Odds & Ends: Penny, White Sox, Draft Picks

A few links before you call it a night... Brad Penny said he'd be willing to return to the AL East in the future, according to CBSSports.com's Danny Knobler. "I think if I make my pitches against anyone, I'll do fine...Sometimes you don't get breaks. I was making some bad pitches, and leaving some balls up. In the AL East, you can't really do that," said Penny. Rick Morrissey of The Chicago Tribune writes that yesterday's Jim Thome and Jose Contreras trades are "reminiscent of the White Flag trade of 1997." Meanwhile, R.J. Anderson of FanGraphs says that people should be focusing more on the draft picks the White Sox gave away (Thome projects to be a Type-A free agent) than the fact that they're throwing in the towel on the season.