greg775

If Paulie truly wants to win, it'd behoove him to stay now. On paper with Paulie and Dunn we have a better lineup and if our pitchers get their heads out of their collective asses, we have a good enough contender on paper.

Do the wife and kids stay in some condo in Chicago during the season?

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 09:28 AM) It's not "letting Paulie walk" like so many others have said. The Sox simply have very little they can do to keep him because it wouldn't be the teams fault if he left. It's not about money, it's proximity to his family. Konerko literally said that the Sox could offer the most money and it may not matter. I wish more fans would realize this... I guess I'm not educated on this enough. What "family" does he want to be by so badly for six to seven months a year? Don't his wife and kids live in Chicago where he's lived a long time? Doesn't he have an offseason home somewhere else? I think if the Sox offered the most money he'd stay. If it's a family thing, more power to him I guess. I still say this is a bad PR move. Buehrle and Paulie are White Sox. If he's bound and determined to go, there's nothing the Sox can do about it, but we sure haven't heard much in terms of them trying to keep him.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 10:33 PM) Just because some other team is willing to overpay PK does not mean that he was worth that to the Sox. Good for him if he makes BIG BUCKS, but it would be very bad for the Sox. QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 10:40 PM) And what if he doesn't produce anywhere near those BIG BUCKS he receives? Is that devaluing or just making smart baseball decisions? Why would it be very bad? There's no reason to believe he's suddenly going to suck and hit like Pena who many seem to love so much? The guy is a professional hitter who is actually improving his approach. We can afford him if we dump Edwin Jackson on somebody. Just do that, White Sox. Don't need Edwin. And Paulie is VERY VERY POPULAR with our fanbase. Not good business to let paulie walk; just isn't good business.

QUOTE (flavum @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 10:05 PM) If the Sox signed Matsui and Pena and also got AJ back, I could live with this lineup: Pierre, Beckham, Rios, Matsui, Quentin, Pena, Ramirez, Pierzynski, Morel. There's some potential there, and the infield defense is real good. And they can do it without giving up starting pitching. The way you word it, it does sound workable. I'd sub Viciedo for Pena, however.

We're soon going to find out how valuable Paulie is. He's going to make BIG BUCKS the next 3 years. We devalue our own, folks. We just do.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 06:52 PM) Seriously though, you seem to have this weird idea that KW or JR or Rick Hahn or anyone were somehow going into the season being "OK" with these holes. Newsflash - all teams have holes and weak spots. Do you think KW wasn't aware of them? He didn't have $200M to spend, or even $150M. Not sure if you noticed, but the pitching staff - that most of us thought was going to be elite - ended up being no better than OK. That wasn't a gaping hole on display, that was injuries and other unforseen issues that happen every year to every team. Same with Beckham's struggles, AJ's ice cold start, and Jenks' breakdown. The only thing that going into the season was an obvious hole to everyone was DH - and that did indeed turn out to be the disaster that all expected. I'm right with you there - Ozzie was dead wrong, and KW was wrong for listening to Ozzie on it. And yet, despite that obvious hole, the team won 88 games with a much lesser pitching staff result than was anticipated. If the pitching had performed to expecations, this would have been 90-95 win team, among the very few best in baseball. Terms like "debacle" and "abject failure" have not even a remote connection to this team. The 2007 team, yes. 2009, maybe, but still a stretch. 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010 - not even close. I would agree. It is true all teams have holes and some s***ty players/pitchers. 88 wins wasn't bad. It was scary at how well Minnie played in the heat of the summer, though. We needed to get a productive Manny (which he wasn't) a couple weeks earlier than we got him. We also needed a healthy Peavy.

I could live with letting Dayan play first all season. Of course Dayan refused to play winter ball didn't he? That's not good. If Paulie leaves, just give him the job at first, though. I hope he learns to dig like Paulie could dig. I'm just not high on Matsui/Pena.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 07:12 PM) They could bring him back if he'd take a paycut, but it would be silly to offer him arb. His performance has deteriorated as has his health is recent years. I really think this is a guy who could be one of the greats if he had the desire and discipline to do so, but he chooses to be a slob and its going to cost him a ton of money. I'll always like him, but he ain't ever going to get in great shape. He's just a big beefy guy who I'd assume loves his food. I know nothin about his drinking habits, but seems like a guy who likes to put down the beers and his gut shows it. This is one guy that we could let loose. I'd prefer keeing Paulie/AJ though.

I just don't really get how we can waste all that money on Edwin that could have gone toward keeping Paulie. Is Edwin worth that much more to our rotation than Hudson? If we can keep Paulie in the meantime? Could be a very stupid decision. That said, if Paulie walks, I agree ... please let it be AZ.

QUOTE (flavum @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 10:41 PM) The Sox should try to get one-year deals with Carlos Pena and Hideki Matsui and try to catch lightning in a bottle. If it doesn't work, dump everyone next July. This organization is a mess right now. Yuk. If those two guys are regulars for our Sox, we may be in for a last place campaign ... unless our pitching simply dominates.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 06:05 AM) Ha, I love how some view other team's 24-25 year old high talent players vs how Gordon is viewed around here. It's absurd really. It's called the unknown. It's human nature. Many prefer the allure of the unknown versus the familiar. I agree it's nuts. I wish Kenny valued his own more, sometimes, as well. I like some of the young guys he's gotten rid of.

I think it's time to move on. Let Bobby go. Putz, Thornton, Sergio and Sale will close by committee. Or should close by committee. That is, unless we have to trade Jackson or Mark B to free up some money to sign Dunn and Konerko. Then I'd start Sale. There will be blown saves next season but we do have four decent bodies to replace Jenks in Putz/Thornton/Sergio/Sale. There's really no reason to bring back Bobby. I think it's a no brainer they let him go. On paper, he is replaceable. If we do bring him back, however, I'll be wanting him to be the closer.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 04:13 AM) This post is a bucket of suck. AJ is 34 next year, not 35. That immediately shows how much thought you've put into your argument. Career performance is ALWAYS the first thing that matters in a contract. The known commodity always matters, especially to contenders. Why the f*** do you think Ben Sheets got all that money from the A's and Harden got all that cash from Texas? Why did Wang get money from the Nats? Why did Nick Johnson get that cash last year from the Yankees? None of those guys were safe bets to do anything, and none of them did anything, but they got that money because of what they can do which is based upon what they have done in the past. AJ has shown no signs of slowing down and at 34 next year he shouldn't be expected to given his track record. Signing him for his age 34 and 35 seasons with an option (possibly vesting) for his age 36 season is not necessarily a bad deal at all. IMO he'll get offered that. From what I've been reading, I'd like to see AJ back and have him platoon with Olivo. I'd also like both Konerko and Dunn. Yes those four guys are all slow and command a lot of money. Trade Edwin Jackson for a batch of prospects to free up a little bit of dough.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Nov 20, 2010 -> 08:58 PM) I haven't seen anyone else mention this, but I think a part of the reason why Granderson kind of sucked the past two years is because he hasn't adjusted to the spotlight and pressures of playing in New York. I think a change of scenery for him, to a team where each player's move is not under a constant microscope, can help Granderson. I think this is a reasonable post. He might be one of those guys who sucks in NY. If we are going to take a gamble on a guy having a bounce back year, I think Granderson could be that type of guy. Also it can't hurt to get somebody who used to play in the AL Central for karma's sake. Maybe he'll help change the mojo against Central teams. We sleepwalk vs. the Tigers, Twins and Royals and Tribe.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 20, 2010 -> 08:26 PM) Cowley is the worst writer in town in terms of being a journalist. Rogers is the worst columnist. Cowley knows the game but his articles are so bloated with his assinine commentary they are unreadable, and Rogers is readable but his baseball knowledge is non-existent. I can read Cowley's articles. Why do we expect beat writers to not splice their stories with commentary nowadays, when "journalism" is non existent in this era of UNREADABLE fan blogs?

I picked Jackson. I wouldn't mind trading Mark if Kenny CLEARLY wins the trade.

If they tore it down and built a new Wrigley on the exact same spot, wouldn't that take years upon years? They'd have to knock it down, clear out all that debris, get the land all ready and build a new park again?? With Chicago weather delays? Wow. If they already have renovation designs, they need to renovate right there. Don't you think the city has to help out some? Moving the Cubs to some other location to build a new park like somebody said would be a disaster. The park and the experience is a the whole Cub experience isn't it?

This makes perfect sense. They acquired Ibanez when he was still young enough to be productive and Quentin is kind of the same guy. Moderately disappointing as Ibanez was in KC. If we trade quentin we should not give him away. He still had a lot of RBIs and still has "potential." I totally could see why Philly would want him. This might sound dumb, but I think quentin has tools but needs a new approach (stance) at the plate. I really don't give a f*** either way about Walker, but I think Quentin needs some help in his approach at the plate. Quentin, though, is worth more than scraps in a trade.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 08:25 PM) Curtis Granderson? The Sox always seem to be a couple years late. I wouldn't trade a starting pitcher for him at this point in his career I've always wanted Granderson in a Sox uniform so I'll say thumbs up to the deal. However I am alarmed at how much Grandy sucked this past season. He was not good. I would love to make this deal and find a way to get a middle reliever for Pierre. Wouldn't some team, somewhere, take Juan Pierre off our hands? Please?

If Peavy begins the season on the DL or is out to, gulp, June ... we may need Sale as a starter. Danks opening day Jackson Mark Floyd Sale that should be our rotation.

After reading that article, I think it's pretty apparent this will be Oz's final season with the Sox. His contract runs out and that'll be it. That way he won't be fired and he can come back someday maybe. It's kind of interesting Jerry admits that Ozzie was expendable in a trade. Kind of caps a wacky weird season of 88 wins (that to me seemed like 75 wins). Only in dysfunctional Soxland does the season end with the manager being considered in a trade. My god. Unless we really kick butt this season as a team, and I don't see us being any better than this past season, I think Oz walks on his own, taking the best offer or is an announcer for a year waiting to get a good managing job. We'll keep Kenny and hire some plastic non-quotable guy like Buddy Bell. Not saying it's Bell but somebody very dull in media interviews. s***, if we go .500 or better, it might even be Cora.

Time to sign Thome for old time's sake. And it might piss off Twins' fans. It's time he returns to our side. One mill a year. Tons of incentives. Jimmy baby. I can even handle Jones (ugg) alternating with him at DH.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 03:43 AM) I'm not in if by young you mean the Rays model. I really don't want ten years of bad to be good. QUOTE (spiderman @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 05:16 AM) How do the White Sox have an amazing pitching staff? I'll give you that it's a quality starting rotation with solid depth, but who is the #1 starter amongst this group? I'm not even sure there's a #2 on this staff. Yes, each of these guys is likely to give a quality start when they pitch, and they do tend to keep the team in most ball games, but there's no ace on the staff, and I'm not sure there's a closer either. The Royals have been waiting 25 years and are still waiting. But I confess I'd like to get younger. I mean do we really need Juan Pierre? And if Omar is more than a super sub, that is not good as well. AJ and Paulie are getting up there as well. Our starting staff is not amazing. It's not bad, tho. But it does not amaze anybody.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 05:35 PM) The guy had 2 RBIs in 88 PAs for us, no friggin' thanks. I don't know if I should laugh or cry at how pathetic Manny was as our playoff sparkplug. And yet because he's Manny or the unknown he gets a free pass. Not.Worth.That.Kinda.Money. But I agree he's a better option than Kotsay/Jones/DH by committee.