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White Sox Mon Feb 23 2009
Say It Ain't So, Joe
By now, even kids realize there really is no such thing as "loyalty" (in the classic sense) in baseball. Gone are the days when a guy played his whole career with one team (OK, most of the time he was bound by leg-shackling contracts that ended with the whole Curt Flood saga, but you get my drift). These days, there are so many players criss-crossing the country that the contrails from the jets are beginning to look like dollar signs.
You can't blame them, of course. If some dot.com mogul wants to shell out millions for a guy who somehow managed to have that one good season last year, hey, who can blame him for not pouncing on that like a hungry lion on a wounded gazelle.
Still, there's something weird about seeing this. Joe Crede on another team? And the Minnesota Twins at that, the closest thing the White Sox have to an arch rival? ANYBODY but them, Joe.
You knew Crede was destined for another ballpark before the 2009 season started, his balky back, free agent status and the presence of Josh Fields in the wings being the main reason why. There were rumors he would wind up in San Francisco where he would rejoin former Sox teammate Aaron Rowand. Maybe he'd hook up with the Angels, which would repair him with pitcher Jon Garland.
But the Twins? The guys who played Detroit Pistons to the White Sox' Chicago Bulls for so many years in the AL Central before the Sox finally broke through in 2005? The ones who maligned the White Sox' abilities to their face?
Yeah, those Twins.
Granted, Minnesota is taking a risk on Crede, offering only a one-year, incentive-laden contract. Crede himself feels he's at 100 percent, having had a final surgical procedure on his back a few months ago. Nevertheless, they're probaby glad to have him on their side, considering he batted .400 against them in his career.
The two teams meet for 18 games, so they'll be plenty of time for the members of the Joe Crede fan club to keep tabs on their hero. Still, that new uni is going to take some getting used to.
Vanessa / February 23, 2009 3:20 PM
It completely kills me that Crede is on the Twins. I would even take the Tigers over the Twins -- and that's saying a lot.