YASNY

Great thread. I especially appreciated Bull's and Cotts' input. Thanks guys.

What's "clutch" about hitting a game winner NOW?

Yes ELo had a great season, thank you ELo. Now back to reality. You can expect him to be about a .500 pitcher next season, at best. I disagree with you on this one. I think Loaiza is what is called a late bloomer. He always had the talent. Now he has the maturity, and with that the work ethic, to be a good pitcher for next few years. I'm not saying he'll be an annual Cy Young candidate, but I do believe he will be above average.

As for the Konerko vs. Ortiz debate ..... We may have had a guy on this team that would have given us Ortiz-like numbers if he was used properly. Daubach. That was a case where JM failed to give him enough at bats to let him get into a rythem. In this case, I guess, JM didn't "tinker" enough.

Circumstances change and change is needed at times. You can't effectively run a baseball team by falling in love with your own players. The fans on here, for the most part, are simply putting themselves in the GM's shoes and saying that they would make this move or that move. It's not a matter of, say, dumping Maggs because they are pissed off. It's a matter of deciding can we afford to keep Maggs and if not, what can we get for him? Can we improve the club by trading Maggs even if we can afford to keep him? Those are the type of questions a GM has to ask himself every off season.

Rex's reasoning makes sense to me, as I was thinking it as I read this thread, also. I'd venture to guess it was Everett who said it. It takes someone who has heart to recognize that it is missing.

I have nothing against JM. But, it's time to try a new approach. Fare thee well, JM.

This is so typical of the Chicago White Sox. It happens over and over, year after year. And that is when the are good enough to even compete.

There needs to be a MAJOR revamp of this team. We aren't going to bring back all, or even enough, of our free agents to give us any hope next year. There is enough talent here that we should be able to retool instead of rebuild. But, our right handed power hitting bunch has failed for 3 consecutive seasons and it's time to attempt something different.

:fthecubs

I've been out of town for a few days. Computer access was not available, nor missed, for that matter. And thanks for the welcome back :dips***

I was just going to mention the fact that batting averages were way lower then than they are now. How many people do you suppose that are my age on here knew that the one year in the AL during the 60s only ONE player hit over .300? Hawk had a pretty good career. Probably a Reggie Sanders or Danny Tartabull type player...an all around solid-player. IIRC, that was Boston's Carl Yaztremski in 1967 with a .301 average. Yaz won the AL triple crown that year. He's the last player in either league to do so.

It takes some time to get use to the angles and views. I was up there 2wice and each time I looked like a dumbass. I was screaming "Stay in here! Oh s***, NO!" on pop-ups and "Robbies got it!" on HR's. People were looking at me like "What the f***? Is he high?" Little hint here. Don't watch the ball in flight, watch the fielders. They'll tell you the real story. That having been said, I attended a couple of games in May, and being in the bleachers challenged that theory because you can't see the outfielder in front of you at times. So, I misjudged a couple myself. s*** happens.

This would be a great time to build on those last 2 wins in Boston, and put together a double digit win streak. 15 in a row would do it.

here's the way I see it. Colon and Everett are outta here. We have to many good minor league CF prospects to justify keeping Everett. JR won't do long term big bucks deals with pitchers. He's shown that time and time again. Robby might be back .. that's iffy. No Tejada or Matsui in silver and black. We's have to dump salary somewhere, star salary .... like Magglio ..... to sign one of those guys. I can see either Magglio or Carlos leaving town before 2004, also. To trade Konerko or Koch we'd have to take on someone's else's "bad" salaries. That serves no purpose, unless it's to replace Colon in the rotation. Something like this might happen. Since Buehrle is AE ... I see him as potential trade bait. Frank MAY allow the Sox to keep him at the $8 Mil option. But, he may decide he can command more and bolt to "greener" pastures. Gordon has re-established himself as a healthy quality pitcher. May not be able to hang on to him either. The 2004 Chicago White Sox may look like a completely different team. Whether we win it all this year or not. Too many $$$ issues to bring it back as is, or even close. JMHO

That Rogers article should have put things in place. We aren't going sign our own expensive free agents, let alone any of the other big names out there.

We need Esteban to bring his A game tonight.

It's all coming down to this series. The whole season, with all its frustions and all it's excitement, comes down to this. A sweep one way or the other and it's probably a done deal.

Good post. Things have to be looked at in the proper perspective. You've done that here.

Pitching wins championships. And with that big 3 in the Cubs rotation, I think most teams would be very leary of facing them in the post season.

This would be a good time to let this thread die. Just sayin'.

There are two ways you can look at the performance of Bartolo Colon this year. One, he was lazy early. Not bringing his A-game every time out and therefore hurt the club. Or two, he paced himself for the long haul, and now that it's cruch time, he's stepped it up and is being the ace we all thought he'd be. I know this much... his last 4 starts: New York, Boston. Minnesota, Boston again... we're ace-like performances against the top echelon of the A.L. Colon is 8-3 with a 2.62 earned-run average in his last 11 starts. That's a pitcher that has kicked it in gear for the second half and stretch run. He's stepped it up in the clutch. And I'm glad he's wearing silver & black.

Damn people. If we hadn't have traded for Alomar, Everett, Shoenewicze and Sullivan .... the KW bashers would be screaming because he did nothing to help this team out. Yet, since he did its now "He's traded the future for short term help." I've always liked the fact that KW has consistently tried to improve this ball club. Some have worked out, others haven't. But, he's the first GM since Roland Hemond that I felt wanted to win and not just compete. I wasn't happy with his clubhouse spies and all that, but apparently Einhorn's re-emergence in the organization has curtailed that stuff. I don't think KW is a great GM, but I don't think he's a complete moron either.

Again, I have to agree. We should be 10 up right now, at least.

Koch also pitched. We needed 8.