BrandoFan

I know you don't mean it.

You're jus' jellas of Ncorgble's awesome connections, admit it.

They won't outbid NY for Beltran. They have Corey Patterson who is cheap and might just put it all together one of these days and go on a tear. Being too RH is not a problem when you have Sosa-Maggs-Ramirez. It's only a problem when you have Lee-Konerko-Crede Plus a huge victory it would be for Cubs to take Maggs away from the Sox.

If I am Cubs, I jump on Magglio as soon as Sox "diss" him. Samm, Magglio and Ramirez can do some major damage. On one hand Maggs is probably not worth 5/70 to a mid-market team. But on the other, the intangibles of losing the face of your franchise.....And

Yeah, but you know people are more impressed with BA and RBI than with OPS, and Maggs will have 130+ RBI this year while hitting .320. He'll say that if Beltran is worth 8/140, why shouldn't he get at least 5/70? And he'll be right.

Losing Hurt was the biggest and it took him 2 years to recover. But losing Rauch was almost as big. Not only for 2001, but also in 2002 where he would have been the 2nd best Sox starter after Buerhle, and there would be no need to trade Kip Wells for Ritchie, instead using that extra 3 Mill on some other needs. Boomer, too. Those 3 stay healthy, Sox win ALC in 2001-2003 and probably have an 80+ mill payroll today.

Is it true Ncorgbl once mud-wrestled a plush polar bear?

Yeah, poor Cubs.....Draw 3 Mill even if lose 90 games.....Payroll that could reach a 100 Mill....Neither Wood nor Prior have any structural damage to their arms, so they will be back, arms freshly mindted for the postseason dominance.....Half the team is on DL and they are still ahead of the Astros and Cards. The last time Sox had a serious injury (Hurt and Rauch), it effectively wiped out 2001 and 2002. Cubs know how to get "unlucky"

Shuf at play? At rest?

. I guarantee you that Chicago Cubs would pay him 5/51 tomorrow. A devastating PR gut punch to the entire Soxdom and getting an All-Star RF'er as Alou's replacement? Killing two birds with one stone. I've always thought 5/75 was lunacy, but if Beltin' Beltran gets 8/140, Magglio has a case for 5/75 - and Sox can't begin to pay it even if they were to win the World Series this year. But 5/50 he will get in his sleep - he already got a 3/30 once, remember?

Adkins is not an 'A' because he hasn't pitched in enough big games. Simple as that. Cotts is a 'B-' - cost us 3 games, including Toronto and Minnesota. If you're gonna use a higher curve for Thomas, then you should use an even higher curve for 14-Mill-a-year Magglio - 900 OPS for him is a B+

Well yeah - Lee is the better, more talented player. Konerko is owed 17 Mill over 2 years, and with his speed and GIDP, anything short of 875-900 OPS mantained over an extrended period of time, won't garner much interest. Lee does have value, but phones aren't being ripped off the hook, not even close.

Maybe you won't be yelling at Juggernaut as much now.

There are TWO 'quote' buttons. One automatically replies to the entire post (creating the superfluous copy) The other one is available once you press "reply" and it's located under the 'size' options. To use it, you have to highlight a sentence/parahrph you want quoted individually and then press 'quote' once and tyoe your reply underneath. If you want to quite the next excerpt, then you do the same again. It's very simple, sounds harder than it really is - certainly takes less time than what you do now with the color and capitals letters thing.

There is no such feature. Highlight the text. Press reply. Paste the text. Erase the stuff you don't want to reply to. Highlight the sentences you do want to reply to and press the 'quote' button once. Type a response underneath the quote. Rinse and repeat. Don't forget to 'preview' post to make sure you didn't f*** up, though.

When you're a DH/1B, your production has to be significantly higher than if you're a LF. Lee is what, 28, so it''s doubtful he will get better. 840 OPS is very nice, but nowdays when you make 15/2 and play corner OF, that much is expected. If I am a Seattle GM, I have no compunction about asking for Honel-Munoz-Lee.

The guy has a rep for being lazy and volatile (to say nothing of the drug rumors), not a great combo for an ace. But that's not all what I meant by 'baggage'. His contract and home-away splits are also part of it. :headshake

The problem of course is that the rest of baseball world might not value Honel and Munoz as highly as Sox fans do. The former is having health issues, with a velocity drop both in 2002 and 2004, and the latter is a #9 prospect on the Sox depth chart, coming off subpar 2003 who has just been converted from a reliever; many will be sceptical (whether rightfully or not) of his fast start. Lee......Once again, average fielding, weak-throwing, average baserunning, reckless hothead (mechanically incorrect dives in the OF and even worse slides into 2B where he slams into the bag and does a split - at 230 pounds!) LF'er with a good career OPS of 820 albeit half games in a hitter's park and a 15/2 contract.....He got off to a slow start in 2004, so that brings his 'value' down a bit as well. Like it or not, Freddy Garcia will always be overrated because he is a pitcher with an ace stuff. Unlike Benson, there is actual track record of dominance (2001) and no injury history. There will be teams, from Cubs (if Wood/Prior are on DL) to Dodgers to Red Sox to Padres to maybe even Twins....that will be hot on his trail if he continues this pace for another month. Knowing what we know of his "baggage" and being the Sox fan, he is not worth Lee, Honel and Munoz. But Seattle and the rest of baseball, they will see things differently and might just put something along the lines of Reed-Honel-Munoz-Konerko or some such and not even bat an eye-lash.

Yeah, but how much of it is padded by blow-outs? USCF series against Minny is a good example. Sox outscored the Twins. Twins took 2 out of 3. As far as runs given up....Now that Sox are facing Texas and Anaheim, following by a tough-ass June schedule, we're gonna see just what our rotation is made of.

Ghost, is it too much to ask you use the 'QUOTE' function? Funny, but Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax could throw a mean breaking ball.....How come there was no rotator cuff/labrum tear 10 starts into their (and many, many other pitchers') careers? If that were true, then Boston would have asked him way back when they had an awful bullpen. When was the last time he threw 170 pitches a game? And he is a knuckleballer - give me one fastball-change-up pitcher who can throw 140-150 pitches a game on consistent basis like the old timers could on a 2-3 day rest.

sui generis West Wing is like that, too - 2 seasons and then staledom.

It's a myth that sliders and splitters put significantly more stress on the arm than a fastball and a change-up when the mechanics are right. Secondly, even if it were true, then how come you don't see knuckleballers or good ol' fastball-curve pitchers throw 300 innings a season? I understand Kerry Wood....but Jaimme Moyer and Tom Glavine, they can't throw more than 125 pitches, either.

Well, they wouldn't have the balls to ask for Reed, Honel and Munoz....would they? And Seattle is not rebuilding. They can't risk alienating that fan-base. They bring in serious dough. Even if/when M's call it quits on '04, they will be looking to RELOAD for 2005.

Ah the Soapranos..... There is only one Matrix. There are only 2 seasons of Sopranos. Lalalalala.....