greg775

The writer was high on Iguchi. I'm really looking forward to seeing him play. I guess Willie is a good backup plan if Iggy bombs out. But if Iggy can hit and AJ can hit, those are big-time upgrades. For some reason I am thinking those two guys will do well but our speedy ex-Brewer will flop.

Well we know there's gonna be a brawl in the first Sox-Twins series this year. Bank it. Somebody save this thread so we can recall the start of the brawl. GO SOX.

20 pounds lighter? Very nice. Good job Carl. This article gives me renewed hope about Carl. 20 pounds lighter sounds pretty good to me.

where the hell is addison?

AJ is key. We need him to be a stud in the order. If he's a big offensive upgrade at catcher, it can make up for some of the power outages with the loss of Lee/Maggs, etc.

Getting Maggs out when we play the Tigers. Beating Minn. Beating Cleve. Beating KC. We have to kick ass on the teams in our own division. We gotta beat these teams consistently unlike the past. I realize Minn is always good, but KC, Det, Cleve ... cmon we have to start beating them.

Couch wrote: "This one hurts. All he ever did for the White Sox was smack home runs and RBI, hit .300, field well and show an old-fashioned honor and class." Say what you want. Couch is right. I'll back a player like Maggs who was a total class act and damn good player over our GM and owner(s) any day. He may single handedly prevent us from winning the division for years to come. As many games as we play Det. and as motivated as he'll be if he's healthy, this is not good news. Good luck Maggs. You are class!!

Good replies. I told you it might be me having a frozen brain. You have convinced me we have made many changes. Bring on opening day and lets beat the pants off the crummy teams this year like The Royals, Det and Cleve. We must dominate them if we want to make some noise.

I've wanted to post stuff just to stay in touch here, but I've found it to be sort of a dull offseason. Do you all agree? (Hinrich is damn good for da Bulls) I like our pitching staff now, hoping Marte comes up with a huge year to close with Shingo. I like the guy from Milwaukee and Dye if he's healthy, but I'll miss Maggs. I love the new catcher. But I haven't been juiced enough to make many posts. So I ask ... has this offseason been more dull than last or am I frozen in the cold and without an original thought. (Hinrich is a floor general deluxe) p.s. Why is New England so good every year? We need the next Wally Payton and next Frig and Ditka to bring the Bears back.

Greg Walker sounds like a heckuva devoted hitting coach. Go Greg!

Good point Qw, but I hate Everett that's why I said I'd do that trade.

I'm really starting to like A Rowand the more I hear about him. That means we'll probably trade him soon.

How did you all meet each other? Did soxtalk have a banner or something set up? WIsh I coulda gone. Sounds great.

I love Oz's loyalty. Keep ARow in cf!

I'd trade Everett for Graff and the Royals might do that if we pick up some salary. Royals are desperate for some punch.

I'm kind of getting excited about our team. I wish we'd get rid of Carl, though. I don't like that guy as a player. Do you all think he's good or not? I say trade Carl now for a bad second baseman.

I think it's a copout to say this but I believe anything can happen with this team. I have no read on it. The starters are intriguing, the bullpen seems good. Even if we get a new second baseman the lineup is a question mark. I hate to put it all on Oz but maybe it is all on him to make this team work. It seems he's been given some talent to work with, especially potential pitching talent. If we add an upgrade at 2B (I guess they're set with Uribe at ss) it'll really get interesting. At any rate, congrats to Kenny for getting a catcher. If this blows up in his face I don't see how we can blame him. On paper, he's acquired a pretty good option at catcher.

It's my favorite move of offseason so far. I hope he's not a cancer and has a good year. I think we needed a decent bat at catcher. With him and Burke we should be decent at catcher. I would think Big Ben is a goner now.

LF Scott Podsednik SS Juan Uribe RF Jermaine Dye DH Frank Thomas 1B Paul Konerko CF Aaron Rowand 3B Joe Crede C Ben Davis 2B Willie Harris SP Mark Buehrle SP Freddy Garcia SP Jose Contreras SP Jon Garland SP Orlando Hernandez CL Shingo Takatsu It's funny. On paper, this isn't that bad. Potentially we could have a good team with this squad, especially in my opinion if we either replace Ben or Willie with an upgrade. Is it up to Ozzie to make this work? These players if they have A- or Bplus type seasons could lead us to 10-15 over .500 I believe. We ain't gonna win any wild card so we better win the division.

I have no ill will toward Maggs. He's not the only White Sox to have expressed displeasure with our horses*** management team. In today's climate, he was with us a long long time. Let's see how we do without him.

It's weird how Loiaza was an all star last year and nobody wants him. Bring him back.

I just wish these guys would sell, then. Maybe there is no local owner who would buy the team.

I thought it was a good article. I like when he rips our ownership for not overspending like Steinwhacker, the BoSox and the 4-5 other big spenders. It would be nice if we'd sign some free agents once in a while if we are serious about winning. Mariottis is right. As the team roster stands now, we don't have the talent to win with our new Ozzieball philosophy unless miracle of miracles Uribe, Harris, Crede and our catching platoon all have career years. We're not going to score enough runs. Rowand, the guy with the long name and Dye are not going to instill fear in any pitching staff. We could be in for a long year like Mariotti says unless somehow our pitching staff wins a s***load of 3-1 games. p.s. Funny, however, how the owners continue to spend incredible amounts of money, continuing to make it impossible for the Sox, Royals, et. all to win a Series. In some ways I wish baseball was hockey, have a lockout for a couple years and get some sanity back.

Sounds like we're trying to be in about the 40 mill payroll range before long. Contraction?

I always like reading what Mark B has to say. This is scary, though: "It's a little tougher on the pitching staff because we won't be working with as many runs as before. But we are still going to score our share and not just score one or two every game. It will work both ways because defensively they will be making plays in the outfield or in the holes they didn't get to last year." It sounds like he realizes on paper our offense looks very anemic. I was thinking more about Cowley's story. Unless he called Mark B to warn him that was stupid of him to just say Mark B. was a player who didn't like Lee. He should have called Mark B. to get a fresh quote on the matter like this writer did, or run it by him. Maybe Cowley did run it by him and Mark B. said go ahead and print it, if not that's pretty stupid to just attribute Mark B as the one Sox who didn't like Lee. Calling out Mark B is not a good way to get Mark B to give good quotes in the future.