He's listed on Milb.com as being on the Kannapolis roster:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Gordon%20Beckham&pos=SS&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=493596

This is a great thing considering a fair amount of rookies start out in short-season rookie ball.  Kannapolis has only 17 games left, which isn't bad considering how late in the season we are and the MILB Playoffs being just around the corner.  Anyone have any idea on when he'll get his first taste of Minor League Baseball?

I believe the Bears can become exhibit #1 for this question as it is clear that timing has affected their roster and offense of the future. 

Cedric Benson conveniently got in trouble with the law for the 1st time on May 3rd & the 2nd time this summer in early June.  Consequently he was released from the team.

Now, had Benson gotten in trouble PRIOR to the draft, we may be sitting with a different running back.  I'm not saying I'm unhappy with Forte as we have yet to see him even practice, BUT one cannot help but wonder how much differently the draft might have gone with Benson gone.  Would we have moved up for McFadden?  Would we have been trading down for more picks targeting Forte still?  Would we have taken Mendenhall over OL Williams? Would we have done the draft the same exact way?

One final question is whether or not the Bears feel comfortable with Peterson, Wolfe, and the ROOKIE Forte as the RB corps for '08?  Might they go after a Shaun Alexander or a Kevin Jones?  Maybe only TIME will tell...

How much longer can the Sox go with Q being the only offense?  He single-handedly won us the only game in the 3-game series with the Angels, and the rest of the offense is showing no signs of waking up.  The always insightful Joe Morgan said they should just accept that they don't have much of an offense and rely on their great pitching.  I know McPhail asked the Cubs for a lot for Roberts, but a lot of that was on the Owner as well.  What would it take for us to get Roberts to the South Side?  Please for the Love of God Kenny, get us another bat other than Q's to help this offense!

I recently moved for the summer and do not get Comcast Sportsnet in the area.  Is there a website online that allows you to watch the games live?  I don't want to have to wait for the game to be over to watch them because of blackout scheduling.  Is there a website that uses another zip code/area in order to watch the games live?  I can't go with only watching the Sox on TV once a week on WGN all summer.  Please help!

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/05/dodgers-looking.html

Dodgers Looking For Emergency Shortstop

The Dodgers placed shortstop Rafael Furcal on the DL today, and MLB.com's Ken Gurnick says they're trying to acquire an emergency replacement.  Furcal will be eligible to return on May 21st.  He's been perhaps the game's best hitting shortstop to date.

Perhaps the Rays' Andy Cannizaro would make sense?  The Dodgers have been using Chin-lung Hu at short; despite his lack of offense it may be best to just stick with him.

Another stellar performance tonight on the road in 7 Innings, 1 Hit (No Hitter into the 6th), 1 ER, 1 BB, & 7 K's.

His ERA is down to 2.72 after a rough 1st outing (that hasn't been made up yet due to ANOTHER suspended game), he's given up only 1 HR in 36.1 innings, batters are hitting only .234 against him, while walking only 5 and striking out 25.  He's absolutely on a TEAR.

I was skeptical of the naysayers last year when they said the Sox lineup was getting old and starting to underachieve.  Then, 2007 ended and I thought it couldn't get any worse.  After tonight's 2-0 loss to Toronto, I'm starting to think the Sox just might be a lineup that's getting old and underachieve too consistently.  Sure, we knew Crede and AJ were going to come back down to earth, but no one has picked it up in their place since the opening game of the Yankees series where they stranded 13 runners.  I can handle a couple games here and there where pitchers have our number, but when we start calling these games similar to Greg Smith, Sonnanstine, Burres, and Marcum, where do the Sox draw the line?  The first month saw a game get taken from us in Cleveland, a blown save with 1 strike to go get away from us, and a dumb squeeze play take 3 wins away from us.  The Sox could've easily been 17-10 in the month of April.  But it seems the team is regressing more and more and not backing what has been a very solid rotation and decent bullpen up to date.  If this offense doesn't "bounce back" like it was supposed to all last year, a fire sale could be imminent even before July 31st gets here.  This is not White Sox hitting we're seeing, and if it continues, the season may be gone by the end of the 10 game west coast road trip...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=baseballpowerpolldbackss&prov=tsn&type=lgns

After 2 weeks, someone is giving us props.  Not sure how this translates as it IS only after 2 weeks, but good to see some recognition.  Also, I heard Peter Gammons and Buster Olney are starting to give us props as well today on ESPN.  Before the Tigers series, ESPN had us as #12:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/powerranking

Interesting week ahead with 3 different teams to  play...

Similar to Joba Chamberlain for the Yankees last season.  I know right now our bullpen looks set, but imagine if he could pull a Jenks '05?  Someone might get injured along the way and it'd be terrible to waste his talent in the minors.  He's in Class A Advanced right now in Winston Salem, but I'm sure he'll move up as the season progresses.  The Mariners used Brandon Morrow right out of the draft, so it's not completely unheard of to use a pitcher that quickly.  He DID give up 3 runs early on before the Warthogs' game got suspended because of a power outage, but I'm hoping those are just 1st game jitters. 

So what does everyone think?  Will Poreda pitch for the White Sox in 2008?