greg775

Should be interesting to see what happens with baseball payrolls this offseason. You would expect the Yankees would add CC and everybody and anybody they think can get them a title. Are the Yankees, Mets and Bosox going to have astronomical payrolls? Historically high?

It's funny how the economy supposedly is in a big mess and teams are going to give gazillions to a handful of players again this year in free agency. Is there really a recession? Are people really losing their houses, etc? Or is it all a myth. If it was true I'd think season ticket sales for teams would be way down. I guess people buy the tix on their credit cards and just forget about paying anything but a pittance every month.

Amen. I'm sick of hearing about Roberts and Figgins. We need to acquire some of those Pirates and make them our farm system.

I'm not a big Count fan. He's too old, injury or not.

If he'd see a personal trainer, lose 20 pounds and be the skinny Griffey of old, I'd be all for signing him. If not, no. He was chubby and slow.

Do you think AJP is capable of throwing out anybody anymore? Good thing a lot of AL teams don't run a lot.

Remarkable comeback win tonight by the Beantowners. I picked them to win the series initially in five. But Hard to imagine the Rays dropping the next 2 at home, but I guess anything's possible. Beckett was awful last time out.

We truly do suck in those domes We have to change our team a bit just so we don't go 1-8 in Minnie next year again. Man that's seven under .500 rite there.

a.) It's becoming apparent Tampa Bay is indeed having a 2005 White Sox season and postseason. The Rays, whose pitching I feel isn't as good as it has shown and could implode next season, has been great. The squad is doing it all with speed, power, defense, everything. I picked Boston to win in five. It'd take a pretty big choke for the Rays to lose this series. The Rays have shown they are for real. b.) Boston doesn't deserve to advance trotting Wakefield out there to get his knuckler knocked into oblivion. c.) The Dodgers weren't that good except for Manny. Their sweep of the Cubs is more confusing by the day. Aside from the curse, it's hard to believe they got swept. It may go down as one of the biggest chokes in sports history for those who like to throw around the word "choke." d.) The Phillies are just another NL team about to get mauled by the Rays in the World Series. The White Sox with Carlos Quetin I feel could beat Boston (if we had homefield), the Dodgers and the Phillies in a 7 game series. I will tip my cap to the Rays and now say we could not beat them even with CQ.

Is the 'minus' for him hurting himself in a way that could have been avoided or the one stretch when he slumped for 30 at bats or so? That's a tough grade. He's about as sold an A as they come.

How do you Redbirds like coach Jank? I know him. He's a great great man.

Yeah, it was unfortunate he got hurt hitting the bat with his hand. But he's not selfish or anything. It was just an unfortunate accident. Too bad, too, cause he was capable of really sparking us obviously. I hope it wasn't just one magical season for him and CQ can build on this. p.s. Any h.s. football experts in here? Can my Bro. Rice team defeat St. Rita this week? Any projected outcome to give me?

I say we acquire Wakefield as our No. 5 starter. Totally kidding. Can you believe those home runs tonight? My god did they tee off on him!

Great way to put it.

How bout some grades for the Sox's performance this season. Here are mine. I'm sure I'll forget some players. It was a wildly emotional year for the fans and I'm sure Oz and KW. ... 1B - Paulie C- Sorry Paulie, tough year for you, almost gave ya a D. 2B - Lexi A. SS - OC B- I don't like the guy much but he was OK. I must admit despite some of his bobbles I felt good when a ball was hit at short, hope we can say the same next year with Lexi. 3B - Crede - C. He was hurt. Uribe - C. He stunk early, did pretty well for a spell, then didn't hit much late. LF - Carlos - A plus. Team MVP of course. Wise - C. Sparked us with speed and some big hits but really isn't an everyday player. CF - Swish C-. Like Paulie almost gave him a D. Griffey - C. Had a chance to get a second wind on his career and carry us to a title. Too old and slow to do that. Didn't hit many bombs. Good try, KW but it didn't work much. RF - Dye. A. What a stud he is. DH - Thome - B. Thanks for beating Minnie. Despite criticism is still a damn good DH. I am sick of the shift. Sometimes wonder what would happen if he just tried to hit grounders to third and take a single every time. C - AJP. B. I'd give him an A-minus but he seems to not be able to ever throw out a guy anymore. Gotta love him, though. I think he had the play of the year hanging onto that throw against Minnie. Dont know how he held onto the ball. Toby - C. He ain't very good. Mark Buehrle - B. Javy - C-minus. F for the last month or so. Floyd - A. Wish ya would have pitched better in your last outing, sir. Danks - A. Nice job young man. Jose - C-minus. I think you are done, Jose. Richard - Incomplete but some very nice moments. Jenks - A. Dotel - C. I guess he got tired. Some dominating outings; some horrific ones. Personally I dislike the guy. It's my preference as a fan. Thornton - B. Pitched well at the end. Linebrink - B. Got hurt, too bad. Logan - D-minus. He is sooo bad. But he is young. Maybe he should learn the knuckler. MacD - F. He just sucks, folks. Maybe he should learn the knuckler. He's pretty tall. Can he learn how to play right field like that guy on the Cardinals Ankiel? Carrasco - B-minus. But doesn't belong in a Chisox uniform next year. Ramirez - D. He just isn't a big league pitcher. Fields - Incomplete, poor guy's body is falling apart. I'm sure I'm forgetting some players. Just wanted to get the thread started. My MVP: Carlos. My Least VP: Swish (from what I thought we were getting). My MVP pitcher: Jenks. My least VP pitcher - Gotta go with Logan for his lefthanded meatballs to righties and lefties alike. I do think Dotel however is one who bugs me the most. I feel like he has the potential to be dominant; but he's pretty much an enigma to me. p.s. I think it'd be cool if you all put comments after your grades like I tried to do. I'd enjoy reading 'em. I respect your opinions and it'd be neat to read them.

It's pretty obvious KW will keep him. Let's just hope he has a bounceback year. I'd give him a C for his first year in chicago with more frustrating moments than glorious ones. Now that a week has passed since season's end, we should grade the players in a thread. Should be a wild range of grades considering this season made people come out with strong opinions for and against players like Swish, Paulie, Dotel, Crede, etc.

It's dumb to say he's not in Ozzie's doghouse. No. 1 he sucked during crunch time and most of the time otherwise. No. 2 he brooeded on that Yankee, KC, Minnie road trip about not playing. He has a lot to prove as a White Sox. His first year was horses***.

Why would it be "great" to lose both of them. Funny how Thome was the only Sox to knock in a run against Minnie (without that shot we would have lost in extras probably) and Konerko was great the last six weeks and we hate on both. I still wouldn't be sure one isn't gone next season. They can agree to trades, you know. Even if they both stay ... we also forget how much our team changed without CQ. CQ was an MVP type player. Sox fans never made excuses to the point where it was ridiculous. Face facts. We had a chance to beat TBay with a healthy CQ in the lineup!!!! I predict Thome is here 100 percent; Konerko 50-50, could agree to deal. Crede gone. OC gone. Griffey gone. Swisher stays.

Luckily Kenny has a good head on his shoulders and will tinker some and not do what some people on here want: trade everybody. I'm sure he'll keep some power and whether you like it or not some of our minor leaguers are going to be in the plans. My guess is Getz and Fields will play for the Sox next season.

We should dump all those guys except for Broadway anyway.

Excellent video. As much as we sometimes b**** about being a softball team, wow those homers are exciting. Call me a fool, but I still think CQ mighta led us to greatness in the postseason.

I can buy that. It should be interesting to see what Oz does with Swish if he gets off to a slow start next year. It's obvious he didn't want to go to war with the guy down the stretch. We shall see.

I'm surprised the sight of Dotel the last six weeks hasn't soured him on you at all. I could not stomach his implosions. He's definitely not one of my favorites. I do realize once in a while he'd strike out the side and look unhittable. But his suckiness on several occasions down the stretch I felt was unacceptable for a team fighting for postseason berth and postseason success.

I respect the Swish lovers standing by their guy. But I wish they'd realize the "bad luck" argument is stupid. He had enough at bats to overcome "bad luck" on balls being hard hit but at people. The bottom line is Ozzie pretty much gave up on the guy and Oz is our manager.

But worth the money? My god has baseball dipped in pitching talent if that's the case. I agree I'd be happy with Dotel if Oz has him on a one batter presentation. If that batter slams a double or OD walks the batter ... TAKE HIM OUT! Cause the bad Dotel is a trainwreck to see.