BrandoFan

Yep, especially gays and retarded people. This reminds me of the time when Kyle died and many people (Molto?) said "f*** him!" thinking that it was drug overdose which he apparently "deserved"...cause, you know, his family would feel so relieved knowing he died (young but) of natural causes...

AVG G AB R H TB 2B3BHR RBI BB SO SBCS OPS(OBP+sLUG) 400 13 50 12 20 37 3 1 4 10 6 10 4 1 1200 Damn!

Great research, Baggs. I think that he excels at non-DP situations as well as his range (it's not as good as it was pre-2001, but still above average) and arm and penchance for reading the pitch well off the bat, positioning and clutchness allow him to overcome occasional bad throw or botched routine play and we already know overwhelming majority of his errors don't cost Sox any runs. Is he one of the top defensive SS in the league now? No chance in hell, his errors may not cost any runs but they still wear the pitcher out and/or make him nervous, he also lost half a step because of hamstring problems and lack of consistent play at SS in the last 2 years as well as his age...BUT is he one of the worst fielding SS in the game like many have suggested looking only at his error total? Not.even.close. Overall he is about average IMO certainly as good as Royce Clayton (last year was a career year for him, an abberation). So my verdict is Jose is not a defensive liability, definately not enough to overshadow his offense, (underrated) baserunning and leadership skills. Certainly worth 4-5 Mill even to this budget-oriented team.

Pardon my thickness...but what anger you speaketh of? All I said is that perhaps, if the SOX want to maximize thier offensive potential (which so far has been barely fine against bad teams but probably wouldn't suffice when playing Yankees and Co.) they might want to look into making Maggs a CF as a small experiment...citing numerous reasons/examples and pros and cons. But whatever. Read into it whatever you wish. I am out, later.

Way to go to address my post, Rex. Where did you read I wanted Borchard up? I was the one who said not to expect anything special from him until at least 2005.... Rowand is terrible. Open your eyes, man, watch some of his at bats. The only time he wasn't terrible (September 2001 which made for an erroneous impression that he was an OBP machine) he was very lucky with bunt singles, infield singles, bloopers, HBP, etc. If you want Rios there, fine. Harris? Fine. Butr I still think it's worth to give Maggs a shot. Nothing in stone. I already listed reasons why in my last post. And you're right, right now Willie Harris is out-slugging Borchard. No, you shut up

Simple fact is, if we re-sign Ray-Ray, we wouldn't have DJ nor Colon and we might just have traded Valentin away like many suggested, too, intead re-signing Ritchie. So it shoud really be are Sox better with DJ, Valentin and Colon or with Ritchie, Biddle, Ray-Ray and Graffanino? Gee, that's a real tough one.

Are you saying we lost half of our fans between '94, '97 and after 2001 (many fairweather fans who latched on in 2000 jumped off just as fast) seasons? That's catastrophic if it's true but I don't think it is. That's literally 10,000s of fans if you count suburbs and everytihng.

Don't worry, unless the injury bug hits us again as it did in 2001, we should run away with the division and win 92-95 games. If Frank Thomas returns to his 2000 form, we win 100+. It's that simple. Royals is one of the most overrated teams (talking about playoffs already little b****es) I've ever seenand Minnesota only won last year because we played like utter s***. Now, I agree attendance matters to the Sox as much if not more than most teams because Jerry Reinsdorf is a cold businessman who would need to see the profit before even considering investing and "going for it". Which is fine and dandy...except sports/baseball is NOT just another tire-making industry; it's like art in that it plays with peoples' hopes, dreams and emotions , and profit should never come first to winning. That is what Carl Pohland, Reiny and their ilk will never understand and will go to their grave thinking that "breaking up Bulls was the best thing that happened to them" because they turned a quick buck, you know, "like their Daddy had taught them...". Teams sports should be owned by already super-rich who have passion and patience and are willing, worse case scenario, to lose a third of what they own if it doesn't go well. Hell, they will still be rich...But, no, Reindorf has actually milked all his franchises to the fullest with a smile on his face. Speaking of profits, did you know Sox actually made a profit in 1999, 2000 and broke even in 2001 despite having dismal, promotion-ladden 50% capacity crowds most of the time? That means Sox are in much better financial shape than they would lead you to believe, especially with the luxury tax, CBA, etc...surprise, surprise! And the market share is still up for grabs Cubbine or no Cubbine. Just don't expect any help from Uncle Jerry- he will only spend the 75+ million required to re-sign key players and possible make an upgrade or two if the Sox a) dominate during the season and make noise in the payoffs and b) Sox fans come in droves averaging at least 30 thou a game as early as this season. Remember this guy is cunning enough to make statements like "I would trade 6 Bulls rings for one Sox championship" which is not only ridiculously dishonest but is also an insult to Bulls fans (I am not one of them) everywhere. No wonder Michael Jordan would rather work at Burger King than to have anytihng to do with JR/JK/Bulls....Can you blame him? Sox fans get off your lazy butts and fancy Internets, and GO SEE THE GAMES.

Well, in that case--and I pray to God it doesn't come to fruitition--it's not completely unrealistic for us to end up losing both Colon and Maggs after 2003, not to mention Hurt (why need him if half of the team is gone?). One of Lee/Konerko would have to go and Burhle hightails it out of here the first chance he gets. Did I mention Sox not picking up Valentin's and Loaiza's option? Alomar is out...Gordon...Koch... How about a 2005 team with a 35 million payroll being be led by Jimenez, Harris, Borchard, Dabauch/Lee, Valenzula, Olivo, Crede, Garland, Wright, Cotts, Burhle, Almonte, Rauch and Diaz? Would you like our chances then? Don't get me wrong, 1999 team was fun if anything else, but we still... Not too laugh-worthy is it? The thing is, we are 1-2 missed playoff appearances away from a very sad ending, especially if Cubs come through with a magical year, which is not that improbable since they regularly shell out 80+ million on their staff.

That's because Sox fans are clearly superior to every other fan in the world and know too much about baseball to attend games, silly. Forgive me for saying this, but I would rather Sox become a tourist whore of an organization ala Cubs with stupid fans and corrupt columnists at their disposal...than to see us squander a chance after chance at being a real, bonafied dynasty I've been blasted MANY times way back in '98 for saying that our attendance sucks and it will hurt the team sooner than they might think. With Belle and Ventura gone, and in spite of the 2000 magical year, things have gotten worse.

Sad but true. That's why hating and competing with the lowly Cubs is not just a "luxury" but an economic and otherwise necessity. If they reach the ALCS before the Sox it would be REALLY bad from fairweather fan reqruitment perspective. If they get the WS ring first, it would be nothing short of catastrophe for the Sox- we simply would be "forgotten" by the city...And all that after being the best Chicago baseball team for the better part of the 90s (to say nothing of 20th century!). That's why gross underachievement of the last few years possibly hurt us more than the suprise breakout in 2000 helped. And that's why now more than ever we must prevail.

After the catastrophe of last 2 season, I would agree with you. But, in retrospect, it didn't need to happen this way- Twins and Tribe were so much weaker than we made them look whether because of injuries, poor front office decisions or just the good ol' underachieving...This season is a play-off must, don't make any mistake about it for many different reasons. Anything below 95 wins would be uncivilized. In a perfect world, Sox would have a state of the art park by the lake. Then we wouldn't have to worry about "begging" for attendance like they have been doing for almost 10 years. JR will spend on the (unqualified) winner, I think we know that. And Sox are still a big market team, let's not forget.

I feel the Sox could become the Yankees of the Midwest if only our attendace was closer to 3 million than to 2 so we could spend a healthy 75-80 million on assembling a team. Pipe dream, especially after what happened in the last 2 years. I do hope JR decides that winning WS and multiple pennants is worth more as he is getting closer to the big D. Cuz he would gladly trade the 6 Bulls rings for one WS

I guess there will always be have's and have-not's in big sports (and in life)...but the gap is what's frightening. 160 Million payroll? Are you kidding? I'd rather see the game decided by GM and team scouts' skills and manager's decisions than pocketbook, but then again I am just a silly purist/romantic.

He is already adopting Sosa's hitting approach (seen how many strikes he's been missing lately) and will be hitting weights/drug store very soon. IMO. Heck maybe he doesn't and just turns into Larry Walker type, who knows. I'll be non too happier.

Paul Konerko does. He fast too.

How else do you account for the fact that he went from steal 43 bases in 00-01 down to like 9 last year? He is going to get real bulky in the next few years, though not Sosa-big because steroids are on their way out of the league. Canseco is indded a freak of nature and the mentality of the game changed so much, with more people wanting to be like Edgar Martinez than Aaron Rowand.

I am 6'2", 190 and, trust me, you don't get great jumps/slides when you are that tall unless you are professional athlete with flawless fundamentals and technique and real instincts. I can;t imagine how Derryk Lee is doing it. Hurt has never stolen so many bases in a YEAR.' They say Bo Jackson was crazy fast, too and he was a bulky type...anyone remember him play?

Yes, he is 6'5" but 250 pounds? Damn! Now Soriano, there is a skinny kid- 6'1" and only 160 pounds, lol Valentin doesn't run 'cause they are scared for his hamstrings after 2001 debacle. Maggs is a superstar so he is not supposed to be a gritty player. Lee can run but he is awkward and at that weight the last thing you want happen is to lose him for a season with a dislocated knee trying to "roll" into 2nd base. Rowand need to get on base to to able to swipe so many bags. DJ is lazy and has yet to learn how to get Valenin-esque leads/jumps. Rios has only average speed, so is Graffanino. The are bench players, remember? Olivo is a part-time player too and he is a catcher so I'll sleep alright if he doesn't steal 30, lol Let's face it, this is a station-to-station offense, which is fine by me as long as walks go up compared to last few years and clutch hitting is on par with 2000 season. We could always hit homer runs. Not every team is like Anaheim Angels or Florida Marlins. As much as one may want a an ideal team that is small ball/3-run homer hybrid, it rarely happens. Willie Harris is crazy fast, though. Faster than anyone on Marlins team. If Derryl friggin' Lee can steal so many bases, Willie can too, lol

I wish they would though...you know something about Maggs's lack of defensive ability/speed that I should know about, Rex? It's embrassing for me to once again defer to Jim Edmonds (not a speed guy, average arm), Larry Walker (Maggs's speed and arm), Lance Berkman (ditto), Austin Kearns (slower than Maggs, though his arm is better...only switched to CF after Griffey went down) and Karim Garcia (slower, heavier than Maggs, weaker arm too). Heck didn't Vladimir Guerrero play CF a little bit? Everyone raves about his blazing, 40-SB speed forgetting that he got CS an insane 20 times. I don't think he is much faster than Maggs if at all. His arm is a bit better, but you can't have everything, common...And Rios is slower than Maggs, has weaker arm and get bad jumps in CF. I say put Ordonez in CF, Daubach in RF and let Borchard jell in AAA until he can cut down on Ks, produce to the tune of 950-1000 OPS in a sandbox of a park and generally outplays the competition like Crede did among others. Are y'all serious in thinking that a) Borchard who got that huge bonus and tons of publicity is NOT counted on as a future superstar and b) that he is ready now to outproduce a relatively cheap Brian Daubach who is potentially either a Thomas/Lee/Konerko replacement or a really good trade bait? Of course if Willie Harris continues to destroy AAA then call him up and disregard my proposal. And, BTW, 11-6 against some s***ty (Royals included) opposition ain't all that impressive, especially after the sheer Fan's Hell that we call 2001-2002 seasons where nearly everything that could possibly go wrong in the organization did...Don't try to pretend like "everything is clicking" and we just came off a 11-1 West Coast trip, Rex. My suggestion(s) are perfectly reasonable and constructive. I've certainly done my share of cheerleading up to this point and don't feel I have to pander and sugarcoat.

I mean the only slow, non-SB-threats we have are Hurt, Crede and Konerko. Something doesn't compute. 4 SBs? I mean, this guy has Frank Thomas-ian dimensions for crying outloud.

To be fair, Sox fans have been talking about shipping him ever since mid-2001 when he not only stunk defensively but was very erratic/mediocre at the plate. Not me, though

Lee 3-run homer off Myette!!! See what happens when you go up 2-0 on a mediocre pitcher and look nicely at pitches you try to swing at. Let's hope Carlos has turned the corner...

Florida Marlins 1B Derryk Lee has 8 steals which is more than the entire White Sox team Incidentally he is 6'5", 250 pounds.

I am going to put this as nicely as I can....because Borchard is not a good player (let alone an All Star or even MVP player we've all expected him to become!) at this point and everytime I see He Seup Choi I am once again reminded exactly why. I am not counting on Borchard to be able to step in and do awesome damage until at least 2005. He is a hitting equivalent of Felix Diaz, Honel, Rauch and Neal Cotts--these guys are the Next Wave of what hopefully will become Braves-like dynasty in a weak central...Meanwhle we have a clutch, power bat in Daubach rotting on the bench, he can't contribute, he can't even prove himself to be a good trade bait (something that Rowand, Paul and other dreck are not no matter how much we pretend). This "must-win" season the priority should be Dabauch, Rios, Rowand...Harris/Borchard if all else fails.