fathom

Couldn't agree more with you. We already have too many question mark hitters on this team. We can't afford another one at catcher.

The Red Sox trying to enter the Milton bidding could be possible good news for the White Sox in regards to our chances at signing Clement. Who knows, trying to be optimistic!

The general manager's main responsibility is to put a contending team on the field while staying within a set budget and maintaining an equilibrium for the future of the franchise. Has KW achieved the goal of putting together a contending team? If you asked any non-biased expert, they would say right now that the Sox are an average team that would be picked to finish either 3rd or 4th in the AL Central. If KW really has maximized his budget already with this roster, then he failed at putting together this team. For two straight years now, the 5th starter has been our biggest downfall. However, he has done nothing to solve this problem. And anyone saying that Dustin Hermanson should start needs to realize that not only has he had a history of injury problems recently, but he also was unable to have an ERA under 4.5 last year in the National League in a monsterous pitcher's park. There's no chance he could maintain a 5 ERA next year as a starter. Hopefully, KW will add to this roster in the future to put a contending team on the field. If not, there's no way that Reinsdorf can justify keeping KW in the position where he hasn't produced a division champion in the worst division in baseball with the highest divisional payroll most years.

The one thing that keeps coming to mind with everyone hoping for a hometown discount is the following: HE WASNT ON THE WHITE SOX LAST YEAR! Yes, he would prefer to stay in Chicago. However, I'm not going to get my hopes up. Remember, this article was written by a Chicago writer who was trying to give reasons why Clement would possibly go to the Sox. I can't see someone like Clement turning down the Red Sox or Angels because of the pressure.

The last line in that article scares me about the biggest bidder. That sure seemed like agent talk as an excuse why Clement would choose the biggest bidder.

These late night rants are caused when people actually read what is being said by Sox management, and not by the rumor mills or the dreaded message board poster. All along, KW has stated the line about saving the money for the trade deadline. Well, we all jumped on the RJ, Clement, and other rumors thinking that the Sox were going to go all out for them. However, why in the world would we think that we could compete with offers made by powerhouse budget teams like Yanks, Red Sox, and Angels?

As it looks now, the Sox might not get the impact starting pitcher that all of us fans wanted them to sign, and KW might stick to his statement that they'll keep the money for later resources. The problem I have with this is that with the players we've lost recently (fan favorites of Lee and Maggs), combined with possible outrage by fans over KW not spending the money saved in the lopsided Carlos trade, the possibility of public relations problems between the Sox management and Sox fans is forseeable. I don't attended SoxFest, but I could only imagine what the Q & A would be like with KW if things stay status quo.

The PTBNL is not a major leaguer. The Brewers GM even said this.

I'm convinced that KW came up with the term grinder so he could sign cheap players and not get bashed by Sox fans for it. Tell me any grinder that makes more than 3 or 4 million a year? None...they're called talented players. I hope KW doesn't consider someone like Everett a grinder. He's a terrible defensive player that is injury prone...not exactly a grinder in my mind.

Polanco will be on the Cardinals..guaranteed. They have openings at 2b and SS, and I've seen nothing to suggest we're going after him. The only options I hear we may go after are Miguel Cairo or Alex Cora.

Yeah, but Beane also had 3 starters that he could count on to keep him in each game that they played. We have two, and even they aren't exactly dominating pitchers on a consistent basis.

Am I the only one that remembered Grilli struggling to get out of the first inning in nearly every start of his last year? He showed no control whatsoever.

First, I don't think we'll add A.J. Pierz. Rather, the Dodgers will sign him now they have a lot of money to spend. I couldn't disagree more with you that we have the best bullpen in the division. The Twins bullpen is still a hell of a lot better than the Sox. They have a better closer (Nathan), better set-up men (Romero and Rincon) and better long relievers (Crain and Balfour). Let's not forget the young guys that Cleveland has in their lineup that will only get better. Adding A. Boone will help their team, and there's no way their bullpen is as bad as it was at the beginning of the season last year. Again, this is how I feel if things stay the way they are right now. If KW can get another starting pitcher, my confidence in this team will grow.

If the season started with the team we have right now, we would be competing with the Tigers for 3rd place in the division. It's that simple. Remember how bad we were last year without Frank and Maggs? Well, it will be even worse without Carlos. I expect Dye and Podsednik to be good, but they aren't difference makers like Lee is. Will someone please explain to me why KW wasn't fired after the debacles of the last two years? He's the laughingstock of general managers in baseball.

I was nervous when KW said in every press conference after the Carlos trade that we might use the money for a June/July trade. Now, I'm scared to death that will be their excuse when they don't pick up another pitcher.

I know someone that is very, very good friends with A.J., and he tells me how A.J. isn't as much of an ass as people make him out to be, but he's not exactly the nicest guy in the world. The story I heard was that he was real nice up until he made the majors, and then he changed into another person. However, my source told me that A.J. is still a solid guy though.

I have a sick feeling right now that KW is not going to spend the money that was saved in the Carlos trade. Rather, a thought that has bothered me is that the Sox were over budget before the trade, and the move was made to get back within budget. The Sox would never come out and say they needed to trim payroll from last year, but it's not out of the realm of possibility, especially after KW said on the radio the other day that they Sox had lost money the last two years.

If I had to choose between landing A.J. for like 2 yrs/8 mil, or adding Randy Johnson while having to trade Garland, Sweeney, Marte, and another prospect, I would much rather have A.J. The main reason being is that the A.J. move would fill a hole, while the RJ move would not and deplete the frachise in the future.

Exactly! If the guys say they have an issue with him, then he won't be here, plain and simple. However, at least it sounds like we're going to give ourselves a chance at adding someone who could fill a gigantic hole on this team. I know I'd be a lot more confident with a bottom of the order that include A.J. over Ben Davis.

If Sox signed A.J., I'm sure we'd then sign Burke to be his backup. Then, Burke can continue to be Buehle's personal catcher, something that worked well last year. Burke's right handed hitting would help a lot vs guys like C.C. and Santana.

I think it's great news if the Sox are going to talk with A.J. about his attitude, etc. This at least means they're interested, and I'm sure A.J. will likely tell them what they want to hear. I would be just as happy to get A.J. as I would a starting pitcher because A.J. plays about 80 pct of the games, while a starting pitcher would participate in no more than about 20 pct of the games. He'd be a significant upgrade over anything we've had at catcher in a long, long time.

Well, if we're not going to give our pitchers a lot of run support, I'd rather have a guy like Clement who can shut down the opposition than someone like Schoeneweis or Grilli who you are happy with if they give up 4 runs in 6 innings.

Schoeneweis with 12 wins as a starter? I thought that Schoeneweis proved last year that he's not reliable enough to be a starter. He's effective vs lefty hitters but when you start a game, the other team can stack their lineups with righties. I would love to see KW non-tender Schoeneweis.

I don't want anything to do with RJ or Vazquez now. We're not in the position to create more holes than filling them with any trade we make.

You can't tell me that we couldn't use a package of Garland, Marte, and some high prospect (not Sweeney, Anderson, or McCarthy) to try and trade for Tim Hudson. Huson is much less of a risk than RJ, and he's likely to be here longer than RJ.