Baseball Update: News & Notes

5 Reasons to Fire White Sox GM Kenny Williams: The Dugout Doctors presented five reasons why the White Sox should fire their GM Kenny Williams. I love their number one reason because they say it's either Ozzie or Kenny and Ozzie is the only reason why people pay attention to your ballclub. Good enough for me, I only pay attention to the White Sox because of Ozzie.

Carl Pavano Grows a Mean Stache: Carl Pavano will never be Mr. Popular in New York. Everything went wrong with Pavano while in New York. His desire was questioned, he was questioned about the extent of his injuries, and was essentially exiled to Cleveland. Pavano though has found new life with the Minnesota Twins. Oh yeah, he's also rocking a killer stache.


Brian Sabean is Better Than Billy Beane?: According to Bay Area writer Monte Poole, the Giants GM has had a better offseason than the A's GM.

Sabean spent the offseason scouring the free-agent market for offense and bought, in order, Mark DeRosa (two years, $12 million), Uribe (who re-signed for one year, $3.25 mil) and Huff (one year, $3 mil).

With plenty of revenue-sharing cash available, Beane spent the offseason shopping for an ace and an outfielder. His major purchases were Ben Sheets, coming off major surgery, at a salary of $10 million, and Coco Crisp, also coming off injury, at a salary of $5 million.

DeRosa and Crisp haven't played much because of injuries. Sheets is 2-6 with a 4.93 ERA; he was the losing pitcher Saturday night. Huff (10 homers, 33 RBIs, .303 average, .395 on-base percentage) and Uribe (10, 41, .290, .356) have given the offensively challenged Giants more than they could have imagined.

Giants fans have always been huge fans of Billy Beane. After all Sabean is our GM. I have to give credit where it is due. Sabean has done a great job this year. Despite the De Rosa signing, the Giants free agent pick ups have worked out well. Uribe has been the Giants biggest run producer. Huff has played three positions this season and leads the team in Home Runs. Pat Burrell has been a nice addition to the lineup. Calling up Buster Posey and letting him play everyday has been a nice change of pace. So I'll give Sabean credit where credit is due, he's done a nice job this season. I will forever be a Billy Beane fan boy though.

Chicks Dig the Long Ball: This old Nike commercial is funny in retrospect. Think about how baseball has changed since it was first aired? Steroids have made every fan and writer question whether a power hitter is hitting home run naturally or is "helped" by an illegal medication. Also we have seen five no-hitters or perfect games in the span of a season and almost had two others. I want to see a commercial with Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard saying, "Chicks dig the Perfect Game."