Chicago's Inside Pitch

In 1984, the White Sox retired Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio's uniform No. 11.
With Aparicio's blessing, new Sox infielder Omar Vizquel is going to wear No. 11 this season.
“If there is one player who I would like to see wear my uniform number with the White Sox, it is Omar Vizquel,” Aparicio said in a press release Monday. “I have known Omar for a long time. Along with being an outstanding player, he is a good and decent man.”
The 42-year-old Vizquel signed a one-year contract with the White Sox on Nov. 23 after playing for the Texas Rangers last season and batting .266 in 62 games.
Like Aparicio, Vizquel is a native Venezuelan.

Still like the White Sox to win the AL Central this season?
I do, mainly because of the starting five, but you can never dismiss the Minnesota Twins.
Even though they're moving to an outdoor stadium (Target Field) after years of tailoring their talent for the pinball-like conditions in the wretched Metrodome, the Twins have a solid lineup headed by defending MVP Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, who won the award in 2006.
Minnesota's lineup also features Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Denard Span, newcomer J.J. Hardy, Delmon Young and Sox killer Nick Punto. And don't forget about Jim Thome, who was added to beef up the bench.
Indoors or out, that is a lineup that looks like it's going to generate a lot of runs.

The Cubs are getting set to announce that closer Carlos Marmol has signed a one-year contract worth $2.125 million, thus avoiding salary arbitration. They've also made the Kevin Millar deal official, signing the veteran first baseman to a minor-league contract with an invite to spring training as a nonroster man.

Marmol was asking for $2.5 million in arbitration while the Cubs were offering $1.75 million. When the numbers first came out, it was clear Marmol and the Cubs were going to avoid a hearing. Same with Sean Marshall, who recently signed.

Not so with shortstop Ryan Theriot, who looks to be on a collision course with the Cubs for a hearing. Check out our mock trial:

http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/3380#new

As I warned the day the arbitration figures were exchanged, Ryan Theriot and the Cubs were on a collision course toward a hearing, a first for the Cubs since Larry Himes and Mark Grace went at it in 1993. Theriot, who made $500,000 last year is seeking $3.4 million while the Cubs are offering $2.6 million.

That’s a difference of “only” $800,000, but the Cubs appear to feel the $3.4 million figure is way too high, especially give the midpoint is $3 million, which the Cubs also feel is too rich for a first-year arb-eligible player. As a somewhat related aside, Theriot is no kid. He just turned 30 years old in December.

It's been a rough off-season for several players that wore White Sox uniforms in 2009.
Let's start with Jermaine Dye. He's still on the free-agent market after reportedly nixing a one-year, $3.3 million offer from the Cubs. Xavier Nady wound up landing on the North Side with the same deal.
Dye's name has been linked to several teams this winter _ the Padres, Rangers, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox and Mariners. But with spring training just over two weeks away, the 36-year-old outfielder continues to search for work.
Why hasn't a team jumped up and made an offer?
Dye had pretty good numbers last season (.250, 27 HR, 81 RBI), but he really tailed off after the all-star break (.179, 7 HR, 26 RBI). Then there's his defense.

Oh, the things you read online. It looks like the Cubs are going to sign Jim Hendry-favorite Kevin Millar to a non-guaranteed minor-league deal later this week. There's always an equal-and-opposite-reaction theme to every Cubs winter (last year it was "get Lou his 'left-hand' bat), and this year, it appears that if all else fails, the Cubs are going to "out-chemistry" everybody in the wake of getting rid of Milton Bradley. The Millar story first appeared on ESPN.com, with Millar telling writer Jerry Crasnick the deal is done:

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=4877453

The White Sox announced the following ticket information on Monday:
Individual game tickets for 2010 games at U.S. Cellular Field go on sale to the general public on Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. on whitesox.com and by phone at (866) SOX-GAME.
Beginning Feb. 13 (at 10 a.m.), tickets will be available at the U.S. Cellular Field box office, the Bulls-Sox Training Academy in Lisle and TicketMaster locations throughout Chicagoland.
Prior to the general sale dates, White Sox season-ticket holders (81 and 27-game plans) will have first access to individual-game tickets through an internet pre-sale on Feb. 8. Ozzie Plan (13 games) ticket holders can purchase individual-game tickets on Feb. 9.

More to come online later today and in Saturday's paper. In fact our story is now online at dailyherald.com:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=354975&src=152

A few snippets from the noon teleconference with Xavier Nady, Cubs GM Jim Hendry and uberagent Scott Boras:

--Nady's nickname is "X." Boras didn't call him Xavier (which Nady pronounces as EX-avier) once. I believe there were three quick X's for a tic-tac-toe.

--"X" talked about seeing where his surgically repaired elbow (Tommy John surgery) would be in "two-and-a-half months." That takes us into April, but neither Nady nor the Cubs seemed to think he wouldn't be ready to start the season on the active roster. Nady said he hoped to throw from 120 feet today and then push it back to 130 feet next week.

We'll update here this afternoon after we get a chance to talk with Xavier Nady and Jim Hendry, but the Cubs have just made the one-year deal with Nady official. It's been a busy week for the Cubs, signing Nady and Chad Tracy and getting Sean Marshall signed to a deal to avoid arbitration. From what I see, agent Scott Boras also will be on the conference call. You don't see agents joining these things too often.

Back here with updates this afternoon.

Sporting News Today is picking the White Sox to win the AL Central this season: Twins, Tigers, Sox set for three team race

I'm going the same way, but we differ at second and third. Sporting News has the Tigers second and Twins third. I'm flip-flopping them. The Indians and Royals are both awful, and they might tie for last.