Kalapse

You really shouldn't read Mariotti, it really has no positive long lasting effects while the side effects are quite scary. But seriously though, the Sox really should have thrown 6 years or $110M at Torii Hunter I mean it would be a terrible contract and would really hurt the team in the long run but at least JR couldn't be called cheap anymore. Didn't the Sox just outbid everyone else for the top reliever on the free agent market?

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Nov 23, 2007 -> 08:47 AM) Call me foolish because i disagree with you. Let me ask you a question.. Who is our current leadoff hitter? We already have 2 3b who can hit for power, i dont see the need for Cabrera right now.. Although i would love to have Cabrera over Crede/Fields, we can live without him. We CANT go into 2008 without another leadoff hitter. Miguel Cabrera would be an infinitely better leadoff hitter than Crawford, it's not the ideal spot for a guy like Miguel but his .400+ OBP at the top and increase in ABs over the course of the season would help out the offense a whole lot more than some stolen bases from Crawford.

According to Steve Stone Carl Crawford has always refused to play CF, he's supposedly pretty damn good out there but he just does not want to play the position. Not to say he wouldn't agree to play CF if the Sox acquired him but he always wanted to a play a corner OF position in Tampa.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Nov 21, 2007 -> 02:56 PM) Uh ... I think I'll take the guy who has recorded the most consecutive outs in the history of baseball over those guys you mentioned. A guy who recorded as many saves as he did with one of the worst teams in baseball. Jenks is damn good. He's damn good and he did get a lot of guys out in a row but he's still not any better than those 3 guys. There's really no argument you can make that can convince me he's better than Papelbon in any way, more consistently great than Nathan or had a better year last year than Putz. He got a s*** load of saves on a terrible team because they played A LOT of close games, he was put in the position to close out a ton of games and he stepped up and got the job done. He's a damn good closer but he's still not the best closer in the AL.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Nov 21, 2007 -> 02:52 PM) OK, so back to my original question. Did they promise Hot Dog man he would pass Borowski or not? Even you agree Borowski is the closer in April. The Sox just can't make the right moves. They needed this guy and didn't get him. Living in Cleveland vs. Chicago ... they couldn't sell that as well? I think the Sox had a lot to sell. It's all about money anyway. They should have offered more than Cleve and they would have gotten the guy. Kenny's bullpen aside from Jenks is a piece of s***. He better improve it, especially losing Garland and starting 5 inning max guys in Danks, Jose C and Floyd. I don't know why I bother conversing with you, you have no idea how things work and it gets old having to spell out every little thing over and over again. I don't know what the f*** they promised him, those sort of things don't often make it to the media until after the switch has been made and I personally was not in on the negotiations so I have no inside information. If you really can't understand why a Japanese career closer would like to sign with the second best team in baseball, a team with an incredibly shaky closer, a team that really has no other candidates to close out games, a team that probably promised him the closer's job by the second year of his deal (at the latest), a team that has very good young talent, a team that will easily compete for a World Series next season over a 90 loss 4th place team that already has a 26 year old great closer who's 4 years away from free agency then you know what? I can't help you.

It's not just the off the field issues with Freel, he was also hurt and bad for all of last season. Plus he's 32.

Just to name a few, he has a history of hardcore cocaine abuse, he's had numerous DUI's and he claims that there's a tiny Leprechaun named Farney who lives in his head and tells him what to do. There's more but I figure 3 should be enough.

The Rangers got a top 15 prospect (Adrian Gonzalez) for Uggy Urbina when they decided to move him and as of now Jenks is a much better closer, much younger and much cheaper than Urbina was when dealt. Keep in mind also that Urbina was in the final year of his contract so they got Gonzalez for a rental closer. Jenks is still 4 years away from free agency.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 09:44 PM) Glad to hear you believe he's really 33. We don't need another Contreras. Some Sox reporter should do an investigative piece on that one. He appears older than he's listed. This is so f***ing ridiculous. He's been in the league for 12 seasons, since he was 22 years old and I have never heard anyone ever question his age. Now that Garland is traded for this "waste of space" he's suddenly 35 years old. You need to get over it. You know what, even if he is 35 or 36 (which he is not) I don't care because he plays like he sure as hell doesn't play like it. I don't care if he's 44, he hasn't shown any signs of slowing down and was one of the most valuable shortstops in the game last season.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 11:34 PM) I'd probably prefer Jerry Owens with no consideration of financial status. I think if you add 50 SB and 50 strikeouts to Luis Castillo's 2007 AL numbers you come up with Jerry Owens' ceiling.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 09:53 PM) Why would we want that overrated (the next DiMaggio ,) overpaid, crippled junk? His name is Rocco, he's white and he was once a great volleyball player.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 10:46 PM) But Cleveland has a closer as well. Did the Tribe promise him they'd skip over Joe? Joe Borowski is a walking pile of s***, now that the Indians have a seemingly legitimate closing option in Kobayashi they can actually make the switch once Borowski gives up 20 runs in the month of April in 2008. '08 is for sure Borowski's final season in Cleveland so their closing job WILL be open by opening day 2009 (at the latest) unlike the White Sox who actually have stability in that department.

QUOTE(PAUL KONERKO 14 @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 09:00 PM) .361 OBP ain't that bad. Couple that with a .359 SLG and a net of 13 SB and also figure in the fact that his stats were helped tremendously by a trip to the s***astic National League and you have a pretty bleh season. He had 14 XBH in the AL last year.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 09:35 PM) No offense to KW, but why not inquire if you are the Yanks? Target a top Sox player and try to steal him away like some of these other deals. Don't know why you'd trade the best closer in the AL and open up a hole there. Our bullpen is bad enough to ship Jenks anywhere. I don't think JJ Putz, Jonathan Papelbon or Joe Nathan are going anywhere so you don't to worry about the best closer in the AL getting dealt any time soon.

It's good to hear that Cabrera wants to mentor Richar veteran players aren't always open to the idea.

The Indians were able to offer Kobayashi a chance to close for them either next year around May when Borowski's ERA is in the 6's or in 2009 when Borowski is out of baseball. The Sox couldn't make the same promise so they didn't have a shot. But no I'm sure it's more plausible that KW was too busy giving away great pitchers for old shortstops to even notice that Kobayashi was available via free agency.

QUOTE(PAUL KONERKO 14 @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 02:43 PM) He had a great year last year . . . No he didn't, he was incredibly meh.

REJOICE!

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 02:08 PM) Rollins wins. Personally, I would have had no problem giving the award to Holliday, even given the fact that he was merely a good player on the road. It's still impressive as hell to put up a .376/.435/.722/1.157 in half your games, no matter where you play home games. If he could manage a .950 OPS away from that joke of a stadium then yeah Holliday can have the award but .860? f*** that, the MVP shouldn't go to a guy who's a threat to be great for only half of his team's games. I couldn't be happier about Rollins taking home the award despite not even being the best SS in his division.

So I guess I was right after all.

QUOTE(soxfaninpa @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 12:37 PM) The rumor I had originally read had Chris Carter going to Boston for Crisp. If that actually happened, I would be extremely upset. I don't think Crisp is anything to special, and I don't think he is worth Carter or even Sweeney for that matter. I would give something like Brian Anderson and Aardsma for him. I doubt they would want them, but in my eyes he is not worth giving up a prospect with much of any upside for. That "rumor" was a "guess" by the "people" at "Baseball" "Prospectus."

QUOTE(Colorado Sox Fan @ Nov 20, 2007 -> 11:47 AM) There's something I don't like about Coco. Not sure what it is, just something. His real name is Covelli, does that help at all?

I direct you to firejoemorgan.com for all your John Peter needs.

I don't know, that's one thing that I read on both a Red Sox and Angels board, maybe he's an even better hitter than his 2007 line (.324/.369/.425/.794) from the 2 hole in lets on or maybe they're all just full of s***. On a semi-related note; how sad is it that Cabrera got 134 ABs in the 3 hole for the Angles last year? What a pathetic offense.

I'm going to be seriously pissed if Matt Holliday wins the NL MVP today. I know there's no clear cut best player from the National League this season but I would have a problem with them giving the award to a guy who put up a road line of .301/.374/.485/.860 to go along with only 11 of his 36 HRs. There's a 300 point difference between his home and road OPS, how can you give the award to a guy who is merely "good" when playing away from his joke of a home ballpark? IMO Chipper Jones and Prince Fielder were much better than Matt Holliday in 2007. Hell I'd be satisfied if Howard or Rollins are given the award despite not being "great" last year.