Rex Hudler

Oh I realize that. Lets remember, I am the same nut that has backed Ken Williams. The thing is, his trades for Shuey and Houston were beyond ridiculous. I won't complain as much about Shuey, although he gave up Rodriguez (Indians best starter in my mind) and another top prospect, but they gave up two really good prospects for Tyler Houston. He also had a not so good draft, although thats not really the gm's responsibility. I don't know what was behind the Houston trade, but I know that Evans felt the responsibility to try and win last year, so he made the Shuey deal. If they make the playoffs, then that move is validated because it accomplished what is was supposed to. I'm pretty confident that he didn't go waving Rodriguez around asking for a bag of balls. He likely felt he had to make the move to try and win last year. Sometimes you trade guys you don't want to, because y ou feel it is yur only choice at the time. If he made no moves last year, the LA media would have crucified him. Does he wish he has Rodriguez back now? I haven't asked him, but my guess is hell yeah. But sometimes you can't look back. The Hundley deal was not as bad as people think. It was a case of trading two higly paid disgruntled players for one highly paid player hoping your guy can turn things around. If you take my problems and I'll take yours, kind of thing.

ChiSoxFn, I don't understand you comment. Why do they keep going with a 23 man roster??? Because the Minor League roster is only 23 players, except for the first and last months of the season, when it is 24. Lol, shows what I know. How come they keep the roster smaller? Is it mainly because there is no use in having guys that soley come off the bench because they wouldn't be getting the time to develop? I just assumed it was a 25 man roster. Thanks for the FYI, cause now I know. Common sense says a smaller roster allows more guys to play, which is the goal in player development. I wasn't in the meetings when roster sizes were set, so I can only guess by that. LOL And wasn't Mark Haley at Winston-Salem this year also??

We'll agree to disagree then. I do hope you realize that 1. it is impossible for every move a GM makes to be a good one...... and 2. that sometimes there are reasons for moves that fans never know about. You can't grade every move on the surface.

ChiSoxFn, I don't understand you comment. Why do they keep going with a 23 man roster??? Because the Minor League roster is only 23 players, except for the first and last months of the season, when it is 24.

Foulke makes way too much money for the Expos to take him. Nice try.

Ditto. Criticize individual moves all you want, but Evans is a very solid GM.

I too am hoping that was a typo.

He and Wood collided on an infield pop up and his head hit the dirt VERY hard. This doesn't look good.

KWF, going to see the Kipper pitch tonight in Hotlanta. If it doesn't rain, that is.............

You know what happens when you assume, don't you? LOL

Superballs are so light that they don't make that much of a difference. I'm pretty sure the extra bounce they provide is worth the added pound a handful of superballs will give you. Have you tried it? Corking a bat only lightens it approx. one ounce. Adding superballs to an aluminum bat completely changes the weight distribution of the bat, negatively. Trust me.

Yep, got it!

The "tie goes to the runner" is equivalent to an old wives tale. It never was and never will be.

Ugh, way to make me look bad Rex. LOL Sorry I was just trying to figure out if anyone in Chicago other than the person who told the person that told me, had heard it. If the Sox continue to lose, I don't think it is far-fetched. I just still question the KW-Backman combination.

It's possible since Jerry lives in the area that he decided to can him. Reinsdorf likes to keep thing very quiet, so it wouldn't shock me if they hadn't told Backman yet. I'd love to see it, but I'm not getting my hopes up. If Jerry likes to keep things quiet, and they haven't told Backman yet, then how the hell would the Score be able to report it?? Sounds like typical sports radio crap to me.

That's why I asked if anyone up there had heard it. I spoke with a buddy in the Barons office who had talked to Wally and it was news to him, so it is likely a bunch a crap or they a hedging their bet on the Sox losing the next few games. I didn't hear it on the Score, but I was told it was reported. I was also told not too long ago that Wally was planning on being in Jackson TN and no one had said anything to him about going to Chicago.

I heard that The Score reported today that Backman will replace Manuel sometime this weekend. Anyone hear that?

Actually they aren't hollow. They have a type of filler in them to baffle the sound. Putting super balls or tennis balls in an aluminum bat makes the bat heavier in essence eliminating the benefit of the added bouancy (sp?).

Could have been a nasty night. They could have been playing in a light rain for several innings. Could have had an umpire with a tight zone. Or he could have just been off a bit. I wouldn't read too much into it.

Had 4 walks in 5 innings.

He doesn't build the team, he only manages it. It is reasonable to think he fully intended to play NL style baseball, but has had to adapt due to personnel.

Rain halted this one early... Nice distribution of offense. SOU FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - WEST TENN 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 1 BIRMINGHAM 3 1 0 1 5 10 10 0 FINAL IN 5 WP - BRIAN WEST (3-4) LP - MIKE NANNINI (5-3) TIME: 1:38 ATT: 1,768-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Extended Box WEST TENN (1) AT BIRMINGHAM (10) WEST TENN AB R H BI BIRMINGHAM AB R H BI P Liriano SS 2 0 1 0 C Durham CF 1 2 1 1 B Harris 3B 2 0 0 1 D Sandoval 2B 3 1 1 0 J Powers 2B 2 0 0 0 R Hankins 3B 3 1 1 1 J Dubois RF 2 0 0 0 D Ingram DH 2 1 1 1 J Hamilton LF 2 0 1 0 S Bikowski RF 2 1 1 1 R Sadler CF 2 0 0 0 C Maldonado C 3 1 1 2 J Velazquez DH 1 0 0 0 J Acevas 1B 2 1 1 0 M Dzurilla 1B 2 0 0 0 J Piniella LF 3 2 2 1 C Kopitzke C 2 1 1 0 G Reyes SS 2 0 1 2 TOTALS 17 1 3 1 TOTALS 21 10 10 9 WEST TENN 001 00-- 1 BIRMINGHAM 310 15-- 10 0 OUT WHEN WINNING RUN SCORED. E--M Nannini. LOB--WEST TENN 3, BIRMINGHAM 5. 2B--D Ingram, J Piniella, G Reyes, S Bikowski, C Maldonado, C Kopitzke. SB--C Durham 2 (11), P Liriano 1 (1). S--G Reyes, C Durham, P Liriano. SF--D Ingram. IP H R ER BB SO HR WEST TENN M Nannini (L,5-3) 4 5 5 5 2 5 0 T Waligora 0 5 5 5 1 0 0 BIRMINGHAM B West (W,3-4) 5 3 1 1 1 2 0 WP--M Nannini. BALK--T Waligora. SO--WTN: J Dubois, B Harris. BIR: R Hankins 2, D Ingram, C Maldonado, D Sandoval. BB--WTN: J Velazquez. BIR: S Bikowski, J Acevas, C Durham. T--1:34. A--1,768.

Random thoughts........... Clay Eason is not a prospect. Good guy, great AA pitcher, but not a pospect for the big leagues. Bullard has a chance as a lefty specialist, ala Paul Assenmacher. I agree that age should be considered when evaluating who is a prospect and who is not. I don't think there is a magical number, but it has to factor in. If you are evaluating a guy's ability to make the major leagues, then fine. But as a general rule, a prospect is someone who is looked at as having a chance to make an impact in the Majors. In my mind, that is why guys like Brumbaugh, Eason and Sanders should not be considered on prospect lists. Sure, if the stars are properly aligned at the right time, they could make the Show, but none of those guys have a chance to be an impact guy over time. To me, age should be considered along with years in the Minors and what it has taken them to get where they are. To me, Yofu is a prospect only because he has never played American baseball before. If this were his 7th year in the Minors, I wouldn't care what numbers he is putting up now. But his window of opportunity is short. If he is not in the Majors by the end of 2004, then there is no prospect status for him. Let's get off this "hitter's park" crap for Charlotte. I haven't seen many hitters at all leave Birmingham and go to Charlotte and put up appreciatively better numbers. Maybe a little better, but no major differeces. In fact, I am sure I can come up with as many examples of guys who hit worse (Borchard, Crede, Rowand) than did a lot better. Birmingham is indeed a pitchers park and the numbers support it. But I don't see the same variances consistently in Charlotte. It is certainly not a "bandbox" or "Coors East" as I have heard some say. Stats don't lie, your eyes do. I don't care about what upside Player A has, or how many tools he has. Show me Player A's stats, that's all I need to see to judge. That's crap. If that were true, there would be no need for scouts. You can hang on to your numbers all you want, but if you want to really know what is going on, then watch a few guys and then look at the numbers. Numbers can be VERY misleading and not just because of park variances. I am not saying stats are not important, because they are what makes the game of baseball great, but to say that there is no need to see a guy play is nuts. You were busting on Hummel for only hitting .278 while repeating AAA, yet where will you rate Borchard? If your above statement is true, then I don't expect to see Borchard in the top 50 at all. His numbers, while also repeating AAA have been terrible. So I will assume then that Joe B is not on the list at all, by your reasoning. I do respect the difficulty in coming up with this list, because I truly believe that the Sox really don't have 50 prospects. I don't think many organizations could claim they do. Keep tossing your opinions out there and we appreciate the work you do, just don't get offended when we disagree on some of it.

I think Backman will be the frontrunner for the job, but I still don't see Manuel being fired. Here's to hoping I'm wrong. I'm not sure Backman and KW are a good combination. Would not be surprised to see Backman stay in Birmingham if KW is still there (meaning KW hires someone else).

You guys bust on Gammons for being "biased against the Sox" yet just admitted that he is giving the Sox the benefit of the doubt.