AddisonStSox

The Red Sox just got worked. I'm sitting here trying to justify this trade or find some silver lining for the Carmines, but, so far unsuccessfully. From left to right: Michaels, Sizemore, Blake Marte looks to take over the hot-corner, pushing Aaron Boone aside around mid-season or the start of the 2007 season and will remain a staple at that position for many years to come. I'm not crazy about the Indians outfield, but, this just looks downright lopsided.

...and with this, Willie Harris still remains my least-favorite Sox. A shot at starting in center field? Go ahead and punch your ticket to Cooperstown, homie.

That was a very listenable show. It may not have been groundbreaking, but, it was very enjoyable. Although I tended to side with DeFalco on just about everything, Silverman was a nice compliment and I really thought that their show was one of the better things WMVP had going. If I were a betting man, I'd say their show wasn't doing well with the 25 and up demographic that I'm sure they would like to target at lunch-time. It's a shame. If they were to give that insufferable J Hood a show in that time slot it would be a crime against humanity.

I will go on record right now, January 19th, 2006, as saying I fully endorse the signing of Terrell Owens. The guy knows how to makes plays on the football field. He is simply one of the best wide receivers in professional football. He could be facist, anarchist pigs. It still wouldn't change the fact that the Bears don't have a car...er...receiver.

I got you.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 19, 2006 -> 11:37 AM) I still don't like the idea of having as valuable of a chip as him and letting him walk with us getting absolutely nothing in return, given that we want to build a franchise that can win for a long time here. They're going for it again in 2006. If Contreras is stellar, why would you want to trade him mid-season unless there is some unforeseen gaping hole at that time? Yes, you want to build a perennial contender, but, at the expense of success in 2006, a year in which we are built to defend our World Championship? Count me out.

I thought it was all but decided he was going to be a lame duck this season? Kenny is really in the cat-bird's seat here. He has six starting pitchers to make another run at a pennant in 2006, after that, McCarthy can step right in and fill a void made by Contreras' departure. Let the guy pitch his ass off in his walk year and any production we get is gravy. Personally, I have my doubts he can continue his late-season success in 2006, but, he was our second-half ace and we are a much better team with him on board. Truth is, I doubt the Sox are interested in signing Contreras to a Garlandesq contract when they have mini-McDowell waiting in the wings. I'm thinking they laid it out in front of both the Garland and Contreras camp and said they were interested in getting some cost certainty and extending some contracts and Garland was the first to "step up," as said by Kenny Williams. It's a win-win.

QUOTE(Felix @ Jan 18, 2006 -> 10:04 PM) Exactly my thoughts. Whichever team gets him is going to be in for a nice surprise a few years down the line. I'm hearing KC. KC would be a perfect fit as he'd have a year or two for grooming under Trent Green. He'd be an excellet fit for that system. If they are able to take him in the second round, that's an excellent value pick.

QUOTE(DukeNukeEm @ Jan 18, 2006 -> 03:43 PM) care to share? The three that instantly come to mind are Maurice Drew, Brian Calhoun, and Brandon Kirsch. Both Drew and Calhoun would have competed for the Heisman next season and looked to be first-round locks. I don't know what the hell Kirsch was thinking. There is another name on there that I went to high school with and really f***ed up his whole future. All he needed to do was settle on a school after high school, redshirt, bite his lip, and play football for three or four seasons. Instead, he made stupid decision after stupid decision and now, I'd be suprised to even see him as a special teams' player in the NFL. He's a real poor character guy and not a guy to pull for. I'm almost kind of glad to see this happen. He got what was coming to him.

There are some names on there that took some horrific advice to heart.

10. Arizona- DeAngelo Williams RB Memphis 9. Detroit- Jay Cutler QB Vanderbilt 8. Buffalo- Haloti Ngata DT Oregon 7. San Francisco- DeMeco Ryans OLB Alabama 6. Oakland- A.J. Hawk OLB Ohio State 5. Green Bay- Mario Williams DT NC State 4. NY Jets- D'Brickashaw Ferguson OT Virgina 3. Tennessee- Vince Young QB Texas 2. New Orleans- Matt Leinart QB USC 1. Houston- Reggie Bush RB USC

I placed a pre-order about a week ago on Amazon and they said shipping will start as early as yesterday. As of 9AM this morning, it still hasn't shipped yet. I'm thinking it'll arrive around Monday. I'm in no hurry.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 17, 2006 -> 03:36 PM) I've seen Lewis really slipping lately. In fact, he could be there in the middle of the 2nd round when the Bears pick. A few people have rated Fasano over him and Fasano is a 1st day pick, but I don't see him going earlier than middle of the 2nd round as well. I think you got to go best available if you are the Bears (aside from MLB and obviously RB). So if there is a really good athlete available when the Bears pick I think you grab him or take advantage of this guy being on the board and move down a few slots for some extra draft spots. Thats mainly because I think you can get a Fasano or Lewis with our 2nd round pick and I don't think Pope is a full round better than those two. However, Davis is, but he's a freakish athlete whose gonna go top 15. You dog, you. Stole my thunder. That's the exact stance I think I'm going to adopt in regards to the Bears first rounder. I think if they aren't blown away with Pope come draft day they seriously need to consider going best player available. Obviously, they should stay away from positions of blatant strength of depth, but, I have news for you, the Bears are not a deep team. After having watched that playoff game, I could point out at least five or more positions on both sides of the ball needing significant upgrades on the depth chart. But, I really disagree that Fasano should be ranked higher than Lewis. Until recently, Lewis was the consensus top tight end. That piss poor Sun Bowl appearence really, really hurt his stock; but, I think after workouts you'll see him on the rise. I would be fine with the Bears finding a best player available in the first round, looking to add a Fasano, Byrd--someone I'd take over Fasano...just seems to be the type of player the Bears need at that position--or Klopfenstein in the early to mid rounds.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 17, 2006 -> 01:53 PM) I believe it would only be fair to let Pods open '06 in LF without any carry-over notions about his defensive reads. Pods had been a career CF and anyone who's play around the OF could tell you that the reads off the bat are infinitely different. Let's give the benefit of the doubt that he spent '05 learning how to read the ball off the bat in LF. Absolutely. I'm with you. Having watched Carlos make some pretty drastic improvements in LF, I'm pretty confident Scott will be a better fielder in 2006. Obviously, his transition didn't hurt the club any, but, any improvement at this point would just be gravy. I'll absolutely give him a clean slate in 2006 and make any futher judgement at a much later point in time.

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 10:01 PM) I want Davis, but he won't be available, so I want Lewis. Who do you guys like Lewis or Pope, or even Fasano/Byrd? Davis is nothing but a pipe dream at this point. There ain't a snowball's chance in hell he falls to the Bears. If the Rams find a way to grab him, they've just added a very deadly component to that already high-flying offense. Although it's a bit early to tell, I think you'll see Pope drafted ahead of Lewis. I really think Lewis hurt his stock in the Sun Bowl and is going to need a nice combine to work that back up again. Pope looks to be my #1 sweetheart. I just love what he brings to the game. He would be an absolutely perfect fit for the Bears and I would say it'd be one of the finer first-round draft selections of the organization in the recent past. He's just a perfect fit. The days of the dominating TEs are not a thing of the past. I think they are still very much alive. Pope would add a very special component to that Bearss anemic offense that would merit intense preparation for opposing defensive coordinators.

I'll still maintain Podsednik gets horrible reads out in LF. If you've ever watched him closely in person--and I gather many of you have--you can attest to his poor reads. I'm sure it helps that he is one of the faster players in baseball, but, I don't really know if we can call it "make-up" speed. He seemed average last year. I'm hoping he'll improve, but, if we get the 2005 version of Podsednik in LF again, we should still be in good shape. He's more than adequate.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Jan 17, 2006 -> 09:07 AM) Umm, Kiko Calero was traded to the A's with Danny Haren last year for Mark Mulder. He hasnt been a Cardinal for a while. ...and King now pitches for the Rockies. But, I don't want to pile on.

The Sox were able to avoid a potentially nasty arbitration with Crede...this is always a good thing. I'm happy for both Joe and the Sox. Ya never know how this might help in the future.

Welcome back... To that same old place that you laughed about... I realize that has been a serious influx of new posters since our belov'ed Pale Hose won a World Championship in 2005, so, let me re-introduce Soxtalk's NFL Draft War Room. This is the place to discuss all things NFL Draft in the coming months. Over the next couple of months, we'll be talking nearly every position, giving prospect grades, team needs, the now infamous Addy/Soxtalk patented Sweetheart List, and, of course, our NFL Mock Draft Contest. In all honesty, this is one of the better places to discuss the draft on the entire web. There are a lot of smart folks in here when it comes to the draft and it's even a lot of fun for those of you that don't consider yourself drafniks. So, enjoy the War Room, prepare the Sweethearts, and gear up for the Mock Contest. We'll put the contest up a month before the draft, but, I encourage ya'll to wait until a day or two before the draft to submit your entry. Rock on. Let's open it up for comments, criticisms, suggests...

A couple questions for Rex, BH, and the rest of the gang. 1) Why should I not fear a knuckler playing the bulk of his games in US Cellular Field? I'm sure some comparison can be drawn to Wakefield playing in Fenway, or Charlie Hough playing at Comisky, but, I'd be awfully surprised to see this kid work out. 2) Why am I thinking drafting polished, collegiate pitchers is the way to go? I know you can always find some gems straight out of high school, but, if I were in the front office, I'd much prefer to see a collegiate player drafted in the early rounds. Is that thinking dangerous?

I've always liked Nelson. Signed to minor league contracts both this year and last. He's getting up there, but, should be able to contribute in some way.

Book total will be around $400 when all is said and done. Ouch. Ugh. How long until summer vacation?

I love using terms like "decent to good," "s***ty or awesome coaching," and the like. It's really easy to take things seriously using such impressive rhetoric. This program is significantly better with Zook than Turner, huh? Significantly better? Well, I've been enrolled at that very university for seasons under Zook and Turner, seeing nearly every game in person and I guarantee you this team is not significantly better.