Rowand44

They just said on SC now that the trade is getting cancelled.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 04:45 PM) I'm sorry, their pitching just doesn't impress me (I'd probably take the Angels by the way, assuming Colon's shoulder isn't really bad). They're relying on two youngsters, a somewhat fading veteran, and another guy that missed most of last year pretty heavily. I guess they have Lohse too, but he's decidedly mediocre. Nathan-Rincon-Crain is pretty good, but as I said, none of them are lefty and they don't really have another solid arm in the pen. Plus their pitching has to be significantly better than ours or Cleveland's to really make a difference in those 30 something games that they have to play those teams. It's definitely not stronger than ours and I don't think it's that much better than Cleveland's. Outside of Santana, you just can't count on anyone on their starting staff to consistently win games against stronger competition. I'll stand by my statement that they need either Liriano or Baker to pitch like a front of the rotation guy to really make a difference. I forgot one other wildcard that could help their lineup: Jason Kubel. Assuming he's healthy, that could give them a legit hitter with decent power and speed. He might get lost in the shuffle a bit though since they seem to have several OF's. Fair enough zoom, we both got our points across, we'll just agree to disagree and see once the season starts.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 04:44 PM) Until either of them can prove me they are healthy, I have my doubts on those two. I like Beckett's chances more than Curt's. I'm leaning toward Curt's career being done at least from what I saw of him last year. Curt is done imo. Josh obviously needs to stay healthy and to be honest I don't think he's going to be very dominant healthy or not in that park with that team but we'll see obviously. That rotation is suspect at best, they'll compete for the al east but they are not series contenders imo.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 04:39 PM) Or a complete White Sox homer, which in this case(at least I think your referring to Jphat) its true, he is just a huge Sox homer. The Central is going to have some GREAT games this year, and I expect this season to be more stressful than the last, if thats even possible. Best division in baseball, imo.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 04:15 PM) I don't know about all of that. Even if Morneau turns into the monster people thought he would be, their lineup wouldn't have all that much punch. They'd be similar to our offense last year, which isn't exactly a compliment. They just don't have a real #3 or #4 hitter right now. Two of the following 3 have to happen for them to have even an above average lineup: Mauer developing at least 20 homer power, Morneau putting up at least a .270-30-90 type year, or Hunter getting on base a bit more. Plus their pitching isn't exactly dominating. They don't really have a solid compliment for Santana. Radke is their number 2 starter even though he's really only had one good year since 2000. He'd might not even be in our rotation if he were with the Sox. Silva was starting to look decent, but now he's coming off a major injury. Liriano or Baker would have to pitch like a #2 starter for them to keep up, and I really don't see that happening. Also, their pen only has three credible arms, and none of them are lefties. I really don't see them getting past the high 80's in wins unless an awful lot of things go their way. In my book they're a Santana injury away from 4th place. Besides us and the A's you'll have a hard time finding teams with a better rotation in the AL then the Twins. As far as their bullpen goes, they have 3 absolute studs at the back end, Matt Guerrier who is a solid long reliever, and then they have a bunch of kids who knowing Minny will do just fine as the 5th or 6th relievers out of that pen. Their offense is nothing special but it'll be better then last season and their pitching overall will be better as well imo, they're going to ride their arms all year and I think they win the WC but obviously that's jmo.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 03:48 PM) The main reason the Twins struggled last season was because of their lack of offense. And I don't think they improved it enough to not stuggle to score runs in 2006. The Twins were ahead of Cleveland and a half game behind the yankees for the wc when Torii went down for the year. That, Castillo being just an enormous upgrade over anything they had their last year, the combo of Liriano and Baker who I believe will both be in their rotation eventually this season and the fact that I expect Morneau to rebound and Mauer to be a bit better are the reasons I think Minny will be better then the Tribe in 06.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 03:36 PM) I see the Twins finishing in 3rd place. Luis Castillo was a great pickup but Rondell White and Tony Batista? C'mon... While Castillo helps, he's not even close to the only reason why I believe Minny will pass Cleveland this year.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 03:29 PM) I don't see why Michaels will "probably...be very mediocre in Jacobs field". I think Crisp will be better, but it's not a huge difference. I don't see how anyone can't be worried by the Indians after the pressure they put on us at the end of last season. They took a big hit to their rotation, the pen is a little worse, but this is still a very good team. Oh, they're still a very solid team but they've regressed imo and I still think they finish 3rd in this division.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 02:16 PM) http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/NASApp/ml...layer_id=121125 Rhodes had a 2.08 ERA in 43.1 IP last season. It's a nice trade for us in 2006 but after that... Ya, 43 innings, 47 games, my bad.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 02:11 PM) I'll always remember his bling bling incident. But there was a time where he was one of the best, if not the best, lefty reliever in the game. If he duplicates last years numbers I can't fault Philly at all. They could use some help in the pen, especially when you consider they lost their best reliever (Wagner). Him and Nelson setting up for Sasaki gave me nightmares when we played Seattle. Lights out.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 02:08 PM) Geeze, that was pretty solid. My brain must be a goner cause I pretty much forgot he was on the Tribe. Ha, ya, he was pretty solid last year but then I believe he left the team for a while due to family reasons(not exactly sure about the reason). He was pretty bad in 04 though irrc so we'll see how he does this year.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 02:06 PM) Why did Philly make this deal? Rhodes is overpaid and he's not effective (hell did he even pitch much for the Tribe last year?) 2 something era last year in about 47 innings.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 01:46 PM) Any prospect is an unproven commodity until they get a chance to play in the majors (see Brian Anderson). I agree that the Indians have gotten worse on paper since last season but Marte could and should make the Indians better in the future. Afterall, Aaron Boone really sucks and the Indians had no replacement for him in their system. Bingo. Bah, that's exactly what I'm saying. I never once criticized the trades, but they have become worse on paper for this season, that's all.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 01:37 PM) Rhodes only pitched 43.1 innings last season. He wasn't very good in 2003 or 2004 and he is old, injury-prone, and expensive. I don't see him being a huge loss for their bullpen. But losing Howry hurts a lot and they downgraded from Millwood to Byrd. Elarton to Johnson isn't really a downgrade though. They are both equally mediocre fifth starters. You also don't mention that they will reportedly get Marte and Mota in the Crisp trade. Marte is an unproven commodity and probably won't even be with the team until midseason, while Mota basically sucked last year and right now isn't close to as good as Bob is, plus adding Mr. Rhodes in there, their pen has definitely been downgraded from last year. I also wasn't saying if the trades were good or bad, just saying this team overall is not better anywhere then the team last year.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 11:49 AM) There's no city in Iowa named "Ceder" Falls. Damn, learn a little bit about the neighbor to the west. Pssh, who the hell wants to learn about Iowa?

Arthur was absolutely fantastic last year. Whether he'll be that good this upcoming year who knows but the fact remains that they've lost two huge cogs from that pen last year with Rhodes and Howry. So their bullpen has been downgraded from last year, Michaels imo is a downgrade from Coco so I think their offense has been downgraded a bit from last season, then you got the Additions of Byrd and Johnson while losing Millwood and Elarton, so imo that's a bit of a downgrade as well. I don't see one aspect of that team that has been improved coming into this season.

QUOTE(SnB @ Jan 24, 2006 -> 01:16 AM) we did it (well krush literally did it, because i cannot get a hotel room for some reason) and it was the hyatt regency for 69/night. thanks for the advice

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jan 23, 2006 -> 11:45 PM) Who did they play in Des Moines? McDermott's still an ass. Blah, I meant ceder falls, sorry about that.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jan 23, 2006 -> 07:04 PM) I still hate Northern Iowa with a passion, and I hope they mess up the rest of their season. Ha, they're a solid team. They stole a win from us up in Des Moines hopefully we'll pay them back when they come down here for the last game of the season.

Poor Timo. He's gone and he's still soxtalk's whipping boy.

=

It was one of Carl's songs this past year as well. Good song.

QUOTE(Tmar28 @ Jan 23, 2006 -> 07:58 PM) greg oden? He's going to OSU thanks to the new age limit.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 23, 2006 -> 07:35 PM) He may with time. Getz is a pretty solid player all around the board. Doesn't wow you in any area, but his overall consistency along with some development (and more experience) should make him a solid prospect. I think he has the ability to crack the top 10 with a good year. Plus our system isn't strong. Ya, that's true. He just isn't the type of guy that usually makes a high impact on these lists if that makes sense. He's not a high ceiling guy which the guys at BA seem to usually want up there.

QUOTE(TaylorStSox @ Jan 23, 2006 -> 07:27 PM) Why don't I ever see much mention of Chris Getz? His college career was impressive. I hear he's good with the glove, has a great K/BB ratio and decent speed. I understand that he hasn't had a full year in the system yet. Mostly cause he's not a guy with a high ceiling. I'm a big fan of his cause I like the way he plays but he's not going to crack many of these top 10 lists. Also, you got to take into account that he dominated a league in which he should have last year, so as good as he played he has work to do to impress others.