Phil Watch: Dude, Let It Go

Okay. Someone in the Sox organization - probably Guillen, maybe Kenny - made fun of Phil a few years ago and he hasn't let it go.

It's the only explanation for his myopic, redundant, vindictive and vituperative columns.

Really. It's the only reason I can think of for this crap. He essentially writes the same article over and over again, changing only the intro.

With that, we're given today's offering.

A lack of talent throughout the organization contributed to their first losing season since 1999 and left general manager Ken Williams with the team's first top-10 draft pick since 1990. The Sox's slide has coincided with the rise of the American League Central as arguably baseball's best division.

Same crap, different day. Yes. We get it. You believe and an argument could be made that the AL Central is the best division in baseball. You said it here and here and here and here. And that's only in the last six weeks.

And a lack of talent? Um, what?

Ever have a friend or acquaintance that just says stupid shit because he doesn't have the innate ability to cogently form a complex or nuanced opinion on anything? Phil just channeled a detailed history of my college years. Kudos.

Detroit is the biggest problem. The Sox were 16 games behind the Tigers in 2007 and five in '06, when Detroit went to the World Series, and owner Mike Ilitch and GM Dave Dombrowski just keep making the roster stronger.

The Indians, who were one win from the World Series in October, are almost as big an issue. They're bringing back a 96-win team intact.

I'm going to follow Phil's lead here and just regurgitate verbiage I've previously written.

Prospects matter, right? The Tigers traded seven of their top eleven prospects for Cabrera and Renteria. That's their whole farm system.

Five of the prospects were pitchers, something the Tigers could quickly be in need of when Kenny Rogers' arm falls off, Bonderman and Willis continue to be Bonderman and Willis and the bullpen does their best imitation of the '07 White Sox (don't mess with Jason Grilli and Bobby Seay - it will only bring you pain). Again, they should score a shitload of runs. Again. No. Pitching.

The Indians are indeed 'intact', meaning to match 96 wins this year, Byrd, Westbrook, Carmona, Betancourt and Borowski have to match or exceed last year's pitching numbers.

I wouldn't put money on it. You?

While the math doesn't seem to add up for them, Williams and Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf remain undaunted. Reinsdorf continues to spend millions — the payroll could be in the range of $115 million to $120 million, behind only the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers and Angels — and Williams keeps trading away minor-leaguers he will miss down the road, all in the hope of being one of 2008's surprises.

The math Phil refers to is the number of games the Sox were behind the Tigers in the standings the last two years. How that relates to this year, IDK. Do they carry over? Is that a new rule I missed?

The White Sox payroll this year will NOT be in the $115-$120 million range this year. Why Phil insists on this number is beyond me. I think he thinks it's impressive because it fits into his dipshit argument that Reinsdorf is irresponsibly spending money.

Here are the numbers. With Crede and Uribe, the payroll sits at just under $110 million. They receive $8.5 million in cash considerations from the Angels and Phillies. Crede will be traded and Uribe could be traded. That's $5 million for Crede and $4.5 million for Uribe. Take those off the books and the payroll sits at around $100 million, a $8 million decrease from last year.

And he makes it sound like Kenny traded away the farm in Tigers-like proportions.

Again. Gio Gonzalez was the only guy that even smelled the 2007's top-100 prospect list.

The Cubs are positioned for a second straight playoff appearance and for once might have history on their side. Hey, this is the year if they're going to win a World Series every 100 years.

Lame Cub fan joke.

His investors won't be real happy about another 10 percent drop in attendance, and the only way to sell tickets in August and September is to win. No one knows this better than the Sox, which may be why they are so willing to take a chance on spitting into the wind.

Help me out. The Sox get a Gold Glove shortstop and the quintessential number two hitter in Orlando Cabrera and a solid number five hitter and guy who plays multiple positions well in Nick Swisher. They also get a guy who is considered one of the top five set-up men in baseball in Scott Linebrink and add an admitted risk with serious upside in Octavio Dotel. Not sexy names but who cares?

How is this spitting into the wind? They addressed their biggest issues from last year!

They take a chance by relying on Floyd and Danks. Sure. But aren't they recent prospects who only just lost that tag?

Floyd's a risk but Danks showed signs last year of being a pretty good pitcher.

Nobody is saying that, on paper, the White Sox are equal to the talent on the Indians and Tigers. But it's not lights years away as Phil wants us to believe.

Seriously. Beat another drum, Phil. This is getting boring for me.

He didn't. Phil's comprehensive AL Central preview just posted today.

Crap.