CWSGuy406

FWIW, I think the posting fee doesn't come out of the direct payroll money. I thought I remember reading that when Seattle bid for Ichiro, the posting fee money came from money used for the scoreboard (or something of the sort). Just saying that if Kenny really felt that Matsuzaka is/was the real deal, and if he could find reasonable deals for two of the Sox current starters not named McCarthy, he could win this bid, IMO. More or less, I'd guess that a big portion of the initial posting bid might come from US Cellular and Reinsdorf & Co.

Ugh. Chavez was playing hurt half the year. Although I didn't see many of these guys, it's hard for me to believe that he was better than Crede, Inge, Lowell, or Beltre. I'm assuming Uribe didn't get the GG either, right? EDIT: Full list: P Kenny Rogers C Ivan Rodriguez 1B Mark Teixeira 2B Mark Grudzielanek SS Derek Jeter 3B Eric Chavez OF Torii Hunter OF Ichiro Suzuki OF Vernon Wells

If the Sox can't grab someone from free agency or through a trade, I'd like to see the Sox delve into the Japanese market to see if they could pull out a pitcher. The White Sox position should be fairly intriguing to Japanese relievers; they'd be coming to a place where two other Japanese players have had success, the pressure wouldn't be huge as they'd be asked to be a middle reliever, as opposed to a closer (although I'm sure this can turned as a negative, too), and I'm sure having another Japanese player already on the team would be appealing to some over there.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 03:55 PM) Cool idea. They should also make a spot for Borchard's longest HR in the history of the park. Yes... so someone can feel proud about their jersey...

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 07:43 PM) It's called bad management. Instead of having nobody on the team, you "improve" by building one around only a couple of guys that can't get hurt. They went from the 90's Clippers (giant suckfest of nothing) to the 2000's Cubs (relying on a couple injury prone guys). Yes, bad management. Damn Tallon for injuring Havlat, Zues, Khabibulin, and Ruutu. Damn him to hell! Look; injury prone or not, no team would survive losing their top four players. I know the Hawks created a lot of excitement early on with their pre-season and their good start, but this Hawks team, even if it didn't endure one injury, wasn't destined for a top five spot in the West. The bulk of this team's core is still in the minors/college/juniors. I know people hate hearing the word "patience", but the Hawks are still a year or two away. Their past three first-round picks -- Cam Barker, Jon Toews, and Jack Skille -- should ALL make the team next year. Again: Yes, it's probably going to be another deflating season for the Hawks (although once Ruutu becomes healthy enough, they can still have a great first line with Vrbata/Ruutu/Havlat), but even going into the season, if your expectations were higher than the 7th or 8th spot in the West, I question your hockey knowledge.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 30, 2006 -> 01:22 AM) All I know is Rex has yet to win a game for this team Who says he has to? Milkman said Grossman sucks. I don't think reasonable Bears fans were ever saying that Rex Grossman was on Peyton Manning's level. He's an uber-aggressive QB who sometimes believes he can make impossible throws. For the most part this season, it's worked out. And I'm sorry, but Griese would not have made some of the throws Grossman has completed this season. Also, I really can't call Grossman's game against Minny a failure. He made a couple of bad throws, most notably his one where the Bears were backed up against their own goal-line, but he also hit Davis in the perfect spot on his TD pass. The Football Outsiders currently have Minnesota as the third best defense in football, behind Batimore and Chicago, so it's not like we're talking about some hole-filled defense. Plus you add in the fact that the game was at Minny, and I'm not sure you can characterize that game as 'bad' for Rex. Mind you, I won't be adding that game to the pile of Rex's gems, but I can't see Griese or any other average, run-of-the-mill QB doing a whole lot better in those circumstances.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Oct 29, 2006 -> 11:56 PM) Honestly, how does this improve our ballclub? Look at the roster, people: LF may be one of the few positions Williams can realistically improve. SS and CF are the only other viable areas for improvement, but it's not clear whether Anderson or Uribe are at risk of losing their jobs. -He's a much better baserunner and basestealer than Podsednik. He's effective and efficient in his steals. -His ZR ranked first in all of baseball, well ahead of the number two guy, Matt Murton. Then again, ZR liked Scott Podsednik, too (third among all qualified LFers). In the fans scouting report (found here), Roberts rated just slightly above average. Looks like he'd be a fairly similar defender to Pods; weak arm, fairly weak OF instincts, but good speed to make up for poor jumps. -Roberts' OBP the past two seasons have been .356 and .360. Other than Iguchi, I don't there's any other reasonable number one or two hitters who could do that (this of course discludes the 3-4-5 guys). I think if you read in between the lines, it's pretty clear that Scotty isn't coming back next year. Kenny hasn't said a lot about this offseason, but I seem to remember an article talking about replacing Uribe, and Kenny pretty much jumped right to Juan's defense (this was prior to the shooting, not that that makes a huge difference). When Pods came back, there was a real clear difference between how he 'backed up' Uribe and how he sort of left the LF spot open to question. Overall, I'm not a huge fan of signing Roberts, but it wouldn't be the worst possible solution (which of course would be giving either Matthews Jr or Pierre big money).

Ideas as to how much cash and years Roberts is going to get? Out of leadoff outfielder types that I can think of -- Frank Catalanatto (sp), Gary Matthews Jr, and Juan Pierre (am I missing any?) -- it's possible Roberts gets the least amount of money of the group. Him or Cat, for sure. Again; the Sox shouldn't be making "leadoff hitter" into a position, per se. If Roberts wants more than two years at five million per... Well, he's really not the type of player who deserves that. If they really want to get the slappy leadoff hitter type, I'd go after whichever of the two wants less money, Cat or Roberts. Cat has more power and better on-base skills, but I'd venture to guess that Roberts' baserunning and defensive skills are better than Cat's. All in all, they're pretty similar players. Win Shares and VORP both have Roberts as the better player, and I'm not sure how well those stats can incorporate baserunning, so I'd probably rather have Roberts. I would just force Ozzie to realize that Anderson is the starting CFer, and if, say, Jerry Owens turns out to be the 4th OFer, he's not playing for BA every third day.

QUOTE(ottawa_sox @ Oct 29, 2006 -> 09:20 PM) I wish I had a better feel for what went wrong with Mark this year. And is it me or has he given up more hits per inning for the last several years in succession? If so, I am not sure where the optimism comes from that he will 'turn it around'. Blind perhaps? I think there's a quiet majority that believe he was pitching hurt down the stretch. His fastball was down from his normal 87-89 to 84-86. Thus, his changeup was much less effective than in year's prior. IMO, if he's still pitching at 85-86 next year, we may never see the Mark Buehrle of old again.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Oct 28, 2006 -> 09:23 PM) The "middle infield" is average, half of which consists of Carlos Guillen. You know, the guy who misplayed Eckstein's routine ground ball last night, allowing him to reach and eventually score? Yes, because one play makes someone a bad defender. I think Guillen is average-to-slightly above average. You know how I feel about Polanco. I think their up-the-middle defense (including Pudge and Granderson) is probably the best in baseball. If it isn't the best, it's close. Touche. LOL. I resorted to ad hominem only because you resorted a hasty generalization first by making the typical "stat-heads don't watch the games" comment. I have little tolerance for people who are ignorant to make those types of false assumptions, and if I came off as a little 'over the top', or if you didn't mean it the way I took it as, then I apologize. Never said I have a problem with scouts. Both need to be used hand-in-hand. I have evidence that the stats back up my position that the Tigers defense was good, and other people, who watched the team play daily tell me that the Tigers defense was good. I consider the people who participated in the poll not of the detroittigers.com message board variety. I consider the people who participated to be intelligent people. Thus, you'll have to take my word (if you choose to or not is obviously in question) that the people voting in this are reasonably reliable. I'm not one to consider five games a large enough sample. Did they choke? Maybe. But much of their errors were by pitchers (mainly relievers, who usually aren't out on the mound). I didn't get a chance to sit down and watch every game, but thinking about the errors they showed on the highlights -- the Rodney, Verlander, Jones, and Zumaya errors -- were all obviously made by pitchers. A couple errors seemed to be mental. On Inge's play, it seemed like he had plenty of time, and just rushed it. Ditto the Zumaya error; that had to have been a mental mistake, as I'm pretty sure the play is at second base there. The mistakes made by the outfielders -- well, I don't think you can fault Granderson slipping on wet grass, and on Monroe's error, I never claimed that Monroe was a great OFer. Ditto Maggs. I still don't see how you can call Detroit an 'average' defensive team. You want to break it down position by position? Pudge - Can we agree that he's arguably the best catcher in the game defensively, despite his mishaps on some balls in the dirt this past week? Casey - Can't comment. Don't know enough, and I don't trust the defensive stats for first basemen, as they don't take into account picks on balls in the dirt. Polanco - Above average. Probably one of the top seven (give or take) 2nd basemen in baseball, IMO. Guillen - Average-to-slightly above. Inge - Top five in baseball. I think you can agree with that. Magglio - Below average range and acceleration, except his arm. Granderson - This one is tough. I don't know what to think about him. I've seen him look good before, and I've seen him look bad out there. ZR has him 4th in the AL, and the TT Scouting Report has him above average. I'd say he's slightly above average to real good out there. Monroe - Average range, below average reads, above average arm. I'd a slightly below average LFer. Am I really outrageously wrong on any of these? And, if I'm not, then how can you look at this team and not call them a good defensive team?

Lazar Hayward cleared to play.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Oct 28, 2006 -> 05:20 PM) Anyone who knows anything about baseball will tell you that you can't gauge defensive prowess by looking at stats. Let me fix that for you: "I don't know what the hell your stats mean, and I don't care to actually learn and find out. By saying 'Anyone who knows anyone about baseball', I'm talking about other people like me who are ignorant to the stats as well." Placido Polanco is 'average'? I'm sorry, but you have absolutely no f***ing clue what you're talking about. Since you don't believe the stats, let's see what the 'fans', who watched that Tiger team day-in, day-out had to say. Based on Tango Tiger's Fan Scouting Report, 60 fans cast ballots for Inge's overall defensive play. He rated a 79 in a system where 50 is average. And, if you choose to click my link, you won't have to worry about new fangled stats or anything of the like. So, let's see -- a combined group of over 110 people believe that Polanco and Inge are above average. The stats say the two are above average. But, by golly, your eyes tell you they're not that good, so damnit, you must be right! I can't argue with that; they choked hard in the Series. I'm not going to say who's better out of Crede and Inge. I think most would say Rolen is better than both. I'd say that Crede has better 'hands', but Inge has more range. From the short time I've seen Inge, I think his arm is stronger -- that'd make sense, seeing that he was a catcher just a couple of years prior -- but Crede's is more accurate. Oh, right, cause stat-heads don't actually watch the games. They just look at the spreadsheets, right? Did you come up with that one all by your wittle self? Watching baseball goes into it, as do stats. Just because your too ignorant to realize that the study in defensive statistics is getting better and is light-years ahead of where it was just five years ago, that's not my problem. Let's see: the fans who watch the Tigers more often than either of us tend to believe their team is a top defensive team. The stats back up the fact that they're a top defensive team. But you know what -- your eyes tell you they're bad, so you MUST be right. I really can't argue with someone who chooses to be as hard-headed as you are being at the moment.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Oct 28, 2006 -> 12:03 AM) No, my basis is watching them during the regular season. They weren't good defensively then and they've been looking horrible recently. Oh, right. No hard evidence, just your eyes. Right.... Well, you're just flat-out wrong on that. Ranked the top 3B in ZR. Look -- honestly, it's really tough to debate with someone who is ignorant to or doesn't believe in the stats I use. Detroit had an awful defensive series, you won't get an argument out of me there. Just look at Inge's throw against Eck in the game yesterday -- had plenty of time, but STILL threw it away. Defensive Efficiency is the best way to measure team defense, whether or not you believe it. Detroit was a good defensive team who had an awful series, and that's all my drunk ass can say at the moment.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Oct 27, 2006 -> 11:11 PM) Right, because stats can be effectively used to gauge defensive prowess. Good one. Okay, you don't like the defensive stats. What's your basis for calling Detroit a bad defensive team, besides the fact that they've had a bad couple of games? Oh, that's right, nothing. Look at 'em position by position if you want to. I can't think of a better defensive infield than Detroit's. Polanco and Guillen are both above average up the middle, Pudge is arguably the best defensive catcher in baseball, and Inge is a top three defender at third. Their outfield defense is weaker, but again, based on DEF, they're still getting to a lot of balls in that large ballpark. Again -- what hard evidence do you have for saying they're bad defensively? ... ... I really hope you say something like errors, that'd make me chuckle.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Oct 27, 2006 -> 03:52 PM) I'll say this about the Tigers: Watching them earlier this year, it was apparent to me that they had all of the tools to win, but that their inability to play solid defense was going to hurt them at some point. And if Leyland doesn't start Rogers tonight, he's making a big mistake. Yes, their inability to play solid defense, which ranked at a terrible second in all of baseball in Defensive Efficiency...

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Oct 27, 2006 -> 06:07 PM) What does that make us? Yeah, really. Other than this series (which still, BTW, isn't over -- isn't Jeff Weaver going tonight for the Cards? And, you do NOT want to go back to Detroit if you're St Louis), Tiger fans should be proud of their team this year, and know that they have two kids under 25 who are already top of the rotation pitchers in Verlander and Bonderman, and potentially two more on the way in Miller and Sanchez. That makes no mention of Wilfredo Ledezma, who could turn out to be pretty good himself.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Oct 26, 2006 -> 05:44 PM) Please yell out for them to play "Easy Livin'" and tell me what happens. Please. Sorry, Kid, I wasn't in any position to yell anything at the stage. To be honest, going into the concert, I only knew a few songs, although I knew going into it was going to be a fun and upbeat concert. They really put on one helluva show. I wish I knew the words to more of their songs, as it's always a lot more fun being more "involved", but I still had a rea great time. I've been to very few concerts, but this one ranks atop my short list.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Oct 23, 2006 -> 07:55 PM) If we are out of contention at the trade deadline, yes, but otherwise we'll be holding onto Dye at the rate he has. Heck, I wouldn't be shocked if the Sox talked about ripping up his current contract and giving him a new 2-3 year deal, paying him more than he'd get this year, but getting a bit of a discount in the following years. Maybe like a 3yr 30 type deal. That's what I'd like to see them do. Is that allowed? It certainly seems feasable... He could play RF for a year or two and move to DH in his third season (which would be when he's 35). Provided he stays healthy, JD should be capable of putting up a few seasons in between his last two years (.925 OPS, give or take 50 points).

Flogging Molly tonight at The Rave. Looking forward to it...

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Oct 26, 2006 -> 01:59 PM) Im sure everyone would want Pelfrey over Milledge, but where has it been said the Mets will deal him? Even with Brian Anderson, Milledge, and 06 version of Uribe in our lineup we would probably still be able to produce more runs than the 05 team. Plus maybe we dont even keep Uribe.... Yeah, I really doubt the likelyhood of the Sox landing Pelfrey. I could see maybe Humber, but even that is shakey. Maybe there's a scenario where the Sox could ship off Contreras, not Garcia, to the Mets. Although the injury could scare some teams off, Contreras is signed at a reasonable price ($10 per year, I believe) for the next couple seasons. That might be more appealing to some teams than Garcia, who's only locked up for one year. Then again, a starter would have to be included in on the deal then. Personally, I'd take Heilman + Milledge for either Contreras or Garcia. Then, in 2008, you could give Heilman another shot in the rotation, along with Broadway (competing for the same spot, of course).

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Oct 26, 2006 -> 12:35 AM) Collegehoops.net has your Eagles at 27. They've got to the top 20 and still no SIU, meaning we're going to be in the top 19. Like you said, means absolutely nothing but it's fun to look at and discuss. Yeah, SI had 'em at 18 (I think). Is this SIU team comparably better or worse than the one that made the Sweet 16 run a few years back? This is a 'catch-on' year for me. A couple years ago, I knew D1 basketball (players, who was good, who was bad and whatnot) inside and out. The past couple years, I've fallen off, so it's going to take me a year or two to get re-acclimated. Thus, my baseball-like strong opinions will be confined mainly to Marquette and some Big East teams (lucky for you guys, you won't see me blabbering on for at least two years!).

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 05:41 PM) I think the rain out, if it happens, will benefit the Tigers. I think Bonderman will lose to Suppan, which leaves them down 3-1. They'll play game 5 on Friday and Leyland would probably skip Zoolander and let Rogers pitch on normal rest, especially facing elimination. Then he's got Verlander added rest and pitching at home if they get that far. Bonderman's been the Tigers' second best pitcher behind Rogers in the post-season. I think we're in for quite the pitchers duel tomorrow night (or whenever this Game 4 is played). Look at the matchups the rest of the way: Bonderman vs Suppan Verlander vs Reyes Rogers vs Weaver/Carpenter Robertson/Bonderman vs Carpenter/Suppan Game 5 looks like the biggest question mark right now. Verlander has been the Tigers worst starter since about September (or so -- I'm guessing). Can Reyes throw another gem of a game, or will his command be off? As a baseball fan, I think this series would be f***in' great to go seven games. I think that if it played out all the way through seven games -- and if the last two pitching matchups were Rogers v Carpenter and Bonderman v Suppan -- we'd be in for two real exciting, close games. That being said... I want to see St Louis win this thing as quickly as possible, for two reasons. First, I don't want to take any guff from Red Wings fan this hockey season, and second, I want the off-season to just get here ASAP so Kenny can start retooling this White Sox team.

Pre-season prediction/projections coming out... For the Big East predictions, most have Marquette finishing anywhere in that 3-6 range. Not that they mean much, but it's fun for discussional purposes.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Oct 25, 2006 -> 08:53 PM) Yeah cause guys never work out moving from the pen to starter. That pitcher with the number 56, he never was in the pen before moving to become a starter. Or the one who wears 57 up north a bit. Didn't work out for him neither...

Ah, I'm glad you know this by all 166 ABs Milledge has at the major league level, because I'm sure you've been following his whole minor league career, right? Why again aren't you working in MLB?