Chisoxfn

From the sounds of this, their may be some truth to Peter Gammons talking about Omar Vizquel and that being the first moved. I also gotta say I'm hoping somehow Maggs signs a long term deal before Dec. 7th, that way the Sox dont' have to worry about offering arbitration and automatically get the picks, lol. The article also mentions that Kenny is going to take a little bit of a different approach this off-season, letting clubs come to him more often in terms of trades.

Article The article mentions that the Sox will look at Beltran, Vizquel and potentially dangle Paul Konerko as trade bait. It also says that Ken Williams is hoping to have a payroll in the range of 70 million, mabye even higher. Its funny how you have some quotes of Kenny quoted as saying it will remain 65 and then a trib article stating the same last week and now this. I think the Sox will be agressive, like they usually are, and its interesting to now hear Konerko's name coming up considering earlier in the year we all suspected Lee (I'm sure his name being mentioned in this article had nothing to do with Rosenthals rumor). I think the fair thing to say is that Kenny will be agressive as usual and that realistically any of Konerko/Lee could be traded and I find it likely that one will be gone. Hopefully the payroll finds itself in the 70 mill range this year.

If Houston keeps losing I think we'll start to see less Tmac commercials.

Wasn't Randolph one of the early names mentioned last year with the Sox?

I don't care how the media is spinning it now, their is no way that Guillen is an Angel at the start of next year. I've heard it from a few people in the Angels org (on the radio) that they will be pursuing Carlos Beltran. They want a centerfielder and they want Anderson back in left field.

Hey, I can't agree more with your statements. I see absolutely no reason why gay people can't get equal rights. If somehow something is on the ballot, as a republican I will vote to support civil unions and to support gays to be able to receive equal rights. In fact, if people can't be fired because of race or being handicapped, I see no reason for why they can be fired because they are gay. The only thing I differ in the gay issue is that I feel marriage is something between a man and a women. But I believe two gay people should be able to live with their partner and get every single benefit that a married couple gets. I think a civil union is just a different word for marriage, but it leaves marriage as something between a man and a women. Thats just my stance and I respect your opinion as always wino. Also, I didn't commend your comments in the thread where you talked about volunteering in the election and I want to say they were classy.

Boozer is playing good too. No doubt that Kobe is good, but I also believe he's an ass. One nice thing is that he has amazing work ethic.

With that curve ball I completely predict Zito will react positively and pitch much better next year. I don't know what happened with Zito, but he's still a good pitcher. I do agree that his numbers should go up if he pitched half of his games at the Cell, but any of the big 3's numbers will go up leaving Oakland (a pitchers park).

Its so damn hard to get in the gang wars. Right now I'm on the mission where you start running drugs and you got to get the harvester. The first two times I did it I rolled the harvester trying to take my own special shortcut through the mountains, lol.

Finally some of my laziness has passed on to ya Thats the spirit, GTA is way more important then school. Were going to be at school for a few more years, but this GTA is only gonna be new for a few months

Miguel Olivo wasn't called corky for nothing. He was caught with it down in the minors. I don't think any of us held it against him. IT may not be at the major league level, but cheating is still the same, imo. And I consider myself an Olivo fan, even though I thought he was over-rated with us. I still wish him the best though.

The guys a selfish, asshole prick, but no doubt he's a hall of famer. He had some absolutely monster seasons and has had a good career. Of course its on the downside, but no doubt in my mind he's first ballot.

Ya, I was surprised to see that too. He looked good all pre-season and may even be a potential building piece in LA. It wasn't that long ago when Mihm was one of the more highly touted center prospects in college (back when he was at Texas). Still its just one game, but he should be able to learn some nuances from Vlade once he gets healthy. The other guy on the Lakers I'd like to see more of is Brian Cook. He was hurt most of last year but he was a machine in Illinois. He's a good athlete and should help ther low post position. The big question for the Lakers is who is going to get boards. They want to run and play agressive, but to succeed at that they are going to have to excel on the boards and get quick outlet passes. Utah looking fantastic tonight. I'm with you guys, Sloan is one of the best, if not the best in the league right now.

Like I said before. This was the first year with the renovations and I think its pretty safe to say they made it more of a hitters park. But at the same time I think we should see what another year does. I expect it to still be a hitters park, but maybe it won't be quite as drastic. And at the same time the Sox offense did have quite a few good hitters. Of course opponents ripped the crap out of us too, then again our pitching wasn't what I'd call stellar. However, if it plays out the same way, I wouldn't mind seeing the fences in left moved back, although realistically I don't know if they could do it with the bullpens over there.

Chris Mihm played freaking awesome last night. Looks like he may pan out after all. He did a nice job last year in Boston with his hustle (blocks, boards, defense).

Goodie Goodie. I'd love to see this happens because it spreads their money out farther and Nomar is an injury prone guy. Plus, maybe just maybe it means they are less as agressive on the Beltran front. Me, I want them to just give us Kevin Brown

Guys I'm going to have to side with Red on this. Orlando Cabrerra >>> Jose Valentin I think Jose has good range, but at the same time I think playing in Montreal most of his career means more groundballs got past him because they are hit so hard which has a negative effect on his range factor. Plus RF heavily depends on the type of pitchers you have as well, especially for a middle infielder. Having watched Jose paly a long time, I'll say this. He's better then average range wise, but defensively I'd call him average because he still makes too many errors. This year he did better, but Cabrerra is very strong defensively and I think he's better then Jose.

I think if Carlos is dealt Jose Guillen would fit in production wise and budget wise. However, Kenny has made it quite a big deal to get character guys in the clubhouse and although I think some of the stuff said about Guillen was overblown, you have to wonder if the Sox would be willing to acquire him. No doubt he'd put up very good numbers on the southside, plus he plays good defense (awesome arm). I think he can be had for a guy like Arnie Munoz and another prospect. I read somewhere that the Pirates were interested in him and you can't see them offering up top prospects, which leads me to believe the Angels aren't going to get much for him.

Mulder is who I'd want the most on the SouthSide of their big three. But I'd have to think that they will do what they can to keep him. The question to me is whether its Zito or Hudson. I'll take any of the three for Konerko . However I do think Lee would make more sense in Oakland since Hatty and Durazo are their (I don't know if Durazo is gone or not like someone mentioned).

Remember, I tend to have a stance to not talking about guys that are still rather far from making the show. I rarely tout rookie league guys and people have to be very special before I highly doubt them in low A. I don't doubt Pedroia. I think he's a guy that has the heart and mechanics to be very good. He plays the game right, is scrappy and is good, even though he's limited physically. Abe Alvarez is kind of an et. I really don't know if he's all that good. I think he may have a shot, but I say the same thing about Felix Diaz and I don't think the White Sox have a top farm system. I think some of the pieces are their that they should climb in the next few years, but its still a major wait and see with them. I think they probably rate somewhere near the White Sox, except they don't quite have the Bmac, Anderson, Sweeney in the system. They do have Hanley though and he's as legit as it gets. I just don't think they rate top 5 or so like you insinuated.

Damn it, I was thinking you guys were having a sunkist orange drink extravaganza

My two favorites were that as well. Of course I've never tried either beers. I know what I'll be doing this weekend Its kind of funny, some of the beers I like finished dead last.

On a sidenote, late in the election process I remember Bush saying he was for Civil Unions so I'm hoping that the country will take some necessary steps to make it possible for gays to get civil unions and more importantly for them to be able to share rights with their partners. I think thats a very important thing and its something as a republican I support and want to see done.

I want to quickly say something. I finally got to see Kerry's concession speach and I really want to commend him. I thought it was a very classy speach and I give him a lot of credit. I remember reading somewhere on this thread that Kerry's political career is now over, and that Edwards still has one. If you ask me Kerry handled this appropriately and I gained a lot of respect towards him for the way he did it. I think he has ensured that when his seat is next up for re-election that he'll have a good shot at it. As far as John Edwards goes, I think his political career is over with. He did an incredibly lousy job after gaining so much support in the primaries. He also, imo, did a terrible job in the elections and for a guy that is a trial attorney, he should be a much better public speaker (I guess this is kind of blah, because i'm more then willing to admit the fact that Bush is a horrible public speaker, but to me he makes up for it with his uncanny ability to connect with people on a one to one basis). Anyway, thats just my stance on it.