CaliSoxFanViaSWside

I think SS is Alexei's for sure. No centerfield for him. Lillibridge can play center if he impresses as well as play backup SS and 2nd. Betemit you will see play mostly 3rd and 1st , rarely if ever 2nd and not a chance at short. I think many of us are hoping/praying Viciendo can impress enough to make the club and make major contributions though I find it unlikely. He will be the one I watch most closely this spring along with Fields, Getz. Lillibridge , Flowers, Poreda, Richards and Beckham.

Hawks win 3-1 over Thrashers. Haby played great especially in the 3rd period when the Hawks were dominated in faceoffs, shots on goal and scoring chances. Thrashers 6 on 4 after a Sharp hooking penalty with 77 seconds left. Bolland with the empty netter to ice it. 5th win on the road trip out of 7 games. One more to go, friday in St. Louis.

Wiz and Buff healthy scratches. Not surprised at Buff. Wiz maybe because Aaron Johnson hadn't played in a while.

Hawks over Thrashers 2-1 at the end of the 2nd period. Goals by Sharp and Toews both on the PP. Kovalchuk PP goal for Thrashers and scored another on a rebound of a breakaway shot he took at the very end of the period but time had expired.

I hardly ever stray from Soxtalk. Nice to see a Blackhawks thread. I go way back to the Mikita /Hull years when I was a youngster. I've had the MLB package on DirecTV for like 5 years now and this is the 1st year I decided to get NHL Center Ice. I was concerned about the Hawks offense after losing Lang but it's so great to see guys like Versteeg, Bolland , Ladd making major contributions. Also great seeing Havlat having a very strong season especially stepping up since Kane hasn't been 100% for the last month. Slightly disappointed in the contributions from Byfuglien and the defensive efforts of Kane. Absolutely love Burish and would even suggest Byfuglien be dropped to the 4th line and Burish be promoted. Edit: I would also like to add that Keith is the Hawks MVP.

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 09:05 AM) His music is amazing. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...iendID=98450415 I thought you were kidding at first but I checked it out and it's not bad , he's a talented guy.

QUOTE (MO2005 @ Feb 10, 2009 -> 09:37 AM) Will he be invited to spring you think? According to the article in the link I listed he will be the 19th non roster spring training invitee.

QUOTE (easyw @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 12:03 AM) I know this sounds insane, but I've been told by someone close to the matter that the Sox are close to signing Ben Broussard. This move makes zero sense to me, but since I heard it, I figured I'd put it out there. Good call . Sox signed Broussard to a minor league deal. http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....eague-deal.html

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Feb 9, 2009 -> 03:51 PM) Hopefully if we sign Alexei to an extension that it'll make it easier to convince Dayan to sign an extension as well. I think keeping both Alexei and Dayan in order to keep both of them will be key. Getting a little ahead of ourselves aren't we ? We should know when spring games start if this kid has any promise.

Many players are signing minor league deals at this point so why not ?

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Feb 8, 2009 -> 10:53 AM) If Abreu rejected the 8 million that the Sox supposedly offered, he must be kicking himself right now Speaking of kicking himself maybe in hindsight if the Reds had offered a package for Dye KW should have taken it. Maybe the Sox could have had any combination of Abreu , Hudson and/or a pitcher for what they're going to pay Dye this year.

I haven't seen anyone mention it on Soxtalk but when we signed Colon I think most of us assumed his arm was healthy after putting up decent numbers with Boston and in the minors. The reality is he had elbow surgery to clean out bone chips on his pitching arm and will start his spring traing later than most. It wasn't just his back that was injured.

I feel bad for the kid. He's an obvious Mariners fan who wants his lousy team to be better. The internet is a big place filled with crap just like the rest of the world. No need to treat him badly because he's not an expert on baseball yet. If Bleacher Reports wants to give space to young sports fans to play GM I say great. He got flamed as if he was a crack addict seducing someones sister. It amazes me how fast people are to show how smart they are by reveling in someone else's ignorance.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 09:24 PM) It looks to me like Dye + $3M = Bailey. So the Sox would be pitching in a little cash to help pay for Dye's salary. So his logic is the Sox clear $8M in payroll and add a young, incredibly cheap, high upside starter because in these economic times that $8M gets you quite a bit on the open market (Abreu) and young, cheap players are at a premium. Knowing Balta thats what I thought he meant but I wasn't the only one confused judging by the comment after his. The uproar here if Dye was traded for Bailey and we threw in $3 mill. cash. would be tremendous. But like I said in an earlier post in this thread the Sox would do just about anything at this point to rid themselves of Dye's salary but I really don't think there are any takers.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 09:18 PM) There are a lotta good free agents out there still. Do you guys think that in a normal economy we'd be sitting pretty right now? We'd have added Garland and Hudson and maybe Rodriguez to be back up catcher? We'd have maybe added a few pitchers? Is it the economy, stupid that has held us back? I mean I'm interested in trying out Getz, etc., but shouldn't we have picked up Garland, Hudson (maybe even Durham), Byrd, Kerry Wood, etc? It's always something with the Sox that prevents them from signing anything but reclamation projects. Can't really say I blame them. It's worked out well. Bargain hunting has turned up a few diamonds in the rough.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 06:51 PM) With the way the market has fallen off for corner OF's, if we could get Bailey for Dye + $3 million, I'd probably do that deal. So the Reds would take on Dye's $11.5 mill + give up another $3 mill. + Bailey so pay out $14.5 mill and give up a prospect when Abreu is probably there for the taking for $10 mill. ?

QUOTE (sayitaintso @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 06:28 PM) Welcome to Soxtalk! And if you think this is long, you ain't seen nothing yet. Yea most game threads are longer than this.

THE rumor just got a mention on PTI.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 10:59 AM) Why exactly? He hit .379 .408 .537 in the 9th spot last season in 30 games. He spent most of the season in the 7,8.9 spot if you remember with his best results coming in the 9 hole and second best out of the 8th spot. His OPS in the 9th spot was .945 which compares to the 8th: .882 7th: .697 He gets the benefit of having people on base in front of him and also adding some speed to the lineup as it turns over. He is a power/speed/RBI threat at the bottom of the order which is perfect IMO. I think those stats are basically meaningless with a completely unknown guy in his rookie season. Just guessing here but I'm thinking Alexei batted ninth mostly in the 1st half of the year when pitchers didn't have a book on him yet. Maybe pitchers relax more with an unknown rookie batting 9th. Who really knows why some one hits better 9th rather than 7th or 8th. Could be he was facing better pitching when he batted 7th or 8th or just saw better pitches to hit when batting 9th. What holds true for 1 yr. doesn't necessarily hold true for the next year especially with a rookie. Not that him batting 9th is a terrible idea its just that I'd rather have him getting 4/5 AB's/game than 3/4.

I know the Sox were 1st in HR's and 1st in hitting into DP's last year in the AL. A few less home runs and a lot less DP's isn't a bad thing.

Any team that is willing to take on Dye's contract won't be willing to give up too much talent. Basically you're trading for salary flexibility and minor league talent while giving up very good but older ML talent. After the 2009 season is over and Thome's contract is off the books the 2010 White Sox will look a whole lot different than they do now. I suspect at this point the Sox would do just about anything to rid themselves of Dye's salary if they knew they could get Abreu for a cheaper 1 yr. deal. There's no way the Sox would put themselves in the position of trying to deal Dye after getting Abreu. Dye must go 1st.

It's getting pretty close to spring training and with so many free agents still out there they're are going to have to swallow their pride and accept some offers. It's not like $8 million a year is a terrible offer but it is half his salary of a year ago. Maybe he'll get a better offer maybe not, but a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. In this economy Dye's salary is an albatross so if we end up with a Figgins for Dye trade most of Soxtalk would b**** about not getting enough. But think of what we do get , a younger, faster , cheaper more versatile player who fills a huge hole in CF . Then most likely 2 of the 3 headed monster we call CF candidates of Owen/Anderson/Wise don't make the 25 man roster. Also Quentin can move to RF the position he's best at. Abreu/Figgins > Dye.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Jan 30, 2009 -> 08:08 PM) jesus do we need 20HR hitters at every position? this team has plenty of power already. You're right. I agree thats why I threw in gap power too. Nothings wrong with not hitting HR's as long as you hit doubles and triples once in a while.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Jan 30, 2009 -> 04:33 PM) boy i can't wait to read all of the "i knew Jerry Owens was good" comments on the board, when he hits .280 with a .345 OBP and 50SB next year if he wins the starting job. those numbers, by the way, are basically his 2nd half 2007 numbers factored out for an entire year. I will never say that because he will never do that for a full season.