YASNY

I'll throw out a name here. Ken Berry. Berry was a great defensive CF back in the 60's. He was also a smart ballplayer. He knew how to run the bases and knew how to steal a base. He wasn't a great hitter, be he was good enough. He did a lot of the little things that the current teams seems unable or unwilling to do.

I agree. I don't really remember Pierce, but if compare his stats to Whitey Ford, you have to wonder why he's not in the HOF too.

I know I don't want to see next year come with the same core players in the lineup. It hasn't worked for 4 years. We are too heavily right handed, too slow, not enough contact hitters, not solid enough on defense. Four years is enough. They've proved to me that this team can't win unless everything just breaks right for them.

I don't think you can individually blame Lee or Konerko for this team's failures the last few years. I think it's been the collective structure of the team.

From the point that Maggs and Frank were DL'ed, this season was in the crapper. The team we have on the field now is not the team we thought we'd be watching. In fact, I don't "blame" anyone for what happened this year. You take two of the best hitters in baseball out of a lineup, you have to expect things to go sour.

If they can restructure this team while keeping Lee and Konerko, then that's great. I don't see it happening though. It would take one more big free agent signing to accomplish that. Even though I believe they will spend some money this offseason, I think moving one of these two is the plan.

Oh, there's going to be some tearing down. But, with most of the pieces of the starting rotation in place, I think there will be a massive restructuring of the position players on the team. In fact, of non-pitchers, I think the only two guys you can be totally confident of returning are Rowand and Thomas.

Guys like Rowand. They could push home plate farther back, into what is now foul territory. Though I was thinking that we pulled the fences in a few years ago, so there should be some room to push them back. Maybe a combination of the two?

I like KW's aggresiveness. The only noteworthy trade deadline deal Schuler ever made was the White Flag deal. And that was for all the wrong reasons.

I would venture to say that Jose Valentin's time with the White Sox is, for all practical intents and purposes, done.

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

I would have thought that Magglio Orgonez would qualify as the definitive "power hitting, high average RF". What more could the guy do for the last 5 years?

They'll look at PK's consistant performance, year in and year out, with the exception of that fluke 2003 and know they are getting a professional power hitter. They also know his career "bad" year id behind him, and that his career "good" year is probably still ahead of him. It depends on the needs of each team and what they have available to offer that will determine whether Lee or Konerko will bring more in return.

Ok. No implications here. Ozzie is not a joke as a manager. But, if someone keeps throwing out lineups that they think should be used, and then criticizes the manager for not using that lineup when they have no idea about what is being discussed between the manager and the GM, or what their "rest of the season" goals are .... There, my friend, is an example of a joke.

Varitek would be worth the 6 to 8 million it takes to get him. He's exactly the type of player the Sox need to pick up. He's a gamer.

Twins. No brainer. I think it's going to be a Cardinals-A's series.

That starts his arbitration/free agency clock sooner.

If I'm not getting my historical events mixed up, the reality of this story is that about 74 men escaped and all were rounded within a short period of time. 50 of the escapees were executed as an example.

If he can consistantly hit behind a runner, make contact on a hit and run, get down a sacrifice bunt and hit using all fields, then Birmingham. If not, keep him back till he does show he can do all this. In Bham, they can teach him how to play smart defense.

Better

Let's just say that I was one of the few around here that believed Aaron Rowand would turn into a solid ML ballplayer. There was a whole lot of Rowand bashing similar to the Crede bashing that's going on now. I may be wrong. I'm no expert. I see "something" in Crede that makes me believe he will be a ballplayer. I can't put my finger on it or tell you what it is, but I think it's there.

If we pick up a top 3 quality pitcher, I think before the AS break next year, you'll see Garland move ahead of Contreras in the rotation pecking order.

I said this in another thread yesterday, but I feel it's worth repeating. I hope the Sox have to sit and watch the Twins celebrate clinching the division at USCF. That'll give them something to think about this winter.

Yes. Ozzie's a joke as manager. He's only been wearing a major league uniform since 1985 and knows nothing about the game. We all are much better at putting together a lineup and we all know when to s*** can somebody be they are going to blow 2 saves. So on and so forth, blah blah blah ....

You can't win a game 0-0.