AirScott

this offseason has left the Angels weaker, but not too weak to contend. the AL West is definitely going to be tight (especially if Beltre pans out for the Mariners), and if the A's sign Big Frank I'd say they're the favorites, but don't count out the Angels. Mathis played well last year in AAA (.276 and 21 HRs in 427 ABs), so if he can contribute regularly for the Angels right away the offensive drop-off from Bengie shouldn't be too bad.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 06:26 PM) I have to agree with him. Maybe next year. Sutter got in on the last cance ballot. BTW, Sutter will not be wearing Cubbie blue I saw that on MLB.com, he'll be wearing the Cards cap.

he is right, Gossage should be in if Sutter is. for that matter, I don't see why Blelevyn (sp?) isn't in.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 05:01 PM) Personally, I am going to continue to hope for the season Crede keeps teasing us with in 1-month versions. He'd have been a damn good hitter last year if somehow he could have eliminated his months of May and August. I'm not going to expect or plan for it, but I'm sure going to hope for it. A little consistency from that guy and suddenly he's one of the best 3rd basemen in the AL. he was beyond terrible at the plate in May and August. he was A-W-F-U-L. in May he batted .155; in August he hit .103 (thats 6-for-58). so in May/August he hit .133, and the rest of the season he hit .310. last year I predicted he'd go for .280-25-80, and if he would have had just a normal slum in those two months (you know, something in the .200-.220 area, which is still bad) he'd have delivered and made me look smarter. good news is Crede hit .379 in September, and .289 in the playoffs, so it wouldn't be a stretch for Crede to have a big year.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 01:34 AM) The fact that he actually got bumped up to AAA after his 2005 season in AA makes me ill. It seems like the Sox are rushing him because of this very situation. or possibly seeing how he responds to the challenge of AAA.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 03:18 AM) That would make a hell of a lot of sense for all parties. As is, Oakland's rotation is probably overcrowded(Zito-Harden-Loaiza-Haren-Blanton-Saarloos, and one could even include Kennedy and perhaps Gaudin), so getting rid of Zito before you get nothing for him does make a lot of sense for the A's. That seems to be quite similar to the packages they have gotten from St. Louis and Atlanta for Hudson and Mulder, so I can see Beane making the deal. Hendry has shown a love for Zito and wants him pretty badly, so I can see him paying a pretty penny to get him. Chicago's OF situation just perfect right now, but Dusty appears to hate playing rookies and non-veterans for whatever reason, which makes no sense at all no matter the situation(but then again, not much Baker has ever done has made a hell of a lot of sense), so bringing in a veteran player helps Dusty in that regard. And in order to counter the Sox additions of Thome, who is a name player, Mackowiak, who grew up as a Sox fan in Illinois, and Vazquez, who is just a very solid pitcher, they bring in both Abreu, who is a name player, and Zito, also a name player. Both help the Cubs in that regard, but I am personally unsure as to why they'd make the trade...Prior is just as good - possibly better than - Zito, and Murton's production per dollar earned will probably make him a better player to have in the lineup over Abreu...but Abreu will probably produce slightly better than Murton will at 30-40X the cost. I see Philadelphia making the deal to cut more salary while improving their pitching rotation quite a bit. I just am not sure who they'd replace Abreu with...Jason Michaels? It won't be Kroeger who they just picked up off waivers, as he's probably a year or so away still...maybe they're open to trying Abraham Nunez in RF, or moving Burrell to RF and going with some sort of platoon in LF. There are question marks on all 3 accounts, but by and large, I can see why all 3 teams would make the respective moves. Good thought. hopefully this idea gets to Hendry, because he's shown me in the past few months he really doesn't have a plan. hopefully for his sake Billy Beane brings this up first. the only way this trade makes sense for the Cubs is if they plan on spinning off Abreu or Jones to another team for a replacement for Prior and/or a solid middle infielder.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 01:40 PM) Its a cool concept, the problem is when it comes to pitching you just can't afford to have guys making millions of dollars putting extra stress on there arms. Its hard enough for a full season, let alone adding to it. I'd like to see some sort of tourney but use minor leaguers. It would be a great opportunity for minor league players and would allow for fans to follow minor leaguers. Of course it wouldn't have the star names that would probably be required to sell seats (at least in the US) but I bet in Japan and other venues they would have no trouble putting fans in the seats. I think they used to call that "Olympic baseball."

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 01:03 PM) Hmm, I thought his little soiree' with two 14 year old girls would have made his list of s***ty things done. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1851263 You know this guy bought into his own hype about the same time that Mike got drafted. wow, I forgot about that. well, you can add that to the list, too.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Jan 6, 2006 -> 06:20 PM) I would have gone with my boy Champ because he was the best player on a better team but Urlacher did clearly have an outstanding season I don't see any bias there... it's a clear choice, Urlacher was the best/most important player on a team that would be 1-15 without this defense. well-deserved.

QUOTE(sayitaintso @ Jan 6, 2006 -> 06:12 PM) From what i have heard from ESPN, it seems that he brought this upon himslef. hmm, let's look at his track record: 2004: suspended entire season for marijuana possesion Oct 2005: makes obscene gesture to fans Dec 2005: driving on revoked license Gator Bowl: stomps on players leg, lies about apoligizing yeah, I'd say he brought it upon himself.

QUOTE(Dam8610 @ Jan 6, 2006 -> 02:39 PM) Swiss cheese? You want to actually look at his splits here? Alexander vs. Sub .500 teams in 2005 (10 games): 235 carries 1255 yards 5.3 YPC 125.5 YPG 22 TD Alexander vs. .500 or better teams in 2005 (6 games): 135 carries 625 yards 4.6 YPC 104.1 YPG 6 TD That doesn't look too bad, but one of those games against .500+ teams was against the Colts when they sat FIVE defensive starters and treated the game like a preseason game. In that game, Alexander got 139 yards and 3 TDs. Take that away, and you're left with: 114 carries 486 yards 4.2 YPC 97.2 YPG 3 TD in 5 games So against legitimate competition that played to win the game, Alexander averaged less than 100 yards and less than 1 TD per game. That's not what MVPs do, especially when you have candidates like Manning, Palmer, and Brady, who were all able to produce at about their season averages if not better against legitimate competition. it's not like he completely disappeared in those 5 remaining games, and it's typical for players to play better against worse teams. but if you ask me, Brady should be the MVP, simply because I believe he meant more to the Patriots than Alexander did to the Seahawks, though his numbers don't reflect that as much as Manning's or Alexander's. I think Manning would have won the MVP if Alexander had finished the season without the TD record.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jan 6, 2006 -> 04:53 PM) The pick has no restrictions. If the Knicks end up with the #1 pick in the draft, it's ours. And, in 2007, we can switch picks with the Knicks as well. So if they suck ass again and say end up with the 5th pick, and we make the playoffs and end up with the 24th pick, we can switch with them. Isiah Thomas is a f***in moron. lol I'm hoping for Brown to melt down, quit after this season, and we swap picks with the Knicks in '07 and draft OJ Mayo #1...I can dream if I want to.

QUOTE(White Sox Josh @ Jan 6, 2006 -> 04:43 PM) I wouldn't draft him. well, he's obviously a talented football player, and yes, he has major character issues and too many off-field troubles. but if Clarett can bomb at the combine and be drafted on the first day, and character issues knocked someone with Randy Moss's skill set to #18, why wouldn't Vick get drafted?

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Jan 5, 2006 -> 08:42 PM) Bruschi doesnt deserve the award at all...... what he came back from was tough and everything but he didnt have half the season Steve Smith did. hey, he literally didn't have half the season Steve Smith did, since he didn't play for half the season.

QUOTE(Dam8610 @ Jan 5, 2006 -> 09:36 AM) What was the compensation for the Jets? saw it scroll on ESPN that it's a 4th-round pick.

anybody suppose Marcus Vick will just declare for the draft now?

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Jan 2, 2006 -> 10:31 PM) You overreacted, complained, and b****ed about their mistakes and bad plays in the game threads, when they were made, as if you expected more from this sad group of players. Hence my question. it's a message board, a device meant for people to come together to over-react, complain, and b**** about their favorites teams' mistakes and bad plays. then, if there's time, possibly have a few intelligent discussions about those teams. you may not expect much from those teams some years, but you still want to see them do well. and when they don't, people tend to over-react, b****, and complain.

OK, I don't mind watching a game with nothing at stake and plenty of starters sitting (the 6th preseason game for the Bears as the announcers called it), but did they HAVE to put Tony Siragusa on the sidelines for this one?

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Dec 31, 2005 -> 06:14 PM) Yeah but GB has been surprisingly good vs the pass although that could be because teams dont need to since their run defense is so bad... and the vikings have some talent on defense this season. I saw that too, they're actually 8th in total defense (yards allowed), but they give up about 127 on the ground per game, so that's just the way teams go at them, especially since Green Bay hasn't really held many leads to force opponents to pass against them this year.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Dec 31, 2005 -> 01:36 AM) Well, the saying is still true. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR! Kobe got exactly what he wanted. He wanted to be "the man". Not so easy when you don't have Shaq commanding 80% of the defense. don't forget, nobody else really commands much attention when the Lakers have the ball, either.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2005 @ Dec 27, 2005 -> 12:26 AM) When the games didn't mean anything anymore. on Kyle Boller, don't forget that Minnesota and Green Bay aren't exactly lock-down defenses, either.

QUOTE(JimH @ Dec 31, 2005 -> 04:21 PM) Guillen has been saying he wants more speed too. That's why I think there may be some substance to this ... or a similar scenario where they'd acquire someone with speed and also some bullpen help. I was going to mention Guillen wanting speed as well, but in a 16-page thread I figured this was mentioned already.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Dec 31, 2005 -> 04:21 PM) Either way, if the Sox truly are thinking of trading Contreras for Taveras they had also better get a proven reliever like Chad Qualls and a pitching prospect like Jason Hirsh or Troy Patton. which is highly possible, it was mentioned before that Contreras' value is higher than Taveras'.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Dec 31, 2005 -> 04:19 PM) Well put. I find it astounding that I'm getting jumped on for even suggesting that the Sox might want to hold off on Anderson while going for another title. Taveres is very good defensively and has great speed on the bases. I think that the Sox could benefit from another Podsednik-like player. They need more than one person that can be a threat on the bases, especially considering that their #2 base-stealer is now in Philly. If the price is low enough, why not trade for Taveres? If Anderson isn't ready for major-league pitching yet, Taveres is a great insurance policy. If he turns out to be a bust, he can ride the pine (for the league minimum) and Anderson can play. and that's really why this trade could make sense.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Dec 31, 2005 -> 04:00 PM) He batted lead-off last year no? That is what they are trying to groom him to become no? That is what he was in the minors no? if you remember all the way back to the World Series, Taveras was batting 2nd for the 'Stros, on account that he only walked 25 times in 592 ABs in the regular season and Biggio was a better OBP guy. so's Pods.