SSH2005

Blakely is 29 years old. He needs more time in the minors because he's a career minor leaguer.

So sexy. But the chicks would dig him even if he had George Costanza baldness.

Come on, dude. Juan Cruz is supposedly on the trading block and Antonio Osuna is a free agent. Neither player would have to defect from a country to join a new team. Both players are more reasonable options than Pedro Lazo. I think the Sox will try to acquire that lefty from Seattle named Matt Thornton.

Mike Mulligan.

That's what I was thinking. Maybe they will keep Thornton on the roster and only use him as a mop-up guy a la Jon Adkins and keep Boone Logan as the LOOGY if Hermanson has to go on the DL. I say this because Thornton was a starter so he should be able to pitch more than one inning in mop-up duty. Also, he appears to be better against righties than lefties. Of course, if this dude doesn't throw strikes he's pretty much worthless to us.

Thornton is out of options just like Borchard so he would have to clear waivers to be sent to Charlotte. Of course, if he continues to suck for the rest of ST like he was with the Mariners, I doubt any team would claim him.

Exactly what I was hoping for as well. But obviously the whole out of options thing lowers their value a ton.

So the Mariners had Thornton start throwing from the third-base side of the rubber and he was improving his control. Man, it really sucks to waste a 97 MPH fastball.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...t=.jsp&c_id=cws This guy can hit 97 MPH with his fastball and also throws a sinker and a slider. His control is his major problem.

Borchard is on WSCR 670 right now.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...i-sportsnew-hed

Both Hermanson (24 years old) and Politte (26 years old) had some success in the majors in their younger days. Contreras was a stud pitcher for years in Cuba before coming to the majors. Thornton has done nothing in the majors yet and he's 29 already. I really hope that this Thornton dude does something for us, unlike Borchard, but I wouldn't put money on it. Either way, the trade looks like one bust for another unfortunately.

Great comparison, lol.

The Mariners sure do love ex-White Sox players -- Borchard, Everett, Morse, Olivo, Reed. Couple years? The dude is 29 years old. The good news is that Gload must definately be fine after his crash into the wall. They wouldn't have traded Borchie if Gload was hurt.

Whatever you do, don't look at Thornton's ST numbers. :puke I guess the Sox just wanted to get something for Borchard and hope maybe this dude can find his control in the minors and possibly help the team later in the season. I wouldn't put my money on it though.

Doubt it. Borchie was out of options so that lowered any value he had.

Borchard isn't going to get any playing time with Seattle unless one or two of Ibanez, Reed, Ichiro, Everett, or Lawton gets injured.

Wow, Thornton was a 1st round pick in 1998 (22nd overall). Sounds like he may be as big of a bust as Borchie.

Pretty sad that's all the trade value that Borchard had. :banghead This Thornton guy looks like he has no control whatsoever. Meanwhile, the Mariners look like they now have a fallback plan for Everett at DH.

You really have some Cintron man-love. If Cintron returns to his 2003 form, I probably wouldn't mind that.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/...t=.jsp&c_id=cin I wouldn't be surprised if Boston trades Trot Nixon now unless they are just going to go with a Nixon / Pena platoon in RF. But it's weird that they just signed Juan Gone as well. I guess this means that the Reds are going to start Hatteberg at 1B and keep Dunn in LF. Or I guess they could put Dunn at 1B and throw Freel in LF. Either way, at least the Reds finally realize what they need -- more pitching.

I didn't believe the hype but I just watched him pitch against the Cubs on Saturday and he has a funky delivery and good stuff. He supposedly can hit 93 with his fastball. He also sounds like he has balls from his quotes, unlike our second lefty from last season. He damn sure looks better than the other scrubs so far.

I never advocated Jerry Owens making the roster but Boone Logan has only pitched 5.1 innings at Winston-Salem (Single A) at his highest level. See for yourself... http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/L/boone-logan.shtml I do think he is the front-runner though.

Why do you think Cintron? He has 6 SB in his career.

Cheat had a good thought about this at his blog a week or so ago -- the Rangers really love Castro but probably realize that he isn't ready for the majors yet. So they could possibly offer us a low-level prospect and/or a reliever who won't make their roster. I would personally rather see the Sox risk it and let the Rangers try to keep Castro on their roster. I'd rather get him back and look for bullpen help elsewhere.