Chisoxfn

Ya, makes sense to me. Cubs have a wide open closers spot, Sox have Shingo until they sign a big name closer or Shingo fails.

I'd give him a contract. If he's really that desperate then hell ya.

Ya, I picked up on that later in the thread. I was reading through the thread one page at a time replying. My bad.

That may be the funniest thing Mike North has ever said.

If he's signing with the Jays he isn't going to be getting a big offer. I think Clement is one of the better options out their if the Sox went the FA route.

I don't know if anyone went to that message board, but its based on some poster claiming it. I didn't see an actual source anywhere. Not blaming you MaggsMaggs, just saying I don't know if I'd think too much of this so called offer. As far as Renteria goes, just say no, he isn't worth anything near the type of money he's seaking.

First off, I can give you some credit in terms of Elo, I think that was kind of pulling a rabbit out of a hat type deal. But Marte has been one of the best setup men in baseball the past couple years, even with his down year this past season. When has he been given the opp to be teh closer of the future. The Sox have had Foulke, Gordon, and Koch around and hten Shingo stepped in and was brilliant. As far as Olivo goes, he along with Reed were turned into Freddy Garcia whose one of the better pitchers in the AL and still has a lot of upside potential, imo.

Well their are some talks of a Soriano for Reyes deal but the economics of it don't work out. However, if Texas took on a contract from New York I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see a deal go down.

Technically speaking I have no doubt the Sox could of worked out a deal with the Dodgers unloading Maggs for prospects, Edwin Jackson and one other (just not Jackson and Miller) like many of us wanted on the board last year. SO they could of made the deal without adding payroll, but I don't think anyone figured Vladdy would end up signing for 15 mill and he didn't want to play in a big city, thats why he picked Anaheim. He knew their infield coach and was so happy to come to Anaheim. The question was whether they'd make the offer or not and finally they did. The Dodgers thought they had him signed and were kind of shell shocked when he ended up in Anaheim.

Dodgers will not deal Itzuris. If they do they are stupid cause he's an awesome defensive shortstop and a developing offensive player. Very young too, meaning he's incredibly affordable. Angels will only look for a big name middle infielder for whatever reason. Personally I think they are just find. Then again I see no reason for them to piss away money on Jason Varitek when its obvious they need pitching.

And then the sox laughed back when they got Damaso Marte and Ruddy Yan for Matt Guerrier.

In some circles I think Kenny's name would be bantered about as one of the better gm's in baseball. I know many here would laugh at this notion, but he's done a pretty good job with limited resources. This is his key season though and he knows it and I expect RJ wearing a southsiders uniform this season.

But I do think he would of been better suited targeting Corey Koskie at 3rd base and spending a little less on the shortstop position.

This move is the sign that the Angels have a good feeling they can land Beltran. In fact, you may see them sign him pretty quickly. They may be willing to go 7 to 8 years at 15 million per. They have said they won't offer him more then 15 on a per year basis though. By the way I shouldn't of spoke so quickly, Rivera had pretty good stats and maybe he wasn't just a highly touted Yanks prospect (I never think much of highly touted Yanks prospects). Hit over .300 with 300 plus ab's.

Did he somehow deal Jason Bay to the Padres??? Cause Bay was given to the Pirates via San Diego in the Brian Giles deal along with Oliver Perez and another player (a solid infielder if I recall).

OMFG, you gotta be kidding me. I'd of so traded Joe Borchard and a prospect cause thats about what Juan Rivera is. Juan Rivera is nothing super special. Amazingly good pickup by the Generals or whatever they are gonna be called. Ignore this original rant. Should of continued reading the thread and seen who the prospect was as well as look up Rivera's stats.

Well If you remember before the Sox dealt Mark Johnson they avoided arbitration with him, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I think the benefit is if you do trade him the team acquiring him knows his exact salary. And if you don't trade him, you avoid and ugly process/situation (like Cheat said). It seems like the Sox are very good at staying away from letting the arbitrators decide because all the Sox do is try to say how s***ty he is and how he isn't worht this much and Garlands case is the opposite. This is a perfectly good deal, he'd of gotten somewhere around this via arbitration and in this case the Sox are making the process easier on both sides. Avoid arbitration can also help set up a long term deal in the future. Everyone is so hard on Jon cause they expect him to be a star and I think he has that type of ability (not quite star, but a very good 2/3). Since he isn't at that level we just assume he's crap, but he can keep you in games and goes deep into most games. Only 24 too.

Rocks are also looking at Rob Nenn. I think if its a reliever the Rocks name is being mentioned with the club. But your right, the Sox should look at him. He'd be a similar acquisition to Flash Gordon.

I think the deal could be done without Anderson, just Garland/Konerko, however in the end I expect the Dbacks to ask for Anderson and since Kenny wants RJ so bad he's going to give him in. But comparing all the other offers, no one else even comes close to what the Sox have offered. I expect RJ to finish his career on the SouthSide. He's gonna probably resign on a year to year basis (although he'll likely extend one year with whoever accepts him immediately). JR and RJ will get along since RJ is more then happy to accept some deferred money. I'm hoping Kenny can counter and give them Diaz or someone along those lines (NOT BMAC, he's untouchable). I'd like to think Sweeney/Anderson/Bmac don't get dealt in the deal. I bet the Dbacks would accept Tracey although I think he's got a shot to catapult himself into the top 50 (in all of baseball) by the end of this next season.

You guys are nuts, he's gonna be a White Sox.

No, Wilcox is already performing at a good level and he has the athletic ability to perform at a great level. Putting up 16 bounds a game or so with the Clips as their starting center. He's going to be one of the better PF's in the game. Of course the Clips also have Kaman so I don't know how exactly a deal with the Bulls would work out, but having Kaman and Curry would be a nice option for the Clippers.

Why, Koskie is a very good defensive 3rd baseman.

Ortiz - 4 Appier - 12.5 Sele - 8 Percival - 6 Glaus - 8 The salaries may even be a little higher. Thats 38.5 million that won't be on next years payroll, which explains why Gammons says the Angels have about 35-45 million to spend, depending on whether Moreno wants to up payroll a bit more or not.

His health status is very questionable, but I brought him up in one of my first blog entries. His arm will never be 100% again, but he wants to pitch again this year. I think signing him to a minor league deal would be fine, but I figure he'd be more comfortable accepting that sort of contract with the Giants.

Maybe thats the upside to having Grilli