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How's Hermanson's health? Considering it's a long season, I hope both get a lot of save opportunities. I thought it worked out well last year. When Hermanson ran out of gas or got hurt or whatever it was, Jenks came to the rescue. Hermanson had a ton of saves during the meat of the season. I like Hermy.

Carlos Beltran, Coco Crisp or David DeJesus Graffy Olivo as backup catcher ones I never want Piazza Sosa Wakefield

It did fly by so fast. I hope I can see the World Champs in person at least once this season and not just at Kauffman Stadium. GO SOX

I was very angry about Maggs leaving too. I was so wrong on that. And even Carlos Lee. I was so wrong about that. KW and Oz are quite the combination. I think they've earned lifetime contracts with the World championship. I love reading these threads. Seeing Thome's name so much I couldn't help but wonder. I wonder how long Oz will go with him IF ... I said IF ... he produces as badly as he did last season before that injury finished his season.

Is Jermaine Dye one of the most underrated players in baseball? Do you like him or think he's just average? I read this alarming stat on ESPN: "The 128 strikeouts he posted last year were a career high, while the 49 walks were the lowest total among the five seasons that he has logged more than 130 games. Perhaps the most telling stat, however, is that Dye hit just .240 with runners in scoring position." I like the guy especially after the Series, I am no ingrate and tip my cap to him, but wondered if you all thought we could do better?

Mariotti was on some video clip on ESPN this past season claiming that the Sox 2005 postseason run 'lacked the feel-good quality of the 2003 Cubs.' If this is true, he should take the next boat to Cuba and write for their paper a while. Give me a break. The Sox postseason run was legendary and amazing and the city paid attention, all of the city paid attention. It was awesome and he is an idiot to say otherwise if he did say that. He should lay off this year also as we are defending champs.

But the fact that the name Joe Borchard is mentioned in that article makes me want to shoot myself in the face. That made me laugh. Funny line. I liked it. Didn't Joe go 5-for-5 for us in September games last year? I kind of like Joe. He should get a shot to play everyday somewhere and see if he's a young Thome or a stiff.

Has Moyer signed with anybody? I realize he's not a reliever and throws too soft but I was just wondering.

This might sound dumb but I think our only weakness is only having one lefty in the pen. I think we need a reliable lefty to go with Cotts. How can we get by with only one?

I can't imagine anybody being too upset this year no matter what happens. We're coming off the Big Show. I watched a special on Ditka last night and it showed him crying at the press conference when Bears fired him. It made me wonder. Will Oz someday get fired?? Managers are hired to be fired, but this guy brought us a World Series, something unheard of in Chicago, moreso with the Yankees buying themselves pennants all these years. Can you envision Oz EVER getting fired like Ditka did? I think it'd be a tragid day for chicago sports.

'I'm not living as a bitter bird, and I don't want you to portray it like that. I'm not bitter. I just wish it could have ended like it should have ended -- and that's with mutual respect.'' I prefer to look at this final quote. Sure he ripped the Sox management some, but he said he's not bitter and didn't want it portrayed that way. I see it as an honest interview. He'll be back someday as a coach unless he and Oz truly hate each other. Oz probably won't be here 20 years. That's a rare bird nowadays.

Great post. Joe would be by far the best No. 9 hitter in baseball. I can't believe a guy with his potential for extra base hits would hit 9th. But if it makes him even better with the glove, so be it.

Sun Times and Southtown seem to be my favorites online.

How many Sox are in this tournament? Think it will be fun to watch or will nobody tune in? I would think it's be fun to go to the games live in California.

Good answers. On paper it seems like we are going to be great again. But considering all those one run games we won a year ago, anything probably can happen.

Do we have any options besides Anderson? I hope he starts and is great I just wondered who is his backup. It begs the question. is this guy going to be great this year or will he have similar or worse numbers than Jeremy Reed had his first full season in Seattle? Reed didn't hit for average and didn't knock in runs, and never got on base, other than that, he was an all-star. My other question: Do you think Jenks will shine this year or could he be lousy?

Back in the day, Piersall was really funny as Harry's Sox sidekick. I haven't heard him in years since I moved from the greatest city in the world. Good for Jimmy to remain relevant until the age of 76.

I'd like to see some sort of tourney but use minor leaguers. It would be a great opportunity for minor league players and would allow for fans to follow minor leaguers. Great point. Put 'em in major league uniforms instead of some bad Team USA outfit and I bet people would watch. I'd love to see our Sox top prospects contribute to something like this more than the major leaguers who are expected to win anyway.

That's cool you guys are missing baseball so much. I'm OK with the layoff. We played so deep into the season and winning it all I'm determined to enjoy it until we have to start again. I'm enjoying the Bears run. I'm not convinced we (Bears) can't win at home this week and be in the frickin NFC championship game. It would be amazing if the Bears could at least make it that far. I'm glad Kenny made some significant changes to the team. I don't think we could have even won the division staying pat. Some change is good.

I'm glad Gammons thinks the Thome move was good. He must think he can come back from the injury.

He's smart. The Sox had to play another month. Well not "had" to play but that's a lot of extra work. As far as patriotism ... this isn't the olympics.

This may sound stupid as I know how well he pitched, but I don't think he's worth 11 or 12 mill a year. No way. Do you think he's told the truth about his age? That's a factor too. I'm a Jose fan obviously after what he did for us, s*** we wouldn't have made the playoffs probably without him, but I'd rather see him go than Jon for some reason.

Man, he's only 26? He's been so consistent. This is a good time to be a Sox fan that is for sure.

Awesome. I'd rather have Jon than Contreras only because of age. I didn't like the idea of trading Jon after the kind of year he had and the fact we robbed him from the Cubs. Great job again KW.

I love what Bobby did near the end but I don't trust he'll be the reliable closer all year, do you?