BrandoFan

3 Elf 2 LOTR 3 1 Bad San'a. All time? Crouching Tiger 3 years ago.

1) You feel sorry for me? That coupled with the first two sentences that follow it tells me everything I need to know.....STATS, Inc scouts.....ok........And if you knew ANYTHING about anything about the Sox, you'd KNOW that Valentin did NOT imprve with Robbie's arrival but was already on something of a 1 error-in-20-games streak BEFORE Robbie even came in. Valentin was always capable of making a spectacular play and he is a very effective DP man, but lazy footwork and over stride on throws to 1st produced too many routine mistakes (even if they did cost the Sox most of the time- you can check the logs). Since Raphael SANTANA started to DEMAND asnwers from Jose after every mistake and suggested some corrections (lower arc on throws, attacking the ball, the basic stuff Valentin wasn't doing), right up until the last couple of games where Valentin relapsed a little, he went sometihng like 4 months (mid may to mide Sep) with something like 7 or 8 errors, looking like a completely different SS....And age? You'd be suprised but sure-handedness actually improves as players age even if at the expense of range (and Valentin was at the top of all SS in ZR since May, finishing 2nd overall)...........But enough is enough, I am all talked out on this issuem, think what you want. 2) Trust YOU? Why? Because you listen to what HAWK supposedly heart Jose say? I don't doubt Jose is stubborn, and he may screw up his overall numbers by insisting on hitting RH even though in the last 2 years his RH OPS is like 475 or some equally ghastly number....He WILL SIT either way, but at least with respect to LH-hitting-LHP, he stands a flying CHANCE of succeeding where as from the right side, he can barely hold a bat right let alone hit anything good... 3) Dodgers want to keep him cause they traded Quantrill and Mota is still realtively cheap and has good stuff, which I already complimented him on.....Still, you have to look at the WHOLE of Guillermo Mota, not just 2003. He is gonna be 31, not 24. 4) They way he pitched away from Safeco, he is a 4.00-450 pitcher at USCF.....Unless Coop can solve his mechancs AND his attitude AND his weight AND his alleged drug addiction....And who died and made Coop a great pitching coach? My god, talk about overrating people! 5) You don't know what I read or where. By all accounts Ponson might just stay in Baltimore for 3/16 than sign for the Sox for 3/18 even if the latter is straight-uo and not deferred...........HEY, if I am wrong I am wrong 6) You think Koch salary dump is easy? Thomas is relativey inexpensive and now that Maggs is gone, don't f*** with him and fans who love the most exciting slugger in Sox long history........ 2B NO MONEY FOR DAMON RF THIS IS MAJOR LEAGUES AND HE'S YET TO SEE ONE PITCH...GEEZUS. DH "950 OPS and clutch RISP" good or just plain good? Big difference. LF He didn't improve in 2001 or 2002....NO way he is 18 for 20 in SB again either 1B Yes, he will be. No point in dealing him where he has no value. Audition him. 3B Wait until he does it for the WHOLE year, from a 6-hole at that. CF You can forget about Mr. 8 Mill/multiple years, mediocre offense in last 3 years SS Dealt....unless Koch and Konerko are dumped which I don't see. C How the f*** do you know? Unbelievable. Perez IS a left-handed Garland. 3.50 ERA from a closer great? You meant "pretty good" I hope? Dude, Royals were LONG INJURIES TO KEY PLAYERS away from winning 88+ games last year. They lost Ibanez....and gain Stairs who MURDERS RHP.....Anderson who is better than Perez when you take the latter out of Dodger stadium and certainly better than most Royal starterKAST season.......Lescnic (sp) was nothing but solid for them and should be thre a FULL year this itme.....Mondesi will platoon with Tucker/Guile, making all 3 more effective.........Santiago is better than Mayne...........Graffainino MURDERS LHP, so he will be their super-platoon at 2B where they got next to nothing from Febles last year........rookie McGougal and Berroa should be a bit better, too.....And the Royals are NOT done yet, they are still looking for ONE more starting rotation piece that would make them a 90-win club in ALC............Pessimistic? No, I just realize where optimism over the last tow years has led to........Call it realism, whatever you want.

I think Steff is talking about Sox Queen, NOT The Most Likely to Streak in Front of One. Aw thanks you've earned it......with that outstanding job you did getting me my daily, um, painkillers at the gas-station. No seriously, Critic, I know it for a FACT your name was up for at least 3 categories....

I stand corrected. On the first part anyway. Now Sox are gonna sending Garciappara to LA or is LA connection over because no-givey Mota? If the latter, what other team is vying for Nomar, I don't see Sox keeping him for salary reasons, does anyone? If they do keep him, he is an equal replacement for Maggs, big name and is 2.5 Mill cheaper. This off-season more big-time MLB activity than in previous ones in seems. It's only December.... Valentin is next, I suppose.

That's exactly right. (Of course if Royal and especially Twin owner TRULY wanted to win, they could matain 100 Mill payrolls for 10 years and still make money of their asset interest.) PS WS10682, when did you embrace the quote system? You're so deft at it, a natural. 2PS What are Eric Milton's terms with Phillies? Thanks.

I had him at 23-25 with some money deferred/in insentives. Close enough.

1. Magglio is both an above average defensive RF AND an above average baserunner, probably the best running clean up hitter in AL. He wasn't quite as good in 2003 in those areas as he was before, but let's not pretend we are talking about Ben f***ing Grieve here. Johnny Damon is an average defensive CF. The only edge comes from Garcippara being a better fielder than Valentin, but they were pretty damn equal in 2003, with Valentin outranking Nomar in peripherals most of his career.......Again, Nomar's slight advantage and the fact that Damon is a CF does = to "slightly better defense", but it's NOWHERE near as crucial as you make it sound. This is not Tonny Graffanino to A-Rod, Brian Daubach for Torii Hunter type of defensive upgrade, not even close. 2. Valentin has 2 choices: either settle for about 650 OPS from left side against LHP (thus pushing his cumulative OPS well over 800) and PLAY....OR insist on hitting from the right side and SIT.......Especially in Seattle where they know the value of "sitting unproductive players down". 3. Mota is gonna be 31 and he's had ONE in his career where he WASN'T terrible. Sorry, as good as he was in 2003, that spells "high risk". And then of course you adjust for Dodger stadium being pitcher friendly...Again, like his stuff, but let's not get carried away here. Odalis Perez? Have you SEEN his home-away splits and career numbers? This dude is gonna get 4.5+ in arbitration, not exactly cheap. 4. The way Garcia pitched in 2002-2003, I don't want him (esp. away from Safeco), his salary OR his cancer-esque attitude......And the way he pitched in 2001, why would they give him up for overpaid Valentin? 5. 3/18? He rejected 3/21 offer from Baltimore, his home city. With Bartolo signing for nearly 13 mill (over 4 years no less), I am not sure he signs for less than 7/7.5 mill per, which means that whatever sum you saved on Maggs's trade to LA goes to toward signing a #3 pitcher Ponson. 6. Nobody is gonna give you Garciappara even at 12+ Mill a year. Trade with Boston means NO saving money on Ponson and no Mota/Perez as well. This is what you have: 2B Harris (bad O, average D) RF Reed (average O, average D) DH Thomas (at 36) LF Lee (good O, average D) 1B Konerko (average O, average D) 3B Crede (average O, above average D) CF Rowand (average O, average D) SS Uribe (below average O, above average D) C Olivo (bad O, good D) Loaiza (3.50 ERA) Burhle (3.85) Ponson (3. 85) Garcia (4.25) Perez (4.35) Marte (2.50) Mota (3.00) Willimson (3.50) Wunsht (3.00) Koch (5.50) Wright/Garland (4.00) Knowing how Minnesota reloads every year (they already dumped their overpayed bums) and has our number psychologically..........and considering KC's improvement (remember they won 83 games last year despite having Hernandez, Sweeney, Beltran, Randa OUT for a longass time....now they're healthy, and they have Mondesi, Stairs, Santiago, Anderson, Sullivan, Lescanic and Graffanino who KILLS left handed pitching as a fine utilitiy guy to boot)........ DUDE, the above is a 75-win team despite a good bullpen unless you get miracles like Thomas having another 950 OPS season, Lee driving in 115 runs again, etc. in which case they win about 83-86, which means second place instead of third. Big deal, the team is still gonna be gutted at year's end.

I don't know, he just can't seem to beat his man one-on-one. If he could beat a man off the dribble and penetrate at will, teams'll start double teaming him more and he'll have Chandler, Curry, Crawford/Gill and Pippen WIDE open.

Mercilessly. On a different note, Admin of the Year race is much closer than anticipated. Any minute now.

1. Garciappara + Damon = 2 Mill more more than Valentin + Maggs. Both are sgined beyond 2004, too, no? 2. You don't improve offensively if Valentin hits LHP from left side which by all indication he will (his 780 OPS includes 400 OPS from RH- he could bunt for higher from LH) be forced to if he wants to start. Magglio is every bit as good as Nomar offensively and Valentin- Damon (whatever advantage Jose has in the last 3-year OPS Damon offsets by having more steals). Defensively, it's an upgrade I agree but not a big one by any means.....Why are we arguing about this non-trade which doesn't benefit us any again? 3. Perez and Moto are grossely and somewhat overrated respectively away from Ravine. If you think you're getting Zito and Soriano in those two yahoos, you're in for a not-so-pleasant surprise. If it's salary dump, you are saving about 8 Mill on deal fater Perez goes through arbitraion, but again you're getting inferior talent and are giving away one of the most popular Sox players in recent memory, albeit one coming off an unspectacular year. 4. Valentin for Garcia is doable, sure. Both have upsides and both can be pretty damn mediocre. The problem is, Valentin just turned 34 and may have 2-3 years left in him tops. Are Mariners THAT desperate tro give up a talented pitcher? 5. Who told you Ponson is coming? He he'll want 7-8 Mill a year, so that effectively takes care of Maggs trade savings. Meanwhile you're gonna have Carlos Lee as your clean-up guy and Joe Crede as your #6. With Everett, Ordonez and Alomar gone, and Frank a year older, you're gonna have a BAD (Sox were ranked 8th or 9th in AL WITH them lasy year) offensive team with an average pullpen and good (not great) starting pitching. Unless Garcia and Burhle rediscover their former glory, that is an 75-78 win team. Third place.

21 Mill dollars worth of salary we can't pay right there......heck yaaaaa!!!!!! indeed.

A huge-ass chunk of votes that would put me over the top is due to arrive from da Motherland any moment now. Your ass is grass, DHAH0. Booooo-yaaaa!

Watch Redman get less than half of what Mark Burhle got...

That outback-billy? HA!

1. Damn straight 2. Consider the source. 3. What DO you want to see, cw? 4. You're looking for logic and vision in one of the most bizarre and irratioional franchises in sports. I sometimes wonder if JR koows ANYTHING about ANYTHING and if the rumors about JR-Kenny-Hurt-Ozzie are even close to being true. 5. That was when Frank was by all accounts washed up...Can you imagine what will happen if he AND Maggs are moved....Uprising is the worst sense of the word. Guilerma Mota and Brian Daubach couldn't begin to alleviate the situation. 6. I didn't want Ozzie, but after seeing one of the most will-less and fundamentaly ill-prepared chokers in 2001-2003, I was ready for just about anybody....Why would Guillen say what he did during PC? KW told him to? 7. KW is a petty and arrogant creature, true control freak. How many players did you see come to the Sox during his tenure who were willing to give Latroy Hawkins' type discount? I don't think his job is easy, but he makes it even harder on himself.

Nah, I better not, otherwise I'll never break the 2nd place tie with that crazy Brazilian. (I knew not voting for myself will bite me in the fanny). Besides, Texsox already went over it....Again,

Common Murcie, crack one more of your patented R-raters....I believe you can do it.

I have a funny story about that... Talk about blessing in disguise.

There are several posters here who waited longer than you, junior. I don't think these people want "now-now-now anything as long as it's now". I think they want to get as much talent for Magglio as possible and use the freed up cash together with extra 10 Mill or so of payroll money to dramatically imprive starting rotation. The last thing anyone want to see is MORE cheap grinders (in place of Magglio, Frank no less) while everybody else in the majors and their gramma are getting Everett, A-Rod, Vazquez, Colon, Millwood, Shilling, Foulke, Juan Gonzalez, Wagner, Ramirez, Batista, Ponson, Fullmer, Cameron, Garciappara, Sexton, Giles, Lee, Tejada, Maddux, Hawkins, Guardado, Palmeiro, Stairs, Ibanez, Matsui, Sheffield, I-Rod, Guerrero, etc, etc, etc This smack of another no-attempt attempt at winning ALC which will inevitably result in more failure and heartbreak.....and we'll (no, YOU'll be, I won't) be back here b****ing about payroll and wallowing in OTHER teams' rumors. Only this time it won't be 58 Mill, but 48 and even less chance at doing anything in 2005..... 86 years and counting....tick-tock.

Maggs is coming off a prettty "average" Magglio year. I believe he can rebound to 950+ OPS/120 RBI-type produiction in 2004, and as pennant races are heating up and playoff buyers come out of woodwork, Sox will either get a lot of top prospects for him if they're out of it in ALC (heaven help us) or get ML-ready talent. Same goes for Konerko whose typical April outburst may just raise his value. Koch? dumb him as soon as possible, he is done.

If only the guy had ANY firsy step quickness to beat point guards of the dribble, then he could penetrate ala Iseah Thomas and set up up looks for Crawford, Curry, Pipp, Gill and Co. I mean I;ll take John Stockton in his prime dribbling, anything.

As per Peter Boyle in MB, if you can't split some black oak...

bump

What, no Roberts or Gagne? Weird.

Lleyyon Hewitt is a punk. Go Agassi!