BrandoFan

Excellent idea, Tizzle. I think we could use Cotts against lefties and Danny against righties. Or is it vice versa? Seriously though....from what I've seen his pitching so far this year, I am pleasantly surprised. Not sure how that would translate to rotation perfomance, but anything could better that the meatballs Danny was lobbing there -- Bubba, Sheffield -- literally batting practice on hitter friendly counts, no less..... :puke So um yeah.....Go Neal.

Great minds....That's priceless.

I'll tell you this much: if Frank, Maggs and Konerko keep swinging like this (as Jessica Alba would say, to senna feel), Sox will be in good shape offensively, to say the least. Damn Yankees rigging the air conditioning like that :headshake

Not as difficult as scalping a ticket buyer.

I think Crede and Harris are more important because unlike Lee, you just don't know what you will get from them. Sox need Crede to put up 810-825 OPS badly. It would make Konerko or Valentin that much more effective in the 6 hole.

Not good enough.

You don't need to sell me on the "most prospects don't pan out" because such fundamental concept goes without saying. I do wonder just what makes Diaz more suited for ML job than Rauch. The Jon at least was once a great ML pitcher who when healthy made Minnesota hitters silly. Diaz has had a good mL career so far, but I fail to see how he is better. He had a great outing 2 days ago. But will it be enough for a 4.25-4.50 ERA in the majors?

Firstly, Diaz wasn't that impressive last year. Also....yes, since he doesn't have Pedro's control, he WILL need a third pitch. How many successful two-pitch starters you know? Matt Clement? But Clement has an excellent slider when he is healthy so he'll able to compensate -- how is Diaz's breaking ball? I want Wright gone from the 5-spot, but if he is going to be replaced by another 5.00+ ERA rookie, he might as well stay.,

Grilli and Diaz and Pacheco and Reed and Borchard are all making a solid case for themselves, Now Rauch need to catch up. Sox have a 5th starter opening....whhich motherf***a wants it bad enough?

I thought one needed more than 2 ML-caliber pitches to succeed in the majors as a starter.

Given how embarassinly low it was last year (50 Mill in a historical year while the division was up for grabs? that is as far from "commitment to winning" as it gets for big market teams....the damn league average is 70 Mill), increasing it 20 Mill is not that big of a stretch. . 2002-2004 ALC is the weakest division since the inception of, well, divisions. If you're looking for 100% guarantees, then go into the soap-making business. ALC is as close to "guaranteed" as it comes in baseball. Try competing in the ALE or NLC and you'll see the difference. . As last year showed, it might be TOO LATE. Remember, if they are in 1st place, KC and Twins won't stand pat and will be very active at the deadline, too -- and I'll take their GM's over KW any day of the week. Last year, moves HAD to be made in May as Koch, White, Rowand, Borchard and Wright were killing the team. Instead, the help arrived July and August. In the end, this delay was the difference between making postseason and not. He'll reap what he has sown. If this s*** goes on for another 5-7 years, you couldn't pay alienated fans enough to come to the park. JR will lose the battle -- as he's been losing it for two decades now. Cubs are on the rise, threatening to cement its stranglehold on the city.....and this jerkwad is counting pennies.

If only it was as simple as that, there wouldn't be the need to play the games. On one hand, yes 5-1 was within reach. In fact, if Aaron Rowand liner in the 2nd against Vasquez goes a few feet further, Sox could have won that game as well. But given how little luck Sox usually have....and the level of competition faced......I'll take 3-3 and hope we get on a serious f***ing roll in the home stand. I know that aftrer going up against Vasquez, Mussina, Contreras, Gordon, Rivera, Jeter, A-Rod, Sheffield, Giambi, Posada, Bernie, Matsui in THEIR house.....it could only get easier from now.

Adkins doesn't have the pin-point control OR a third pitch to be a productive starter. BUT... as a reliever.....95-97mph fastball and a solidbreaking ball....tolerable control....he can't be much worse than Rich White Trash. I hope.

Hey, as Ozzie says, beaver does taste better when you win.

You know what? I will never forgive Koch (Konerko) for 2003. BUT.....As long as he doesn't fall behind 2-0/3-0/3-1 on every batter, right now his stuff is goon enogh to be a set-up man. Santiago's double was a function of a 3-1 count -- if it were a 2-2 count it would have been a foul ball or swing and miss. Marte is still our closer when 2 or more lefties are coming up and Politte when 2 or more righties. Give me Koch's attitude over The Royce's, Navarro's or Parqua's.

What about Rauch?

KW is JR's puppet, even more so than other GMs are their owners' puppets when it comes to sticking to a set budget. It's a reality. It's been 86 years, LDF. And with the stupid-ass, financially "safe" philosophy you've just described, it will be another 86 years. No wonder Sox lost a third of its fan-base in the last 20 years. I don't speculate when I state FACTS -- 2003 payroll was OBSCENELY low all things considered. JR can spin it any way he pleases. The entire friggin' season was lost because of it. Same old song and dance. Cheapness costs you BIG-TIME, especially when you don't have a great GM running the team. Ironically, it's bad for business, too. Imagine that. The smart thing would have been to spend 2-3 Mill more on much needed 5th starter and Rick White's replacement. Sox most likely make playoffs. Extra money is made, which allows Sox to retain one of the FA we lost and be a better team this year, with much more eager ticket-holders and more media attention. Who knows, had the Sox won, maybe Minnesota wouldn't have even bothered bringing Shane Stewart back because they wouldn't think they had much chance this year. Same with KC and Juan Gone.......Division could be a cake walk right now -- just as it was for the Indians in the 90's.

Agree on 2B. Willie would have made a great pinch-runner today in the 9th. Right now Roberts has gotten to a slow start, I am not sure as to Hairston's status, but KW should have more than enough to make that deal. CF? I am ok with Rowand/Perez combo for now. Ideally, you'd want to upgrade at every position, but it's not a high priority. Pitching........I would love for Sox to go after Randy Johnson before the deadline. Throw Arizona good prospects and he won't cost more than 4-5 Mill for the final 2 months of the season. Unit-Elo-Buerhle is something that could very well get you the WS. Then try to get Urbina from Detroit -- another 1-2 Mill at the most. Sox are literally 6-7 Mill away from being a true World Series threat.

How can you believe ANYTHING JR says re: micro-managing? Whay has he ever done to earn your trust? Secondly.....there was NO money to spend because JR set a budget and refused to deviate from it NO MATTER how much Sox neeeded. Period. Don't speculate on what might have been done had a golden oppuritunity presented itself. Look at what WASN'T done and draw conclusions.

Dude....what are you talking about? It doesn't matter that Shamy and Barry were on the juice; their "value" to their teams didn't suffer because of that. They are/were superstars back in 1998-2001 -- were putting up great numbers on the field and getting fans into park/selling jerseys like crazy. And yet, neither would get as much as they got from a small-market team like the Sox. Maggs would have to put up Bonds' numbers if he wants to get what he is looking for from the money-tight White Sox. Let him go to Dodgers or Yankees for all I care.

Come on, LDF, Knnny is not a good GM, but even HE probably was pushing for more help. There was no money to spend, plain and simple. Even the Everett/Alomar deals in July, Sox only spend a few 100K, preferring instead to give up the farm, literally...........REINDORF, in all his empty promise glory, f***ED UP -- tried to win at the CHEAPEST possible price and it BACKFIRED big-time. Sox should have won that division by 5-10 games even they make the right moves when Minny was down and out for a while.....Damn, just thinking about what could have been makes my skin crawl. I am not talking about getting Kip Wells or Randy Johnson. Just a decent #5 and a decent long reliver. By May, everyone was sounding alarms re: Wright, White and Koch and yet they were allowed to BURY the team. JR wasn't about to spend an extra mill or three on good players..... I don't know about you, but if it's between making the playoffs and getting your fans back to the park but giving up Arnie Munoz or Feliz Diaz......and keeping them and fizzling out like we did.....I'll take the former. These chances don't come often. From Todd Ritchie and Billy Koch to Willie Harris season-killing "bargains"......It ALL goes back to Reindorf. Everything.

St. Ray of Durham legacy lives on

Is it though? Remember how damn close Sox came to postseason last year? He refused to spend just a mill on Urbina (Marlins later got him for peanuts) come July once it became clear Koch and White were worthless and were blowing games left and right. Everyone was begging him to get a fairly cheap journeyman starter at the Break -- he would take place of Wright/Cotts/Porzio Sure Loss Trio in the 5-spot and maybe come up with a much needed extra win or two. It literally came down to a game or two in September -- if as a result of those small acquisitions, Sox were leading Minny by, say, 4 games instead of 2 when they faced them at USCF, I believe Twins would have been more desperate and Sox would have hung on to the lead in the end. Face it, Reindorf sold us all out for a measly 2 Million in the historical All-Star year. Knowing what you know of his 20+ year tenure, there is NO guarantee that he will keep future payrolls above 55-60 Mill -- if that. Sox must win, win, win, win this year. Otherwise, what's the point of re-signing Maggs if the team will be in a semi-rebuilding mode in 2005 and beyond?

No.

No to Adkins. Cotts has looked good, but as Danny Wright has shown, bullpen and starting rotation are two different things. What pissed me off the most was that Danny was pitching like crap up until he gave up the homer....And then when the damage is already done, he gets a couple of beautiful curves over to the next batter -- it's like, WHY couldn't you do that to Crosby? He would've struck out, inning over. It's a mental thing I guess.