Wedge

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jun 3, 2005 -> 07:42 AM) I don't think anybody here anticipated Miguel Olivo being part of any trade discussions. That was a stunner. Yeah, the only thing I think we all got right was that most thought Reed or Borchard or both would be involved in the deal. I'll bet if it happens, it's Crede and two prospects not named McCarthy and we pay the contract.

Out of curiousity, does anybody remember any of the rumors when we were trading for Garcia, specifically, which players at that time were being rumored to go to Seattle?

QUOTE(56789 @ Jun 2, 2005 -> 11:15 PM) He leads the team in RBI's and HR's True, but I feel like Tadahito or Podsednik add more to this offense than Konerko does. There's a lot of first basemen out there that can hit for power AND better average than Konerko and they come a bunch cheaper. Konerko leaves a wide margin for improvement from the 1B spot.

And thus began the Buddy Bell era.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Jun 2, 2005 -> 11:04 PM) Konerko may be a one-dimensional slug, but how would you justify to the fans trading one of our main power sources, in a pennant race, when lack of offense would be the sole reason for acquiring Chavez? Last offseaon would have been the ideal time to trade Konerok for a relief pitcher, defensive 1st baseman. Is Konerko a solid contributor to our offense? I think at this point in the season you'd have to say no.

Damn, we've got too many guys for the DH spot that just can't provide the H.

If we pay all of Chavez's contract, there's no way in hell that we should have to give up McCarthy.

Uribe was hitting .405 with bases loaded going into the series. He'd missed two chances to get a hit in the previous two games. Playing the odds, he should have gotten a hit last night. Leaving him in to hit was the right move.

The Cubs have a lot of talent on their team, but their winning stream has come against some weaker teams and Lee has been absolutely white hot. They have tremendous depth in their starting pitching, down to maybe 7 or 8 guys. They also lucked out because Perez has likely outperformed what a healthy Nomar would have done this season. Don't let any Cubs fan tell you that the reason they were bad for so long was due to injuries: most of their replacements have played as well or better as the guys they have replaced. Rather, their team wasn't built right, there's too many questions in that bullpen. Dempster still has to show he can be a closer and they did trade away a valueable set-up man in Hawkins, despite his issues in Chicago. That bullpen held them back early in the season and it's going to restrict them from going the distance.

Shouldn't this get merged into the Chavez thread?

Can we send Walker to AAA twice?

Morneau, Punto, and Mauer all got hurt and probably won't play against the Yankees this weekend.

I hope KW holds out to not include McCarthy. I'm not sure if the deal can get done, otherwise, however.

Plus, Uribe was something like .400 in bases loaded situations. He almost knocked that one out of the park. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This may have been one of those games we had to lose to maintain some of the health of our bullpen.

QUOTE(sox-r-us @ Jun 1, 2005 -> 04:50 PM) Doesn't Mackowiak play LF???? and RF and 2B and 3B.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 1, 2005 -> 04:06 PM) 70%?! There's no way that come anywhere near that. Well, then maybe 50% for the remainder of 2005. I dunno how these things work exactly, but you'd need to figure out a threshold that you'd be happy to give away McCarthy at. If he's off limits, then that's what it is.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 1, 2005 -> 03:58 PM) 4. Are you confident enough that his past production will return to give up your top level prospects and take on a bloated contract? Or restated: home much financial risk must be assumed by the trading partner before top level prospects can be considered in such a deal? If Oakland pays 70% of that deal, then I'm more likely to give them McCarthy. If they only accept 30%, then might get Honel out of me.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jun 1, 2005 -> 03:36 PM) Well, he needs to be a Canadian Hero to really make it grow legs That might be true, but I think as long as the big market cities have good teams, then it has a chance to work, even if the system is America-centric. If New York, Chicago, and LA all have some good teams, then I think there would be a high level of interest, regardless if Canada figures prominently in this league or not. Additionally, using Giuliani is a good move. Canada is sold on hockey, so there is no real need to reach out to them as they'll buy the product regardless of who is selling it. The USA needs to be sold on pro hockey again, and it might just buy it from someone who has been celebrated as a hero in the media.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Jun 1, 2005 -> 03:43 PM) At this time any player with a huge dropoff in production is going to be suspected of Steroids. I think the fingerpointing shouldnt start until the season is over and the sample is more than 2 months. Right. Just by looking at declining stats, you could finger many players as having gotten off the juice and suffering the resuls. Did Dye just get off the juice? What about PK? For every obvious Giambi out there, there are a number of more dubious cases. I haven't watched Chavez enough over the last four or five years to know what his body looked like then vs. what it looks like now. Did he hit a lot of garbage, "steroids-y" homers prior to this year? Is that why his numbers are down? Whenever you note an effect (i.e. a drop in stats), it is important to assess the causes. Is it bad luck? Is it diminished skills (the skills being physical [strength, running speed, bat speed] or mental [plate approach, focus in the field, reflexes, seeing the ball well] and the diminishing can be natural [is the player injured or past his prime or was his good year(s) an anomaly] or unnatural [he got off of something performance enhancing])? Is it a new, unfavorable environment [different team. different home park, different coaches, different players around him]t? Is it a combination? These are questions that you should ask yourself about Chavez before you blindly think he was on steroids (or his numbers won't return to career form) due to diminished numbers (I don't know the answers, either) and assess whether he would have value on our roster: 1) Does he appear physically diminished from prior seasons (a la Giambi's trimming down)? 2) Did his past levels of high offensive production stem from hits that a player on steroids would benefit from? 3) If he joins the White Sox, would this new environment prevent him from becoming a player similarly productive to his past self.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Jun 1, 2005 -> 03:01 PM) plus you dont get screwed by billy beane After the Koch deal, it's our turn to screw Billy.

As an "American Hero," Giuliani would add a lot of credibility to this thing, if it can get off its feet.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Jun 1, 2005 -> 03:05 PM) mack-o-whatsit sucks... you suck

I think Chavez and Castilla will both be too expensive in terms of the prospects required to acquire them. We're better served pursuing Polanco or Mackowiak, I think.

sox-r-us, what kind of deal do you think we'd need to make to get Castilla here?

Thanks guys, I do what I can!