Rex Hudler

I don't think so, mainly because he wasn't on the 40 man roster to begin with, which was why he was eligible for the Rule V Draft. Not 100% on that though. You're right on Chisoxfn.

Clay was that guy that did everything you need from him to win games. He shined out of the bullpen, he shined as a spot starter several times. He is small (5'8" ish) and doesn't throw real hard. He is probably a guy who will top out at AAA, but a guy who I would want on my team every day. I doubt he comes back to Birmingham, but we would certainly take him.

Hard to say.... They were supposed to be very good the past 2 or 3 years and have pretty much sucked. In AAA, a lot depends on how the mix between young guys and vets works out.

If Flintstones make you come up like that, you need to find something else to snort. Koch was a starter in college, but that was a long time ago. Doing anything with him other than keeping in the closers role is not even an option and would never even be discussed. Unless, of course......... you snort Flintstones.

I still don't think we would lost Paul to another club. For someone to claim him, they would have to put him on their 25-man roster. There are lots of veteran catchers in AAA that are better than JP. He won't make a big league club unless the Sox keep him. JMO

Count me in as a Majewski fan. He kind of got overshadowed last year in the Barons bullpen behind Valentine, Munoz and Sanders, but he had a helluva year also. He has big league stuff and will get there some day. Whether or not he will stick when he gets there is up to him. His 2002 numbers: 5-3 witha 2.65 ERA 57 G 74.2 IP 61 H 34BB and 75 K Barons had 5 guys in the bullpen all year that had an ERA of 2.65 or better. Not bad, eh?

amen.. a voice of reason.. i have already adopted him as one of my own...... So are you one of the Little People of Chitown HSC? LOL

I'll go on record now..... Wunsch will not last the season with the Sox unless there are injuries that make it necessary or he is the last man in the pen being used in a mop up role only. His year was 2000 and it will be his only year. He will likely start with the club (and probably deserves to) but we have better and that will play out over the course of the season. Look for Sanders or Munoz to take over his role at some point in the season.

Just wondering what is going on at minor league camp. When do games begin? Who has come in ready to go and who is out of shape? Any surprises?

Valentine was optioned to AAA Sacremento.

The cuts in ST have two purposes. First, to clear the roster to get more playing time for the guys who they feel have a legit shot at making the club and to allow the guys cut more playing time in Minor League camp. Secondly, is saving $$. The per diem's in big league camp are much bigger than in minor league camp ($100 to $20 or something like that - the numbers may be off, but the difference is hefty). Also, if players provide their own housing, they receive a housing allowance. The housing allowance for guys in big league camp is much larger as well. Plus, like they did tonight (Cooper and Dellaero), they can still have guys from Minor League camp come up to play in a Big League game at any time.

We'll see how it all plays out. What I don't understand is why Miguel only has 11 at bats so far (with 3 on Sunday). I would expect that number to climb quickly. Everything I have heard is that Miguel is still their guy. I can see them easing him into the starting role, but I don't see Sandy as being the # 1 option for long unless Miguel is just overmatched. At this point, with only 11 AB's there is not a large enough sample to know if that is the case.

Exactly, we do not NEED a third catcher. A veteran and a rookie are enough to keep us going. Hopefully, its gonna be Rios, Graffanino, Daubach, Alomar, and Harris/Miles. An extra infielder is alot more useful than a catcher thats gonna catch probably once every two weeks. the thrid catcher is a wasted spot..unless of course one of your atchers is named sandy alomar...wtf was KW thinking here???....sandy was great in his day but god dammit we know he will go on the DL and because of that he have to carry an extra player that sux...the best move would be if sandy went on the DL during ST..he could then act as a bench coach to MO and we keep paul as the 2nd catcher so we dont lose him to another team.. we cant let paul go to another team..then have sandy go on the DL and its olivo and burke as the catchers...that would precipitate a mid season trade for a back up catcher and would cost an arm and a leg... Put Paul on waivers and send him down, if he gets claimed so be it. If Alomar goes on the Dl for an extended period of time we will have to make a trade anyway. I know I would not want to see Paul as the regular backup,he sucks defensively and doesn't have much of a bat either. Nuke, I'm right with you. JP is not needed and there is no need to carry an extra player in case Alomar gets hurt. IF he does, they'll call someone up, most likely JP because I don't think he will be claimed. Anyone claiming him would have to put him on their 25-man roster. Plus, even if someone claims him, so what..... If Burke or Morales aren't good enough, there are a dozen veteran catchers in AAA every year that have Big League experience. A trade for a backup catcher is not expensive. Lastly, keep in mind that the likelihood of Sandy getting hurt is lessened because he will play less. He is not going to be the everyday guy so injuries should be much less frequent. The only problem with this scenario is if Miguel is overmatched and isn't ready for Chicago. I know he is not hitting well right now, but unless he is just terrible, I believe the other things he does will allow them to give him the chance to grow in Chicago rather than Charlotte.

Assuming no injuries to the above, who would be the remaining 2 or 3 between Loaiza, Heredia, Rauch, Munoz, Porzio, Almonte, Diaz, Ginter, Glover, Adkins, Stewart, Malone and Sanders? You can definitely scratch Adkins and Malone from that list. You can almost definitely scratch Diaz, Almonte and Stewart. Stewart's only real chance is if there is Wright can't go and he keeps plugging away and the vets and Rauch fail. I would give an edge to Glover over Porzio or Ginter, but the possibility of Loaiza or Heredia sticking and pitching out of the pen could jeopardize all three of these guys. My best guess is that if Wright is good to go on Opening Day, then Loaiza is your 5th starter, with Heredia either pitching out of the pen or asking for his release. Rauch will likely start in AAA in that scenario. If Wright is hurt and can't go, then lots of scenarios are possible.

Why would we trade him to get a LH reliever when that is the biggest strength this team has right now? The Sox have more depth in bullpen lefthanders than anyone in baseball.

I think nothing ever goes exactly as planned, so we'll just have to see how it plays out. We definitely have enough options right now. More than most teams.

Ginter seems to be an odd man out. However, he is pitching quite well in ST, so perhaps he could be traded. Or if he keeps it up, you never know how the chips will fall.

I think if there were hints of problems they would have been noticed when he was in AAA last year after the trade. And again when he got called up to Chicago. Sometimes people get into a rut and if things aren't going well they tend to crawl into a shell rather than work their way out. When that is the case, often a change of scenery and a new chance is all they need. If he is lazy with the Sox, there are plenty of guys in wait to replace him.

Here is the report I have referenced, in it's entirety. The report was posted by MnSoxFan a member of the World Crossing board. He reported on several ST games in at least as much detail. I saw the B squad game. Got there a little early and had to hike about a mile to practice fields of Sox. About 4 diamonds, one had pitchers on the mound and Gary Ward hitting grounders to 1B and the pitchers after simulating pitching motion had to run over to cover first, among them were Lubasich, Castro, Kirkland, Murray and Meaux. Kirkland is big, tall I mean and not heavy but just a big guy. Impressive size. A couple others too without names on jersey or jackets on. Another had catchers hitting off a pitching machine, saw Carlos Maldonado, Blair Harris and Joe Gillikin, couple others had jackets on so could not tell. Then we go ready for the game. Schilling started against Honel. I was sitting behind the plate with 4-5 prospects without uni's on and was like being at a little league game. I think I was only person watching other than players. Honel got in trouble right away, After a grounder to Reyes at SS the second hitter singled to right, the 3rd batter walked and the 4th batter singled to left. Bases loaded 1 out. A shallow fly to Holt in LF made it two outs, looked like he may get out of it, but the next guy hammered a double to LF corner, 2 scored and on cutoff, Reyes nailed the runner from 1st at the plate. 2-0 Schilling got our guys 1-2-3. Durham popped to 2B, Reyes K'd swinging and Battersby Kd swinging. 2nd inning Honel looked a bit better. K swinging, popout to RF, then a double off LF fence before getting out of it with fly to right. In our 2nd, we again went 1-2-3 against Schilling. Bikowski grounded out 6-3. Acevas flew out deep to RF and Holt popped out to LF. West came in for the 3rd inning. He struck out 1st two guys swinging and then got a grounder to 2nd. He looked bigger and better up close. In Schilling 3rd inning he got Sandoval on grounder to 2nd, Brice worked a 3-2 count but whiffed on a low inside ball. Shaffer then got an infield hit, or maybe an error, hard to see as some people had come in front of us with jug gun on Schilling. Nicholson then flew out to RC. West pitched the 4th too. First guy hit a shot to LF for a double. Then a looper to short LF made it 1st and 3rd 0 outs. Next guy hit SF to Durham in CF, then the next guy hit a liner to third, off Sandoval glove for a hit. Next guy grounded out to 2nd and they ended the inning. I only counted 2 outs, but I think West reached his pitch count maybe. 3-0 at this point, not an official game as Sox coach was calling balls and strikes and there were no other umps etc... Schilling came in again for the 4th, Webster led off and lined a shot over SS for a single to LF. Shoe, this kid looks like a player. Then a young catcher named Chris Stewart checked his swing and hit a soft liner into CF, so 1st and 2nd no outs. Durham hit a chopper down 3rd base line for an out, runners advanced. Reyes hit a shallow fly to LF and Webster was sent and out by a lot. They then cleared the bases as Schilling said he wanted 10 more pitches, so Battersby came up and Kd swinging again and Bikowski grounded to second baseman and that was it. Impressive watching Honel warm up, but then when Schilling came in you could see the difference. The guy is a true professional, no messing around and he did not take it easy on our kids. Hope we learned from it. We do not have much impressive hitting in our AAA or AA teams for sure. Hope our younger guys come around soon.

I agree completely. I don't think any trades should be made save a small deal for a guy who wasn't going to make the team anyway. I like what we have going in and hope KW sticks to his guns and lets things play out from here. At least for the first half of the season.

Mathew, a piece of paper works well too. Yasny, perhaps subconsciously the next close pitch gets called the other way if an umpire takes a lot of heat from the first one, but they do not intentionally even up. I assure you that regardless of what anyone says, it does not happen. The game happens way too fast for an umpire to be thinking about those kinds of things when a pitch is coming or a play is happening at first. I know that most of you won't believe that, but I'm telling you that those things don't go through umpires minds. They would not keep their jobs if they followed the two wrongs make a right approach.

The key is Method - did they swing, or just start their swing and check it? If it would be a checked swing then it is still a dead ball. Just think of it like the ball didn't hit the batter anywhere. If he checked his swing, it is a ball. If he swings it is a strike. Add the ball hitting the batter's hand and you get a hit batter in the first example and a strike that hurt in the second. Another example..... say a batter swings through a pitch, but it hits him on the hands instead of the bat. The ball then rolls right to the pitcher in front of the mound. Is the hand part of the bat then? Nope. The correct call would be a dead ball because it hit the batter, but a strike since he swung. That scenario would rarely happen in a Major League game becuase big league hitters have better judgement than to let a ball hit them in the hands that they are taking a full swing at. It happens more often on checked swings.

Cause the Reds don't need an OF/1B/DH type. They need pitching. Not to mention no way the Sox are taking on 6 years and $79 M, when they have Maggs, Buehrle and possibly Colon to take care of in the next few years.

But i would rather we keep Carlos for this year. JB needs some more time at AAA. I expect the sox to move him along the same way Crede was moved thru... They will wait till they feel his swing is compact nuff... And he seems to be responding quite well. Method, I couldn't have said it better.

Speculation is that Sidney Ponson could be involved. Doesn't say much in detail and doesn't even say that talks have existed. Just that the Orioles scouts are looking at him. It goes on to say how hard Carlos has worked and how he has come to ST in the best shape of his life. He seemed to raise his stock last year when he increased his walk total so much. He was only one of 13 big leaguer's that had more walks than strikeouts with more than 80 RBI. KW says he isn't interested in trading him.