YASNY

The first Time I ever heard heard his name was when the PA announced him as the pinch hitter in St. Louis. Needless to say, I left the game impressed.

Thanks. That's what I needed, confirmation one way or the other. I guess I'll have to settle for seeing his 2nd homer.

When interleague play started back in '97, I attended the first ever game between the Cardinals and Sox. This game was played at Busch on Labor Day, 1997. Magglio came into the game as a pinch hitter and stayed in the game. On his second at bat, he yanked one into the the left field stands. Even though I'm kind fuzzy on the previously mentioned details, the fact it was the first Sox/Cards game and the fact about Labor Day is solid. What I'd like to find out is, was that Magglio's first major league home run? When he was announced as a pinch hitter, I looked at my buddy and said "What the hell is a Magglio Ordonez?" ... Now I know! Can anyone verify, yes or no, whether that, in fact, was his first dinger?

who did we get in that trade??? and y does it seem like we have a bunch of decent to goodo guys and then we trade them and they fall apart. we must know the talent of our players pretty well. We got Jon Garland !! in that deal. I believe it was straight up, Karchner for Garland.

I think so. It shouldn't be held against him that he spent the best years of his career in the ABA.

Raiders, because I saw the Jets play the Bears. Titans, the team appears to be hitting on all cylinders. Eagles, best team in the NFC. 49'ers, because I can't imagine the Bucs winning a playoff game.

This really isn't such a bad idea. I'm sure it needs some fine tuning, but it is certainly doable. First benefit, is that the game will actually have some meaning. It will put pressure on the managers to grab the home field advantage for their league. Then, you might not have situations like when Joe Torre put seven Yankees on the team. I also feel like they should eliminate the "one player from every team" rule and let each league bring the best players. I'd hate to depend on any Tiger or D-Ray with the game on the line. But then, this really shouldn't matter to any of us .... BECAUSE THE SOX MANAGEMENT THINKS THE WORLD SERIES IS FOR OTHER TEAMS!

Where's Matt Karchner when you need him?

I kind of got used to the idea of hating the Tribe. Enjoyed it, in fact. Now, it just doesn't matter.

If they are going to do this, they need to eliminate the "at least one player from every team" rule and let each league actually bring their best.

Thanks for the book tip, I will check it out! YASNY - I would love to read what Holtzman wrote, thanks for posting about, any idea where to find it? Not sure where I saw it, but I'd guess the MLB website.

To be honest, I don't want Tatis. LaRussa dumped him because he's a clubhouse cancer. No team wants to pick up Tatis and pay him what his contract calls for. Just think about all the speculation about teams intested in Mike Lowell. Yet, I don't recall seeing any mention of a team looking to Tatis as their answer at 3B. With the Sox being so dollar conscious, I can't see them paying Tatis $6Mil to back up Crede.

After all these posts in this thread the last 24 hours, Colon is still an Expo. But, it makes for some interesting reading.

You think Biddle is not the answer? What about Rauch and Wright? They are no answer either, this staff blows. Even Garland hasn't proved himself to be consistent in this league. Our entire staff is based on potential and nothing proven. We are in deep s*** and nobody seems to notice. Nothing is proven, correct ... but I think this staff will do just fine.

you know what caught myattention, this little statement. >>>>>>>>> Bartolo Colon and Javier Vazquez they may have a deal to get both pitcher? wow, i wonder what the price is going to be. Yes, I did a double take when I saw that in the column. I might even let Garland go in a deal for both of them.

I'd like to include Honel in that list. Also, Borchard wouldn't be untoucheable if it landed us Dunn or Vladdy OK, I'll have to agree with you on that one.

I wish I could remember more about this, but Jerome Holtzman recently investigated the Black Sox scandal for MLB. He pretty well concluded the Jackson did, in fact, throw games.

Am I mistaken, didn't Helling totally suck for the D-Backs last year?

I'm with you on this one. The integrity of the game should be the first consideration. Jackson flat out took money to throw a World Series. Unforgivable. Rose knew the consequences for gambling on baseball. To me it all boils down to that.

I like Konerko a lot. Good in the clubhouse and on the field. But I wouldn't consider him untouchable, strictly because it's not that difficult to find 1B's with a good stick. Addition note on the 'Spos pitchers. Check out Rozner's column in the Daily Herald. http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/col_rozner.asp

Here's a question I'd like to ask him: "Whenever the overall goals for an upcoming season are discussed, the word 'competitive' is always used. Why is the word 'championship' not used to define those goals?"

Magglio, Buehrle, Borchard, Crede, Garland should all be considered untouchable, with Rauch very close to being in that catagory. Depending on the deal, anyone else could be considered, IMHO. Keeping those guys in mind as not part of the deal, it would be difficult to speculate on what it would take to get Colon or Vasquez. And if they insisted on one of them, I'd say no thanks.

If Ryno would have had "NY" on his hat, instead of "C", he would have been voted in. Jim Kaat was one helluva pitcher. When he was pitching for the Twinkies back in the 60's, man was he tough. He was still a very good pitcher for the Sox in the mid 70's. Hell, if Don Sutton and Don Drysdale belong in the hall, Kitty, and for that matter, Blyleven, deserve to belong also. Oh, the thing that I said about "NY" also applies to "LA".

We all get the benefit of enjoying this board due to their hard work and I know that I, for one, very much appreciate it. Thanks to all of you.

Buehrle and Colon would sure make a helluva one-two punch at the top of the rotation. I know ... but's it's a nice dream, anyway.