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2003 Roster
Starting Pitching
Mark Buehrle
Ramiro Mendoza
Jon Garland
Dan Wright
Jon Rauch
Middle Relievers
Gary Glover
Antonio Osuna
Billy Koch
Matt Ginter
Rocky Biddle
Damaso Marte
Kelly Wunsch
1b Paul Konerko
2b D'Angelo Jimenez
ss Jose Valentin
3b Joe Crede
c Miguel Olivo
lf Carlos Lee
cf Chris Singleton (Signed from Baltimore)
rf Magglio Ordonez
dh Frank Thomas
Bench: Willie Harris, Tony Graffanino, Josh Paul, Jeff Liefer
DL-Jon Lieber

It'll probably look more like this:

Pitchers: Buerhle, Garland, Wright, Rauch, Biddle, Glover, Osuna, Marte, Ginter?, Wunsch, Almonte, Koch
IF: Konerko, Thomas, Crede, Jiminez, Valentin, Harris, Graffanino, Olivo, Paul, Alomar
OF: Ordonez, Liefer, Rowand, Lee

One of these guys is going to end up being the odd man out, seeing is that I have 26 up there. I'm not too sure whether Williams is going to go after another FA pitcher, and I'd be dissapointed if he didn't.

as of right now, it will look like this.

LINEUP
2B-Jimenez
SS-Valentin
DH-Thomas
RF-Ordonez
1B-Konerko
LF-Lee
3B-Crede
CF-Rowand
C-Olivo

BENCH
C-Alomar
CF/2B-Harris
INF-Graffanino
OF/1B-Liefer

ROTATION
#1-Buehrle
#2-Garland
#3-Wright
#4-Rocky Biddle
#5-Jon Rauch

BULLPEN
CL-Koch
SM-Marte
SM-Osuna
MR-Glover
MR-Wunsch
LR-Ginter

25th man is open. we have to wait and see if we sign Ritchie.

Stewart, Malone, among other guys will be going for that spot.

Rocky will not be our #4. I'm Ritchie will be, Rockmeister can go rot in the bullpen and blow out his elbow again.

Molto is about as close as you can get... I think Almonte will get the 25th spot.

Right now, I'd rather march Rocky out there every 5 days before Rauch or Ritchie.

Why, so he can pitch 5 innings a night? I'd rather have Rauch and Ritchie out....I would actually prefer Rauch and a free agent pitcher or one acquired by trade and then have Biddle come out of the bullpen.

Frank said that Biddle had the best stuff on the team....it doesn't mean he will be a good starter. When we have other, better options, why not have him in the pen? Anaheim sure as hell thinks it is a good idea to have their arm with the best stuff, Francisco Rodriguez, aka K-Rod, in the bullpen...if he works 1 or 2 innings and pitches well, it shortens the game up by that much. Why waste the bullpen with a guy that can go, at the most, 6-7 innings(and usually less) when at the same time you could put pitchers on the mound who are better starters(ie Rauch/Ritchie) and have proven it at different levels while putting the other 'starter'(Biddle) in the bullpen where he could effectively pitch 1 to 2 innings a night, as I already said?

If we can bring Ritchie back at $1 million a year, than it is worth it. If Ritchie goes for more, than we should look for someone outside of the organization, assuming we want to see if Malone/Stewart/someone else could take over the spot....I personally don't think Rocky should start. If we ditch Osuna, he could take over as set-up man, or he could be the swing man and Ginter could be the set-up guy, or something to that extent. Maybe Biddle is a 6th or 7th inning guy, dependant upon the situation, while Ginter is the swing man and Almonte takes over the set-up role...or maybe we don't get rid of Osuna at all, and he would be in the place of where I had Almonte. Who knows.

All I know is we should have a damn good bullpen next year...assuming Jerry doesn't tinker it to s***.

I don't think you can put Biddle in the pen based on him having the "best" stuff, because our pen is already strong.

personally, the Sox should sign Ritchie to a cheap one year contract. I still think he can be productive.

sign him and have him, Biddle, Rauch, and Stewart battle it out for the 4th and 5th spots.

we have 1, maybe 2, bullpen spots open, which will be filled with a long reliever.

I really like our pen with Koch, Marte, Osuna, Wunsch, and Glover.

it would be nice to get a set starter though. get one more, and that way Biddle, Rauch...etc can battle it out for the last spot.

25th spot better go to josh paul..unless someone else can catcjh..alomar will be gone by may (dl)

Pitching

Locks to make the team: Biddle, Buehrle, Garland, Glover, Koch, Marte, Osuna, Rauch, Wright, Wunsch

Question Marks: Almonte, Ginter, Malone, Munoz, Porzio, Ritchie, Sanders, Stewart

Not a chance: Adkins, Diaz, Lantigua, West

Kenny Williams says the Sox may plan to only take 11 Pitchers into the regular season. This probably isn't a good idea when you have no idea whether or not your fourth and fifth starters will get you through the season. If the Sox go out and acquire a veteran pitcher, such as Daal, Valdes, Person, or Dempster, then carrying 11 pitchers seems more viable. If the Sox do plan to carry 11 pitchers, don't count on seeing Ed Almonte, but if they plan to go with 12, Eddy should be in a Sox uniform. Ginter has fallen out of favor with the organization, and may likely spend most of his year in AAA. Same thing goes for Porzio. Stewart, Malone, Sanders, and Munoz, all excellent young prospects will probably need some more seasoning in the minors. As for Ritchie, there is still a question mark as to whether or not he returns in a Sox uniform, but I would bet against it. If Ritchie does not return, the Sox will definately go after a pitcher in the Free Agent or trade market. The only problem is, how much longer will Person, Daal, and Valdes go without a team?

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Free Agents from yesterday tendered include;
Brad Fulmer, Al Levine, Chris Singleton, Brian Daubach, Robert Fick, Julio Santana, Chad Durbin, Jeff Suppan, Shane Spencer, Olmedo Saenz, Mike Venafro, Tanyon Sturtze, Paul Wilson, Esteban Yan, Frank Catalanotto, Jose Cruz, Jr., Mike Mahoney, Courtney Duncan, Will Cunnane, Eric Owens, Jim Mann, Travis Lee, Marlon Anderson, Manny Aybar, Jay Witasick, Aaron Fultz, Ramon Martinez, Neifi Perez, Chuck Finley. :eek

Person and Valdes will probably last a while. Daal may too as he's out their and hasn't recieved much interest other then from the Sox.

Oh ya, let me just go on the record as saying that rotation is ugly. Our bullpen will be killed. You have to go into the season expecting Rauch to have plenty of short starts, and we know Biddle can't go deep into games(Until he proves it, then I see it that way). Wright and Garland are pretty good at battling so you can figure 6 innings a game for them and 7 or so from Buerhle, but for pete sake, maybe you only get a combined 9 innings a game from Rauch and Biddle.

What does that do to this pen? It KILLS it.

They need a guy in here that can throw the innings for sure.

Exactly...that is the reason that only one of Rauch and Biddle will be in the rotation, and I'm thinking it will be Rauch. The guy has more upside and is a flat out better pitcher.

And whether it means anything or not, the most innings Rauch has thrown in one game is 7, Biddle 6....those numbers of course coming from the 2002 campaign.

To fill our main weaknesses, Eric Owens (cf) and Ramon Martinez (sp) would be good pickups. They wont get much interest but they do the job. RM use to be an ace and EO has a decent bat and can play center...

Owens is quality. When was the last time Martinez pitched in the majors?

We would of been better off picking up Jaret Wright.

Martinez was very good in his prime, but he's probably 38 and has no arm anymore. Considering how cheap the Sox are, they need to spend every penny on one solid pitcher that will help them.

Ramon Martinez, Pedro's brother, retired either this year or last year....he did it when he was pitching for the Pirates.

I think that's what happened anyways.

Nice idea,but Singleton just signed with
the A's.D'OH!!:P