Chisoxfn

I expect him to hit over .300 this year with around 10 Hr's. I'm not concerned with his power numbers at this point. I'd like for him to get healthy and at 100% and start getting more agressive at the plate (in terms of trying to drive the inside pitch). He's a good hitter, but at times he is a little afraid to let lose, imo. I think he's going to be just fine, that said, he's still 1-2 years away. Just like Chris Young (1 year away, could be a little less, but more time won't hurt him) and than Anderson who I think is half a season away and could be on the big league roster this entire season in a super sub outfield role where he gets (16 ab's a week, 3-4 starts). Basically Anderson can be eased in this year and than if in some instance anyone goes down for any period of time, he's been eased in so your not really throwing him into the fire persay. He would have had some time to make adjustments and will be much better prepared to succeed. Thats just the way I think he should be brought in and I'm a big fan on doing that.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 08:28 AM) Valido last played in a game Oct 24th and he didn't leave that game for any reason listed. Seems if he was simply being replaced they would have had Pedro on the roster much more quickly than 10 days later. Good point, if they knew he was leaving there would of been no reason to not replace him so quick. I still say, something came up, he thought he was going to come back and than in the end the Sox and him just figured it best to cut the AFL season short.

Hopefully everything is alright with Valido. It could be the SOx just wanted to have him work on somethings and than get Lopez in there (but I don't think it works that way). If I were to guess, maybe a family issue came up and he ended his season just to take care of that? Total guess. I assume he isn't hurt, otherwise I think one of us would have heard something.

QUOTE(bighurt2719 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 05:41 AM) money says you wanted to trade crede for vinny castilla midway through this last season. number crunch that! Money says you'll be taking a week or so off.

QUOTE(ptatc @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 10:42 AM) How about Erubiel Durazo as a part time LH DH? He is coming off an injury filled season and would be cheap. We are defending world series champs. This isn't a time to be cheap, this isn't a time to think of a short term option and plug him in and hope you get lucky. This is the time to use the World Series and try and get ourselves another premiere hitter to go with Konerko (or whoever replaces Paulie) and improve this offense just a bit to go with our pitching staff. We don't have any holes to fill aside from getting our 1st baseman back and finding a new DH. Now is the perfect time to try and make this team a little better to go into next year and give them the best damn chance to defend the title as possible. Guys like Erubiel Durazo and Frank Thomas, thats what 2nd place teams would do, not defending champs. This isn't last year where we had a bunch of holes to fill. This is this year, and the only hole out there to fill is DH. Get it done Kenny, I know you will.

The Angels are definately going to be players in the Manny sweepstakes. I don't know if this 3 way deal will work out, but that said the Angels have a couple overpriced guys they could offer for Manny. Garret Anderson would be the guy I'd do everything I could to give up in a Manny deal. Right now they appear focused on moving Erstad, but I think the Angels have both Erstad, Finley and Garret Anderson as options. In fact, If I were Anaheim I'd offer Finley, Erstad, and a good prospect or two for Manny. That or I'd offer Anderson and a quality prospect or two for Manny. Boston seems desperate and if the Angels were smart they'd take this as an opportunity to get the best run producer the game has ever seen as well as unload some of the dumb contracts they handed out. Plus, technically speaking Boston is going to need a CFer and Finley will play better than he did this past year. Erstad is a gritty, solid player so they could fill two holes. Problem is thats a lot of money for them to take on, but in the long run they'd save a lot.

They are just taking there time. No reason not to, they have it.

QUOTE(GoArow33 @ Nov 3, 2005 -> 03:15 PM) If the White Sox lose Konerko and decide to spend money elsewhere, where will the money go? I don't see any need to change the rotation or bullpen. I can live with Vizcaino and Marte being the duds in our pen after they both posted sub 4 ERA's last season. I don't see anyone to replace in the lineup except fill the vacancy at 1B. So the question is, why lose Pauly at all? I just think this team is built for the next few years and that losing Pauly to land other FA's isn't a good idea at all. If the Sox lose Paulie. I'd like to add a big time hitter and than find another solid hitter (one via FA, one via trade). Than with the money left over, I'd make a heavy push locking up Garland to a 4 year 28 mill deal. I don't know if he'd take it, but I think it would be a nice deal. Worse case I'd do a 3yr deal in the neighborhood of 21 mill, but there would be a 4th year option worth 8 or 9 mill with a buyout of 2-3 million which would push the guaranteed figures of the 3 yr deal to 24 mill or so. I think its key to get Big Jon locked up and taken care of. I'd even think about offering Jose Contreras a 2 year extension at 18 mill. See if he bites. By extension I'm referring to keeping his current remaining year and going two more (so I guess that would be a 3 year extension). I'd like to see the Sox lock up some of these pitchers agian, just so they don't have all of them come free right around the same time. The only pitcher I have no interest in locking up would be Garcia. I have my doubts about him over the long term (plus he's signed for a while anyway).

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 09:21 AM) My question/concern is this. Last offseason was a a little different than last year. We really dont have that many holes that need to be filled. Its nice to spend the money in 3 or 4 different areas, but we dont need many to be filled. We get a 1b and DH(not cheap positions) and were pretty much set. We shall see what happens. Plus move Duque to free up some room for resigning Paulie (or finding a new 1st baseman) and adding a DH.

I don't buy into Paulies hip problem, not one bit. The guy has had no serious injuries in his entire career, so I see no reason why so many people think he's going to completely wear down. That said, I think 7 year deals in general are bad. If it were the NFL and the non guaranteed contracts I'd have no problem with it, but if Paulie gets a 7 year deal, he'd have to take a substantial discount in the $/yr aspect. I think the most I go with Paulie is 5yr 13M per season. If he wanted some optoins fine, but the only way I'd go 7 yrs is if it were a 7yr 70 mill deal and Paulie wouldn't take that.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 09:50 AM) That's not the big question. The big question is...given what Frank can still do even in a limited role...is he worth what his cost would be to your team? If he is, then who cares about sentiment of the fans? I think that even if Frank can only give us 300 at bats next year, if the price is low enough, he's going to be the single best option available at DH for those 300 at bats. A guy that can't do anything else but be a pinch hitter, is not the type of guy you keep on the bench. It would be stupid to have a complete DH who can't help out in any way other than offensively (and even than thats assuming he's healthy enough to be out on the field every once in a while) sitting on the bench. It makes zero sense to do that. Plus Frank isn't the type of guy who can sit on the bench for a week, come in for a pinch hit in a key situation and succeed. He needs to get consistent ab's and he's not going to get them in Chicago (he better not). It would be a ridiculous move to do anything other than invite him to camp and see what he could do. I would not even think about offering the big man a contract. The Sox need to get better at DH and nowhere does getting better mean having Frank Thomas as your starting DH or even as a platoon DH with someone else. Find yourslef a legit player who can step in and play DH at times, at other times play in the field with other guys playing DH. Use the DH as a way to give your guys a little bit of rest, while you still get to keep there bat in the lineup.

QUOTE(bighurt2719 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 05:27 AM) stop crunching numbers for once and just admit that frank is a part of the white sox. i just think it would be a shame for him to play somewhere else. That doesn't mean the Sox should fork him over some money and depend on him. If the Sox depend on him being an everyday DH, this season is toast. He is not going to play a full season ever again. He'll be lucky to play half a season (not saying he won't play another few years, but he'll never be healthy for more than half a aseason at a time).

Thats a good move by the Indians. He was so hyped when he came up with the Brewers years ago, but he's turned into a pretty darn good 2nd baseman with the Tribe. I wish they didn't bring him back. Its going to be interesting to see what Cleveland does. They should have some money to spend, but 1st they need to tie up some of their vets or find replacements for them (Milly, Howry, and Wickman).

Did Towers turn down the Red Sox job yesterday or something? Yesterday all they were talking about was how Towers and the BoSOx were gonna dance (this is a San Diego sports talk station I was litening to).

This move makes absolutely zero sense for the Pads. Lawrence wasn't that great this past year, but he's been a pretty solid pitcher during his tenure in San Diego and well, Vinny Castilla is a freaking joke. Horrible trade. Pads fans should be frustrated with this move. Talk is David Wells will be back in SD this year and the question is going to be who will be replacing Kevin Towers. Towers will probably rejoin Larry Luchino in Boston as the next Red Sox GM.

Hunsicker aside, they got some really young individuals running that team.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Nov 3, 2005 -> 11:41 PM) Songo is a better defender than davis is at this point in his career and i view sweetney and curry as basically a wash defensively. We are better imo ... but it is by a very slight margin. Davis could guard centers while Songalia can't. I think your comparing apples and oranges, but the Bulls lack a player that can defend a decent center. Chandler could turn into that guy, but its going to take some time.

QUOTE(Confederate_48 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 08:50 AM) T.O. is right though about Donovan hurting the teams record. Hes so hurt hes missing wide open receivers and Andy Reid keeps on throwing the ball. With Favre they would be pretty close to undefeated. Than again, if the Bears had Brett Favre I firmly believe they'd be undefeated.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 09:17 AM) You'll fit in well with that attitude. Welcome to our little liberal corner of the universe, since we are such a liberal-run site. Whoa...whoa...whoa Alex Congrats Chisoxy. You've been a great poster on this site for a long time and I'm looking forward to seeing your input and hearing your ideas on different aspects of the boards. Your gonna make a great mod and its great to have you a part of the team.

Ya qwerty...I'm dissapointed, I saw no man love for you man crush Pike. What a 4th quarter he had.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 09:02 PM) Bulls over Pistons? Anything outside of key injuries, the Bulls don't finish any better than 3rd. I would love to be wrong, though. Even that will be tough. Mil and Cleveland are both strong teams. I really like Mil. The Bulls are in by far and away the toughest division in the NBA.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 08:57 PM) He is 10 times the player...talent-wise. But Duhon is raising his game by playing hard. Anyways, it was only the Bobcats, but it was good to see them not give up. The most important thing for me from this game is the status of Kirk. I hope he'll be fine. He's not a better basketball player at this stage. Duhon was better last year, we'll see what happens this year and the years to come.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 08:57 PM) I'd say there's a major difference between the two. One game meant something and quite frankly this one didn't. That Arizona/Illini game was one of the best comebacks I've ever seen. Totally amazing. I remember (not being a fan of either team, although I respect both of them and will casually cheer for them when they aren't playing my team) actually cheering and getting excited at the end of that game.

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 08:52 PM) Does anybody think the Bulls can take the division this year. Not a chance

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 08:20 PM) Duhon is such a good player. Don't tell that to all the Gordon lovers. They all think Gordon is 10 times the player Duhon is and that Duhon shouldn't be starting. Its the exact opposite. Duhon isn't as good as he showed tonight, but he has the ability to have these kind of nights more often and will be one of the better PG's in the league (all around). Gordon looked a lot better defensively though from what I saw from him after Hinrich went down. Gordon also made some better passes as oppposed to last year, but he still needs to work on not turning the ball over so darn much (only 1 turnover tonight though). Aside from the shots not falling, this was about the best I've seen Gordon play in the NBA.