The White Sox have signed 26-year old righty swinging 2B Jayson Nix to a 1-year deal. Nix played in 22 games for the Rockies last season and he was 7 for 56 (.125 avg, .395 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs and a stolen base. But, Nix was very solid in AAA as he played in 67 games in which he was 80 for 264 (.303 avg, .964 OPS) with 63 runs scored, 17 homers, 51 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see if Nix can hit American League Pitching better than he did in the N.L. Still, this was a same gamble by the White Sox as Nix has some upside.

The White Sox have declined backup catcher Toby Hall’s option for the 2009 season. 33-year old righty swinging Toby Hall played in 41 games for the White Sox last season and he was 33 for 127 (.260 avg, .635 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 7 RBIs. In two seasons with the White Sox, Hall played in 79 games in which he was 57 for 243 (.235 avg) with 15 runs scored, 2 homers and 10 RBIs. The White Sox will likely have no problem finding a catcher who can produce more with the bat than Toby Hall has the last couple of years.

The White Sox have declined a $16.5 million dollar option for the 2009 season on Ken Griffey Jr. 40-year old lefty swinging Ken Griffey played in 41 games for the White Sox last season and he was 34 for 131 (.260 avg, .752 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 3 homers and 18 RBIs. Griffey will likely have to take a huge pay cut for the 2009 season but some team will be happy to snap him up. He has now played in 2,521 games in his major league career and he is 2,680 for 9,316 (.288 avg, .920 OPS) with 1,612 runs scored, 611 homers, 1,772 RBIs and 184 stolen bases.

The White Sox have outrighted 26-year old righty swinging Donny Lucy and 31-year old righty swinging Paul Phillips to AAA making them both free agents. Lucy played in 12 games in AAA ball in 2008 and he was 12 for 43 (.279 avg, .791 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 2 homers and 6 RBIs. Lucy played in 8 games with the White Sox in 2007 and he was 3 for 15 (.200 avg, .400 OPS). Paul Phillips played in 4 games with the White Sox last season and he was 0 for 2 (.000 avg). He also played in 73 games in AAA last season and he was 68 for 253 (.269 avg, .669 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 2 homers and 17 RBIs. The White Sox won’t miss either of these guys as catchers like these are a dime a dozen.

The White Sox have outrighted 26-year old righty swinging IF/OF Jason Bourgeois to AAA making him a free agent. He played in 6 games with the White Sox in 2008 and he was 1 for 3 (.333 avg, 1.000 OPS) with a double. He also played in 127 games in AAA ball in which he was 146 for 510 (.286 avg, .739 OPS) with 83 runs scored, 9 homers, 48 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. Bourgeois will likely get a spring training invite from some team looking for a backup infielder/outfielder but the White Sox won’t miss him.

The Chicago White Sox have outrighted 25-year old lefty reliever Andy Sisco to AAA making him a free agent. Sisco missed the entire 2008 season as he was recovering from Tommy John Surgery. Sisco pitched in 19 games (0 starts) for the White Sox in 2007 and he was 0-1 with a 8.36 ERA and a 2.14 WHIP. Sisco has pitched 3 seasons in the majors covering 151 games (0 starts) in which he was 3-9 with 1 save, a 5.18 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP. Some team will take a chance on Sisco because he’s a lefty but the White Sox won’t lose any sleep over letting him go.

The Red Sox have claimed 28-year old righty reliever Dewon Day off waivers from the White Sox. The White Sox lost patience with Day who regressed big time in the minors in 2008. Day pitched in 35 games (13 starts) in AA+AAA ball this season and he was 1-9 with a 5.93 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP. Day didn’t earn a promotion this season to the show and you can see why based on his minor league stats in 2008. Day pitched in 13 games (0 starts) for the White Sox in 2007 and he was 0-1 with a 11.25 ERA and a 2.33 WHIP. The White Sox shouldn’t miss Day one bit as he’s not much of a pitcher.

The White Sox were in trouble from the very start in this game as Gavin Floyd had one of his worst starts of the season. He worked the first three innings last Monday allowing 5 hits, 4 earned runs, walked 2 batters and whiffed 4 as he was the losing pitcher. Paul Konerko had a solid game as he was 2 for 4 with a run scored, homer and RBI. Jermaine Dye also had a good game with the bat going 1 for 3 with a run scored, homer and RBI. The White Sox just couldn’t get much going with the bats in this game and their season ended because of that as the Rays won this series 3-1.

The White Sox staved off elimination yesterday as John Danks pitched a solid game. He worked the first 6.2 innings allowing 7 hits, 3 earned runs, walked 3 batters and whiffed 7. He was the winning pitcher. Octavio Dotel and Matt Thornton worked 1.1 shutout innings to set up Bobby Jenks for the save. Jenks worked a scoreless 9th inning to seal this win. Dewayne Wise had another huge game with the bat. Wise was 1 for 2 with a run scored, double, 2 RBIs and a stolen base. Ken Griffey Jr. and A.J. Pierzynski eached pitched in with 2 hits apiece yesterday. The White Sox are now down 2-1 to the Rays.

The White Sox scored 2 runs in the first inning and then the Rays’ pitchers got serious shutting out the Pale Hose for the next 8 frames. Jermaine Dye had a really solid game for the White Sox last night as he was 4 for 5. Orlando Cabrera also had a decent game going 2 for 4 with a run scored. Mark Buehrle was the starting and losing pitcher for the White Sox last night as he worked the first 7 innings of the game allowing 10 hits, 5 earned runs and striking out 3 batters. Octavio Dotel also had a rough time working 2/3 of an inning and allowing 1 hit, 1 earned run and whiffing 1 batter. The White Sox are now down 2-0 against the Rays in this series.