Chisoxfn

Let me put it this way, if I ever go down to 56K, you guys will just have to get used to not having my posts. I guess now I just have to wait until heads and 2k call my cable provider and convince them to pull my serivce But seriously, dialup is awful. I'd almost never use the computer if I had to wait for sites to load and what not.

Hey, we need more winners cheat. I think the Sox infield is fine with the addition of a shortstop. We have guys like Burke and Hankins who are capable of playing other infield positions plus Uribe and Valdez and of course Gload. Expect one starting infielder to be brought in, specifically a shortstop, although it could very well be a 2nd baseman.

THe Sox have a lot of talent in the lower levels, but immediate help is not on the way. THe only two guys near the majors that have the ability to make an immediate impact are Anderson and McCarthy and they still have some steps to make before they are ready. However, I like a lot of what the Sox have in the lower levels an I think you should see this sytem once again develop into one of the better farm systems in baseball. But its nothing but bs to imply that they are one of the best just because they had some guys make the BA lists, plus they are counting duplicates and guys that were traded.

Ya, I'd rather save that money, draft a few first round talent guys that slip into the latter roudns (it always happens) and piss of Selig and offer them 1st or 2nd round money. That be a hell of a lot smarter then taking a shot on Maggs turning down arbitration just to get an extra 2 draft picks, imo.

Hey Jeckle..come on here. This guy has done absolutely nothing to get that type of an assault. I bet its bs, but we'll see...we'll see and to call the guy a perv....from the mouth of the famous Peter Griffin "Come on....Come On".

Can u guys submit the definition of Gaged to the dictionary people.

I think the cap is 82,000 but not positive on that. He's not going to repeal the tax cut, but he will definately be upping some of those type of things. Just like the mid 90's solution he came up with in regards to social security. Instead of taxing people up to like 38,000 they upped it to 82,000 or so. And his stance on social security was absolutely awful. We'll stay put and once it becomes a problem we'll do what we did in the 90's and solve it. So what, your just going to have American tax payers more money instead of actually do something about a system that is failing.

Oh, I did a write up on the players on the fall league. Just never got off my ass and put it up on FS. I'll do it in the morning

My latest blog entry on this subject: The writing has been on the wall for some time in Chicago and to most Sox fans it appeared quite obvious that Ordonez would be playing elsewhere in 2005. The odds of him remaining a Sox are now miniscule now that Ordonez has switched agents to Scott Boras. If the Yankees are the evil empire of baseball, then Scott Boras is the evil dictator of the sports agent world. He does an outstanding job getting his players as much green as possible, but he also burns friendship, makes no commitments, and makes no mention of hometown discounts. To him, its all about the benajamins. Now that’s not a problem from an agent, but its already a given that the White Sox shy away from Boras clients. Many teams in baseball shy away from his clients. His demands are usually excess and he will do anything possible to get his clients as much money as possible (Its his job afterall). However, the Sox won’t meet his demands. Ordonez was already offered the largest contract in the history of the Sox (reportedly) and he turned it down. He demanded Vladdy money even though he doesn’t have a Vladdy like presence in the lineup. Don’t get me wrong, Magglio is a good player, but he is not a 14 million a year player. As much as I don’t like Frank Thomas, Thomas is much more productive, as judged by his high OBP and OPS throughout his career, including the healthy portion of this season. Ordonez has yet to eclipsed the elite status of a 1.000 OPS, one of the true signs of a super star. In fact his career is .978 and his career OPS is .889. In the 2004 campaign, Ordonez was posting a mediocre .836 OPS while hitting .292 with 9 HR and 37 RBI in 52 games. If he played in all 162 games, that would project to 28 HR’s, and 111 RBI’s. No doubt those would be good numbers, 6 million a year better then Carlos Lee or Paul Konerko?? Lee hit .305 with a .891 OPS (higher then Magglio’s) hitting 31 HR’s and knocking in 99. Konerko batted .277 with an .894 OPS, 41 HR’s, and 117 RBI’s. Now lets take a look at the much maligned Frank Thomas. In 74 games he had a .271 AVG, .997 OPS, 18 HR and 49 RBI. Projected over a full season, that’s 39 homers and 107 RBI’s. All three of these players posted better numbers on the season then Magglio, statistically. Albeit Magglio plays a more important position, but not 6 million a year more important. The 6 million figure is representing what Lee is expected to make next year, cause in fact he was paid 7.5 million less then Ordonez in 04. Realistically the only thing that differs him from Carlos Lee is consistency. I don’t think any of us would be bantering for the Sox to offer Carlos Lee 14 million a year. If the Sox are going to spend 14 million a year, it should be on a special player like Beltran. Carlos Beltran, another Boras client (although rumors have been going around that he may switch agents) would be the better option. Beltran is better defensively, is one of the best base-runners in the game, and percentage wise the most effective base-stealer of all time (89.3% success rate). He also has plus power, the ability to hit for average, and oh ya, he plays gold glover caliber defense in centerfield. He also provides a switch hitting presence in the middle of the lineup, which will break up the monotony of righties. To be fair, Beltran hasn’t posted a 1.000 OPS either. But he was 2 HR’s away from going 40/40 this year. Is it realistic the Sox will get Beltran, No…but if your going to pay 14-16 million a year, you better make sure you get a super-star and Magglio is not a super star. So Maggs, thanks for all the great years you had here, but good riddance. The Sox are better off with an extra 14 mill divided up amongst other players or Carlos Beltran, then they would have been with you. Note: It is quite possible the money the Sox offered from Maggs has already been given out in the form of Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras. But if it isn’t, the Sox will be active this off-season, no doubt. Regardless of the fact I expect them to be active, the question is will they be active on the trade front (Which is a given considering “Trader Kenny” is at the helm) or on the free agent front as well.

Bush, for reasons I gave in the other debate thread.

Didn't see a poll for this so I figured i'd make one, considering their was one for the first two debates.

That sucks. Hell, I have enough trouble getting back in the groove after summer. I don't even think I'm in a groove yet. Anyway, kick some ass in school and then again down in the minors this year. Hopefully your shot is just around the corner.

Its simple, our generation shouldn't expect the government to support our retirement. I know I'm not expecting them to and I dont' think anyone else should. Social Security isn't needed anymore, however, we need to make sure the people that are expecting it, which means our parents, get it but after that, I'd set up a policy trying to help people retire and would maybe have policies to help poorer people retire and be aided, but other then that, I don't think its the job of the government to support our retirements. As far as the debate goes. I think this was Bush's best fairing. He was agressive from the beginning and did very well on a topic where Kerry had to be favored. I fully believe any debate on domestic policy favors the democratic party because they can talk up all their big government policies which always sound fine and dandy. I thought Bush did a good job attacking Kerry's health care plan. He also did a good job clearly stating how his tax cut did help the middle class. He gave 4 reasons of why the tax cut helped the middle class. It was pretty clear. He also seemed to throw out good facts to support him and did a good two fold job. A, he would explain his plan and then B, he would attack his opponents plan. Kerry just didn't appear as strong in this debate, but I think part of it was Bush was definately ready and came out gunning. I don't give a s*** what CBS poll and CNNs poll told me. ABC's initial poll said something else and Fox News the same way. Myself, I know my opinion and Idon't led the pundits sway my mind and Bush won that debate. I give him a 2-1 nod, but thats me However, I'm quiet worried that a lot of people missed the debate and are going to listen to the spin which initially appears to favor Kerry....no shocker. It kills me because it isn't true. I know it when two of my very good friends, both die-hard democrats tell me Bush did better.

I think the context of his quote was along the lines of. No, I don't really worry too much about him, but he should be worried about us.

This is kind of spun out of the Sinclair thread and some off my stuff refers to it, but then I decided to get on a larger tangent in a sense. Lets talk Hannity. I watch the show a few times a week, more now then usual, but whenever something is going on I pay a lot more attention to politics and will pretty much flip back and forth every day now and catch segments of all the Fox News programs. Today I decided to check out some of CNN after the debate. I typically try to flip channels and see what the consensus was, but what I saw after the debate tonight was sheer garbage coming from CBS and CNN. I was absolutely disgusted and I'm not one to cray afoul...these few posts by me today and yesterday were about the first I've made on stuff like this. I try to stay out of this type of nonsense but its becoming clear to me that the democratcs are screaming bloody murder and right fully so over this sinclair thing, but they have never seemed to have a problem by the consistent hack job bulls*** coming from CBS (Viacom) and CNN (especially has of late). It amazes me how much CNN has gone downhill. They used to actually be a credible news source, now its like they are trying to play into the liberal since Fox has cornered the conservative viewership and does a far better job covering politics, imo. People told me to listen to NPR and I caught it for a full weekend when I was in Iowa. My god was I amazed at the bull coming off those airwaves, it was horribly slanted. It was almost like listening to Rush, who by the way I can't stand. But Rush doesn't act like he's impartial, NPR is supposed to be impartial, CNN is supposed to be impartial. The talking heads aren't impartial, they are typically on to argue one side or the other. However, as far as Hannidy and Colmes go, I don't know how much you watch of it, but as of late it appears to be both guys get equal time with each person to ask their questions. You must be flipping during the time where Hannidy is getting in his licks or comments because they usually go one for a few minutes and then the other gets their statements and ocassionally each will but in during the others segments. Its pretty equal, especially of late. A year ago I'd of told you it was much more Hannity but that doesn't seem to be the fact anymore. I also have never figured out how Kerry can do no wrong. People act like he's completey perfect, well at least his supporters seem to. Their is no denying the fact that this guy is a self serving asshole. Just look at how over the place he is on issues. Now I'm not going to talk about issues where he says one thing and does another, but the 87 billion was absolute garbage. To publicly state he was going to do one thing and essentially claiming to not vote for it would be stupid and then not doing it is pure assinine. I get you want to make a protest, but he said he was for it and wanted to and voted against it soley in protest of the war, not in protest of the financing. Well great, protest by putting troops on the line without the proper protection...really freaking brilliant. Or how about not attending an intelligence meeting for essentially a year after the first World Trade center attack. And then having the balls to go in and propose a 6 billion dollar intelligence cut back. Now he has the gusto to say that we have to spend more on intelligence and strengthen. Well ya, I agree with that, the problem is your 20 year record doesn't support you have the ability to do it or will do it. How about the tax cuts. He keeps talking about rolling back the cuts for people paying 200,000. While I'm not in that tax bracket, its wrong to punish those that make a lot of money. That same group, or essentially the top 20% pay 80% of our income taxes so htey are pulling their fare share and when you give a tax break of course they are goign to see a heavier savings considering they put in a whole lot more. And lets get a rid of the dividend tax break and all those things which help spur investing and help improve the economy. Any economist will tell you, put the money in the hands of the public, not the hands of the government. When the government sector has to come in, it means you've had a major failure in the private sector. Their is no reason to have failures in our private sector. Were the most sucessful country in the wordl and while the government may ocassionally have to step in and protect sectors and on rare ocassions break up ocassional monopolies. However, I will stand with him on the tax shelters with companies that move out of the US, I do think you shouldn't give them deffered tax or whatever it is they get. But don't tell me, that taking money from the people making 200,000 or more to finance the government health care program is worth it. Bulls*** the government isn't involved John Kerry. I don't know how anyone could believe that considering the government will be footing the estimated 1.3 trillion bill (was estimated to be as high as 2.3 trillion dollars but those estimates have dropped a bit, but like any government program, the estimates will be too low). Plus its not right to tell only those rich to finance government health care for everyone else, when we all know those upper class people are going to still use their same health care. Its an absolute garbage policy. I'm not syaing that health care is right, its not, but a government sustained health policy is not in the best interest of this country. Now lets talk about the war in Iraq. While Kerry may have some sensible arguments, his comments are absolutely ludicrious. He keeps saying wrong war, wrong place, wrong time. Well after Saddam was taken out and initially he didn'dt seem to be too down on it. Now until Howard Dean and his anti-war ticket caught fire in the democratic campaign for presidency did Kerry and Edwards start leaning anti war. Both of these people have numerous quotes supporting it. Whats the say when the candidates completely change their position essentially right after Dean picks up his momentum. Thats not why you make decisions and go out and do things. And he seems to think this diplomacy will work. Well put it this way France never wanted a war in Iraq. Their oil for food program with Iraq was helping France out just fine and in no way did they want to risk losing oil. Now Kerry says he will get other countries involved. How do you plan on doing that, when you yourself are now calling this war a failure. Why would any country want to get involved in something thats doomed. I got news for you, no country would want to do that. Think about it, would you go to the UN and go hey guys, I know I said this a month ago trying to get re-elected, but I need your help now, will you guys help me down in Iraq so we can get our troops the hell out of there. I know this is a failure, but I really need your help. YA right. Plus France and Germany, the two allies the democrats complain about not being involved, have already stated that they will not join the coalition if Kerry is elected. And before we call the war in Iraq a failure. Lets remember that Saddam was a ruthless killer that gassed the Kurds and his own people. The guy may of been put in power by us, but that does'nt mean we should look the other way. Well, I guess he didn't have WOMD, but their is strong evidence to indicate he was doing everything he could to get the sanctions remove and then restart his programs...to do what you ask...build weapons of mass destruction. Should I mention the people in Iraq? These were people that had absolutely no freedom. The average wage in Iraq was roughly 5 bucks a month. Now its sky-rocketing since the regime change and the tech sector in Iraq is starting to show up. Prior to this, Iraq had no tech sector. They also should have 125,000 trained soldiers by the end of the year and free elections to follow. Look at Afhghanistan, where they just held elections and had women, who were so oppressed by this regime, get their vote heard. Heck, even Iran is starting to come along and is starting to encourage both women and men to register to vote. Well, that gets a good amount off my chest, but trust me their will be more.

Sweet stuff Shuf. Congrats

In regards to Beltre, its looking more likely that he will be a free agent. The papers are reporting he's asking for roughly 11-12 million which is doable, but wants a 6 to 7 year deal, which doesn't appear doable. Remember, they also have to sign Gagne long term this offseason. DePodesta said he wants to sign Beltre quick, but will not overpay for him. And no, he isn't coming to Chicago. If your going to spend that money, go after Beltran...case closed.

To be honest, I couldn't tell you much anything about Weber's dissapearance. I went to a ton of Angel games and follow him, but not a word has been mentioned about him in the paper or anything. I remember him being absolutely brutal and booing his ass off the field. Then like a week later they were in an extra inning game and every pitcher pitched and I was like, where the hell is Weber. I figured he got hurt and thats why he was struggling but not a thing was said about him. I'm sure its on the net, I'm just too lazy too look, lol.

Gonna comment on Shields. He's probably as key to that bullpen as Krod is. Considering Percival is likely gone, that means he turns into the 7th inning guy with Donnelly the 8th inning guy and then Krod. Their is absolutely no way the Angels will trade him. Scios loves Shields. The guy is such an asset, he throws so many games, gets ground balls and can pitch multiple innings. I know why you want the guy, the guy is very good and his numbers don't give him enough credit. Tavarez I wouldn't want. He's always been talked about as an ass in the clubhouse and his attitude doesn't bode well for me. Wilson Alvarez is fine, however, I think the Sox need to get themselves one hard throwing reliever (I realize Cotts is one) but I'd like to see them get a strikeout guy here. Bradford is interesting. Guy was a solid reliever in Oakland although I don't know if the Sox would look past him soley because of his side-winding ways. Weber would be a nice option for a one year deal w/an option...kind of a Politte like deal (last years Politte deal). But I wouldn't just sign Weber and my belief is the Sox have one spot via FA and one via in house, but that could all change. Mendoza would definately be a good idea. I made mention of this in response to your post in the other thread where you brought his name up. I've always been a fan and he's quite versatile. Like you said, health is definately the key. Colero is a solid pitcher looking at his stats. I remember seeing him pitch like a week or two ago and thinking he was solid, but haven't seen enough of him to really comment. I doubt the Cards would let him walk though, unless he got a big contract offer, and well, I don't know if the Sox would do that.

As much as I love Zambrano and boy would I LOVE him on the southside, their is no way Jim Hendry will even think about it. If the cubs need anything this offseason, it would be left handed hitting and the Sox can't exactly offer up something they don't have. Now if the Sox were willing to take on Sosa's albatross contract, well then things could get interesting ...but I don't see that happening nor would I want to see that happen.

My dad told me Shuey retired, although I can't verify that. He's a huge Dodger fan and remembers reading that in the paper about a month ago. Ramiro Mendoza is an eye opener and I can't even tell you what happened to Ben Weber. He was brutal this year and I'm assuming he got hurt, but nothing has been talked about him down here in Anahiem. Its a shame, as much as I didn't like the guy, he was very good for a couple years in Anaheim. So in the very least, I'd think Mendoza would definately be worth looking at for the right price. We all know I love Juan Cruz, but I doubt the Braves would deal although like many have mentioned the two teams have the makings of what could be a mega deal. Furcal and Cruz obviously make sense with the Sox...Konerko or Lee and possibly Garland or whoever make sense with the Braves...Estrada makes sense with the Sox. The hard thing is putting it together. Considering Furcal's recent run ins with the law, I wonder if that means Atl is more likely to move him. I still stick to my Konerko and a prospect or even Jon Adkins for Cruz/Furcal. Thats a deal I'd make, although I don't know if the Braves would do it. Cruz is very promising and Furcal is one of the better leadoff men in baseball. I know one thing though, Furcal would look awesome on the south side. He's one guy I'd like more then Vizquel.

Last entry I told you how the Sox pitching staff is short a starter and that my thinking is the Sox will fill that opening via trade. I also told you that Jose Contreras and Jon Garland would be two guys to key in on to see if the Sox are winning or not. If the two of them have a strong year, then most likely, the 2005 Chicago White Sox will have a strong year. In today’s piece, I’ll focus my attention on the bullpen. First off, I want to state the importance of a good bullpen. A good bullpen not only enables you to win the close games, but it can be an insurance for when your starters faulter, which is inevitable. Once you have a good pen, you can start having your questionable starters go less innings, keep you in the game, and then turn it over to the pen knowing that most likely your bullpen will keep the game in check for a rally. I also think the bullpen, not the starting rotation, is one of the keys to getting to the post-season. A strong bullpen and a good offense help you win many games. If you have those two characteristics then you don’t need one ace on your staff, you just need 5 pitchers that will keep your team in the game. That philosophy won’t fair well once your in the playoffs, but it will get you to the playoffs. That’s why I’m a firm believer in the White Sox strengthening their bullpen. While their bullpen showed some improvement in key areas, most noteably the closers spot, where Shingo Takatsu converted 19 of 20 saves after replacing Billy Koch, it still isn’t good enough. The Sox had a difficult time getting the ball from the mid-relievers to closer Shingo Takatsu. . The Sox bullpen finished 19th in the majors. They went 21 and 21 with a 4.31 ERA, blowing 12 saves. The Sox bullpen was also the least worked pen in 2004, throwing 424.1 innings. Don’t expect this to happen again in 2005, although if their pitching staff is healthy, they should once again rank low in bullpen innings pitched. However, with another quality reliever (every indication is that the Sox are going to try and add another reliever) it means Ozzie will have one more guy that he can have faith in, which should increase the bullpen workload just a bit. This low IP is a nice stat because it tells you that the Sox starters are getting deep into games, but it also tells you that Ozzie Guillen has little faith in his bullpen and because of it the pitchers had to undergo more wear and tear then they should of. Of course itt also tells you that the Sox are able to keep their relievers fresh. The flaw is even with the relievers fresh for most of the year, the Sox bullpen failed to be anything more then mediocre. Despite being last in innings pitched, the White Sox bullpen was 12th in homers allowed with 61 in 424.1 innings of work. The scary thing is, of all the teams that ranked ahead of the White Sox in homers, the closest team to throwing as few innings as the Sox was Detroit’s bullpen which threw 56 more innings. Jon Adkins led all White Sox relievers with 13 homer runs allowed. However, Neal Cotts (11) and Damaso Marte (10) both gave up double digit homers as well. Sox closer Shingo Takatsu gave up 6 long balls in 62.1 innings while Jackson gave up 7 and Politte 6. Its obvious that the Sox, whose long ball numbers were inflated by pitching in a home-run park, need to put a focus on bringing in pitchers who don’t give up the long ball (DUH!!!). They also need to get at least one hard throwing reliever. It appears that the Sox are going to make a push at one good free agent reliever. This will make the Sox bullpen so much better. Troy Percival and Armando Benitez are the most attractive names on the market. Percival will probably have a little better value and is a tremendous leader, but is on the downside of his career. That’s not to say he wouldn’t be effective though, as he finished the season with 33 saves (5 BS) and a 2.90 ERA. More impressive was how he finished, giving up just 6 earned runs in his final 31 innings of work. That’s a 1.74 ERA down the stretch. He also converted 20 of his final 21 save opportunities. The downside with Percival is health. His fastball doesn’t have the zip it once did and at 35, he’s definitely begun the downturn of his career. However, that’s not to say he doesn’t have enough life in him to be a successful closer for the Sox. Nor would Armando Benitez, who scared Met fans to death, before joining up with the Marlins, where he dominated. Simply put, Benitez was amazing. What else is there to say about 47 saves (4 BS) and a 1.29 ERA (.82 WHIP). While many would have said Benitez career has been shaky, minus a down 2003, he’s always been a good closer, maybe not an elite closer, but a good one. The nice thing is, Benitez had an even better 1.03 ERA on the road, which leads you to believe his numbers weren’t inflated by pitching in Florida (a pitchers park). It is unclear how much money Benitez will command, but its clear he’s the top reliever out their and should get a long term deal somewhere, possibly the North Side of Chicago. The Sox have other options which wouldn’t involve moving Shingo to the set-up spot, which I believe would be a wise move. Shingo hasn’t proven himself over multiple seasons yet (hasn’t had the chance either), but in general I don’t see it as a bad thing to pick up a closer, meaning you have Shingo and Marte in the set up spot. This could make it a 6 inning game, especially if Marte can get his fire back. Those other options include: Rob Nenn, Scott Williamson, Felix Rodriguez, and Jose Mesa. All of these are intriguing options, especially Nenn who hasn’t pitched since 2002. However, prior to his injury there was no-doubt that Nenn was one of the elite closers in baseball and if his right shoulder is healthy he may just prove to be again. An incentive laden deal would be risky, but teamed up with another signing, possibly his former set-up men Felix Rodriguez and you could see the makings of a very good bullpen, without spending mega bucks. However, those odds are unlikely since Nenn still has a 75% tear in his rotator cuff…a tear in which surgery isn’t an option for him due to the low success rate of rotator cuff operations. My final entry on Fixing the Sox will involve me playing a little GM, and for those of you that know me, you know I love coming up with trade ideas and ways to better the team.

Woot

I think this is bulls***. But I also think the s*** the liberal media does is bulls***. Two wrongs don't make a right and my principles tell me this is BS by Sinclair. However, I do think their is a place for this to be put out, I just don't think it should be forced upon viewers. And as far as hack jobs go...I can think of 60 minutes back when I was a kid (1992 I think) like a day before the election putting out this bulls*** that somehow George Senior tried to ruin Perot's wedding day. I don't give a damn what anyone tells me, the media is favored to the left. THeir have been memos out to ABC telling them to talk pro Kerry. I mean its freaking blatant. Fox News is the most centered out there. You can b**** about Hannity all you want, but Colmes always gets in his say as well. Thats fair and balanced. As far as O'Reilly goes, he was freaking saying how much bs this film is. The s*** I see on CNN is garbage. I can't even watch it anymore. Ya, I'm ready for a lot of democrats to jump on me. Just like the crap Michael Moore did in F 9/11 was garbage. However this thing belongs on tv just as much as F 9/11 does (ie it doesn't).