his arrival in Florida:

Ozzie Guillen Has Managed His Last White Sox Game

Update: Ozzie has indeed been released from his contract with the White Sox after going 678-617 over eight seasons at the helm. Pitching coach Don Cooper will manage the team for the final two games of the season. Though negotiations with the Marlins had been in the making since last year, a deal never materialized, so Guillen isn't quite sure where he'll end up at this point. So long Ozzie, the American League Central will miss you!

Ozzie Guillen had a sit-down with board chairman Jerry Reinsdorf prior to his Chicago White Sox game against the Toronto Blue Jays Monday afternoon, perhaps to negotiate a way to stay on the South Side.

However, according to a ton of sources, the Sox and Florida Marlins are about to complete a deal that would send Guillen to Miami, putting an end to his (always exciting) eight-year stay with the club who raised him as a shortstop for 13 seasons before giving him a World Series Championship in 2005 as a second-year manager. As far as the details of the meeting, Guillen had this to say afterward:

Manny Seeks Reinstatement After Ban from Winter Ball

Manny Ramirez will not be allowed to play winter ball over in the Dominican Republic this offseason.

The reason? Mr. Cheaterpants never did serve a suspension, nor did he contest his positive drug test earlier this year. And with Major League Baseball's agreement with the Dominican League, they have all the power to stop him.

This according to a person speaking anonymously since the news hasn't been announced publicly: The Cibao Eagles, a Dominican winter league team Ramirez played with in 1993-94, claimed this week he was expected to start training with the club soon. However, MLB and the Players Association have decided he's ineligible.

Red Hot Detroit Tigers on their Way to October

The Minnesota Twins failed miserably at playing the spoiler Saturday night when Brandon Inge nailed a game-ending home run to give his Detroit Tigers the 3-2 victory and a -- advantage in the American League Central. With two out in the bottom of the ninth, the -- -hit a 2-1 --- from Glen Perkins into the left field stands.

Although it was a dramatic and exciting moment for Inge, he was humble and humorous:

"Trust me, if I could do that on command, I wouldn’t be hitting .194."

Saturday's win lowered the Tigers' magic number to nine over the Chicago White Sox and eight over the Cleveland Indians... and like 24 over the reigning ALC champion Twins.

A.J. Pierzynski Finally Hurts Himself, Lands on DL

If you're not living on the south side of Chicago, you may be surprised to know that A.J. Pierzynski has never landed on the disabled list during his entire 14-year career... up until now.

The Chicago White Sox placed their catcher on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a fractured left wrist after he was nailed by a Bruce Chen pitch in the third inning of Friday night's 5-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals. He removed himself from the game after the fourth, and the first set of X-rays were negative, but apparently he's still pretty sore. The move is retroactive to August 13.

Pierzynski, batting .296 with 39 RBI, leads American League catchers in batting average, games played and innings behind the plate. Also, he and Jason Kendall are the only active backstops with at least 1,000 innings caught in each of the last nine seasons. He's kind of a workhorse. Not our favorite player by a long shot... and his mustache is creepy as hell... but he's definitely reliable.

[ESPN Chicago]

Congratulations Francisco Liriano!

Talk about night and day.

It wasn't pretty. In fact, it was down right ugly. Either way, Francisco Liriano tossed the seventh no-hitter in Minnesota franchise history Tuesday night against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. The 1-0 victory, thanks in part to a fourth-inning solo shot off the bat of Jason Kubel, marked the fifth no-hitter for the Twins and the first of the 2011 baseball season.

Don't beat yourself up too bad. The fact you decided against starting Liriano on your fantasy team Tuesday (if you haven't dropped him yet) may be a good thing after all...

Continue reading Sooze's article on The Star Tribune.

Ozzie Guillen Tweets Himself into a Corner

For the most part, Ozzie Guillen's tweets don't make any sense. Even if you are bilingual. Of course, that doesn't make them any less entertaining.

However, Major League Baseball is looking into any rules the Chicago White Sox manager may have broken by making derogatory comments about an umpire via Twitter after being ejected.

Get Well Soon, Adam Dunn

Adam Dunn is going to miss at least 5 days after having an emergency appendectomy last night. The Chicago White Sox DH made it through twelve innings last night before leaving the game against the Royals. Pretty badass, no? You would hope he's a tough guy after the money they shelled out for him during the off season.

Speaking of the Royals... After last night's walk off win, they are still holding steady in first place of the AL Central. Granted, the season isn't even a week old yet, but still. It's been a while since they've enjoyed being on top. Let's let them enjoy it.

Season Previews: Chicago White Sox

With Opening Day just a day away, we're finishing up with one of our favorite things in all the world: Season Previews. Four years ago, they began as a semi-serious analysis and ended up as half-assed haiku. We're just gonna go with what we know. Continuing with our preview of the American League Central, here are the Chicago White Sox.



Chi-Town's South Siders
It's a love-hate thing with us
Well... Not so much love

Konerko at first
And we like him lots. But then?
A.J. at backstop.

Also love Ozzie
Few skippers so colorful
Vizquel's still playing??????

Alexei Ramirez Gets Four More Years with White Sox

Alexei Ramirez and the Chicago White Sox have agreed to a new contract that guarantees the shortstop $32.5 million over four years, keeping him around through 2015.

The deal also includes a $10 million option for a fifth year, after the team exercised Ramirez’s $2.75 million option for 2011 back in December.

The 29-year-old hit .282 with 18 homers and 70 RBI last season, leading all American League shortstops in batting average, slugging percentage (.431), longballs and total bases with 252. Also, he ranked second in RBI. Not bad.

[ESPN]

Happy Bleeping Holidays from Ozzie Guillen

Hat Tip [Deadspin]

Chicago White Sox Give Paul Konerko $37.5 Million

When Paul Konerko heard the news of Adam Dunn's signing with his Chicago White Sox, he thought:

Okay. Well, that was a fun 12 years. It's a him-or-me situation.

In fact, it almost ruined his vacation in Mexico.