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QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 01:55 PM) If Sale only pitches 70 innings this year, I'm going to think it's a serious step back in his development. I really want him to be in the rotation for at least part of the season, if only to try to keep the innings he works up. He's hit 160 innings each of the last 2 years, but those were in the minors; a normal bullpen load for him would be a real step backwards in building his arm into a major league pitcher's arm. This is where you need to weigh what's best for the player and what's best for the team. The best thing for his development and long term value would be to get him some starts. The best thing for the team this year is to put him in the pen. Unless the Sox think his future is the pen, I would get him ready to start in the Spring and then see what you need when the season begins.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 09:53 AM) Those were a special few years with pure hitters like Gwynn and Boggs around. Agreed. I remember when Nellie Fox was inducted into the HOF, Reggie Jackson said that "they let someone in the HOF who doesn't belong. Fox's widow said "yes, it was a guy who struck out more than 2500 times."

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 02:04 AM) No black man sounds more white than Tony Gywnn ever. This is fact. But he was an eight, I repeat, EIGHT time batting champion who has a career BA of .338 over 20 f***ing seasons. You must be crazy. But his lifetime slugging % is only .459 because hit hit a lot of singles. Can he still be considered a great hitter? Singles are SEXY!!!

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Jan 6, 2011 -> 10:22 PM) Not really. I mean it's almost expected for someone who has played this long. Plus, did anybody EVER consider Omar Vizquel a top 5 player in the league...EVER? Actually I think he has only got 1 MVP vote his entire career. To me, that says a lot. Defensively, yes. There is some precedent for putting in players based mostly on defense Ozzie smith, Brooks Robinson. But you need to be "one of the greatest." I think he falls in that category. I would probably so no to the HOF for him but it wouldn't bother me if he did because of the defense.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 11:04 AM) Is it a bad thing if he walks with runners in scoring position? Obviously it would be ideal for him to drive them in but Ive never been upset when a hitter walks with runners in scoring position, unless Mark Kotsay was batting behind them. I am. Your hitters in the middle of the lineup are paid this kind of money to drive in runs, not to set up for the next guy. And yes I know they get pitched around but if there is a pitch that is borderline, hit it.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 11:07 AM) Ju's part of his first name. FanGraphs' take on Garza: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/m...s-aaron-harang/ If you don't want to read it, basically, they say Garza's a slightly better version of Aaron Harang and that his ERA might not drop as much as some of us are expecting. I know but it would still have been fun to tease the cub fans.

QUOTE (dpd9189 @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 11:00 AM) Good move by the Cubs. I would have loved for Lee to stay with the Cubs. I would have had a blast teasing the Cubs fans about their SS named Ju-Lee. Only the Cubs would play a girl at SS in the MLB!

QUOTE (Chi Town Sox @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 10:51 AM) Agreed, but then you think of 2010 and what Mark Kotsay would have done in that position True, like I said I like him in there. I'm just sure his is going to rank with Thomas and Thome as good players who could drive me crazy at times.

QUOTE (IamtheHBOMB @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 10:55 AM) I thought that initially, but they were traded for each other in 1999. They both pitched for the Yankees in the 2002 and 2003 seasons, but Wells wasn't the 2 in either of those rotations. The worst would probably be Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson while in Arizona.

QUOTE (IamtheHBOMB @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 10:47 AM) You're talking in the same rotation, right? I've spent the last five minutes trying to find the biggest dbag to ever pitch behind Clemens and haven't come up with anything so far. Did Wells pitch with Clemens in Toronto? That would do it.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 10:08 AM) Sure it did, but the runner's speed on first has less of an effect on a double play than the runner running to first. Of course, it didn't help that Konerko hit behind Thome for the majority of Thome's time here. BTW, Dunn's K rate in RISP situations is 7% lower than his career K rate. His walk rate is also 7% higher than his career walk rate. this is what drives me crazy. He didn't drive the run in if he walks. As I've said before don't get me wrong I like him, I just know I'll be throwing things at the TV when he strikesout or walks with an important run in scoring position

QUOTE (YASNY @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 09:57 AM) It's hard to hit if you don't get a pitch to hit. It's also hard to hit when you're only intention during hitting is to hit an HR. There was a stat I read once and I wish I could find the source. It basically said that Thome is the all time leader in PAs when the ball was not in play. this took into account walks, strikeouts and HRs.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 09:56 AM) I don't think you can blame Thome for walking. You should probably blame whoever's hitting behind him. Since they're the ones hitting into DPs. All Thome can do is try to not make an out. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/...r&t=b#bases Those are Dunn's numbers with different base/out states. Dunn's a career .231 hitter with RISP, but he also has a .420 OBP in those situations. Pitchers are probably more careful with guys like Dunn and Thome when they're up with RISP. They'd much rather pitch around them than attack them and get hurt by a three run home run. the speed of Thome did play a factor in it. I'm not saying I don't like him in the lineup I think he will help alot, especially compared to Kotsay. It's just that these types of players drive me crazy because there are borderline pitches they will walk on when a hit would be better. Also the strikeouts don't benefit anything and they will strikeout 3x as much as they hit a HR. Strikeouts and walks do not drive in the run and we know that Dunn will have 220-250 of those this year.

QUOTE (DOWNTOWN PANTHER @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 08:59 AM) It doesnt help. Also, unless the 3rd base coach has a miller lite and a box of white castles there dont expect him to hustle either. In his interviews, he said one of the reasons he likes Chicago is the Portillo's Italian beef sandwiches. So maybe that will get him moving!

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 08:45 AM) Paying $10 million for a set up man is irresponsible. It takes 2 really bad and 6 other bad appearances all year to take an ERA from 1.73 to 3.73, and the WHIP can be just as bad too. And, considering that Soriano has had arm problems in the past as well, it's just simply not wise to spend $10 million on him unless you plan on having him close. This is only true if you are paying based on peripheral numbers. The overall goal is to win games. If the rotation is suspect and they can't improve it, the only other option is to improve the bullpen to reduce the damage the starters can do. Where the money is poorly spent is his health issues. If it's a deal more than 2 of years, odds are he will miss a good potion of it.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 7, 2011 -> 08:00 AM) This post is almost not worth responding to, but I had to. I was going to lay down some sarcastic comment, but I decided to get some stats. Yes, Adam Dunn strikes out a lot. But he also walks a lot, hits a lot of homeruns, and drives in a lot of runs. In his 10 year career, he has hit 354 HRs, drove in 880 runs, walked 990 times, has an OBP of .381, a slugging % of .521, and an OPS of .902. Hardly the most overrated power hitter of this baseball generation. Does anyone have the stats of how he does in RBI situations? The thing that will drive me crazy during the season is the same thing that drove me crazy with Thome, when the Sox have a guy in scoring position Dunn will strikeout or walk which will not get the run in. The next guy up grounds into a double play or is out and the Sox don't score. I'm not saying getting him is a bad deal because I like his presence in the lineup. But guys like him and Thome who have a high strikeout and walk rates look good on OBP but they seems to do it at a time when a single would be much more effective.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 09:37 AM) Yet he'd still be about 30 percent of the player Frank was in his heyday. Frank was by far the better overall hitter. PK is a better homerun hitter and much better at defense. Frank took alot of criticizism for letting borderline high pitches go when they were the perfect ones to drive. He began to argue with the umps more when they stopped giving him alot of those later in his career Frank was one of the few hitters that you had to stop whatever you were doing and watch his at bat.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 11:00 PM) Well I no longer considered B-Mac a prospect at the point of that trade. But I can give you that. My point was Wite, for some reason unknown, thinks we'd have viable replacements if a player or two went down in-season. I challenged him to give some examples. Why not? He had a heck of a run in August and Sept. to help the sox make the playoffs. There were many people really angry, on this board and in the papers, that KW traded away a pitcher who has some success at the MLB level for a few guys who hadn't. How about Bobby Jenks and Gordon Beckham?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 07:35 PM) Has there ever been one legitimate link to Bagwell and PEDs? Other than the fact he was big and strong? I honestly don't remember. i think it's kind of like the Magglio PED connection. There is no sure link but everyone in baseball pretty much knows they did. There is enough talk and enough people talking about it to cast a large doubt in the minds of the voters. Plus there is the type of injuries in his injury plagued history that lends itself to PED use.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 06:34 PM) It's not the DH. It's the speculation that Bagwell used PED's. Frank was the best pure hitter of the 90's. And plus HOF voters like garbage terms like "feared" which Frank surely was. That being said I think Bagwell should be in the HOF. Personally I don't need the self righteousness of the voters concerning PED's. I might go with Bonds as the best. Prior to the steroid use he still could do everything with the bat. It would be a toss up between the two IMO.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 01:44 PM) I'm happy for Blylevin, but Morris was every bit his superior, IMO I disagree but that game 7 WS game against the Braves was one of the best ever seen.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 4, 2011 -> 07:54 PM) This is just a random guess...Andrus, Young, Kinsler, Hamilton, Beltre, Cruz, Moreland, Torrealba, Bourbon. That lineup is beyond sick. Not to mention the defensive excellence that will be on display. I don't think Young, Beltre, Andrus and Kinsler can co-exist in the same lineup. If Beltre does sign I'm not sure how they can manage unles they trade Young but that 16 mil price tag will make it tough.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Jan 4, 2011 -> 01:49 PM) like Balta and many said...you bet your butt he is. Whether that's good or bad remains to be seen...hopefully it doesn't make him go into psycho-mode because of it. Having said that...it seemed to work for Lovie Smith this year but Lovie and Ozzie about as far apart on the spectrum as you could possibly be. the part that scares me is that you know the Sox will hire a person who has not managed before or who has little MLB mangerial experience. That has always been the MO. I'm not sure who is out there that I would prefer over OZZie. Maybe this is what Joey is waiting for ala Rick Hahn and KW's jub.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 4, 2011 -> 08:45 AM) Its usually a year to heal, and then a year of getting back strength and accuracy it seems. the rehab is usually 8-9 months. But you're right, it takes many pitchers a while to regain the "feel" for pitches with the new tightened elbow. From my experience the more experienced pitchers take less time to regain this. I would guess that Nathan would get it back through spring training depending on how much they let him throw.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 2, 2011 -> 11:33 AM) I don't think anyone was really referring to the technical aspects of the accounting, other than ss2k, who is in agreement with you. The question seemed to be whether it was against any MLB rules to use profits from another corporation or organization to fund an MLB team. It's not. No it's not against the rules. You can invest whatever money you cn get your hands on. It's a business. The only difference is the anti-trsut exemption for business across state lines.