In the last week both the White Sox and The Community (join us!) at SSS have been through a lot. Sox fans far and wide said goodbye with varying degrees of emotion to Scott Linebrink and Bobby Jenks, while Adam Dunn, A.J. Pierzynski, and some guy named Paul Konerko are welcomed and welcomed back with open arms. Here is an excellent transaction recap, minus Kong's deal, and the accompanying downside of recent roster moves. Also, U-God was interviewed on WGN Radio (I'm told there will be an audio link to that posted soon) while DrEmilioLizardo provided an inside look at the Holiday Event at Comiskey. Even Cheat chimed in with updated payroll info (not including Paulie). Putting aside the recent drama between certain posters (which you, dear reader, can look into if you're really that interested), there has been absolutely no shortage of hot stove topics and excitement for us fans. Ratings are up! To the external links!
Let's start by getting to know our new DH/1B. Here we have Dunn's home run spray chart with video goodness, his 670 radio interview with transcript, lifetime stats, and the deal that brought him to the south side. The Tigers are a shakin'. I could get used to this.
Jump for more!
Of course, Konerko was re-signed today. In celebration, the important parts of Kong's three-homer game, including a slam, versus Cleveland on 07/08/09. More of this? Yes, please. Warning: the Hawk is strong in that one.
It's been a strange offseason to date. Earlier this week Jason Werth signed a 7-year/126 million dollar contract with the Nationals, while Troy Tulowitzki was extended for a lot of money until the end of time before that. Can we all be happy about the Dunn and Konerko contracts now?
Contrast all this talk of quality hitters with just one more visit to the White Sox DH situation all the way back in 2010. From Beyond the Boxscore comes a chart showing positional Wins Above Average in the AL. It's almost amazing that the Sox weren't dead last in that category; the Mariners were much, much worse in comparison. (h/t onlysoxfaninbasel)
Soxfest 2011 is sooner than you think. I suspect the Q & A sessions will be full of softball questions this year more than ever, and yet it still promises to be a real hoot. Get yer tickets!
Finally, as was so widely reported, Ron Santo passed away last week. After reading so much about it, I'm partial to the New York Times article memorializing him. Cubs fan or not, I'm sure calls like this will be missed by all. The man had some deep-rooted passion, that's for sure.