Mickster

QUOTE(TLAK @ Jan 26, 2006 -> 07:53 PM) I’m disappointed he didn’t ask him why it’s so F’ing smart to trade the most productive two way CF in the American League and two very hard to find LH pitching prospects for a $13 million 35 year old slugger who hit 7 homeruns in a season limited to 59 games due to injury, while letting go a $0.5 million 37 year old slugger who hit 12 homeruns in 34 games a injury season. 1. I seriously doubt that Frank will be healthy for a full season. 2. I seriously doubt that Frank would have signed here for $500K + incentives.

QUOTE(BlackBetsy @ Oct 17, 2005 -> 12:39 PM) My guess is the middle of that range - $85 million. Key raises (Click Here) are Buehrle up $2 million, El Duque up $1 million, Freddy up $1 million, Rowand up $1.25 million, Dye up $1 million, Hermanson up $1 million, Marte up $1 million, Podsednik up $1.5 million, Uribe up $1 million. Contreras also gets a $1 million raise, but I'm not sure the Yankees don't pay that. Figure Garland to go up $2 million in arbitration, Crede up $1 million or so. AJ stands to make $2 million more as well. There are others I believe are eligible for arbitration, but no-one too critical (Willie Harris might be in line, etc.) Total contractual raises = $11.75 million Total arbitration raises = $5 million Coming off the payroll: Frank Thomas ($8 million) ($3.5 million buyout) Carl Everett ($4 million) ($0.5 million buyout) Ben Davis ($1 million) Timo Perez ($1 million) Shingo Takatsu ($2.5 million) Kevin Walker ($0.5 million) Total coming off payroll = $17 million (less $14 million buyout). Net change in payroll = -$0.25 million (less $4.0 million buyout), assuming no trade of El Duque ($5.0 million in 2006) or of any other starter to make was for Brandon McCarthy. Now, if the Sox resign Paulie at $11 million per (a $2.75 million raise), they would still have about $7.5 million to spend to get up to $85 million. If they trade El Duque, it's $12.5 million. $7.5 million is probably enough to get one high-profile free agent. You'd like to think the Sox could pick up a left handed power bat to fill the DH spot with that money, but it's not clear anyone of high quality will be on the market in that price range (every one would love Giles). It's not clear that you could get the Phillies to take so much of Thome's contract to leave the Sox with just $7.5 million - and he's an awful risk at $7.5 million with his back anyway. It's also possible the Sox sign AJ and Garland to longer-term contracts for which they would want to set aside money now. You didn't subract Paul's $8.75M current contract, but you added in approx. $11M for next year. Your math is still off.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jun 16, 2005 -> 05:04 PM) Interesting stuff. I know I should just leave this alone, but ... The Urbina thing I totally understand. Ugie was coming off a fairly serious arm issue after 2003 which is why he was unsigned going into '04. He and Guillen are extremely close so it makes sense Urbina would've wanted to come here. I too am aware he was living at Ozzie's place in Tucson spring 2004. I can also completely understand why Williams didn't want to sign him coming off those arm problems. In retrospect it would have been a decent signing I suppose. The Ivan Rodriguez thing ... far fetched IMO. Personally I think those guys were kidding around, that stuff happens a lot. I find it very hard to fathom that the Players Association and Scott Boras would allow it to happen. Yes I know the player is ultimately in charge of his own destiny but Rodriguez got some huge guaranteed money and if he wanted to play in Chicago that bad he could've gotten a decent deal from the Cubs ... albeit less than the Tigers paid. It turned out it was all about money anyways, seeing as he got that huge deal from the Tigers. For me, this doesn't add up at all. Garcia/Olivo/Davis ... no question Ozzie, KW, etc. had their eyes on Garcia. But a big reason he became available was due to Seattle's awful start to '04. Garcia said all along how comfortable he was in Seattle and how much he liked it there. I don't personally believe the White Sox were ready to throw the towel in on Miguel Olivo in the winter/spring of 2004. If Olivo knew his days were numbered he did a hell of an acting job when the trade was announced (total shock) and was a walking zombie his first two weeks in Seattle. Personally I believe the trade with Seattle starting growing legs in mid to late May, about 5-6 weeks before it happened. That's roughly when Seattle was tanking so badly and the Yankees started sniffing around Garcia in addition to the White Sox. I totally agree the ultimate personnel decisions are Ken Williams' call but I also think he and Guillen are pretty much on the same page in terms of what kind of team they want. It isn't a situation IMO where Guillen has to twist KW's arm ... they talk a lot and seem to be going in the same direction. KW himself always is quoted as saying that he asks Ozzie and the coaches "what they need", i.e. player additions. So the good news here is, there's an open dialogue, or at the very least there appears to be. Think back to the 03-04 off-season. Pudge only got a 1 year offer from the Marlins at $8m and they were afraid of his ailing back. He was the absolute last "big name" free agent to sign a contract that off-season. Nobody was giving him the time of day. It wasn't as if Boras was fielding offers from several interested teams. Boras actually pulled an A-Rod on the Tigers and got them to bid against themselves on the 4 year deal. They seem to be the MLB chumps. Boras got a huge deal for Pudge without any competing offers and did the same for Maggs the very next year. Why didn't KW jump on Pudge? Simple answer: $$$$$$ At that point, they were still offering long term $$ to an uninjured Maggs, still had CLee at $8.5M, PK at $8.5M, etc...... Jerry wasn't willing to loosen the purse strings. In retrospect, it's hard to argue while looking at the current results.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Jun 16, 2005 -> 01:43 PM) Interesting indeed. Drinking buddy/Source? Sorry. I don't drink and tell.... It's credible.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jun 16, 2005 -> 01:19 PM) Thanks for telling what you can. Wow. Anyone, I also believe that KW runs things, but will ask Ozzie on things of comparison. Like KW would ask him, we're looking at two guys right now, who would you rather have? and then go from there. Ozzie and KW and others on the team simply discuss where they can improve the team. KW makes virtually all of the personnel decisions. Case in point: Pudge was in Ozzie's office prior to signing with the Tigers - just sitting there BS'ing. KW walkes in and Pudge basically says "Let's make a deal, right here - right now" No Boras, no nothing..... From my understanding, the numbers that Pudge was throwing at KW were FAR LESS than what he ultimately signed with Detroit. Similarly, in ST '04, before Urbina signed with the Tigers, Uggie basically begged Ozzie to sign him to a contract - even a 1 year deal for $1M. It obviously didn't happen. Urbina was actually in Tucson living in Ozzie's condo during ST when he wasn't even under a contract with any MLB team. Fact is, Ozzie has little to do with the players that are actually signed by the Sox. He may have some input...some influence, but all decisions fall on KW's shoulders.

Add almost a run to any NL pitcher's ERA if you are comparing them to an AL pitcher, imho. NL pitchers get, at the minimum, 3-4 easy outs per game (pitchers hitting) as opposed to an AL team where the DH (typically the most powerful hitter). Clemens posted ERA's of 4.35 and 3.91 in 2002 and 2003, respectively. If you subtract 1 from AL ERA and you get Roger's 2.98 NL ERA in 2004. Oswalt, while being an awesome pitcher, woule probably post a sub-4 ERA in the AL. RJ could post a 3.5 with ease! I am not an advocate of ERA as a tell-all, but adding his K's and the fact that he's been out of the AL for a few years (AL batters have not had an opportunity to look at RJ pitching for a while), it's a great move. Pencil me in as "Pro RJ"!

Since when did Ben start taking the mound?

Your avatar is one UGLY dude....

Baltimore doesn't want Harris. They pawned him onto us years ago. I doubt that KW will give up on Uribe.

He's a FA next year and Toronto will not keep him. Probably looking at getting $4M next year so if they can get a few mid-level prospects for basically nothing, they'll probably do it.

Sure. But when you give a team with RISP an extra out, you can blame Shingo all you want. He had to get 4 outs that inning.

Voting today is for Catcher and Olivo is losing big time.... Here is the LINK. Vote NOW!!!

Do you feel you are "stretched-out" enough to start and throw at least 5 innings this weekend?

Should be fine by gametime... Front will pass before 7... RADAR

I think the strike-out pitch was a breaking ball. I didn't know he had that in his aresenal...

Get used to it. This is what it will be like until we get something that resembles a major league bullpen. When the game is on the line, who will you go to? Koch? Adkins? Jackson? Granted, this is uncharecteristic of Marte and Politte looked solid until the 9th but..... The question still remains. Who do you feel comfortable going to in the 9th?

You are correct, Koch did have velocity, touched 97 mph... ABSOLUTELY NO LOCATION though. The K was luck.. When he tried for velocity, he lost location.

Just twice a day???

Yeah, but...... The Yanks actually DO HAVE a bullpen. :puke

Schoeneweis will pitch tomorrow. I'm more concerned about Thomas who's played one game in the last week. Chances are that he will not see live pitching tomorrow as well as the game will be played at Milwaukee...

A joke, right? :headshake

I know it's on a different thread but... NO WAY do you move Frank. 1. Regardless of his average, he draws way too many walks (direct correlation with Maggs batting 4) than anyone else would. 2. Frank's BA is less of a concern than is his OBP. 3. Frank hits for power and pitchers still FEAR him regardless of his low BA. Keep 3-5 the way it is.

Ditto. Don't know what the infatuation is with Valentin batting above 7 in the lineup v. lefties OR righties. The only changes I would make are ARow and CLee taking chances in the 2 hole.

Don't worry. The papers will find a way to turn around Frank's words into some sort of negative story.

You are partly correct. Andro is a precursor to the production of testosterone in the body. But, the amount of Andro needed to make "huge" gains would kill a small farm animal. I honestly think that Mac had the "andro-out" if he was ever questioned about anabvolic steroids. He could have always stated that "it was Andro and not roids". Looks better in the public eye. But Andro did not make him that big..