Jason's Take

The World Series hasn't been over for 24 hours yet, and we already have word that White Sox GM Kenny Williams is on the verge of making his first move of the offseason.

There are strong rumors that the Sox will send second baseman Chris Getz and infielder Josh Fields to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for infielder/outfielder Mark Teahan. Sun-Times beat writer Joe Cowley has been told that minor-league players are involved and that could be the only thing holding the deal up.

Teahan has been with the Royals for five years. Last season, he batted .271 with 12 homers and 50 RBIs. He was drafted as a third baseman, but he's also played all three outfield positions, some first base and even a little second base. His versatility and athleticism are his two biggest assets.

I'm not sure how I feel about this deal (assuming it goes through) because I'm not sure how the Sox intend to use Teahan. I think he could valuable as a utility guy, a 10th man who plays three times a week at multiple positions and gives other guys a day off.

I've heard talk that Teahan is being acquired to replace Jermaine Dye as the everyday right fielder. If that's the case, that's fail. Teahan doesn't have near enough pop in his bat to be an everyday guy at a corner position. That's why the Royals are willing to part with him.

I've also heard discussions that Teahan could be plugged in at third base, moving Gordon Beckham over to second. I would hate for the Sox to continue to screw around with Beckham. They moved him from shortstop to third base last year. Now that he's got the hang of third, they're going to move him to second? Beckham is the best position player the Sox have drafted in 20 years. I'd prefer to give him a position and let him run with it, as opposed to treating like a utility infielder. Teahan is, in fact, a utility guy. I hope the Sox plan to use him as such.

In modern journalism, we are supposed to have kneejerk, violent reactions to everything. I'm either supposed to proclaim this move as a work of genius, or mock it as the definition of idiocy. Alas, I will do neither at this time. I want to wait and see how Teahan fits in as far as the big picture goes. On Nov. 5, we have no way to know what other moves will be made in the coming weeks. I reserve judgment on this one.

For a football program that hasn't had much success, Illinois has sent its fair share of players to the NFL. The last two years, the Illini have had players selected in the first round of the draft. Running back Rashard Mendenhall was chosen 23rd overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2008 draft. Cornerback Vontae Davis was drafted with the 25th pick by the Miami Dolphins this year.

According to this mock draft from Yahoo, offensive lineman Jon Asamoah (pictured) is on track to be chosen in the first round in 2010. There's a chance injury-prone wide receiver Arrelious Benn will be taken in the first round, too. Benn was a preseason All-American in several publications, but a nagging high ankle sprain and the overall ineffectiveness of the Illinois offense has hurt his stock this season.

Benn doesn't have a single TD reception this year. He's made just 26 catches for 298 yards. His lone TD all season came on a 3-yard rush in Saturday's 38-13 win over Michigan. Despite that, Benn clearly has NFL size, speed and athleticism. You just wonder whether the injury history will send him tumbling into the third or fourth round.

Here's a complete list of former Illini in the NFL. Pierre Thomas, David Diehl, Tony Pashos, Neil Rackers, Eugene Wilson, Brandon Moore, Greg Lewis, Kelvin Hayden, Steve Weatherford -- a lot of these guys have had nice pro careers. It's really a pretty good list considering the lack of team success Illinois has had over the years.

St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson once told Tim McCarver, "The only thing you know about pitching is you can't hit it." Frankly, I'm not sure what McCarver knows about because I don't feel I'm learning anything new when I listen to him and Joe Buck broadcast the World Series games on Fox.

In fact, I often find myself correcting McCarver. For instance, during Philadelphia's 8-6 victory over New York in Game 5 Monday night, McCarver said American League hitters are "unfamiliar" with Phillies' left-hander Cliff Lee's ability to cut his fastball inside to right-handers.

Huh? On the contrary, American League hitters are quite familar with Lee, who spent five-plus seasons with the Cleveland Indians. McCarver seemed to catch his mistake mid-sentence. He tried to talk his way out of it by saying Lee is a "completely different" pitcher now than he was in Cleveland.

Again, bogus. Lee was just as good in Cleveland as he is now with Philadelphia. You don't need a real long memory to recall that Lee went 22-3 and won the AL Cy Young Award just one year ago. He's had tremendous success in both leagues the last couple years. For that reason, he hasn't changed his repertoire one bit.

When I saw Lee pitching against New York last night, I saw the same pitcher who competed against the White Sox for several years in the AL Central. Lee has excellent command of his fastball. He works both sides of the plate. He's got an excellent change that he throws to right-handed hitters and his breaking ball is above average. He's getting guys out in Philadelphia the same way he got them out in Cleveland.

If I know this, shouldn't McCarver know it? After all, he is Fox's color commentator for the World Series. He's paid to know this stuff. I'm just a lowly sports copy editor at a newspaper in suburban Chicago. I shouldn't have more knowledge about baseball than these guys who have national gigs.

I'll be taking a little break here. I will be back Nov. 3 and blogging will start again at that time. While I'm on vacation, you can listen to these cokehead chicks from the '80s:

I'm going to be taking a few days off here at the end of the week, so it's imperative we get this week's Illinois football fail train out of the way now.

So, the 1-6 Illini host Michigan this week. Given that Illinois is 22-66-1 all-time against the Wolverines, I think I will select Michigan to win this contest.

At any rate, there was a thread on Illini Board this week where some silly fan "challenged" the student section to stay through the entirety of Saturday's game. His reasoning? There will be recruits in attendance, and it might make a bad impression if fans are seen leaving the game early. WHAT???!!!! Let me get this straight -- if the Illini get the crap beat out of them and the fans leave early, recruits are going to be more concerned about what's going on in the stands than on the field? Right.

Since we're in the business of issuing challenges, here's one to the Illini players and coaches: How about a competitive game on Saturday? Compete for four quarters and give the fans a reason to stay for the whole game. Illinois has lost all of its Big Ten games by 10 points or more. Why stay for that? People want to be entertained at the very least when they attend a football game.

In the meantime, here comes that fail train. ALL ABOARD!!!!

Bears GM Jerry Angelo had some interesting words about Sunday's laughable loss in Cincinnati. Check out this gem found on the Bears Web site today:

"I don't want to take anything away from the Bengals because they are a very good offensive football team with a great receiver, a great quarterback and a running back who's having a Pro Bowl year," Angelo said. "But what really surprised me was that we weren't able to make the needed adjustments in terms of slowing them down or stopping them. We let that go really throughout four quarters.

"We couldn't slow them down and make some stops or even force them to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown to keep us in the game where we could have some hope. That surprised me. I didn't expect to see that."

Translation: "Hey, Lovie! What the hell were you doing on the sidelines Sunday?!"

A comment like that is only going to fuel speculation that coach Lovie Smith's job could be on the line if the Bears continue to fall short of expectations. Smith has two years and $11 million remaining on his deal. Given the Bears usual way of doing business, it seems extremely unlikely they'd eat that money. But if there are any more crummy efforts like the one on Sunday, it could get interesting at Halas Hall.

The last few months, it seems like we've had a rash of stories about former Chicago athletes who have gone on to "play well" for other teams: Kyle "Ortman," Cedric Benson, Nick Swisher, Javier Vazquez, Mark DeRosa, Jason Marquis, Nikolai Khabibulin, the list goes on and on.

What people have to realize is all these guys were let go for a reason. I'm sick of hearing about ex-Chicago players and their supposed "greatness," so I was pretty happy that Martin Havlat looked like crap last night in his return to the United Center as a member of the Minnesota Wild. Havlat, the Blackhawks leading scorer a year ago, had no points and only one shot on goal and was a minus-2 in the Hawks 3-1 victory over the last-place Wild.

Havlat is off to a slow start this year, with only one goal and four assists in nine games. He's an awful minus-10 and has been battling a groin injury.

Sound familiar, Hawk fans? Havlat struggling with an injury, playing well below his talent level. That's why the Hawks didn't meet his contract demands last offseason. I actually think Havlat is a damn good player. I'll never boo him and I have nothing against him. Most people in Chicago like him. But the Hawks don't miss him.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Havlat had his best season as a Hawk in his contract year. Now that he's got his money, he'll be less interested and less inclined to play through injury. He's on a losing team, just like he was when he first arrived in Chicago. He doesn't have any great offensive players around him. I'd be surprised if he duplicates the 29-goal, 48-assist season he produced for the Hawks last year. Either injury or disinterest will cause him to fall short.