BrandoFan

Add another towering achievement to Chris Stynes's resume...leaving bases loaded this time after some rookie scrub fell behind 2-0.... :fyou Maddux is only charged with 5 ER. Cubs are still in it.

Whoa....the way Maddux has pitched today, a good hitting team, specially in the AL, would have CRUSHED him into oblivion. Something like 14 baserunners in 3+ innings -- and a couple of of HARD hit outs to the outfield that would have been hits during summertime.

No man, it should all go to Chris Stynes. With runner at 2nd and 3rd, no outs, Maddux starts feeding batting practice hanging sliders to this no-hitting, no-fielding scumbag and instead of spraying a drive somewhere, Stynes pops it up, which screws up their entire inning because automatic out Benson is hitting next..... Should be 6-2 Pirates.

No kidding. I'd rather have Wells back. There won't be as much "Reunited!!" fanfare as with you-know-who....but Sox will quietly start beating people.

Hey man (woman?), don't you know past is for cowards and losers Mike Ditka said so, afterall, so it must be true. No seriously, I didn't mind losing in 1999 because we had no chance and it was a FUN scrappy young team that inexplicably stayed over 500 for a while. But 2003...man, that was a fan's agony.

Frank has to let things come to him. Use CF/LCF instead of exclusively LF A 475-foot foul ball is just that - a mere strike.

See......losing Maggs won't be fatal. Hell, I'd rather have Evrett at 3.5 Mill than Magglio at 15

Yep, Twinkies were 5 games under .500 back in May-June and were ready to call it quits if Royal lead was to stretch to double-digits (or was it 12) at the ASB. This year Twins and Royals won't have as easy a schedule in August and September, so I am guessing 8 game lead at ASB and at least one of them cashes their chips. I am happy neither team is playing well, but their comebacks are alarming. It may mean they are ready to OVER-achieve once more and stay in the haunt until the end. Hope we beat their brains in head-to-head and put it out of reach.

Hey, I thought I'd reference Heather Lee's wonderful sig once more. Good times!

Considering astute Sox fans were screaming for JR and KW to cut their losses with Rowand, Borchard, Wright, Porzio, Koch, Rios and White back in May.........There is NOTHING hindsight 20/20-ish about this. It could have been done (as later proved with Sullivan, Alomar, Everett, etc) for cheap as to not dent JR's wallet all that much. It was supreme idiocy on his part to play the low-as-you-can-go payroll game during that time. Chairman got burned big-time -- poor 1st half was too much to overcome, missing postseason and pissing off a BUNCH of fans. You really think that, don't you? Sox only went 15 games over .500 in the span of 1.5 months after making the much needed acquisitions before running out of gas..........No, there is absolutely no reason to believe Sox would have won even 1 extra game had the moves been made a month or two prior to that point, when the team was hopelessly floundering against the likes of Detroit, Cleveland and SD. Poor baby is tired.......How about this: TALENT = WINNING and MONEY = TALENT Can you make the connection? And such chutzpah re: NY -- what rock have you been hiding under when the Yankees made 6 World Series appearances in 7 years? Or when Atlanta Braves won their division 12 straight years, with multiple World Series appearances? How about Indians owning ALC and making WS in 1995 and 1997 when they were 2 outs away from winning it? And Mets were in the WS as recently as 2000. Giants -- in 2002........When was the last time WHITE SOX were in the WS? Oh yeah, like it did last year, right......Oh wait, SOX MISSED THE PLAYOFFS, didn't they. Yes, those Yankees are just seething with envy, aren't they? It's 65 Million, and yes it CAN be that bad -- Devil Rays split the 4-game set with the Yankees as well, so it don't mean s***.

I would hardly call that irrational. Colon was asked to be the ace that he was in 2002 and that he is so far in 2004......in the lightest-hitting division in AL no less.....Instead he barely cleared the 4.00 ERA mark. Two extra wins would have put the Sox over the top come September. He didn't come through. Give me ONE good reason why I should like Bartolo for that. Mark Buerhle and Garland didn't have all that great a season either in 2003, but they were making 6 times less than Colon combined, so the expectations weren't the same -- nor is the blame distributed equally.

What fans? Sox barely drew 1.9 Mill with all of the awesome promotions when the team won 95 games -- and did it in exciting fashion. Nobody cared other than the die-hards and you can't fill out a stadium only with them. It's clear that unless a team is winning consistently, you won't see Sox fans come out on regular basis, Magglio or not. IMO, the team will be better off without Magglio's 70/75 Mill contract just as it will be betteer off without Lee's 8 Mill (in 2005), without Valentin's 5, without Kock's 6.3, Konerko's 8.5, etc, etc. Bring on Sweeney for 1.5 Mill over 4 years.

If you don't like the % look at it this way: Bonds makes 20 while Giants payroll is 85-90 Mill. That means they have 65-70 Mill to spend on supporting crew. Say Magglio does get a 5/75 deal he wants.....With SanFran's excellent attendance and their (relatively) magnanimous owner, they could lose 100 games this year and they STILL draw 3.5 Mill in 2005, so Bonds' salary will never be a big burden as future payrolls will be high. And Bonds, mind you, is twice the player (talking on- and off-the field value here) Maggs is, and is only signed for, what, 1 year. So if he craps out in 2004 SanFran won't pay anywhere near 20 Mill in upcoming years and will spend that cash on somebody else if need be. With Magglio, you could get a 1000 OPS season as easily as a 900 one. Gone are the days when 900 OPS (his career is 890) RF'ers with limited marketability are getting 5/75 -- even King Vlad didn't get that from a team with a 100 Mill payroll (Angels). So it's not inconceivable for Magglio to be making 15 Mill a year while the Sox payroll is 50 -- hell even if it's 70, it's still no good, and there is no guarantee JR will spend 70 Mill year in and out -- he has never once done it. It's not even a question of Magglio's worth (12-13 Mill), but rather can - no, should - the WHITE SOX pay him up.........If Frank has an MVP year and demands a 3 year/42 Mill contract, I will say the same thing.

Oh yeah.....why didn't I think of that outcome myself......this JR fella was right, I take back everything I've ever said about his and KW's blunders. Except not really.

I liked how Carlos hit that Mussina curve into the RCF for a big double. 2 years ago, he would have tried to pull it and produced a pop up.

Then screw him. I just realized he makes so much money that even 40% is close to 7 Mill. In JR's world that's too much even if it guaranteed the Title.....and given Unit is 40 going on 41, coming off cartilage removal......foget it.

OK, so the payroll is 65, not 68. That's still a 28% increase from last year's OD. Last year, Twins were stronger, obviously it took more talent to beat them.....Sox hosted the ASG for the first time in 70 years.....and that special connection to 1983 and 1993 teams......WHY WASN'T THAT 28% SPENT LAST YEAR WHEN SOX NEEDED IT MORE? JR = what was he thinking?

The Great Coloni is a piece of work, isn't he? Has a career year in 2002. Is nothing special with the Sox in 2003 So far great with the Angels facing same offense that lit him up when he was a Sox Where was all this excellence LAST year when Sox could have used it, Phatolo? I wish you all the bad luck in the world -- may the bloopers forever fall in and may green hamburga monster nightmares continue to haunt your ass. :fyou

Does anyone know if Wright's velocity and movement was back during spring training? At his most successful (late 2002), Danny was consisently in the 92-94 zone with two types of movement. I remember him making Delgado look silly on just a fastball. No it seems he has to rely on that subpar change-up more -- Bubba burned him on a 3-1 batting practice floater in the wheelhouse -- Wright telegraphed it too. Is he completely healthy from the elbow ailment is what I am saying?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/salaries?team=chw Who is this 52yo Jerry Hairston?

Todd Helton for Konerko? I think Helton is signed long-term, though. The problem with him and Delgado is that they both are making 18 Mill a year. Unit is cheaper and is a horse. He would start twice in ALDS and 3 times in ALCS. Arizona is a 500 team. Throw them 2-3 prospects in July, pay 40% of his salary and I think it's doable....Which is not to say JR will pay, but at least it makes sense.

On one hand, Sox have clearly looked sharper than either rival; you just know that in 2003, we could have easily started the season 1-5 if were had to play Yanks (without Sheffield, Vasquez, Gordon, A-Rod!) in April. So that's a good sign. And Harris, Valentin, Thomas, Crede, Rowand, Marte haven't even gotten goiing yet. But then....well, we sort of DID get beat by the Twins for 3 straight years now, ya know? Until I see Sox go on a 2000-esque 10-1 run and things clicking on all cylinders.....I'll be keeping an eye out on the scoreboard. Twins nor Royals must not be allowed to come anywhere near 1st place at the ASB because then they might start dumping Beltran, Stewart, etc.... As far as which starter to get at the deadline.....Why not Randy Johnson? Is he washed-up yet? He'll cost more than Keep Wells, but come on who would rather start Game 1 of ALDS against the Red Sox?

I prefer "passionate" but angry works too Excellent avatar, btw.

Dean Martin vs. toy godzilla Discuss.

No. Nothing is over until we - no, I - say it is. I don't disagree - as made clear in my post. Both have been solid so far. If they are great this year, fantastic, there will be much to be enjoyed..... but 2003 could have been something very special, and I wll never forget how much those two headcases let me and the entire franchise down.