C.Rector

Maddux could be a great move provided that the Cubs hold on to their other pitching. However, there's been rumors to the effect that if the Cubs get Maddux, then they'd trade Clement so Juan Cruz aka the Hispanic Shawn Estes would be their #5 starter. If so, then they would be taking 2 steps forward and 1 step backwards.

From: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/d...s_det&fext=.jsp 02/13/2004 3:48 PM ET Pudge signing creates ticket rush Fans can purchase single-game tickets on March 6 By Jason Beck / MLB.com DETROIT -- Before Ivan Rodriguez signed, the busiest members of the Tigers front office were the negotiators. Now that Pudge is delivered, the busiest negotiators in the building aren't dealing with players. They're handling tickets. What was already looking like an up year for Tigers ticket sales representatives has become a relative marathon of answering phone calls that would make a PBS telethon jealous. After three straight years of declining season-ticket bases since Comerica Park's inaugural season, falling to less than 7,500 last year, the Tigers are already looking at a double-digit percentage increase. "We haven't seen anything like this since the stadium opened," Tigers vice president of ticket sales Bob Raymond said. Since Pudge signed, Raymond's sales staff has been staying around evenings after other Tigers officials have gone home, and coming in to work weekends. That's the kind of demand Rodriguez's signing has helped foster in what some local media had feared a dying baseball market. On the day Pudge signed, the Tigers sold a single-day record with $160,000 worth of full and partial season-ticket plans. Since then, they've broken that mark at least three more times, including the two days after the signing. The latest record came last Monday, a week after the signing, with $225,000. Add up the first eight days following the signing, and they sold $1.2 million worth of new season-ticket packages. Some customers are buying for the first time; others last had tickets when Comerica Park opened in 2000. But the major effect of Pudge signing, Raymond said, was on season-ticket holders from last year who hadn't yet renewed. "We're seeing people who were on the fence now renewing," he said. "These are our bread and butter." They're also the customers team owner Mike Ilitch wanted to win back when last season ended. Much has been made of Ilitch's personal approach with suite holders, whose four-year contracts from the park's opening were up for renewal. Ilitch also took a role in pursuing season-ticket holders who are up for renewal on a year-to-year basis. Ilitch approved a plan with Raymond, senior VP of business affairs Jim Stapleton and others to come up with incentives for renewals. He also backed a letter to season-ticket holders from last year thanking them for their support, and asking them to get in touch with former ticket holders from years past. The incentives package had its pre-Pudge appeal thanks to the 2005 All-Star Game. After reviewing how many tickets would be available to the club, the Tigers guaranteed those who bought full-season plans the opportunity to buy the same seats for All-Star Week events, including the game, along with the Home Run Derby and the Futures Game. Those who bought partial plans at upper reserved level or better would have a chance to buy seats somewhere for All-Star festivities. The All-Star Game offer, Raymond said, had as much incentive as the Pudge signing. Sales have reached to the point where they'll soon run out of All-Star tickets they can offer to season-ticket buyers, possibly as soon as mid-March. On top of that, the Tigers decided for the first time to offer a discount for season-ticket holders, ranging from $2 to $10 per ticket per game under the cost of a single-game ticket at the same level. The organization also has taken a more personal approach with ticket buyers. Those who buy season tickets are assigned to a specific sales representative, who keeps in touch during the year and does more than simply handle customer feedback. Sales reps can help purchase tickets for their customers to events at other Ilitch-affiliated facilities and organizations. At the top of the list, season-ticket holders in the on-deck circle and Tiger Den who renew by Feb. 20 will have the chance to purchase two tickets to Red Wings playoff games. With that, ticket agents had answers for ticket buyers when they asked why they should renew. "When they get on the phone this year, they have a story to tell," Raymond said. Pudge's signing gave the story a happy ending. Every agent had a list of people who had called during the Rodriguez rumors saying they'd buy tickets when the deal was done. The story of ticket sales, however, is only beginning. Single-game tickets go on sale March 6 and will push sales figures further upward by the time the Tigers open the home schedule April 8. The eventual goal is that attendance picks up from last season's Comerica Park low of 1,370,000, which ranked fourth-lowest in the Majors. How much of an increase the Tigers see likely depends on the team's record, the one incentive for which there's no substitute.

Villone is a Scott Boras client who still hasn't been picked up by anyone. Given that he faded away at the end of the season, its hard to see why you'd want him in the first place.

There's even worse such as the fight with the umpire at the steakhouse after they had the big scream session at the game.

Ok, I guess what I really meant was what's a "chode"?

A further update from: http://www.centralleaguebaseball.com/cgi-b...t/news.cgi?id=2 BEVINGTON RETURNS AS SHREVEPORT MANAGER 02/10/2004 Brian Vernellis / The Times Terry Bevington had an opportunity to return to affiliated baseball, but instead opted for the Shreveport Sports and the independent Central Baseball League. The Sports announced on Monday that Bevington will return as the team's manager for the 2004 season. Bevington led the Sports to a 51-44 record in their first season in the Central Baseball League. "When you get a guy like Terry Bevington, it brings credibility," Sports General Manager Brian Viselli said. "Players love to play for him and the greatest thing of the whole deal is he loves to be here. Now that he's got a little bit of independent baseball under his belt per se, he's going to be fine. We'll be competitive." Bevington said managing independent baseball last season was a new experience for him, but professional baseball is the same no matter the level. "I came in late and we didn't have a lot of players at the time," he said. "As far as the caliber of play, I really didn't know what type of level it would be. "When it comes down to playing baseball, it's pretty standard - you want good hitting and pitching. The mentality of the player and what's on their mind is a little different too." With a year of managerial experience with the Sports, Bevington hopes he and the team can make a run for the Central Baseball League championship. The Sports open spring training on April 26. They begin the season at Fair Grounds Field against San Angelo on May 6. "We have to stay competitive and competitive for us is winning a division, not just being over .500," Bevington said. "If a guy can't cut it, we might make a change more so than we did last year, but yet in a fair time frame. "If somebody struggles for a week, we're not going to get rid of him, but if he's struggling for a month or six weeks, we've got to sit down and think if we want someone else." The Central Baseball League will have a new look for the 2004 season. The Alexandria Aces and the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings will not be operational for this season. A Pensacola, Fla., ownership group purchased the Springfield-Ozark franchise in January for relocation to Florida. The franchise movement doesn't bother Bevington. If it did, he would have taken the offered position in affiliated baseball. "I really think in the next two or three years it's going to get back to where baseball was years ago in Shreveport as far as the excitement in the community," he said. "The caliber of play will surprise a lot of people who come out."

Why do you call him a "chode"?

From the Central Baseball League Fan Forum at: http://forums.coltsboosterclub.com/index.p...t=ST&f=50&t=699 February 9, 2004 - When the Shreveport Sports open the 2004 season at Fair Grounds Field on May 6th against San Angelo, a familiar face, Terry Bevington, will be in the Shreveport dugout. He will return for his second year as manager of the Sports. In their first year as a member of the Central Baseball League, the Sports posted an overall record of 51-44 and Bevington is already looking forward to the 2004 season. “After being in the league for one season, I have a better feel for independent league baseball. We will have several of the same players from last year’s team returning and I think that will give our fans an opportunity to get to know these guys,” said Bevington. “We have added new players by way of some off season trades and will probably pick up a couple of new pitchers. I believe this will be a team that will challenge for a playoff spot this season,” concluded Bevington. Bevington, a resident of Collierville, Tennessee was the manager for the Chicago White Sox for three years from 1995-97 and posted a record of 221-214, finishing second two years in the American League Central Division and third place one year. Besides being with the White Sox, Bevington was the third base coach for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1999-2001. Bevington began his professional career in 1974 when he signed out of high school as a catcher with the New York Yankees. He played seven years in the minor leagues, reaching the Triple-A level in 1980 at Vancouver in the Pacific Coast League before becoming a player-coach that same year for Burlington, Iowa in the Midwest League. The following season, he became a manager in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. Bevington is also familiar with this area as he was the manager at El Paso in the Texas League in 1984 and 1985.

It was the union that caused the strike in 1994, not Reinsdorf. As for the Bulls, it was Jerry Krause that put together the championship teams in the first place, so you can't blame him for the Bulls fall from grace unless you also give him credit for the team's 6 championships.

NL East 1) Florida (WS repeat) 2) Atlanta 3) Philadelphia (Bowa burns out his team again) 4) NY Mets 5) Montreal NL Central 1) Houston (110 wins possible) 2) Chicago (Over 20 games behind) 3) Pittsburgh (Kip Wells wins NL Cy Young) 4) St. Louis (Money problems leads to loss of key hitters) 5) Cincinnati 6) Milwaukee (120 losses possible) NL West 1) Arizona 2) San Francisco 3) Los Angeles (Could win division if it trades the head case Perez alone for Thomas) 4) San Diego 5) Colorado AL East 1) Toronto (AL pennant winner) 2) Baltimore (FA pickups work out and young pitching comes through) 3) Boston (Schilling proves a bust) 4) NY Yankees (Complete collapse with that worthless infield and bad pitching) 5) Tampa Bay (Needs to be transferred to AL Central to get out of permanent cellar) AL Central 1) White Sox (1st if Guillen proves to be a good mgr. If not, Sox no better than 3rd) 2) Minnesota 3) Kansas City 4) Detroit 5) Cleveland AL West 1) Seattle 2) Oakland 3) Anaheim (Colon proves a bust and Moreno is thereafter gun-shy about FA's) 4) Texas

Your impression of Sullivan is right on target. However, a lot of the other posters take the knee-jerk attitude that if a player either leaves the Sox for Free Agency or is traded away, then he is a valuable player who the Sox management stupidly let go. Another example of this is Aaron Miles. When he was here, folks hardly cared about him at all. The moment he was traded for Juan Uribe, Miles all of a sudden became the great player who was traded away in a fit of insanity by KW.

Guillen himself was not known for hustling when he was a player here. He seems to want to play smallball at a hitter's park and does not understand the importance of taking walks. Also, most of his time at Florida was with Mgr. Jeff Torborg who was infamous for overworking pitchers. If he has the same basic attitude about pitching that Torborg has, then watch out. We might be heading towards 100-loss territory.

Buehrle's liable to have an ERA of 4.50 or worse. Schoenweiss is adding the cutter to his repertoire. His ERA should be lower than 4.50.

Loaiza: 20-25 Garland: 15-20 Schoeneweiss: 15-17 5th Starter: 12-15 As for Buehrle, consider this: Buehrle's stats for 2001, 2002 and 2003 (in order): ERA: 3.29, 3.58, 4.14 WHIP: 1.07, 1.24, 1.35 K/BB: 2.63, 2.20, 1.95 K/9IP: 5.12, 5.05, 4.65 BAA: .230, .260, .278 Buehrle is in a continual state of decline. He is obviously getting worn down. The Sox really should either put him in the bullpen or trade him while its still possible to get maximum trade value for him. If the team has Buehrle as a starter in 2004, then here's my prediction for him: Buehrle: 12-15

This is true. Its either we trade the greedy pig GIDP'er Ordonez now or we just forget about it.

Jim Hendry has got to be the most overrated GM in all of MLB. Although, having said that, I don't think that Maddux ever really wanted to finish up in Chicago after the way that the Cubs treated him when he was there and also the fact that they are offering him less money than what they will be paying the mediocre Kerry Wood. In baseball player talk, the Cubs are "disrespecting" Maddux. If the "dustiny" of the Cubs pitching staff is serious injuries this season, then the Cubs could wind up contesting Pittsburgh for 4th place. That's the reason why the Cubs really need the services of a pitcher who hasn't been screwed around with by Dusty Baker the pitcher torturer. That and to be able to keep the worthless Juan Cruz out of the starting rotation.

Problem is that Guillen made a bad impression at his inaugural press conference and has only reinforced it in the time since. We could have a re-occurrence of what happened in 1987 and 1996 where you had talented teams in a winnable division but with incompetent managers like Jim Fregosi and Terry Bevington messing things up.

How do you know that Manuel and his tinkering didn't add 5 games to the Sox so that they won 86 games instead of 81? Why not wait until the end of the upcoming season before making these judgments about him.

Over at http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=steroidwitchhunt there is a website called Steroid Witch Hunt that uses photographs of players to determine if they are using steroids. The website creator claims that his method proves that some players such as Mike Mussina and Cliff Floyd are not using steroids, other such as Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi definitely are. What do the rest of you think of this?

How do you know that it hasn't been done? There were 4 playes such as Francisco Campos and Jason Grilli picked up in the Rule V Draft and there have been other players signed to minor league contracts. There will be a competition among 15-20 pitchers for about 4 or so spots in the starting pitching staff. What makes you think that none of them will be able to make the grade? Remember: At this point in time last year, practically nobody was predicting that great things would come from the signings of Esteban Loaiza and Tom Gordon. KW has access to scouting reports and film/video that none of us have access to.

Over on the WSI Forum at http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/vbullet...&threadid=29068 there is a thread starting with a questionnaire. Two of the questions deal with who was your favorite White Sox managers and your least favorite. Thus far, nobody has listed Gene Lamont as a manager that they liked and several have put him down as a manager that they disliked. This is only the latest example of something that I've noticed for a long time: The man who was the single most successful White Sox manager since Al Lopez (258-210 .551) is also a manager that hardly any Sox fans have anything nice to say about. Why is this?

They said that about the likes of Jim Fregosi and Terry Bevington too. Thus far, the only things that Guillen has shown himself capable of doing as Sox manager is making a fool out of himself and dumping on Frank Thomas.

There has been a lot of anger directed at the White Sox on this board because the team has not opted for huge increases in payroll. Many of the posters on this forum have expressed the near-religious conviction that raising the payroll will increase both the quality of the team and its chances in 2004. There has also been a certain amount of optimism on this forum concerning the Cleveland Indians and their chances for winning the AL Central in 2004 and in the years beyond. However, during the current offseason, there have not been any moves on the free agent scene by the Indians and their payroll will continue to be significantly lower than that of the Sox. Question: If increasing the payroll magically improves a team, then why the optimistic forecasts for the low-payroll Indians?

Given that Cleveland has not made any moves this off-season, its quite possible that Detroit could finish in 4th place.

2 things: 1st: Are you suggesting that Cooper is not the great pitching coach that he's cracked up to be? 2nd: For what's its worth, there was a story going around the internet to the effect that KW had twisted Manuel's arm to have Cotts start at Yankee Stadium.