Soxbadger

By Gonzalez I assume you meant Santiago. Its not that big of a mistake though, both of them were born prior to the baby boom. SB

lol I could care less, just it is the type of thing that is mentally wearing on a team. You can only get up to come back so many times and then get snuffed out. Eventually you just start to believe that no matter what, the other team will beat you. And that is the best mindset to put the Royals in for the next few weeks. SB

It has to be disheartening for the Royals that every time they take the lead the White Sox take it right back. SB

Beltran is killing us, and my fantasy league team. That bastard. SB

Hopefully Ozzie is reading the boards and understands what a pitch count is, and why you need to be careful with your pitchers this early. Sb

Maybe we can get Randy Johnson and Barry Bonds this year in trades to make up for what could of been. LOL I can dream cant I. SB

Well I never saw it Thats why I always took it as rumor, but thats good enough for me. SB

Funny when we blow a game and then win in the 9th. Not so funny when we lose. SB

Well its a rumor to me until I see Frank, Barry, and White Sox management say that it was a done deal outside of Frank asking for Belle. The long gone is just speculation, as much as anything, because you never know what could or would of happened. Ah well, I personally think Bonds would of been sweeter, but big Mac would of been fun too. And of course hindsight is 20/20, at the time no one could of really predicted Belle would be in the twilight of his career, where as Bonds was just going to get better. Sb

I think the sadder rumor is the whole: Frank picking Belle over Bonds. Every time I see a packed SF Giants game, I think: Imagine if Bonds was hitting those on the South Side, Sammy who!? SB

lol This is crazy And Steff when i saw his first few pitches I thought... If Koch got hit hard and he atleast was throwing some strikes, I wonder what will happen to this guy. How is that guy their closer, he is way worse then Koch. SB

The Beltran home run was more Beltran being good than Koch being bad. The Sweeney home run was unexcuseable, on an 0-2 count the only way you should give up a home run is if it was a miracle the player even made contact. SB

And Washburn in his 2 starts has an era of 8.84, down from over 10 after his first start. Not that I wouldnt want Washburn as our 5th starter, but if we had traded for him and he put up those numbers I have a feeling some might be hanging themselves. SB

Brandofan, Your argument already has fallen apart because now you are relying on the fact that attaining these players earlier would of some ensured that we were 4 games ahead, and even more threatening to the argument is you assume that 4 games back instead of 2 would of been insurmountable by the Twins, who as long as they played as good as they did last year still would of tied us. We had a 2 game lead, it was the White Sox who choked. It was the very players you say would of lead us to victory that could not even beat the Twins head up. We had to play the Yankees, the Twins, the Royals, while the Twins played Detroit. The reality is, we could of lost the division by more games, just as easily as we could of tied or won it. You have failed to give me any sort of this amount of spending= this amount of wins, because there is no magic number. You have failed to recognize that there are plenty of teams that outspend the Sox and have finished worse, you have failed to even touch on the subject that some times spending money could result in even more failure, Jamie Navarro. Your whole argument rests on, the White Sox may have won 2 more games had they gained these players earlier, and the Twins may have done worse. Thats two almost completely independent variables. Also you have failed to even try and explain the economic aspects of your plan, and how you would bounce back from failure, because there was a possibility that regardless of how well the Sox played and who they acquired they still might of lost to the Twins. Also there is some point where we were going to lose talent in the equation, unless you are saying that we should of up front bought more talent... Which then would of relied on the fact during the offseason we knew we were going to eventually trade for Colon, and have a realistic chance at the AL Central... Also, you dont need to quote my entire post, I understand that your responding to me. SB

That is the exact opposite of my post. I am saying that even if we had gotten them 1 month earlier, it is unlikely it would of improved us a full 4 games, and prevented the collapse we experienced against the Twins. SB

Brandofan, You are just an extreme doomsayer. I can not remember when you have said one positive thing about the White Sox, and I guess I am just tired of your defeatist attitude saying the Sox can't and won't, especially as the season is only 6 games old. First of all your argument centers around the fact that Rowand, Everrett, and Sullivan would of combined to win the Sox the division: Everrett: 2003 CWS 73 256 40 77 14 0 10 41 22 36 4 3 .301 .377 .473 .850 Alomar: 2003 CWS 67 253 42 64 11 1 3 17 30 37 6 2 .253 .330 .340 .670 Sullivan: 2003 CWS 15 0 0 0 14.1 9 6 6 2 6 13 0 0 0 2 -- 3.77 The White Sox were: Chicago White Sox AL C 86 76 .531 4.0 Thats 4 games back, in one additional month we were going to gain 4 games? The White Sox were in first place last year, and it was with the additions of Sullivan, Alomar, and Everrett, that team got beat by the Twins. It wasnt Jiminez, it wasnt Rowand, Alomar was our 2b and Everett CF when we lost to the Twins when we were in first place. If they were such a good team they would of got it done in September. They were tired? The Twins made the same comeback and only added Shannon Stewart, they had a better record than the Sox after the All-Star break, and against the Sox they did not have a meltdown because they were to tired. If our players were not in good enough physical condition perhaps they were not as good of players we thought? You keep comparing us to the Yankees, when there is no other Yankees. Not even the Red Sox can compete with them in terms of spending, so there is no other team that can foolishly fix their problems with money. I would rather be a $70mil salary with potential than a $90 mil team that is locked into huge contracts. The White Sox will never be able to fix their problems with money until we get a new owner, and even then unless we get a Snyder, Steinbrenner, Jones, we are still going to be bound to an average to above average player salary. I mean sure, the White Sox would probably be favorites had they signed a bunch of free agents, but we have been down that road, and they always seem to pick the wrong players. Right now the Sox might as well take a new approach and see if they can get the right mix in the beginning and then address their needs at the All-Star break when you can trade unfufilled potential for great players on the cheap. Last year everyone was so pissed at the prospects the White Sox gave up, now if only we would of gotten them sooner, which would of meant costing us even more in terms of money or talent. There is no rhyme or reason to your arguments except for: Money will buy a championship. Yeah well, we are bound in reality where money cant just be found, and companies need to have money to spend money. The Yankees have the YES network, they make millions off of that. The Red Sox sell out every game at $125 a ticket. But the White Sox who do not sell out, do not have a tv network, and do not even make as much as the Cubs, should spend like the Yankees. The White Sox have a good team, and right now they are a very respectable 3-3. Do I wish they could be 6-0? Sure, but hey they could be 0-6, so 3-3 is not anything to be jumping off a cliff over.They will come home, and if they can get on a roll who knows, around All-Star break we could in first place. And then we will have options, if Harris is really playing well and Jose is slumping maybe we will want to trade for a SS, or it could be the reverse. By then we will know how many pitchers we have, and if we need to add another reliver, etc. ::Shrugs:: It may not be the, lets spend $200 mil to win the World Series, but atleast it will give you a chance every single year, unlike if the White Sox were to lose with a $200mil payroll, and then unlike the Yankees they wont be able to spend that much again. SB

Hindsight is 20/20 First of all a 28% increase in salary last year would of in no way gauranteed that any of that money would result in an increase of even 1 win. Im just tired of hearing money as equated to winning every time, because if thats the case we will be seeing another Subway Series as the Mets and Yankees have the highest payrolls. The Sox clearly believe their best chance is a medium opening day salary giving them flexibility at Allstar break to trade for more players. From that standpoint the Sox are in an envious position, because if we are in 1st place, we will have prospects unlike the Yankees and can actually acquire some one for the home stretch. But then again the Sox already split 4 games in NY, so their $70mil payroll cant be that bad. SB

This is the way that the White Sox used to beat themselves. Its almost like Bizzaro world. Stranding runners, getting 4 walks in an inning and none scoring. Its crazy. SB

Scho wasnt amazing, but after he gave that Posada hr, he just ate Matsui up. For a first start in a long time, he did fine in my opinion. His job was to keep the game close, and he did that. SB

I predicted the festivities would last about 20-30 minutes. Doesnt seem like I was to far off. SB

Well now its time to put my money where my mouth is. Close it Koch and show up all those who doubt you. SB

Koch in the 9th is my vote. SB

Thats why Koch or Marte should of just started the 9th Monday, because no matter what they were not gonna go back to back. Oh well lets hope Politte comes in to get his confidence back and beat the Royals. SB

I read here because its faster than any update available and more informative. People actually say things about it instead of the: J. Gonzalez grounds to Uribe SB

Ozzie also let Politte walk 2 batters before pulling him, then kept Koch in to face a lefty, then pulled Koch to face another left. If anything there was absolutely no consistency in that inning so to try and come up with some sort of grand scheme is pretty ridiculous. Unless you think in the future that they are going to let a reliefman walk the first batter in the 9th and then walk the second batter before you are going to pull him, I bet Koch, Marte blow a ton of save chances. Its much easier to come into the game when no one is on then when the crowd is already getting riled up. Hate Koch but he looked good, and when he puts up triple digits on the gun, hes going to be a great combo with Marte. SB