elrockinMT

Aaron Rowand would be a great fit for this team.

I think the Linebrink deal shouldn't have been that big of a surprise. There isn't a lot out there on the FA market this year as far as relievers are concerned. I heard of the Sox interests in Scott earlier. Moves have to be made to shore up the pen so I am glad we did something. Question now is do we stay with pitchers we have now in the pen, go with our rookies or sign/trade for one more reliever? Vizcaino, Gange???

It is a bit confusing how we discuss certain players based on money. Some it's ok, but others we use it against them. Crede is due $5M next year? So what? Our new SS will make about $8M. He is a former gold glove winner. Crede is superior to Fields with the glove. We have two gold glovers manning the left side of the infield and Konerko is not bad on the right side. We don't know for sure what shakes out at 2B. Upgrade to a gold glover in CF and we look pretty good. You win by defense and pitching. We lose Crede and the defense suffers. Keep Crede at 3B and negotiate a 3-5 year deal.

Pods being released is not really nes is it? We all knew that was coming and in fact I thought it had already been done. Pods contributed to the team when healthy. Problem is he hasn't been healthy for a couple years now.

I remember some of the baseball writer's comments about Vizquel being a Sox for certain and I don't think KW or others thought anything different either. I would almost be sure that guys like Cowley and Levine are quoting pretty reliable sources. It seems the Sox for all intents and purposes thought they hand Vizquel locked up and he backtracked at the last minute. Now the specualtion is on Hunter, but in reality it may be someone else or a trade and we are all just assuming it's Hunter. If he had an agreement with the Sox I think he would have already signed. It ain't a done deal by any means I am sure and Hunter will continue to negotiate for the best deal. Maybe KW told him to go out there and do it and come back to the Sox and we will top any deal? Anything is possible in the world of total speculation.

We need a bullpen to get to Jenks, but maybe the Japanes league is where one of two or three we needs comes from. The others might be internal. We need a back up catcher, if Hall is not healed. 2B is who??? Leadoff man. Let's go for A-Row and have him lead off.

QUOTE(Harvin4Heisman @ Nov 19, 2007 -> 10:54 PM) I think this trade is better than some think. The Angel fans on scout.com are p!ssed, just like us. We are mad b/c we are losing a liked player, and so are they. This is a small salary dump (about $3M) and that can be spent elsewhere. This also gives us the flexibility to trade Uribe. An insider on Yahoo.com said Garland is a #3 starter (maybe on a GOOD team-sorry no link). I think some of us here may be overrating Garland. Also, don't forget the winter meetings have yet to happen You only over value Garland if you listen to the Angels whine

With "anoher deal imminent," being reported and Uribe possibly being shopped what are we going to see? I see us opening more holes, but Hunter in CF would be nice, but I like A-Row also. Uribe would be a real good super sub, but at $4.5M that probably won't happen. I don't see him as a 2B option either and it doesn't sound like KW does either and that's what counts obviously. Richar seems to be the leading candidate to stay at 2B. I see Crede or Fields as possible trade chips and we need help in the bullpen. Could that come from Japan? The move for Cabrera opens up more questions. I don't have a problem with Cabrera, but wish it was Contreras was the one that went in the deal and not Jon. Is Contreras still a trade option for the Sox?

We traded the wrong pitcher, but Jon has to know how special we thought he was.

Garland for Cabrera even up is ridiculous and doesn't do anything positive for this team as far as I am concerned. We have two short stops now and are minus an 18 game winner. I have a real problem with trading quality pitching for a SS. But, it's done and if we don't win maybe KW should be looking for a new job in 2009.

I'll wait till opening day to take sides on any line up issue and express my opinion on what should be

That was a nice report. You mentioned Sweeney and these is a story on Whitesox.com about him today. He is trying to adjust his swing and thinks he is coming around. He had something like 20 hits all singles till recently.

If we are looking for a backup catcher there are some on the FA market. They are backup only material mind you, but out there. Toby Hall might rebound, but his bat and his arm were way below par most likely becasue of his injury in spring training. Lucy I am guessing is the catcher of the future??? I don't know.

A-Rod will stay in NY for a lot of reason and probably $27M ogf them is all we need to know about cause that's what A-Rod is thinking. I thought it was interesting he kind of ate a little crow, or maybe Booras told him too, but he showed up with the blushing bride to see the Yankmees head office without his agent. The Yanks loved it. The Yanks are only trying to make sure Lowell goes to someone else other than Boston. But, my guess it isn't going to be NY.

The yankmees are where the money is that's for sure. Booras made ammistake by suggesting to A-Rod to opt out of a$25M a year contract. Now I see the Yanks don't want Booras in the same room with A-Rod when negotiating. Kind of like rubbing his face in it maybe before they take him back

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 09:09 PM) The only way Jones would sign a one year contract is if it were for some outrageous amount of money, I talking at least 20 million dollars. Other than that he will get at least 5 years. It is the way that Borass operates. Check out the history of his clients. Plus why woud you want to give a .222 hitter 16-17 million for a year. That kind of money should sign Hunter or Rowand and they have a real good upside too

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 14, 2007 -> 05:17 PM) He's just following ARod's example. Money for the Individual always wins out over team reward

QUOTE(Beltin'Bill @ Nov 14, 2007 -> 04:37 PM) Say the sox could trade Konerko for a package of players including an A prospect and do something similar with Garland to a team really needing a veteran starting pitcher. The players acquired could be attractive to the Marlins for Cabrera. Take the money saved on K and G, extend Cabrera and move him to first. You make yourself vulnerable in the starting pitching category and you still haven't solved your problem of a weak minor league system, but you have landed a young elite player for several years and given up one slow aging veteran who the fans love but is probably not worth the money he will be paid in the coming years. You lose Garland for one season, but probably no more since he is very likely to walk. The one area you do have some depth is starting pitching so it could make sense to deal Garland and see if a young starter is ready to perform. Obviously, this is all a bunch of "what ifs", but the White Sox do have other means to acquire young players that could be parlayed into a Cabrera deal. The question to ask then is how vulnerable will it make them for the 2008 and 2009 seasons when almost all of their trading possibilities are gone and guys in the minors need more time. I am not saying you are wrong in your thoughts or anlaysis, but this team is not in a rebuilding phase nor should it be. We have a good core and should build on the support group such as quality middle relief and some bench help, but we don't need to trade our best players for a bunch of AA or even AAA players. The free agent market allows you to add without subtracting as long as you are willing to pay the bill. Plus this apparent interest in Japanese players may allow some holes to be filled also.

QUOTE(Beltin'Bill @ Nov 14, 2007 -> 03:50 PM) There are too many eager teams with the resources to obtain Cabrera diectly. I do not think Crede does much for the Sox in a trade. However, if the Sox are serious about a three-way trade involving some mixture of Konerko, Garland and Josh Fields for prospects, it is a real possibility. Why would we trade established stars for prospects that haven't shown anything?

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 14, 2007 -> 03:59 PM) That would be a TERRIBLE deal. Vazquez for Milledge would be a complete steal for the Mets. Once again we don't know or appreciate the value our own players have.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 11:58 PM) Thank you Who is this Torii Hunter and who is he hunting? Why does he spell his name wrong? We should not have new thread everytime his name is mentioned in some baseball experts column. Wait till something really happens. Now let's talk about keeping Joe Crede.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 02:12 PM) I think that's really over-valuing Garland. Weeks? For a 1 year of league-average pitching at $12M? There's not a big market for that. Gamel is a B prospect, which is about what the Sox should expect -- Perry, Sickels, and BP have all pegged Garland as being worth a B prospect plus maybe a C prospect. He's just not going to bring much in return. The Rockies already have decided not to pursue him because $12M is too much to fit in their payroll (according to Ringolsby). Plus teams know the Sox have to shed payroll if they want to sign Hunter. The problem is we don't value our own players enough

QUOTE(soxfan3530 @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 04:48 PM) Just curious to see if anyone was interested in bringing Jose Valentin back as utility type player. I know we have pablo coming back and jose is getting old. But i figured he could play a little of 2b, 3b and SS if we needed it and has had a couple of productive seasons with the Mets. Plus he would be on the cheap. Thoughts?? fixed. If we had the chance to bring Jose Valentin back I would jump at it. He can play 3B-SS and 2B and I bleieve he spent sometime at CF also. He would be a great back up infielder. Jose always gave it 100%.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 12, 2007 -> 03:33 PM) According to Levine the Tigers are offering up Infante for Jaque. It appears, if you believe ESPN Sports Ticker, that it in fact happened. Jaque Jones for Omar Infante and considerations

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 06:17 PM) Joe Crede career .259 .305 .446 .750 Josh Fields .244 .308 .480 .788 Better? Nope. Josh as a rookie already is producing the same as can be expected from Joe. In his minor league career he has shown a propensity to strike out, but also get on base. In the end they may have similar batting avg's but josh should have superior OBP, SLG, OPS, and walk numbers. Field's first stint as an every day 3B he posted a not great .958 FPCT Joe Crede's first stint (2002) produced a .938 FPCT. The next full season showed an improvement to .964 Josh Fields needs to be in LF and Joe Crede at 3B