elrockinMT

It sounds like Schoenweis got ripped hard. Is he stilll in the game?

Rafacosta, old buddy, it's going to be a great season. Glad that we are all back for '04. However, I think you are giving up way to much in the way of PK and Borchard for Perez who only has one less than mediocre season behind him. In fact I think PK for Perez is too much.

He won't amount to anything in a Sox uniform if we trade him. How's that? I hope we don't go out there on some panic mode shopping spree and end up losing top prospects to get a pitcher, that we might not need. I don't care who the prospects are either. We have traded several of them in the last couple of seasons and have little to show for it.

Taking a look at the track record of the three Angel pitchers mentioned makes me wonder if it is worth the loss of top prospects. I don't see us needing the additional pitcher at least right now and with our youngsters performing well. The story is written as if our staff is in complete shambles. It is not and Loaiza showed he is making the needed adjustments on Tuesday. I like these story headlines: "Could Help Be on the Way?" Well, yeah it could, but then it could not be. Plus why do the writers think we need help anyway? Just gets the fans riled up.

I will agree with you on both the Wright and Shoe issue. I was a bit surprised when they just came out and basically gave Schoenenweis the 4th spot. I think we could and do have some good competition going for that #4 starter spot as well as #5. I have always liked danny Wright and see him developing a lot like Garland. I think this will be the year that Jon breaks out and now that Danny is healthy we should see his return to winning form also.

Carlos Lee is my bet for MVP in '04. Of course I can change my mind if he strikes out next time with the bases juiced.

Can't disagree with your analysis. Losing Colon was a huge (no pun intended) loss. He ate up innings and won 15 games. I think he could have won more, but on the other hand he always looks like an arm injury ready to happen. You can argue all you want about the pluses and minuses of Colon and not be wrong on either account, but no doubt he is a winner too. I think the 4th and 5th spots will be key and maybe #5 more so. If we can get Wright back to '02 form you have a potential for 15 wins right there. Can the Shoe be #4? I am not sure, but he does have a history that is positive with 10-12 wins and 200 plus innings as a starter.

QUOTE (FanOf14 @ Mar 16 2004, 08:59 PM) I'll me damned, he did something worthwhile at bat. Sorry, can't help being a smart ass today. I know I expected a ground out! You can't ground into a twin killing with 2-outs so you might as well get a base hit I think PK will do good this year. I also think that E Lo will be just fine. I can settle for 17-20 wins from him. Buerhle might be the one out of the two to step up and be the star this year.

It's good to see Ozzie getting on the veterans and giving them that push to excel. I think that E Lo will respond just fine. I was interested in the add on comment on Rausch too. I think Jon is still in competition with Grilli for a spot in the rotation whether as the 5th/6th starter or in long relief.

We might even see some more moves being done on Thursday, which is an off day for the Sox. Ozzie may announce who has won the 5th starters job, etc, and some of the fringe players may get the word on being sent down.

Can't argue much with the analysis of you and TexSox, but I think the same could be said about Rausch. At this point it looks like we keep only one (Grilli or Rausch) and it will be hard. Jon has done a real good job this year in ST. Maybe it will hinge on how the Shoe does in the regular season.

Benson was healthy 4 years ago. Why would we want to take on a $6M risk and lose two pitchers for him. Sounds like the time not so long ago when we last got took by the Pirates for a supposed stud starter.

I thought the same thing. Is Sweeney an average type hitter meaning the BA and goes for the singles and line drives? Or does he have some power? Looks pretty skinny to me to have a lot of pop in that bat. Crede will be tremendous this year in my humble opinion. I sure do like his defense too. With a full year under his belt and working with Walker I think Crede will be up there with 25 plus homers and a good BA.

QUOTE (EvilJester99 @ Mar 15 2004, 06:20 PM) I wouldn't be against trading Kong and using Gload at first, if they could get some starting pitching for him. rafacosta: Some prospects and would open some space on the payroll to sign Urbina... You guys don't get to arried away there. Konerko is going to be just fine this year and we need that bat. He is a decent fielder also. Gload can help, but he is a utility man with no real major league history. I do think he will produce more than Daubach did in '03. Mostly because the role was something Brian was not used to.

I agree that Gload has been impressive. The homer makes his 2nd in 3 games. The guy is getting better as ST grinds on instead of what usually happens when the picthers get more settled in.

Chris Singleton is a good person and pretty solid in the OF, but why take him when Borchard could fit in the 4th OF'er spot. Plus Burke has shown enough to make the team because of his versatility. We may need him as the back up catcher if Sandy gets injured, which I would be more concerned about happening.

No doubt Koch lost 5-7 or even more MPH off that fastball in '03 becasue of injuries and that led to poor mechanics. This ST he is working on the mechanics and the location. He appears healthy and on Sunday's game on WGN he pitched 2 innings and looked good. No good to throw 100 MPH is you can't hit the plate. I think he is doing the right things at Tucson and listening to comments on TV the people liked what they saw with Billy. The speed will come with the confidence Koch gets with knowing he is healthy and mechanically sound.

I don't agree with the article concerning Garland and Schoenenweis struggling. Garland pitched great ball on Sunday and Shoe is developing his two extra pitches. This is ST for gosh sakes and this article makes it look like we have a pitching staff in shambles. Wright has looked real good too. I would much rather keep Konerko than trade him for Perez or Ishii(whatever his name is). The Sox can win with the team we have and I am as tired as some of the others with this incessant talk about dumping Konerko or Thomas. I also think KW has said it a number of times that we will go with the team we have.

No doubt that Griffey Jr gets hurt because of his hustle. I am sure he gives it his all and his a very potent left handed bat, but I think he is a fragile individual and easily injured. I also think his biggest glory days are behind him. Why pay Griffey the kind of money that Rex has outlined when we could pay it to keep Maggs? If we don't keep Maggs then we have payroll flexibility. Phil Rogers always makes the argument about getting an impact player for PR purposes so the Sox can act like they are competing with the cubs. We don't play in the same league or division as the cubs so our focus should be on putting a winning team on the field to win where we are at and not in the public relations arena. We can win with the guys that are here now and when they are winning that will bring in fans. I have nothing against Ken Griffey Jr, but the fact is we don't need him at this stage in his career.

It will be an interesting battle for OF spots in the next 2-3 years. We have Lee, maybe Ordonez and Rowand and Gload and Burke backing then up in '04. I would like to have seen Borchard get the 4th spot, but his injury has lmited him this Spring. Now seeing Sweeny, Reed and Anderson all you can say is WOW! Could Gload be the Sox 1B in a year or two? I like this guy Gload. Of course the scrubs announcers just couldn't say antyhing good about his homer. They said it was an Arizona HR and would have been an out in W®igley. Wigely the bandbox? I don't think so. The fact he went opposite field was the most impressive thing to me.

I think it is Jon Garland pitching on Sunday. I want to see Jon and his new attitude.

I saw that too Rex. I was thinking to myself about their comments when Rivera went to the mound. I think he was trying to talk with the pitcher and probbaly get a feel for what might happen and the Cubs guys started that BS. They try to be arm chair managers from the broadcast booth. I also thought it was grating when Chimp tried to minimize Gload's home run and the the single by Rowand saying that it was HR only because it was Arizona and there was a slight breeze out to the OF. He followed that up by saying Rowand only got a hit because of the hard sun baked infield.

Watching Saturday's game on TV I was impressed with Dan Wright. He pitched a real good game and looked comfortable on the mound. One at bat that Moises Alou had really sticks in my mind and that's when Wright broke off a great curve to get Alou on a called third strike. Cotts did well too and the run that scored off him was on a HBP and poor defense by young players rather than Cotts getting hit hard.

It is a disssapointment to lose to the Scrubs. I watched the game on WGN and here are my thoughts on the Sox: Gload looked good. He handles the bat real well and hit that 2-run homer. he made the last out in the 9th with a runner on 2nd, but he hit the ball sharply and it was handled deep behind 1st base. Danny Wright pitched pretty good baseball and outdueled Zambrano in my opinion. He have up the homer to Sosa, but he showed the ability to pitch his game when the Cubs had runners on 1st and 3rd with 1-out and Danny got the GIDP. Cotts pitched real well and it was the HBP and poor defense by the catcher and an error on Uribe at 3rd that led to the Cubs winning run. Cotts inability to bunt was crucial in the Cubs keeping the Sox from scoring. Valentin played good defense and hit well. Konerko also. Paulie did fail to get the runner in from third with less than 2-outs though when he popped one up on the right side. Darensborg, who is a lefty came in to pitch to 2 lefty hitters and gave up hits to both. Didn't look good. Harris was mixed. he didn't look good in his first three at bats and then he came through with a sharp single and a stolen base. Rowand played good ball in CF and got a couple hits. I missed seeing Brian Anderson bat. He was on-deck in the 9th when Gload was the final out. I though the game was pretty decent from a Sox viewpoint even though we lost. See you on Sunday on WGN. It will be our guys announcing too.

Depends I would think on what the coaching staff saw with his stint besides the massacre. Maybe he was doing something different or there were a lot of seeing eye's? I don't know, but it's still a bit early. However, it can't help him a lot either.