GLENDALE, Ariz. - Jake Peavy has obviously started a landslide, and Bobby Jenks is drinking the Kool-Aid.
It was the White Sox ace that told the Sun-Times back in January, "I'm not in the gym every morning now for the Cy Young. I want what the boys did in 2005. I want that dog pile, that memory, that ring. If you're not dreaming of that same thing, I question where you are as an athlete.''
Peavy's all or nothing mentality with chasing the championship in 2010 seems to be infectious.
"That's bold right there,'' Jenks said on Monday. "Absolutely though. What we see in this locker room is a team that we should definitely win our division. Obviously anything can happen in the playoffs, but without a doubt we're definitely a division-winning bound team.''
Jenks was then asked if a team that finished third in the Central last season should be thumping its chest like the Sox seem to be doing the last month, and wasted no time explaining the mentality going into this year.
"Not at all because we've always had that swagger,'' Jenks insisted. "That's what we build around. Just looking around, looking at the guys' names on the back of jerseys, 'on paper' we're built to finish first. But we know inside this clubhouse that the game is won on the field, and that's what we're built around, playing solid defense and pitching.
"And with the way the lineup we do have, it's solid one through nine. It's a good statement to say that if we're not there [in the postseason] it's not a good year.''

More on A.J.

General manager Ken Williams said on Sunday that the contract status of catcher A.J. Pierzynski is something that will be talked about in the very near future, and stated that he wasn't sure how comfortable he would be in handing the reins of a veteran pitching staff to Tyler Flowers next season.
As far as if Pierzynski - a free agent after 2010 - would be willing to do a short-term deal and help with the transition?
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it,'' Pierzynski said. "I haven't really thought about that, but we'll focus on it if it comes up. My mind is on 2010, but if they came to me with something that was fair for both sides I would definitely take a look at it.''