WHITESOXRANDY

In answer to the original post - does a bear s*** in the woods ?

I predict that he gets traded to the Angels. They love him. We'll probably get somebody old back like Orlando Cabrera. Kenny likes old shortstops like Vizquel. Yeah, I'll say Garland for Cabrera and cash. That's my prediction but what do I know.

Hey Man, we just got our Columbian connection. Cool. Seriously, he's a big upgrade over Uribe but he's 33 and signed for one year. Uribe will probably play some 2b and be a utility guy. Well, there's obviously no talking KW into a rebuilding process.

Thanks for the info. It certainly appears that there is no reason whatsoever to believe that the Sox may sign a borass free agent such as Andruw Jones etc.

Exactly. Perfect guy for the Sox right now. Richar can learn a lot from him. He can bat 1st or 2nd. He's OBP is pretty good. He can fill in adequately defensively at SS, 3b, 2b and the OF. He could also put some pressure on Uribe for playing time and maybe force him to do some things differently. He's a real pro and has playoff experience and he could probably be had at a reasonable price. He's a great utility guy or fallback option in case Richar or Uribe suck this year. I would like to see the Sox pull the trigger before some other team does.

I understand what you're saying and I would be prefer that also but KW is clearly not playing the rebuilding game. So, if he's truly fighting to get Cabrera then I think this would be a good way to go about it. And, let's face it, if KW is trading 3-4 prospects for Cabrera and trying to sign Hunter then he's trying to win big right now! So, I'm saying if that's the route he's taking add a few more pieces to make the team complete so that they legitimately have a shot to win next year. Otherwise, what's the point of trading your best prospects for one player and spending a fortune on one free agent to finish in third place ? Believe me, I'm not in love with the idea of trading for Cabrera. But, KW did manage to orchestrate the 2005 season so I'm willing to see if he can pull it off again. I doubt it but I doubted the Sox would go 11-1 in the playoffs and win the WS before the 2005 season.

I would be happy to see Garland and Crede go to L.A. for Broxton and 2 other prospects. Then, the Sox keep Broxton and add Gio and say Broadway to Fla. for Cabrera. That works for me. Then, they could sign Rowand, Loretta and a Japanese reliever and they could actually contend next year.

Does anyone know the last player the Sox signed that was a client of Scott Borass ? Aside from Crede or any other player that was not eligible for free agency ? Anybody know ?

My question is: When we look back at these last few weeks with all of the talk about KW doing everything he can to bring Torii Hunter to the Sox and after another month or so of Hunter trying to extract every last dollar from the highest bidder eventually signing with a different team, will we Sox fans remember this time as the Hunter era as though he actually played here ?

I'll bet right now KW is giving his very best sales pitch in trying to get Hunter to take 4/$52. No way do the Sox offer up $ 70 mil. for Hunter and there's no reason they should. After Hunter goes to Texas or someplace for 5/70 then KW will go to work on ARow. He'll try to get him for 3/$28.5 ,

Let's say the Sox sign Hunter and give up Garland, Fields and Gio for Cabrera. Does that make them a playoff team ? Owens in left, Uribe at SS and Richar at 2b ? Let's say the offense is fine overall. Rotation: Mark, Javy, Jose, Danks and Floyd ? very average with little backup The bullpen ? Still weak. There would still need to be several more signings/moves made.

Exactly, if Cabrera is traded to the Angels, the Sox should go after Uggla.

Why can't we have an EXTEND Garland scenario ?

He might still stay in Minnesota.

They should. An outfield of Fuku, Pie, Soriano and Murton is damn good.

What difference would adding Cabrera make ? The White Sox could add ANY player in baseball to their team right now (without giving up anything) and they still couldn't win the division. Why give up your 4 best youngsters and still have no chance ? They need to start their re-building process now and compete in the meantime by spending some money on FA's that are younger or willing to agree to a 1 or 2 year contract so that this team could be a serious contender in 3 or 4 years as their young players develop. They can't win the AL Central in 2008 or 2009 so it makes no sense to trade the young talent nor does it make sense to sign Hunter to a massive 5 year contract. Atleast Rowand is 2 years younger than Hunter and would cost less per year.

I don't enjoy being pessimistic. I really don't. In fact, in 2005 I bet $ 500 in Vegas on the Sox before the start of the season and in 2006 I really believed that they would make the playoffs preseason and thruout most of the season. Since then, I've been pessimistic and I do realize now that the Sox are a big mess due to several basic issues: 1. They have a team that right now probably has 5-6 holes that should be filled in order to have a championship caliber team. 2. They have very few players in the system that will become star level Major Leaguers ( maybe 3 or 4 ) and none of them will reach that level this year or even next. 3. They already have a high payroll (over $ 100 mil.) that is approaching its maximum. Therefore if they added a number of free agents like they need, they will also have to shed some player's salaries in trade. Because they have no in-house replacements they can't trade their high salaried vets without signifcantly weakening the team. 4. The bottom line is that the AL Central and the AL in general is so tough that they can't make the post season in 2008 without very significant improvement. Even if KW filled 2 or 3 holes nicely, this team could still easily finish in 3rd place.

Maybe Kenny's waiting for Tejada's name to come out on the steriod report and his stock to fall even further in hopes that he can get him for just Contreras. Just a guess.

The Sox are in no postion to make a trade like this. They have so few good young players that they can't sfford to trade 3 or 4 of them to get one back. # 2 Filling one hole, with any player, does very little for this team. They have 4 or 5 holes to fill before they can even think about the post season. # 3 Cabrera is already getting expensive (about $ 10 mil. this year) and will be a free agent in 2 years. If the Sox don't sign him long term, the whole thing would be a waste and I have NO confidence that the Sox would lock him up for 6-8 years like a smart team would.

Do the Sox have until midnight tonight to pick up his option ? Does anyone know the specifics ? I would appreciate someone posting it if you do. Thanks.

Wow ! That article was so sad and depressing. An article about the Sox possible offseason moves and only one player is mentioned that even interests or excites me. And, that's Hunter. And, even for him I wouldn't recommend that the Sox spend the kind of money that he'll get. How sad. Eckstein, Uribe, Wilson, Greene ? Who cares ? What's the difference ? Mediocrity or mediocrity ? Atleast Uribe wouldn't cost us any players to acquire him so I vote for keeping him if they can't make any substantial improvement.

I'd do it but I'm not sure that Boston would. However, I would still want the Sox to sign Rowand.

Who's the FA SS that you would lavish all this big bundle of money on ? Eckstein or Vizquel ? If you want the Sox to make serious improvement at SS then they must make a trade. That means giving up some of the few trading chips that they have plus you want to give up more players that they can't afford to give up in order to get a real good outfielder (and no, Crisp is not one anyway). Doesn't make sense. The Sox need to start signing some players to ADD to their organization instead of dealing prospects and letting good players walk away or get next to nothing for them.

Damon makes sense at $ 7 mil. per year ? I think Jerry Owens makes more sense at $ 6.5 mil. less per year. Johnny Damon was overrated when he was good and he hasn't been good the last couple of years- going downhill.

If Crisp is less than Rowand, why don't we just sign Rowand and not give away any of the few good prospects that we have. Fields, Rowand, Dye and Owens is fine for the outfield. Move on to improving the middle infield and the bullpen.