Chisoxfn

I don't doubt him, its just 1 great season out of the previous 5 isn't something to really be impressed with. Now the potential is all there, but I am sick of waiting and want to see it. Last season he was lost at the plate, but he had a defense and I stuck up for him. This season he's got plenty of time to prove me wrong, but I'm going to hold off until I see him like the Frank of old. Right now he's popping up a lot of stuff. I still think in 2000 he was nowhere as good as he was in his earlier seasons. The early to mid 90's Frank was what it was all about, imo. I know his 2000 numbers were amazing and you could argue it was his best season, but I believe he was better before that.

The only way Olivo doesn't win gold gloves is if he can't hit well enough to stay in the majors, otherwise he is destined to be the next shutdown catcher in the AL, now that Rodriguez is gone. Bengie Molina is susceptible because he doesn't block the plate properly. Molina does way too many glove stabs instead of positioning his body in front of the ball in order to keep it in front of you. Alomar made that mistake in todays game on the wild pitched (or did they rule it a passed ball?). A Ball should almost never get passed the catcher if they are always moving in front of the ball and positioning themselves so it bounces infront of them. Now ocassionally a pitchers throws such a pitch that you can't get in front of it, or it can take some odd hops. Of course all catchers make mistakes. Olivo has a cannon though.

Well I do think Sosa carried his team in 98. That being said I have no doubt that the two of them in their prime, I take Frank, he was an absolute monster in a pitchers park. I just need to see Frank show me once and far all that he's still that player. I haven't seen it in a few seasons and no matter how much I want to believe he's back, I'm taking the wait and see approach and until he proves it, I'm gonna think that he's on the downside of his career, even though I think we can see big things out of him.

If you look, I think the majority of his errors will be throwing and it will be so throughout his career, because his arm seems irradict. Crede is very talented defensively and is a future gold glover, but the one thing that always worries me is how erradict his throwing mechanics are.

Well, the stats may go one way, but right now if I had the choice between Sammy Sosa DH'ing for the Sox or Frank Thomas DH'ing I would hands down pick Sammy Sosa. Nothing against Frank, in his prime he was amazing, but Sosa is still in his prime while Frank hasn't been anything special other then 2000 the past few years. Now I hope he gets back on pace, but if it were a choice between those two, I'd love having Sosa in this lineup instead of Frank. I also think that Sosa would be just fine in the clubhouse and his hustle would be a big addition to this club.

I don't have a problem with Aaron so far this season. I think we need to give him a full season before making a judgement on his future with the Sox. Until then, the jury is out IMO. I agree we need to give Aaron time, but right now he looks lost at the plate. Of course everyone gets lost at one point or another during the season so I'm not worried. I do think that Rios is going to get a lot more time. What exactly happens all depends on where this team is at the end of April to middle of May.

Also, if you're looking for a small ball player, Borchard is not the man for the job. Ya, but I'm assuming that we will also be adding a new centerfielder and he could play that role. As far as who goes, the worse player is who should go. If Frank isn't producing then I don't want him here, his attitude doesn't benefit this team and his contract would have him making more money. Now if he's playing good, then bring him back.

Ya, I just am under the belief that either him or Frank will be gone and I don't have one problem losing them, all I ask is that we bring in a small ball type player to replace whoever we lose. I know Borchard will be one of the ones that replaces, but I also have no idea what happens with Rowand.

Maggert sure choked. Nice to see a lefty win though. Weir is a very solid player.

He's a free agent at the end of the season or at least I think he is. I know his contract is up, but I think we still have the right to offer him arbitration and he can't go anywhere, not even positive on that though. I just don't think the Sox will offer him arbitration. Then again, they could offer it to him and eventually deal him.

I don't think the Sox will let him go to arbitration. They aren't going to offer him it. He will either accept a contract or hit free agency. They can do that right?

Which is the exact reason I wanna trade him....and trading him for Shannon Stewart would be fine by me. I still love my idea of a Higginson for Caballo swap.

Sportsnight was good. I never knew why that was cancelled. Sometimes its on Comedy Central or USA or something like that. Right now the show I like that I sure hope doesn't get cancelled is the Shield. That show is awesome, plus since its on FX I can pretty much see a whole season in a week since the damn thing is on every time I flip to the channel.

You sure? I heard that 9-0 is the best start in the majors since 1993. Maybe I got bad info. I don't remember Philly taking off, I remember Cleveland had the best start last season. Then the Sox kicked the crap out of them and they never lasted. As a matter of fact, didn't Philly greatly underachieve at the start of last season?

Even though it is on UPN Maybe he can break out of UPN's streak of s*** shows that last 2 weeks Ya, thats what leads me to believe it could be really crappy. Cali, u watch the Chapelle Show and Insomniac with Dave Atell? Both of those shows are hillarious. Been watching both since they came out. I never knew Dave Attell's show would become as popular as it did. Typically stuff I like gets cancelled, lol. Plus, this week family guy comes out. Of course it will take an extra week or so until it arrives in the mail from amazon.

Royals won't make it, but some of their pitchers are for real. They don't have the depth (Pitching Wise), but they are a team to watch in the next few years, IF they can keep the pieces together and add more arms and maybe use a bit of money to bring in a few vets, mainly in the bullpen. Think if they could of kept Paul Byrd. I know he got hurt, but that would of given them a real solid rotation. That Rodriguez guy and this Cotts guy both are very impressive young pitchers in my mind. The central has a lot of talented young arms.

Well, I don't think the Sox would ever go to arbitration with him. They'll offer him a contract, possibly, and it will be nowhere near that value.

I disagree. This team is built for small ball. The essence of small ball is a team that can make contact and ladys and gentleman the Sox make contact. No one on their roster is a big time strikeout hitter. Crede will probably have the most strikeouts this season and he isn't really a notorious strike out hitter, when you look at his minor league numbers. No one should have 100k's for the Sox although I could see Jose doing it. The Sox don't have one player on the team with great speed, BUT, almost their entire lineup has good speed. D'Angelo, Jose, Magglio, Caballo, Olivo, Paul, Rowand, Rios all can steal some bases for the Sox. Then Graffy and Daubach have average speed while Thomas, Crede, Konerko and I guess Alomar are slow. Konerko is the only one thats a real slug though. At least half of our starters have good speed and Crede, Thomas and Alomar aren't really clogs. Thomas is only because he's an idiot on the paths at times. The guys with good speed are all capable of 20 steals and the ones that start should get near 20 steals. Last season this club did a lot of steals and hit and runs early in the season and the Sox were playing the best ball then. Their is no question in my mind that one of the big reasons the Sox started to go down hill after the first month was for the fact that Jerry Manuel stopped playing small ball. No one else made that call but Jerry. I have no problem running out of the occassional inning because more often then not, if you have a team that can handle the small ball, you should do it. Also, let me say the only reason a team can't handle small ball is if they are selfish, cause everyone can bunt and try moving runners over as long as they don't only care about their stats. The Angels dont' give a damn about their stats. You want an example of small ball its them and they don't have any super speedy guys. They are like the Sox with a lot of guys that have good speed, then a few that are total slow-pokes like Salmon and Molina (slower then Konerko). Like I say, if Scioscia was our manager I have no doubt in my mind that the Sox would win 10 more games then they would if they had Jerry Manuel, and that to me is a conservative estimate. I really believe that Jerry has already cost us a few games without hit and runs. One great thing about hit and runs is it preaches shorter swings and making contact, which in term helps correct your swings and keeps players out of longer slumps because their swings tend to not lengthen out and get too long. Plain and Simple, I BLAME JERRY for the lack of small ball. This team is PERFECT for small ball. Rowand is one of my favorite players because of his ability to bunt. Jimenez is really good for small ball. Konerko and Maggs usually do an excellent job going opposite field when needed. Thomas has been terrible at it, and he still looks like he doesn't really know where he is hitting the ball. Carlos Lee is solid at it and so is Olivo and even Alomar. The Angels were like the Sox, except Scioscia preached small ball all spring last year and his coaches preached obp, no strikeouts, always making contact and moving guys over. Anyone can bunt if they practice, its the coaches job to preach that skill and force the practices if the players aren't doing it on their own. Why work on it too much if the team isn't going to be emphasizing it. Jose is a solid bunter too, or typically he is. All I'm saying is this team is in fact meant for small ball and Jerry needs to start implementing it. Moving guys over, manufacturing runs, etc is the key to keeping a team out of long losing streaks. It also is key for playoffs and close games when you need to manufacture runs. Teams that manufacture them all the time are going to come through more often and execute since they always have it in their mind. Bring Backman or Valentine in if JM doesn't want to play small ball, cause to me this team can win 100 games if they are doing those things. This offense will put up constantly 4 plus runs a game and they will have more and more games where they explode for plenty more. Oh ya, did I mention how small ball puts so much more pressure on defenses and can cause pitchers to throw more balls (If they are worried about the steal) and it brings infielders in if they are more concerned about bunts.

I think it has been good as well. We have thrown guys out at the plate, pretty much shut down the running game and limited our mistakes. Carlos has been fine in left field, Maggs has been awesome in right and Rowand has been solid in center. Jimenez struggled early defensively but has looked very smooth lately and Jose hasn't been quite as Jose like. Jose is still chasing every freaking curveball he ever sees though. I will never understand why a pitcher throws him anything but a big hanging curve down the tube the drops in the dirt. He will swing at it 99% of the time and will never get a hit from it unless he's completely lucky and gets a swinging bunt.

Sweet, looking forward to that.

I'm not very religious, but if everyone lived by gods rules this world would be a much better place. Of course some people don't and there isn't anything you could do about it. Nowhere have I read where god controls our lifes or anything like that, we control our lives and you hope that he can help you or at least thats my take.

Agreed.

No way does Caballo get 6 mill. He'll be lucky to get what he's getting right now. The times have changed in the majors and mediocre players aren't going to get big bucks. Look what Daubach got.

I seem to think it was a beanball. What team was it against. I also remember him getting ejected once for arguing balls and strikes right out the gate or something. If it was vs detroit it was probably for a beanball the game after the huge brawl or in the next series simply because the umps wanted to make sure no more fights broke out.

I can't wait till I head down their this summer or at least I hope to. New website looks way cool.