ISF

We coulda been at 75 mil, but we needed to trade Carlos for the groin and Vizcaino because we didn't want to spend that much money.

Crede. They both hit .220, but Crede will make plenty less errors in the field over the course of the season. He also makes contact more often. Valentin has turned into Jose Hernandez.

I thought Cleveland was headed in the right direction until they decided Juan Gone in RF was a good idea. They've got a very good player in Sizemore and they keep Juan? Ugh. He helped the Royals a s***load, didn't he? Sabathia is injury prone, Millwood is mediocre, and Lee is their version of Contreras. I just don't see how their rotation is ranked as best in division. I have Twins and Sox at top of both rotation and bullpen. If you want a good review of the AL Central, stick with sources located in the midwest. ESPN doesn't know its head from its ass outside of the East.

Contreras will last through May, we'll be replacing him with McCarthy about the same time Frank returns. Those 2 moves in themselves will make nice midseason upgrades.

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I'm not sure I like the idea of Iguchi changing his bat. He's going to have enough of a challenge getting used to MLB pitching without the added work of getting used to a longer/heavier bat.

Well, our rotation put up a 5+ ERA last year. So I guess we suck too. Lee has a great arm, he's just young. Sabathia is an ace. Quoting stats from a half season doesn't change that. Ask any GM in the league who they'd rather have, Brian Anderson, Darrell May, and Jose Lima OR Sabathia, Millwood, and Lee. I'll wait...

Sabathia, Millwood, Lee, and Westbrook are a much better rotation than the crap KC trotted out to the mound last year, and their offense is light years ahead of what KC had last year. Their bullpen is certainly below par, but they're still good enough to finish 3rd.

Predictions? 88 wins Orlando Hernandez surpasses 120 IP. Pitches 130 before going on DL Garland has career season. 13 wins and 3.90 ERA Carl Everett puts up huge 1st half numbers, spends most of season platooning with Dye, who is plagued by injuries. Thomas resumes fulll-time DH duties in May, still leads league in Walks. Tadahito Iguchi makes everyone forget Willie Harris. Scott Posednik is demoted to AAA in June, Brian Anderson replaces him in LF. Johan Santana out with torn labrum by AS break as Twinkies fall to 3rd in division. Detroit has league high ERA as Magglio hobbles around in RF desperately trying to avoid 25 days on DL. Cleveland takes 2nd in Central. Carlos Lee outproduces Albert Pujols.

I will consider thew Tigers dumb until somebody can point out another team that was offering more than 2 years. Or anywhere near 15 mil. Tigers could have offered 3 years at that money and nobody was going to outbid them. It's Tom Hicks/A-Rod all over again. Difference being, A-Rod wasn't coming off a severe knee injury. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Using career averages, our rotation K/BB ratio comes in around 2.03 Our K/9 ratio comes in at 6.39. I didn't do the plus/minus based on last year, although it appears from first glance like we could expect a pretty good performance.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writ...vers/index.html Pretty interesting article from Tom Verducci. I wonder if one of our resident statistical experts could compile the overall numbers for our current staff from last year. Would be an interesting projection of just how effective our rotation might be.

Willie will be where Willie should be: Tearing up AAA Charlotte hoping that Iguchi stumbles, so he can come up and be God awful against LH pitching.

I forgot we filled both OF spots. Escobar will be at AAA unless somebody gets hurt. If we sign Iguchi, Harris will be at AAA as well. He has no value as a utility IF, he can only play 2B. I expect Valdez to be the utility IF.

Carl's a DH. He'll only be in OF if someone gets hurt or is slumping badly.

If El Duque is healthy, we pick up at least 10 wins compared to last year's #5 black hole. If he's not, it's "wait 'til '06!"

Escobar will be in the mix for the 5th OF spot. He's a better fit than Borchard in terms of our new speed, defense, contact hitting approach. Will depend on how both perform in ST.

I think we can all say good bye to Burke now. Hell, that doesn't even look like a good sign for Ben Davis.

I don't think I spilled any drinks, which certainly helped explain my condition. I didn't buy anything memorabilia wise. I do have a soxfest map with Rowand, Pierzynski, Everett, Cora, and Melton's autographs on it. Bill wrote Happy Birthday to my dad on it. I must have mentioned I was going to give it to him as a birthday present.

Willie seemed to be the story of SoxFest. Somebody at our table asked Bill Melton what was wrong with Willie Harris. Bill said "He's Willie Harris".

SoxFest was a blast. Met Steff, who introduced me to several people, that I later forgot in my drunken stupor. Lesson learned this year: Don't drink on an empty stomach. Bill Melton spent about an hour bs'ing at our table. He's pretty cool. I can't understand where Everett got his bad rap. Everett was great, I asked him if he was gonna give us .280 this year, he said .280? I'm gonna hit .300. He's in shape, I could believe it. He sure likes his denim though... Got some autographs, met some cool people, have some excellent stories. Wish more could have made it.

Ugh. Millwood and Gonzalez. Cleveland is taking a very interesting young team and turning it into 'Has-Beens R' Us'

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Jan 5, 2005 -> 05:59 PM) Ugh'. Give it to f***ing Iguchi. Uribe ain't a two hitter either, watch the ugly hacks this guy takes. Rowand, #2 spot!? Please. Aaron is not a two hitter. Aaron needs to bat down in the order, anywhere from 3-6. If Aaron is put in the #2 spot to start the year, I'll be really disapointed. Rowand is perfect for the #2 spot. A .300 hitter with speed and some pop. If our only .300 hitter is batting 5th or 6th, I'LL be disappointed. He sure as hell won't be batting cleanup. Uribe will be batting 6th-7th.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 07:52 PM) Joe Borchard, Alex Escobar within the team, although there are others available. Joe Borchard is English for Jose Valentin. Just say no. That worthless sack of crap got booted from his Mexican League team for sucking. MEXICAN LEAGUE WAS TOO GOOD FOR HIM. Timo is a solid vet who had some big hits for us. His 1 mil is a pittance compared to the 4 mil we'll be giving El Duque to lead rally caps. At least Timo will be contributing in the 2nd half of the season. I have hopes for Escobar, but he's proven nothing at this point. To sink or swim with him would be foolish.