Rex Hudler

Not ignoring....... just didn't disagree with you.

You read your little magazines and I will watch reality. He was consistently in the low 90's this year after his first few appearances. Remember all those "scouting reports" that had Royce Ring throwing in the mid-90's?? Ring rarely ever reached 90 this year, let alone broke it. He was consistently throwing 87-88, yet BA, Sickels and everyone else who never actually watched him continued to spout off "mid-90's" and "blazing fastball". Can't always trust what you read. If you want to dissect Wylie's 2001 4.21 ERA in Birmingham, then why don't you look further. If you did, you might have found that ecluding two terrible starts against Carolina his numbers were: GS - 22 H/IP - 120/134.2 ERA - 3.34 Whip - 1.20 I would much rather look at his numbers over 22 starts than two bad days against one team. They are much more representative of what his season was like, but you didn't go that far, did you? The bottom line is Wylie is still marginal in terms of making it, but he does have a chance. To write a guy that is coming off an injury based on incorrect scouting reports, while acting like you are an authority is assinine. Go out and watch a few games and see a player before you act like you are an authority on him. You might be surprised! You might actually find my head IS out of my ass and I do know a thing or two.

That wasn't directed at you specifically, rather all the fans who take a win first approach...... The Sox have put a good product out on the field. Has it been great? Not often enough, obviously.... But the Sox have been competitive almost every year and are by no means a bottom tier team in terms of winning games and consistency, yet they are definitely in the bottom tier in attendance. The bottom line is that most of the more diehard fans (the kind that hang out on message boards) will b****, but still go to games when they have the opportunity. However, the "casual" fans will not. It's notn the die hards that Jerry is worried about. The fact is, there aren't enough of you. IF you build a team and spend money wildly to attract those casual fans that have no loyalty to the team, you are building a paper house which will fall as soon as the team has a year filled with injuries and falls out of contention early. The best way for Sox fans to support the team is to quit b****ing, buy tickets and support the team they supposedly love. Get other more casual friends to go with you. Turn them on so they will come back. Get attendance to 2.5 million and watch the payroll begin to rise. But if they have to offer half price Mondays to get there, then the increased attendance is not going to bring in the revenue needed to up the payroll. Rather than fight JR's wa ys, why not try to prove him wrong? Show up, be loud, support your team. You might be surprised at the results you get.

Here are Rupe's stats with Clinton, a low A team in the Midwest League... W- L- S ERA GP IP H AB AVG TBF R ER HR BB SO WP BK TOTALS 4- 1- 0 3.90 6 27.2 29 109 .266 122 14 12 1 7 23 2 0

Yeah, you're right....... no reason to support your team if they suck. Just go when they win..... Isn't that what they call a bandwagon fan??

Well let's take a look............ Actually, his ratio was still worse than in previous years. He gave up 128 hits in 116.2 innings in July, August and September. His ERA was 3.70 during that time, which is only marginally better than his overall 4.14, and was still higher than his ERA's of the past two years (3.29 and 3.58).

And what scouting reports have you read?? Wylie is marginal, I'll give you that. However, he throws low 90's and IS NOT a "junkballer". Keep in mind, the guy won 15 games in AA in 2001. He struggled a bit in 2002 in Charlotte (he was not terrible) before finding out he was injured and missed most of that season. 2003 was his rehab year and the Sox brought him along slowly to build up arm strength and to make sure not to overtax the arm after surgery. For a guy that started in the bullpen and moved into a starting role late (while still on pitch counts) he was solid. He gave up less hits than IP (53/57.1) and had a strikeout:walk ratio of 2.47:1 (42/17). The bottom line with Wylie is he has a chance. My guess, IF he does make it that it would be as a Glover type, a long reliever that has a 2-4 year life in the Bigs. His age and the injury are certainly working against him, however he does have better stuff than a "junkballer" yet I certainly wouldn't call it "the s***" either.

Yas, an MLB team is not a restaurant. Just as you say you didn't believe the 2000 team had a real chance, JR doesn't really believe that the fans will come often enough if he invests another $20 million. Believe it or not, there are actually other MLB teams that are supported well even in down years. Some teams get the fan support without winning all the time, allowing for them to have a higher payroll. There is something to be said for supporting your team through thick and thin, and Sox fans don't seem to be willing to do that.

He's right though...... Mark's H/IP ratio and ERA have gotten worse each of the last three years. That is fair cause for concern.

I'm not sold on Rauch, healthy or not.

That last pic of Jessica Biel didn't even look like her........ If you like Jessica Biel, make sure you catch the movie Summer Catch, if you haven't already. She's hot....

What void?

Don't take this personally PWSox, but if he is like most any other baseball player, he has a hot chick in Chicago, one in New York, one in Puerto Rico and half the other cities in the league.

In today's baseball world, the Sox would get even less in return, because of the money at hand. If the trade were Maggs and Jose the Sox would be moving $19 million in salary for two guys that will be free agents after this year. The Dodgers would be moving Perez who made $3.4 million and has two arbitration years left, Izturis who makes next to nothing and is not close to free agency. In that trade, the Dodgers should be asking for something else, not the Sox!

You ARE smoking crack today, aren't you? There is no way the Dodgers would give up a top pitching prospect, an excellent reliever, along with Itzuris and Perez AND take on $19 million in salary. Are you not feeling well today, Jason?

I understand what you and/or I may think Maggs is worth, but I also know what his agent thinks he is worth and there is no way in hell he would take an incentive-laden contract like that. Maggs will get good money next year. Not sure where it will be, but it will happen. Keep in mind that the owners have never been able to keep a united front for long when it comes to holding down salaries. All it takes is for one or two of them to bust out and pay stupid money to anyone and many others will follow like untrained puppy dogs, not knowing where they are going, but not wanting to get left out. The days of the $25 million contract may be over, but don't think that players in their prime that are producing big numbers will go backwards without a fight.

They are real, and they are SPETACULAR!

Two possible reasons...... There have been rumors the Yanks will move Soriano in a trade. There also has been speculation that they will move him to CF and move Bernie to a corner spot. If either hold true, then Robby fits.

I think you are smoking crack..... if you think that is realistic.

Meaux was good for Birmingham. He doesn't project like many pitchers because of his size, but he has done nothing but get results. He was 24 in AA, however, so he is a bit old. If he can make the jump to AAA next year and do well, then he has a chance. Part of his problem right now may be that the Sox have both Dave Sanders and Arnie Munoz as LH relievers in AAA. Valido was regarded as an excellent defensive SS who had questions about his hitting. He hit well in his debut, giving hope that he may be the Sox next homegrown SS. Let's give him a couple more years before we go that far. The jump to full season ball is difficult for many young guys due to the length of the season and then the jump to AA is even bigger.

Hankins has always been a favorite of mine..... Like the article said, finding a position for him was always the hard part.

Yas, I hate to say this, but I disagree with you here. Why should JR spend an extra $20-$25 million when there is no guarantee that fans will show up in the numbers required to make it a good investment? What if the team struggles out of the gate, would fans continue to come then? What if they are 12 games back at the All-Star break? Would the crowds at USCF still be there since he "raised payroll"? I agree that an $80 million payroll is reasonable, but not with the revenues the Sox have. If the Cubs payroll is only projected to be at $90 million, how would you expect the Sox to be at $80 mil? I do think that the die-hard Sox fans would come more often but that is not enough. That is not enough to push them to 3 million in attendance. I would like to see the Sox payroll around $65 million, but can't see it being any higher than that.

Give it up...... Kotchman is not going anywhere.

I agree completely... George is right on this one. The writers should try to change the rule, or abstain from voting as a protest, rather than imposing their own agenda on the process that was set by MLB. Don't agree, don't vote!

You dumbasses...... he has 20 AB's. He is two good games from being in the high .280's. RELAX with the quick judgements.