AROD, JETER MOVED ON
WHITE SOX GET YOUNGER, FASTER
BY PAT DORWIN
SPORTSWRITER
WHITE SOX BASEBALL WEEKLY
CHICAGO - IT WAS "DEAL OR NO DEAL" IN THE WHITE SOX FRONT OFFFICE THE LAST FEW WEEKS.
GONE ARE FUTURE HALL-OF-FAMERS ALEX RODRIGUEZ AND DEREK JETER. NEW TO THE SOUTHSIDE IS 20-YEAR-OLD CATCHER JAMES HARDWICK, WHO HAD BEEN RUNNING STEADILY IN THIRD PLACE FOR THE NL MVP IN USA TODAY'S BASEBALL WEEKLY VOTING AS A MEMBER OF THE BRAVES.
HARDWICK HAS A STATLINE OF .339, 5, 26.
OTHER NEW TO CHICAGO INCLUDE SP JUSTIN VERLANDER, 28, (FIRST YEAR OF A 4-YEAR DEAL WORTH JUST OVER $40 MILLION, VETERAN CLOSER JOE NATHAN, PITCHING IN A CONTRACT YEAR WITH AN $8.5 MOLLION SALARY, AND SP RYAN DEMPSTER, 33, IN THE FIRST YEAR OF A TWO-SEASON CONTRACT CALLING FOR $16.3 MILLION TOTAL.
OTHER NEWCOMERS WHO HAVE IMMEDIATELY CONTRIBUTED INCLUDE LONG RELIEVER JOBA CHAMBERLAIN. 25, ON A ONE-YEAR DEAL WORTH AN EVEN MILLION BUCKS, 3B-LF ALEX GORDON, 27, BEING PAID A SHADE UNDER $2 MILLION THIS SEASON AND WILSON BETAMIT, 29, MAKING $200,000 WHILE HITTING .350 FOR ATLANTA.
"THE BOTTOM LINE IS RODRIGUEZ AND JETER WERE A COUPLE OF HIGH=SALARIED GUYS WITH LONG ERM CONTRACTS WHO WERE BOTH IN THEIR MID-30s," SAID SOX GM LARRY FEENEY. "SURE, WE WERE CONCERNED SOME ABOUT THEIR SLOW STARTS, BUT MORESO IN HOW LONG THEY PLANNED TO STAY IN CHICAGO (IN REGARD TO RETIRING)."
FEENEY SAIDF THE TRADES ALSO OPENED UP ROOM FOR YOUNG INFIELDERS EVERTH CABRERA AND ADRIAN FERNANDEZ TO SEE MORE PLAYING TIME.
"THEY'LL HELP MAKE UP FOR THE LOSS OF (ADAM) LIND (TORN HAMSTRING)," FEENEY SAID. "WE'D BEEN LOOKING TO BRING UP FERNANDEZ SINCE SHORTLY AFTER WE TRADED FOR HIM."
STATISTICS THROUGH MONDAY, APRIL 9 (COMBINED WITH PREVIOUS TEAMS)
PLAYER G AB AVG H R 2B 3B HR RBI SB
W AYBAR 18 49 .367 18 9 6 0 3 3 0
W BETAMIT 32 114 .351 40 12 11 0 2 23 1
M HOLLIDAY 31 129 .349 45 19 15 0 8 25 2
W GOMEZ 10 29 .345 10 3 3 0 1 4 1
J HARDWICK 33 109 .339 37 19 7 0 5 26 3
A LIND 31 121 .339 41 15 8 0 10 24 0
E CABRERA 18 66 .333 22 9 1 0 0 3 4
A CONNER 19 64 .328 21 10 2 0 5 10 1
A GORDON 31 116 .310 36 16 9 0 3 12 1
C WELLS 14 46 .283 13 5 2 0 1 5 1
S SCHUMAKER 31 126 .254 32 15 4 1 3 11 7
M STANTON 30 103 .252 26 14 1 1 6 11 3
A FERNANDEZ 3 12 .250 3 1 0 0 0 0 1
J BOWKER 2 5 .200 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
PLAYER GP W L ERA IP H BB
D WHEELER 22 3 1 4.95 20 22 7
R CHOATE 21 2 1 2.70 20 17 9
CHAMBERLAIN 16 2 0 0.94 28.2 19 8
A CHAPMAN 12 0 2 3.18 17 13 11
D BRADEN 8 1 3 4.99 30.2 40 18
J NATHAN 8 0 0 1.13 8 3 5
K DRABEK 7 3 3 4.24 34 35 16
VERLANDER 7 4 1 2.28 51.1 47 11
STRASBURG 6 2 1 1.51 29.2 24 8
DEMPSTER 6 1 1 4.15 34.2 36 11
WOLF 6 1 1 4.84 22.1 22 17
HAMPTON 6 1 2 3.86 25.2 28 28
LINCOLN 2 0 0 9.00 2 3 1
MATA 2 0 0 INF 0.1 2 1
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