SoxFan562004

FWIW the Score is picking up the NY Post story, quoting it and not adding anything new...

I'm sorry, this offer boggles my mind, for anyone who heard it can you relay how Levine sounded when he said it. Did he say he didn't think it would get the deal done, or was he slobbing Hendry's knob? WTF, I feel like I'm drunk.....

initially I heard they wanted a similar scheme, but heard Lovie comment on how he wants a run first offense, so that may not fit the Shea school of offense

Put this in the Cubs offer Beltran thread as well, but ESPN.com put up an article saying Mets are finalizing offer, and it's going to be atleast 100m... but they don't have ivy on the wall...

???? That is the most token offer I have ever heard... that is just hoping he really wants to play in Chicago, but the main point they did it is so they can show their fans that they tried, and trot out the philosophy of "we don't like deals longer than 5 years." WTF?!?! This is a total head scratcher. Did Levine say when they offered this? If this was within the last two days Boras must have laughed his ass off since it seems the mets are going to offer at least 7/100 and the Astros have offerred at least a similar offer if not more! (Houston also has the benefit of their contract being larger than any other paper deal from NY or IL since there's no state income tax in TX). I swear to f***ing God, if the media strokes Jim Hendry for making this offer I will go insane. I don't want to see Mariotti write something like "Bold Hendry Shows Cubs Fans he Cares!" or Rogers writing "Bravo! Hendry bucks the trend and sets his own market" Just imagine what the backlash would have been if KW and the Sox made a similar offer, because the facts are facts, the Cubs offerred 2 years and about 40 million dollars less than Boras was asking for!!! BTW, article on ESPN.com saying Mets are finalizing their offer, believed to come in over 100m, but of course they don't have ivy on the wall

Article at ESPN.com says there will be 8 offensive corridantor (sp?) positions open, so since the Bears are super cheap it should be interesting...

QUOTE(quickman @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 10:37 PM) A source said Mariotti received a written edict last month ordering him to ease up on the Bulls and Sox. Station executives followed that up with oral reminders. Both sides finally had enough. "We agreed that if I wouldn't agree to their editorial conditions, then I should leave," Mariotti said Tuesday. "I'm not going to compromise my integrity to do favors on the air for the White Sox and the Bulls. When they ask me to treat two teams differently than the others, that's a red flag for me, and it has been happening quite a bit over the last few months." With the station's Sox deal expiring after the 2005 season and its Bulls deal ending after the 2005-06 campaign, negotiations had reached a critical point. The station apparently felt it had to appease Reinsdorf There's a thread in Sports Bar

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 10:14 PM) I agree, better than Jon Miller saying that another team like the Dodgers were the team to beat. This raises a good question... all the reports have said there are other teams interested/made offers to AJ. I don't doubt this, but anyone know any other teams? I assume The Dodgers are out there, but who else?

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 10:08 PM) Any word on possible replacements? Very early speculation is if Mike Martz gets axed in St. Louis his name will pop-up (St. Louis owner did give him a vote of confidence which could be good or mean he's as good as fired) I think I heard they wanted to keep a similar scheme, so someone from the St. Louis/Kansas City coaching tree....

QUOTE(TheDybber @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 06:35 PM) Mgmt said to tone down smack talk on Sox and Bulls. He said, I'm not changing for anybody because I have principles. Mgmt laughs, says, you suck and moves on. I believe ESPN 1000 later said they never told him anything. Basically the guy who hired him left and he had no supporters at the station. But I don't care the end result makes me happy, hopefully sun-times will follow suit!

Shea's play calling was mind boggling at times... I know someone already mentioned the three straight pass plays after successful series of runs, but what struck me as odd was some of the run plays he was calling. OK, Bears had a s***ty/injured OL. So what does he do? He calls delayed runs and fake reverses that require the OL to hold their blocks. He would have been better off calling exclusively dive plays and off-tackle plays. Let the OL try to use some of their size since they lack skill.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 08:24 PM) I don't see it either, but not for the reason you just stated. Beltran was only with them a few months, it's not like he came up with the organization and had been there for years. He has said he was comfortable with Astros and "all things being equal" he would stay with the Astros. So it seems Mets, Cubs or Tigers would have to offer more money...

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 07:48 PM) Well, if the market drives up the price on one of these guys, who would you all rather see Kenny overpay/sign to a good contract? Personally, I think AJP is the guy to pull out all the stops for. Yes, he has an attitude problem. Who cares!? This will be his first year in our clubhouse and it will be a new beginning. Ozzie runs a tight ship and I have a feeling AJP will be a fan favorite in two months time. This guy comes to play everyday. He really is a hard-nosed grinder. More importantly, he'll probably provide more offense than Iguchi. If Kenny had to gamble on a guy that has been with three clubs in three years or a thirty year old Japanese second basemen, I say gamble on AJP. Would I love to see both guys in Black and Silver? Yes. Will it happen? Meh. Lets hope Shingo's words mean a lot in terms of recruiting Iguchi and signing him to a resonable contract. If Kenny signs both of these guys, he gets an A on this off-season. Hands down. No questions asked. I would rather have him "overpay" for AJ. I think he is a proven MLB player an a good offensive add. No doubt that he gets an A if he adds both or AJ and Cairo. However, I really think it's a B- if this is the team he goes into ST with, I just look at the line-up and think another bat has to be added.....

Yeah, the injuries did hurt the OL a lot this year, but this may be a case of Angelo and Lovie realizing this guy doesn't have what it takes to get the job done. They work with him every day, and you can have the best pedigree/resume on the market, but once you start doing the job it's pretty easy to spot a fraud.

If that's what the Cubs are offering, it's not much of one... Astros and Mets will both blow that away with $$ and years

Well with the Japanese guy, hopefully the Sox can offer a 3rd year option to satisfy both parties, with a good sized buyout

Yeah, I saw this somewhere too, just can't remember where!! Basically though, New York Newsday is the only one reporting this and other papers are saying no offer has been made.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 09:58 AM) Make sure that birth certificate is the real deal and NOT a Xerox copy. Yeah, you want the one with the raised stamp on it. I believe you can get them from the county you were born in, my dad got his fairly easily

QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 02:46 PM) Bruce Levine was just on AM 1000 and said Aj is looking for a deal of atleast 3 mill a year and the Sox offer is less...plus he said Iguchi is looking for a 3 yr deal and the Sox have offered a 2 year deal. Take it for what its worth though... Eh, doesn't sound like the most promising news on either front. I wouldn't mind hearing Cairo's name involved with the White Sox if these two fall through. I think KW needs to get one more bat to make it a great off-season

I love the episode where everyone thinks George is dead because he has been leaving his car at Yankee Stadium to make it look like he's working all day. It's classic for the part where Mr. Costanza leaves the message on Jerry's answering machine that goes like... "Jerry, it's Mr. Costanza, George is dead, Mr. Steinbrener is here, call me back." Of course Jerry Stiller delivers it perfectly!

I imagine that since AZ is getting 9m from NY and 8m from LA, any team that they trade Vazquez to is going to get some money... I think Dodgers are only paying 1/2 of Green's salary, so I expect them to make a run at another solid bat for their line-up to go with J.D. Drew. I think they'll make a run at Delgado...

There's many classic ones, but my favorite is easily the "Tony/Mimbo" episode with Dan Cortese. Everything in that episode is hysterical.... "Step off? Me? Oh Tony don't...."

FWIW ESPN Radio (the national update) is saying AZ expects to shop Vazquez to the O's, Tigers and the White Sox. I don't put any much into this report, I think they just threw the White Sox in there because their name has buzzed around Vazquez the last two offseasons...

Mac, Jurko, and Harry talked about King Douche a little today. Basically when Assface left management told them not to talk about it (That day it was Harry with Mac and Jurko's brothers). Today they talked about it a little, seems like they were probably told to watch what they say. You can tell Mac is very happy he's gone, basically said he was in San Diego when he heard the news and had a celebratory drink. Then Mac took some more time to rip on Kornheiser (sp?). Those two hate each other, and Mac can't let it go.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 3, 2005 -> 09:06 PM) Not to rain on everyone's parade, but what evidence do we have to know that A.J. is even considering the White Sox? It's been rumored that approximately 6 teams have offered him a contract. With Varitek signing with the Red Sox, I would have thought that A.J. would have decided on a team by now. I hope we get him, but I can't say I'm optimistic about our chances right now. I think that's a great point. I haven't even heard one other team named, one of them could easily be a big spending team and blow a Sox offer out of the water.