Bon Voyage, Ross Gload

Hello, Andy Sisco.

Yes, the White Sox traded away my favorite player not named Joe Crede for another Kansas City Royal and former Cubs farm hand.

Take in the gravity of the back end of that last sentence again: former Royal & Cub.

Together with David Aardsma, the lefty Sisco will be another big pitcher with nasty stuff (hyperbole) and even nastier control (the bad kind). There are so many reclamation projects now in the Sox bullpen and AAA that if the White Sox make it back to the playoffs next season, Don Cooper will not only be looking for a raise, he'll be looking for sainthood. He might as well just write a book and hand it out to all the pitchers detailing his pitching philosophy because he will pulled in many different directions and will just have to refer to page so-and-so of his manual to get anything done.

At least we can see Kenny Williams' pattern for success in this trade. Trade one of the interchangeable parts for cheap, unvalued relief help. His track record is stellar when it comes to relief, i.e. Vizciano, Marte, Thornton, MacDougal, Jenks.

But my guy, Ross Gload, had to go to improve the pen. We'll lose his hitting (maybe 150 at-bats, 50 hits), his glove (he has better range than Konerko) and his speed (6-6 in SBs), but Rob Mackowiak (who can rake and was originally an infielder) will most likely take his place, and to get Mack out of CF alone was worth the trade.

So, officially, Ross Gload has been freed, at least from the White Sox, which is fine cuz there's already too many former Cubs on the White Sox roster.

And one more note: the White Sox no longer require the services of Crusty the Clown, catcher Sandy Alomar, Jr., as they have signed Toby Hall to a two year, $3.65 million contract with an option for a third year. Now in September AJ will only be thrown out by 10 feet at home instead of 30 feet. Hall wants to start but followed the money, and while in theory this is a very good move by KW, I wonder how long it'll be until Hall starts whining about playing time to the media. This has confrontation written all over it.


As always, Sox links accompany a Sox story.

• About Toby Hall from the horse's mouth. (whitesox.mlb)
• At least Jeeves understands my pain. (Chi-Sox Blog)
  
• Cheat likes the Sisco move and all the BP moves. (South Side Sox)
• Maybe Jim is a little obsessed about back-up catchers. (Sox Machine)
• Jake from the Bard's Room thinks the Sox got value in return for Gload. (The Bard's Room)
• An early scouting report on Andy Sisco. (The Cub Reporter)
  
• Toby Hall's career numbers. (Baseball-Reference.com)