Daubach-ery

The White Sox signed Brian Daubach to a minor-league deal yesterday. Daubach was non-tendored by the Red Sox even though it meant that they would be thin as Calista Flockhart on Yom Kippur at first base, corner outfield, and DH. The Pale Hose already have Paul Konerko at first and Frank Thomas to DH. Apparently, Daubach will be used as a Jeff Liefer replacement.

That's kind of a shame given the dearth of quality first baseman around. Daubach isn't the next coming of Gehrig, but he has hit 20 home runs a season for the past four and has had an OPS at least 16% better than the adjusted league average in three of those seasons. His .812 OPS last year beat out a lot of other first basemen: former MVP Mo Vaughn, Angel and Tim McCarver hero Scott Spiezio, super-rookie Carlos Pena, playoff-bound Tino Martinez, Scott Hatteberg, Doug Mientkiewicz, Julio Franco, Mark Grace, J.T. Snow, and Nick Johnson (DH-1B), and teammate Tony Clark, among others.

This is a guy that could be a useful part of a contender or a useful starter on a pretender. Now, he will have to be a bench player on a team that now has three first basemen better than the starter on its main competitor, the Twins. Though I hate to endorse any Jerry Reinsdorf team, the ChiSox could be the closest thing to a lock in MLB. I fully expect the world to be shocked if or when they win their division.