Chicago White Sox

The American League Central is the tighest division in baseball. The White Sox, Twins, and Tigers are all withing 3.5 games of each other and none of the teams look to fade away.

However, all teams could use a midseason pickup or two to bolster their roster and create seperation in the division. We have seen players like Cliff Lee and Manny Ramirez push their teams to the next level after a July trade.

Who will be this year's players that will make a difference? Here are 10 trades that could shape the AL Central run.

Picture Mark Kotsay wearing a blue and white Royals uniform. Got that image? It's easy to imagine, right? That's because Kotsay is that caliber of player. He's not the caliber of player that should be "contributing" on a playoff caliber team such as the White Sox.

The Red Sox knew that last season, and that's why they waived him .

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Mark Kotsay should not be in the middle of the White Sox lineup .

Several sources (Fox’s Ken Rosenthal and the Chicago Sun Times’ Joe Cowley) say the White Sox are working hard to pry Adam Dunn away from the Washington Nationals, but aren’t having much success due to the Nationals’ exorbitant asking price.  Reportedly, the Nats want Carlos Quentin or Gordon Beckham, both of whom the ChiSox are understandably reluctant to trade away.

However, the White Sox have apparently offered up just about anyone else in their farm system, including 1B/3B Dayan Viciedo and RHP Daniel Hudson.

The season-ending injury to Jake Peavy left the White Sox with a solid-but-not-spectacular starting rotation from top to bottom. Questions linger.

Freddy Garcia has been solid thus far this year, but can he be relied on as the team’s fourth starter? I’m not ready to write off Daniel Hudson this year just yet, but he failed to make it through five innings against the Royals in his only start of the year.

What a roller-coaster ride it has been.

From 9.5 games out and nine games under .500 to sole possession of first place thanks to a 25-5 record to close out the first half.

At 49-38, the White Sox are where many predicted the team to be before the season began, but no one could have predicted the road the team would take.

The White Sox have lost one series since June 1 with winning streaks of 11 and currently eight during this 30-game stretch.

With the All-Star break finally upon us, fantasy owners have time to take a breath and determine exactly where they are and what they can do to improve over the final few months of the season. Now is usually the time that stock can be taken.

If the pattern holds, then every five years the Chicago White Sox General Manager/Manager combination of Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen will put together a great team and make a run at the World Series.

Because they did it in 2005, and they've done it again in 2010.

The Chicago White Sox All-time Starting Rotation

Imagine you are the lucky individual chosen to select the Chicago White Sox all-time starting rotation for a special fantasy league. 

Your rotation would then have to face off against every other team’s rotation to determine a champion.  Whom would you select?  Who would back up your top five starters and close out games?

The All-Star break is suddenly approaching, which for many signifies the upcoming trade deadline on July 31.

With the recent trade of perennial Cy Young candidate Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers, many teams will open the floodgates after determining if they are going to make the push for October glory, or pack it in for 2010.

One team that will not be giving up is the Chicago White Sox, who with a resurgence that almost no one predicted over the last 40 days, have put themselves near the top of the American League Central.

It was what everyone suspected as soon as Jake Peavy walked off the mound with his right arm barely moving in the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels. Jake Peavy is gone for the season.

Friday, it became official as Peavy said he will have surgery on his detached right shoulder muscle (latissimus dorsi) on Wednesday. He hopes to be throwing by spring training early next year.

Doctors told Peavy the procedure must be done, but his career is not in jeopardy.