Chisoxfn

Ya, Johnson will go high. As far as Mcgahee goes. I'd do it this way. Draft him (His agent is expecting a mid to late pick) so I'm thinking we pick high in the 3rd so its a viable option. Let him be with our doctors 24/7 and get him heatlhy. He'll be healthy during the season, but don't play him. Put him on the practice squad and let him work out and get adjusted, but most importantly he can have a nice year to learn the system so come training camp the kid will be healthy and ready and he won't of been rushed.

Well, if your going to deal Armas, its much easier to trade him once he's signed a contract. Could he be on the move as well. If they are keeping him, then they would definately be moving salary pretty quickly and would hint a deal is immenent. Either way, it means something

Not sure, most likely pitching prospects.

But Finley is much more of a leader then say Robert Person. Finley is one of the most sucessful lefties of the 90's and he's still damn good now. I'd rather pay 500k-750k more for a guy like Finley who is consistent and proven leader and great clubhouse guy. He's dealt with adversity both on the field and off the field and has suceeded in both areas. Of course this whole idea of draft pick compensation I don't like. We'l get Colon or Vazuqez.

Yan came in the same deal as the Marte trade. The Sox deal can now officially be declared a bust, but at least we didn't give up any hall of famers. Fogg ISN'T anything special and I will be proved right as he flounders this season. Kip is decent, but he wouldn't of amounted to anything with the Sox and most would agree with me on that regard. At least the Sox didn't try to milk the deal and act like it wasn't a failure, like the Cubs did for so long with the Hundley signing. Ritchie will probably pitch better though, especially when he goes back to playing for a crap team with no pressure.

I don't think they have to worry anymore. With so many teams pulled out, now is the team that they won't think its a favor. He's getting forced into a deal and JR knows whats going on behind the scenes and probably has an idea of what it would take.

Great question Jim. I think the whole reason the Sox made the move is because they had other plans for the 40 man roster. I also think the Sox will end up getting Majewski back, but Toronto is a team that could hold him in the bullpen for a full season. Plus, Gary could prove ready for the major leagues. He has real good stuff and it was a great draft pick on there part.

Agreed....with Jose and Caballo leaving after this year(presumably), that will free up $9 mill....so if we acquire Colon, that still gives us a little room to work with(though I believe Maggs goes from $9 mill this year to $14 mill next year, and than he's a FA...we better as hell resign him). Let me think about this for a second here......Jose and Caballo are gone after next year...as I already said. Osuna is gone too....so that's about $11.5 or $12 mill or something like that gone next year. Get Buehrle for $1,000,000 and then Maggs' salary increases by $5 million....that takes up about half of it. Unless we sign Koch to a bigger deal, than he will get a lot in arbitration as well...which will probably take up about $5 mill or so....which leaves us at approximately $2 mill left. From here, we have two options: 1) Hope Frank gets out of his deal after this year 2) Dish out more money to resign Colon I'd say that we better as hell hope we win a s***load this year and get a hell of a lot of money....or else we could be feeling the feeling we had from 1995-1999 again. The good thing is, in this market, Maggs probably wouldn't get 14 million on the open market. If the Sox were smart, they'd start talking with him this upcoming offseason on a deal that would avg around 10 million a year.

Can't deal Ritchie, we don't have the rights to him, plus he just signed with the Brewers, but this post probably was posted before he made the signing.

Most definately. Colon is the superior pitcher, but at 25 Vazuqez has thrown innings and had sucess. The one thing that worries me is a rather high opponents batting average.

Why do you taunt me with such ideas!!! Ok here goes...IF somehow we could miraculously pull that off here is what I do...turn around and trade B. Colon and Carlos Lee to the Reds for Adam Dunn and Ryan Dempster (fill in a few prospects where need be). Then we go into the season with: Mark B. Vazquez Garland Dempster Wright/Rauch 2B - Jiminez SS - Valentin DH - Thomas RF - Maggs 1B - Konerko LF - Dunn 3B - Crede CF - Rowand/Borchard C - Olivo We would be unbeatable. Well, thats a legit proposal. I'd do it, would the Reds? At first I think of it as funny, but if the Reds would take on Lee's salary and Colons it would be sweet deal. I just don't see them taking the money. Of course the whole fun of proposing things like this is to dream.

I'm confused, how would this deal work? I'm assuming it is a 3 way deal with the Reds and Expos.

He's just not any damn good. He doesn't walk much, and his swing is an upper cut, where he tries to lift everything. Which leads to a lot of strike outs. BECAUSE HE WHINES AND CRIES about how he should START. Yet, what has he done? I'm not one to get real down on a player, but when you whine and don't have the stats to back it up, then as far as I'm concerned, get out of town. I liked Liefer entering last year, but I've seen nothing out of him this past season, and yet this winter league, he still stinks. I'll take Mario Valenzula up here as our left handed stick (I think he's a lefty)

Even if Colon is as big as a house? Dibb...I heard on the Radio today that the Red Sox dropped out of the race after their scouts flew out to the Dominican and weighed him in at 271 Pounds!!! Don't know how true it was, but it was on a reliable station (xtra 690) I also heard that another suitor, the New York Mets, is a possibility for Colon, but they don't have the prospects to offer. They were part of the supposed 3 way deal, but now they suspect they may go after Colon.

I'm with ya on that Cerb. To be honest, Vazquez is a very similar pitcher to Jon Garland imo. I still don't see fabulous stuff out of Garland, but he really seems to be developing nicely. I know everyone, scouts and all, rave about this kid, and I never thought he'd be for real, but its looking like I was wrong and I sure hope I am. The key was, Jon stopped trying to overpower everyone and thats when his ball had nasty sinking action. Still, I'd deal West and a prospect for Vazquez.

That surprised the heck out of me. I guess the Brewers think they are going to the series now. Maybe we could trade Jeff Liefer for Ben Sheets.

Rowand is excpected to be ready for the start of spring training. Everything is going good with him. As far as Graffy goes, I think I read a while back that he is a little behind Rowand, but at the most he'd miss like the first 2 weeks of the season. I am not positive on the Graffy situation though, cause not much has been said about him.

I agree with you fully on that. It would be sweet to bring in two stud younger pitchers, but not at the cost of Joe Crede, I can live with everyone else, but not Crede.

I think the Bears should go after Mcgahee in the 3rd. I'd go after Johnson in the 2nd. I know defense is a concern, but could you imagine going Palmer/Leftwich, Johnson, and then Mcgahee. We'd have the makings of a dominant offense for a long long time.

Most Definately.

Sometime in March I'm assuming.

They whooped them up pretty good. Way to go Bulls.

I'll take Stewart. Give him an incentive laden contract. The guy could turn into a probowler and at the very worse he's much better then Jim Miller and very mobile. No way can the Steelers trade him unless they throw in their first round pick for a 7th rounder cause no one is going to pay him what he has coming.

I was going to say JV will realize he's not a power hitter when Ray Durham does. LOL! You know, steroids would really do those two wonders, since they got that Babe Ruth swing.

We play the NL West in interleague play plus the Cubs. I know Cali and I are going to be headin to Dodger Stadium to see the Sox play the Dodgers