Frank the Tank 35

Touche on the Delgado deal... I completely forgot about the backloaded setup. I still don't think the Marlins trade Pierre though. He did have that horrible start, but he's been doing much better. I think every team in baseball is becoming aware that Pods can't steal right now meaning I don't think any team would want to take a chance like that. Without his speed, Pods is nothing.

Ok guys, since some of you are hellbent on retaining Crede... how exactly would you change the lineup?? You obviously realize that this lineup is inept at producing runs. The Marlins are NOT going to trade Pierre, why the heck would they? They have absolutely no reason to do so. Delgado... maybe even though I don't recall them trying to unload his contract at the trade deadline and the fact that they JUST signed him... seems weird that they would want to trade him. But in any event, we'd be fortunate to pull that off. So who DO we trade or let go then? Obviously I think everyone agrees on Everett, but more needs to be done. Don't kid yourselves with delusions of grand "potential" stats. As we've seen this year, we need to plan for the worst. PLAN on Arow only being a .275 hitter with little pop, plan on Crede and Uribe swinging for the fences and popping out or striking out 7 times out of 10, count on AJ hitting 40 points below his career average for whatever reason, count on Frank not being back. Why you ask? Because plan on our pitching staff not being able to duplicate what it did in the first half of this year next year. Because they haven't shown signs of getting better. What do you have then? A miserable lineup, just like this year. There HAVE to be replacements, plain and simple...people that can actually hit. Looking at career numbers and contract situations, I say Crede's the odd man out. He's gotta hit .500 in the last 2 weeks of the season for me to even think about bringing his popup prone bat back.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 03:55 PM) Cinci has Edwin Encanarcion at thirdbase. Yeah, they don't play him all the time though. Felipe Lopez has turned out to be their surprise offensive stud, and he plays SS meaning Rich Aurilia, who has had somewhat of a renaissance this year, frequents 3rd.

I'm definitely all for dumping Everett... he'd be great as a #7 or maybe #6 in our weak lineup... but #3 or cleanup is ridiculous. He really has no place on our team. I see that a lot of people want to keep either this player or that player, but the reality is we can't keep all these players. Sure individually they're all nice players, but we can't have all #6 hitters. We DO need someone extraordinary and to do that we have to eliminate some of the lovable, BUT very ordinary, players.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 03:27 PM) Since there aren't many 3rd base options, he'll see an even bigger contract than he probably deserves. I see your point, but look at the other teams: NY Arod Bos Youk or whomever Balt Mora TB Cantu, Huff, Upton (he might be switching) Tor Hill KC Teahan Detroit Inge Minny ? Cleveland Boone Seattle Beltre A's Chavez Texas Blalock Anaheim McPherson Marlins Cabrera/Lowell Cubs Ramirez Cards Rolen Atl Chipper Mets Wright Zona Glaus Houston Ensberg Washington Castilla Cinci Aurilia Colorado Atkins Brewers Hall? Branyan? Helms? Philly Bell San Fran Alfonso Pads Randa Burroughs Dodgers Aybar Pitt Mackowiak Wigginton The only teams that need 3B help are Minnesota, the Nats, Philly, the Pads, and Pitt. Now you KNOW Pitt isn't going to spend and probably not the Nats either. I can't see Minnesota going FA crazy. The Pads may as well either try to bring Burroughs along or resign Randa to a one year deal. Philly I could see maybe replacing David Bell. So IMO the only teams we'd probably be bidding against would be Minny and Philly. So although it is correct to say it is a weak FA market, there simply isn't much of a demand for third basemen.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 22, 2005 -> 03:13 PM) Mueller plays very solid defense, has put up very solid numbers over the past few seasons, and is a switch hitter. He's definitely going to get more than 2 million dollars on the market. I agree he's a very good option at 3B, I'm just saying that there not that many teams looking for a third baseman. So, although the FA crop is weak, I don't see too much competition for his services which could work out nicely. Therefore I don't think he'd get more than $3 mill per year. If we could lock him up for a couple years to bridge the gap till a minor league 3B is ready to step up, I think that would be ideal. I think the Sox really need to work on developing one or two minor leaguers to be every day position players so they can free up some money for a bigger name FA. As it stands, it doesn't look like that is going to happen next year. In that vein, I think the Sox need to make some replacements next year and have a couple high average guys in the lineup with at least one being a lefty. Mueller would work out nicely in that scenario.

I'm not saying Mueller is THAT good, but he's sure better than Crede and he's a switch hitter. The BoSox can get away with letting Mueller go, they have a plethora of young infielders coming up not to mention their lineup is stacked anyway. Youklis takes alot of walks, and all you have to do is get on base for the boppers in that lineup. I've heard all kinds of talk about how much potential Joe has, I hear that every year. I've even taken Joe a couple times in fantasy drafts... but I always drop him. He simply has not shown the ability to contribute regularly. With the offense so inept at scoring runs and going for the big dong all the time... Crede seems to embody that mentality... we could definitely use a guy like Mueller who can hit for average. I wouldn't mind it so much, but the fact that Crede and Uribe tag team to go O-fer on so many nights, something needs to be done to absolve that situation and I for one do not want to wait around for players' "potential" to fruition when they've already had years in the bigs. It would be different if he had only been here a year or two, but it's put up or shut up time.

Crede AND Uribe cannot coexist. One of them must not be a starter next year. The lineup can stand one of them, but both of them at the bottom of the lineup is killer. SO unless we sign Furcal (not happening), we gotta look for a replacement at 3rd. We don't need the bottom third of the order being a black hole. IMO Bill Mueller will not get that much $$. I'd say more in the 2 years, $2-3 mill per. He's a good player but not a great player. He's starting to get a little older, and I dunno how great a bidding war there will be to get him. Who else will really be looking for an ok 3B? Minny, whom we should be able to outbid, and ??? Most teams that I can think of are pretty set with 3B. IMO Mueller should be in a WHITE Sox uni next year. I appreciate Joe's clutch hits, but he kills us the rest of the game... maybe if you want to keep him around and put him in the 7th inning of each game??

...because Pods could sooner steal a porsche than a base at this point...

...and I'm done...

::sigh of relief:: After that, if the Sox don't score some runs... I'm out.

If JG gets us out of this innning unscathed, we have to score something for him.

semi-intentional walk?

Hmm... too bad he couldn't get that bunt down.

Isn't it kinda weird looking at a lineup and seeing the top 5 players hitting near or over .300? Yeah, that would be Cleveland's lineup...

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ Sep 14, 2005 -> 09:59 PM) I like Jenks, but maybe even more important is his ability to be effective for 2 and 3 innings in relief. Hermy might have been rusty, I don't know. Maybe it's his back, but this is only his 2nd blown save I think. That's actually his fourth blown save... and recently he hasn't looked good. Last 9 games: 4 saves, 3 blown saves, 2 losses, 1 win Like I've been saying, he needs to be traded in the offseason. All he throws is sliders, he does not have dominant stuff, and the league is catching up to him. His value will (barring injury and further self-degradation) never be higher. Sorry to all you Hermanson lovers. I appreciate what the guy has done for us, but Jenks is clearly our closer next year if not the remainder of this season.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 11, 2005 -> 06:16 PM) Helton's not an option. He has a mammoth contract, and the Rockies have said they won't pick up any money in any Helton deal. Plus Helton's said he wants to stay in Colorado, win or lose. The Rocks are keeping him, simple as that.

Is it just me, or does it seem like Bobby is Ozzie's whipping boy? I seem to remember Jenks getting put in for multiple innings several times when the Sox went to extras yet never getting a win from it.

I'd actually rather we faced the Angels in the first round. I think Boston will finish with the second best record meaning they'd play either the winner of the AL West or the Indians. If the Indians make the playoffs, Boston would play them. We'd have to square off against the AL West winner, and, frankly, I'm a little tentative about facing the A's... ok I'm actually crapping my pants thinking about facing the A's. The Angels are very similar to the WSox, but I think the Sox hold a slight intangible edge. Hopefully Cleveland could get lucky and take the BoSox because I'd much rather face the team that we've dominated this year rather than the team that won it all last year.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 28, 2005 -> 09:55 PM) The problem with Mueller is he hasn't been that good away from Fenway over the past 2 seasons. This year: Home: .306 Away: .292 I'd take a .292 average in a heartbeat over what Crede's given us this year. His rbi totals are better at home for whatever reason. I'll admit that last year his away numbers were a LOT worse, but even the year before he was hitting .309 away with twice as many homers. Most hitters numbers would probably go up playing for the Sox anyway (HR's anyway). On an unrelated note, I just read (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=insidedishmannycouldbego&prov=tsn&type=lgns) that Rosenthal thinks the Sox would be one of the teams looking at Furcal, but I think he's just looking at needs for teams and filling in the blanks.

Unless KW makes a trade for a 3B, Mueller should definitely be signed IMO. There's really nothing the Sox would be interested in as far as ss go this offseason, so we're stuck with Uribe unless KW makes a trade there. This free agent crop is so thin that we pretty much have to sign PK. Otherwise, we're not going to have enough power unless KW goes wild trading (which I wouldn't be against necessarily). The Sox could stand to develop a couple youngsters. Hopefully BMac is part of the starting rotation next year, and KW can trade off a starter or reliever to help fill the other holes.

Alex Gonzalez asking for $21 mil?? lol... that's funny. Any team that gives him that is clearly desperate to throw money away. I'd be hard pressed to give BOTH Alex Gonzalez' that money. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Julio Lugo would be an awesome fit for the Sox. The D-rays have a $5 mil option on him for next year. Even if they pick him up (must be tempting for their cheap owner to just drop a $5 mil tab), he doesn't want to resign there and they will have to trade him during the season or lose him for nothing in 2006. Putting him in at the second spot in the lineup would give us two speedsters at the top who both hit for a decent average plus Gooch could get moved down to third or somewhere he could drive in more runs. Bill Mueller will be a FA after this year. With the BoSox preoccupied with resigning Johnny Damon, the Sox should swoop in and sign Bill, giving us a .300 hitter at the corner. I think Bill is a switch hitter too. Of course Chad Tracy would fit in nice at the hot corner.... Raul Ibanez will be a FA and would be a nice option to play the role Everett played this year. He plays the outfield and 1B and swings a consistent lefthanded stick... another .300 hitter. What are the opinions on resigning Paulie or Frank? I think if Frank is healthy and is signed to an incentive laden contract, the risk/reward would be worth it. Since he's pulled out of his slump, Konerko has been more attractive, but he's going to be getting at least $10 mil. I'm a litte hesitant on that.

I think it's safe to say there will be more people listening in on the pre-game show tonight for Bruce's update...

A quick look at Griffey's YTD stat line: .298 average, 32 homers, 89 rbi, 82 runs, .365 OBS, .571 SLG, .936 OPS, runners on base .302, RISP w/ 2 outs .327, .310 avg vs righties Past month: .343 avg, 9 homers, 21 rbi, 21 runs

Yeah I heard it twice today on ESPN1000. It was some Saturday programming with Tom Cher (sp?). They were on till about 2:00 pm. They had their original interview with Bruce sometime in the noon hour and then replayed it right b4 they were done with the show.