CWSGuy406

Where are all the Mike Williams backers who absolutely slammed Jerry Angelo's ass for picking Benson over him? In fact, where are all those people who were going nuts thinking about the receiving trio of Charles Rogers/Mike Williams/Roy Williams? These three have combined for 53 receptions, about 700-800 yards, and all of FIVE touchdowns. Mushin Muhammed ALONE has 44 receptions, 523, and three touchdowns. It's annoying to me, too, SF101. He does it for everything. Don't have anything intelligent say (actually, never have anything intelligent to say)? Just b**** and swear and swear and say, "DOLLAR BILL!!!", or "Reinsdorf sucks!". Heh, haven't seen that latter one in a while...

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 25, 2005 -> 10:51 AM) In my NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2005 game, I was Atlanta and I got 2 1st picks in a row for 05 and 06, so I drafted Crosby and Phil Kessler. So I had 2 lines of this; Kovalchuk - Crosby - Heatley Palffy (who I signed) - Savard - Kessler Tell me that ain't good. Cheater... Dave Bolland is dominating his league right now. I think he's playing somewhere in Canada, but he's getting like three points per game in his league. Barker and Bolland have be extremely excited for the future... Anton Babchuk, not so much...

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Nov 25, 2005 -> 08:12 PM) Size has a lot to do with how tough it is defensively to get a read on the ball. Put Aaron in Oakland and he doesn't get to as much balls as he did last year. Put Kotsay in CF for the White Sox last year and I'd say he gets to as much if not more. What are you basing this on? Kotsay is good in CF, but ranked well behind Rowand in Zone Rating (used as a % of balls gotten to, rather than RF, which is based upon opportunities), Rate2, and Fielding Win Shares. Really, all you have is your "opinion" backing you that Kotsay is/was better defensively than Rowand (or equal). I'm 99% sure that's not how they come up with that figure. He had only 193 ABs last year -- certainly not enough to put much stock in. They take his injury into consideration, and what type of player he is -- but it's not just an average of the past two years.

Kessler coming out next year... :drool

I'm still a little steamed about losing Gonzalez, but I think that's what I'm primarily mad about. Heading into the offseason, I think I was expecting Rowand to be traded. He was in his prime years and fairly cheap, and was sought after by many, many organizations (or so I've read). He was also expendable, because the Sox have two CF replacements waiting in the wings (one for '06 in Anderson, the other for '07 in Young). Unfortunately, I'm taking this harder than I'd have thought. It's sad to hear the Rowand interviews now, because he was such a fun guy to watch play the game. But, I think I'm more mad about losing Gonzalez. I really wish Kenny would have... a.)Traded Marte rather than the prospects (or, rather than Gio -- if that was a possibility). b.)Traded a lesser prospect and ate more of the contract (say -- substitute Tracey for Gonzalez and take on $9 million per year) We're better for 2006, which, I suppose, I should be happy about. But -- I'm not. I was really liking what was going on in the Sox farm system -- they had four strong prospect starters between AA and high-A in Broadway, Gonzalez, Haigwood, and (one step below) Liotta. That's been sliced in half, now. Then again, if Konerko doesn't sign, we'll probably offer him arbitration, and get two draft picks. Time to start hoping for a pitching heavy draft, I suppose... Anyways -- I guess it becomes more vital now for Garland to sign a long-term deal. We're going to need Buehrle, McCarthy, and him to carry this staff for the next five-seven years.

.241/.379/.535 That right there is Jim Thome's ZiPS projection. Now, I know a lot of you guys aren't really thrilled with projection systems, and that's fine. Let's throw that to the side for a minute. Would you be happy if Thome posted this line? Do you expect more? I think I expect the BA to be closer to .270, but I like those OBP/SLG% numbers. I think the projection above is the floor of what Thome will do for us (so long as he's healthy).

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 24, 2005 -> 06:11 PM) Also, I don't get why the Drays would trade a cheap, talented young outfielder. If they did you'd bet they'd get Sweeney and a prospect or Anderson straight up. I wouldn't do that for Gathright. Gathright is fast as hell and I think he's pretty solid defensively (although I haven't seen enough of him) but he has yet to develop into a top of the order hitter (ie drawing walks and all that stuff). IIRC, people have said that he's sort of Scott Podsednik like in the OF -- all the speed in the world, but doesn't get very good jumps. I believe the D-Rays have a glut of OF'ers 30 or under. Gomes, Huff, Gathright, Baldelli, Crawford, Young. Young is an obvious keeper, and it seems the same way with Crawford. They just signed Rocco to a (somewhat) big deal this offseason, too. Huff is obviously on the block. I dunno about Gomes -- he's a cheap option who provides good power, Tampa should realize that. If I were the Tampa GM, the one I'd be trading is Gathright, followed by Huff.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 24, 2005 -> 05:47 AM) Hey, I disagree with you obviously...but even if I were to agree with you...for this to be the "Worst Trade Ever" Gio Gonzalez would have to win 300 games for the Phillies and Aaron Rowand would suddenly have to start putting up numbers like, well, Jim Thome. Or, well, if Jim Thome gets hurt again. He is, afterall, a bigger guy, and isn't his back not 100%? This is all going by way too fast... My thoughts:

QUOTE(SnB @ Nov 24, 2005 -> 02:17 AM) keith, i know your upset about giving up both prospects, but you gotta think in the win now attitude KW still has. Adding Thome and hopefully keeping konerko, we have an absolute stud of a lineup next year and I honestly can't see us not being WS favorites. Yes, i know stealing these kids from the farm is going to hurt in the future, but I gotta agree with the lets win it now...AGAIN attitude KW is going for. Cheat summed up my feelings (that I couldn't put down in words) in his blog entry at SouthSideSox: I don't mind giving up Haigwood. He seems like a nice prospect, but you're going to have to give up more than Aaron Rowand to get Jim Thome. That's fine... But Gio too? Eventually we're going to need another league minimum, cheap option for our starters. Right now, the rotation is on the cusp of being really expensive, with Contreras and Garland due big raises in the coming years. I'll digress, and say I'm going a bit overboard on my Gio love, but losing him hurts. A lot. I'd say it hurts more to lose Gonzalez than it does Rowand. BTW -- I'm sort of hoping they don't resign Konerko, but go after someone else (Giles. Giles. Giles.). Konerko and Thome seem to have the same sort of baseball skills, with the edge going to a healthy Thome. I just don't think Konerko will be worth his contract. Thome, I can deal with -- $7 million a year, that's a bargain. Any ill feelings I have towards Kenny would be immediately washed away by signing Brian Giles.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Nov 24, 2005 -> 02:11 AM) It's Haigwood and Gio, with Haigwood being the PTBNL. Haigwood is on the 40 man roster. Tossing him into the trade right away means that Philly would have less flexibility with the upcoming Rule 5 draft. Once that mess is all straigtened out, Haigwood/Gio will be made official. :headshake

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 24, 2005 -> 01:52 AM) yes http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...23/c1271944.jsp ..... :puke

Jesus H... Your two best minor league lefties? Gio and Haigwood? Gosh damn.

ESPN.com is saying that ESPN 1000 is reporting it's only Haigwood for now. Good news. Let's keep it that way.

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 10:32 PM) Haigwood and Gio were all shakey IMO. Gio was an injury risk and Haigwood had one great year. We already have 4 relatively young starters, so we could afford to trade some of the minor leaguers. I count three. Thanks for posting that, Addison. Thome + $$$ for Rowand + Haigwood + PTBNL (not named Gonzalez, Young, or Sweeney) makes me a lot happier.

If the prospects are Haig and Gio... :puke

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5106080 If he's asking for three years, $30 million, that's certainly a fair request -- one which the Sox should fully oblige to. In fact, make it three years, $33 million. He'll be worth it the first two years, and, while he might be overpaid the last year, that's going to happen with whichever bat that the Sox are rumored to be interested in (Konerko, Thome, Delgado).

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 07:15 AM) And yes I will get the PS3 when it comes out, so I can play Socom PS3 version when it comes out. You play Socom? Online? My brother -- he's at Loyola now -- actually took my PS2 so he could have it in his apartment. Of course, this was about six months ago, when I didn't even know there was going to be a Socom 3. Needless to say, I ended up purchasing another PS2 just so I could play Socom. I love that game -- probably my favorite online game ever.

Kap -- did you see the game? Did anyone see the game? I was at a basketball tourney...

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 06:25 AM) 14 games in '04 and 10 in '03. So would it be fair to say he could/can handle 30 games per year there? And another -- I dunno, 40-50 at third? If he could spell Crede and Iguchi, and come at a reasonable price, I'd love to see Mueller here. But, that seems like it could blow up if one starts b****ing about being the 'full-time' starter. And, it might cost us a draft pick if Boston offers Mueller arbitration. I'm on the fence.

Mueller would be nice to have as a guy to spell Crede and Iguchi -- he did play 2B not so recently, correct? Or is that just Bellhorn? If he did play 2B -- and came for $3-4 million, I wouldn't mind it. Ozzie plays his backups enough to the point where we should have a solid bench. I think he'd get enough starts for it to be worth it. Of course -- I'm not sure that he can play 2B, and I doubt he'd come so cheap.

QUOTE(JimH @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 03:05 AM) Keith I never said they had a pesky offense last year. I said a pesky offense is a winning formula, when combined with other elements. Their offense frequently struggled last year, it was well documented on this site. And since idiot White Sox management determined the hitting coach won't be fired it must have been the talent level. Guillen believes their offense will be better with more speed at the top of the lineup and by dropping Iguchi down lower in the order. I'm simply commenting on what I believe they may do based on Guillen's comments. Fair enough. I guess I disagree with Ozzie's thoughts, though I doubt Ozzie is the be all, end all. I'm sure Kenny realizes that this team still needs to be capable of hitting 200+ homers, except this year, with a better OBP (that's why I like Giles so much). He/They've earned my trust for another year or two. I couldn't say that going into last offseason, but now I can.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 12:22 AM) Exactly. It's laughable how people say his defense sucks or is considerably worse than Rowand's. Laughable? Compare Rowand's ZR, Rate 2, and Defensive Win Shares to Pierre's -- all are significantly better in Rowand's favor. Significantly. But of course, how can I argue with the ESPN Scouting Report? Wite -- I don't understand your comment about Milton Bradley. I've heard that he's one of the better outfielders (defensively) in baseball. His ZR is similar to Pierre's, and he rated well in Tango's Defensive Scouting Report. Jim -- pesky offense of last year? They were certainly pesky in the playoffs (moreso because of the HR than because of the SB), but in the regular season, they ranked 9th in runs scored. I think the plan should be to attempt to maintain your production from 1B/RF spot(Delgado? Thome? Giles? All three, if healthy -- I'd argue -- will produce better than Konerko will next year), while substantially improving the offense from your DH spot (a healthy Thomas? a healthy Durazo? something else?). I don't expect our offense to be great, at least not next year. There's not enough money to spread around to make it 'great'. But I think it can improve to 5th or 6th in the AL in runs scored, just with a move or two. Ideally, you can resign Konerko and get Thome, but I don't know if that's exactly reasonable, either...

QUOTE(SoxPride56 @ Nov 21, 2005 -> 03:33 AM) Pierre Pods Iguchi Konerko Dye Aaron AJ Crede Uribe Your 2006, Fourth place finishing, Chicago WHITE SOX!

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Nov 20, 2005 -> 01:37 AM) Speaking of grounders to the infield, did you miss Rowand hitting all of those grounders to the shortstop this past season? What's the difference? Difference is Rowand will probably make less money than Pierre makes next season, and plays much better defense at (arguably) the most important defensive spot in the game. And yes, the defense is much better -- huge downgrade defensively from Rowand to Pierre, IMO. Oh, yeah -- and Rowand's line of .270/.329/.407 was almost the league average line. Considering that his numbers this year were well below his career line, that's somewhat encouraging. Cheat -- I hope your prediction comes through. Florida seems to want relief pitching, I wouldn't mind sending them two -- Vizcaino (if we still have control of him), Marte, and Rowand for Delgado.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 19, 2005 -> 06:23 PM) Giles would be a great fit, problem is he's going to play in Los Angeles (Dodgers want him) and to play in the midwest it would take 3/30 minimum. Gosh -- if 3/$30 could get Giles, I sure hope that the Sox are making that offer. That's one helluva deal for one of the best left-handed hitters in all of baseball. It might even leave you enough payroll flexibility to still make a trade for Delgado or Thome. I doubt it's the case, but I really hope the Sox put a good offer out there for Giles. He's a damn good, and pretty underrated, player. He's almost what you'd call a star.