[Wagner Rumor from Phillies Post Game]

The lastest from John Marzano is the following as heard on Comcast Sportsnet in Philly:

 

Sox: Wagner

 

Phils: BMac and Marte

Don't shoot the messenger....

 

I hate giving up McCarthy (our only pitching prospect and a damn good one), but that trade's okay in our situation.

 

Better than other proposals I've seen, that have us throwing in 2 other players/prospects, which woud be ridiculous.

 

We need a bat more, though.

[Schmidt to Sox?]

well last year rojer clemons said of schmidt:

"before he got injured, he was the only pitcher up there with me in the cy young race."

just food for thought

 

But he got injured.

[Schmidt to Sox?]

Jeckle you obviously dont know much about Schmidt if you are this much against him, the guy is a total stud and is just having a slow start, but b4 his last outing he had like 3 pretty dominating starts in a row I think it was like 21-24 innings only giving up 3 runs.....

 

How do you know that he's "just having a slow start"?

 

Wasn't he recently injured?

How many "stud" years as he had in his career?

Why should we pay a Johnson/Schilling price for Jason Schmidt?

[Schmidt to Sox?]

You could give Houston the top 4 prospects in the White Sox system, it will not be enough to get Roy Oswalt. Houston signed him to a 2 year extension this off-season, and I believe he is arbitration eligible after that meaning they control him this season + 2 more.

 

Of course we have no chance to get Oswalt, but the spirit of his post is on the money. If you want to trade your farm system, do so for a quality top notch pitcher, not damaged goods.

 

As for the strikeouts, in cubbie/kerry wood parlance, strikeouts by themselves offer probative value.

[Paul Konerko Will Sign With The Sox???]

I hope not.  He's going to get far to much money and he just isn't worth it.  I'd rather give Ross or Rogo a shot and use the money elsewhere but that's jmo.  Meanwhile the sox got the best record in baseball and who cares about the offseason

 

I agree that he isn't worth the money, but we need to replace his power.

[Hermanson may miss some time in the near future...]

Get ready, Cliff.

[Jason Schdimt to the Sox??]

What gives us a better chance to win a WS?

 

Trade our future for 3 month rental of Schmidt?

 

Or keep producing playoff teams for the next 5 years, replacing Dye, the cubans, etc. with cheaper talent (which may or may not be talent, agreed) from our farm system, freeing up cash to pursue free agents and pay the raises that MB et al will deserve and get from someone?

 

I believe that the latter approach is wiser given our budget constraints. Now if he's healthy AND if we plan on signing him, that's another story. But you don't pay a price like we paid for Garcia, short of confidence in him being in the long term plans. And it appears that the Giants are asking more than the Mariners asked for Garcia.

[Contreras and El Duque]

well Jason Schmidt is the closest thing we are going to get to Roger Clemens.... Astro's probably wont trade him just because of the fans he brings to the park and Clemens wont go anywhere besides the yanks or rangers.

 

and with how El Duque has pitched, well Id say we definitly need an ace to anchor this staff along side Buehrle.... so

 

Yes to Schmidt

No to Lilly

 

If Schmidt is significantly better than one of our top 3 starters, it's something to consider. Don't know his contract status, but if it's strictly a 3 month rent, then we should pay a low price. If we must rent, I would rather the sure bet - rent Clemens.

El D and Contreras won't help in the playoffs, except out of the pen.

[Jason Schdimt to the Sox??]

We need a 5th starter (maybe - hopefully, Duque will get healthy and we won't have to waste resources on a 5th starter, as they don't pitch in the playoffs). Or we need a killer starter like Clemens (and really no one else) - Houston is still in the wild card race, so they ain't dealing him soon.

 

To spend a bunch of players, money on some #3 quality starter makes no sense. Unless his name his Clemens, no pitcher we get will be much better, if better at all, than Garland, Garcia or MB. I doubt they'd be better than Contreras, to tell the truth.

[Juan Pierre is on the trading block]

I agree Pierre is having an offseason but he has batted over 300 the last 2 seasons with over 40 stolen bases...

 

Think our defense in the OF

PodsLF

PierreCF

Rowand RF

 

 

Pods is not a good defensive outfielder.

We can't give up any power now, anyway.

[Crede on Block?]

Joe Randa is not a .260-.270 hitter he's a .285-.295 hitter. Check his career stats.

36 years old, beaten up, no power (although he is having a career power year). Just what we need.

[Want Minnesota to fold and go away?]

Before you all flame away there is a method to my madness. 

 

Back in 2000 we basically won the division in April and May and took the rest of the year off and it showed when Seattle totally schooled us in the playoffs.  We got complacent with a big division lead and we fell asleep as a team.

 

Ideally Id like to see Minny stay 3-5 games back for the rest of the season.  That way they keep the Sox honest.  If that's the case we'll go into the playoffs sharp and on our toes as opposed to 2000 when we basically backed into the playoffs.

I disagree - we didn't clinch until the Sunday before the last week of the season. We used a ton of energy to ensure we won that division and had nothing left for the playoffs. We were cooked.

[Are You HAPPY Now?]

Not real happy because Reynolds says stupid stuff like Konerko should be on the all star team.

Well, one problem - he isn' t having an all star year.

 

I like the compliments, but they are hollow when the commentator doesn't really know what he's talking about.

Maybe, he could mention our second baseman.

[Moronotti's latest ramblings...]

Well, at least he isn't writing latently racist articles anymore, as he did 3 years ago. But is it too much to ask for him to write just one article without carrying on on the obvious agenda?

[And that's a White Sox winner!!!]

Guillen did today what he should have done yesterday: let hermanson pitch the 9th.

[Giving Adkins his due]

I know. But Baj should get a chance somewhere, if not for the sox then another team in need of a closer

We need these young pitchers - every young pitcher we can plug in is one less we have to mash our teeth in a trade or free agent signing. If he can pitch, there will be a spot in the rotation for him soon enough

that was the smart thing about only 2 year contracts for our acquisitions - by that time, some young players can be ready and you need some of that to build a ballclub.

[Good News]

Atrocious? Have you ever seen him play?

 

Yes I 've seen him play - have you???? have you seen him throw? You do know he can't call pitches either, right?

 

We invest all this money in starters, only to put an AJ behind the plate? I certainly hope not.

[Good News]

Catcher is the one position in which defense is more important than offense.

AJ's D is atrocious and his O, frankly, is marginal (lousy OBP and no power - what more would you want from a mediocre hitter)?

[WSCR 670AM, MLB.com: "El Duque" agrees to deal]

$4 mill for El Duque is a ridiculous price

 

Come on Williams, enough with the half-ass players

[Ben Davis]

Yes, I agree, I think the White Sox can and should try to upgrade from Davis and Burke.

 

And I think they are trying ... Kendall back in November and now Pierzynski.

 

Even with his baggage, the White Sox need to get this deal done with Pierzynski.

If we tried for Kendall, we didn't try very hard; probably hung up on salary as surely we could have matched the virtual nothing that Oakland gave up

[White Sox Interested in Milton]

Do the Sox have interest in Milton at $6 mill? Yes. At $9 mill which is closer to what he'll likely get? Hell no.

How the hell is he going to get $9 mill, when Clement got 8?

 

Clement at $8 was a steal in this market, sad to say.

[Wade Miller non-tendered]

Miller is a really good pitcher - but he gets injured all the time.

 

Oswalt is the Astros' Prior - no way is he non-tendered

[NY Rumors about Vazquez]

I was just looking at the mlb.com report of the possible RJ trade.  How in the world do the Yankees pull off such a great deal?  They are sending away Vasquez (3 yrs/$34 mil) and two overhyped prospects in return for one of the most dominant left-handed pitchers in baseball history and Ishii (a decent SP who could win 15 games with an offense like the Yankees).  I just don't understand why the Dodgers would be a part of this?  I don't know, I'm just ranting, but the fact that the Yankees have the payroll to sign anyone and can bamboozle any team into s***ty trades is just getting under my skin.  Alright, I'm done.

One thing is that it gets Johnson out of the national league.

 

And they save a bunch of money, which they can use to sign Drew; just like we took a one-sided deal to get a bunch of money to use to sign___________, or fatten JR's wallet, whichever

[Pretty good Article]

"But general manager Ken Williams shortchanged [Clement]"

 

-  Refusing to pay $8+ million a year to a question mark like Matt Clement with a $65-$75 million budget isn't called shortchanging.  I'm leaning towards reasonable.

 

"failed to sign the only remaining free-agent pitcher capable of major impact"

 

-  Odalis Perez, Derek Lowe, Kevin Millwood.  Is Clement really that much better than these guys?  And Clement must be told beforehand if he is expected to make 'major impact'.  His agent told me he's not very comfortable with that.

 

 

I just hope KW decides to spend some of that saved payroll and not sit on it going into the season.  We could patch up at least one if not two of our holes, and Mariotti would have to eat his words, not that there's any chance he would, of course.

Yes that is shortchanging because it was obvious the market price was higher than what we offered. We let ourselves be shortchanged by Milwaukee in terms of talent, precisely to be able to make a market offer to Clement; we failed to do so.

 

 

It's a matter of opinion, but I think Clement is decidedly superior to those on your list, except for Perez.

 

We could spend the money on "plugging holes" - the problem with that is we'd be spending money on more mediocre players who may be a bit better than the mediocre players we currently have; that doesn't win you anything. The great hitting catcher whom everyone wants, has a OBP of .320 with no power - better than Ben DAvis (offensively; not defensively) but not very good. Spending 2-3 million on players of that caliber, if overdone, is a ticket to last place.

 

On the other hand, spending money on Clement of Perez gives us a GOOD player; plugging holes won't give us a good player

[NY Rumors about Vazquez]

That would be the worst trade in baseball history

 

But whenever a team is looking for a sap to take the short end of the value stick in a major deal, Kenny Williams' number is on speed dial