fathom

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 06:09 PM) Alright...let me throw a name out there: Melky Cabrera. Hit .280, OBP .361 Has a little pop, can play some defense, is a switch hitter and stole 12 bases this year. OH, and played mostly LF. He's young, he's cheap, he's buried behind Matsui, Damon, Abreu, Wilson (if they keep him) and Sheffield (if they keep him). AND, the Yankees have the $$ to take on a high salary pitcher who, by the way, the White Sox have. We can even give them some money to cover. Maybe Cabrera and Proctor for either Garcia or Vazquez and $ or a prospect? Just a thought. Yankees won't trade him. They're trying to keep guys like him and Hughes, so they'll have cheap replacements once some of these big contracts expire like Sheffield.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 05:37 PM) If I'm in St. Louis's shoes...I don't know if I could possibly say yes any faster. If I'm in Chicago's shoes...I consider this deal only if I'm 100% certain I can't resign Buehrle. Then I try to get more than this. I actually don't think there's a chance the Cards would do this. They're losing almost their entire pitching staff, and Wainwright and Reyes are their only two strong young pitchers. By having two cheap starters for the next few years, they'll be able to pay some money to fill their other holes a lot more efficiently than if they traded for Buehrle, and what's about to be a huge contract of his.

Here's the one question that I would love to have answered: were there 35 pills still remaining in the drawer, like what TO said?

QUOTE(beck72 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 02:04 AM) Juan Pierre would be better options than those two. And more likely with Ozzie knowing what to expect from Pierre. Pierre is a more realistic option. On no planet is he a better option than Soriano.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:50 AM) Silva's been a respectable #5 starter since the beginning of May. Not many pitchers can recover from a month with an ERA over 10. Just ask Mark Buehrle. Gardenhire also usually tries to pull him as soon as he can.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:24 AM) I realize people don't want to spend money on a backup catcher, and i agree....but regardless...chris stewart isnt the answer....its tough for me to fall in love with a guy who had an OPS of .707 in a tiny ballpark in charlotte When you consider he'll be facing the likes of C.C., Rogers, Liriano, Robertson, A. Miller, Randy Johnson, etc...I'd be absolutely stunned if he could hit over .190.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:21 AM) If I could trust Ozzie to use him right, I'd say to keep him. He's an excellent option off the bench. I just think Ozzie's dumb enough to continue trying to platoon him out there. Or even to try to convince KW that it's ok to trade Anderson because they have Mackowiak. Or they don't need another backup outfielder because they have Mackowiak. Etc. I'd love Mack as a backup/super utility guy. I just don't think Ozzie understands what that means. I'm a huge Mackowiak fan, and always wanted him on the Sox. However, it's become a situation where I want him gone for the good of the team.....so he can't play CF anymore.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:18 AM) If Stewart could play better defense than Widger, would that make up for him having a poor BA? Hell, we get into the playoffs if we stop playing Mackowiak in CF. Why can't we just bring back Miguel Olivo!!!!! If kalapse is reading this, what problems do KW and Ozzie have with Tejada? QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:18 AM) Hell, we get into the playoffs if we stop playing Mackowiak in CF. I have a feeling that Mackowiak won't be back next year. He's getting paid almost 3 million next year.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:13 AM) There are so many other ways that we could spend money and talent this offseason rather than finding a great backup Right Hand hitting catcher. We will win more games with 1 more quality relief pitcher than we will with a backup righty catcher instead of Stew. All I'm asking for is a back-up catcher who can hit over .200, especially after facing the tough lefties in the division. Widger was perfect in the role last season.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:10 AM) Come on fath, the problem isnt the backup catcher. Stew would be perfect in that role and you know it. No....I don't want to see him bat .150 next season. Give him another year in the minors, and then bring him up for the 2008 season. The scary thing is that I honestly believe we'll bring back Sandy for next season.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:08 AM) Reload. 1. Keep the 5 starters unless someone makes us an offer we can't refuse. Use BMac as a long-reliever/spot starter -- a role he was rarely used in this season -- to reduce the workload on our starters. 2. Sign Soriano or Matthews Jr. to replace Pods. 3. Bring up Sweeney to platoon with Anderson in CF. (Let Ozuna go.) 4. Find a right-handed hitting DH to give Thome a rest against lefties. (Let Gload go.) (If we would actually use him, I'd strongly consider making Josh Fields this guy.) 5. If Hermanson's back is okay, re-sign him to an incentive-laden deal (his $500K buyout would become the base, and the balance of his option would be in terms of performance incentives). Bullpen would be: Jenks, MacDougal, Thornton, Cotts, BMac, Hermanson. (Let Riske walk.) Though Hermy may not be perfectly reliable, we need that veteran presence down there. 6. Find a right-handed hitting backup catcher that can hit lefties and/or play solid defense. Win 2007 World Series! So we're going to have a payroll around 120 million?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:05 AM) We aren't tipping our cap against them. Remember the last time we faced Santana, where somehow we managed to get like 4 runs against him? The problem was we wound up giving up too many runs, not that we couldn't score them. And oh yeah, what was the reason we gave up so many? IMO, it was defense. Catcher didn't hurt, CF did...but you can also win against those guys by not giving up as many runs. Again, I'm not just talking about Santana. We looked clueless against C.C. and Rogers this season, and the LHP is only going to get better in our division.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:00 AM) Why go out and sign someone, when you havea a home grown solution? If you want to improve vs LHP, look no further than Thome, Iguchi, PODS, etc as why we cant hit them. Also, NOBODY can hit Santana this year, its not only us. CC has the 3rd best ERA in the AL, I would say he is good as well. The back up catcher's ability to hit LHP should be the last concern on the list. I know Santana is superb, and C.C. and Rogers were great. However, we need to find a way to put up some runs against them. We can't keep tipping our cap every time we face them. I already gave my solution for how we can improve Iguchi and Thome against LHP (have Ozuna be a supersub vs LHP). QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:02 AM) I agree with this 100% Like most of us know, the Sox are in an odd position. The problem with hitting LHP is something that defenitly needs to be addressed this off-season, but whats makes the situation is odd is that the Sox dont really have too many holes in the lineup to fill. Getting a solid backup catcher that can hit LHP will be helpful to this team, maybe even more so in helping out AJ stay fresh, and also letting him bat mostly against RHP. Yeah, I typically wouldn't care who the back-up catcher is. However, with the starting pitchers that are in our division, and the way that some of our core players struggle vs LHP, I think it's one of the few spots where we can upgrade our team offensively.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:57 AM) So in other words, you're asking why Ozzie doesn't go with a lineup of 9 righties against Santana et al.? Didn't we go through that enough in 2005? It's not just Santana I'm talking about. He's a great pitcher who I feel like we have no prayer to ever beat. It's more like the LHP who have a lot of tilt on their pitches (C.C., Randy Johnson, soon to be Andrew Miller).

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:55 AM) Is the backup catcher really your solution to beating Santana? Come on Fathom, think rationally. No, it's something we need to strengthen in order to beat tough lefties. We went something like 3-12 against Santana, Rogers, and C.C. this season. Since there's not much we can do about the 3-7 in our lineup, our back-up catcher is something that can really improve our LHP lineup. A perfect example of this is Redmond with the Twins.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:53 AM) 71 mph The pitch velocity can definitely be made up for by holding a runner on better. Don't get me wrong though, it was a spectacular release by Stewart on both throws.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:51 AM) You beat me to it. He still threw out Sizemore with a 71 MPH pitch coming to him with movement. I think there is no reason you dont bring in Stew to back up AJP next year. Cheap homegrown solution. We have a hard enough time scoring against Santana, Rogers, C.C. (and Liriano, I'm sure). I still think it's very important that we beef up our lineup against lefty pitchers. Hopefully we can get an everyday LF next year, and then we can have Ozuna play some 2B against LHP (if Iguchi stinks against them again) and some DH in order to not make Thome face guys like C.C. and Randy Johnson.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:51 AM) The Nasty Nats don't have that kind of money...especially with what they're going to try to throw at Soriano. Soriano won't go back there, I guarantee it.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:48 AM) It wouldn't surprise me at all. It also wouldn't surprise me to find out that Ozzie was on Minnesota's payroll. Can we hope that once KW tells Ozzie he won't sign Pierre to a 3 year, 24 million dollar contract, Ozzie will just quit the team and go with Pierre to the Nationals or someone like that? QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:50 AM) How exactly does a knuckleballer give a guy a better chance to throw out a base stealer than Garcia or Contreras? They've said that Haeger is very quick to the plate. We've seen Garcia and Contreras hold runners....there's not a catcher in the world who could throw out a runner when they're on the mound.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:46 AM) I disagree, I would rather have a great defensive cather who can throw out runners, especially with our starting staff. Does it really matter with most of our pitchers? Contreras and Garcia doesn't even give our catchers a chance in hell to throw someone out. Why not just sign Blanco then, who can at least give you some offense back there.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:45 AM) The way our pitching staff performed this year...and the amount it costto put it on the field...I once again want the starting pitcher. Give me Pujols or give me death. Maybe Ryan Howard. Would it really surprise people if Ozzie felt Haeger was the better fit to start than McCarthy?

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:44 AM) Stewart throws out Sizemore with a knuckleballer throwing. Any doubt the kid is major league ready? Yes, he can't hit a lick. With the tough lefties that we face, it's vital that we have a back-up righty catcher who can hit decently.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:43 AM) Only problem is...now I'm going to again be really really really pissed if KW does decide to trade him. The only saving grace is that I know if he does trade him, it will be for a superstar like C. Crawford, V. Wells, or A. Rowand.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:39 AM) Solid outing from Mac. Nice way to close out the season. I'm very thankful he did well tonight. This was a huge start for him, IMO. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:40 AM) So basically we'd have sent Gio, Garcia, That other pitcher who's name i can't remember, and Fields for Thome? I don't likee that. Especially the risk we took in picking up Thome after he was hurt. Anyway...that's way too high of a price for a backup outfielder. Balta.....you should know me, and my opinion of Rowand, well enough to know that I was being 100 pct sarcastic.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:36 AM) I don't think it was obvious at all. BMac was not that bad really until September, other than the times ozzie screwed around with hiim doing that one spot start in May. His ERA in every other month was in the 3's. He had some very good outings, like the 18 inning game against Boston or the 5 innings against the Twins. I don't know what it was...whether he just finally couldn't get sharp without a full warmup in September or he wasn't feeling well or his arm just had too much energy, but he finally just blew up this last month. Zut. At least we got the insurance run. Like you said though, those were long outings where he could get into a rhythm. McCarthy wasn't very good this season when he came in for a few batters. QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:36 AM) Ditto. Maybe Kenny can sucker Gillick into a 'win now' mode and offer Garcia + Fields for Hamels... Then again, maybe no suckering would be needed for a trade like that. Garcia and Fields for Rowand