Pierzynski signs with White Sox

What did I tell A.J. in my article I wrote for sfdugout.com? Negotiate a nice multi-year contract with the Giants for $2-3M per year, at minimum until he's a free agent (two years) plus a big option maybe for the third year. No, he and his agent have to play hardball and now he's playing for the White Sox for $2.25M plus is tied to them for next year as well. Instead of potentially playing for the World Series as the Giants are making the big push over the next couple of years, he will be with the White Sox, who will be trying to figure out how to replace Magglio Ordonez (yikes!) and Carlos Lee, though at least they'll have Podsednik to start the offense (hopefully that is, if he's more 2003 than 2004). They have perennially been a second place team, just short of winning the division, last playing in the playoffs in 2000.

Good luck, thanks for the great hitting and the attitude. The White Sox is no where close to where the Giants are, scrapping by each year. At least he's back in the AL Central again, I guess, where he is most familiar with the teams.

However, here's an interesting quote: "But Williams and Pierzynski both expect his numbers to rise again once he's away from Pac Bell Park, which may not be as much of a hitter's park as Barry Bonds makes it seem." Here's his home vs. away stats for last season:

Home: .283/.325/.412/.737
Away: .261/.313/.408/.720

Doesn't look like he suffered much hitting at SBC Park (not Pac Bell Park). Though his HR power went down drastically at SBC (3 in 233 AB vs. 8 in 238 AB), he made up for that in triples (2 vs. 0) and doubles (17 vs. 11), resulting in his SLG being slightly higher at home than away.

However, ever since Detroit got their new stadium, Chicago's stadium went from a mild pitcher's park to a strong offensive park (103-107 in 4 of the last 5 seasons). But he does love their park (or at least their pitching :^): for his career, he has hit .326/.359/.477/.835 there with 1 HR every 43 AB but with 14 SO (vs. career .294/.336/.438/.773 with 1 HR every 51 AB but only 220 SO).

For such a competitor who likes to win, this doesn't seem like such a good move.