greg775

Our starting rotation is KC Royals-like right now. Assuming Jose will continue his decline as he approaches his 50th birthday, we've got Mark B, and Vaz, plus Jose and 2 young guys who will likely be 5-inning pitchers max. I don't know how to get such pitcher but we need a Paul Byrd/Tim Wakefield/Kenny Rogers type guy to put in there. We need another dependable veteran not named Jose Contreras. Also obviously Linebrink must be good. I'm hopeful there. I hope I never see MacDougal again, but I could stomach giving him a chance more than Sisco, Masset and Thornton. I guess I could stomach Thornton being a specialist pitching to one lefty batter. KW has a lot of work still to do. IMO ... Our rotation is very weak right now.

Just a question, not a flame. How come so many fans at the Cell love Rowand and he gets a lot of hate on here? Is it because the fans here are very negative or the Cell fans are idiots? I am not dying to get Rowand, but wouldn't mind it at all.

Rowand will go wherever he gets the best deal. That's always the case. The only exception is with guys currently on a team like Mark B. might give the Sox a "hometown discount" rather than to go through free agency. It's funny, but the talk after we won it in 05 was we'd be a dynasty. The pitching staff was supposed to be good forever. We were supposed to keep winning.

Man, you are a knowledgeable poster and if you think all those players wouldn't bring Cabrera I am really worried about our future. Some of those guys are going to be counted on heavily.

I thought it would be Thome or Jenks. I went with Thome cause I just sense him needing just one punch to knock the s*** out of somebody.

I agree with you, that it sheds bad light on the guys Rowand left behind. At the same time, who knows what it takes to bring these multi millionaires together as a team? Rowand apparently is a true chemistry guy. Maybe he was the Sox's Thurman Munson. OK, rip away. Since Rowand was a White Sox player and we always bury our own on here, blast me for comparing Rowand to Munson. Blast away.

Great comment. I tend to think there are too many stats in baseball. My god. Just do the job.

Cabrera would be an exciting acquisition. My guess is we get Crisp. p.s. Did the Sox ever let Erstad go? Didn't they have an option on him? I missed it if they let him go as well as Pods.

Great take. He'd have fried Rex for that. IamShack and infohawk also had excellent takes I thought. This thread was worth reading.

Tell that to the Orioles and Royals. Team can stink for a long time. It's all about the players.

Obviously it could backfire. Myers was acquired and was horrible. MacDougal and Sisco were disgracefully bad. But at least for now it's another guy Oz can try. The money is ridiculous, but they just dumped Garland's salary. I would hate to see the Sox trot Macdougal out there ever again. All he does is allow runs to score. Hope Linebrink is the answer.

Welcome back to Chicago, Mr. Rowand.

I like Josh. Hope he keeps hitting as he did last year.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Get rid of that guy ASAP please!!!

It wasn't a trade, it's just money so I'm happy. Hopefully he will catch fire next year and be an effective reliever. The Brews once traded 3 guys to get this guy.

Not to mention Chris Young. He looks pretty good right now as well.

True Santo, but I can't believe the reasons he gave for wanting to join the Tribe were impossible to overcome. I mean if I were a salesman I'd sure rather sell the product Chicago has to offer (in the big scheme of things) than Cleveland. Yes things change quickly in baseball and we could be on top soon again if we sign some impact players. -- This is a guy I've never seen pitch and who could suck. I'm assuming he's good and worth this argument to begin with. He might be a hack.

If you really can't understand why a Japanese career closer would not like to sign with the 2005 WS champs that need relievers, need relievers to eat up many many innings, a team in a city that beats the pants off the dump called Cleveland, a city that two players named Shingo and Iguchi fell in love with, a team that can compete for a WS title with proper tinkering (spending money), then I can't help you. Money talks. We didn't offer enough. my opinion is Kenny missed the boat and failed here. If you disagree fine. I can handle differences of opinion apparently unlike you at times.

I don't know why any team in baseball would for a minute consider acquiring those four White Sox. All four of them really really suck.

Uh ... I think I'll take the guy who has recorded the most consecutive outs in the history of baseball over those guys you mentioned. A guy who recorded as many saves as he did with one of the worst teams in baseball. Jenks is damn good.

OK, so back to my original question. Did they promise Hot Dog man he would pass Borowski or not? Even you agree Borowski is the closer in April. The Sox just can't make the right moves. They needed this guy and didn't get him. Living in Cleveland vs. Chicago ... they couldn't sell that as well? I think the Sox had a lot to sell. It's all about money anyway. They should have offered more than Cleve and they would have gotten the guy. Kenny's bullpen aside from Jenks is a piece of s***. He better improve it, especially losing Garland and starting 5 inning max guys in Danks, Jose C and Floyd.

I would disagree that can happen with Josh. First of all they don't do that in the offseason. Secondly, you either got it or you don't.

But Cleveland has a closer as well. Did the Tribe promise him they'd skip over Joe?

Glad to hear you believe he's really 33. We don't need another Contreras. Some Sox reporter should do an investigative piece on that one. He appears older than he's listed.

You are probably right, but I don't know why we couldn't pay him a bit more and tell him he could be a back end of the bullpen guy for the Sox as well. Not a closer, but if he produces, he'd get a ton of innings and if he's good, maybe a WS ring. Not to mention Iguchi loved it in Chicago, etc.