SouthSideScraper

I wouldn't say to contract Pauly for 28-30 million dolalrs over three years either. Maybe for 15 - 20 over the next few years. It's still great money and as it was posted a little earlier, he isn't in this for the big money. Gload is all right and he is a lefty. True he finished strong last season, but again. He needs to proove himself a little more. And unfortunately, that means moving Pauly to DH or benching him for those games. And if Thomas comes back strong, that means Pauly will be grabbing some bench. I don't want to get off topic on a tangent. Konerko is a good ball player who can only help our team. Whether it's at the plate or in the clubhouse, he produces.

Thanks for the welcome to the forums... I agree that locking Konerko up long term won't be a good idea, but I'm not saying long term. 3-4 years. He's 28 yrs old and still has a good swing. Besides, he's no stranger to being DH. Konerko is eventually going to fill a DH spot no matter where he plays. I agree that the degenerative hip is worrisome, and he is the slowest player in the league, but is a master a picking the ball, he plays his position well and seems to be able to read the batters well enough to know where to be. And for a first baseman, he has a pretty good arm. You don;t need too much speed at first base anyway. Pauly gets the job done, and I think we need to make sure that we get the rest of the good years out of him. I agree that we won't know if we want to keep him longer until we see him play agian this season, but that goes for any ball player. All players hit slumps...hell, look at Jeter and ARod last season. They didn't come around for a while. Yes, they ended up with good seasons, but that is a factor for anyone, and I don't want to see Pauly on the chopping block come July if that happens to him. He's a mental guy and isn't used to playing the hero. Look at the 2002 season. He was on top of the world come the All-Star break and deserved to be All-Star MVP, then all the attention hit him like a ton of bricks and slowed to a crawl for the rest of the season. 2003 wasn't any better until the end of the season....even then he was having foot problems. Then last year, he was the player we knew he could be and kicked ass. It could have been a fluke, but we know better than that. When Pauly Ko gets hot, he's on fire. Until these other new guys proove they're worth their salt, we need to make sure that we have some prooven talent on the team. Like I said, on paper things look great, but we're not going to know until the team plays and meshs'. Konerko, if he stays healthy, is going to be a major factor in our success.

This being the last year on Konerko's contract and it being worth some 9 million dollars, the question needs to be asked. What are the Sox going to do with him? Now, for all of you who are going to tell me that this has been discussed over and over again, skip it. I didn't feel like reading through hondreds of pages of topics to find out.. If it hasn't been discussed then it should. Having traded away most of our power producers, and Thomas' future being described as tetntative at best, do the Sox want to lock Konerko up for another few years, or do they look at his contract as a possible two or three more players as they have this season? True we have added a ton of players to the talent pool and on paper things look great, however the Sox have a great ability at picking up players during their career slumps. Or for that matter at the end of their careers. Before I say that we are a play-off contender and that we're a shoe-in to beat Minnesota, I'd like to reserve my opinion until I see some spring training and a few season games. We know Konerko has the potential. It was plain to see that he had it when we picked him up. Even if this is where he tops off....35 to 40 and over a 100 RBI's is a great place to be. So do the Sox hold on to him or do we try to use the money from his contract to pick up a few more players that can grow? We did that this year. I for one think we need him, not only for his bat, but for his attitude. A lot of players would talk up the great season they had, and all he could say was that he was sorry that he couldn't do more to help the team. That's stand up. The guys a good ball player and a good leader. I could care less that he's a fan favorite. I think he is a crucial piece of the play-off puzzle. You now have my opinion.....fire away.