Frank the Tank 35

Arizona, doomed to loose its ace, could use a pitcher like Wang...

Arizona's gotta move Vazquez: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stor...yson&id=2220374 Now they definitely NEED pitching.

I think Levine's taking crazy pills... ESPN1000 just reported that he claims the Sox, as a contingency plan, have looked at Todd Helton. Free agent pitcher Kevin Millwood is reportedly seeking a five-year contract offer. Agent Scott Boras hasn't come out and stated those terms, but the Cleveland Plain-Dealer has heard that Boras is looking for such a deal. The Indians are willing to hand Millwood a three or four-year contract, but they won't likely stretch to five seasons. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=fanb...nball&type=lgns Free agent relief pitcher Bob Howry is reportedly seeking a three-year deal worth $10.5-12 million, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported. The Indians have considered offering Howry a two-year contract worth $7.5 million, but agent Craig Landis believes his client can get a better deal. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=fanb...nball&type=lgns Looking bad for Cleveland, good for us. If they start losing their pitching, they won't be able to best us. O'Brien has all but conceded that the Reds will look to trade at least one of their four core outfielders, Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns and Wily Mo Pena, this offseason. While he declined to get into specifics Wednesday, O'Brien acknowledged there has been plenty of interest from other teams. http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar.../511100315/1027 Just for kicks. Rumors circulating at the general managers' meetings have the Sox in the trade market for the Philadelphia Phillies' Jim Thome or the Florida Marlins' Carlos Delgado. But for either of those plans to come to fruition, the current team would have to pick up a hefty chunk of the remaining salary. For those trades to take place, the Sox likely would have to part ways with a front-line starter. The Marlins were enamored with Jose Contreras long before his second-half revival, while the Phillies might want Contreras or Brandon McCarthy. http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-sox10.html Those are of course contingency plans. Phils think they can get a frontline starter for Thome? Ha, forget it. According to a person familiar with the situation, Matsui's agent, Arn Tellem, gave Matsui a list of comparable players that featured J.D. Drew (who signed a five-year, $55-million contract with the Dodgers last winter) and Matsui's Yankees teammate Gary Sheffield (who will complete a three-year, $39-million contract in 2006). "Because of my experience the last three years, I would be satisfied to live in any American city," Matsui said. "I don't care if it's a popular team. If the team is winning, a lot of fans will come to the stadium." http://www.newsday.com/sports/printedition...ny-sports-print That looks like the kind of deal Matsui is looking for, I'd be really surprised if the Yanks were suddenly financially bound. Matsui's quote kinda describes the Sox... In addition to working on Matsui's extension, the Yankees continue to work on their voids in centerfield and the bullpen. The Phillies are dangling Bobby Abreu, but the Yankees don't want to give up Robinson Cano or Chien-Ming Wang for him. Many team officials hold large reservations over pursuing Milton Bradley, whom the Dodgers will trade for virtually nothing. Mmm, Bobby Abreu... left-handed power, speed, average... ::drool::

Lugo... defensive downgrade from Uribe, plays 2B, SS. Hit .295 last year with 39 sbs. His name has recently popped up in a couple rumors (non Sox-related).

If someone wants to take the time to explain Matsui's contract, I'd be willing to listen. It's supposed to be really complex. Yes, he'd be put on waivers on November 15 if the Yankees could not sign him. I know we went through that long process of explaining waivers during the season, so I'm not asking that. I'm just wondering how it would work since he's not signed to a contract. Being placed on waivers means that you have to trade something to that team for the player... but I don't think that applies in this situation. Would teams interested place in a bid, and he'd go to the highest bidder according to waiver priority? Or would he have the ultimate say in where he went? Would it work like a normal waiver type deal, but in this scenario, teams would just be trading for the OPPORTUNITY to sign him???

Matsui doesn't hit well against us... who can blame him though? Hey, his BA will go up a few points if we signed him. Matsui= #3 hitter. Sox lack... a #3 hitter. Coincidence? Providence. If PK's not back... Pods, Gooch, Godzilla, Frank/Dye, AJ, Joe, Arow, Uribe. I dunno what the Brewcrew would want for Overbay. If they wanted pieces from our major league lineup outside of maybe an Arow (maaaybe), then I'd balk. I'd prefer Frank back, but I understand the concern about his health. If signing Matsui saves a little cash over PK, maybe that gives the Sox some flexibility to improve the pen. Maybe we could look at some names that haven't come up too frequently like a Mota or a Dotel or a loogy. You know Matsui would fit right in with Ozzie's philosophy... hard worker, solid fundamentals, team player. PLUS, he could just have Shingo's old interpreter!

As long as we're talking about trading for non-superstars (Mench, minor leaguers, etc), I'd like to throw out a Frank Catalanotto. If we resign PK and Frank, I think he's a great option as a backup DH/4th OFer. He bats lefty and is a pretty consistent .300 hitter although I don't think he's ever been given a full time starting job at any point in his career. He's 31, definitely a veteran presence. The BJ's are looking to sign some big money free agents, maybe they could stand to lose $2.7 mil he's owed next season (last season of a 2-year deal)? They have many young position players like Reed Johnson and Alex Rios trying to find playing time as evidenced by Catalanotto playing in only 130 games with 419 ABs. He doesn't walk much but doesn't strike out much either, puts the ball in play. He's versatile defensively and can play OF, 1B, or 2B effectively. He's equally effective vs. righties and lefties and home vs. away. Last year he hit .371 with runners on, .409 with RISP, and .359 RISP w/ 2 outs.

Don't forget about Conor Jackson in AZ. He's one of their hotshot prospects, has horrible defense, and therefore only plays 1B. Clark's there because he put up huge numbers in limited playing time and can be the fill-in till Jackson is fully acclimated to the majors. PK is not headed to Arizona IMO.

It's out of 28 votes! Apparently I can't add correctly anymore! Since Gooch wasn't overwhelmingly better than his competition (like Ichiro was), I think it was easier for the voters to use his Japanese league experience against him, if they were so inclined, especially if you didn't follow the team all year. I can't say any of that with certainty of course.

Huston Street wins it by a wide margin over Robinson Cano, Jonny Gomes, and Gooch. Tadahito did get 5 first place votes (out of 28) but only got one second place vote and two third place votes. I can't really say I'm surprised.

Would it be too much to ask if we got Matsui, to get Ichiro as well? We'd instantly turn into THE Japanese landing ground. I'll go ahead and field that one... yes, it would be too much to ask.

QUOTE(3E8 @ Nov 6, 2005 -> 01:58 AM) Just for fun, I layed U.S. Cellular's dimensions on top of Petco's dimensions with Giles 2B's, 3B's, and flyouts charted on top. I marked balls that would be a home run in the Cell with a yellow circle. I put 2 circles by the upper right-hand power alley because there are two flyouts superimposed on each other. It's kinda hard to see, but the Cell's wall is the dotted line. Looks like Giles would have had 16 more home runs (but about 10 less doubles and triples) if Petco had U.S. Cellular dimensions. That's a nifty chart. Good job on that, but I doubt it takes into consideration trajectory. Most of those balls right by the wall? I venture to guess that they probably hit the wall and are not hrs. Then you should also factor in the beauty of the unbalanced schedule. The AL Central ERA: 3.61 (Cle), 3.71 (Min), 4.51 (Det), 5.49 (KC) vs. the NL West: 4.33 (SF), 4.38 (LA), 4.84 (Arz), 5.13 (Col). That's a 4.33 (AL so you should minus .3 which = 4.03) average vs. 4.67.

But look at AJ's BA... waaay down. He fell in love with the hr just like almost every other Sox player. Yes JD hit 8 more homers than he did the year before. How many hrs did he hit in his healthy years? 27, 33, 26, 24 (abbreviated season), and 23 (last year coming back from injury). He is only 31 years old, hardly on the decline. Actually, he should be right in his prime. So for the sake of argument let's average out those healthy years (even though it's definitely arguable that he could have hit several more). That comes to 26.6 hr per year. So he hit 4.4 more homers due to the US Cell factor. Big deal. Brian Giles 9 away hrs last year X 2= 18 + 4.4= 22.4. I'll even give you a few extra to make it to 25.

QUOTE(3E8 @ Nov 5, 2005 -> 07:46 PM) I think you are looking at it the wrong way. ~Road 30 HR / 846 AB = 0.035 HR/AB 9 HR / 279 AB = 0.032 HR/AB Those rates stayed relatively the same. About an 8% decrease. ~Home 28 HR / 800 AB = 0.035 HR/AB 6 HR / 266 AB = 0.023 HR/AB Now a 34% decrease. These results suggest Petco is the largest reason for any drop in home run rate. So he would have had a whopping 18 hrs last year if he didn't play at Petco? In any event, I don't know why we'd be basing this argument on numbers from 2002-2004. If you want to compare pre-Petco to Petco, you shouldn't include all those numbers together. So... Petco numbers (2003-2005): 1258 ABs (545 last year) with 42 hrs (15) which equates to a hr every 29.95 ABs (36.33) Pre-Petco numbers (Pitt only 1999-2003): 2541 ABs (388 in 2003) with 165 hrs (16) which equates to a hr every 15.4 ABs(24.25) Home/Away splits: 2001: 18/19 2002: 15/23 2003: 12/8 (Pitt only, SD was only 4 anyway) 2004: 10/13 2005: 6/9 career: 120/126 You also might want to look at his Coors Field numbers... 3 homers and 15 rbi... to even out the home/away score last year. I didn't feel like going on a treasure hunt to find pre-2001 split stats, but it's pretty obvious that the discrepancy between home and away is not a great one (50/50ish before the Pads). And if anything, his proclivity to be a better hr hitter away started before he was with the Pads. So given those facts, I'd be more concerned with this line of production: 37, 38, 20, 23, 15... as in hr totals the past 5 years. And I don't want to hear any bologna about oh he was traded half way through 2003 so that's why his numbers were down. He hit MORE hr's the following year with a FULL year in SD! AND he had 388 ABs in 105 games compared to 104 ABs in 29 games for SD. His power slide STARTED in Pitt the year he was traded IMO. I'd be willing to wager that anywhere he plays next year, he will definitely not eclipse 25 hrs (unless it's the Rockies, but c'mon he's not playing there). Look at his HR/AB # from his Pitt 2003 year (24.25) and compare it to his SD # (29.95). I think that's a much more realistic way of looking at his possible hr numbers outside of Petco, a hr every 25 ABs at best assuming he hasn't lost any power the past couple years (which I highly doubt).

Yes, we'd have to give them prospects, but wouldn't you rather give up prospects? I agree, they sure as hell are not going to trade Crawford, Cantu, Young, Upton, or Gomes. Huff's gonna make $7.5 mil this year, steep for the DRays after a subpar year from him. Lee played nearly as well for $1.3 mil last year. Lugo's making $5 mil this year. Baez is getting $4. All 3 of those players will be FA's after this year, and TB will not likely be able to resign all of them. Since they have a plethora of young, cheap OFers, it is plausible that one could be pried away for the right price, albeit too high a price for us. I don't know where they'd fit in our lineup, but I'm just giving ppl some speed considerations. Huff should be a consideration if we don't get back PK and/or Frank though. Huff's a second half player anyway, so right when Frank's going down he'll be ready to have a spectacular half season as his replacement . I've been an advocate of Lugo this whole year with his good average and 40+ sbs. Now that Uribe's defense has been enshrined in the annals of White Sox glory, Lugo probably wouldn't be a popular replacement. If Ozzie's statement about wanting more speed was recent, to me it seems like a direct blow at Frank. I mean he can't move AJ, and I'm sure he wants PK back. Rowand, Pods, Gooch, Uribe(if he loses a few), and Dye are at the very least nimble. Crede's a bit slow I guess. So who does that leave? The big guy. Hmm...

When did Ozzie say he wanted more speed? I know that's one of his baseball dogmas, but did he specifically say that recently? If the Sox want MORE speed I think they look to TB. They have a new managerial staff, one that might not be as shrewd when it comes to trades. They're loaded with speedy position players. They have Crawford, Baldelli, Gathright, and Gomes (and Huff) to share the OF/DH duties, but they also have the minor league player of the year in Delmon Young, another OFer. They have 4 players (assuming they don't resign Gonzalez) for 2b/ss/3b in Lugo, Cantu, Green, and Upton. I don't know what their intentions are regarding Travis Lee, as he produced decent numbers down the stretch, but if resigned could also battle Huff for 1B duties. They are in obvious need of pitching, and most of those players I wouldn't mind having.

ESPN1000 just reported that the Sox are preparing a 4 year $50 million deal for Konerko.

QUOTE(knightni @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 01:24 AM) El Duque, Gload, Marte and Haigwood for Delgado and cash? I don't think they'd take Duque, and I think we either have to add in Aaron or one of our top 3 OF prospects. It's at least a fathomable possibility. QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Nov 4, 2005 -> 02:04 AM) The Phillies aren't going to trade Ryan Howard. They will try to dump Jim Thome, even if they have to pick up a lot of his contract. Neither guy can play any other position but first base. Trading an extremely promising, cheap 25 year old first baseman to keep a banged-up 35 year old slugger who is making a lot of money would be a really stupid move. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to move Pat Burrell as well. I read somewhere something similar where they might try to move another one of their high priced OFs as well. I know I'm dreaming, but the Venezuelan Abreu would be just what this team needs. A power lefty, hits for high average, steals a ton, perfect 3 hitter.... sigh, back to reality...

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Nov 3, 2005 -> 05:07 PM) Don't forget the Mets launched a tv network. That will bring in cash. I think they land Billy Wagner unless he decides he doesn't want to pitch in NY ( I kinda doubt that). Their plan B will likely be BJ Ryan although I think they get Billy. I think they won't make too many other moves outside of the pen. With Piazza gone, they obviously will do something about first base. I imagine they will be rebuffed in pursuits of Howard/Thome adn Delgado. Thus, they are the team that I think will make a big push for Paulie (and people aren't mentioning hte Mets enough as far as their chances to get him). Then again, and I'm actually kinda serious, he's not Latin and thats been the direction Omar has gone in since he came aboard. I don't think the Mets go after Konerko. They had that kid Mike Jacobs come up and produce late in the season last year. He put up some ridiculous numbers for a rookie... in 30 games he had 11 homers and batted over .300. With him and David Wright at the hot corners and Diaz and Reyes, the Mets should finally have a load of young, cheap productive players. They're trying to get rid of Matsui if they should be able to land Furcal to play 2nd. I think they have more pressing needs than a first basemen. They'll probably go after Ramon Hernandez hard as well as an elite closer like Wagner. They could use a bunch of new arms in their BP actually. They seem to be willing to spend and could be very dangerous next year if they spend wisely.

Howard, as in Ryan Howard? No way the Phils trade him even if they can't move Thome. They'll make him play the OF if worst came to worst. Actually the more I look at Delgado, the more realistic he is in terms of trade. The Marlins actually could use another OF since they probably won't be resigning Encarnacion, something we could definitely provide for them. They have the Julio Franco wanna-be in Jeff Conine playing OF/1B, so we could also provide them with an "mlb-ready" firstbaseman who could at least platoon with Conine. I dunno if they plan on resigning Gonzalez or not, but they could prolly use a ss as well. They also have Lowell at 3B, so depending on what he's doing they may need a 3B/OF (if Cabrera moves back to 3B). That whole Villone thing didn't work out so well for them, so maybe they'd be interested in Marte? Anyway, they have alot of holes, and, for once, it's not starting pitching related. Yes, they lost Burnett (and Pavano last year), but they still have prospect after prospect to fill those starting roles. Dumping Delgado, perhaps they could then sign a ss/3b type (Garciaparra?) to fill their remaining hole or maybe a midlevel SP if they want a more veteran presence on the staff or to resign their closer. Thoughts? Oh and BTW, does anybody remember the Lowell talk during the summer (in connection with Burnett obviously)? Wasn't the general consensus that his defense was less than stellar? He just won the Gold Glove which I realize isn't the most dependable of ratings systems, but still...

Harris? As in Willie Harris? To replace the terribly aging Richie Weeks no doubt.

QUOTE(Wanne @ Nov 3, 2005 -> 04:24 PM) Thank you! I can't see why everybody has such a woody for this guy. And in my opinion...there's NO WAY the DBack part with Tracy...NONE! Their infield soon will look like Tracy at 3rd, Drew at SS, Cintron at 2nd and Conner Jackson at 1B. But their pitching pretty much sucks. I don't think the D'backs trade Tracy either. But he's not gonna be playing at third... his defense there is definitely lacking.

Oh and I'm pretty sure he's their left fielder... I think we have enough left fielders on our team.

Mench was my fantasy sleeper at the beginning of last year! He'd be a reliable option I think but not the type of player we're all looking for if Konerko leaves.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Nov 3, 2005 -> 01:32 PM) Do we even need to go here? He's playing San Diego. It's hard to put up numbers there. In the Cell he'd hit 30 HR easily and I think he could hit 40. 40?? C'mon, 30 is a stretch. He had a total of 15 last year (a full year). He had 6 at home and 9 away. For the sake of argument, let's give him 18 for last year (9+9). Just for 30 he'd have to hit 12 more. Playing at the Cell, I'd say 25. Of course you should also rule in a possible declination of power as has been his trend starting with his last year in PITTSBURGH. He's never even hit 40 homers ONCE in his career. Also keep in mind he was playing in THE weakest division last year with craptacular pitching and frequent trips to Colorado (where he amassed 3 of those homers and 15 rbi).