Jim Thome

the Twins, John Denks was a little bit better for the White Sox.

Blackburn made one mistake, and Jim Thome made him pay with a homer. The Sox had only five hits, the Twins  two.

The Twins had one shot. Michael Cuddyer hit a double to lead off the fifth and went to third on a sacrifice. He tried to go home on a ball to short center, and Ken Griffey threw a one-hopper to home plate.

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, where he's still adequate and no worse than Nick Swisher, but Junior's most valuable as a DH, and Jim Thome has been one of the few players to start cold and then get hot again. With both being lefties, it doesn't make sense to platoon them, either. And so there will be a rotation of sorts among Griff, Thome, Konerko and Swisher at first, DH and outfield.

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Notable underachievers are Paul Konerko (.213, 8, 31) and Jim Thome (.242 BA). Both bashers have to start carrying their weight for the Sox to contend down the stretch.
Detroit Tigers-- Two of their biggest off-season pickups (Edgar Renteria and Dontrelle Willis) have stunk up the joint. Renteria (batting .254) simply cannot produce in the AL. The Tigers brass is secretly wishing the D-Train would fall off a train and never make it back up to Detroit. In addition, Gary Sheffield's career appears to be all but over.

Continue reading "All-Underachieving Squad (cont.)"

a should help improve the offense, the White Sox face the bigger problem that they are getting old. Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko, their three main run producers will be 38, 34 and 32 this season and there is plenty of question on whether Thome’s and Dye’s bodies can hold up. After Mark Buehrle, the pitching staff is full of questions marks and the front office made no move it in the off season. In fact, it was weakened by the loss of Jon Garland in the trade for Cabrera. Without pitching help and the big hitters proving that they aren’t wearing down, energy is not going to be enough for the White Sox in 2008.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: AL Central"