From yesterday:
First, the positive news: Gordon Beckham told MLB.com's Scott Merkin he's already improved his mental approach to the game and is ready for a fresh start in 2012. For someone who's offensive game has been incredibly disappointing in the last two seasons, that's an early good sign -- although, as mentioned in the White Sox Talk post, how he handles his first bout with adversity in 2012 will really let us know if Beckham's mental state has really changed.
Now, the not-so-positive news: One projection system has the White Sox, with their current roster, pegged at 77 wins. It's not a projection that should be taken as gospel at this point, but the real story about it is that the White Sox, before any trade of John Danks, Gavin Floyd or Carlos Quentin, are projected to win 77 games. Larry at South Side Sox did some number crunching as compared to CAIRO and came up with 78 wins.
As noted by The Wizard, last year's early CAIRO projected had the Sox at 84-78.
The Nationals could be a trade partner for Danks, according to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, although it's possible Kenny Williams would be apprehensive toward dealing with Washington GM Mike Rizzo given their history.
Robin Ventura will have a part in the Dec. 21 performance of A Christmas Carol at The Goodman Theatre. Hopefully his acting cameo won't end in an argument about England's greatest prime minister like a fellow third baseman of his era.
The White Sox lost their lone Aussie, as Shane Lindsay signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers.
MLB
And Buddy Groom was either generally forbidden from pitching to Frank Thomas or was just really, really scared of the Big Hurt.
Around the division: LeVon Washington is awesome
Baseball players who are enjoyable follows on twitter include Brandon McCarthy, Logan Morrison and Nyjer Morgan. But the pure entertainment value of Cleveland Indians prospect LeVon Washington may top all of them. This is just one of many great examples:
embedly_twitter_51214357background:url(http:a0.twimg.comimagesthemestheme1bg.png) C0DEED; padding:20px; embedly_twitter_51214357 pbackground:fff;padding:10px 12px 0px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:000;font-size:18px;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px embedly_twitter_51214357 .embedly_tweet_contentbackground:fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px embedly_twitter_51214357 p span.metadatadisplay:block;width:100;clear:both;margin-top:0px;height:40px; padding-bottom: 12px; embedly_twitter_51214357 p span.metadata span.authorline-height:15px;color:999;font-size:14px embedly_twitter_51214357 p span.metadata span.author aline-height:15px;font-size:20px;vertical-align:middle embedly_twitter_51214357 p span.metadata span.author imgfloat:left;margin:0 10px 0 0px;width:48px;height:48px embedly_twitter_51214357 p a color: 0084B4; text-decoration:none; embedly_twitter_51214357 p a:hovertext-decoration:underline embedly_twitter_51214357 .embedly_timestampfont-size:13px;display:inline-block;margin-top: 5px; embedly_twitter_51214357 .components-above span.embedly_timestampfont-size:10px;margin-top: 1px;line-height:12px embedly_twitter_51214357 a color: 0084B4; text-decoration:none; embedly_twitter_51214357 a:hovertext-decoration:underline embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-screen-name font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-full-name padding-left: 4px; color: 999; font-size: 12px; embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-actionsmargin-left: 10px;font-size:13px;display:inline-block;width:250px embedly_twitter_51214357 .components-above span.tweet-actionsfont-size:10px embedly_twitter_51214357 .controlsline-height:12px!important embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-actions a margin-left:5px embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-actions a bfont-weight:normal embedly_twitter_51214357 .components-above span.tweet-actions a bvertical-align:baseline;line-height:12px embedly_twitter_51214357 .components-above .tweet-textfont-size:13px;vertical-align:baseline embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-image float: left; width: 40px; embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-user-block-image float: left; width: 48px; height: 48px embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-row margin-left: 40px; margin-top: 3px;line-height: 17px; embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-user-block margin-left: -40px; embedly_twitter_51214357 .stream-item padding-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 12px; embedly_twitter_51214357 .simple-tweet-image img margin-top: 4px; embedly_twitter_51214357 .simple-tweet-content margin: 0 0 13px 0px; font-size: 14px; min-height:48px; embedly_twitter_51214357 .in-reply-to-border border-color: EBEBEB; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0 0; embedly_twitter_51214357 .in-reply-to-text margin-left: 4px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 10px; color: 999; font-size: 12px; embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-actions i background: transparent url(http:a2.twimg.coma1306889658phoeniximgsprite-icons.png) no-repeat;width:15px;height:15px;margin:0 4px -3px 3px;outline: none; text-indent:-99999px;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;position:relative; embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-actions a.retweet-action i background-position:-192px 0; embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-actions a.reply-action i background-position:0 0; embedly_twitter_51214357 .tweet-actions a.favorite-action i background-position:-32px 0; @L_wash
LeVon WashingtonTHAT AWKWARD MOMENT WHEN UR MOM WALKS IN AND SEES U TAKING BP IN HER KITCHEN WITH A NERF BAT AN ALUMINUM FOIL WashTime
Dec 16 via Twitter for iPhoneFavoriteRetweetReply
He's a highly recommended follow if you're a fan of non-sequiters and caps lock. After all, as he says:
embedly_twitter_34819422background:url(http:a0.twimg.comimagesthemestheme1bg.png) C0DEED; padding:20px; embedly_twitter_34819422 pbackground:fff;padding:10px 12px 0px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:000;font-size:18px;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px embedly_twitter_34819422 .embedly_tweet_contentbackground:fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px embedly_twitter_34819422 p span.metadatadisplay:block;width:100;clear:both;margin-top:0px;height:40px; padding-bottom: 12px; embedly_twitter_34819422 p span.metadata span.authorline-height:15px;color:999;font-size:14px embedly_twitter_34819422 p span.metadata span.author aline-height:15px;font-size:20px;vertical-align:middle embedly_twitter_34819422 p span.metadata span.author imgfloat:left;margin:0 10px 0 0px;width:48px;height:48px embedly_twitter_34819422 p a color: 0084B4; text-decoration:none; embedly_twitter_34819422 p a:hovertext-decoration:underline embedly_twitter_34819422 .embedly_timestampfont-size:13px;display:inline-block;margin-top: 5px; embedly_twitter_34819422 .components-above span.embedly_timestampfont-size:10px;margin-top: 1px;line-height:12px embedly_twitter_34819422 a color: 0084B4; text-decoration:none; embedly_twitter_34819422 a:hovertext-decoration:underline embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-screen-name font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-full-name padding-left: 4px; color: 999; font-size: 12px; embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-actionsmargin-left: 10px;font-size:13px;display:inline-block;width:250px embedly_twitter_34819422 .components-above span.tweet-actionsfont-size:10px embedly_twitter_34819422 .controlsline-height:12px!important embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-actions a margin-left:5px embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-actions a bfont-weight:normal embedly_twitter_34819422 .components-above span.tweet-actions a bvertical-align:baseline;line-height:12px embedly_twitter_34819422 .components-above .tweet-textfont-size:13px;vertical-align:baseline embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-image float: left; width: 40px; embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-user-block-image float: left; width: 48px; height: 48px embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-row margin-left: 40px; margin-top: 3px;line-height: 17px; embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-user-block margin-left: -40px; embedly_twitter_34819422 .stream-item padding-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 12px; embedly_twitter_34819422 .simple-tweet-image img margin-top: 4px; embedly_twitter_34819422 .simple-tweet-content margin: 0 0 13px 0px; font-size: 14px; min-height:48px; embedly_twitter_34819422 .in-reply-to-border border-color: EBEBEB; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0 0; embedly_twitter_34819422 .in-reply-to-text margin-left: 4px; padding-left: 8px; padding-right: 10px; color: 999; font-size: 12px; embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-actions i background: transparent url(http:a2.twimg.coma1306889658phoeniximgsprite-icons.png) no-repeat;width:15px;height:15px;margin:0 4px -3px 3px;outline: none; text-indent:-99999px;vertical-align:baseline;display:inline-block;position:relative; embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-actions a.retweet-action i background-position:-192px 0; embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-actions a.reply-action i background-position:0 0; embedly_twitter_34819422 .tweet-actions a.favorite-action i background-position:-32px 0; @L_wash
LeVon WashingtonWE ALL GONNA DIE ANYWAY.. MIGHT AS WELL FOLLOW WASH TIME. WHAT U GOT TO LOSE? WashTime
Dec 15 via Twitter for iPhoneFavoriteRetweetReply
Let's Go Tribe has a pretty great writeup using WashTime tweets as well.
In a less fun development, the Twins could still end up with Michael Cuddyer even after signing Josh Willingham, although Colorado may be Cuddyer's most likely destination. Speaking of Willingham, John Bonnes of Twins Geek ran down a few less-known things about the newest Twin.