Chisoxfn

I agree with you. We are going to have a good pen, I'd just like to see us having Keith Foulke in it and if we don't have him, I'd like to see us bring in a good left handed reliever cause I doubt Kelly Wunsch and Mike Porzio. Guys I don't doubt are Joe Valentine, Gary Glover, Osuna, Marte and Foulke. Barring serious injuries we should have an exceptional bullpen.

Talking about a former Angels Scout that is now doing good things with our organization, Bob Fontaine Jr. Here's the Article from the La Times written by Bill Plaschke He wasn't there. When his children spilled joyfully onto a field in Texas on Thursday, Bob Fontaine Jr. was sitting in an office in Chicago. While the Angels were cutting the ribbon on a long-awaited playoff home, Fontaine was busy building the Chicago White Sox. He wasn't there. But he was there. He was there on a weed-choked Dominican Republic field with a skinny kid named Ramon Ortiz. He was there in Riverside with a strong-armed catcher named Troy Percival. He was there when Darin Erstad was punting footballs in Nebraska, and Jarrod Washburn was throwing snowballs in Wisconsin, and Troy Glaus was playing shortstop in Westwood. He was there when the Southland's trendy baseball heroes were only a collection of wings and prayers. Bob Fontaine Jr. turned them into Angels. And then, after 13 years as their scouting boss, he was gone. Three years ago, rather than face a Disney purge of his department, he followed Bill Bavasi out the door like a good soldier, walked away without publicity or complaint. Took with him one of the best bird-dogging minds of this era. Left behind a potential champion. Perhaps today is a good time for somebody to notice. "Oh, no," Fontaine said when contacted, after much difficulty, for this story. "I don't really want to do this. This is not my time. This is the Angels' time. I am so happy for them. This is their story." Oh, yes, but their stories are intertwined, those of the home-grown Angels and the scouting guru who planted them. This is a story of how Fontaine assembled the core of the current Angels with such scouts as Tim Kelly, Tom Burns, Ted Brzenk, Rick Ingalls, Kris Kline, Tom Osowski, George Ortiz, Jose Gomez, Darrell Miller and Tom Kotchman. Only Kotchman and Burns are still with the organization. But their work will be held up during this postseason as an example of how an old-fashioned game can still be conquered with old-fashioned work. Five of the Angels' eight regular position players were drafted or initially signed by the organization. Another player, second baseman Adam Kennedy, was acquired in a trade for home-grown Jim Edmonds. Three of the four pitchers in the postseason rotation are Angel products. And, of course, closer Percival has never played anywhere else. All 10 of them—every last arm and bat—were acquired and approved by Bob Fontaine Jr. A guy who doesn't use a radar gun or stopwatch. A guy who doesn't take notes. A guy who spends entire at-bats focusing only on a hitter's feet. A guy who slept on park benches, stood in swamps, and once scouted 12 games in one day in search of the players who will face the Yankees next week. A guy who will enjoy the fruits of none of it. Fontaine, 49, is now the minor league boss of the White Sox. Instead of watching the Angels in New York next week, he will be watching kids in Arizona. "I will say this: His record was amazing," said Bavasi, who runs the Dodgers' farm system and was also reluctant to talk for fear of stealing attention from the Angels. "I defy you to find another scouting director who has produced the kind of players Bobby has produced." And I defy you to find anyone outside the game who will notice. That's how it works with scouts. They spend their lives under a sunscreen coat and a Panama hat. They speak in numbers, they communicate in glances, they live in small type at the bottom of a player's biography that nobody reads. Like so many dirty-smocked chefs, scouts sweat over the cooking, then hand over their masterpiece for the enjoyment of someone else. Sometimes somebody will come back into the kitchen to thank them. Mostly, they won't. To look at the Angels is to realize that somebody needs thanking. "Yeah, you need to thank Bill Stoneman and Mike Scioscia for turning them into a winner," Fontaine said. But before 2002, there was 1995. The Angels had the first overall pick, which, in the uncertain world of baseball, often means disappointment. In the first round, Fontaine picked Erstad. In the second round, Washburn. That same summer, with virtually no Latin American budget, Fontaine waded into makeshift field in the Dominican Republic and approved the signing of Ortiz. "A pretty fortunate year," he said. "Erstad was easy. Jarrod had that good, loose arm. Ramon, I loved his wrists." Before that, there was 1990. They knew of a Granada Hills kid who was a great basketball player. They put him through a workout. They asked him to change his throwing style. "He did just what we asked, and he improved on the spot, and we thought, this kid is really smart," Fontaine said. "What he had, you couldn't teach." And so, in the fourth round, they took Garret Anderson. They also saw a catcher with the makeup of a pitcher. "We thought, if he couldn't hit, we would just put him on the mound," Fontaine said. So in the sixth round, they took Percival. "It's not one person; it never is," Fontaine said. "I was lucky to work with a group of scouts who took no shortcuts and were not afraid to take a chance." In 1989, the Angels saw a potentially great hitter who would slide in the draft because of his funky stance. In the third round, Fontaine stole Tim Salmon. John Lackey, a former first baseman, had been pitching only a year when the Angels grabbed him in the second round. Orlando Palmeiro was a tiny outfielder who had been ignored by nearly everybody when the Angels grabbed him in the 33rd round. Everyone says that much of scouting is luck. One man overseeing the building of virtually an entire playoff team—the first Angel playoff team in 16 years—is not luck. "And I wish the Angels nothing but luck," Fontaine said, excusing himself, returning to the shadow, his work now done.

ODDS AND ENDS Written By: Mario Scalise http://www.soxnet.net/oddsandends.html Odds and Ends with mario scalise --- September 27th, 2002 --- The season is now three days away from ending, finally. The Sox stand at 81-78, guarenteeing themselves a fairly respectable .500 record as they have used these remaining two months of the season to focus in on 2003. Problem is the 2003 team is still not set, or even close to it. The only thing the Sox have decided on is that there will be a lot of decisions to be decided on. As far as these past few days, its been pretty good. Not only did they sweep the Twins in a series where they outscored the AL Central champs 32 to 8, but they ended the Red Sox last second hope for the playoffs by taking the series two games to one. Analytical View White Sox GM Kenny Williams announced that the Sox will pursue a "top of the line" starter in the off-season and that righty Todd Ritchie will return to the Sox next season. Big question is what does KW mean by "top of the line". Do we take it for its actual meaning, which is a starter such as Tom Glavine. Or do we take it as someone who is good enough to pitch behind Mark Buehrle and ahead of Jon Garland. That too is a wide gap to decipher as on one side you have a proven pitcher going for 20 wins, and on the other an improving pitcher who has yet to reach his potential. So top of the line as of this moment could be Orlando Hernandez of the Yankees for all we know. The return of Todd Ritchie? Although it is more of a move on KW's part to get a second shot at a trade that backfired, with a little tweaking, Todd Ritchie could turn into that #2 they initially thought he would become. GM Kenny Williams and Manager Jerry Manuel both expressed their approval of the play of Carlos Lee, and believe Lee is on the verge of showing his true potential. The Sox have been quiet with revealing where the 2003 team stands, but this could indicate the departing of Thomas. Speculation all season had the Sox dumping one of the two with the presence of the young guys: Joe Borchard, Joe Crede, Jeff Liefer, Aaron Rowand. And while Lee has been spoken highly of, Thomas has been treated with the "wait and see" approach. Performance Report On the Mound With Thursday's 7 1/3, 2 run performace against the Red Sox, Danny Wright has practically assured himself a spot in the 2003 rotation. Onto the quest for 20. Buehrle was in a tough spot two starts ago; he needed three wins for 20 wins, with only three starts remaining, leaving no room for error. Since, he has given up just three runs in two starts, spanning across 13 inning, and has a legit shot at win #20 this weekend when he goes up against the playoff-bound Minnesota Twins. Rocky Biddle, who has been seen more of a temporary starter than future starter, is vying for the #5 spot on next years rotation. Out of the Pen Reliever Keith Foulke is now getting antsy as he is just days away from seasons end and he still has no clue as to what he will be, a starter or reliever. Known is that he won't be traded according to Kenny Williams. One thing looks to be for sure, Matt Ginter and Jim Parque are no longer in the teams plans. The Sox have used them for a combined 4 2/3 innings since September 5th. In the Field A little confusion came with the last issue regarding Joe Crede's error total (7). This wasn't done as a knock, but to simply inform. My personal view of Crede on defense is one word, promising. Although he still lacks proper footwork and positioning, he's quick, shows good range, a strong and rather accurate arm, and soft hands. Good assets for what looks to be a phenominal hitter.

That sounds like a bad week. Don't worry though, highschool isn't as important as everyone makes it out to be. I'm a pretty smart guy, and I never really had much higher then a 3.0 throughout highschool and was lazy as can be. Now that I'm in college I'm ripping it up despite always being a complete lazy bum who never did homework. It sucks when you miss all that time. Anyway, hope your feeling better. By the way, how did you get a leak in your lungs anyway?

I'll hold back from arguing, at least right now. Let me also say that its still doing better then at any point in the 90's or 80's even after you account for inflation and everything else. Also, what did you expect to happen. Did you really expect to see the stock market keep booming when all of those Tech Companies were worth well over a hundred dollars despite the fact that they weren't making any money and never had made any money. The fact was they had to come down and it was ridiculous how high the PE ratios were for a long long time. Heck, the market still hasn't reached its low point if you ask me and it will continue going down for a while, imo.

Alright, I tried, but what you'll have to do is save the photo and then upload it on the board.

That rhymes with Lee Dungaree.

Here'll I give ya what ya need in about 10-15 minutes. Just finishing my lunch up at work.

It doesn't look like your avatar is working. I think you have to set it as an img link.

Ya, we don't have any problem with posting on multiple sites. I post on multiple sites and to me if your a Sox fan and love posting elsewhere then go have fun. The way I see it, posting and everything else should be fun.

I'd take Clemens or plenty of relievers. I'll go through it a little later when I'm not on my lunch break and home from work.

Exactly, it will be good to have a #1 and #2 in Buerhle and a FA or Trade Guy, and then have Garland and Wright turn into a #2 as well. That way we'd have a rotation much closer to the A's.

I saw it in a couple articles. I don't see a problem in having Foulke, marte, Osuna and Glover. They are the vet presence of the pen. Then dump Ginters lame self, keep one of Porzio or Wunsch and bring up Valentine and a lefty.

No she won't, but I think she'll like the fact that KW isn't or doesn't expect to trade Carlos Lee. The way I see it, its a good way to give Jeff Liefer and Borchard some more playing time.

I got one, just go to www.bearstalk.com and click on the staff page, I'm Jason, aka DABEARSDABOMB.

I'm going to see Red Dragon when it comes out, but now I'm going to make a note to see Resident Evil too. I figured that movie would stink cause it was based on a video game or whatever.

Welcome aboard Gashwound. Glad to have ya over here. Like I always say, The more the merrier.

I can bowl about 150-180 with the crappy lane balls they give you.

Carlos Lee To Miss Final Series By: Mario Scalise White Sox left fielder Carlos Lee, who left to be with his pregnant wife in Panama before Thursday's game against the Red Sox, will miss the final season series against the Twins this weekend. Lee, 26, batted .264 this season with 26 home runs, 80 runs batted in, and a .484 slugging percentage. The most significant stat of all is Lee's walk to strikeout ratio which is 75/73. Lee is the only Sox player with more than 30 games, who has more walks than strikeouts.

Ken Williams said that Keith Foulke is not on the trade block and that he doesn't care whether he pays him 6 million a year to set up Marte. Personally thats a good combination of set up men with Foulke coming in the eight and Marte in the ninth. Plus Osuna would also act as a set up man. All 3 pitchers have different stuff so they'd all give the opponents different looks. Osuna is all about his hard fastball. Foulke is about control and his nasty circle change while Marte is a lefty with side winding action, great control, and a nasty slider.

I'd love either Benson or kennedy. Both are cheap pitchers with good stuff that could help our team. The big question is what would we need to give up. In the Pirates circumstance i think they are looking for offensive help as well as a replacement for Kendall, whom they'd like to move. I'd look to give them Caballo, an infield prospect, and MJ or Paul for Kris Benson any day of the week. Of course I'd be willing to give them either Harris, Hummel or Miles as the infield prospect if they take Liefer instead of Carlos.

Thats weird, for some reason I thought we didn't have that many come from behind wins. I too thought the Angels had the most. I guess it just depends on what they call a come from behind win.

This is probably a good thing. We can hold onto Lee till at least the break because Borchard could definately use more time in AAA, and even a full year would only benefit him. If we let him figure things out down there, then when he comes to the big show we won't see as big of a drop off. We are a team that can afford to bring our hitters along slowly and thats a good thing, imo. As far as the #2 starter thing goes, I don't buy we leave Wright their. I just got a hunch we go get someone. KW has and never will be afraid to go out and make the move. Whether its the right move I don't know, but he will do something, I can guarantee you that.

Typically strong relievers have better sucess when they come up to the majors as well. The thing is usually teams don't have many solid relievers but our system has them stocked. I think KW has noticed that the real good teams like the Yanks and Mariners have had strong strong bullpens. The problem is typically you have to have a lot of money to have a strong bullpen. I think KW's plan is to always have you guys that come up and as players grow we eventually move them on for more talent. I think we will tend to take a keep them for a while, then deal them, but only as long as we still have proven depth in the pen. Its kind of why we will end up moving Foulke.

We know one thing, if Greg was the GM, Crede would of been dealt for a PTBNL, lol. Sometimes we just got to be patient and if we aren't playing for anything why not let the guys get a shot to get comfortable. He's going to be one of the top 3rd baseman in the majors.