Juan Uribe is off of waivers and officially a member of the 2008 White Sox. Further, he’s our most of the time second baseman after putting on a nice little hitting display during his little waiver stint. What does it all mean? I’d like to think that it means he’ll be hitting like he can throughout the season and we’ve got ourselves a solid 2B and bottom lineup hitter. More realistically I’m just hoping he can keep his hot streak going through at least the first couple weeks of the season. If we can make a good showing through April I think we stand a good chance to stay near the top of the central.

Joe Crede is now our official 3rd baseman. Which of course puts Josh Fields back in Charlotte. With trades dead it was really a long shot for the season to begin any other way but you still can’t help feeling bad for Fields. Crede may struggle for a short while at the plate but I really believe it will pay off. He’s got a lot to prove post-surgery and it’s a contract year. He’ll be rakin’ in no time.

Jerry Owens is going to start the year on the DL. This is gonna get worse before it gets any better. That groin injury is still hangin around and the team doesn’t want to take any “chances”. This is a good news bad news though. The DL placement will open up a spot for Brian Anderson to get some big league ABs and see if that spring at the plate can’t carry over into when it matters time. On the down side, I don’t know what Ozzie plans to do for a leadoff hitter. Alexei Ramirez (or “The Cuban B.B. Gun” as Guillen insists on calling him), meanwhile looks to be our Chone Figgins, basically being plugged into whatever position needs a rest, probably spending most of his time swapping CF time with Anderson.

For those of us that are up early in the mornings it’s obvious that the season is actually underway. The Boston/Oakland games in Japan have wrapped up with them splitting the series. Personally I could care less about where the games took place but I did enjoy being able to wake up and watch a real time baseball game.


I never go out and make such predictions, but just for shits and giggles I’m going to go ahead and make my 2008 playoff predictions so I can be made fun of in October:

AL West: Seattle Mariners
AL Central: Cleveland Indians
AL East: Boston Red Sox
Wild Card: Chicago White Sox

NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers
NL East: Philadelphia Phillies
Wild Card: Atlanta Braves

I know what you’re thinking. White Sox with a Wild Card berth? That I’m a homer? So what