Jake Peavy gets some more gold

On the heels on signing a two-year, $29 million extension with the Sox today, Jake Peavy also got word that he won his first Gold Glove award. He and Tampa Bay Rays' pitcher Jeremy Hellickson will both win the AL Gold Glove for pitchers this year.

Congrats, Bulldog!

Jake Peavy wants that dog pile with the Sox

Just the other day I half assed mapping out the upcoming free agent period for the Sox and looked at who might be coming back and who I expect to say goodbye to.

I for sure thought Jake Peavy was gone. It was documented that the Sox were not going to pick up the $22 million option on Jake's contact  (for good reason) and were going to pay the $4 million buyout. I fully expected the Sox to part ways with the self proclaimed bulldog.

Boy was I wrong. Not only does Jake get his $4 million buyout, but he inked a two year, $29 million extension with a player option for 2015 valued at $15 million if he pitches a certain amount of innings.

And good for Jake and the White Sox. I don't know if this could be considered a "hometown discount" but it's possible Jake could've got a longer guaranteed deal elsewhere. And really, I think Jake owes us for his first three injury riddled seasons. Peavy pitched pretty well in his first full season since 2007 going 11-12 with a 3.32ERA in 32 starts. His 219 innings pitched is the most since his 07 Cy Young season and his 1.10 WHIP was his lowest since 2009.

Rick Hahn continued to wheel and deal today by picking up Gavin Floyd's $9.5 million club option already seemingly solidifying the rotation for 2013.

With Peavy and Floyd back in the fold, they will combine with Chris Sale, John Danks, and likely Jose Quintana or Hector Santiago for next year's starting squad.

In other news, the Sox officially declined options on Kevin Youkilis and Brett Myers. Although, this doesn't mean they are necessarily goners.

The offseason begins...

The San Fransisco Giants are World Champions yet again and thus begins the baseball offseason today.

Eligible players were able to start filing for free agency today and there's no doubt there will be a lot of activity in the coming weeks on the White Sox front.

A.J. Pierzysnski, Francisco Liriano, Dewayne Wise & Orlando Hudson are all expected to file for free agency leaving them able to sign with any club starting on Friday. It's almost certain Liriano, Wise and Hudson will find other suiters. A.J. is the interesting case. Rick Hahn's first big decision as GM of our Sox will be his call on A.J.

There are club options on Jake Peavy, Brett Myers, Kevin Youkilis and Gavin Floyd. I fully expect to say goodbye to Peavy and Youkilis. The $9.5 million option on Gavin Floyd is also intriguing. Floyd has never come close to matching his big 2008 year where he went 17-8 with a 3.84ERA but the rotation will take a hit if/when Peavy departs. That will leave John Danks and Chris Sale as the only certains on the staff for 2013. The Sox may want to have Gavin in there as a back end starter.

Zack Greinke, Josh Hamilton, Edwin Jackson, B.J. Upton and Michael Bourn are among the players hitting the market. Don't expect the Sox to be shelling out the bucks for any of these guys. I would expect pitching and upgrading the bench as the top priorities for the White Sox this offseason. It will also be nice to see another third basemen that isn't named Brent Morel.

Ozzie Guillen is unemployed

I'm not going to rag on Ozzie.

I never was an "anti-Ozzie" Sox fan. But it became clear it was time for a change for the White Sox at the end of the 2011 when it seemed Ozzie was doing things to "spite" the team and Kenny Williams. It came to a blow at the end of the season when the Sox "nicely" fired him by trading him to the Miami Marlins.

Now, just over a year later, the Marlins have fired the man who gave the greatest joy to Sox fans  but managed to offended an entire segment of the Marlins' fan base and led his team to a pitiful 69-93 record in his first year has manager.

The Marlins went into the 2012 with high expectations. They spent a total of $191 million on Heath Bell, Mark Buehrle and Jose Reyes. They were primed with star players, a horrible looking logo and a dull looking ballpark.

Things quickly went south as Ozzie wasted no time offending a large portion of the fan base over comments he made prior to becoming the Marlins manager that praised Fidel Castro. The team play then offended the entire fan base by the All-Star break. The Marlins were a major disapointment with a 41-44 record but were God awful after the break only going 28-49.

Don't feel too bad for the guy, though. Ozzie is still owed $7.5 million so he'll be sitting pretty in South Beach and Chicago. Also expect to see him doing some sort of baseball analyst during MLB broadcasts.

Grading our 2012 White Sox

As it's time to watch other teams jump up and down in celebration I figure this is as good of time than any to mark my grades for the 2012 Chicago White Sox. Not because my opinion really means anything, but it's all I got right now.

The '12 squad far exceeded everyone's expectations and a 85-77 final record should've been enough to give the team a nice pat on the back. But this team will be known for their meltdown the final two weeks of season when they had what seemed to be a firm grip on the division lead.

The year saw bounce back years from guys who were absolute zeros in years past and continued struggles from a certain second basemen. (I'm looking at you, Gordon.)

I'm not going to get into the Ray Olmedo's or the Jose Lopez's or Jhan Marinez of the year because there wasn't enough of a sample size to warrant a grade. And whatever there was, it wasn't that impressive. 

So here it goes...

Infielders
Paul Konerko: B - Batted close to .400 through May but B.A. dipped big time to .263 in the 2nd half. The guy has played through more pain than he probably would say and plays a stellar 1st base. Although, the Sox could've used his bat in August/September.
Gordon Beckham: C- - The guy has a glove, no doubt. But doesn't provide much of anything off the bat.
Alexei Ramirez: C+ - You know what you are going to get from Alexi. Cold in April/May. Hot in June/July. Streaky in August. Nowhere to be found in September. The glove was maybe just above average as well.
Brent Morel: F - There's no way he's back in 2013. Right?
Kevin Youkilis: C - Burst on the scene in a late June trade. Seemed to care more about why the Cubs got more attention and getting game times moved than helping the team win in September. Granted, he played though a knee injury but highly doubtful he returns. It wouldn't surprise me Boston resigns him now that Bobby V. is gone.
Orlando Hudson: C- - Decent enough pick up to fill bench space early in the season but seems to be at the end of his career.
Adam Dunn: B+ - The guy isn't here to hit for high average. He's here to hit home runs. That's what he did. 41 of them to be exact.

Outfielders
Alejandro De Aza: B- - First full season in the majors. Good enough at the top of this order and played a good outfield. You got to wonder if this career minor leaguer can repeat this kind of success.
Alex Rios: A - By far this team's MVP of 2012. I was ready to write him off but proved me and pretty much everyone else wrong. Now, can he do it again? Or, do the Sox sell high?
Dayan Viciedo: C+ - Seemed to be Carlos Quentin without the mental instability.
Jordan Danks: C  -  If you would've told me in March Jordan would be the Danks brother that got the most playing time this season I would've automatically thought this team was losing 100 games.
Dewayne Wise: C+ - If you would've told me in March Dewayne Wise would be on this team I would've thought something went terribly wrong.

Catchers
A.J. Pierzynski: B+  - Could be the last year for one of the most beloved players to ever put on a Sox uniform. He made this year count.
Tyler Flowers: C - I still don't know if he's the answer but he has a good shot at being the everyday man behind the plate next year.

Starters:
Jake Peavy: B-  - First full season pitching on the Sox since coming over in 2009! Made the All-Star team but had some rough starts when the team needed him the most.
Gavin Floyd: D+ - Was he hurt the whole year? Will he never be the pitcher he was in 2008?
Phil Humber: D- - No, I can't believe a kid from Nacogdoches, Texas threw a perfect game.
Francisco Liriano: D+  - Maybe I'm being too harsh here but after his first few starts with the Sox that were good enough, he was demoted to the bullpen during the stretch run. Exactly for the time they traded him for.
Jose Quintana: A-  - This kid did everything right for a long time. Lost a few 1-0 games in the summer. Arm seemed to get tired late in the year. Most likely will get a shot in the rotation next year.
Chris Sale: A  - His first year as a starter far exceeded everyone's expectations. Was in the Cy Young talk for a little while until he clearly reached a wall in September.
John Danks: D  - Maybe a little harsh here. Should be an INC since he didn't pitch after mid - May but his starts before his injury weren't that impressive for a guy signed to a long term big money deal.

Bullpen
Addison Reed: B+ - Usually made things interesting but solidified the closers role with his 29 saves.
Matt Thornton: C+ - Got the job done sometimes, other times not so much. I don't remember being to enraged with him this year as I was in 2011. But he did post his highest ERA with the Sox since 2007.
Nate Jones: B+  - Stellar arm coming out of the pen. Hopefully he has more in the tank for next year.
Jesse Crain: C+  - Only appeared in 51 games this year due to time on the D.L.
Brett Myers: B-   -  Came over in a trade a week before the trading deadline. Could be considered for a spot in the rotation in 2013.
Hector Santiago: C-  - Was the team's closer in April and quickly resembled the 2011 Matt Thornton experiment. 
Leyson Septimo: F  - I never want to see this guy again.
Donnie Veal: B-  - Proved he could get left handers out.
Dylan Axelrod: D - Terrible.
Brian Omogrosso: B - Impressive in his 17 appearances.

Season comes to a close

It's a little bittersweet but the 2012 White Sox season comes to a close after tonight's 9-0 win over the Cleveland Indians. The win gives the Sox a final record of 85-77 under Robin Ventura's inaugural season as manager.

Seeing that the pressure was off, Gavin Floyd turned in his best start of the year. He pitched 7 innings of 3 hit ball. Floyd will end up with a 12-11 record on the year that was filled with mediocrity for him.

Dan Johnson who sat on the bench much of September clubbed three home runs tonight. There was also a Dayan Viciedo sighting. Viciedo looked everything the player Sox fans wanted him to be in September and went 3-4 including a 9th inning solo home run.

There's mixed emotions about this year as many, including myself, had low expectations for this squad. This team was in the race longer than in previous years and sat in first place for much of the season. So watching other teams celebrate their playoff births is a little tough to swallow.

Just two weeks ago the Sox were sitting in first place and counting down their magic number. A complete tailspin was about to unfold as they dropped every series until this one. Meanwhile, the Tigers manned up and are now gearing up for the postseason while the Sox will get to golf, hunt, drink, or whatever it is they do in the offseason.

Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn will have some decisions to make this offseason on players like A.J. Pierzynski, Gavin Floyd, Matt Thornton, and Jake Peavy.

It's already been noted that the Sox will not pick up the $22 million club option on Peavy and will exercise the $4 million buy out making him a free agent. The decision is will they sign him to a lesser multi-year deal which seems unlikely.

I would assume Kevin Youkilis is gone. Youk seemed to miss Boston more than he was interested in helping the Sox win the division and I'm sure there is a team out there willing to overpay for his services. 

The interesting story will be A.J. I would be all for resigning A.J. but at what cost? I'm not sure what catchers are out there to be had and I don't really consider Tyler Flowers to be a long term answer.

The Sox have been in MLB purgatory since the end of their 2008 playoff run. Not good enough to get over the top but not God awful either. As usual it should shape up to be an interesting offseason on the south side and Kenny Williams has been promoted to team President and Rick Hahn will take over G.M. duties.

You can tare up your playoff tickets now...

Apparently the Sox can score runs.

The problem is, at this point, it really doesn't matter. Sure, going into this game the Sox were technically "in it." But it would've taken a mircale just to get to a tiebreaker game on Thursday.

So naturally the Sox pounded out 11 runs on 15 hits giving the finger to their fans who watched them whiff away the last two weeks at the plate. The Sox also got a great starting effort from Hector Santiago who threw seven innings of shutout, one hit ball against an Indians team who has mailed it in.

It would've been nice for this one to matter. And for even a little bit after the game it did. But the Tigers showed up in the last two weeks and were able to take care of business. Their win over the Royals tonight clinched the A.L. Central in their favor making them division winners for the second year in a row.