Chisoxfn

2004 Spring Training Analysis: The Bullpen By Jason Gage March 11, 2004 FutureSox.com The White Sox bullpen has the potential to be the one of the best bullpens in the majors. It also has the potential to be a big dud. In FutureSox.com’s second spring training spotlight article, we will take a look at some of the minor-leaguers fighting for what appears to be two available slots. Assuming the White Sox carry seven relievers, they will have two openings. Billy Koch is slated as the closer with Damaso Marte and Shingo Takatsu as the set up men. Kelly Wunsch and Cliff Politte round out the guys pretty much assured a roster spot. Dan Wright Wright, who is competing for the fifth starter’s spot, is the front-runner to grab one of the final spots in the bullpen. Wright started off last spring by getting plastered on the mound and finished the spring injured. That injury kept him out for part of the first half of the season and led him to being one of the major disappointments on the 2003 Sox. Despite Wright’s struggles in the rotation, he excelled out of the pen last season, going 1-0 with a save and a 3.24 ERA in 16.2 innings. Final Stance: If healthy, Wright should be one of the front-runners for the rotation, but also has a bright future in the pen. Jason Grilli Grilli, who was selected by the White Sox in the Rule V Draft, is a front-runner for both the bullpen as well as a candidate for the fifth spot in the rotation. If the Sox like what they see in Grilli, they will have to find a way to carry him or try to acquire him from the Marlins. As a Rule V pick, the Sox don’t have the ability to send him to the minors, their only other option is to send him back to the Marlins (The Sox are given $25,000). Final Stance: Grilli has good stuff and has been considered a top prospect in the past, but injuries got in his way. If healthy, Grilli could be a major sleeper. Matt Ginter Ginter has found himself going between Charlotte and Chicago for the past few seasons, but has yet to stick with the Sox. His experience should give him the nod if he puts up good numbers. This will likely be Ginter’s final shot with the Sox out of spring training. Final Stance: Ginter has yet to give the Sox reasons to keep him on the major league roster, but he has flashed plenty of potential in Charlotte. Arnaldo Munoz If the Sox want a lefty for one of the remaining slots, they will look no further then Munoz. He is the Sox top relief prospect and features a knee buckling curve-ball and a sneaky fastball. Munoz has put up great numbers the past two years, and at 21, his best years are still ahead of him. Final Stance: Munoz probably has the best potential out of the group. While young, he has experience at higher levels and a good arm. If he puts up good numbers, he could propel ahead all the other candidates. Sleepers Gary Majewski Majewski has quietly been one of the Sox better relievers the past few seasons. In 2003 he went 6-4 with a 3.96 in the bandbox known as Charlotte. He gave up 62 hits in 72.2 innings while striking out 72. Majewski has one of the best fastballs in the system, as well as a good slider. Final Stance: The Sox may give him another year in the minors, but Majewski has a major-league fastball and a closer’s mentality, which could make him a sleeper for the pen this spring. Francisco Campos Campos, a Rule V draft pick, wasn’t considered a contender for the bullpen, but that changed after his first outing. Campos went three innings, striking out seven, and has emerged as a potential fifth starter candidate as well. Final Stance: Campos is a poised veteran who has experience pitching. Stuff wise, he isn’t as good as some of the others, but he has solid control, and if he continues to mix his pitches well, he could be successful. Other Candidates: Felix Diaz and Jon Rauch (See Starters Column)

Just got into the hotel tonight in Arizona and am curious to know who I get to see tomorrow against the Angels. If anyone else happens to be out here right now, I'll probably be wearing a Barons hat at the game tomorrow

Welcome aboard Munkey

I've heard Sweeney has absolutely clobbered the ball.

Well, Fullerton lost. But the plus side is, when your team sucks...you gotta focus on the trash talk. I love college basketball.

Thats such crap. The Bears would be way over the cap after the cap hit.

The Angels' affable owner is a competitive, complex man. Moreno is lavish in spending to build his team but conservative in his politics. Angels owner Arte Moreno, arms folded, doesn’t wilt under the Arizona sun or in the media spotlight. TEMPE, Ariz.They are on his turf now. The Angels are his team, and they are playing in his neighborhood. And the only thing that could make Arte Moreno happier is to be sitting in the stands, sipping a cold brew and watching Vladimir Guerrero make a baseball look like a golf ball as it disappears some 410 feet away, over the left-center field fence. "You know how much I love baseball?" the Angels 57-year-old owner says. "On my honeymoon, we drove the coast, stopping in San Diego to see the Padres play Montreal, going up to see a game at Dodger Stadium and then we went to San Francisco and thought about going to another game." His blonde wife, Carole, nods and laughs. "The Giants were playing Montreal," she says, "and we'd already seen the Expos. That's when I told him I think we've had enough." That's the thing about Arte. He can't seem to get enough baseball. Or enough winning. He is a man with a large appetite, and an even larger bankroll. So he antes up some $146 million to pay his new free-agent signees and sits here in the blistering, 92-degree desert sun, just a few miles from his sprawling, 8,700-square foot Phoenix home, and smiles contentedly. "Growing up, my dad was a huge baseball fan," he says. "My brothers and I all played every day in the Tucson streets. To us, it never seemed hot, so I'm used to this weather. Now, when it gets down to 50 degrees, I need an electric blanket at night." The Angels and Mr. Guerrero are generating more than enough heat to keep him warm this spring. And in future springs, it could get even warmer. Moreno plans either to build a state-of-the art spring training site on property he owns in nearby Goodyear or greatly expand the present facility in Tempe. "I'm excited, but I'm very excited all the time," he says. "I get excited just coming to a spring training game." Don't let his affable, easy-going disposition fool you. Moreno is a more complex man than he lets on. It was in the late 1960s, when so many people Moreno's age were protesting the war in Vietnam, taking to the streets and waving signs and screaming that they didn't believe in the cause. Moreno wasn't one of them. He was drafted into the Army and never considered heading for Canada or burning his draft card. He was attached to the First Marines in Da Nang. "We were outside Hill 55 and we were right in the middle of it," he says, quietly. "I spent some time up near the DMZ. "I had a brother who was a highly decorated vet. He was a combat medic. Me, I think the highest I made it up to was an E-4 corporal." He says it still pains him to talk about it because that he saw some of his buddies shot and others killed in combat. "It's something you don't want to retrace," he says. "I always feel it's a private thing. If we're just sitting somewhere by ourselves and having a beer, sure, I'll talk about it. Otherwise, I won't. "But I'm always very proud of anyone who served our country." Although he openly boasts of his Mexican-American heritage, Moreno's politics differ from most of his fellow Latinos. Let's just say John Kerry shouldn't wait around expecting the Angels owner to make any large contribution to his campaign. "I was born and raised a conservative Republican," Moreno says. "My dad was a big-time (Barry) Goldwater backer. I was brought up to feel that when you've been asked to serve, you do serve." So it should come as no surprise that Moreno is a staunch backer of that other former baseball owner, President Bush. A few weeks ago, Moreno had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix with the president, Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo, Diamondbacks executive Joe Garagiola Jr. and the team's manager, Bob Brenly. "Yeah, the president wanted to talk baseball and to ask about our signing of Guerrero," Arte says. "He's a real fan. We're involved now in a fund-raiser for him. We've come to know him a little bit. He's been very gracious to us." Carole Moreno sounds like an even bigger supporter. "He's very well read," she says of the president whose media reputation suggests the opposite. The Morenos were impressed by Bush's Thanksgiving Day visit to the troops in Iraq. "We thought that was very emotional," Arte says, "to spend his holiday with the troops like that." Suffice to say the committee to re-elect the president can count on one very rich donor in Arizona to give more than his share. The one thing that separates Arte Moreno from the previous Angels owners is that he is not, in any way, intimidated by the Dodgers. "Who?" he asks, smiling, when you mention the name of Southern California's other baseball team. "We proved last year we both can draw three million people," he says. "I want the Dodgers to be successful, and I want the Angels to be successful. In a perfect scenario, every year the Dodgers would be playing the Angels in the World Series." Do not be misled, however. It is almost as if he relishes the competition. Whenever you mention the Orange County fan base, he corrects you. "You mean the Southern California fan base," he says. "It's no secret we're trying to reach out further into the L.A. area. We're being invited to a lot of events now in Los Angeles." This is an owner who intends to be very visible. So local realtors, be on the alert. He has his home in Phoenix, another house in La Jolla and soon there will be a third. "This year we'll start looking for a house in Southern California," he says. "I love the Newport Beach area." Then he pauses and grins. "But I love Los Angeles, too." For all his interest elsewhere, Moreno remains entrenched in Arizona. He has lived here 12 years, once owned a small piece of the Diamondbacks and still owns 5 percent of the Suns, although as a University of Arizona grad and booster, he much prefers college basketball. "So do I," says Carole, who is a University of Kansas alum. His best friend is his partner, Bill Levine, a New Yorker who raves about Arte almost as much as he raves about living in the desert. "He is totally down to earth," Levine says of Moreno. "He is the same guy now as he was when he had nothing." Levine owns 10 percent of the Angels and more than a small debt to his affluent friend. When Levine's wife died of cancer three years ago, Arte and Carole donated $1 million to a Scottsdale Jewish Community Center in her honor. "That was unbelievable," Levine says. "It was totally unsolicited." "I've always felt if you have a dollar to donate, you should be grateful and do it," Moreno says. "I see an elderly lady put coins in a basket at church and it makes me feel great." The funny thing about Moreno is that his appearance would never lead you to believe he and his partner turned a relatively small billboard company into a business he eventually sold for a reported $8.3 billion. That's right, with a "b". He wears a bright red Angels sport shirt to the park, arriving in his relatively modest 2001 Mercedes. There is no long limo, no huge cigars, no harried employee tending to his every wish. In Anaheim, he often takes the train to the ballpark. In Arizona, he and his wife prefer sitting in the sun-soaked stands, instead of in the cooler owners' box. "Believe it or not, when I bought that car it was the first new car I'd ever owned," he says. "I tend to drive a car four or five years before getting another one." His lifestyle, except for the home that apparently could pass for a mansion, is relatively unpretentious. "My most favorite thing in life," he says, "outside of my family, is to get together with friends and have a cool beer. At the ballgame, if I can." Now you know why one of the first things he did upon taking over the Angels was lower beer prices. Clearly, this is a man who loves his suds. Almost as much as he loves his baseball.

Ah Sweet Stuff

Supposedly the Bears will only go after Sapp if they don't get into a bidding war. They are going to let him find his market and then talk to him I think and if they can find a way to do it they will. Remember, they could backend the deal a little more towards next year, since Tait is taking up so much this year, but very little the rest of the way.

Hey DASox...welcome aboard. You might as well just ignore the Cheat...he really isn't all that great Always good having another Sox fan on board

Good piece Alex and this is a good move, imo. Castillo and Bernard weren't going to contribute and would only be taking a spot away from other more deserving minor league players in Charlotte, imo.

My thought is, that your obviously friends with the person, your just not looking for a relationship. You know the person enough that you know at least a bit of their sexual background. To me, like I said earlier, thats way better then a one night stand. Like I've always said, the only one night stands I could see having (Minus somehow getting Brittney Spears or someone like that, lol) would be with a friend. I've had one or two friends with benefits type relationships. Like Cheat and Boz said, sometimes it doesn't work out, but its still kind of a no pressure type situation and pretty enjoyable. But usually one person ends up wanting more or what not and its hard to have a friendship last after that, but it also depends on the people.

Well if Scho keeps struggling, I wouldn't be shocked if something like that were to happen. Especially if Reed and Rowand are hitting the ball hard and if Konerko shows that he's maybe out of last years funk. If the Sox can get Rowand to increase production, Reed to play solid, and Konerko to return to form, then Magglio wouldn't be near as big of a loss. Plus, the addition of Edwin Jackson and another top prospect would be huge, imo. I still say it would be Jackson, Perez...and one more.

Steff, you drafted Ray and Raul too early. I was shocked when you took them two. But I was thankful, cause it left my 2nd baseman, Vidro still on the board. If you want pitching, I think Steve has Ponson

Supposedly its for a 3rd. Don't know if anything is finalized yet.

Mark - I think I speak for both of us when I say, he's better then 31. This kid has good stuff and to me has a pretty high ceiling. I personally rate him in the top 20.

I say go for it if they could work things out. I doubt they can though. But even if its not a weakness, you can still turn it into a strenght. Think of it this way, the starting rotation is a weakness, so to make up for that (you assume the pen will be used heavily) it would be good to have a very strong bullpen. The angels had that two years ago and it worked fine for them.

Just ebay it, people have started paying pretty good amounts for stuff on there. I remember the good old days of ebay, back when you could get stuff dirt cheap.

I'd say dell. Check out www.gotapex.com and look down and they usually have some pretty good configuarations for cheap. They'll post coupons and all that type of stuff.

I go with Rashaun Woods, cause I want Lee Evans on the Bears in the 2nd round bad. But no matter what I think they take a receiver.

Here's the link willie http://www.soxtalk.com/uploads/post-10-1078857738.gif

Stupid ass stores by me were all out. My mission went a little something like 56789's. Went to Game Stop...guy said I need to preorder, but I passed. I'll just go by there tomorrow morning after school and on my way to work. Went to Target next...no luck. Then went to Best Buy and had no luck. So I was about to give up but I drove by this place called Games 4 less, some mom and pop shop, and I thought well hell maybe they'd have it. The guy said they may have it in tonight...but unless I can convince my mom to pick it up for me (She works like 3 minutes from it) then I'm going to just have to wait till tomorrow. Your all lucky bastards who have it. Although I did purchase Futurama Today

I'm so sorry to hear that about your girlfriend. I am always amazed at how sick some people are. No one should have to be put through that type of crap. Freaking disgusting.

This is very good news. Some other good news is from the sound of things Uribe has started off hitting the ball well.

Why not. If you have a friend and neither are looking for more I say why not. Isn't it better then a one night stand???