BrandoFan

You're right, American couture wars get reeeaal ugly. Downfall of the Fabulous is upon us. Scary stuff.

Beltran doesn't have the batspeed OR the eye to be Bonds. Typical 21st Century Media Hype Overdrive. Next.

When will it be OK to say without hesitation, without any self-deluding spin that Koch is just plain bad? When was it OK to say that about Todd Ritchie, Julio Ramirez, Jaimme Navarro, Armando Rios, Harold Baines, Danny Wright, Mike Caruso, Rick White, Greg Norton among many others?

Once again........ What is it about the bullpen we currently have that says "Wunsch is expendable"? Cotts might find himself in the rotation and Munoz might not be ready.....What do you do then? It's simple: When 100% healthy, Wunsch is too cheap and has too much value to the Sox. When he is hurt/not pitching well, he's go little value to other teams, so don't expect much in return.

He's not called Billy Caesar for nothing, you know.

Why do you have to choose? Konerko should be gotten rid of the sooner the better and Lee is the one who either break-outs in 2004 or becomes very expendable in 2005. This isn't 2000 when both were grossely underpaid. Mentioning Lee in the same sentence as Manny Ramirez is not right. I feel Manny's cancer-esque personality stunted his growth a few years ago, but even so --he is still one of the deadliest run producers in all of baseball. He was already kicking major ass when he was Lee's age. I gave up on BabyRamirez back in 2002.

Accentuate the meaningful, and quit being so damn homerific right back atcha. So....Save the HR and the SO crap for your fantasy league buddies, and tell me if Sox are ranked first in the RUNS SCORED or not. Thanks in advance.

You.have.got.to.be.joshing.me.here. If Koch comes unglued because the ump (rightfully) didn't give him the second border-line call of the ab-bat in a May 2nd game....you might as well send him to AAA. Compared to the pressure the Twins will be putting on him during the pennant race, and compared to sheer knee-buckling instensity of PLAYOFF baseball.....That 9th inning against Roberts and Surhoff with a 3-run lead was a walk (npi) in a park. Koch blows, there is no way around it. He throws 92-94 when he needs to throw 96-100. Superior control is not something you learn at 29. Choker's mentality is not something Don Cooper can fix overnight. Koch is toast, and the sooner Sox realize that, the better. Even Hawk Harrelson, who NEVER says anything remotely negative, went on the Score tonight and pretty much admitted that he has NO idea what Koch has to do to succeed as a closer; his tone did not convey anything remotely resembling confidence in Billy Blownsave. Hawk! Politte and Marte should be the closing commitee for now. Perhaps a bonafied closer can be aquired at the deadline.

Kong was dead last in range last year, but apparently his nifty DP turning and lack of errors allowed him to jump up to "mediore". Crede is a trickier choice because the guy may one day be a gold glover, but IIRC he made quite a few costly errors (I remember a couple of 3-runers in particular) and since he takes sooo long to get rid of the ball, it probably hurt him on bang-bang plays where either you get rid of it quickly and risk an error or you might as well stick it in your pocket. In any case, "Cedeno" is the composite of 4 fairly complex methods whereas the Diamond Mind one is more mainstream, Adjusted RangeFactor-favoring approach. They come to same conclusion, though.

This thread is about OFFENSE only, mmkay?

What kind of injury did he sustain last year? Any lasting effect? Here are his numbers from March 1 through May 23 (including thin Arizona air): 25 innings....7 hits....7 walks....27 K.....0.00 ERA Basically untouchable when healthy. Just sick. People cry about "wasting" a roster spot.....Hey, guess what? If RH's can't touch Shingo and LH's can't touch Wunsch.....who cares if they only end up pitching 40 innings each. If Sox are to have a two-headed flame throwing closer in Politte and Marte, why not have a two-headed junkballer set-up man? Is it THAT much important to have AAAA Gload or AAAA Burke on the bench?

Who cares how many HR's Sox hit and how many times they strike out? Sox were near the top in HR in 2003....Finished behind both KC and Min in runs scored and missed the playoffs. The lesson? It's all about RUNS SCORED. Team OPS and team avg. with RISP are nice and all.....but let's keep an eye on the prize here.

It's not that 100 RBI isn't worth 6 Mill -- it probably is. Obviously I liked Carlos at 4.2 Mill last year a little more, but I wouldn't say he is totally overpaid either. However, when we're talking about 9 Mill next year, his 825 OPS ain't gonna get it done -- esp when Jeremy Reed might be ready to put up similar #s with better defense and speed by 2005 at a fraction of that. That's just economic reality rolled into common sense. You can overpay a little for Maggs and Thomas because they are the faces of your franchise, but everybody else must step up NOW or be gone. If Seattle could survive Griffey, Unit and A-Rod and if Oakland can live without Giambi, Justice and Tejada and if Texas can kick ass without A-Rod, Palmeiro, Gonzo and Everett.......there will be life without Carlos. Hopefully he breaks out this year to the tune of 130 RBI/900+ OPS and stays, but if he doesn't....oh well.

Magglio and Caballo rated supringly high in 2003.

Thanks for reminding me how much I love that dude freaking out in that Mad Max dude's hysterical part of the Twilightzone: TM

At least he can cover a bag on a steal attempt....

I think you're Wong -- you must be thinking of Karla Jung. (I know. )

Tue GoG: Aaron Rowand (run-saving dive). D was absolutely horrible. Crede should have been charged with an error. Konerko -- error. Dranfelt - a 4-run error (by comparison, all of Valentin's errors total 3 runs). Uribe - doesn't cover Olivo's throw that goes in CF, misplays a blooper into a hit and botches a DP.......Speaking of Olivo -- effed in the ass by Brian Roberts on the pads and sails two throws into CF.

Gotta stop cheating fastball and swinging for the fences. Dransfelt alone left 6 on bases today, to save nothing of a 4-run costing error.

Erica Wong.

At home he sees the ball better, so his timing doesn't have to be flawless. He also has a sweet batting cage set-up at home -- on the road, he sukls and overanalyzes on the bench. The above splits are cartoonishly bad. Put him at 1B.

Because these guys' biggest value is as INFIELDERS, not DH. Frank should be there every day.

So should Ozzie put him at 1B in road games? Seems like a no brainer.

I would love to have Giles, but he is NOT having problems because of PETCO -- he's the kind a guy who when he gets a hold of the ball can hit it 450 feet. His problem is that he is not connecting with the ball, pariod. Delgado was the same way up until he a week ago. Bobby Abreu was batting .150 in the new ballpark. Frank Thomas was hitting 150 through first 10 days. Etc. Giiles will be a 950 OPS hitter in the next 2-3 years.

Cedeno Note: This is not Diamond Mind 2003 Gold Glove Overview