YASNY

This is amazing! Mistreatment of young Latinos in the Dominican Republublic by the Cubs organization. It's horrid! The Lovable Cubbies?

I agree, it's Garland. You can make a valid case with Thomas. But, I feel we will still score plenty of runs even if Frank just duplicates last season. But, with Garland, if he steps up and we don't have any key injuries, that should do the trick.

Glover starting would have to be an "if all else fails" situation. A last resort. I hope it's a last resort.

I have realized that I have gradually become a KW defender. I don't think he has done a bad job overall, and he seems to getting better at this as he goes along. I sure am not saying that he has never screwed up, because he has. And to me, the Ritchie deal was the worst. Even when that trade was made I was trying to figure out what he was thinking. But, all in all, he's doing ok and getting better. At least, as of now.

We can't trade anybody and "know" we will get LeBron. There is still the draft lottery. And we know Krause's luck where that is concerned.

If anybody knows what it takes to play center in the NBA, it's Cartwright. I have the feeling he's just trying to use PT as a method for getting Curry to work, work, work. Sometimes, not having a guy on the floor can have it's benefits in the developmental area. I know I'm not going to question Cartwright's methods when it comes to teaching a center how to play NBA basketball.

if we did that and borchard didnt win the CF job we wouldnt have one left handed bat in the line up that could hit more than 5 home runs...we need both jose in the line up everyday and borchard to have a great spring and win the CF job to balance the line up out imo That's for sure... As of right now, we NEED Jose in the line-up.

"This time last season Cleveland was the anticipated powerhouse and not many experts would have predicted the first-place Twins being challenged by the second-place White Sox for the division title." I wouldn't exactly say that Twins were challenged.

The key to our pitching staff is now Bartolo Colon. The key to our offense is Frank Thomas. Colon is in the last year of his contract and Frank has the option to become a free agent after this season. Barring injury, I think both of these guys are going to have an awesome season. They certainly are not lacking for incentive.

Pretty damn lucky, if you ask me. Lucky or not, he pulled it off. Give the man credit for this one.

Torii Hunter is good. Damn good. I do not expect his numbers to drop at all. If he was in silver & black I'd be reading that he will "continue to improve". And that is what I expect with him wearing Twinkie blue. As for Maggs vs. Hunter... either one is capable of being the AL MVP this year. And though there might be a slight bit of bias here, I'd stick with Maggs.

Before Jiminez' accident, he was thought of more highly than Soriano by the Yankees. And from what I saw last year, this guy may be the real deal. Jose is a good clutch hitter, but he doesn't do much when there is no one on base. Not a good trait for a leadoff hitter to have.

Royce Ring= He sounds like a combonation of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych and Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabrowski. Can't wait till he gets to Comiskey.

As far as us having the division clinched... I have to break out the old cliche', They don't play the games on paper. But, I'm as hopeful as any of you and cautiously optimistic about the upcoming season.

At the time the Durham trade was made, it was widely assumed that sandwich picks for FA's would be eliminated in the new CBA. Durham was doing fine with the Sox last year, but the team was going nowhere. Durham was gone anyway and they needed to check out the kids. If it was assured that the sandwich pick would have still been there, then yes, I'd say it was a bad deal. I think it was a matter of trying to make the best out of a bad situation. If Adkins even makes it to the Sox as a halfway decent long reliever, it's better than the nothing it appeared we were going to get at the time of the trade.

Sorry guys, the only sure fire bonified all around player we have in the outfield is Maggs. Lee is a DH type player, though he is working hard on his defense, it leaves a lot to be desired. Rowand is adequate at best. If he does turn into a Darin Erstad type player, great. But, I feel he'll come up somewhat short in that area. I still want Brian Giles!!!

From the various press reports and quotes I've read, it's pretty obvious who the driving force behind the deal was: 1. Williams hounded Minaya for weeks about Colon. 2. Cashman offer the El Duque deal, which Williams nixed. 3. Williams hounded Minaya some more. Found out the El Duque would seal the deal. 4. Willams called Cashman and accepted the previously offered proposal. 5. Then he completed the deal with the Expos. Whether he used the fact that the Yankees didn't want Colon in Boston, or not, Williams made this deal happen. And if he did use that fact, then so much the better. He saw an opportunity to use this to his advantage and used it. This is one deal where KW shines.

With KC, Detroit and now the Thome-less Tribe in this division, It might take 100 wins to win it. The Sox and Twins should both inflate their win total against these teams.

our previous GM left KW with a league leading 95 win team , a 30 million dollar payroll and baseball america's number one rated farm system...sometimes the best trades are the ones you dont make... maybe the perfect GM is a cross between KW and RS??? You may have a point there. I wasn't giving Williams a carte blanche, ringing endorsement there. But the point I'm making is that at least he is attempting to make the Sox better.

I just read this in Barry Rozner's column at the Daily herald website: " When we heard last week that the White Sox were working hard to get Bartolo Colon, and pleading with them to finish this high-priced game of chicken, we also were told by a Sox employee that the second half of the equation could be Pudge Rodriguez. " That's the first I've heard anything about the Sox having any interest in IRod. Complete Column

Since Reinsdorf is on the committee... and seems to suck up to Selig, we may get Colon for that very reason. The Expos are owned by MLB. Selig is the commisioner, therefore makes all the decisions. Minaya is the Expos GM, therefore is employeed by MLB, and effectively has to answer to Selig. Reinsdorf is the only owner in baseball to have a minority GM and manager. Minority hirings is one of Seligs pet projects. Since Reinsdorf is such a suck up, Selig may very well throw him the proverbial bone... Colon. Is this what happened here? Any thoughts?

Mario and I are about the only ones who will still support that Clayton deal. In retrospect it was a terrible move, and KW admitted it. Royce's temper meshed, but HE wasn't why the Sox sucked the last two years. People can use him as the scapegoat, but there were more serious reasons for why the Sox lost. I won't say I supported the Clayton deal, because I was more than happy with Jose at short after the 2000 season.... but Clayton did do what he was acquired to do. Solidify the defense at SS.

Actually, I have to say that after seeing your post, I went back and reread what was said. I do have to consider your point of view a possibility in this case, HSC. Though I still disagree with you on KW.

I see a VERY solid bullpen. And adding Colon's innings to the rotation will make the bullpen that much stronger. I'm am not worried about our bullpen at all. Especially with the probable addition of Flash. There is the veteran some mentioned earlier in this thread.

I'm sorry to offend all you KW bashers, but I actually like the guy's approach. He sees a need and tries to fill it. Some attempts to do that have backfired on him, certainly. But, I used to get so aggravated at Schuler for NOT filling needs and hanging on to his over rated minor leaguers. I know when David Wells was acquired, the reaction was very much like today's reaction to the Colon deal. And 99% of all Sox fans thought we were Series bound. Acquiring Clayton was an attempt to fill a need that I heard so much b****ing about at WSI that I stopped going there... Valentine's 36 errors. And the Ritchie deal was also to fill a need.. though I thought with all we gave up, that we should have got Brian Giles in that deal too. The point is, he has ATTEMPTED to address needs. And that is more than I can say for the previous GM.