Chisoxfn

For me it comes down to a group of a few players: Luis Castillo, Juan Pierre, and Rafael Furcal. Outside of them, I think Hairston, Chone Figgins, Brian Roberts, and Jimmy Rollins would all be solid pickups and of course Omar Vizquel as well. However, Chone ain't going anywhere and Rollins has a questionable obp. Both Castillo and Pierre have very good OBP's and are just sweet top of the order guys. Castillo is easier to get, imo, because he makes more then Pierre.

Well, I think we all know that the Sox are going to make a change and add a leadoff hitter. What I want to know is who do you want, and how do you propose they get that player (preferably realistically).

I should add, but I think if the Sox fail out here, Beane will make at least a few changes to the team to try and get them to win in the playoffs. To me the biggest thing would be adding a bat and getting a stronger bullpen. Marte/Konerko or Lee and then of course Garland could help do that, imo. I mean no offense to Hatty and he's having a good year, but he isn't what I would call a cleanup hitter. And I know I'd love having Byrnes penciled in this lineup every day and Zito...oh ya.

I'd say he'd play first and Hatty would DH. Hatty has improved at 1b, but he's still a liability there defensively. I think Lee would make more sense for them and I think both Lee and Konerko have pretty much equally high trade value. As far as Zito goes, I'm just basing it on him getting a raise and the talk that he is likely to be on the block over the offseason. As far as Terrence Long goes, he's on the Padres. He was part of the Mark Kotsay deal. I think Dye is still there another year or so long term and he gets like 12 mil or something (he has a pretty insane contract).

After that the Sox figure out who they want as a 5th starter. They decide whether they want to keep Crede and they could still move someone to open up a spot for Ross Gload if they want to. I don't know if the Sox would deal both Lee and Konerko, but if they did, they could add two good starters, have that outfield with Byrnes/Beltran/Rowand then have Gload at 1B with Thomas DH and Everett kind of a utility guy. Uribe would play SS and instead of acquiring a high profile top of hte order guy, you go with Hairston Jr., who you should be able to acquire. I'd try to get Julio in the package, but who knows. Anyway, just an oddball idea I came up with today. If the Sox acquired Zito, I'd like to see them try and sign a 5th starter (I'm assuming Garland gets dealt) and that would be Jaret Wright at like 5 mill, although their is a definate risk to that. I think Wright is a pretty good pitcher though. But someone in that type of mold, heck Derek Lowe may get that type of money, but he's been pretty much crappy this year.

Now I don't have a clue whether Oakland would buy into this, but its a way to pump our pitching staff and add a grinder type left fielder to the team. This deal would open up the ability to add Beltran or Drew if they wanted and if they added Beltran, the Sox would have in my mind the best defensive outfield in baseball. Anyway, I have my doubts of whether Oakland would give up Eric Byrnes, but they do have Nick Swisher coming up and would get either Konerko or Carlos Lee in the deal. Sox deal Paul Konerko or Carlos Lee, Jon Garland, and a prospect (yes I'd be willing to give them something pretty good or they could go with a guy like Willie Harris if they wanted). The A's deal Barry Zito and Eric Byrnes. Zito steps into the rotation, he's due a raise and I'd hope the Sox would give him a long term contract. Byrnes is a very fast, fun player, that you could use as a leadoff hitter or put in the back part of the order. He's very good defensively, very fast and has a solid OBP (.350, hit 20 HR's, and has a good avg .290. He also stole 15 bases with the A's, so you'd think he'd steal a bit more here). The only reason I see this as a possibility is that Beane could get himself a guy that legitimately can go with Chavez to form a really legit offense. Swisher is going to be there soon in their outfield and I'm sure they'd rather get rid of Dye, but no one is going to take him (for all I know Dye is a free agent at the end of the year and if thats the case its way less likely they'd give up Byrnes). The A's still have Harden, Mulder, Hudson, Redman and then Garland so they got plenty of pittching. Heck, maybe the A's would be more interested in a Konerko or Lee, Garland and Marte swap or Marte, Konerko and a prospect. Either way, I see some components that could make the deal work. The Sox would give up a lot, but theyd' fill some definate needs. Then you add Beltran, you still need to find a 5th starter, but you get a guy who has won a Cy Young, is just 25 or 26 and while he's had a down year, he's still basically hampered by two bad months. And I think Byrnes and Beltran would give Guillen two pretty good players and like I say, that would be an amazing defensive outfield with them two and Rowand in RF. Anyway, just throwing it out there.

Thats a pretty good idea. Although I do hope an entire offseason can really help him. As far as Coop goes, I'm starting to go more and more to that line. I think about seeing progress out of pitchers and I see quite a few guys on the Sox staff with talent and I don't see them getting better, in fact I see them getting worse. He's a lot different then Nardi and he's definately better then him, but I am very sceptical on Coop now. Early in the year he had this staff performing really well, but since then everything has blown up and I see a lot of guys just getting worse under his watch.

Clement gives innings, has great stuff, limits hits, gets a ton of strikeouts, but does suffer from control trouble at times and has been struggling the past two months with it. Still a 3.69 ERA on the year and in the past three years his highest ERA was 4.11. 155 hits in just 181 innings and he has a very good ERA at home, which tells me he'd be more then fine pitching at the Cell.

Steff....Have a happy happy happy happy Birthday :cheers

While I like Buehrle and Garcia a lot, you can't look past the fact that neither has been exactly tremendous this year. Both are good, but neither great. Awesome 3's, solid 2's. I thnk Garcia may be able to turn into a #1, but thats still to be seen. As far as Contreras goes, I have been long saying that this deal was going to be a tough one to win cause the Sox took on a pretty hefty contract. I mean, they could of just held Elo and spent the money they added in Contreras...6 mill a year on a pretty good pitcher, imo. And still then added another FA pitcher. They decided Contreras was who they wanted and in a sense its like a FA signing, but right now who knows. I want to see what an offseason does for him and see how he comes out next year. There is no doubting his stuff, but his pitching smarts are well...way up in the air.

Hell, looking at Willie's splits his season was based on his one hot streak. To help it out he did have a solid August, nothing special though. The one person I'm really intrigued by is Uribe. I swear he reminds me so much of Miguel Tejada. I have no problem pencilling him in at short and finding a way to get Castillo or someone else at 2nd base. I think Luis Castillo, due to his contract, could be had. The Marlins will have Pierre/LoDuca 1-2 next year, imo. I don't know what it would take to get him, but Carlos Lee or Paul Konerko would be too much to give up for him. Another idea I'm still into is acquiring Furcal and having Uribe at 2nd, although I Think Uribe is a very good shortstop, but he's a gold glove 2nd baseman. I know I suggested Konerko for Furcal/Cruz, but I bet Atlanta would also heavily consider Lee for Furcal/Cruz. I'd then make a push at Beltran, have Uribe at 2B, and go with a left field of Gload/Everett. At 3b I'd probably stick with Crede and behind the plate I don't know. I'm pretty nervous in regards to Burke and Davis. Both haven't been all that grand as of late. I wouldn't mind dealing for a catcher. Hell, I've never been much of a Damian Miller fan, but he definately can handle a pitching staff. Pitching wise, I would sign a FA pitcher and a good set-up man or closer. I figure 12 mill on pitching, 15 mill on Beltran. Ya, thats a lot of money, but at the same time you are dumping Lee's contract at 8 mill and of course are losing Maggs 14 million. Lineup: Furcal - SS Rowand - RF Thomas - DH Beltran - CF Konerko - 1B Gload/Everett - LF Uribe - 2B Crede - 3B Miller/Davis/Burke/Someone - C I wouldn't be in love with the bottom part of the lineup...aka the final two hitters, but 1-7 thats a very good well balanced lineup. Furcal, Rowand, and Beltran are all capable of stealing a good number of bases. Gload isn't fast but is quick enough to go 1st and 3rd and well Konerko and Thomas are obviously clogs. Uribe also has speed, but Crede and the catchers are slow. Rotation Garcia Buerhle Perez/Pavano/Clement/Morris/etc Contreras Garland Bullpen Shingo Marte Cruz FA Cotts Politte or whoever That gives me 4 guys I got confidence in between Shingo, Marte, Cruz and the FA (I left at the most 4-6 mill to go to that guy, so I was overestimating, but I mean a good reliever). Cotts ain't bad either, I Think he'll be good. Don't really care if they give it to Politte (I'd prefer just giving it to a youngster). If the Sox want to, they could make a change at 3B and use Crede, Garland and whoever to acquire a good starter and then sign more of a middle tier guy. Another deal that would interest me would be getting Castillo and Mota, but I don't think they deal Mota with Benitez on the block. Lee or Konerko would be a key part of the package and they could use a 1st baseman or even a LF. THey definately will try and add a power bat to the team. Its too bad they probably won't give up any pitching, but either way, the Marlins wouldn't add much, if any payroll and they would help add a power bat and what not. I don't know if they would do a Castillo, Mota for Crede, Harris, Lee or Konerko. But Lowell may opt out, Harris could potentially fill in as could Crede and both have potential and value while they would add a power bat and could probably still have enough money to lock up Pavano. Probably a pretty far fetched idea. Either way, Furcal, Castillo, Pierre (I highly doubt Marlins part with him), Itzuris all league like good/solid pickups. Vizquel looks solid too, but the others would be long term solutions as well.

Good call Cheat...by the way Poppy, if you want, just tell us and we can do name changes so the posts counts stay and what not. As far as your ideas, I think they are far fetched. However, I think if the Sox pitching steps up and gets healthy and they add an extra arm or two, that alone could give this team the potential to do something along those lines. However, I must say I don't have much faith as of this minute, but I do like the idea of Garcia for a full season, although I don't think he's anywhere near 100% right now.

OMFG...Jose is hitting .155 since the all star break. Thats in 174 at bats too. On the season he has roughly 40 more strikeouts then hits. If he is brought back....oh my god. Willie, who hasn't been great is at .242 but he had two months below the mendoza line. Now on the other hand...Gloadie had a .900 plus OPS in a pretty full month (35 Ab's) in August and has a 1.116 OPS in 44 at bats this month.

Wow...thats absolutely futile.

As much as the losses of Frank and Maggs hurt, the pitching staff has to be the number one reason this team isn't in first. This offense is more then capable of winning a lot of games with a good pitching staff. All the starters have been pretty crappy. Part of me wonders if the extra heavy workload they had is part of the reason or what not. I know the Sox have a crappy pen, that was never in doubt from the beginning of the year (I know they started off alright though, but talent wise it never looked too grand to me).

Jim, hopefully somehow it misses ya. You'll get through it though. Stay safe!!!!

I saw it the exact same way. I think Maggs as the bad guy in this whole thing, imo. I haven't been too thrilled with the way this whole thing has been handled, but from what I gathered, I thought KW did a good job and that he was trying to be the good guy and handle things well.

Personally I think that is all talk. I think the media is full of self serving assholes. But how is it different from the world? And it happens on all sides of the equation.

One really good thing about Gonzalez is his eye. He's also really slick with the glove, as is Lopez and Valido. No doubt those three are fun to watch play defensively, although they all are still inconsistent at times, but almost all young middle infielders are. The one good thing I can say about Gonzalez, is while his stats may not say it, he made great strides. Seeing him play a few games last year and looking at the clips I had of him and comparing that with what I saw of him in a few games this year and I was a lot more pleased. He had a shorter swing and a much much more comfortable swing. Two years ago he had one of the odder looking swings around, although when he made contact he would hit the ball hard. Right now he's one of those guys that I think is capable of having a breakthrough year.

So if a murder doesn't get caught for 10 years, that gives him the right to not go to prison????? Come on, were talking mass murder here. And ya, getting a DUI is absolutely stupid.

I want to hold off on naming them too. Make sure no one gets injured and what not. I don't know what everyone elses takes are though about being able to switch them once they are made. I don't know how most keeper leagues work, but what everyone else thinks works for me. This weekend I'm gonna do an excell sheet of all the teams, so once the season ends all free agent type pickups must be done. Then all trades will be conducted on these boards or what not and if you have a trade just post it here so everyone can see and pm me and then I'll make the switch on the rosters. After like a two week trade window...we'll do a completely roster freeze and then have a period where keepers or do. That or we could just set a 3 week deadline for keepers and allow trades all the way till the final day.

Google absolutely kicks ass. To me they are probably the best company on the web.

Here's another question, where do you think that teacher with the masters is going to want to teach? Are they going to want to teach in a school that is in a crime invested area, where you have to deal with at least a higher percentage of the student base that are involved in crimes and gangs and what not? The answer is obviously no. To me it has nothing to do with racism, but common sense. I know I'd sure as hell rather teach in that suburbia high school where you feel a lot safer (of course there has been columbine and what not) and in general their is a much larger support group from the parents and what not. The government pours a mega percentage of its education into the poorer areas but so far money isn't the answer. Hell, I think the school system could even be over-funded in some areas. Sometimes money isn't the answer, but a change of styles or attitudes. I'd like to see how a truly well disciplined school would do in a bad area. I'm sure their would be a ton of conflicts, but to me, it has to be a point where you just go head to head with them and find the people that want to learn and give them there education. People have been trying to figure out this answer for a long ass time and thus far I don't think anyone has came up with the right answer.

Don't go into it with me. I allow others to have their opinion. But don't call me ignorant.