WHITESOXRANDY

sleeper of the DAY ? He had one good day in the AFL ? WOW I AM EXCITED NOW Our farm system is kicking ass

A lights out bullpen would be a major help. After that, maybe getting younger would help - I would look to trade Contreras for young pitching.

How many times was KONERKO thrown out at the plate ? Does anyone know this ? My guess is atleast 5 ! F****** KONERKO ! And, Thome and Crede ! If you're going to take chances, do it with someone that can run !

I think this is the list of people Paris Hilton has slept with,in chronological order.

QUOTE(shipps @ Oct 10, 2006 -> 08:57 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Who is the last thirdbase coach that anyone has liked?I cant think of one. Maybe the next one hired should be given the instructions " only wave runners home when you are very confident that they will be called safe at the plate". Instead of " if you think they have a chance to score, wave them in ". I think we'll like the next coach a lot better that way.

We don't need A-ROD. We need better pitching. 3B is set. SS is solid def. but he needs more patience at the plate that's all.

I like Haeger's future a lot and I hope that the Sox hold onto him. But, I think he needs one more year in AAA to get more innings in. I could see him being a swingman in 2008. Atleast we could have him in Charlotte in case we need him. I would keep Jenks, Mac, Thornton and Cotts. Add 2 more serious relievers. I mean a RH flamethrower or quality veteran or somebody with a funky delivery. I believe every spot in the bullpen is key - even the 6th inning guy. We can't afford to have a weak spot in the pen - especially in this division.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 01:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yeah...since it's not like having his bat during the 2nd half of the year might have sparked an offense that hit the wall with about 40 games left in the season. If we would have acquired Soriano at the deadline, I honestly believe that we make the playoffs. Our pitching stunk for about 80 pct of this season, but they pitched well enough down the stretch (starters) that we could have stayed with the Twins/Tigers. I definitely disagree. We don't make the playoffs with Soriano. We will finish 6 or 7 games out of the playoffs and he wouldn't have won that many for us. Plus,what would we have ha dto give up ? McCarthy plus ? Then, he leaves via free agency. If KW did that and we didn't go all the way, everyone would be all over him.

Think about how much better our pitching would have been this year if we had Soriano.

I think that if McCarthy would have pitched the entire season in the rotation, he would have had the best season of any of our starters. Maybe that's hindsight talking but that might have been the difference between being in the post-season and watching it. What if KW had traded one of our starters at the deadline for relief help and inserted BMAC in the rotation ? Would we have made the playoffs ?

St. Louis for Reyes and Wainwright. That's what the Sox need - some young top tier pitchung talent. They could both spend the season in the bullpen. Do you think St. Louis would make this trade ?

If Sweeney and Fields are in the Majors next year, then this could be about the worst system in baseball. There would certainly not be a single major prospect after those two.

If we are going to keep "Waving" Joey Cora as our third base coach, we better get some guys that can run. I've never seen so many guys thrown out at the plate in my life. The wildest thing is that it's been Konerko more than anybody. Does Cora not know what a stop sign is ? Does he not know what every Sox fan knows - that Konerko is one of the slowest players in the game ? Between getting caught stealing and getting thrown out trying to take the extra base with all these slow guys - it has really hurt the offense. If your going to slug it out with a slow group then don't try to steal bases and send them to try for the extra base - let them hit.

I think that next year in the Sox rotation, he would pitch about as well as Buehrle, Vazquez or Garcia - and for about $ 10 mil. less.

Naturally, trading any player hinges on what you can get for that player. I have always been a big Joe Crede fan. I wouldn't WANT to trade him but I would shop him. Since we have Fields, if we get offered something great for him, I would do it. I love Crede's defense and think it means a lot to a team and the guy can hit. This year was no fluke. But, he is very slow on the bases and doesn't walk at all or work the count (he is still young and might develop this). I'd like to keep him but given the nature of the rest of the team - Konerko, A.J., Thome etc. - we need to move one of these in my opinion - Konerko or Crede.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 19, 2006 -> 12:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> So who exactly is your speedy 1B with a bat? Nomar is one. I'm not suggesting that we trade every one of the players that I mentioned but the ones that we could really get something special for, I would be willing to move. I don't think that we are as close as some people do to winning this division which I believe is the toughest EVER. Cleveland, Detroit and Minnesota are killing us with their minor league systems and good young cheap talent. The Sox need to replenish their system with some big time arms. Also, it is hard to play situational baseball and / or Ozzie ball with Konerko, A.J., Crede and Thome all so slow and hitting into lots of double plays. Uribe, A.J. and Crede rarely take a walk. Few guys that we have go from first to third well and that's why we have so many innings of getting 3 hits or 3 hits and a walk and we don't score. That doesn't happen with Minny or Cleveland. I think KW will unload a masher or two to get some speed into this lineup. Also, we have to be more prepared with our bullpen this winter. We can't wait till the spring to start having bullpen tryouts for every castoff we can find. We need atleast one more veteran reliever to help stabilize this pen. Obviously, atleast one starting pitcher will go. And, as someone else pointed out, many of our guys have only a year or two left on their contracts and this winter might be the best time to move them.

I am in favor of KW blowing up this team while the value is high on many of or players. It's apparent that this team is too slow and needs more energy in the offense. Also, why pay starting pitchers $ 10 mil. each when they are average ? What could we get if we traded Konerko, Crede, Uribe, Pods, Garcia, Buehrle and Vazquez ? I say keep Dye, Anderson (CF, LF or 4th OFer), Iguchi, Thome, A.J., Cintron and Mackowiack (only until Sweeney is ready, mid-season hopefully). Keep Garland, Contreras, Jenks, MacDougal, Thornton, Broadway, McCarthy, Cotts and Haeger. Broadway in Charlotte. Add a SS that can run and get on-base. Add a LF or CF with lots of speed. Let Fields play 3B. Find a first baseman with speed and a bat. Trade for some young power arms. Put McCarthy and Haeger in the rotation. Some players I would like to see in a Sox uni would be Rollins, Crawford, Wells, M. Young, Ichiro, Nomar etc.. Anyone with me on blowing this team up ? Any thoughts on what we can get for some of these guys ?

Well, every minor league affiliate has a losing record except Charlotte and that's because they are populated by a bunch of older non-prospects. And, their second half hasn't been good anyway. Also, we only have at most 5 prospects in this organization that other teams would be excited to get their hands on. And, none of them are sure-fire future stars. I'd say this is a weak system right now. The Sox are also not known for great player development or drafting like Minny, Detroit or Cleveland - whoops all of our competitors ! Maybe, if we could trade Garcia and Vazquez that will help us land a few more serious prospects.

I believe that if the Sox put Brandon in the rotation next year and leave him there, he will win 15 a year for us and be an upper end of the rotation starter. Will he be Liriano, Verlander or Santana ? No. But, he can be atleast as good as Garland, Buehrle, Garcia have been in their careers. Why pay $ 10 mil. a year for that when you can get it for almost nothing ? He's clearly not a relief pitcher and doesn't like the role.

I would love for someone to explain to me how Marte is ranked 12th and Fields is ranked 34th. I am not the biggest Fields fan but it seems to me that he has clearly outperformed this kid and is Major League ready where Marte is not. I also don't see any upside that MARTE has that FIELDS doesn't have. Anybody ?

I agree that Pods won't be back next year - primarily due to his defense. I think the Sox are pretty happy with his offense. I don't think that Fields will be our LFer next year. I think that he either starts the season in Charlotte or he is traded. I don't think the Sox go after Juan Pierre. I think Anderson and Dye are set in the OF. I'm not sure what they'll do about replacing Pods but I would be surprised if they moved Uribe - although they do like Cintron. I wouldn't be surprised see KW make a move for Carl Crawford.

The thing that makes Owens intriguing is that he played football primarily for years but now that he has concentrated on baseball for the past 2-3 years, he has made rapid progress. Maybe, he won't play CF well and maybe he won't develop power but he has been hitting .323 since the end of May. He also clearly has speed and if he can improve his steals a bit, he does start to resemble Pods. He may make a valuable 4th OFer one day. I wouldn't give up on him. I think he should get a Sept. call up. Oh, and thanks Danman.

Does anyone have statistics on Jerry Owens past 2 months maybe ? He started out so poorly and slowly this year that I wanted to dismiss him as not a real prospect. But, it seems that he has been hot for a while. To have his average up to .264 and OBP at .330 he must be hitting over .300 for the last 2 months or so ? Maybe he'll barely become a 4th OFer or maybe he could be at Pods level one day. Anybody ?

Thanks for the responses. What I gather is that he IS ready defensively to be solid at the major league level but offensively it seems that he may be far away. I guess the question will be do the White Sox feel that he is too far away offensively to be on the team next year. I would love to see him as a homegrown young backup next year that could develop into a realcontributor.

I've never seen him play but I've followed his progress a bit the past 2 seasons. And, he seems to me to be a pretty legit catcher. I'm asking those of you that have seen him or follow him closer if he could be ready to be the Sox backup next year ? Or what would he need to do to become the Sox backup ?