Affirmative Action for the Company Team

Phil Rogers' column on his All-City Team contains what looks like a not-even-veiled threat issued to the White Sox:

If Buehrle leaves there won't be any misunderstanding about the story line. It will be because White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was unwilling to pay him the going rate for a pitcher with his track record. It will be because the Sox didn't believe in Buehrle after he went through the roughest stretch of an otherwise smooth career.

Notice Phil Rogers isn't claiming to describe reality. He's not saying there won't be any misunderstanding about the "reason" Buehrle would leave. He's describing the "story line." He's telling the White Sox how the Tribune intends to cover an event, should that event come to pass, and those intentions are threatening. Sox fans really want Buehrle back, too, but I'm not sure that gives reporters license to issue threats of bad publicity.

Reality doesn't even come into play, such as the reality that the Sox already offered Buehrle a contract, just as reality did not come into play in January, when the Tribune reported, in a story that remains uncorrected, that Mark Buehrle was already gone. Now they're all just praying Buehrle leaves the White Sox so they can a) claim their January story was prescient rather than wrong, and b) launch their planned "story line."

Why not cover baseball instead?

When Rogers finally gets to his topic, the All-City Team, he finds himself in a quandary: How do you get some Cubs on the team? A couple of Cubs arguably deserve a spot, such as Derek Lee at first, particularly with Paul Konerko in a slump, and Alfonso Soriano in left, particularly since the Sox don't have a regular left-fielder right now. (Even so, Rogers bases his selection on Soriano's "Yankee days"). But then what? An honest assessment of ability looks much more black than blue so Rogers puts some affirmative action to work for the company team.

First he selects someone named Mark DeRosa (ever heard of him?) at second base. Rogers admits DeRosa is about to lose his job on the Cubs, but he still claims he's better than this man:

Iguchi stays pretty low-key, mostly because of a language barrier. I guess that's as good a reason as any to dismiss his ability and slip an anonymous Cub in at second.

Then Rogers selects Aramis Ramirez at third over Joe Crede. Ramirez, busy hustling doubles into singles and letting pop flies bounce off his head, probably needs to be on the All-City Team to justify that $75 million Tribune contract. "Thanks, Phil," says Aramis, "You're really earning your 75k."

Finally, we smell some last-minute revision in Phil's selection of a closer. Did Phil originally select Ryan Dempster as the All-City Closer, then revise his column after Dempster handed a win to the Mets on Thursday? Rogers' blurb on Jenks is really about what a great selection Dempster would have been before Thursday's game. Of Bobby, Phil finally says, "Jenks doesn't have Dempster's experience but has a far superior arm and continues to show remarkable resiliency." Dempster's Experience? At what, blowing games? Jenks has seven strikeouts and two saves in the World Series. Most of Chicago prefers that kind of experience.

Brett Ballantini contributed substantially to this entry.