Chicago

About a month ago, the Chicago White Sox looked as if they were going to be sellers at the trading deadline. Now, after a three game sweep of the Atlanta Braves, the White Sox now have a record of 37-34 and are only 2.5 games behind the first place Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. Once again, it looks like the White Sox will be buyers are the trade deadline.

Let’s see what is going on with the Pale Hose…

The White Sox announced the signing of their first round pick LHP Chris Sale for $1.656 million. 

Sale was rated the top college left-hander after Drew Pomerantz in most of the mock drafts shown, but he fell to the White Sox with the 13th pick, probably because he went to a second-tier school, Florida Gulf Coast University.

Florida Gulf Coast did indeed play mostly second-tier schools. When they played top-tier schools, they generally got pounded, unless Sale was pitching.  He beat Wichita State 7-2 on March 5, 2010 and Clemson 4-2 on May 1, 2010.

Carlos Pena who had been slumping hit a home run in his fifth consecutive game and he has hit six home runs in those five games.

Carlos Pena hit a home run in his fifth consecutive game while breaking a Rays franchise home run record of 129 home runs, which had been held by Aubrey Huff until last night.

Paul Konerko has had his bags packed to head to the Los Angeles Angels on more than one occasion.

Now, however, it seems as though Konerko could actually be getting on the plane.

With Kendry Morales celebrating a walk-off grand slam by breaking his leg, the Angels could use another first baseman. 

With the White Sox "grinder"/Ozzie ball/don't score runs and have awful defense experiment putting the team in a battle for third place in the American League Central division, it could be time for the White Sox to look toward 2011...or maybe 2012.

Last night for the Chicago Cubs Triple-A affiliate in Iowa, one of the less heralded potential superstar prospects in baseball had another good night.

Andrew Cashner, the Cubs first round draft pick in 2008, dominated for seven innings as the Iowa Cubs won 1-0. Cashner was an elite closer in college, but the Cubs are trying to make him into a starter.

Trying?

Since being promoted to Triple-A, Cashner is putting up numbers that could easily be confused for those of super-prospect Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals.

With the Sox on the verge of losing again, I have felt the need to get back into blogging with a similar article to what I had gotten recognition for last summer.

Hopefully you enjoy—I am open to comments and opinions.

Five Reasons to Give Up on White Sox

1. Gordon Beckham

This article was originally published at The Daily Cub.  Visit TheDailyCub.com for game recaps and opinions about the Chicago Cubs

The Sox have been hard to watch this season. Most expected them to be roughly .500, but the pitching hasn't been nearly as strong as expected and only two players are hitting over .260. The Sox are seven and a half games back after their win today and could be selling at the trade deadline if things don't improve relatively quickly.

However, that's not what this article is about. Not everyone on the Sox is struggling, and rather than dwell on the negative I'm going to highlight these players.

Somehow I found 6 slides for this article.

The "stuff" has hit the fan for the Chicago Cubs.

In breaking news late Friday morning, the Cubs have recalled their top prospect, 20-year-old Starlin Castro. Castro will reportedly bat eighth in the Cubs lineup and start at shortstop, moving Ryan Theriot to second base, as the Cubs face the Reds in Cincinnati at 7:10 pm EST.

If you haven't heard of Starlin Castro, here's your introduction.

The Cubs begin May 3 with an average—at best—record of 13-13 and find themselves 4.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals (17-8) in the National League Central.

Starting pitching remains the team’s strong suit. But if you haven’t noticed, the Cubs—outside of Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez—are starting to hit.