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Be wary of the Red Sox. If they want Alexei, then that means Bill James thinks Alexei is a star in the making. James knows his s*** and he is the Bosox player adviser. I think Alexei should be close to untouchable with what he's shown so far this early in his career. If we deal him, we better get big time talent back and not let somebody steal him. I'm not crazy about his defense at ss but he has shown big time potential.

If he is a lazy, fatass, then that's what he will continue to be. Guys don't change at age 32. Only hope of change in that regard is if he wants another big contract someday and he's too old to get one of those.

Why stop at Barry Bonds? Why not bring back Albert Belle? Aren't they about the same age?

I can't believe anybody would even joke about signing Bonds. How old do you want to get?? How much slower do you want the team to get? He's a gigantic turd and has not been in baseball a while for good reason. Have you studied Bonds' story? He is one gigantic prick, he is old, slow, and hopefully out of baseball forever.

I'd love to see Thome come back and ONLY bat against righthanded pitchers, even though he actually hit lefties OK last year, didn't he? I get sick of Big Jimmy swinging through balls and getting punched out by lefties who know how to work him.

I agreed with the first post til you reminded me of this.

At least you admit it. I'm sure there are a lot of fans like you. Most wouldn't admit such a bold statement tho.

Things can change quickly. For instance if Oz wants to stay here, he might make sure his team appears to be playing with passion this year. I know that's very subjective, but we do often seem like dead men walking. I guess what I'm saying is we better win more if Oz wants to stay here. We keep hearing about all the talent we have and our team has pretty much been blah the past year and a half. Same with KW. Nobody will last forever if they aren't competing for championships. I like them both, however, but Al Davis' saying is the best ever. You are never safe unless you just win.

You'd have to be pretty nuts to buy his White Sox jersey. With so many players to choose from, to wear that punk's number to me would be really strange. Hopefully KW will pass on Bonds. He's where he belongs, out of the news.

If people are gonna keep bringing up Swisher, then I'm going back to Rowand. His name is Aaron Rowand.

Does our bench have any speed at all? Are we gonna be even slower this coming season? I wouldn't discount this guy starting for us. If he has a good spring can't you see it?

I just wonder why we all assume Crisp will be good defensively. Surgery on both shoulders for a guy already not known for a gun? Ranger's point is well taken IF everybody hits like they are capable we might be OK. Big if, but it's possible the lineup might score some runs. I wish they'd sign Thome and get that taken care of.

That may be the post of the month, Thad. Great point. I think the Sox are assuming that starting rotation puts us in the elite group and we don't need too much around it, except decent defense. For that theory to work, the bullpen better be almost as great as the starting pitching. Because you can lose a lot of games from the seventh inning on, even if you get a quality start if the offense is mediocre to poor.

Great points. I'm just saying it's not a joke to at least consider him. Somebody said it was wrong to even have his name in the discussion. I disagree with that.

Crisp had surgery on both shoulders that ended his season. If one of our players had surgery on both shoulders we'd be wanting him dumped and fast. I could see us adding him, though. He'd be another huge question mark on a team with a lot of them.

He fell just shy of 3,000 hits. Of course he should at least be considered. So what if he played forever. Almost everybody in his hit range has made it.

Glad to see we almost unanimously agree. He was the best and did it drug free.

I'm not ready for it yet. Would like to see some more KW tinkering before I get excited. Right now all we have is a damn good starting rotation. Our everyday lineup is average to poor. Our bullpen on paper always is good but still could be average at best. Tinker Kenny, tinker. I'll probably be ready after the start of the New Year or after the winter meetings.

I admit, I wrote it partially in green. I was in a stir it up mood after eating a big lunch. I do think Teahen is a great utility guy though. How can you argue that? I didn't say a great regular, but utility guy. And Gordon may not have been great at third, but he was pretty damn good defensively by the end of the season. He was making plays both charging the ball well and fielding some hot smashes. Don't you agree he was pretty damn good?? And I was over the top a bit on Omar, but I wanted to be positive after bashing Rios so much after his first week of ineptitute at the plate with us. So partial green.

I'm just glad somebody posted something negative about our chances of being better than .500, which right now are not good. I was thinking that everybody has been way too optimistic of our chances just because of starting pitching. I am hoping KW has a plan. It's obvious he wants better defense with the acquisition of Omar and Rios. I agree we don't have the bats to win anything of significance, even our division, but hey, the offseason hopefully has just begun for KW. I think right now was are at best six or seven games over .500 and at worst six or seven under again. That's if we start the season today.

Now we should leave Beckham at third, Omar at ss, Lexi at second and Teahen our do everything reserve. Omar plays for us one year then the following year we get another vet ss. It makes perfect sense. Teahen is not the answer at 3B, but he is a great great utility guy. Cmon Sox, do the right thing. Lexi should be our second baseman for the next 10 years. Gordon is great at third.

We're counting on a lot of guys to improve drastically next year. Many assume Rios and Pena and Liney and Dotel will automatically be better. Yet a lot on the board believe Pods, who had an excellent season, cannot duplicate next year and that no way Dye can bounce back. Why do some guys get a break where people assume they will suddenly excel and others can't get the same support? It's something about human nature. People are sick of Dye and Pods I guess and hope for the best for others like Rios and Pena. Personally I thought Pena sucked with the exception of 1-2 outings where he showed some nastiness.

I may be in the minority but I still love Bobby and think he can be a top closer. I wouldn't be against Thornton working the ninth once in a while as well. Why can't Thornton be our main set up guy (in games that matter) and still close once every fourth or fifth save situation?

These threads are awesome. Makes me realize how everybody is truly a Sox fan on here with tons of memories.

Here's an interesting question: Would we have been better off not acquiring Teahen and signing Omar? Then we'd have Gordon at third, Omar at short, Lexi at second and Paulie at first. After a year of Omar, we then the following year acquire another OC or Omar-type ss. Wouldn't it have been smarter than acquiring Teahen to start at third?? Thus moving Beckham to second and keeping Lexi at ss? Then we'd have Getz and Fields to trade to somebody else for a middle relief candidate or whatever. I am one fan who would rather have a new veteran ss if it means keeping Gordon at third and moving Lexi back to second.