Jim Thome agreed to waive his no-trade clause and was traded to the Dodgers. Obviously, for a player who has never won a World Series, this presents him with the opportunity to essentially complete his Hall of Fame resume. However, it's a surprise move considering Thome has not played in the field since that ill-fated game in 2007. It would behoove the Dodgers to not test his back like that with a guy two years older. He will, however, reunite with friend Manny Ramirez, who had previously stated a desire to play with Thome again.  The White Sox send cash with Thome and receive Justin Fuller, a 25 year old A ball middle infielder of no repute whatsoever.

Jose Contreras needed to go someplace else and moving to the National League should help make him look like a real starting pitcher.  The White Sox send cash with Contreras and receive Brandon Hynick, a 24 year old right-handed starter in return. Cheat already had a crush on him but thinks his K/BB has gotten too skinny. He's a finesse righty with a fastball in the upper 80s and an okay curve but a very good splitter. His flyball tendencies aren't exactly a great fit for the Cell. I'm thinking of a pronoun starting with 'M'.

I'll leave it to the head man to provide us with a summation of the Gentleman Masher Era.

In other non-salary dump news, MRI was negative on Jake Peavy's elbow and it's been diagnosed as nothing more than a bruise, but still he's still sore. He'll throw tomorrow to see where he's at physically.