Frank the Tank 35

I can't believe how ridiculously ignorant Cubs' fans are. I was just listening to the Score, and Cub fan after Cub fan came on and revelled in how awesome it would be to have Nomar, Lee, ARam, MRam in their lineup. They're talking about giving up Cubs' pitching prospects (Pie, Hill, etc) and other various non-experienced players. Wow, pass me some of that pipe. Did they not see or hear what Boston expected out of the Ramirez trade? Huff, Cameron, Looper... all major league veterans. I had to turn the radio off, too many brain cells wasted listening to that.

According to ESPNews, Torii Hunter has a torn tendon in his ankle that will keep him out four to six weeks. Looks like the Twins are hopeless for this year... maybe they should shop their players and see what they can get.

The three-team deal between the Red Sox, Mets and Devil Rays is currently on life support, a source told ESPN.com. ''I don't know if it's completely dead,'' said an official of one of the three teams. ''But it's hit a roadblock … unless someone has some other thoughts.'' According to the official, the Red Sox asked for more from the Mets to complete the deal, which would have sent Manny Ramirez and Danys Baez to New York, Aubrey Huff and Mike Cameron to Boston and Lastings Milledge, Yusmeiro Petit, Anibal Sanchez and Kelly Shoppach to the Rays. It might have been that they wanted Braden Looper. However, the Mets would want to keep him and use him to close and Baez in a setup role initially. Jul. 29 - 10:17 pm et

It sure seems like the BoSox would be giving up A LOT of talent. I mean they're already ditching Manny. There are not that many good free agents they could buy during the offseason, and they're gonna have to give a big payday to Damon. It just seems like the BoSox are shooting themselves in this deal. Then what would they do with Millar? Cameron, Millar, or Huff would have to be moved in another deal, IMO, assuming Trot Nixon comes back fully healthy. That is unless they'd have one of them riding the pine frequently.

What're the chances the Sox could sign him to an extension if we got him?

Wow, I can't see how we'd top that package. If they'd take Milledge (an OF?), what about Anderson? I'm all about giving up the prospects for a shot this year, but I can't see how KW could give reason to top that kind of package. It would basically take ALL of our top prospects + a major leaguer to top that if what everyone says is true. Damn...

Just turned 34 four days ago

Wagner is a free agent after this year... he's getting quite old as well

Alex Gonzalez is having a good year this year, but I'm skeptical about it. He'd be a good option if we could get him cheap. He's hitting a career high in average this year but is also aiming for a low in homers. It may be that he's let off his power stroke in favor of some average. So you're either gonna get a good average hitter or a decent power hitter (no improvement over Uribe). If he's gonna hit for a good average I definitely wouldn't mind taking him on. However, I'd hope he wouldn't be looking for more than he's getting paid this year (3.5 mil) as I don't think he's worth more than that. The positives on him are that he's still young and he'd be transplanted to a "small" park. He could POSSIBLY put up something like .280/15/75 next year, which I wouldn't complaing about. But let's be honest, he isn't a middle of the order hitter, which Nomar is. I think a healthy Nomar is worth the gamble but of course that's JMO. If we have extra payroll flexibility next year, we should use it somewhere. If you take a look at the FAs for the offseason, it's not that good. We could improve our SP, but then we'd have to trade off Duque or Contreras. Maybe go after Millwood or Morris? I don't think we'd gain all that much in that sort of deal. There really aren't that many great position players available. Damon is going to command big cash, not to mention we don't need any OF help. We're set with OF, 2b, 3b, p, and (hopefully) c. If you were going to take a chance and/or invest a chunk of $, what player would you look to acquire to make the team better?

Yeah, yeah... I'm not a big fan of Nomar currently either. But you can't argue with his talent. IF he comes back healthy, would you rather take a chance on a All-Star or would you put your faith in Uribe? Fully healthy, defense is not an issue here. It's not like Nomar's 38, he should still have several more very productive years. If Jerry is willing to spend, where else would you put the $$ that would most benefit the team?

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Jul 27, 2005 -> 09:19 AM) 11 Players - 50.2 million signed already for next season Possible Player Options: Frank Thomas - 2006 has dual option: 10M Player and 12M Team or a 3.5M buyout Carl Everett - 5M Team option for 2006 with a 500K buyout Cliff Politte - 1.2M 2006 Team option or 100K buyout Free Agents: Paul Konerko, Pablo Ozuna, Chris Widger Arbitration Eligible (please note that even if a player is arbitration eligible, this does not necessarily mean the team will go to arbitration with the player. The team can either sign the player to a one-year deal, multi-year deal or go to arbitration with the player. The team can also choose to non-tender the player, making him a free agent): Timo Perez, Jon Garland, Luis Vizcaino, Joe Crede, Willie Harris, AJ Pierzynski Non-arbitration Eligible or Protected Players (contract can get renewed in the first two weeks of March or earlier for at least the minimum salary of 316K, if he has at least 1 day of service) Bobby Jenks, Ross Gload, Brandon McCarthy How much do you think it will take to resign Garland? We could just go through arbitration of course... but we'll have to deal with that eventually. If the Sox think he can repeat his performance from this year, they should try to resign him to a reasonable deal to lock him up longterm, hopefully we could nab him for 3-4 years at 7-8 mil? AJ's making 2.25 mil this year, what will it take to bring him back? 3.5 per year? Try to get him back for 3 years. I'd go for arbitration with Joe and Viz. Drop Willie and Timo. Bring back Ozuna. Widger, maybe? Determine in ST. Pick up Politte's option. Sign Konerko if he wants to come back at $6-7 mil per year. Seeing as he won't, don't bother. Everett, 3-4 mil, good? If not, bye. Thomas, buy out, rework cheap contract (probably the only person where my personal bias affects my judgement). Jenks and Cotts are locked up. So...(please feel free to adjust as you see fit) Politte $1.2 AJ ~$3.5 Joe ~$3? Garland ~$7 Viz ~$1.3 (what he's making this year) Thomas ~$5 (incl buyout, not incl incentives) Ozuna, Widger, Gload, Cotts, Jenks, Timo (I just know he'll be back, damn) ~>$3.5 =24.5 +50.2 =74.7 I guessed a little high on Crede's arbitration #'s and what we'd be giving Garland next year, so it could easily be only $68-70 mil. So what would we need for replacements? 1B and util inf (3B backup), that's it. Maybe we could look at a SS replacement in the offseason if Uribe continues to struggle which could take care of the util inf. So, who is a free agent next year to look at... 1B: Not too much here. Poor crop. A lot of old players. Tony Clark has been tearing it up in AZ and is a switch hitter but would only be a temporary one year type player, basically a risk as his chances of repeating this year's numbers are bleak. Millar will be a FA but is having a down year this year. Of course the best option would be to trade for Huff NOW. Erubiel Durazo would be an intriguing one year player (OAK will not be resigning him). SS: Not deep here either. Nomar is a FA, but does anyone want his injury risk? Hmm... Alex Gonzalez (both of them actually, but FLA specifically) will be a FA and is having a good year THIS year. A little risky for a repeat performance. Furcal will be a FA, but he's talking BIG money. That's about it folks... How about free agents after the 2006 season? These players would be more susceptible to being traded in this offseason if they're playing for poor teams. Here we go: 1B: Much better. Shea Hillenbrand's here, but the Jays will probably want to take their chances next year even though they have depth at 1B/3B. Derek Lee... wouldn't that be a slap in the face for Cubs' fans? HUGE money after 2006 and won't happen anyway, obviously. Nick Johnson of the Nationals will be a FA, but I hardly see the Nats giving up on next season after this season's miracle (although nosediving currently). Other names: Sean Casey, Darin Erstad. SS: Short list. Julio Lugo. That's the name. Probably better off waiting till '06 offseason to try to get him in terms of what we'd have to give up. Note: Melvin Mora is a FA after 2006 season. I love this guy. But I digress... If we couldn't manage to find a SS replacement for Uribe, we could bring back a guy like Graff to be the other util inf. The best 1B option for this year AND next year would be Huff. With the way the wild card has given almost every team a chance to make the playoffs nearly every year, it seems likely that we'll have a very similar team next year. We have a pretty young team, and I don't forsee any dropoffs in most of our players. Duque will start to wear down, and we'll have to replace him with McCarthy (if we don't trade him) or somebody. There are a plethora of pitchers in the offseason who we could slot in lower in the rotation if we could trade Duque. Available: Burnett, Weaver, Tomko, Millwood, Clemens (riiiight), Sele, Armas Jr, Morris, Elarton, Byrd, Rogers, Lilly, Washburn, Moyer (no thank you). Eyre will be available in the offseason if we can't get him before Sunday. Not too much available in terms of BP help though. Bottom line: Assuming a similar lineup next year, the Sox can easily pull in under $80 mil. Will Uncle Jerry spring for more if the Sox make the playoffs and go deep? After tasting a little ALCS or WS, methinks yes. After providing all these facts, I think I'm entitled to a short paragraph of speculation on the offseason. What big name free agents could help the Sox? Clemens, but I doubt he'll even consider it. Even though Nomar's an injury liability (and he's a Cub, ugh), he's got the most upside of all the FA SS's. The Sox could really use a SS if Uribe continues the way he has. IMO we should carefully monitor Uribe and Nomar the rest of the season. If Nomar comes back strong, I say the Sox get in a serious bidding war for him. For once I think next year we'll have a little payroll flexibility (if we pick up Huff and drop Konerko) given the playoffs, increase in attendance, and subsequent increase in season ticket holders. If Nomar goes down, we'd still have Uribe. But if he'd stay healthy, we'd be talking about an All-Star (hey, maybe we'd get some national media coverage! not that I care that much...). I think it'd be worth the risk, give him a million or two more than the Cubs. He wouldn't even have to find a new residence. Here's my let-me-have-my-fun lineup @ a payroll somewhere between $81-90 mil. Pods Gooch Nomar Huff Thomas Dye AJ Rowand Crede Bench: Uribe, Timo, Gload, Widge, Ozuna Pitching: Same (hey, everyone's signed so why not? good enough this year) I think that would pretty much put us as the favs to repeat. Thanks for reading, remember to bump in a few months.

Huff is WAAAY better offensively than Crede will ever be. Just to give you an idea... Huff was ranked by Yahoo Sports (a joke, right? yeah, but they get their stuff for baseball from Sporting News, so not so bad) as the 29th best player in baseball (fantasy wise, ie avg, rbi, homers, runs, steals) at the beginning of the year. Usually players rankings' are adjusted during the course of the season based on their play. Even after a horrible first half, he's still ranked 29th. Why? Because he IS that good and is showing it now since the All-Star break. He could easily be our most productive hitter next year, hopefully replacing one of many individuals who enjoy hitting popups.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 29, 2005 -> 02:37 PM) NO!, steroids + Coors = a very good hitter. He has a nice big juicy contract too. Huffenmeister, Overbay. Helton has said that he doesn't want to be traded and wants to be a part of the rebuilding process in Colorado. He's their marquee player who's starting to hit better. No way they trade a guy who actually wants to stay there while his value is so low.

But remember, if he came to the Sox, he wouldn't play against us... so he wouldn't be able to pad his stats as much.

I think it's the media playing on the Tigers' desperation. I read somewhere that the Tigers might be a team who could sign Burnett to a longterm deal because they'd be willing to overpay for him.

Ok, didn't Frank go to the doctor who performed his ankle surgery on Tuesday? Wouldn't we have some results by now about the state of Thomas, ie, when will he be back if at all??? I'm kinda starting to think that he may be out indefinitely, and the Sox are withholding the info as a bargaining chip for KW... you know, make it seem like we don't really have to have a big bat in a trade because Frank could be back. OR it may just be me getting bit by the trade rumor bug (it whispers things in my ear).

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 27, 2005 -> 08:17 PM) His BA's for every month have risen considerably. I think .198, .220, .260 and now like .290. total guesses though. Yeah, it's somewhere around that. He's been hitting progressively better... the power (hopefully) should be the next thing to come back.

Cantu would be a great hitter, no doubt. I don't see why Tampa would move him. This is his first full year if I'm not mistaken and can't be signed to a huge deal currently. It just doesn't make sense that Tampa would trade him unless they were OVERWHELMED. Considering they normally ask the moon for their players, we'd be talking the moon, jupiter, and haley's comet for Cantu. As much as I'd like an overhall to our lineup offensively, Cantu just doesn't fit in anywhere anyway.

Soriano isn't a free agent after thist year. He IS arbitration eligible however.

Oh yeah, and Timo should NEVER start as well.

QUOTE(Ozzie Montana @ Jul 27, 2005 -> 04:53 PM) A combination of bad managing and bad defense led to the loss. I hope this series loss to the Royals wakes up the team. Complete agreement. Defense was horrible, especially by the "B-teamers." QUOTE(Jeckle2000 @ Jul 27, 2005 -> 04:53 PM) I never thought i'd say this about this team this year but they really could miss the playoffs... Not only is it possible but if they continue to play like this it's likely... The fact is that Ross Gloads bad defense was the Anchor that brought this team down... Last night it was Willie Harris and Juan Uribe... As for Willie and Ross, AAA sounds good... Uribe.... well he can be a bench player.. get a decent SS... without these three losers this is a sweep... .if these three are allowed to play in any meaningful way that not only is it likely we will miss the playoffs, but a certainty... We'll make the playoffs, although if today was the end of the season, our morale would be shot. Let us all pray every night that Willie Harris never puts on a Sox jersey again. He's utterly useless. He doesn't even have any base stealing instincts. Ozuna can be our pinchrunner. Harris should NEVER start. Gload should really be limited to pinchhitting duties as well as Konerko is hitting righties very well this year. I'm pissed about him botching that play, but I'll give him a chance (considering last year) before I put him in the useless bin. Uribe's gotta play unless we get someone at SS... which I doubt but am hoping for.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Jul 27, 2005 -> 12:52 PM) That is hysterical. No please explain Podsedniks numbers. I'm gonna have to agree with the "-71" version here. Almost every single Sox player is hitting under his career average. Podsednik had hit well over .300 his rookie season. Last year, as he himself admits, he was trying to do too much and got caught up hitting home runs (12 I believe). As you can see, this year he has 0 homers in a homer friendly ballpark. He's realized his role, it's not to hit homers and drive in people but to get on base and go-go-go. I would accredit his reinvented way of approaching his hitting (decidedly his own revelation) rather than Greg worn-out-my-time-here Walker.

ESPN's Jayson Stark was reportedly told by an official from one MLB team that Alfonso Soriano will most likely be dealt by Sunday's deadline. ''John's asking for the moon right now, from everybody who asks,'' the official said. ''But I'd be willing to bet he'll lower his sights. I bet that will come down by Sunday. Why would they keep him? They've got a ready replacement (in hot prospect Ian Kinsler), and they've got to get more pitching. I think they're serious. They're just trying to bring in as many teams as they can.'' Jul. 27 - 1:16 pm et from rotoworld ...not that I think it's at all possible for him to end up in a White Sox uni... just some new info

QUOTE(thelatinoheat_30 @ Jul 27, 2005 -> 09:54 AM) that's true, but when viz is good(like currently), he's better than baez. Baez is closing though... something that can wear on the mentality of a pitcher (ie Hawkins, Politte was horrible as a closer in Toronto). I have a feeling if Viz was closing games, it would be much worse. He just doesn't seem to have the right mentality, concentration, etc. Someone mentioned Huff's salary: this year $2.7 mil (we'd only owe him around $1 mil?) next year $5 mil I like Huff and Overbay, but I think Huff could be that big stick w/ high average in the middle of the lineup we've been looking for, not to mention the fact he's bats lefty. He's not a logjam on the basepaths as he has 8 steals. He's hitting .314 in July with .968 OPS. Last year he hit .385 in August and .310 in Sept. Two years ago he hit .359 in August and .302 in Sept. Lifetime he's a .313 hitter after the all star break with August being his best month and September a close 3rd... significantly more homers and rbi's in less games played too.

Here's some interesting numbers...take 'em as you see it: Schmidt w/ RISP BAA .281 (last year: .180) home/away era 4.46/4.63 Burnett w/ RISP BAA .262 (last year: .261) home/away era 3.42/3.51 Everett BAA lefties/righties .321/.234 (career .256/.283) Konerko BAA lefties/righties .192/.280 (career .291/.272) Overbay BAA lefties/righties .263/.298 (career .288/.292) Huff BAA lefties/righties .257/267 (career .284/.293) Rowand and Dye are better against righties than Everett and better against lefties than Konerko Huff and Overbay look like everyday players. Konerko/Everett platoon= potential huge blowup... more righties=more AB's for Konerko. Otherwise it's wait and see if Konerko/Everett can break out of their respective funks or wait and see if Thomas can play again this year. Both would be taking chances, and I don't think Kenny wants to take any chances this year.