BrandoFan

He should be in AAA, period.

Right. On one hand, the guy's got loads of potential and would be a draw, both in terms of atttendance, merch sales and national attention. On the other....Sox don't really need his ass to win ALC and we all remember how he performed under pressure, against quality pitching in the '03 playoffs..... :puke He's a FA after 2005, no? If it takes Rauch and Wing to get him, I'll do it tomorrow. If, more likely, Rangers will ask for Honel, Cotts and Diaz, then f*** them. Michael Young is an intriguing choice, but he's cheap and frankly not as good as his current production, so there is a possibility Sox will overpay and will regret it.

gettin' spanked by the Tribe. I am thinking of updating his and Bartolo's status once every few weeks just to show how close Sox came to throwing money away. Incidentally, Odalis Perez is doing quite well.

Regardless of whether or not you were timed, you got 1600 on your SAT. Sorry, doesn't work that way. Please study the REAL effects of those substances. The difference between Barry the 1000 OPS HOF'er and Berroids the 1800 OPS 40yo Freak = new generation of steroids. Balco is simply icing on the case, er, cake. BTW.......How does it feel to know that Frank Thomas was the real MVP in 2000 and instead got nothing? Or that 30 years from now, Sammy Juisa will be the one remembered as the Chicago Slugger? As MX would say....y'got bamboozl'd, partna.

You see, it wouldn't matter a lick if I-Rod's career numbers with RISP are well below 2003 because nothing changes what he did in 2003. When he hit a 95mph fastball up and away to RF in a do-or-die situation in NLDS, it wasn't "luck" -- at least no more luck than him hitting that pitch in Spring Training. Some people are smarter than others. Some people are prettier. Some are more clutch. Sometimes "conventional wisdom" that Billy Caesar and his ilk despise so has survivided centuries for a good reason.

Jerry and Charlie Manuel are brothers. I am cool. Nuff said.

That's because S-metric dorks like Bill James forget that the game is played by humans and not zombie-robots. They see a batter batting 300 with RISP one year, then 260 next and 340 the next......and think this "unhealthy" deviation indicates luck. Guess what? Even clutchest of clutch hitters go into funks, pitchers stop feeding them when ducks are on the pond, they overswing, etc. Tell the Marlin fans that I-Rod's incredible clutch-hitting that carried them into the WS last year was luck manifest.

Holy s***! 40 HR I cood see. 120 RBI I cood see. 975 OPS I cood see. Heaven help us all if you're right.

Turf giveth and turf taketh away. How many of Cabrera's "singles" (and sometimes doubles/triples on bouncers down the line") are outs on grass? And many of his hustling "doubles" in the gap are just long singles on grass? Good hitter??? Outside of admittedly very good 2003, his career OPS is a very unspectacular 715 -- including 695 on grass. Perennial All-Star my ass. It gets better: since 2000, Cabrera has a 740 OPS with RISP -- by comparison the "worthless" Jose is at 900 in that span.....so you better not count on him to run-produce. You're right in this regard: Orlando will command BIG money. Hell, he is making 6 Million this year. You can re-sign an all-lefty batting Jose for about a 1 Mill plus incentives and/or use a dirt-cheap Uribe as platoon. Or you can try to out-bid the Big Money clubs and get an overrated player in return. Choice is yours.

I know it's not even worth dignifying, but Sox are 8-3 when Jose started at SS this season.....and 5-5 without, despite having the luxury of playing TB/Tribe at home. If you can get Washburn for him, then trade him. But Anaheim is not stupid, so any trade involving Jose would entail taking on salary and probably an inferior player. But whatever.

First of all, Jose was not that bad of a 3B all things considered. In 2001, he had 11 errors in about 90 games but displayed well-above average range and quick release at an unfamiliar position.....I am not sure why you're comparing Crede to Jose anyway since my entire point had to do with the fact that Jose played really good defense starting from last May, including ST, all the way up to the NY series, hit pretty well, ran bases....and yet for some reason people are "giving up" on him. Seems pretty strange considering Crede has been struggling in every aspect of the game in the same time 6+ month time span -- yet he's a Golden Boy beyond reproach. Hmm. Whatever. No, it's not. Same people who are whining because Frank isn't hitting homers are the ones who think Valentin is "cooked" and "worthless".

REPOSTED (I deleted it in the other thread): Not even close. Magglio saved an RBI double. Willie saved a bases empty single. Magglio also kept Delgado to a single by playing a carom off the wall and making a beam throw to 2nd as to leave no doubt. All the while Willie screwed up his second DP in as many days by making a mediocre feed to Uribe; if Koch gives up a homer, the game is tied instead of Sox up by 1. Willie is even for the day while Maggs is +3 My picks may seem arbitrary, but believe me they're not. Jauggs knows that because I sometimes PM him the details and sometimes list them here

--Ship Jose out? Good, but you'll get nothing in return, but somebody's Billy Koch. Give him Robbie Alomar money in the off-season and be happy. --Orlando Cabrera? Good D, but a mediocre bat. Already makes 6 Mill and will ask for 7-8 as a FA after 2004. He teased people last year, but it was a mirage. --A couple of bloopers to opposite field aside, Dransfelt has NEVER hit even in the minors. --Willie Harris's RBI hit was a comebacker to the pitcher that was mishandled. He CANNOT hit. And hitting is what a HITTER is supposed to do. A valuable pinch-runner/defensive sub, nothing more. Give up on what? He's thoroughly outhit and outran Joe Crede, and frankly, his range/arm already made up for the extra 2 errors he made over Joe (4-2) -- and Joe is supposed to be a Gold Glover....What's next, are we giving up on Frank too?

I am glad you picked Frank because Maggs wasn't a "default" GoG (Olivo and Crede have 1 each where they didn't do anything spectacular but handle pitchers well and/or just happened to field the most chances) -- he actually saved 3 bases and a run (which puts him over the top "statistically"). But he also choked in 1st/3rd situation when Sox REALLY needed it and Frankly, Frank was just a little more "valuable" for reasons you menioned. Good close call.

Sure you do -- aren't we called to love mankind, meaning everybody?

Those are complementary stats primarily used to show that a certain 190-pound SS is a better fielder than given credit for.

Nah, I'll take a page from Sammy's book and call Julien Marteeenez to the rescue. I hear he has gentle touch.

Wait until Dmitri Young gets back -- they might win 70 games. Scarrrryyyyy.

I do. No really, that's part of the reason why I am not sure how good of a manager he'll be -- there is definately less there than meets the eye.

That's why Crede is such a big key to this line-up -- he protects Kong, who protects Caballo, who protects Frank...etc. Uribe Valentin Ordonez Thomas Lee Konerko Crede Rowand Olivo

See now, I can relate: I would love to fertilize the Wrigley Ivy some day.

Switch them back? Magglio - 350 OBP. Frank - 490 OBP

Runner in Scoring Position OPS Ordonez 1183 (on pace to 155 RBI) Valentin 1089 Uribe 950 Close and Late OPS: Valentin 1300 Uribe 985 Ordonez 930 Anything over 800 is considered "clutch"

. The man has 492 OBP and 570 Slug..... Yes, because batting .100 with no power as a RH'er is better than .300 with some power as lefty-on-lefty......

I wouldn't call the Sox a great fielding team either. We ain't the Mariners of 2001 or Twins of 2002. Sox used to have an abomination of an infield: Baldwin-Fordyce-Thomas-Durham-Caruso-Norton back in 1999. :puke Now, they're no longer terrible - just average-to-above-average.