striker

We weren't one of the 5 teams flying "through the radar"

Greetings and Salutations Indywallin!! Glad to have you aboard. One other thing I like about the Sox is the diversity. The fans and the players are real diverse. From rich to poor, black, white, hispanic, asian. I've been to about 10 different MLB stadiums and it doesn't get as diverse as the Southsiders. Being a beginning Sox fan I also suggest you research famous Sox quotes and study up. You will constantly hear and see quotes like "He gawn" and "Grab some bench" and "You can put it on the boooooooaaard yyyyyyyeeeeesss" and "Pick to click". It's very important that you know these and use them often. For example, if one of you daughters wants to go to the park you should respond by saying: "You can go to the paaaaaarrrrkkkk yyyyyyyeeeeessss!" or if they want pizza for dinner you can say: "You can order a pizzaaaaaaa yyyyyyyeeeeeesssss!"

Vazquez wasn't a free agent. He had one year left and the Expos traded him, then the Yankees gave him an extension. Yankees overpaid for Gordon and could possibly throw in some $$$ with the trade to offset costs.

Please see my previous post about the Twins and their lack of "Power Hitters".

Just keep in mind that the Twins have made the playoffs the last 4 years with 1 maybe 2 players with over 80 RBIs. Our hitting still would not be bad just vulnerable to injuries.

Power wouldn't be as good and we would have to keep a stretcher in the dugout at all times BUT MAN THAT PITCHING WOULD BE LIGHTS OUT!

Harris would have been included in the Oakland trade. We could sign Polanco or try for another 2B. CF Rowand 2B Polanco DH Thomas RF Dye LF Everett 1B Gload 3B Crede CA Davis That lineup is not the Yankees but good enough to get the job done. Scariest part is the number of games Thomas, Dye and Everett all missed last year.

If the Sox could do Lee & Harris (maybe cash or prospects) for Hudson then Kornerko & Garland to AZ, RJ to NYY and Sox get Vazquez and Gordon (mentioned somewhere in the ESPN thread) then our staff would be sooooo dope: SP Hudson SP Vazquez SP Buehrle SP Garcia SP Contreras RP Gordon RP Hermanson RP Marte RP Politte RP Cotts RP Takatsu And our payroll would still be between $70-75 mil. mmmmmmm pitching is goooood.

I think our pitching staff is alot better but I'm sure there are more changes to come........

There are plenty of decent hitters available in the market. Gload could take 1st and Everett could play left. That would be one devestating rotation.

Did he really say that as a joke?

Well said.

Did anyone see Grilli pitch last year? Does he look any good? His MLB stats and AAA stats sucked. How can you picture someone that gets rocked in AAA to do good in the bigs? I'm tired of having to guess what our 5th starter is gonna do every year.

Another thing to add is that he has a quick move to first which will be key when inheriting runners.

I'll always make time for the fellow Sox fan. It only took like 20 minutes.

After signing Hermanson yesterday I reviewed his stats and wasn't too impressed. So I bought the $3.95/month tv package on mlb.com and watched a couple of his outings from 2004 (I know I'm a winner!). Here is what I came up with: Pitches (KW said he has four but I only saw 3) 2 Seem fastball (90-93, topped at 95, good movement) - Grade B+ Splitter (one of his two out pitches - Grade A Slider (changes speed with it, his other out pitch) - Grade B+ Control - was pretty much around the plate but missed his spots sometimes. Did a decent job of getting ahead of the count, which we all know is huge. He has the pitches to succeed but must have control. Aggressiveness - Pretty much attacks the hitter, which I like. Pitch Selection - Moves the ball around, changes speeds, changes pitches and is aggressive. All good things. The outings I watched were when he was closing and they were against the Padres, Braves and Houston. He struck out Nevin and Drew, which are both good hitters. He gave up 4 runs in .1 innings against Houston. He pitched good against Houston, he just missed a couple breaks then gave up a HR to Berkman. One other key note. Here is a breakdown of ER for each of his 29 relief appearances since August: 0 ER: 24 1 ER: 1 2 ER: 2 3 ER: 0 4 ER: 2 5 ER or more: 0 So basically of his 29 relief appearances he only had 2 "Bad" outings. Which is good for a reliever. As far as the 1 ER and 2 ER outings, no one is perfect. Overall I would say this is a good pickup. A bit pricey for someone that really hasn't proven much in his career. He definitely has the ability. Let's just hope he uses it.

Who are some other pitchers that are gonna get big raises in arbitration or that will be free agents after 2005 that might be on the block? Ben Sheets was a name that was thrown around a little last year. I wonder if for the right price he might be available.

Hermanson sucks. We should have got Osuna or Shuey. I have no idea why we got this scrub. His numbers suck.

NO WAY WOULD I TRADE WILLY!!! He is a future .330/.450/50SB player! I wouldn't do that. There are plenty of other pitchers out there that fill our SP role without giving up two good players. I'm scared of Garlands potential so I don't want to deal him. As much as I would want Hudson. What other pitchers will be free agents after 2005? THey are all trade possibilities.

Drew is a cripple. The most games he has ever played in a season was 145 and that was this year (his contract year of course). Before that he never even played over 140 games!!!! How could you even consider this piece of s***? Sure he has talent but who is going to replace his talend the other 40 games he doesn't play. NO ON DREW!

santo=dorf, Your avatar is AWESOME! Easy E Rules!

Just a heads up. It's been scheduled before and not end up being on. If you aren't in the chicago area you can listen through there website at ESPN RADIO 1000.

My bad. I had read somewhere that his GB/FB ratio was over 5. It may have been at sometime during the season or something. I checked ESPN and you were right.

I hope plan B is Hudson. I really believe Beane would deal Hudson cause he probably won't extend his contract, he's got arms coming up and he needs bats. Since they dealt Redman they would probably require a pitcher in return which in our case could be Cotts or could be Garland. Even if we don't get Hudson I would prefer a ground ball pitcher over a power pitcher just cause we play in Coors Lite. Derek Lowe had a high ERA but his GB/FB ratio was over 5. Which to me means he was getting the ball up, his defense sucked, or just bad luck. He would be a good gamble and could end up relatively cheap $5-8/year. Plus I'm pretty sure he consistantly has a low number of walks.

This song is for you now: Jose, Jose , Jose , Jose, Jooooose, Jooooooose