Chisoxfn

I dunno, I didn't watch last nights game (stupid WCIU) but I haven't noticed Marte pitching all that much this season, although I'm sure he was used a bit more this past week, like you say. He seems to of been improving though, up until this last outing. His velocity has been there, it just doesn't seem that he's as crisp as he was in years past.

If this rumor is actually legit, then why don't the Sox get involved. I'd think that Carlos Lee would be more attractive then Johnny Damon (thats right). The Mariners already have two players similar to Damon in Wynn and Ichiro so it would make no sense for them to have a 3rd. They need some power and Carlos Lee fits that bill. Now the Sox can't offer someone like Byun Yun Kim, but someone like Jon Rauch and maybe the Mariners bite. Now the Sox have a pretty damn good pitcher who has playoff experience and is still relatively young, just getting ready to reach his prime (heck, he may be starting that right now). We lose a little offense, but at the same time gain pitching which to me is what wins championships. Maggs, Thomas, Juan, Willie and Jose can do this. The Sox now have a void in the outfield where they can call up Jeremy Reed who is struggling or they can move Rowand/Gload to left field and play Willie in center, meaning Juan and Jose can play. Once Reed is ready he can replace Rowand/Gload. The other option is the Sox could go out and find an outfielder for relatively cheap if they wanted to or they could put their focus on giving Garcia for Beltran, which to me would be an absurd deal for the Royals, but its whats rumored. Now lets go with that, yes that increases the Sox payroll by about 4 million, BUT, the Sox now can put Maggs on the block and maybe sign Beltran to a 14-15 mill a year deal. Thats right, Beltran is a player worth that type of money, more so then Magglio. Then they can use Magglio to get their other bounty and now have a lefty to fit in with Thomas, Konerko, Crede and then of course Jose as your other lefty. What could the Sox get for Maggs? Who knows, but they sure could get at least one good pitcher thats young and then some top prospects I'd think. And the Sox dont' skip a beat between Carlos and Magglio. The only difference is Carlos can play amazing centerfield, steals bases, and is a lefty.

What is that from Brando?

I go with Cotts, if he can be strecthed out and I say why can't he. Sox have only been getting 4-5 innings out of their 5th anyway, so whats the difference with getting that from cotts for a few games until he's stretched out. If this happens, then I'd say Wunsch comes up. OTherwise and I hate to say this cause I don't like the idea of rushing a guy, but I wouldn't mind Munoz.

Bmac is an 88-92 in velocity. Usually somewhere in between but I've heard his velocity has gone up a little bit this year and he's gotten closer to 93-94. It could explain the little bit of control problems he's had this year (kind of exagerating, but compared to last year it hasn't been as good). Munoz is upper 80's, may hit 90 to 91 on ocassion. Baj is 94-96 if I recall, but I've never seen him pitch, but this isn't me going on BA assessments. I got to be honest, I think bA does a good job, but whenever I see anything about velocity and what not it just seems wrong. I Think part of it is they may rely on the high school gun numbers or projection numbers, but I don't work for them so who knows. I don't think Yofu's a hard thrower, but Rex could better answer that. Pacheco can get it up their, last year he was getting it up to 95 and seemed to sustain the velocity late in the game. Aboz mentioned this year, in his one start (remember, he left that start injured and was placed on the disabled list) but he wasn't hitting that. I'll comment when I see him pitch later in the season, assuming he's healthy. But I do recall Rex saying he had an explosive fastball.

McCarthy had a rough outing. Reed's been slumping a bit the past few weeks.

Arow

Since I'm from Socal area, I know their are plenty of girls that look like that, so If it helps at all, I believe

See, I think the Sox aren't the ones to blame for these velocity hypes. BA really seems to hype the radar gun and they do it with a lot of prospects. Jessie Foppert of the Giants was hyped to have a 98 MPH fastball, maybe even as high as 99 and then I saw him at the major league level and he's 90-93 which is a big difference. I can tell you one thing, I don't think these guys are coming to the majors and throwing less, I think BA is just full of crap at times with their gun readings and they sometimes say a guy throws a bit harder because they think they will eventually project or something. For example, Honel is 88-91 when healthy and Wing is about 86-88 and don't let anyone tell you any different. As far as Adkins, I saw him down in Charlotte and he was throwing harder then he is now with the Sox, but he seems to have better life on his pitches now so who knows. Garland can also still get it up there but he overthrows and the pitch straightens out when he throws that hard. Also, I can't say I ever heard of Cotts bizzaro world slider. I don't even think Cotts throws a slider and if he does, he doesn't throw it often. Cotts was pretty much a fastball, change pitcher with a developing curve last year. His curve has definately gotten better as has his control. He also has the cutter now. Wing is the lefty that has a sick slider and I can vouge for that.

Have they even thrown anyone out. I can't think of the last time I saw a runner thrown out.

This is great to see Lee in the 2 hole. I think he sees more fastballs there and also seems to have a shorter swing in the 2 hole for whatever reason. This also means that Jose moves down in the lineup and then you have juan in an RBi position. I like Willie leading off.

Actually, when Zambrono came up he was advertised to throw a 101 MPH fastball. I heard that said about him numerous times on Cubs broadcasts. Still, he is one of the best pitchers in the majors, even without that 101 MPH fastball

Didn't Boston just let him leave as a free agent. Also, the same happened with Maddux.

He did retire 11 of 12 which says something. I didn't watch the game so I'm hoping I will be able to see his next start, assuming he stays up. I like Diaz though and I'm sure as hell not going to write a guy off after one start.

So Diaz basically blew up this inning? How did he look before this?

I don't mind Brantley too much. I used to really dislike him, but after he did the game against the Orioles last week when Buehrle pitched, I realized he does have pretty good knowledge on the game. I also know he said at least a few times that he felt the Sox were a good baseball team.

You could always password protect the system and hope some hacker doesn't get on. I'm guessing though, that eventually it will be the broadband providers that use this technology and then the subscribers will have like an access code or something built into their computer or what not. But ya, security is definately an issue.

My Wifi sucks. Its pretty agent so it only works half the time. But when it does, Its nice sitting out in the sun surfing the net.

Felix Diaz Called up to Chicago By Jason Gage May 12, 2004 FutureSox.com The ace of the Charlotte Knights pitching staff this season, Felix Diaz, will be promoted to Chicago tomorrow, where he will join the 5 man rotation. Diaz is slated to start one of the games in Thursday's doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles. Diaz, 22, was acquired by the Chicago White Sox along with Ryan Meaux in a trade which sent Kenny Lofton to the San Francisco Giants in 2002. Diaz spent last season in Charlotte, where he went 5-7 with a 3.97 ERA in 27 games (18 starts). Diaz has been fantastic this season going 5-0 with a 1.83 ERA in seven games (6 starts). In his 39.1 innings of work, he has given up 33 hits and just 5 walks, while striking out 32. Diaz features a plus fastball that can get as high as 94-95 MPH, but usually is around the 92-93 range. His fastball has good movement and is complimented with a good slider and changeup. To make room for Diaz, the White Sox are expected to demote catcher/infielder Jamie Burke back to Charlotte. Burke was promoted to Chicago when the Sox demoted then 5th starter Danny Wright.

Felix Diaz Called up to Chicago By Jason Gage May 12, 2004 FutureSox.com The ace of the Charlotte Knights pitching staff this season, Felix Diaz, will be promoted to Chicago tomorrow, where he will join the 5 man rotation. Diaz is slated to start one of the games in Thursday's doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles. Diaz, 22, was acquired by the Chicago White Sox along with Ryan Meaux in a trade which sent Kenny Lofton to the San Francisco Giants in 2002. Diaz spent last season in Charlotte, where he went 5-7 with a 3.97 ERA in 27 games (18 starts). Diaz has been fantastic this season going 5-0 with a 1.83 ERA in seven games (6 starts). In his 39.1 innings of work, he has given up 33 hits and just 5 walks, while striking out 32. Diaz features a plus fastball that can get as high as 94-95 MPH, but usually is around the 92-93 range. His fastball has good movement and is complimented with a good slider and changeup. To make room for Diaz, the White Sox are expected to demote catcher/infielder Jamie Burke back to Charlotte. Burke was promoted to Chicago when the Sox demoted then 5th starter Danny Wright.

Miller is really getting in a groove. Its great to see since he's supposed to have some of the highest upside of anyone in the organization. The Sox really have a lot of upside at the lower levels and the pitching in Bham has been flat filthy as has Charlotte's. The only downside I can see is the fact that Honel and Wing, two of the best in the organization, have about 4 innings between them, all of which are Honels. Its also great seeing Ryan Rodriguez and Haigwood pitching so well after missing last year with injuries. Plus Bmac doing his thing. Kanny has such a sick rotation. Heck, other then Winston Salem, the Sox must have one of the best pitching staffs top to bottom, stat wise in minor league baseball (and no, I'm not going to take the time to research that, lol) .

Still, I can't knock the move. The intent of that move as well as the David Wells move was to put the Sox over the top. To this day, I still don't know how the Sox failed to make the playoffs. That was the best team I've seen the Sox have since 1994. But I'm going to try and not talk about last years squad. Ritchie was also Kw's idea of agressive deal making, it was just an awful type of agressive, lol.

Here's the thing, who gets dropped in favor for Ventura? I don't want to see GLoad, I think he's a more productive player then Robin. Heck, I want to see Gload get consistent at bats because I feel he'll be a good player for the Sox. However, if the Sox are going to drop a pitcher, since they will be carrying 12 once they call up Diaz, then Ventura could make sense, just for his leadership , although I don't see him getting many at bats.

Glavine has pitched good though, although if the Mets picked up his contract to the point that he would cost about 5 mill a year each year, then maybe that would be the type of guy JR would pony up a little extra dough on. Although I don't know whether Tom could still put fans in the seats.

I think if the Sox are going to acquire a pitcher, its going to be someone with a year left on a deal or an affordable contract. While that means the Sox may have to give up a little more, it also means they don't take on a horrible contract. At least a few of the players whose names are being mentioned have awful contracts, in particular Glavine, Johnson and Griffey. If the Sox are going to get a player, get a guy thats in his prime or near it and even if it means you have to give up an extra prospect or two, then at least you know your getting a guy that won't handcuff the franchise a year or two don the road.