BrandoFan

Oh, common, it's not like Molina is disabled or anything like that. In fact, he is gainfully employed as a used-car salesman as we speak.

*ahem*Ben Christensen*cough*

No s***. It's like that early 20s dude at Comiskey chasing a foul ball that rolled under one of the seats along with a bunch of kids and teens...and in the process knocking down a 10yo (I mean, he literally threw him aside and the father of the child did nothing even though he must have seen it...) who would have gotten to the ball first. The dude proceeded to cockily display the ball to the crowd...Meet LDF

This has the making of a great PM...

If my opinion counts, I don't think Steff is a b**** at all. And it's not for the lack of heated arguements either..lol. That's below the belt.

Runner gets picked off, Konerko smokes a grounder right at Vizquel early with runners on, Rios lines out, Jimenez is robbed of a 2-run single, Valentin misses a homer by 3 feet for an out...Can anything go right today? Did I mention Jimenez shattering his bat on a 2-0 count to make an out? Or Westbrook looking like a Cy Young Umpire called a BS strike 2...and Olivo just smoked the ball right at LF Check that, Jose misses another homer by getting just under the 3-1 pitch from the right side for a towering out...did I mention 2 runners were on? Unreal.

Valentin doubles, Maggs walks on 4 pitches and what does Konerko do? Hint: runner at 3rd, two outs

Rios gets picked off 2nd with 1 out. Hafner robs Jimenez of a two-run single with two outs after Grffanino got hit with a pitch and Olivo reached on infield single which was thrown away by 3B putting runners at 2nd and 3rd. Olivo hurt his back a bit but stayed in the game and it's starting to rain. Not looking good. 5-0 Tribe. Noone is afraid of Garland and unless he can trick them and hit his spots like a finesse pitcher, he is toast.

Garland is terrible. Hanging curves and change-up, dismal slider and no control with a fastball. Our hitters are beating everything into the ground, except for Carlos who harmlessly poped up to CF after swinging at everything in sight. At least Jimenez worked the walk. 4-0 Indians in the 2nd.

We are having troubles with really bad teams right now. In 4 or whatever weeks we'll coming off a very tough stretch. Coming back under .500 would be disasterous. Aaron and Paulie better fix it this week and same goes for Frank and Crede. Olivo is the only one who gets a pass.

I seriously doubt they are being treated worse than they were under Charles Comiskey and his ilk. Let's face it, this a player's (ok, players and actor's) world and we're just living in it. Whatever they were doing to Ray, he was still a multi-millionaire before he turned 30. I cannot shed a tear for him unless it has something to do with race and I sincerely doubt it in this sport (golf, hockey, tennis, ice skating? sure...but baseball in 21st century, in Chicago at that? ).

Try me. Then again, if it in any way puts you or this site in any kind of jeopardy, don't. I also liked Ray a lot., believe me. Before Jose came along and after Belle left , he was my favorite hitter (Siro was favorite pitcher)

You're one cool gal, Steff...but you need to realize that it takes more than "cool gal-ness" to change my mind Cool. I guess I was wrong again, it's becoming a trend.

You're right, I didn't figure in the merchandise, food, parking, etc. Still it's probably not going to exceed 8-10 million. Half-price Mondays-Tuesdays subtract from that $40 average. Now if we'are talking about extra million fans (if Sox pull a Minnesota in playoffs 2002), then $30-40 per fan becomes something very substancial. Certainly enough to get Vlad and retain Colon...and fill up Chairman's pockets aplenty. You also can't compare Vladimir to Belle in terms of popularity and marketability. Not even close. He could give Sammy run for his money.

Is there a third option? BTW Albert Belle was my favorite player while with the Sox. "DimaAl88" was my moniker for 2 years...Which of course didn't prevent me from taunting him whenever we went to games in 1998. He was sitting in that little chair in the corner between railing and clubhouse before each at bat...lol, still have a picture of him staring back at us with that vicious glare...So what really happened to that woman, Steff? Are you her?

He'll be looking for 5 year, 65+ Mill a year if he wins 20 and keeps ERA under 3.25. He's gone. Make it 28 Million if he wins 20 games. .... Frank of 2002 is not worth it. Frank of 2000 becomes a FA , sticks it to the Sox and looks for 10 million a year at least. You think many teams will want a below-average defensive player who has turtle speed and doesn't walk whole a lot and gets 8 Million a year? Lee will make about 6 in arbitration and is worth more to the Sox because of his potential than to other teams. It will take more than KW's talents as a GM to not only unload them but to get some talent back. Either way some fans will think it's White Flag II 'cuase kiddies lurve Paulie and Carlos... ... We've had Maggs on the cheap for for years and we couldn't win. Now our time has run out and we must pay up the second most popular player and one who is just entering his prime seemingly. Fair is fair. He has family to support. After 2004 is another story, but the way he is playing right now, only an idiot would turn down 5 million. No chance. Is 7 years, 100-150 million reason enough? I couldn't care less about Chairman's money, but reality being what it is...unless our attendance goes over 2.8M this year, you can forget about Vladimir. Albert Belle cost 11 Million (plus insurence). Extra 200, 000 fans might bring in 3 million. Do the math. Ha? If Garland, Rauch, Cotts, Wright/Diazm Crede, Olivo, Jimenez, Valentin, Marte, Glover, Wunsht, etc perform as the should and avoid injuries (not guarantees), yes the team will be good for 105-110 lol

[Cue the 60's sitcom music]

1998 ring a bell? It was like in all the newspapers, no?

once went out to make a pitching change and realized halfway through that noone was actually warming up in the BP? LOL...I need a new keyboard!

Andy Gonzalez is 19 and, frankly, will probably never match Jose's overall output. If he does, IMO it won't be until like 2010, lol Let's fact it, Jose will probably be as good as he is now until 2006 or maybe even later. Who knows he may even become better ala Vizquel...Yes, 5 million is a bit of money, but if you want to build a dynasty it's peanuts. Besides, I think Jose will give the Sox a discount past 2004, say, 2 years/ 6.5 million. Vladimir Guerrero and Maggs would cost a pretty penny but think of how many fans in a big market/nationally it will bring. Suddenly, they will be hailed as the best 3-4 in baseball with all the resultant hype...which means even more fans, some converted Cubbie ones who are always looking for a winner. Of course Frank and his 5-6 million would have to go and so would Slownerko and his 8 M to make room...I bet St, Louis would love to have him instead of Tino Martinez or even San Franciso, etc. Pipe dream I know (knowing what we know of JR), but thinking big is a real fan's luxury.

Yeah, but Skinny McFreak has wrists of steel and a ton of batspeed. In Yankee sandbox he will routinely slugg 550-600 whereas DJ will be an OBP guy with Ray Durham's power (450-475). Jimenez will be a better fielder but Soriano will steal more bases and command more money.

How about Cubbie plane going down and slamming into Wriggley Field?

Ok, so he is 26. Throw my theory out of the window, he is ready to retire.

Agreed. But then again, I wouldn't be surpised if Scoot Eyre falls apart and Joe Borowski comes back to earth as well...ya know. Glover is not even 26 I think and has been jerked between starting and relief duty in two volatile years that he barely had enough time to fix mechanical flaws he had in 2001. I think he will get better. ERA of 2.50 (excellent nowdays) should be the ceiling for the next 2-3 years. At his current salary, you have better ideas?

I think we agree on more things than you give me credit for...but it's the heated arguements that are more noticeable/entertaining, lol