Chip Shots: White Sox Take A Dump As Season Goes Down The Crapper

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I'm Chip Ramsey a career broadcaster who has been a sports radio program director in Milwaukee and Nashville. I've covered everything from high school and college sports (including the SEC, Big Ten, MVC and OVC) to Major League Baseball, The NFL and the NHL. I have a few things to say, and when I want to say them, I say them here.

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Chip Shots: White Sox Take A Dump As Season Goes Down The Crapper

White Sox Take A Dump As Season Goes Down The Crapper

You got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
Kenny Rogers-The Gambler

Kenny Williams doesn't need an alarm clock to send a wake up call. Last night, the White Sox said "so long and thanks" to veterans Jim Thome and Jose Contreras.

Let's break this down:

The White Sox acknowledge that their season is over. Most fans acknowledged this a couple of weeks ago following the Baltimore series.
Kenny did a class thing by sending Thome to the Dodgers. LA has a great possibility of winning the big hardware this year and the one thing Thome doesn't have in his hall of fame career is a championship ring. Nicely played, Kenny. Thome could return to the Sox next year with a smaller contract and more incentives.
Contreras was done in a Sox uniform and getting rid of him was best for him and the team. A fresh start in Colorado may be exactly what he needs.
The players Kenny got in return are insignificant. This was a salary dump, plain and simple. The two players Kenny got in return will wind up like Michael Duby, the player Kenny got for Tad Iguchi, in baseball's equivalent of the witness protection program.
Removing Thome from the equation gives Ozzie a little more latitude in planning a lineup. Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin will split time at DH. Mark Kotsay may also be added to the mix.
Don't hang this one on "The Chairman." Kenny did what he did because he knows saving a buck today helps him out next year. Attendance is sure to be down in September (would you pay to watch these guys right now?) and revenue is further complicated by the flagging economy. This was a business decision designed to give Kenny some flexibility going into next year. This was not The Chairman demanding his ounce of gold.
It's too bad no one was interested in Octavio Dotel or Scott Linebrink. Dotel will be a free agent after this year and could have helped someone. Linebrink's contract is a mess and no one in their right mind would pick him up and pay him what he's owed. I don't know if there is a buyout, but if there is, they need to exercise it at the end of the year and dump him.
It is also surprising no one bit on Jermaine Dye, especially when his contract is a mutual option for next year, meaning someone could acquire him and dump him be not exercising the option. There may be a lot more back story on some of these moves, so we'll wait a few days for it to matriculate before we pass judgment.
It appears, unless something radically changes, that both the Jake Peavy and Alex Rios acquisitions were a bust for this year. In fact, I will submit that the Sox began their decline when they acquired Peavy without having a legitimate number five starter available.