...the [Red] Sox made a deal for a relief pitcher, David Aardsma, who split last season between the White Sox and Triple-A.

To get the righthander, who also has pitched for the Cubs and Giants, the Sox sent minor-league pitchers Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich to Chicago.

Aardsma, 26, was added to the 40-man major-league roster, giving the Sox 39 players.

... Mota was 5-3, 2.60 with one save in 17 relief appearances at Single-A Lowell in 2007, his first season as a pitcher after four years playing the outfield in the Red Sox organization. Socolovich split the year between two Single-A teams, going 2-2, 6.65 in 11 games at Greenville and 5-4, 3.56 in 14 games/13 starts at Lowell. He has been in the Boston system for four seasons.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/
I guess Kenny is starting to reload the minors ...

As expected RP Fernando Hernandez was selected by another team, the Oakland A's.  The A's are the same team that selected Jay Marshall from the Sox in last year's Rule 5 draft.  [Marshall is now the property of the Red Sox having been waived by the A's after he spent the year on the A's roster.]  Having a full 40 man roster, the White Sox could not select any players in the major league phase of the draft.

During the Triple A phase of the draft the White Sox "lost" Ray Liotta (to the Royals) and Ryan Rodriguez (to the O's), both left handed pitchers who played for Winston-Salem last season.  Also selected by other clubs were Garry Baker (to the Mets), a right handed pitcher for Winston-Salem and Daron Roberts (to the Marlins), an OF at Winston-Salem. In turn they did select Santo Luis, a right handed pitcher out of the Astro's organization.  Pitching for class A Lexington the 23 year old was strictly a RP who had a 99/34 K/BB ratio in 75.1 IP.  Righties hit .206 against him while southpaws hit .258 against him.  Looks like he gave up a few long balls as there were 12 HRs hit off him.

They did not have any players selected during the Double A phase nor did they select anyone.

In today's Baseball Prospectus Bryan Smith wrote an article about players who played in the AFL who were - or were not - protected from the Rule 5 Draft by their parent club.  I realize to some, like Larry, I am beating a dead horse but this is what he stated concerning Fernando Hernandez:

"Another popular reliever is White Sox reliever Fernando Hernandez, who pitched in 60 games at Double-A in 2007, striking out 84 batters in 85 1/3 innings. Hernandez doesn't have spectacular stuff, but he has substantial experience in simply retiring hitters, and has the endurance to pitch in middle relief. For an organization like the White Sox that struggled with their relievers in 2007, leaving Hernandez available to baseball's other 29 teams is a pretty silly mistake."

I am in total agreement.  Some team will spend $50,000 to take a chance on him.

The White Sox can also take players in the Rule 5 Draft and one pitcher I hope they consider is Stu Pomeranz who was left exposed by the Cardinals. Smith wrote of him:

"Pomeranz has a pitcher's body and allowed just one earned run in 14 innings in Mesa, but his injury-driven relative inexperience leaves him without the resume of other draft-eligible pitchers."

Pomeranz is 6'7", 220 lbs.  He was selected by the Cardinals out of Houston H.S. (Germantown, Tenn.) in the 2nd round (No. 65 overall) of the June 2003 First Year Player Draft.  Reportedly he has good movement on his fastball and excellent command. He's close to Major League-average on his other pitches -- a knuckle curve and a change with some sink which makes his fastball better.  From I what I hear and read he would be worth a $50,000 gamble ...

[whitesox.com]:

The Chicago White Sox have designated outfielder Scott Podsednik for assignment and have purchased the contracts of catcher Cole Armstrong and right-handed pitchers Jack Egbert, Lucas Harrell and Adam Russell. ... With the moves, the White Sox 40-man roster is at 40.

It is defintely time to bid a fond farewell to Pods ... appreciate his efforts on the 2005 team but his value to the team is now null. He brings little that Jerry Owens doesn't offer: low OBP, no power, speed to burn - and Owens is cheaper.

Egbert and Russell were to be expected. Both should see time in the major leagues in 2008 with Egbert starting and Russell in the pen.

Harrell and Armstrong surprise me and I'm not sure they will survive the roster turnover that should continue with more trades. I really thought they would add Fernando Hernandez instead of Harrell and they may now lose Hernandez via the rule V draft.

The subtraction was good and necessary. The additions of Egbert and Russell were also. I am puzzled and a bit dismayed by the addition of Harrell or Armstrong over Fernando Hernandez.

Kevin Goldstein, the prospect guru of Baseball Prospectus (and Dekalb resident), threw this little aside out during an WS game 2 on-line chat:

larry (chicago): fautino de los santos: great white sox prospect or the greatest white sox prospect? seriously, throw the other sox fans a bone, what should we expect from him over the next five years?

Kevin Goldstein: Here's some bones for you.

1. De Los Santos is really good.
   
2. Aaron Poreda was a STEAL in this year's draft.
   
3. They have a pretty impressive group of VERY young talent that nobody has heard about, but will soon.

I'll be looking forward to his review of the Pale Hose farm system ...

but it is nice to see it documented.  Head athletic trainer Herman Schneider and his staff are considered one of the best in the major leagues.   This is from Rick Wilton's Baseball Injury Report:

"In an injury study I published in the Baseball Injury Report 2007 Annual (http://www.baseball-injury-report.com/BIRannual.shtml), the White Sox ranked first in fewest total DL days over the past five seasons. In fact, only three players landed on the DL with back ailments for the White Sox during that period. The odds are good the medical staff will keep his [Conteras'] back issues in check."

First in the fewest total DL days over the past five seasons ... There can be no doubt about the fact that Herm and his staff deserve some credit for the contributions they have made towards the success that the Pale Hose have enjoyed in the relatively recent past.

According to the Newberg Report:

The Rangers have traded AA righthander Johnny Lujan to the White Sox for catcher prospect Chris Stewart.

Lujan apperas to be nothing special going 1 - 4 with 5.74 ERA and a 58/43 K/BB ratio in 69 IP for the Bakersfield Blaze in California League (Class A - Advanced).  Hitters had a .281 BA off him and his ground out to fly out ratio is not paticularly spectacular at 1.55.  More detail is found at http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=John%20Lujan&pos=P&sid=milb&am p;t=p_pbp&pid=455114

Excellent Prospects
None
Very Good Prospects

1. John Danks, lhp
   
2. Ryan Sweeney, cf/rf
   
3. Josh Fields, 3b
   

Good Prospects

4. Gio Gonzalez, lhp
   
5. Charlie Haeger, rhp
   

Average Prospects

6. Aaron Cunningham, lf
   
7. Lance Broadway, rhp
   
8. Kyle McCulloch, rhp
   
9. Chris Carter, 1b
   
10. Nick Massett, rhp

Continue reading this post »

White Sox:

SP: Buehrle
    Contreras
    Vazquez, J
    Garland
    McCarthy

RP: Haeger (Long/mop-up)
    Boone
    Aardsma
    Thornton
    MacDougal
    Jenks

Charlotte:

SP: Gonzalez
    Floyd
    Sisco
    Phillips
    Broadway

RP: Vazquez, C
    Reynoso
    Perez
    Farnsworth, J

This presumes that Tracey is still deep in Ozzie's doghouse and will be moved.

It also means we still have McCulloch, Egbert, Harrell and Long as SP at AA.

I'd love to see that one more move be Garland for Rios!   Let Haeger and Floyd fight it out in spring training for that 5th spot.  Hall could catch Haeger if need be.