Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I keep forgetting that Mark Buehrle is going to be a free agent - Scott Miller reminded me this morning. The White Sox already have Jon Garland, Javier Vazquez and Jose Contreras under contract for next season (plus Mike MacDougal who could be a starter). They also have 22-year old John Danks. I wouldn't be too surprised if the bidding was too much and if the White Sox just let Mark Buehrle go and instead spent their dollars on a top centerfielder like Ichiro, Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter (although Hunter has never played well at US Cellular Field). Centerfield has been a problem for the White Sox since they traded away Aaron Rowand. Of course it would also make perfect sense to spend the money they save on not signing Buerhrle to simply bring back Aaron Rowand... Bartolo Colon will also be a free agent at the end of this year. I have long thought that Colon was one of the most over-rated pitchers in baseball and that Tim Wakefield has been one of the most under-rated. It bothers me that Wakefield will probably be pitching for less than a third the salary of what Colon will make in free-agency... The White Sox have six regular players who have 85 or more at bats. When you consider that these six players are hitting a combined .228 - its amazing the White Sox have managed to be at .500...