Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported yesterday that the White Sox and Torii Hunter could be signing a contract within a week. A lot of people are bothered by the notion of Hunter playing for the White Sox because it makes him "traitor," or because it would be painful to have to watch the Twins face him so many times every season. I don't really feel the same way... I like watching Hunter play and if he signs with the Sox I'll enjoy the opportunity to still see him almost 20 times per year.
What does concern me about the prospect of Hunter signing with Chicago is what it will do to their lineup. The offense of the White Sox was hugely disappointing in 2007, but we can't forget that this offense still features Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome and Paul Konerko. Dye had a down year in '07, but is likely to bounce back. Add Hunter into that mix (along with a solid top-of-the-lineup hitter in Orlando Cabrera, who the Sox acquired from the Angels in exchange for Jon Garland yesterday), and this lineup is looking pretty scary in 2008.
Of course, Chicago's pitching remains a concern, but we'll see what Kenny Williams has planned on that end. He has been very active since taking over as GM for the White Sox.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
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5 comments:
I'm not so sure Dye is due for much of a bounce back. Looking over the last few years, 2006 and 2003 look like the big outliers. He's got a career .275 average, which is better than his .254 average from last year, but not that much better, and he'll be 34 next year. He'll still have power (just like he did this year), but I expect he'll have a pretty mediocre/poor OBP.
It's interesting that Hunter, for all his talk during his career about wanting to play for a winning organization, would go the White Sox who are clearly in decline AND battled KC for last most of last year. I guess by "winner" he means "winning bidder"?
I know it's not considered too much of a rivalry around baseball, but the wsox are the only team I really don't want Hunter playing for. I'd even prefer the Yankees
at least Twins pitchers should have a great scouting report on him (throw that slider down and out with two strikes. he'll always swing and miss)
James
And it turns out the Angels get Torii for 5 years, $90 million.
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