CWSGuy406

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Apr 16, 2005 -> 12:06 AM) Why do you have a problem with Timo? Iguchi's at 2B, Timo's a better OF, & Uribe is still in a slump. You want Iguchi to lead off? Harris in center, Rowand in left. And, I think that might have been the best inning I've ever seen Garland pitch.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 11:55 PM) Remeber last time you complained about Timo's position in the order? He went 1-4.

QUOTE(wufners @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 11:52 PM) I'd like to see Felix Hernandez up NOW. There's no call to have Aaron Sele in your rotation when you got a kid like that in your system. But I digress. . . I think he'll be up this year. So far in two starts at AAA he's only given up one unearned run in 10 innings. His curve which was a little flat in the spring is starting to snap again, but he still needs to get a little better control of his fastball. Since he took all winter off, he's still cracking off some of the rust, but I betcha he's at full strength pretty soon. There seems to be some political wrangling withing the Mariners FO to keep him down for a little while. The image conscious Mariner managment doesn't want to risk making a mistake with him. But everyone who saw him pitch seems to agree he has the best stuff of any Mariner pitcher right NOW. If he tears apart AAA and one of the Mariner starters struggles (Sele) or gets injured (already happening), I expect we could see him as early as June. Otherwise look for him as a late season call up. The Mariners are being extra cautious, and have stated they will keep him to 175 innings this year. That includes AAA AND spring training. So if he does come up, he'll be on an extremely short leash. That's kind of my feeling, too, wuf. I feel that if a kid is ready to pitch in the big leagues, you gotta bring him up, regardless of age. If he keeps dominating (as he's started off) through 50-75 IP, is there really any reason (other than starting the arbitration clock?) to not bring him up? Then again, thinking about it a little more, they probably want to wait till after June, because I think you get an extra half a year as far as arbitration is concerned.

You have got to be f***ing kidding me. Perez in the leadoff spot, after a night in which Harris is on base three times, with two hits and a walk? TIMO f***ING PEREZ IN THE LEADOFF SPOT?!?!?!?!?!?! :puke :puke :puke

QUOTE(Element @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 11:08 PM) Yeah, that was me More of a joke, but it was a great trade IMO. Well, you guys are getting a hell of a player in Reed. Olivo, on the other hand, I dunno -- I think a lot of people overrate Olivo. He was a career .286 hitter in the minors, which, while good, isn't spectacular. He's also got an OBP of less than .300 in over 600 ML AB's, which is pretty bad. I know he's got a cannon behind homeplate, but other than that (and that he's pretty good against lefties), he isn't a top player. I think .260-.280 AVG might just be his peak... But, Reed will be really good. I think it was a win-win deal for both teams.

Oh, and wuf -- about AJ Pierz, I think people overstate how weak AJ's arm is. It's no Miguel Olivo-like cannon, but it's not terrible. I'd say it's average or slightly below.

Wufners or Geek, when do you think Hernandez will get the call to the big club and actually stick? The kid looks like he's gonna be a stud, especially pitching half his games at Safeco...

Maybe it's just me, but I'm lukewarm on Fields starting the year at Birmingham. I know he had a real good finish to the season after a slow start, but it didn't look like he dominated to the point where he was ready for the promotion -- at least, from looking at the box scores (which certainly doesn't tell the whole story). I sure hope they don't rush him, seems like he can be a pretty special player.

O-E-O. I was interested in seeing a healthy Maggs, and seeing what he'd do outside US Cellular. It's a shame that he's hurt, it's been downhill ever since the collision with Harris...

Can someone tell me a little bit about this kid? Kiper likes him as a mid-second round pick. Is this kid the case of a kid getting overlooked because he isn't at a big name school? He looks like a pretty damn good player, from the little I've seen of him (highlights and such, but not much). Thoughts on him? Is it a possibility the Bears grab him with their second round pick? Or would it be too high to take him at 41 (where I think the Bears draft, or right around there -- because the first round tied picks are inverted, correct?)

Damn. That's a nice signing there for the Brew Crew. Well, at least there's another pitcher who will dominate the Cubby lineup for the next few years...

QUOTE(quickman @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 09:25 PM) You ahve a point, but is konerko a bad first baseman? I think he is average to above average. makes all the plays. Everyone has gload being a gold glove guy. Does he have a gold glove? Is he that much of a difference? I don't think the difference is great, but I don't necessarily think PK is great at going to his right (or, to dumb it down for myself, going towards the secondbase-firstbase hole). But yeah, I don't think he's 'bad' by any sense. EDIT: f***, and while I'm typing this, I see that the Brewers locked up Sheets. f***.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 09:21 PM) From what you said before, I thought you believed he was worth around $8 mil. So does $2 mil make it "terribly gross overpayment"? (If so, I'd love to hear how colorful your take on Milton's deal would be. ) I don't know, Konerko seems pretty valuable to me. Power isn't just hr, but if the Cell continues to eat doubles, then we can't replace the hr. I wouldn't be opposed to letting him walk if we can bring in someone with 25-35 hr potential (and otherwise good stats -- no Burnitzing) and a good price, but if the fa cupboard is as bare as qwerty says, I'm a little leery of seeing him go. (And I do like Gload.) In any case, this is awfully premature. Yeah, I'm talking about the offseason f***ing nine games into the season, and during the offseason, I say how much I miss the regular season. :banghead I dunno, I think I'm being generous at saying $8 million. It all depends. If Kenny feels he can make significant improvements by having that extra $7-10 million to work with, than I say you let him walk. If he feels the FA market is bare, then maybe it's best to give Konerko his eight million. I just don't think he justifies getting such a big contract. He's 29 (IIRC) right now, and if you lock him up for three-four years at eight million per, I think that might really come back to bite ya in the third year. I just don't think he's worth that much. Then again, I've never been a huge fan of Konerko -- I like the guy, but he's never been one of my favorite players.

QUOTE(JimH @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 09:19 PM) I hope he hits .321 again and we have an embarassment of riches. He might DH tonite with Everett hurting. Speaking of which, wouldn't it be better to put your better defensive player at 1B, in Gload? If he, in fact, does go with that lineup? I know they don't want Konerko to lose his touch, but, you have a (supposed) ground-ball pitcher in Garland going tonight, don't you want to give Jon the best chance to succeed? It may be null, anyways. I have a feeling Harris might be in CF tonight with Rowand in LF, he (Harris) has looked good at the plate in his limited action.

QUOTE(quickman @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 09:13 PM) I think all the teams with one phone call could have had gload. I do not think Kenny heard from anyone on Ross Gload. Nor will he. Yeah, well, I don't necessarily think many GM's have looked at him, which is a mistake... Which will probably be turned into, "If many GM's haven't looked at him, why do you think he's so good?". I don't know why GM's haven't looked at him. He's hit everywhere he's been at, and plays above average defense. If he hits .240 this year, fine, he's a backup. But I don't see that happening, considering the lowest he's ever hit was .261 (he hit .258 and .194 in short stints, but that was less than 30 AB's).

QUOTE(quickman @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 09:09 PM) i agree I think Konerko signs with the sox for 10 million. Which would be a terribly gross overpayment -- IMHO.

QUOTE(quickman @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 09:04 PM) Then he would be a starting first baseman for any team in this league. Which he is not. if your stats are so true then why hasn't a team wanted to trade for him and make him the next Mark Grace. Why has n't the sox just made him there first baseman and trade Konerko? I think the scouts don't think he can be an everyday excellent player. he will never make it. But you keep putting up those stats. s*** teams should be clamoring for this guy. he is cheap and can be as good as Mark grace. I think a team like Oakland would look at him if they didn't have Hatty, same with Minny if they didn't have Morneau. I dunno, everywhere he's gone, he's shown he can hit. Until he proves differently, why is he a bad player? And, I'm not saying we should just make a clean swap of Gload and Konerko. I'd only be for that if we upgraded elsewhere. I think Gload can put up a line of .270/.350, with 15 homers or so, and play much better defense than Konerko. And, as I said, Konerko isn't worth over eight million (IMHO -- maybe you think he is, maybe you don't), which is what he can ask for.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 09:01 PM) I don't know that spending on relievers is a great idea. The Phils have been trying that for a while now. I'd rather see the money go to someone who throws 200 innings or plays everyday. Jmho. Yeah, you got a point there. I'm hoping we can develop our own Brazoban, our own Cordero. Who knows, maybe Paulino Reynoso (I know Jim raved about his stuff) can come up with a huge year.

QUOTE(quickman @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 08:58 PM) I am flabbergasted how everyone seems to think that Ross gload is an allstar. that is what you are doing comparing him to Grace and Olerud. I just cannot see this happening in anyway. This is another thread to save. Ross gload will never be a starting first baseman and if he is for this team, I will no longer participate in purchasing tickets. Please folks, we need to stop thinking small time. Look at our wins this year, if it was not for the home run we would be in last place, The home run won some games and brought us back into games. last night was a good example. Without Konerko's blast we would have been wiped out.Pitchers pitch different to power hitters. power hitters put fear in pitchers. Gload puts fear in nobody. PS we cannot be the twins. nobody can. Adding a power third baseman and keeping konerko would be the right thing to do, if you want to win. Hmm, his stats say differently. Well, if you're gonna just ignore the stats, and believe in what your eyes told you, there's no point in debating this.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 04:29 AM) Jose Uribe? How long do you really think Cruddy will be hitting higher than those other guys? Didn't the past few seasons show you anything about Cruddy? Hmm, so when qwerty points out one of your spelling mistakes you get mad at him for pointing out your spelling mistake, yet when Capn makes a spelling mistake, you rip him? Hypocrit?

QUOTE(3E8 @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 08:53 PM) I was in favor of trading Pauly this offseason and starting Gload at first as long as the money/trade made our pitching staff better. The Twins haven't hit more than 200 home runs in any of the last three years, as low as 155 in '03. If we went to a contact over power offensive team which I'd like to see, we probably should move the fences. The key is making up what you lost in power in different areas. Grab a few more guys with higher OBP's, improve defensively, and improve your pitching staff (grab a stud reliever). And, back to what I said about Aubrey Huff -- put me on the "If Crede doesn't pick it up by Mid-June, make a trade for Aubrey Huff" bandwagon. Err -- did I just hear a couple days ago that Huff is hurt?

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 08:49 PM) That's a whole lof of ifs right there, and some trades i don't think are possible. Anyway...while i'm not obsessed with the HR, like quickman said, you still need to hit some. Take Konerko away from this team and you really have no power for all intents and purposes. "ozzieball" can only do so much for a team. All i'm saying is, if you are going to under-produce at 1B, you have to make up for that somewhere else in the lineup, and by a big margin. With our current roster, we don't have that, and it's not going to be easy to acquire that either. The only position "available" for that updgrade is 3B. I know I'm doing a lot of speculating here, but Aubrey Huff is going to get real pricey, real soon -- too pricey for Tampa. I know he isn't great defensively, but he'd be someone to look at as far as a trade.

QUOTE(quickman @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 08:42 PM) Wow we will really be turning into a punch and judy team. I was not a fan of konerko's I personally feel he singlehandedly costs us the 2003 season, but that aside we need his pop, we still need to hit HR's. Now that lee is gone, Everett is in his last year, thomas is in his last year, and dye is worth 25 homers healthy we cannot afford to lose the HR's that Konerko brings. Not saying we need to go back to the way we were but we do need to hit homers. We can afford to the lose the homers if we upgrade elsewhere. I'd venture to say that Gload would put up a better AVG than Konerko, and an OBP close to Konerko's, with a drop in OPS. We'd also be improved on defense. Maybe it's just me, but I don't give a damn where you get the power from, as long as you get it somewhere.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 08:43 PM) Gload is basically a clone to mark grace in my opinion so how does that make gload a back up when grace started for all those years? Btw, free agents all around blow next year. Meaning we'll have to make a deal. Ideally, Contreras and Garland both have spectacular seasons this year, and you can pawn off one of them for a real good bat, and have McCarthy fill the fifth spot. I haven't quite looked yet, but from the looks of it, we'll be set at C, 2B, SS, and all of the OF spots (Rowand, Dye, and Pods/Anderson) -- meaning we'll have to make a big splash by grabbing a real good reliever or two, or a big time third baseman.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 15, 2005 -> 08:36 PM) Also quick, to answer a question you asked earlier about Gload potentially starting at 1B next year...I personally would be perfectly happy with it, so long as you get another backup 1Bman in here who can be a good bat off the bench. If Gload can prove to be a .270/.350/.450 hitter over a full year, there is nothing wrong with it, especially for around $1 mill, considering you would end up paying $9 mill more for 100 more points of OPS out of Konerko, who is also slower and worse defensively. What would be even better is if Gload could prove to be like a .300/.380/.500 hitter, but I won't count on that ever. I tend to agree with ya. If Gload does the same as he did last year, or close to it -- I don't see a great reason to give Konerko $9-10 million, which is what he might (and realistically could, based on contracts signed this offseason) ask for. Same with the Magglio situation last year -- neither, even when healthy, are at the top five in their respective positions, so they shouldn't (IMHO) be payed like one.