Yesterday I have you two Cubs Hall of Famers to compare. You can find the results by clicking the read more button (or here).

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Two of the more imporant pieces to the White Sox season showed some very good things today in the team's 5-1 win over the Dodgers. Jake Peavy's health (and to a lesser extent ability to adjust to the AL) might be the biggest thing for the Sox this year. He had a fantastic outing today going 5 innings against one of the more talented lineups in baseball. He allowed three hits and one earned run (on a homer) while striking out six and walking two.

That is a great sign for the White Sox, and so is the play of Andruw Jones. The Sox DH went 2-3 with a homer and four RBI. He also took a walk. This puts Jones' batting average at .400 for the spring. While Spring Training isn't an indicator of how a guy will perform, the things Jones has shown make it look like he might be able to be decent this season. He looks like he's in great shape, actually looked okay in center the other night, and is probably going to make the team. That's your starting DH, and if Rios struggles, your starting center fielder.

The bullpen held its own today as well. Matt Thornton, Scott Linebrink, Tony Pena, and Carlos Torres combined to allow now runs on just three hits and no walks. While that has come to be expected out of Thornton, the other three guys have all been big question marks. Getting just one of them to be reliable throughout the season would be a huge boost to a bullpen that needs a bridge between the starters and Thornton/Putz/Jenks at the end.

The Sox next game is Friday against the Cubs. It will be tape delayed and shown on MLB Network that night.

Last week Crane Kenney opened his mouth, and as usual, something puzzling came out. Among other things, he said that Lou raised the bar for the Cubs. I take this to mean that winning those two division titles created heightened expectations on the team and organization. Kenney called this a burden (uhh..what?) and I whined about that before. Now I'd like to get into another issue I have with the statement, because it's always fun to poke at him.

Kenney's dislike of Dusty is pretty well-known, and I can't fault him for that because I'm not exactly Dusty's biggest fan either. But let's be honest about it Crane, Dusty was the one who turned things around for the Cubs, or rather the expectations were raised when he was in charge.

There are no stats or metrics that can back up this argument, just opinion. I didn't experience '84 or '89 and even in '98 I was too young to really grasp what was going on. But I've heard a lot about all that from my Dad and Grandpa over the years, so I think I have a pretty good grasp on the feelings of Cubdom over the years.

2003 alone pretty much changed the tenor of Wrigleyville and the whole fan base in my opinion. When they finally won a playoff series (on Kerry's back), the postseason ceased to be a novelty. Obviously every fan hopes and prays that their team wins the whole thing once they get in, but we are a fan base that hadn't seen the team win a playoff series for 58 years at that point. And that just applies for the older crowd, most of us had never seen it period. The thrill of simply getting there faded, at least for me. I don't want to dwell on it at all, but coming as close as they did (for me) made the World Series a painfully real possibility for the first time.

The 2004 team had a ton of buzz and expectations around it before the season, and they were being crowned as much as last year's Cubs were. Funny how both turned into big clunkers. Despite the disappointment, that was still an 89-win team. That, a mediocre 2005 and an awful 2006 led to Dusty's exit. But after all the hoopla and praised heaped on him after '03, the grace/honeymoon period should have lasted more than three years, even with as bad as '06 was. Hmm, not holding on for dear life to a past glory like the '03 season sounds like the organization wasn't comfortable just spinning its wheels.

The team had a clear direction when Lou was brought in and he had (and still has) a clear mission: win right now with a veteran team. The veteran championship window was created with big money going to Soriano and Aramis at that point. There is a big difference between hiring the flavor of the month, hot-ticket guy like Don Baylor and a guy like Lou. The bar had already been raised and Lou was the one brought in to put it over the top.

This may be the one time I'll throw any praise Rusty Dusty's way, but credit should be given where it is due.

This is the kind of news that just makes me laugh. So after Crane Kenney did his thing last week some people thought that the Cubs Tax was dead, instead it is more alive than it ever has been before. Actually pretty much the opposite has happened, the car rental tax has been dropped from the proposal so that the focus can be on the ticket surcharge.

The new bill would eliminate the $1 additional surcharge on rental cars in order to raise funds. McComish's proposal hopes to create direct user-generated funding by charging a surtax on every spring training ticket sold. This procedure would take the burden of funding future spring training projects off taxpayers and the car rental industry and put the cost directly on the ticket buyers for spring training games. Of course, that indirectly impacts each of the 15 major-league teams that participate in spring training in Arizona.

This essentially is a spit in the face of Bud Selig and the other teams in the Cactus League. They have been lobbying hard to get rid of this ticket surcharge, and now the legislature has pretty much gone all in on it.

The idea is to make baseball fans pay for a baseball stadium rather than put even heavier taxes on car rentals. The article mentions that the ticket surcharge would be around for at least 30 years, the idea being to pay for more than just the Cubs new facility. I eagerly anticipate the responses from all the involved parties, because this is a pretty major change if you ask me.

It isn't often that I feel bad for baseball players, but right now I feel bad for the two guys who play first base in Chicago. Their impending free agency looms over this season and the media has been all over it. Today the Sun-Times has a piece about the Sox future plans at the position.

It looks like the Sox plan on using Dayan Viciedo at first base this season in an effort to groom him for the major league job very soon. Viciedo certainly had some issues in the minors last season, but a move off of third base might help him. The plan to move him to first base doesn't really bother Paul Konerko though.

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The White Sox 2010 roster is pretty much set.  But the importance of each player is still hotly up for debate.  Over the next few weeks I'll be comparing the importance of a par of players and determining which player's success will be most critical in White Sox success.  In the first installment we pit Alex Rios against Carlos Quentin.

Alex Rios - The midseason acquisition from the Blue Jays was (and still is) expected to bring a jolt of athleticism, speed, and power into the Sox lineup.  In his short stint on the South Side last year Rios experienced a number of well-documented struggles.  But his career numbers indicate that he should be able to turn it around this season and become a productive part of the Sox lineup.  You can expect Rios to hit somewhere between .270 and .300, steal 20+ bases, and drive in somewhere around 80.  His projected spot in the batting order is still up in the air.  He could hit as high as 2nd, and even as low as 7th.  But no matter where Rios hits, his presence will be needed in the Sox lineup.  He's got to be counted on not only to drive in runs, but also be able to get on base and start the rallies.  With a still hobbled Quentin in right and Pierre in left, Rios will need to cover a lot of ground oif the Sox want to improve defenively as much as expected.

Carlos Quentin - Through his long bout with plantar fasciitis Quentin was not able to produce any results even remotely comparable to his numbers in 2008.  Quentin started the season slow, and after the injury he could just never find his way.  But his rehab has been going well, and he's hitting the ball hard thus far in Spring Training, so the organization is counting on him for a lot this season.  Quentin's career numbers would project him at .250-.270, 25+ HR, and 90+ RBI.  But his near MVP worthy season in 2008 has Sox fans and coaches alike expecting much more.  Everyone believes Quentin is capable of a season of around 40 HR and well over 100 driven in, but no one is quite sure how long he can stay healthy.

The Verdict - Both of these guys have an excellent chance to have an enormous impact on the Sox this upcoming year.  But in the case of Rios vs. Quentin, the edge has to go to Q.  Quentin has the capability of being one of the elite hitters in the American League.  In 2008 he took the White Sox and put them on his shoulders for 2 months and was a critical reason why they made the postseason that year.  His impact could change the entire look of the Sox offense in 2010.  If he can regain his 2008 form, he will find himself in the 3-slot in the lineup and should be hitting time after time with people on base in front of him.  If Quentin can get his bat going early, the Sox offense goes from average, to really good.  Due to his inability to stay healthy throughout much of his career, Quentin is a risky guy to rely on.  But the Sox need him if they want to be as good as many believe they can be.

Images courtesy of weblogs.baltimoresun.com and cdn.bleacherreport.com

This Blind Comparison is between two Hall of Fame players from the Chicago Cubs. Both are still alive, both won the rookie of the year award. Any more and I'll give it away.

There are 162 game averages

Player A: .279/.323/.482/.806 119 OPS+ 27 HR 98 RBI 31 2B 19 SB 1 MVP

Player B: .290/.361/.492/.853 133 OPS+ 28 HR 96 RBI 28 2B 6 SB 0 MVP

Some actual good news for the Cubs today as it looks like Ted lilly is actually making some progress. According to Lou Ted is going to be able to get in a start before the Cactus League is done. After that he will need three more warm up starts before being ready for the real deal.

That works out missing just two turns in the regular season rotation, which is fantastic. That puts him a few weeks ahead of schedule, and means we might only have to endure one start or two of Carlos Silva.

It isn't often that the Cubs have good news when it comes to injured pitchers, so I'm going to enjoy this for a bit.

The answer to that headline is no, no he isn't. Still Silva has Cubs fans screaming with optimism after a second straight start where he wasn't horrible. Actually Silva turned in a really good outing going four shutout innings while only allowing two hits. He struck out three and walked none. Too bad I still think it's all a mirage that will go away about the time he makes the rotation.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Even if we can't get excited about Silva, it should be noted that Esmilian Caridad had a nice outing today. He struggled a bit his last time out, but today he threw two shutout innings with a walk and three strikeouts. Good things since he is our right handed setup guy. Jeff Stevens wasn't bad for once recording two outs without allowing anything. James Russell finished out the game with a perfect inning to get the save.

The Cubs batters had issues with the Rangers Neftali Feliz the first two innings, but his third inning was a disaster. That is probably why he is going to be in the bullpen for them. Xavier Nady had a two run double off of Feliz, and added another hit later in the game. Bad elbow and all he isn't a bad hitter, though does it really do us any good if all he can do is pinch hit the first month? Why not let Sam Fuld sit on the bench if all Nady can do is provide 4 at-bats a week?

Ryan Theriot continued his hot spring (there is a theme here, players I don't like are doing well) with two hits (and a TOOTBLAN) to raise his average to .565. Tyler Colvin got a hit in his only at-bat today, he is hitting .533. I would really like to thank Colvins steroid provider for making this guy better (I'm joking before people freak out). He appears to be a thing now, I would like that to continue.

I don't think I've mentioned Alfonso Soriano much this spring, but he did go 1-3 today. He's hitting .227, but it was like .077 two days ago. Perhaps he can hold off the calls for his head until the second week of April this year (though if Colvin keeps hitting I bet there will be a call for him to play soon enough).

One final bit of good news. Jeff Baker hit a homer in his only at-bat today, hopefully he starts being better. I would really rather not watch too much Mike Fontenot this season.