BrandoFan

That chance you take - there are no guarantees in life or in baseball. No problem in getting Garcia whatsoever - in fact I think I had him (and Glavine) as Sox' biggest need in damn near every trade-related post. My problem is with giving up Miguel - Reed I could live with, but Miguel? That was only done because Sox waited a month too long and had to start out-bidding people. That month is worth a little more than 1 Mill of Garcia's salary Sox would have needed to pick up in order to avoid giving up TWO big-time talents...... I still can't get over this - I've thought Sox wouldn't trade Miguel for a rental player in a million years. Instead, they sold him out for a million bucks. :puke

Dude, it's called: 1. One step at a time. Even if we're kicked out of ALCS (which let's face it might happen when you have to go against Brown, Vasquez, Shilling, Pedro, Foulke, Rivera, Williamson, Gordon and their monster line-ups), that means we had a HELLAVA season in terms of attendance and revenues, esp if by some miracle Cubs fall out of contention.......Payroll will be raised in 2005, with Twins even weaker since Pohlad will not spend unless he sees a realistic chance of competing. That means Sox could build a DYNASTY and not just a 1-year thing we got going now. Think long-term - Braves did and they made 3 World Series and countless pennants. 2. I'd love to get Drew (although not if it means Kenny gets raped again) if we are to add another bat. Urbina is also a possibility. Beyond that....I mean unless we're getting a Randy Johnson - which of course won't happen in a million years.

KW is trying to protect himself and his boss. Scumbag. If his bastard puppet-master boss doesn't penny pinch in 2002-2003, there is at least 1 divisional title, higher attendance that comes with winning, more profit for 2004 - he doesn't have to count every measly 100K and could pay for Garcia earilier, which means Miguel stays and some minor leaguer takes his place. I am sorry, but an INTENSE catcher with a live (if raw) power bat, absolute gun for an arm and good speed, one who will be cheap for years to come and whose personality perfectly suits the clubhouse (Uribe, Willie, Jose, Damasso, Ozzie) and the spirit of Soxdom......My god, it didn't have to be this way. Freddy should have been had a month ago.

There was nothing wrong with Miguel's pitch calling - at least for a catcher playing in his second ML year. It's not his fault Buehle has been knocked around in 2003 and 2004 It's not his fault Schow doesn't have the talent to be a front-line pitcher. It's not his fault Garland has an erratic breaking ball and no heart It's not his fault Rauch/Diaz/Munoz/Wright/Stewart/Porzio had nothing last 2 years My god I wish Seattle hitting coach gets him to re-adopt and all-field approach.....This guy will be up there with Mauer in the next 5-7 years. Adding to Miguel Memory: his bases-loaded single against Minnesota last September that got us to a rolling start. Hawk was more excited on that 1st inning single than he was on Frank's 2-run walk-off homer against the Twins in July. He gunned Beltran out twice in one week last year. Do you think Ramirez makes an error today if Sandy is running instead of Miguel? Not bloody likely.

I don't care for the rhetoric - I want him back for the Cubs series. If it's a "scar tissue", then get the f*** on the field, football players play through pain - he's a big boy. If it's structural, then don't raise our hopes up.

You can send the pieces to our POS owner and his greasy-palmed fat cats partners. I wonder how much they saved by throwing in Miguel as opposed to a lesser prospect?

Still - Corey looked so determined, such a warrior sliding into 2nd.......Those two got him but good, esp Jose with his Phantom Leap.

Jeremy Reed I can live with, you had to outbid the Yankees, yadayadayda I still cannot believe they gave away Miguel. He's got but 1.5 years of ML experience, has struggled with RHP (tried pulling off too much instead off using his natural opposite field power - remember that homer off Pettite), has a gun for an arm and is fast runner. He is not even in his prime yet. And will be cheap until at least 2008. How much salary is Seattle picking up? I mean, my god they were gonna GET RID OF GARCIA ANYWAY, IT WAS A SALARY DUMP - how the f*** do you give up two of your biggest assets??? Jeremy Reed is a 370+ OBP player with a BUM wrist(s). Man, Brian Anderson, Ryan Sweeney and Joe Borchard better be super f***ing special. Cheap worthless scumbag of an owner. Freddy Garcia was available for at least a month, before Yankees even wanted him. My god, pay a Mill or two more and you got Freddy for much cheaper in terms of prospects. f***.

f*** no f*** no f*** no f*** no Stupid bastard cheap motherf***ers........f*** YOU, JR. Miguel is a f***ing stud and Reed too???? There better be a randy johnson inside Freddy Garcia. f***

Do you know what happens when Alou, Ramirez and Lee get sub-90 mph fastballs middle-in? It's not as simple as throwing inside. You have to have impecable control (Elo has been less than sharp this season and he knows it) and to have something ON the pitch that hitters fear, velocity or movement or both -- otherwise ML hitters are either gonna turn-n-burn or they'll keep taking the ball inside and wait for a hitter's count. Just as was the case with PRE-injury Rauch, E-Lo is not a fireballer but he's NOT a finesse pitcher, either. Both pitchers need to be in the low-90's on their fastball in order to set up location and breaking stuff. I still remember Rauch in 2002 abslotely dominating the 94-win Twin squad - he rushed it up there at 91-94 and his curve and slider were untouchable.

By the time he faced Yankees last year, they already knew he was a Cy Young candidate. He f***in' shut them down so bad, it hurt to watch. Pinpoint location, smooth motion, great command and 92-94 mph fastball that produced a lot of tardy swings, and once Yankmees started to cheat heat a little, E-Lo's change, slider and then-devastating cutter did the rest. He's just not the same pitcher this year - less arm speed, less velocity, less break on cutter, with change and slider less effective because of it. So now he's gotta stay away from the hitters more, there is less room for error - falls behind much more than he used to.......Without velocity, E-Lo is a #3 AT BEST. Let's f***ing see the pitcher who we're supposed to pay 7-8+ Mill a year for in the off-season.

Sorry but Cubs pretty much T-off on him today. 10 hits, 4 runs, a couple of line-outs and two mistakes that Todd Walker (would have been a 3 run homer) and Alou (2-run) caught off the end of the bat. To be blunt, offense won the game today. Look at Sosa's first HR: 88 mph, knee-high, middle-of-the-late fastball. Sosa's second bomb: 86 mph cutter that didn't cut thigh-high middle of the plate. Are you f***ing kidding me! Sosa has lost that vicious HOF quickness he had when he was 'roiding in 1998-2001 but he still has SCARY all-field power so godforbid should his bat catch up to your mediocre fastball. It happened twice today. You'd be suprised how much more effective his cutter, slider and change-up will be when/if he regains a 92-94 mph heat - he doesn't even have to throw it that often, but just to let hitters know that if they dare to sit on his off-speed stuff, he they will find themselevs in the 0-2 hole every at bat. And quite frankly Esteban's location hasn't been there this season, either. He is always falling behind, afraid of the bat as Hawk would say - he knows he doesn't have the stuff he had in 2003. I don't know what E-Lo problem is - it could be mechanical or it could be pharmaceutical

Where the f*** IS it! Sorry, but this guy cannot survive as a front-line starter with a 88-91 mph heat. Simple as that.

at least 460 feet.

Jose did what got him in trouble most of his career - he got super greedy on a 2-1 change up, and instead of depositing it to LCF gap for a 3-run double, he fouled it off. And once 2-2, Maddux threw a NASTY tailing pitch that would have been a strike AND it was pretty unhittable as Willie can attest. f***.;

Or not

Randy Johnson puts fans in seats and makes them tune in TV. Maggs doesn't. D-Backs will want to shed salary but why would they take on Maggs's 14 Mill when Danny Batista is having almost as good a season as Maggs? If Arizona trades Unit to a contending team that needs an ace, it would be for PROSPECTS. Giving up Jason Shmidt? San Fran is making a HUGE push for the playoffs, and once in the playoffs, Jason Schmidt becomes a big asset: he can pitch in Game 1 and 4 of NLDS and Game 1, 4 and 7 of NLCS. He is worth his weight in diamond-encrusted platinum. San Fran will get some line-up protection for Bonds alright, but it WON'T be 14-Mill-a-year Maggs. I bet they are looking at JD Drew, Finley and others as we speak - and they wouldn't have to give up Schmidt for them, either. I don't know about Perez - and I liked him a LOT before this season. Maggs was on pace to 140 RBI (and that considering he usually heats up during the summer, so he might have broken out for 150 RBI) before the collision in Cleveland in May. Who knows if he kicks his production up a notch playing for a contract. Unless that prospect is Edwin Jackson.......

Says he grew up as a Sox fan watching Ozzie a kid. TIFWIW

No. Cruz is having a mediocre year in Atlanta's pen and he bombed as a Cub. He is not THAT young. Give them couple of scrubs.

Larry Walker is an intriguing idea - it all depends how his batspeed is because with his less-than-great mechanics and a long swing path, his effectiveness will TANK if he succumbs to age-related loss of quickness. I guess the reason why I want Drew is that he is 3 times cheaper than L-Walk, is much younger, can actually play CF if need be (hopefully not if Konerko is traded and Lee is moved to 1B/DH) and run bases.

Marte? f*** no. Juan Cruz? f*** yeah. That kind of arm doesn't come along very often. I've seen him hit 96-98 while on the Cubs and his change made people look pathetic. Of course he is the MOTHER of all reclamation projects. Sincde he is still young and cheap, Sox would be KRAZY not to take a chance on him - as long as we don't give up anybody of worth for him. Then again, if Braves pitching coach couldn't "fix" Cruz, Sox have little chance. I still will take him as a throw-in, no doubt in my mind.

A) I am just going by the "conventional wisdom" here. I personally think Ortiz will be better than 4.50 ERA in ALC, but that doesn't mean Atlanta should get all pissy about getting the farm for him. B..) You never really know. Atlanta is firmly entrenched in 4th place, but Mets are Mets, Phillies are hugely underaichieving and have two important arms on DL, and Florida could be swept by the friggin' Devil Rays. I don't think Atlanta is good enough to beat the Marlins, but they may see it otherwise.......Again, even so, Braves shouldn't pretend Ortiz = big-time pitcher. C) Again...."lesser prospect" referred to prospect in A-ball. I am fully aware of Sweeney's potential, but that 340 Slug. % in A-ball clearly shows that he is AT LEAST 3 years away from really contributing at the ML level, and Atlanta might not see him as quite the next JD Drew esp if they have to wait a long while for him.

I cannot believe you're even asking this question, Jason. I'll just repost something from another thread:

Let's be honest here - when you hit 270 w. RO and RISP (inclduing only .230 with 2 outs), and a horrific .200 in 'Close and Late' situations - as he's done in 2001-2003 span - you shouldn't be considered a premiere run producer. See Griffey's 1997-1998.....Now THAT is a how a CF produces runs.