BrandoFan

I love it (Berstein picked the wrong time to expire his contract....)

That rant last night was pure jock lunacy. Not even worth dignifying. Hawk used to be hilarious and insightful. Lately, he's been bitten by a Greg Blache bug, exacerbated by premature onset of senility.

You can't do that. Ben Christensen was always a fair game, but Rauch? Never harmed anyone in his life as far as I know, few bruised egos not withstanding. Let's save some of this vibe for the likes of Robert Fick, John Rocker and Sammy Sosa.

Disagree. Even as early as 2002, in his call-up, he was hitting 92-94 (93-96 on the "fast" Comiskullar gun). In that start in the s***holedome, he even registered a couple of K's on a 95mph heat - above the belt of course And that was post-injury. Plus I've seen him pitch in 2000, too - consistently 91-93, reaching mid-90s once in a while. Not a true power pitcher - but not a finesser either. Incidentally, that's the velocity range most publications had him in 'round that time. Not that it matters much since those days are g-o-n-e.

Because, generally speaking, correcting dopes is also a sport as well as a civic duty.

Wed GoG: Rowand

No, never have - mommy won't let me.

I hope I eat my words, and I was always a huge Rauch backer......but his velocity will never be to the 2000 levels (anywhere from 92 to 95), but what's worse his slider and curve have less bite and control. He can't generate old arm speed and the range of motion isn't the same -- that's what you get after a complicated shoulder surgery. The only way for him to return to his pre-injury "stuff" would be to 1) Pitch through pain 2) Risk re-injuring himself. He can still be a good pitcher, but he will never be what he was then. Not gonna happen.

another reactionary-purist. Racing, game, event, sport, activity, competition.....Spin the semantics wheel, it won't matter either way.

Nothing big, something like 3 Mill a season with an option - he's 26 and not exactly that cheap - I'll take Uribe at this point

I don't see what strikes out have to do with anything. There are just outs - if anything they're better than GIDP and 1-st pitch pop ups. Borchard's problem the last coupla years was not that he struck out a lot, but that he failed to put up monsterous power numbers and wasn't particularly clutch either.

Valentin is better than Randa, not sure how the salaries compare. Berroa, esp after his new contract, is not worth Crede + Rauch + Borchard.

Here's to one of the most liked and respected dudes on SoxTalk. Have a great Birthday, Jim Jr.

Meh. Called Ponson. Called Colon. Called Maddux. And now I am calling on Clement to nose-dive, regardless of the peripherals. 3.75+ ERA in NL, in that park by year's end. Still a good pitcher even when transposed to AL, but nothing special. One of these days, that slider is gonna catch up to him. Book it. Whereas I think 2002 was a high-point and it will go down from there - or at least it will level off. I know what I see - right now his slider is unhittable, but he relies on it more often and his fastball lost a couple mph from 2002. Maybe your comprehension needs a little working on. I said a "VERY GOOD #2 ON A PLAYOFF TEAM" - what you gave me is AVERAGE #2 on a playoff team - 3.90 ERA crap. Mark Mulder, Kerry Wood in 2003; Shilling, Brown, Zambrano in 2004....THEN I can give up Magglio Ordonez, knowing we got a stud, a "difference maker" in return. Hell, I expect Buerhle to register a 3.60 ERA and Loaiza - 3.75. Clement will be fighting with Judy for the 3rd spot. No, the difference between my opinion and your opinion is that I trust my opinion and yours is irrelevant to Corey being hopeless at the plate. What does football have to do with his confidence level, his pitch selection, hand-eye coordination, batspeed and mechanics? He is fast and quick RIGHT NOW - and his defense is still average when it's all said and done. He is easily 90-95% speed wise. But he is not fundamentally smart and it has nothing whatsoever to do with his injury - just as Pierre is not a smart outfielder with a toddler's arm. Stolen bases? Patterson DOESN'T WANT TO RUN - HE WANTS TO SLUG! He sees himself as a #3 hitter, has admitted it in the interviews many times, so if you think he's gonna start stealing 30-40 bases, you're kidding yourself, he is not stupid and will not want to get hurt taking a beating on the pads as he gets closer to FA...................And why are you giving me his WALK totals as proof of his improved eye? Watch a game and you'll see that his PITCH SELECTION is absolutely brutal against RHP, which ideally should be his bread and butter if indeed he has "figured things out" as you claim.........Once his flukey start against LHP subsides, you'll see that OPS drop below 700 Sox cannot wait for Patterson to blossom. Right now he is not a better player than Rowand, with Rowand at least having an excuse that he doesn't get playing time. C-Pat is still dumb. Over-anxious. Mechanically suspect. Perhaps still has a hang-up about the knee injury - but if that's true, why should it get better once he switches the league. To wit: 1. No way Maggs is traded to the Cubs. Might as well fold the franchise. 2. Sox will not be better off with 4.00 ERA Clement and Corey Mays IMO. 3 Clement's been due for an injury. Patterson might be uncoachable. 4. Kelly Wunsch is not a throw-in, but actually pretty solid when healthy - and with the imminent Koch collapse, Politte suckdom and Marte blowing saves left and right....giving away another solid reliever is not that great of a move. 5. Sox have a #5 in Show. #4 in Garland. #3 in Loaiza. #2 in Buerhle. We need a proven ace for prospects, not for Magglio. Don't agree? Don't care.

Agreed. I remember how much Mike Sirotka suffered because of Fordyce-Konerko-Durham-Caruso-Norton in 1999. Not necessarily errors, but just bad all around defense. And you just KNEW that if he had Robbie-Vizquel-Fryman behind him, quite a few of his earned runs as well as unearned runs wouldn't happened. On the filip-side, a pitcher should take responsibility for the meltdown. Sure, the 1st unearned run or two that score after a 4th out was given by defense may or may not be his fault. But some pitchers seemingly use it as an excuse to just fall apart - runs all unearned, but there is no excuse for 3rd, 4th, 5th runs scoring./

Speculation is part of the game, esp when it comes to, um, PREDICTING THE FUTURE. I also gave you plenty of hard facts. Not a believer in a career ERA? Well that just breaks me heart - Ponson is another who's "really stepped up" in the last coupe of seasons compared to his earlier years - how is he doing now? Good #2, would you say? A #1 maybe? Yes, it's a plus pitch, where did I say otherwise? It's no longer in the mid-90's, and he throws the four-seamer a lot less. It's a fact. WGN and WCIU radar guns have not clocked higher than 93 all season - mind you I haven't seen every one of his starts; even in 2003, his velocity was down to low-90's. FOX radar gun I have no idea about, other than to say that it inflates velocities, unless of course you believe Josh Beckett can reach 101 mph and Garland - 96. Aren't you cute when you attempt to satirize? Stick to reminiscing about your football days. The injury is coming, you're gonna see it in the next 1-2 years. My opinion? Sure, I admitted it as such a while ago. It's much more important WHY he was struggling with SD and Fla, and whether or not much has changed since. His 2003 was that hot either. Only 2002 stands as the only year when Clement has met my standard for a #2 Sox need. 4.00 ERA is a "very good #2" on a playoff team in the AL? I disagree. Hell, Jon Garland might just have a 4.00 ERA season one of htese years, and he is a mediocre #3 at best, nor does he make 6 Mill. Yes, we can all see Patterson's "power" this season, his slugging % is just b****ing'. But I am sure his knee is sore and hasn't regained full range of motion and is psychologically affecting his mechanical approach at the plate....balablablablabla, I'll take my opinion over yours, thanks. This year his pitch-selection is even worse. He might figure it out soon - or he might not - and that risk is not worth giving Maggs to the Cubs, not even close. You WANT Cubs to re-sign the only true All-Star we have and a huge fan favorite? Obviously their payroll is gonna break 100 plateu a years from now. A-Gone, Remlinger, Clement, Alou are gone. That's enough to pay for Maggs (with deferred money of course). Sox can solve the #5 problem without getting rid of Maggs. And since I don't think either Clement or Willie Mays-Mays will carry this team for the enture year..... The rain-out happened, deal with it. That 4.11 ERA is 4.25+ if he hadn't been bailed out by mother nature. Do you know what the park Adjusted ERA was for NL in 2003? 4.24. But even 4.11 isn't particularly great in the National League. Don't flatter yourself. How's Greg Miller for Maggs sound? I am sure Dodgers are salivating over Wright and Pacheco now... Just keep on watching WGN, time will judge which one of us is right.

Valentin came into tonight's game with an 870 OPS and very good "clutch" stats across the board. He is has few sac bunts and even a couple of steals. And that is diluted by his trying to learn the lefty-on-lefty thing, mind you. I have no idea where the "Jose is not hitting" thing comes from. He hasn't really gotten on big streak, sure, but he's been very, very solid at the plate so far

Yes, I do. Which doesn't mean I think giving up a good, cheap reliever and a perennial All-Star/fan favorite/face of the franchise to the team's archest rival in return for what I consider to be a 4.00 ERA pitcher in AL, one who has only had one truly good year in his career and who throws an extremely arm-taxing trick slider.....is an ideal remedy for this problem. Sox have prospects. Use them. Get a legitimate ace pitcher and solve two needs at once. I remember his difference maker-ness in 2003 playoffs: despite having a couple of spectacular defensive plays made behind him (by A-Gone and Lofton) that saved runs, he still managed the ever so stellar 5.11 ERA. Thankfully, Cubs had Wood and Prior.

You have nothing to apologize for - you don't like Valentin, you don't think he is worth a damn in the clubhouse, you don't like his production. There is no need to be defensive and play the "I am being viciously attacked" persecution card. Not likeing a player is far from a crime - in fact, it's a healthy part of sports. But at 34yo he has NO value. That's why it was so important when he stopped swinging for the fences (only 2 HR) during 2004 Spring Training, and instead unleashed an unholy attack on all pitchers, lefties included - something like 1200 OPS for the entire month of March. He actually became that all-around hitter everyone wanted him to be and committed zero errors on spring training-quality infields. In short, his value shot up. But once the season began, bad habits returned - both overswinging at the plate and carelessness in the field. It didn't help that he got hurt just as he was getting on a roll and it took him a while to get the rhythm back. So right now, you won't get anything in return until he does what he did during ST for at least 4-6 weeks straight.....Which is why the club trots him out there - they hope he puts a nice streak together and they can trade him and get something in return. KW overpaid for his services and now he is reaping what he's sewn. Uribe is the future and so is Willie, but since they can play 2B/3B and CF, that allows some roster flexibility.

I know, it's hilarious isn't it?

Tue GoG: Rowand

No, common sense would go something like this: "Jose came into this game with a stellar 870 OPS, so he must know a little bit about hitting, including breaking pitches". Hitters overswing. Especially when they go lefty-on-lefty. Sometimes they wave at breaking pitches. Sometimes a smart pitcher uses such over-eagerness to his advantage, making the hitter look foolish. Can Joe Crede, Rowand, Lee, Konerko, Olivo hit a breaking ball? They are prone to "waving" at the pitch, so I guess that means they can't hit it. Ever. You don't like strike-outs. Cry me a river. An out is an out - be thankful it wasn't a DP.

Yes, because I should disregard everything else in favor of 4 ugly at bats..... Nice military logic there.

Listen, you make no sense - Konerko is a Right-handed batter versus left-handed pitcher, so I should hope he lays off that curveball. I don't know who propagated this notion that Jose can;t hit a breaking ball, but it's utter nonsense - half of his homers came off breaking pitches. It's important that Jose was able to drive pitches off the wall aganst Santana and Romero in Minnesota. It shows (as if his torrid spring training didn't) that he can hang with lefties from the left side as long as he stays back nicely and hit for power when he DOES connect -- something he couldn't do as a right-hander the last few years. onight he was over-anxious and Kenny Rogers exploited him. s*** happens, and I hope Ozzie and Walke tell Jose to use the entire-field against south-paws because it's clear they are working him away, away, away. Adjustments have to be made, no question. Manos came into this game with a 300+ OBP/640 OPS against lefties, for pete's sake. Is it easy to learn to hit all-lefty at 34? No, it's hard as hell, but until tonight he did a tolerable job this season. Incomparably better than Willie, who is BEYOND brutal against lefties - makes Valentin look like Bonds this season. You people need to stop freaking out over an 0-for-4 game. It won't be the first time Jose failed to reach base in a game, and it won't be the last. He'll is and will be ok against lefties and that's why Ozzie will continue starting him.

And that's bad because.....?