aboz56

I don't think he'll sign anything until he tests the free agent waters, but you can all keep your fingers crossed that I'm wrong...

Have you ever even seen Reed in person? Just wondering on that, but I'd agree with you that I'd prefer him to Rowand in CF at this point. The guy is raking at Charlotte through 10 games with a .400 avg.

I must say I don't disagree with the guy at all. Franklin wasn't forced to sign a deal here and he had the chance to go elsewhere. Honor your contract and play. Don't complain about it when the team is off to a hot start and things are going well....Like him or hate him (which most of us do), Mariotti delivers another column right on the money about the Sox.

Sounds great cw, i'd love a copy if you've got the time...

Let's hope this is true, I know there'd be celebration among all of us here at Soxtalk...

I say 68 mil and 5 yrs, which is what I think he will end up getting...

What's going on, specifics please.

I fixed the poll here, so it should be good to go...

Exactly, which is precisely why a great player can bargain for what he wants, if he doesn't get it from the Sox, someone else will give it to him. JR is too hard line on his stance sometimes which is why I have a bad feeling about this whole situation. This isn't a deal that is somewhat important for the Sox, it's MONUMENTAL and in my opinion speaks volumes about where this franchise is going in the future.

I won't disagree that Mariotti is surely a prick, but in a sick twisted sort of way I hope he keeps ripping the Sox to only put more pressure on the management to make something happen...Remember they read him all the time, as this was obvious when Hawk made it such a big deal to call Mariotti out at Soxfest...I think the more the media talks about this, the more incentive there is to get something done and get it off the rumor mill....

I am going to side with Mariotti on this one... Reason being is I've heard all the B.S. from players in the past that "we're close" on a deal and it never happens. Last off season Colon expressed his "desire" to stay with the Sox. Guess we found out how much of a "desire" that really was... My point is, as much as I love Magglio, he's putting on a PR stunt (like many players do) in order to keep fans on their side in order to 1) keep fans on their side about their future with the club and 2) bargain for the best deal possibly by making these negotiations public... Now don't get me wrong, I love Magglio and I'd love to see him sign a deal with the Sox more than anything, but the way you get it done isn't by public negotiations. All it does is excite us as fans, only to be brought down swiftly when we figure out later that the player has bolted for greener pastures (see Bartolo)... JR needs to step up, give Magglio what he wants and be done with it. Otherwise, I see a huge backlash from Sox fans and if you thought Soxfest last year was ugly, wait until next year if we don't retain Magglio....

This guy never seizes to amaze me. He's making millions of dollars, we're winning so far and he still finds a way to complain about his contract. If he wasn't such a great guy with the fans like I saw out in AZ I'd be tempted to rip him big time, but I guess you've just gotta let him run his mouth from time to time. I can't feel sorry for someone who's making 6 million a year though. Sorry Franklin.

You're one funny dude Mr. Cw

And as cw would say, guess whos back, back again, guess whos back, tell a friend, nanananannananana

Works here...

So far the Ozzie hire looks brilliant, let's hope we maintain this position, sign Maggs to a FIVE year deal and become a buyer at the break...

I can't understand that about Juan either. To me he's looked great with the stick so far this year and also out in Tucson. I am just waiting patiently until we start to discover the D'Angelo Jimenez qualities about him...

Won't be able to catch the game today, but I'll watch it tonight on TiVo when I return home. Nonetheless, let's get the job done and sweep the series...

The thing that bothers me about Billy Koch is that even when he had his run of good seasons, he never picked up an easy save. He made his living getting into trouble and then blowing the fastball by people to get out of it. He no longer has the heat he once possessed. I hear all of this talk that his velocity is going back up and he's got a lot of movement on his pitches, but I just don't see it. While I admit he hasn't looked terrible (with the exception of yesterday's outing) he has also yet to look exceptional. I don't think Ozzie waits like JM does to give Koch the hook once and for all. After all, the Oz does want to win and if he feels Koch is just going to blow game after game after game, he'll be assigned to mop-up duty. Permanently.

"I appreciate that (Leskanic) pulled a Billy Koch and we were able to win," Koch said with a wry smile. "I thank you Curt." ------- William please, for the sake of our stomachs, don't make this a habit again this season... :puke By the way, it's good to be back around here...

One single thread has made me lose a whole lot of respect for this site and some of the people who post on it... I'm gonna take a break from here for a while, see you all sometime soon hopefully.

Like I said if he was that good, the Sox wouldn't have gotten him. See: Kaz Sasaki, Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, any Japanese player that is worth a s***...

Get Shingo out of here with his 55 MPH fastball.

This isn't one outing, I saw him get rocked plenty out in Tucson. And if he was that good, we wouldn't have gotten him.

Shingo won't last long, I think we'll send him down to Charlotte before too long.