BlackBetsy

Put me in the "please God no" category. Although Percival is a great competitor (and thus very attractive to KW), he has been about the 4th best reliever in the Anaheim bullpen for the last 3 years. Often injured and aging, he's not worth more than a small commitment. $3 million/year? Yes. Foulke money? No.

I'll be there w/ the alumni group at the Terps' stadium. We'll probably get killed, but it should be fun. Huskies! You F**** Huskies! (isn't that how the fight song starts?)

In retrospect, Maggs' 2001 contract with the White Sox was really out of whack in that it had a final-year salary of $14 million. It was a recipe for disaster inasmuch as the Sox wouldn't be able to offer him less than $11.2 million to keep him. But, in 2001, with Manny and A-Rod having just signed MONSTER contracts, it's hard to say that the Sox management wasn't right in thinking that the market for quality outfielders might be $17-$18 million in 2004. That everything has cooled down is good for MLB - but it means that there may be a lot of players who signed deals in 2000/2001 who will simply get non-tendered and go to the market because their teams can't afford to offer them the minimum 80%. If it were me, I'd offer Maggs the $11.2 million for one year and ask him to buy the insurance on his knee. Then have a club option (or options) for another year at $12-$13 million in which the Sox would pick up the insurance. That may or may not work in the context of the CBA, but a creative solution is probably warranted. To tell you the truth, I don't think Maggs will be back, but neither would I be surprised if something changed, something gave, and he did come back. But I'd still rather have Brad Radke (and the fences 10 ft further out) next year than Maggs.

Good to see that he battled after the 3rd inning, but a little worrisome to see him not be able to beat people when his breaking stuff isn't working. But hey, it's one inning of a AA game after all. I think we are starting to get obsessive about McCarthy. But there's not a lot to be excited about this year.

What's Chattanooga gonna feature, Rex? (My calculation is that McCarthy starts today and on the 6th...so this is the second to last AA start for BMac this year).

For the same reason, I wouldn't worry about his tail-off at the end of the season. He must have gotten hit pretty hard with that flu, Rex? I think it's 50/50 that Anderson is a June/July call up next year and shifts Rowand over to RF.

Awesome stuff! Question, though - which high-OBP players will be available on the free agent market this offseason? I can't think of any, really.

Unlike any other team in the Sox organization, the Great Falls White Sox actually know how to take a walk. . . to the tune of about 1 walk per 10 at bats. Boomer Berry, Adam Ricks, Cook, Hansen, McCarthy all hit .270 or better with .12 or better walk rates. Kudos to them. . . and good luck in Kanny/W-S next year!

Someone want to give a final assessment of the Bristol squad? Hernandez- very good . . . and a catcher! Tartaglia - gets on base Castillo - OK De Los Santos - hit well, but he does not like the base on balls Novoa - Decent K/9, Decent K/BB T. Murphy - Decent K/9, Decent K/BB but high ERA Looks like everyone else didn't do that great. Decent ERAs for Perez, Polanco without good peripherals. Looks pretty depressing.

Yup. But I'm not sure that this is not likely to be done - the team has shown the willingness to do this in the past (especially at old Comiskey). Don't count this out. They probably have a couple of feet in both LF and RF to work with and can move back the plate a couple of feet. It makes too much sense for them not to do it if they really are focusing on pitching. (Especially moving the RF fences out - the Twins' power over the next few years will come from Mauer and Morneau, both lefties). Don't think this can be done by this organization. He needs a change of locale, a la Kip Wells. Sounds good in principle... but who is the other prospect and who is the setup guy? Borchard and, say, Bajenaru wouldn't get you a Mota. I'm not sure this is unlikely. IF the Sox really will have extra money to spend because of Comcast Sports Net Chicago, I think this goes right to a starter. This also might reinforce the need for #1. (I like Brad Radke as a target) Part 1 seems pretty likely to me. But Sweeney is definitely not ready. Anderson is a possibility (but he probably plays center while Rowand goes to right). More likely is Jurassic Carl in Right Field. Gulp. This is realistic only if the Sox pass up on signing a pitcher in the offseason. If they sign Beltre (Boras client), they will probably overpay. Ummm....I'd give him the same chance Buehrle had in 2000. That seems doable. But this guy was in low-A for about half this season. Don't push him and his 92 mph fastball without testing him against former ML'ers and prospects at the AAA level. This is probably done already. But his replacements (Uribe, Valdez) aren't likely to be better. See 8, this is likely. This seems somewhat likely. Konerko is having his best year ever, and his trade value is high. Someone might overpay for him (Yankees? Angels?)

I wonder if that's exactly right. Maggs cannot be given an arbitration-eligible offer of less than $11.2 million (an arbitration-eligible offer gets you a draft pick). But I wonder if he couldn't be made a non-arbitration-eligible offer. This is a CBA question that is probably pretty difficult to answer without digging into the nitty gritty of the CBA.

Ring ding ding ding ding....Hot Dog, we have a Wiener! I think you are absolutely right, Rex. However, I do have one caveat - when Beltre got into the league he showed a decent amount of patience at the plate. I think that this may not be as much of a fluke as you think. He isn't as bad as he was in '03, either. Add that to the fact that he plays in a terrible hitters' park, and I think it's fair to project him out at .280/.340/.480 over the course of his contract - a .820 OPS third baseman. Not a superstar, but definitely a guy who is an asset to a contending team. His likely value will be something like $5-$6 million per year. But with Wright at 3B for the Mets, A-Rod at 3B for the Yankees - his biggest $$ opportunity is gone. Look for him to stay in LA as he is overpaid for his free agent season. (Or maybe goes to SF or Seattle as they retool?)

Not trying to be an ass myself, Rex, but we had a pretty good Spidale thread last week and it got eliminated by the "accidental" deletion of everything since August 3...including my existence (I had made it all the way to Great Falls! ) Anyway, Jeremy, the consensus was that Spidale barely has the arm to play leftfield, had a breakout year this year, is average age for the Southern League (22), was the Barons' MVP this year, and generally gets on base and is a team player. We'll see him and Brian Anderson in Charlotte next year.

Arggh, I'd hate to see WSI-style moderation here. They are really ridiculous over there. If you're offended by what people post about you in an online forum...you should maybe consider getting thicker skin. By the way, I generally turn off avatars and signatures on this site. A lot of them are cool (the blinking OEO Magglio is really sweet), some are annoying after a while, and the political ones are off putting. I wouldn't want my replies to someone about White Sox stuff be affected by my political philosophy. Thankfully, I can't remember who is pro-Kerry/anti-Bush and who is pro-Bush/anti-Kerry, and I'm happy with that.

Not quite sure all your math is right. I think with the Roser as it's currently organized, the Sox already have $62 million tied up for next year: 2005 1 Freddy Garcia $8,000 2 Mark Buerhle $5,570 3 Carlos Lee $8,000 4 Paul Konerko $8,750 5 Frank Thomas $8,000 6 Jose Contreras $6,000 7 Damaso Marte $1,250 8 Juan Uribe $1,500 (est. arb. award) 9 Willie Harris $350 10 Aaron Rowand $1,500 (est. arb award) 12 Joe Crede $400 13 Ben Davis $1,000 (est. arb award) 14 Ross Gload $350 15 Shingo Takatsu $2,500 16 Jon Garland $3,400 (est. arb award) 17 Jon Adkins $350 18 Timo Perez $1,000 (est. arb award) 19 Jamie Burke $350 20 Neil Cotts $350 21 Carl Everett $4,000 That's only about $3-$4 million less than this year's starting payroll. Assuming the Sox can get value for Konerko or Lee, you are talking about the Sox having maybe $10-$11 million in payroll room going into next year. And with that $11 million, you have to fill the Ordonez gap, the Konerko/Lee gap, and the starting rotation gap. That's too much to overcome in the FA market, IMHO. Even if payroll goes up to $70 million, that's still only $16-$17 million to fills those holes. I wouldn't expect a payroll in excess of $70 million.

I think Radke should be the Sox's #1 FA target...and I just blogged it (click on my signature). Bottom line - signing Radke away from the Twinkies makes the Sox better and the Twinkies worse at the same time. It's double the normal value of a free agent signing. (In addition, the Twins simply don't have a decent starting prospect ready next year).