It is quite a corner Chicago White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams has been painted into.  Williams is no doubt a seller but he certainly doesn't want to sell anything below market value.  Now, as in a high stakes poker game, Williams is hoping someone at the table will blink or fold or be so concerned about how things are going that they will meet his price for one of the valuable pieces that he holds.  There was a three way deal on the table between the Sox, Boston and Milwaukee but it blew up.  And, if you are wondering who the possible trading partners for the White Sox could be, count the Red Sox, Angels and Brewers as tops on the list.

For example, with Ben Sheets out, Chris Capuano getting lit up in every start and Dave Bush being a weak fourth starter, Doug Melvin and the Brewers are looking for pitching.  The assumption is, given the financial limitations of a market like Milwaukee, that a rent a player to help the Brewers hold off the Cubs would be fine.  The Brewers, I don't believe are worried about anything beyond this season when it comes to adding veteran payroll.  So a Garland, a Vazquez and a Jose Contreras can be had for the right price.  But then, what is the right price?

If I'm Kenny, I'm considering maybe Contreras for Derrick Turnbow straight up or for Turnbow and maybe a minor league outfielder.  Then there are the Padres, Angels and Braves looking at acquiring a power hitter with the Braves the most desperate of the bunch.  Should the Braves lose out on the Mark Teixeria sweepstakes, Jermaine Dye could be a nice fit in Atlanta where he could play first base. 

For Williams, who is going to be demanding big time prospects, he'll have to wait to the last minute to see how everything shakes down, how desperate these teams want to be and what his minimum requirements might be.  Prospect trades at the deadline certainly can go either way, (going back to trades like Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz and Larry Christiansen for Jeff Bagwell) and sometimes backfire on teams.  But if Kenny is true to his word and wants to improve the team, deals like Tad Iguchi for Mike Dubee are not going to cut it.  On the other hand, if Kenny does nothing, he's stuck with at least one player he won't re-sign next year and will net him nothing if he doesn't move him.   It's a tough call.

Most Sox fans agree that Jermaine Dye's return is of little consequence to this team.  There are players like Mackowiak, Sweeney and Gonzalez who can hold down the fort in right until someone can be signed to play there next year.  The only requirement the Sox have for the remaining two months of the season is to finish ahead of the Royals and possibly challenge the Twinkies for third place.  Any player who  takes over the position should Dye be traded, will not be guaranteed a starting job next year and pretty much be reduced to the role of lipstick on a pig.

As the song goes, you got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run.  Kenny Williams can't walk away, can'r run and it isn't in his best interests to hold or fold.  Let's just hope he's got an ace up his sleeve that some other GM doesn't know is there.

Lightning Round

• In a small community in upstate New York, thousands of people gathered to share brotherhood and good times and spread a message of joy across the land.  No, it's not the 39th anniversary of Woodstock.  It's Cal and Tony getting into the hall. The only thing that would have made it perfect is if Baroid would have hit 755 yesterday and you could have watched all of the older players grimace as the announcement was made.
• Our friends at Sports Media Watch report that Dan Patrick is talking to NBC about a future role.  Will the Big Show reunite for Football Night in America come 2008?
• Homer Simpson and family turned donuts into dollars this weekend at the box office.
  
• Paris Hilton has been denied her $60 million inheritance by her grandfather who is embarrassed by her behavior.  If Paris was smart, she would have waited until she got the check to behave like a spoiled rich kid.
• Maybe she was exhausted.
• Companies, in an effort to bring down health costs, are offering incentives to overweight workers to get in shape or pay more money for their premiums.  This is highly discriminatory and certainly someone will be hiring a lawyer soon.  Have we become a society of people who must now be fit and trim because our employers and the insurance companies demand that we do? My question is does this whole issue spill over into hiring and can you not get hired for a job because you are a bit overweight?
• A 108 year-old woman in Britain has been told she must wait the standard 18 months to get a new hearing aid.  I can't wait until President Hilliary hits us with socialized medicine.
  
• The left wingers have decided to put pressure on Fox News advertisers to get them to pull their ads.  They figured it worked against Imus.  The problem here is, Fox News is well watched and the advertisers know exactly what they are getting.  This campaign will go nowhere.
• It's hard enough driving a car when you are over the legal limit, so can you imagine what it's like piloting a space shuttle?