fathom

Yeah, I'm sure some Independent League team is looking for a long reliever. No, Grilli has absolutely no trade bait.

Willie Harris is not a number 2 hitter. He doesn't know how to handle the bat at all. He's a terrible sacrifice bunter. A couple of things that Willie really needs to improve on are not rolling over on his wrists, which causes him to hit weak grounders to 2b and to also improve his eye at the plate in regards to taking pitches with 2 strikes. Way too many times last year did he strikeout looking.

No way we were going to give him a 3 year deal, and St. Louis can offer him a guaranteed starting spot. At least he'll hopefully torment the Cubs now.

Remember though, Eckstein and Cora can play SS, while I don't think Cairo has played SS in a long time, if ever, in the majors.

Anyone that has seen Eckstein play would be nuts to want Willie Harris over Eckstein. Eckstein isn't dynamic or explosive, but he truly plays the game right, and he's not the type of player you'd have to worry about not being able to get a key sac bunt down or be concerned about him not making contact in a crucial situation. Miguel Cairo is another veteran that I would have no problem with on this team. Personally, I thought one of the main reasons that the Sox slumped so much last year was because of the prolonged slumps that Willie would get in where he was absolutely no threat at the plate or on the bases.

There's a big difference between reporting we offered someone a deal, and saying that someone is flying in for a physical. The physical report is much more legit ot me, cause that's the type of information that usually means a deal is officially on the table.

I wonder if Contreras and El Duque get along well? Maybe that's a reason that El Duque would consider the White Sox.

Only on the White Sox board would people complain about having El Duque instead of Jason F'n Grilli. We begged KW to get a 5th starter...and it looks like he may get us one without taking too big of a risk.

Last year, he gave up 9 homers in 84 innings. That's good enough for me. I think the people that will complain about this thought the Sox would actually get in a bidding war for an average pitcher like D. Lowe or Milton. If we really do get him for about 5 million, we should still have enough money left to get a quality middle infielder.

El Duque is much better than Grilli or Diaz. I would have no problem with him coming in, as it seems that Odalis, Lowe, and Wade Miller will go for a lot more money.

A.J. is married...to a very pretty woman. I've personally seen his wedding photos.

So we have our catchers for the season. KW now has to find a middle infielder and another starting pitcher. He's saved like 9 million over the last two weeks. I guess the rest of the offseason will prove to us what the motive was for the Carlos trade. Prove me wrong KW.

4th place, here we come! The funniest thing about that article was KW saying we have a solid pitching staff from top to bottom. Everyone does realize that Grilli had a near 5 ERA in the minors last year, right?

We need a middle infielder that we can count on to hit lefties. Cora has rarely played against lhp during his career. I would have no problem with Cora being our 2nd baseman, with Willie out of the picture. However, having Cora be Willie's back-up makes no sense.

Not many teams are going to compete for the playoffs when you have the worst catching core in the majors, one of the worst starting 2nd baseman, a below average 3rd baseman, inconsistent 3 and 4 starters, and the worst number 5 starter in the league. KW sure is a terrible general manager.

In terms of being a back-up, there's no doubt in my mind that Burke is better suited for it than Davis. First, Burke has a very short swing, while Davis has an enormously long swing which is important because if you only play once every 4 days or so, you're not going to be able to maintain a rhythm at the plate. Look at how s***ty Daubach was off the bench because of how long his swing was. Also, Davis is not much of a righty hitter, which is important because if we signed someone like A.J., then we would still need someone who could face the likes of Randy Johnson. Burke is a much better option than Davis at making contact in crucial situations, etc. Also, I don't think we should keep 3 catchers at all. We have some old guys on our team who aren't exactly speedy. We need to have guys on the bench who can pinch run or bunt in crucial situations.

Yes, Ben Davis will not sign for more money than he was making last year. The main reason we didn't tender him was because we would have had to pay him more than we wanted. By non-tendering him, we can sign him to a lesser deal. However, if we were to sign someone like A.J., I think Burke makes a much better back up player.

I firmly believe the troubles of this offseason were caused by terrible moves that KW made last year with regards to trades made during the season. Currently, we're saddled with paying 10 million dollars for Contreras and Everett next year. Now, Contreras is so inconsistent, and 6 million should be spent on someone that's not a good candidate to be taken out of the game during the first inning. Then, the 4 million on Everett is a bigger problem for the Sox because there's a likely scenario where he would be a bench player for the Sox. Since when did a mild payroll team have 4 million dollar bench players? If KW doesn't get fired after this season (barring a playoff team), then he might as well build a statue of himself behind center field for being the luckiest man in history.

Alex Cora doesn't solve the Sox holes in the middle infield: a 2b player that we can play against tough lefty pitchers. Cora is decent against lhp, but that still means he'd be at a great disadvantage against guys like Johan and C.C. Of course, anything is better than Willie though, and if we signed Cora, he'd very likely end up being the starting 2b...which is fine by me. Cora doesnt strike out much, plays good D, and can handle the bat well.

KW never ceases to amaze me. If KW was really interested in A.J., he should have been on a plane to meet him the first day he cleared waivers.

it said 8:22 pm on the espn board. I'm saying it's b.s.

Just looked up the rumor on the board, doesn't seem very legitimate. Says he heard it on fox sports radio, but we would have heard something by now. The post was started like 3 hours ago.

We just saved nearly 2 million dollars on Schoeneweis and his whiny attitude. I'm just as happy with this move as I am with anything else that has happened this offseason.

Can we change the headline so it doesnt look like he signed with the Sox? I thought that's what it meant when I first clicked on it....thankfully they didnt.

Wade Miller will want a multiyear deal, and we know how JR feels about giving multiyear deals to pitchers who he thinks will have injury issues. I don't think there's any chance we go after Miller. However, maybe this will open the door up for Odalis to not be the focal point of the bidding war.