Al Lopez Ghost (old)

NO NO NO, a thousand times NO. We saw Gload in the outfield last year and it absolutely was a suckfest. NOOOOOOO! no.

He's scheduled to be on at 1:42.

Duh what day is it? Yes, I meant on Wednesday, assuming today is Tuesday, and I return to Earth. Sorry.

Bernstein said KW would be on their show tomorrow morning - didn't give a time.

He was steady, had good range and had a very good arm. I wouldn't put him up there with the best, but just at the next lower level. Maybe when both were at their very healthiest, Baines was a hair better than Maggs defensively. They really are very similar players, although Maggs speaks English more often.[

They'll make you a nice deal on a Kenny Lofton shirt.

Boy, I don't recall Tom Haller replacing Hawk, even on an interim basis. I checked the White Sox Encyclopedia, and they have Hawk resigning on 9/25/86 and Himes being hired on 10/29/86. But Hawk sure did suck, I'm with you on that.

When Crede came up, one of the things he said that stuck with me is "All I can guarantee is the effort" which is a great attitude. But you have to remember that MLB is a game of adjustments. If Joe can make this adjustment and become a productive hitter, that'll be great. Then the pitchers will pitch him differently, and for a while he'll be less productive, until he figures the next step out. That's what makes baseball so hard, so enjoyable, and a lot of careers so short.

Monday"s Tribune mentions him as a possibility, but then says he probably wants a 2 year, 5million per year contract, so they conclude he's probably out of the Sox price range. There sure are a lot of guys out of the Sox price range.

Redmond to the Twins, 2 year contract, the Score reported at 10:20 this morning.

Duran has more range too. Walker at second reduces the amount of double plays you turn. If we're gonna say our starting pitching is our strong point, signing Walker is a bad idea.

I disagree. To start slow, you have to first start. We've accomplished nothing yet, and I'm not optimistic. As of today Minnesota and Detroit have better closers than we do, and I read somewhere that Cleveland is targeting Benitez. I just think that like always, we're gonna be a mediocre team, maybe worse than usual without Ordonez's bat. Our defense has never been spectacular, and up the middle we have poor catching and I guess Willie Harris is the front runner at second base. I don't think our starting staff, even if it's strengthened by a number 2 or 3 guy, is gonna be enough to overcome our many weaknesses. Sox Baseball in '05: Our October calendars will be wide open.

Whitesox.com has a press release to the effect that all three of these worthies are on the ballot for the Ford Frick Award, the broadcaster's entry into the Hall of Fame. Mercy!

Well, you know, with the Alomars, Lofton, Albert, Colon, now maybe Vizquel......maybe they thought we'd like to dress like Indian fans.

I'm not convinced that if the Yanks got Sosa, they still wouldn't go after Beltran. I have yet to hear Steinbrenner ever say, well, we ran out of money. They could dh sammy, or trade Matsui. Sheffield is probably trade protected, I would guess. Who would want Matsui? A lot of clubs, but he'd be a natural for the Mariners.

If we do sign Omar, it will continue this weird exIndian fetish we've developed. Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, both Alomars, Colon, now Vizquel. In 4 years, when he's way past his prime, we'll welcome Jim Thome to U.S. Cellular.

Sooner or later, he will convince you. And everyone - remember Willie cannot hit lefties. If he plays, it has to be strictly platoon.

It's his last chance at a big, long contract. He's just been through a serious injury. I don't begrudge him going for the most money he can. Thanks Maggs, see ya, but don't become a Cub.

You're right. Now I remember.

Wait a minute - is this supposed to be in green. It was Fisk who stood up to Deon Sanders. After Sanders popped up and just stood in the box, Fisk said run the f***ing ball out you piece of s***. You had to supply the cuss words from the quotes in the paper, but there is absolutely no doubt, it was Fisk.

I think you're right, but in essence he said that people would listen to radio after they turned their radios off.

I stoled this from WSI, so take it FWIW. Poster from Boston said that Gammons on Boston radio Sunday said Reinsdorf has told the executive council (and remember Reinsy is on the Montreal relocation committee) that he would like to see the White Sox move into the East Division. He said Toronto would want to move to the Central. All part of getting Montreal into Washington and the Orioles into the NL. Well, that would suck.

I have no problem trading Konerko and/or Clee, but Gload is not an everyday major leaguer. There should be other options out there for replacing Paulie if he goes. Gload has exceeded my expectations, but relying on him for full time duty is foolhardy.

This is excerpted from Saturday's Southtown: "Guillen took exception to comments Showalter made after the Sox beat Texas on Thursday night. Showalter's comments stemmed from an incident that occurred during that night's game. Guillen noticed in the first inning that John Wetteland was coaching first base, replacing the regular first base coach. The 3rd base coach for Texas was serving a suspension, and the first base coach had shifted over. Guillen asked the umpires if Wetteland was allowed to coach first base, citing a rule that a replacement coach on the field has to be part of the big league staff. When the umps told Guillen that Texas had received permission to make the move, Guillen said he simply said 'no problem' and left it at that. After the game Showalter said "I guess he didn't know you could carry 7 coaches in September or an extra coach in September". He then said something about Kenny Williams needing to let Ozzie know about the rule. Ozzie's reaction on Friday? He said: "The comments he made, I think they were unprofessional, because I was doing my job. The only reason I did it is because he would do the same if he was on my side. And I didn't make it a big deal because it was John Wetteland coaching first. If it was somebody else coaching first, I will make a big deal about it because that's the rules. I think you can call up people to be on your coaching staff, but you can't have them on the field. Even after the game I forgot about it. Now all of a sudden they come up with his comments and I think it's unprofessional. But when the best manager in the history of baseball talks about you, that means you're on somebody's mind. And when you're beating the crap out of the best manager in baseball, and we beat the (bleep) out of them, it makes me feel a lot better...To compete against the guy that invented baseball, and beat him, that's something you should feel good about as a rookie manager." Guillen said the reason Showalter keeps one hand in his pocket when he makes a pitching change is "so he doesn't lose the key to baseball that he keeps there when he runs on the field." Guillen also said "I could have made a big deal about it, but I was professional enough because I respect the guy that was coaching first base. Wetteland did something in the big leagues. SHowalter never even smelled a jock in the big leagues. He didn't even know how the clubhouse in the big leagues was when he got his first job. 'Mr. Baseball' never even got a hit in triple A. He was a backup catcher or a first baseman all his career. Now all of a sudden he's the best ever in baseball. He told somebody he didn't like me because I have too much fun in baseball. I have fun in baseball because I was good playing this game. And I made a lot of money playing this game...something he never did. And I have a championship rign on my finger. He made comments he's not supposed to be making about anybody....It's too bad I didn't have to go to the minorleagues to get this job like he did. I was coaching straight up in the big leagues. I was a big league coach and I went straight to big league manager. Ozzie Guillen had to do somehthing to take those steps. I only played 2, 3 years in the minors and played 14 years with the same team. There are so many different things he might be jealous of" Guillen added. "I was a better player than him, I've got more money than him, and I'm better looking than him." Other than that, he wasn't pissed.

He fell in love with the forkball and refused to throw heat. Over and over again. when he finally threw a fastball he got hammered by Delluci. Hawk and Dj were all over his ass, cause he was 3-1 all night long.