White Sox and Bulls links

I was away at JORTS this weekend, but it was an interesting weekend for the White Sox. The Sox were attempting to sweep the Yankees, and Kenny Williams traded for Jake Peavy, who rejected the Sox a few months ago and has been out with a broken ankle since June 13. So does this trade help us now? Or at any point this season?! And did we give up too much?!

I have no idea how to feel about this, and my guess is that it will depend on what other moves we make (to get younger/faster and shed some payroll) this off-season.

Some analysis of the trade :

Peavy happy to be in the Chi.



Kenny playing "poker" -

The day before, he gave no impression, no idea. He walked around the offices of U.S. Cellular Field with a smile on his face while his team sent a message to the American League. No one knew.

The next day he came in calm. Same demeanor. But that was a disguise.


When the news broke that the White Sox finally closed a deal that they had begun piecing together last season, bringing 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy to town, general manager Kenny Williams had the same look on his face that he had had the day before. A look that gave no one any idea of what he had up his sleeve, what the hell he was doing. A look that gave away nothing despite Peavy's veto of a trade to the South Side just more than two months ago.

It was like one of the greatest hands of poker ever played. His own staff didn't know until that morning that he'd been working trying to make one of the biggest deals in team history. He made everyone around him think that everything was normal. I repeat, no one knew.

Peavy "pain free".



 



I'm not a huge fan of the Basketball HoF, but they gave MJ an exhibit -

The Basketball Hall of Fame has opened a Michael Jordan exhibit before his enshrinement next month.

The display features items from Jordan's NBA career and from his time at North Carolina and with the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. There is also a batting glove from Jordan's brief foray into baseball.

The exhibit is made possible in part by a $250,000 donation from

Nike and features several pair of the superstar's Air Jordan shoes.

30 teams in 30 days -

2008 Statistics

Finished 41-41, second in the Central Division, seventh in the Eastern Conference

Postseason

First Round: Lost to Boston Celtics 4-3

Key Additions

James Johnson via draft, Taj Gibson via draft, Jannero Pargo via free agency

Key Losses

Ben Gordon via free agency

You would think the loss of your leading scorer would completely dismantle your team, right? Not in the case of the Chicago Bulls. Thanks to a future all-star and having another star come off of injury, the Bulls are ready once again to make another push into the playoffs.

This off season the Bulls lost their sixth man in Ben Gordon. Even though he came off the bench most of his career with Chicago, his shooting touch and scoring flurries were pure fire and it would usually be his hot shooting that would lead the team to victory.

But those days are gone now and Gordon will be bringing his scoring outbursts to the city of Detroit where he was signed as a free agent.

Even without Gordon though, the Bulls do have a lot of young talent that it can rely on to carry it to the postseason. With point guard Derrick Rose at the helm, this team has a bright future to look forward to. In his first season, he averaged 17 points and six assists per game and took away rookie of the year honors.