striker

I'm optimistic. I predict 90 wins and a world series ring Here are my entire MLB predictions http://www.fan-exchange.com/mlb/standingsp...s.asp?userid=53

Here are my standings predictions: http://www.fan-exchange.com/mlb/standingsp...s.asp?UserID=53 White Sox hitting: http://www.fan-exchange.com/mlb/teamhittin...W&userid=53 White Sox pitching: http://www.fan-exchange.com/mlb/teampitchi...mp;franchid=CHW I have some tweaking to do on the stats as I realized some of them are high. We should have a soxtalk.com competition for predictoins on www.fan-exchange.com Any interest?

I'm sure he'll get ~400 abs

I would rather see a youngers in there than Colon.

Does anyone know where you can find a downloadable schedule for the mlb season? Something in excel or csv format.

I setup fan-exchange.com so fans could post their preseason standings, awards and stat predictions. I'm going to host a head to head competition with Soxtalk members for White Sox hitting and pitching predictions. Only the top 5 scores for hitting and top 5 for pitching counts (top 5 most accurage predictions). $25 mlb.com gift card to the top scorer. Let me know if you have any questions. Send me a message in Soxtalk with your email if you are interested and I'll email you an invite. striker

I've never heard of Kroeger but he had solid AAA numbers. I'm really liking Marquez. Hopefully he can continue his success.

You gotta go with the lefty

I'm rooting for Contreras on this one.

Gotta love Spring Training pics

Good Article

I created a site that allows you to post preseason predictions for standings, stats and awards. Check it out. www.fan-exchange.com here is more info: http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69984

Good idea. Thanks. Was the usability easy?

First of all I got permissions from the admins to post this. I started work on this site last year but my baby girl was born three weeks into it so it got shelved til this year. I wanted a way to store our pre-season predictions then actually go back at the end of the year and measure our accuracy. I'm sure you are all like me and get hyped up for the season so this may be fun for some of you. The links below aren't necessarily my predictions, just something I entered for display purposes. 1. You can post your pre-season standings and champ predictions. http://www.fan-exchange.com/mlb/standingsp...s.asp?UserID=53 2. You can post predictions for award winners http://www.fan-exchange.com/mlb/prediction...s.asp?userid=53 3. You can post predictions for offensive stats http://www.fan-exchange.com/mlb/teamhittin...W&view=view 4. You can post predictions for pitching stats http://www.fan-exchange.com/mlb/teampitchi...mp;franchid=CHW I tried to make it like facebook to where it shows activity and you can comment on what users post. I get the historical data from baseball-databank.org. That's what I'll use at the end of the season to measure accuracy. If I get enough users I'll give away prizes for the top finishers. Help a fellow Sox fan out and sign up and post your predictions. Let me know what you think. Let me know if there is something you'd liked added or changed.

QUOTE (Sec101Row1 @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 03:32 PM) Is it me or does it look like the White Sox are the only large market team struggling with the economy ? Makes you wonder, is it: A) The millions to fund the new Glendale facility B) The legal fees and the $5 million dollar buyout of the 3 years left on the Tucson lease. ($5 million would get you a nice player this off season) The Yankees have spent alot of money but they also had alot coming off their payroll. Attendance may go down but they have alot of other revenues that help pay the bills: television, xm radio, mlb.com media.

If we pickup Lyon I'd have to think KW is doing it to add depth and possibly make Jenks expendable.

They must be smoking and I'm not joking...

QUOTE (beck72 @ Dec 20, 2008 -> 03:32 PM) The more I look at Jeff Marquez's writeups and numbers, the more I like him. It's not just the latest young arm Kenny has acquired after giving us Danks and Floyd. [Though the sox do seem to target and follow certain pitchers and see if they can acquire them. Like the sox had been targeting Booby Parnell and Kunz from the Mets, in trade talks.] It's the way he seems to fit into the sox rotation. He'd give the sox a different look from the current 1-3, esp. with his sinker and changeup from the RH side. • Classic sinker ball pitcher, though w/ above avg. velocity and plus movement; • Power change up • Yanks expected him in ’07 to pitch in the bigs; http://mariners.scout.com/a.z?s=318&p=2&c=347065 • Comparison to Chien-Ming Wang; but should get higher K rate http://thenewyorkyankeesbaseball.blogspot....ey-marquez.html Add in this nugget from the Trib. when the trade went down: "Sox scouts William Young and Gary Pellant scouted Marquez, 24, for the last two years". These are the same guys who gave us Danks. At the time, that was controversial, giving up a pretty solid #3 SP in BMac for a guy a year or two away from the bigs. [Of course, they also like Masset. But the key was Danks]. Kenny made the deal based on their work. I haven't seen who were the scouts who gave us Floyd. Marquez was on target in 2008 to throw in AAA a mid 3's ERA with solid k and BB rates after having success in each level prior last year. The only blip was last year, when he had a shoulder strain. With the Yanks, you can't experience failure. As the sox had scouted Marquez previously, when he was available, they landed him. Make no mistake, Marquez was the key to the Swisher deal. Betemit is a UTL guy and Nunez is a wildcard. It lands on Marquez to make the Swisher for Gio, DLS and Sweeney a wash. So, I'm looking at Marquez to at least give the sox in 2009 what Vazquez did in 2008--ERA wise. Marquez won't go 200+ innings, as the sox will make sure he's pulled early from games. I'd expect 170-180 innings, with a 4.50 ERA. For 2010 and beyond, I could see Marquez being a sub 4.00 ERA pitcher. Projections, thoughts? I like your optimism but when you ask fans for their opinions 90% of the time it's going to be pessimistic. I think Marquez seems to have good tools for success. Whether that happens in 2009 or 2010 I'll reserve judgement for spring training. Remember that Floyd had good tools but spent a full year in AAA with the White Sox before he contributed at the major league level. Of course Danks impressed right away and made the jump to the major league level. I think the tools are there, the opportunity is there, now it's up to Marquez to take advantage.

don't they also get a cut of MLB's contracts with Fox, ESPN, XM Radio and MLBMedia?

When I first read this I got it confused with Scott Ruffcorn.

I wonder why Dye hates the east coast so much. Is it one of those rapper west coast vs. east coast things?

QUOTE (Sec101Row1 @ Dec 13, 2008 -> 09:13 PM) Here is a summary of the Josh Fields surgery this offseason from an article by Scott Merkin. "There turned out to be a lot more cartilage damage then what was initially expected," said Fields, who added that the knee soreness came to a head through a handful of collisions at home plate and hard slides breaking up double plays for Triple-A Charlotte in 2008. "It turns out that this has been needed for a while. "For a couple of years, I actually felt tightness, but you go out and play through things," said Fields, who credited White Sox athletic trainer Herm Schneider and his staff and the Charlotte training staff for doing everything possible to avoid surgery. "The pain would come and go. I could have gone in and played late in the game like I was, but we were going to have to get at it to play every day." Fields mentioned how doctors were surprised by the strength he was able to maintain in his legs through the knee problem, with 2007 serving as a prime example. While Fields felt the pain most while running, it also was prevalent while hitting. Another by-product of the surgery is that Fields will have greater flexibility in the field. That flexibility should contribute to improved defense at third base, a weaker area of Fields' game targeted by manager Ozzie Guillen during the 2008 season, which led to Juan Uribe taking the starting reigns when Joe Crede went down with back issues. Back in August, Fields told MLB.com how he would put in the necessary offseason work to make sure these defensive shortcomings would not be held against him again. Going at the task completely healthy only will help his cause. "Knowing my flexibility will be almost 100 percent, I'll be back where I used to be when I got drafted," said Fields, the White Sox top pick in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft. "I felt better fielding out of college then where I've been lately. The best news they told me was that there will be a dramatic improvement in my flexibility." This explains Field's decline in stolen bases the past two years. I'm personally excited to see what the young guys have to offer. Let them duke it out in Spring Training and if none of them step up then go get someone.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Dec 11, 2008 -> 07:24 PM) you must enjoy mediocrity. I'd love to have 8 all stars take the field and 5 all stars pitching for us but that's not realistic. If you look at our 2005 team it was full of mediocrity. Rowand hit .270 with a .339 obp, Crede hit .252, we had 1 hitter with over 90 rbis, nobody hit .300. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHW/2005.shtml That team SUCKED on paper. So mediocrity is fine as long as we win. And in 2005 mediocrity won it all.

I not sure why everyone hates Owens. I'm sure he can bat better than Swisher did last year .219/.332. I'm fine with him and Anderson duking it out for CF and the 9th spot in the lineup next year. If not then we might as well trade them.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Dec 11, 2008 -> 05:18 PM) Abreu would be a great asset offensively, though he has seemingly regressed the last couple of years. If the trade and signing happen, and barring other moves, the opening day lineup will probably look like CF Owens/Lilli RF Abreu LF Quentin DH Thome 1B Konerko C AJ SS Ramirez 2b Getz/Lilli/Nix/Betemit 3B Fields Not a bopping roster like we have had, but more athletic and better able to manufacture runs. Hopefully the top spot can be upgraded, but it sounds like a lot of people are attempting to do that. I'm not a fan of Owens leading off. I'm fine with him in CF batting 9th but I'd prefer Getz over Owens leading off. Getz, Abreu then Quentin could give you three straight guys with OBP over .370. Owens has speed but doesn't have the OBP capabilities Getz has. I think this one reason we were in the top 5 in HRs and bottom 5 in runs scored (or something like that) because with Swisher/Cabrera leading off and Wise/Pierzynski batting second, we had terrible OBP out of our first two spots in the lineup. I realize you don't write the lineup I'm just commenting for arguments sake.