Last Minute Pitching Scratches, Mediots Circling the Wagons, and Swirling Trade Rumors

Projected Rangers' starter Eric Hurley will not pitch tonight, for reasons unknown. Seriously, even the guys that cover the team aren't sure what's going on. Scott Feldman will start in his place, and while he's been up and down since 2005, the current White Sox squad only has limited experience against him. However, they have still managed to hit Feldman well, though not for much power. Hopefully, that streak ends tonight.

Granted, I was upset about the way the Sox lost 2 in a row to Kansas City, but hey, I'm a fan not an impartial journalist of higher standards, right? Not in this town, as soon as the Sox play slightly less than flawless baseball, you can bet the blue birds of doom and gloom will be sure to follow. It's the usual suspects, Jay Mariotti and Steve Rosenbloom providing the comedy/overreaction (depending on how you take a look at it, I guess).

Anyways, I know the Twins have played well but let's not pretend like they're invincible. They're a much more human team when they're A) not having to grind out games against National League powerhouses like the Washington Nationals or B) are playing anywhere beside the Metrodome. I know they've played well recently, but if you really believe they're going to win 70% of their games the rest of the season, then there's no arguing with you.

Anyways, if everything else scares you about Minnesota, at least general manager Bill Smith's outlook on pitching shouldn't.

Twins general manager Bill Smith, on Livan Hernandez, who improved to 10-6 with a 5.29 earned-run average with Saturday's victory over Texas: "I'll take the (10) wins. Who do you want, a guy who's 10-15 with a 2.80 ERA or a guy who's 16-8 with a 7.00 ERA? I'll take the 16-8."

That quote taken from TwinCities.com.

Finally, the White Sox are suddenly a player in the very active trade talks before July 31's Trade Deadline. Both MLB Trade Rumors and MLB Fleece Factor have identified the Sox as a very active team in trade talks. They don't shed light on any other pitchers we already didn't know about, but considering that most teams just get a quick glance and the Sox landed their own post on both blogs, it is interesting.

That said, the two best starters that seem left in this market are A.J. Burnett and Justin Duchscherer and neither seems to be a prototypical Kenny Williams-style trade. Burnett is, of course, a persistent injury waiting to happen and Duchscherer is a 30-year-old career reliever turned starter who has already exceeded his career high in IP by nearly 20 and it's still July. He is definitely a "buy high" prospect.

Remember in 2005, everyone and their mother was telling Williams how he had to go find a big bat to strengthen the offense and when he didn't, they ragged on him for sticking to his guns and predicted the Sox's offense would collapse at the worst moment. That ended up working out.

Have fun watching the game tonight, alas I don't get WCIU and therefore will be stuck with Ed Farmer and Steve Stone. Stone I like... A lot. Almost as much as I liked John Rooney, and Farmer is, well he's still Ed Farmer.