SoxFan562004

I personally like Overbay alot, maybe not he power many want at 1b, but I still think he's an excellent player, and if PK didn't resign he was someone I was hoping KW would have targeted

4.297, I may be able to do a touch faster

"You're the Best Around" which is the song playing in the All Valley Tournament in Karate Kid or "Still Believe" which is the song in "The Lost Boys" that the huge muscled up mother f***er who is playing the sax next to a garbage can of fire is singing.

Flip a coin

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 05:16 PM) I saw that too. It was really bad. I didnt really think about it until you just said it. The strangest thing was that he botched the first read, then they went to commercial(after he said he was gonna do it again, and then after a black screen), ESPN then ran 2 other segments, and then Berman took another crack at it. It was as if Berman said to them "Lets run something else for a few segments so they forget about that." I'm pretty sure that it was a pretaped segment and the director messed up the final edit and left an earlier take on the front of the tape. I may be wrong, but that is what I assumed happened, I hate Berman and his stupid catch phrases and noises, but I will assume that if he screwed up he would just roll with it if it was live

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 07:47 AM) Trade him, Cubs. See what your fans do. Wouldn't they just drink beer and still show up?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 09:07 PM) So that would what, leave the Cubs with Maddux, Prior, Zambrano, Wood, and Rusch in their starting rotation? Do they have a backup plan? Or two? Yeah, that was my initial reaction to that too, espically since Baker himself said Wood won't be ready for opening day. I don't know if this was pure speculation, but Offman said he expects the Cubs to emerge in Millwood talk. One reason would be that Wood's future is so much in doubt and Maddux contract is up after this year, so the Cubs might have to start putting people in place for their future rotation. Again, this kind of seemed like he was purely speculating. Although it makes some sense to me because Cubs have money and IMO they seriously need another starting pitcher.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 09:02 PM) Indians beat reporter Mark Schwab reported this deal earlier according to the Indians MLB board. No financial figures available yet. Figured this was coming, since they had til midnight tonight to offer arbitration or lose negotiating rights until May 1st. This was really their only option, and at least Hoffman and his agent didn't dick them around and gave his decision today. I don't know, this may be a better deal for the Indians, I like Hoffman, but Wickman threw the hell out of the ball last year. Will be interested to see numbers on this one.

It will be interesting to read the papers reaction to this move tomorrow, because the immediate reaction on the radio was mixed. While the call in fans liked this move (and I really don't blame them, Pierre is a good player and this team absolutely had to get a leadoff hitter, and at this point he was basically the only one of value left) but the hosts and some of the "experts" (levine, offman, gammons) basically said yeah, it's an solid move but this was clearly their #2 choice, Furcal being their #1 by a long shot, and they really were planning on getting both of them. Most also pointed out that Hendry has a lot more to do specifically a RF another starter (espically since Baker said Wood likely won't be ready opening day) and probably another middle infielder. Offman also said that any deal that will be made likely will involve Jerome Williams FWIW.

Nightengale and Gammons were all over this one yesterday and today, they basically said Hoffman never really wanted to leave San Diego, and while he was really impressed with Cleveland and a potential to win, he didn't want to uproot his family (he has school age kids) and they said at the end he and his agent were using Cleveland to get a bigger contract from the Padres while still accepting a hometown discount, and he and his agent did an excellent job IMO. Also, that's why they traded a very good starting 2b for a backup catcher, they needed to free up some money. All and all a good move, they have a new ballpark and that division is so weak still that they'll be in the race, so they should still be drawing money into the team.

I know Astros are going to get a ton of crap in Houston about this, but I really think this is a smart move by them. I know they have 65 in 6 players, but Gammons on the radio did the arbitration math and basically said they will be at around 90-95 million WITHOUT Clemens once they get some signings done. Clemens goes on Dan Patrick last week and said he wanted to wait to see if they add any offense, but this team really can't do anything with a possible 20 million dollar question mark. I know it may hurt the Astros next year, but I just think Clemens put them in an impossible situation.

Just want to give a thumbs up to these BBTN specials. Both have been really good and it's basically been similar to this board, but on TV! Meaning it's Kruk, Phillips, Reynolds, Gammons, Stark, Ravich and the other dude (completely slipping my mind) sitting around and B.S.ing about baseball. Of course they say things that I disagree with, but it's real casual and the guys are given a lot more time to explain their stances. I suggest taping tomorrows or DVRing it, it's been quality

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Dec 6, 2005 -> 10:34 PM) Prior is much better than Abreu. His injuries have been more than anything bad luck. Every year Prior is going to have a chance at being the Cy Young. If I were the Cubs id offer Wood for Abreu, take it or leave it. Some one will trade a hitter for Wood, especially if the Cubs take on most of the contract. SB i have to respectfully disagree with his injuries being all bad luck. Last years injury was a bizarre episode that was never really explained. Remember he had the elbow soreness in ST, they shut him down for a week, then that stretched into a month, the Cubs came out publically and said the MRI's and exams were showing nothing and said sometimes pitchers have to pitch with pain. With that said, I agree that Abreu for Prior or Zambrano doesn't make any sense for the Cubs, and I agree with a previous poster that said it was likely the Phillies saying if you want Abreu we are going to ask for a ton, so don't waste our time with prospects. Gammons has said a few times that if the Phillies trade Abreu it will be for a 1 or 2 pitcher or they won't do it.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 12:30 AM) Unless you count the immortal Sergio Mitre valuable prospect, it may not be likely. Per Rotoworld... I figure Florida's gotta be able to get a better offer than that somewhere. I had the summer off studying and I was actually really impressed with Mitre's stuff, he seems to throw a heavy ball, and I think he can be an intriguing pitcher. The Marlins are probably going to field other offers since they didn't snap this deal up, but they may shop around and come back to this. Don't forget, this is the team that snapped up Dontrelle Willis from the Cubs system when he was in what, A ball? So they may see something in one of the two prospects that they love...

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Dec 6, 2005 -> 10:48 PM) Did he mean the Cubs best offer? Or the best offer the the Marlins have gotten overall? I heard it, and I'm pretty sure he meant best overall, but obviously it didn't bowl the Marlins over or they would have accepted it, similar to the way the Phillies did with the Thome deal, ie they didn't call other teams back. I imagine Pierre will be a Cub tomorrow, Hendry would be really screwed it he doesn't get him.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Dec 6, 2005 -> 05:46 PM) Good it possibly be the Prior for Abreau deal?!?!? no, on BBTN today Stark basically said the Phillies proposed that deal and Cubs never gave it serious consideration. I guess Bradley is a possible, but he looks like he's going to Oakland...

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Dec 6, 2005 -> 05:42 PM) So it's either Pierre or Lugo and/or Huff. yeah, there was some rumblings that they were also talking about Gathwright (sp?) this was reported on the Score, interested to hear if Levine has anything, they didn't say anything was done, but if they are delaying their conference (and the conference is with Hendry) they have to be seriously working on something... I think some of the names in any deal may suprise people, the price will be high for those players and I think some of the former "untouchables" will be moved

Don't think this deserves a separate thread yet, but the Cubs delayed their daily press conference from 5 until 8 and there's buzz around the meetings that they are completing a trade with either the Marlins or Tampa...

KW is wrapping up about a 15 minute interview with Boers and Bernstein... he basically said he is not "flying under the radar" this time and there are no major moves. Then he talked about how gut wrenching it was to trade A-Row and how difficult the call was to make to him. He then said he makes risky moves with high reward because he doesn't care about finishing second or only making the playoffs, he only cares about winning the world series. That's why I like KW, he is willing to go out on a limb, and he rewarded all of us with a World Series... It was a great interview and shows what a class act he really is check the scores website later, they usually post these interviews

I have this vision of a red faced Jim Hendry stomping from team to team throwing a tantrum like a 3 year old saying "You are all big meanies, Pittsburgh's GM said he would trade Cory Patterson for Abreu straight up. Come on guys, everyone wants to play in a stadium that has an ancient, small locker room and Dusty Baker is their manager!"

To add on to the above post, I watched the BBTN thing today, and at least Kruk kind of flip flopped about the deal. At first he said Thome was a good addition, then later when they specifically focused on the trade he said the Sox will miss Rowand a lot because of his defense and the way the team is built. They did stress, Reynolds actually did this, how important it was to get Thome to protect the huge investement in PK, so there was good and bad comments about the trade from the "experts" except that a few times I have heard Gammons praise the move, with him stressing the depth of the Sox OF. Also some other notes that were mentioned on BBTN that I didn't see covered in this post... Mark Grudzielankek (OK, i know that's not how it's spelled, but I'm on a slow connection and not going to find how to spell it!!) is going to sign with the Mets on Thursday so they don't lose a pick (Cards won't offer him arbitration) Burnett's agents are there and were meeting with the Cards today, basically said that the Blue Jays deal has been on the table for a while for 5 years, and the fact that he hasn't taken it shows he's kind of waiting for something else. Phillie's may still be looking to trade Abreu, might be hard with his strict no-trade clause. Houston may be heavy after him, Blue Jays will be, but questionable whether he'll waive his no trade for the Jays. Gammons is saying Manny may move, but also can stay and he'll still produce for the Red Sox Best was Gammons said that Furcal signing with the Dodgers "crippled" the Cubs offseason plans, add to that that Steve Stone was on the Score today and basically said the same thing. Stone expects Hendry to make moves he normally wouldn't make due to losing out on Furcal, meaning he might trade prospects he normally wouldn't trade. Stone's main point was that at some point you have to overpay and it's either going to be money or prospects, and if the Cubs want to improve they'll now have to overpay in prospects to improve.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Dec 5, 2005 -> 12:13 PM) Great Krush. Now we have have a 4 page thread about how ESPN only likes Boston and NY. Thanks for the heads up, I'll be watching. lol, well I'm ready to write a scathing post about them ripping on the PK signing and the Thome trade!!

I don't know where he is, but hopefully he's taking his own advice and he's not somewhere strapping it on

QUOTE(That funky motion @ Dec 4, 2005 -> 10:34 AM) They did need bullpen,help and they got that. They also need a leadoff man and a outfielder. Pierre or Damon would fill both of these needs. There's still options out there yes, but this Furcal thing is such a slap to the face for the Cubs because Hendry and Baker were making public statements about Furcal. (I heard and saw them multiple places, but WSCR has interviews with them, I believe they're both up on their websites). Also, the Cubs plan was to have Furcal AND Pierre, that was reported on both local stations. So, no matter what they do it's their plan B. The Cubs just thought they would throw some money on the table and Furcal would come running here, it didn't happen. Cubs cannot spin him not signing with them as anything but a negative. It also screws everything up with them getting Pierre. No matter what the Cubs proposed to the Marlins before yesterday automatically went up. The Marlins and any other potential move, including Damon, just got a huge upper hand in negotiations.

QUOTE(BlackBetsy @ Dec 3, 2005 -> 11:45 PM) FYI - the article entitled "Furcal is key to Cubs' Big Plans" written by Dave Van Dyck is no longer on the Trib web site. That organization moves fast to protect themselves from embarrassment. lol, Awesome, that is classic...