Wong & Owens

Seems to be a lot of Anti-Rick White sentiment on this board, and it seems solely based on Spring Training performance. Check out his career -- he's been a very capable reliever for 7 years, with the exception of last year's stint in Colorado. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stat...ts?statsId=5186 Veteran pitchers often like to tinker with pitches and try out new ideas in Feb. and Mar., so I don't think anything can be derived from his bad spring in Tucson. Just my opinion.

Yes, Rauch WILL start.....for the Charlotte Knights.

I'm betting they send Olivo down to AAA, and keep Paul. The logic is this: If the Sox keep Olivo, Paul will be scooped up by another team. Then, if Olivo falters, and Sandy gets hurt, we suddenly have no catcher. If the Sox keep Paul, they can send Olivo down to Charlotte, and if Paul can't hack it, they can let him go and bring Olivo up later.

OK, pick one, and death is not an option (to steal from Steve Rosenbloom): Willie Harris at the plate OR Greg Norton in the field

I'd rather have Chris Snopek than Willie Harris.

It takes character to admit it when you've screwed up. Nice job, Cubkilla. Must be a SOX fan.

My 2 cents: 1) The Sox do NOT have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. They are lower middle of the pack, but really nowhere near the bottom. I am 99% sure that the Sox's payroll was higher than Oakland's last year, the year before that, and this year. 2) Irod wanted a ridiculous amount of money for a ridiculously long period of time. Although there is no salary cap to prohibit JR from taking a shot at him, and risk being saddled with his contract for any number of useless years, the fact that only 2 teams seriously took a run at him says volumes about what Irod's value was. Throwing money around does not mean you are following the path to winning, just ask Tom Hicks, Steve Phillips or Peter Angelos. 3) To supplement what either clujer or Steff said, every team has numerous question marks, the answers to which always make or break their seasons. Take a look at the Angels from 2002. How many question marks would they have had going into the season? How about 1) Who would get the ball from the starters to Percival? 2) Is Tim Salmon done? 3) Which Erstat shows up? 4) Are they really going with David Eckstein as their starting SS? 5) Do they have a major league-quality 2B? Who will play 1B?

No fair leaving early today clujer. You have a duty now, you must fulfill your destiny!

Rogers is an old, groundball pitcher now throwing for a team that plays on concrete. I don't care how good the Twins defense is, Rogers is due to throw a LOT of pitches. By August, his ERA will be hovering around 5.20, and Johan Santana will have taken his spot in the rotation.

I agree, I hate Willie Harris. Didn't we get him from the talent-laden Orioles for Chris Singleton? That should tell you all you need to know about the mighty Willie Harris.

Wow, guys doing play-by-play for a spring training game? If the level of enthusiasm and excitement from everyone on these boards can't get people up for the Sox this year, nothing will. Now at least I know who the other 100 people are screaming with me in the ninth inning of a cold, rainy home game against KC in April.

I agree. If nothing else, they need to be dependable. Valentin has those "harmless" errors people keep talking about, then you have 3 untested players. I guess if you're not a N.Y. team, you're always going to have some question marks though. The talent is there, though, and we'll have enough games against the mighty Royals, Tigers, and Indians that we should still be able to win plenty in spite of any poor execution due to inexperience.

I think that the lefty-righty matchup strategy is way overrated. Lee hit righties almost as well as lefties last year, and over the last 3 years, he actually has a higher SLG and OPS against righties: vs. Left .286 .358 .431 .789 vs. Right .277 .337 .490 .827

2. Brocail, Doug P HOU ---MAYBE SIGN HIM TO WARM UP THE LEFT FIELDER BETWEEN INNINGS 3. Cook, Dennis P ANA --- 52 YEARS OLD 4. Durbin, Chad P KC --- KC PITCHERS 5. Finley, Chuck P STL --- BAD TASTE IN WOMEN. TAWNY KITAEN LOST IT, BIG TIME, AROUND 1998 6. Morgan, Mike P ARI --- NO, JUST....NO. 7. Nickle, Doug P SD --- WHO IS THIS GUY? 8. Person, Robert P PHI --- I'D RATHER HAVE CHUCK PERSON, HE CAN STILL HIT A '3' 9. Rogers, Kenny P TEX --- SOON TO BE THE MLB VERSION OF JON KONCAK.

He won a Gold Glove at 2B in 1997, or 1996. NY killed him, and nobody gave him a chance to redeem himself. KC never used him at 2B, did they?

Sure, why not? At worst, you get a backup who can play 2B, or any of the outfield positions, run the bases, bunt(the Sox have had the worst bunting in either league since 1937, I will not argue about this), and has a lot of playoff experience. Plus he comes real cheap. At best, he hits .320, you get an experienced guy at the top of the order, and he plays a decent 2B. I'm not saying I'm sold on the fact that he has anything left, just think it's worth the risk.

Sanders doesn't play CF. Plus, he's made of balsa wood, so you'd have to plan on your backup CF playing at least 60 games a year anyways. I keep getting this feeling about Knoblauch. Ex .350 hitter, 3X? World Series winner and Gold-Glover goes to NY, gets in a rut, and is driven into the depths of hell by NY fans and media, then goes to KC. He sleepwalks through a year on a AA team (still talkin 'bout KC) and becomes an afterthought. Couldn't this guy very easily have one great season left in him? Is everyone THAT convinced that Jimenez is your answer at 2B/leadoff hitter? Since Rogers told us no, and there aren't any FA pitchers left worth spending a dime on, might it not be worth giving him a shot?

The Orioles might not score 100 runs this year. OK, I'm kidding, but when almost your entire lineup is made up of little scrappy guys who have good speed and little pop, you're in trouble. Who will drive in any runs? Gibbons? Cordova? Blecchh.

It didn't bother Oakland last year. I'm mildly concerned though, because Rowand hasn't shown he'll do a lot with the bat yet. We don't have much depth there either. If Rowand can hit .280-15-70, I think that would be fine considering he'll bat 8 or 9.

Isn't Edwin Almonte the future closer?

I think I might even be further up on the list than Porzio. And I'm not even a lefty.........

Chris Singleton? I think I'm gonna be sick.

On the topic of slogans, and marketing the Sox in general, I cannot believe how poorly a job the Sox marketing squad have done over the past 6-7 years. It boggles my mind that they keep thinking that the way to draw fans is to target families and children, especially with corny catch-phrases and events that most kids I know would find dorky, for lack of a better term. Given the large number of night games, the large number of weeknight games, and the cost of attending a baseball game, most families can't, and don't attend more than 2-3 games a year, tops. Being that all these factors are for the most part fixed, gearing promos towards families isn't going to increase attendance, just entice the families to pick those particular dates to use for their 2-3 games per season. The main reason the Cubs draw so many fans anymore is due to the fact that a large number of single, affluent people live within 5 miles of Wrigley Field. These are the people that can attend 10-15 games a year, and spend extra money on beer, souvenirs, etc. I can't understand why the Sox marketing team doesn't attempt to lure some of the people in that area down to 35th St. They can still take the 'L', it's not that long of a ride. Promoting the area around Comiskey as having fun nightlife wouldn't hurt either, but that's going to require some help from the business owners -- far from a guarantee. Sure, you want kids at games, and you want adults to bring their families, and view a Sox game as a fun night out. But the fact is, a guy who lives in Orland Park who gets off work at say 5:30 barely has enough time to round up the troops and make it down in time for a 7:05 game. It's a huge pain in the ass, and he won't attempt it more than a few times a year, most likely on a weekend day game. You have a 40,000+seat stadium to fill every game, and you're not going to do it by expecting a family of four to make it out on a Wednesday night more than a couple times a year. You can do it by coaxing the 20-something ad agency reps who live in Lincoln Park to hop on the Red Line and come south. Thanks for letting me vent.

As objectively as I can look at it, the Twins seem to be in trouble this year. Mays is coming off an injury, Milton is as overrated of a starter as there is in baseball, and they caught lightning in a bottle last year with their bullpen. Eddie Guardado (Guardado is Spanish for, "How long can I possibly keep this up?") was a middling 4.00+ ERA pitcher for like 8 years before last year. Kent Hrbek and Tom Brunansky can still hit for more power than Mientkiewjdjdiygslkujhwljwebvhwcz and any Minnesota outfielder, Luis Rivas looks like a no-hit bust, Jacque Jones can only hit righties, etc... The only guys on that team I'd trade for the corresponding Sox players are Koskie, Hunter, and maybe Guzman.

What ticked me off about the deal was that the Pirates were practically begging someone to take Ritchie from them, and give them ANYTHING in return. Giving them 2 pitching prospects, plus a third prospect (I forget his name, I think he was another pitcher?) in exchange for a poor-man's Rick Helling was completely unnecessary.