elrockinMT

I see that Wilson Alvarez re-signed with the LA Dodgers for one year. I was kind of hoping we would ake him back as a potential 5th starter and long relief man. I always liked Alvarez when he was with us. Can't forget his no-hitter and winning agaiunst Toronto in the playoffs. When he was healthy he was a joy to watch pitch.

Buerhle and Loaiza are one of the best 1-2 starters in the league, if not all baseball. Buerhle has won 19 games, just missing 20, and Loaiza is a solid 20 game winner now. It is what comes after those two studs that makes me worried.

I wouldn't think that Cotts would be in this deal, but then again you never know. Iread the same thing as others and that was Dan Wright and Maggs and then Wright goes to texas. I just hope that if this cluster comes to fruition that the Sox are not the patsies used to make it happen. You just know we will be the losers again.

I tend to agree that Maggs could resign with the Sox. Sheffield makes $13M a year with Georgie S. deferring a bit and who knows what Vlad will get, but I think the Sox can offer Maggs enough to keep him, if the want to.

If Garciapara went to the Dodgers they just might keep him. In their quest for hitters it doesn't seem unlikely they can and will pay out some dollars and Nomar is from California too.

MLB.Com reprting that Hernandez signed for $750K with incentives. Sttas are that he allowed 104 baserunners in 70 plus innings last year. Over the hill?

Teams might be waiting to see if the Boston fans sitting in the Mass. courtroom send Nelson to the pen for life. Pardon the pen pun... Seriously though I would think Nelson would be a good addition to any bullpen, including ours, if his price is right.

QUOTE SCOUTING REPORT: After a solid spring, RHP Jason Grilli is contending for a rotation spot. Grilli, 24, has a sinking fastball (90-93 mph), a big breaking curveball and a solid changeup. He also has a 2.5-inch titanium screw in his elbow, inserted in August to repair a stress fracture. Sounds like Cal Eldred surgery doesn't it? I am glad we took a chance on someone in the rule 5, which sometimes can lead to a good player helping the team. We didn't lose anyone, which on one hand can be good, but on the other means we ain't got anyone that's worth a look by another team.

Ozzie Guillen has been quoted many times that he wants people like Frank, Maggs, PK and Lee back with the team. There is no way that we should believe a report like this out of a NY paper.

The lure of the Big Easy is just to much for Reinsdorf. He wants one or more of those hurricanes down on Bourbon Street. I think it's possible that Jerry is there to make the Sox front office look like a big happy family, a broke family, but a happy one. You would like to think that maybe he is there to let KW spend some money and they can discuss free agents and trades on site, but I am not sure you can count on that being the case.

You are giving up too much talent for too little.

I don't know why we would ever trade Konerko for Weaver. Or Valentin for that matter for Weaver either. I think it is possible that Konerko, Koch or even Maggs might get traded, but it will be a sad day, if we don't value our own people higher than a Jeff Weaver. I also would argue about the idea that re-signing Maggs is out of the question. The big ones signing this year have been in the same range as the salary he is making now at about $14M. If the Sox can afford him now I think they can afford him in the future.

I didn't know the Yankees had any prospects to trade. Their strategy is predictable every year. They sign free agents for way to much money or trade for established high rollers taking big salaries off the hands of other teams or simply buy the players from their teams. It sounds like LA wanted some money and to get rid of Brown's huge contract. He will be lucky to stay healthy long enough to pitch 20-25 starts and Weaver will still be a head case.

Reference your topic heading: I hope it's just not your arthritis acting up! Seriously now... Ok! I agree with you that we may make a big trade or two.

The problem is Cheat that Frank might be tired of all the BS happening with the team this off season and he agrees to a trade. I hope not and I agree with you that we don't need Weaver unless he comes in a waiver deal.

I am almost at the point that I think we are dismantling the team for a run at a AAA pennant. On one hand we are trying to stay positive as 5 or 6 free egents leave the team and then something as ridiculous as Thomas for Weaver comes up. The Big Hurt who hits 40 plus homers and drives in 100 plus runs and has won the MVP twice and we get a bonafide goofball headcase? PLEASE let this be a nightmare...

Don't forget Sirotka might want to come back. He would fit in the money scheme of things for the Sox... peanuts to play ball. If the Royals could sign Sullivan I can't understand why we couldn't have made a decent offer. The Royals claim they are broke also.

What I think we need is a trade or two like the ones that brought Pete Ward, Ron Hansen and Hoyt Wilhelm and/or the one for Tommie Agee.

I am resigned that the Sox will not re-sign (paraphrasing here) any big names that we had hoped for. I wanted Bart Colon back in the worse way, but that cap we have on signing pitchers might be right. 4-years for a pitcher is a risk especially one like Colon where physical issues with him continue to be the rumor. I still hold out some hope we might get him back. Being shut out on all our free agents is a sad thing especially with the number of prospects we gave up. However, there is still the possibility of some trading and we do have youngsters waiting in the wings. We might get lucky and see the young talent playing to their highest level and having fun while winning the pennant. We have to stay positive...

Nothing confirmed on this report yet and remember it has been floating around for about a week or so now. However, if Colon leaves I see that the D-Backs declined to offer Miguel Batista a contract. Thoughts on that dude? Also there are others out there like Petite, Maddux, et al.

Jose Valentin will be the Sox starting SS on opening day and most likely we will see Wilie Harris at 2B. Uribe is the new Tony Graffanino. Valentin deserves to be the SS and Willie apparently will get his chance to show us what he has or doesn't have. I don't see Alomar, R back with the team next year and that's not a good thing.

I refer you to some other posts on this site that address the same subject. I am not sure that perez is worth Konerko or Lee. Look at his record and compare his success to that of PK or Lee. Now maybe with some extra minor leagure talent thrown in it might be worth having Perez as part of the deal, but one for one even up is not looking so great.

Let's hope that Kenny Williams see's the same thing about Perez. I can't deny that the idea of having him in a Sox uniform next year is intriguing, but Konerko is a solid player and I am confident in saying he will rebound next year. Look at O. Perez' record. He has one good year going 15-11 with an ERA of 3.00, but he has been injured and missed an entire season and last year was a 12 game winner with an ERA of about 4.50. He indeed did whine and cry about lack of run support and was probably upset with pitching for the Dodgers, but a 4.50 ERA is not good and you should not have to score a ton of runs every game for a guy to compete. I am thinking Konerko and/or Lee is way to much to give LA for Perez. I hope KW doesn't get caught up in salary dumping or picking up a starter at any cost.

Checking a story on WWW.SI.Com LA was after Carlos Beltran, but KC said the Dodgers didn't have anyone they were interested in. Well, that makes me think that if LA is offering O. Perez for hitting and KC, who needs pitching, says the Bums don't have anyone they want that maybe the Konerko for Perez idea has some strong possible merit and may actually happen. Of course the Dodgers might have offered him to someone else already too.

When trading for veteran players Kenny W doesn't have a good track record. He has done very well when picking up young talent. If the Konerko for Perez deal is true let's hope he does better than in the past. Who was the old GM that said, "you don't trade pitching for hitting (Bavasi?)?" The rationale was that good pitching beats good hitting anyday. Paulie is an excellent hitter, but Perez has shown he is a very good pitcher with the talent to improve so this could be a win-win.