Balta1701

Ozzie Guillen , amongst some others, chimes in on Sheff.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jun 5, 2007 -> 10:42 AM) Yep, and IIRC, Navarro had a very up-and-down career. He was terrible in his last two years in Milwaukee. Blackjack, Alvarez, Fernandez, and Hoyt all fizzled out shortly after leaving the Sox. I can't imagine how financially-screwed the Sox would've been if they'd given somebody like Blackjack a huge, long-term deal. Here's the even bigger point I'm trying to make. How many people can name a pitcher who received a 5 year + contract who has actually been worth that contract? And how many pitchers can you come up with who haven't been worth those contracts? In my mind at least...it's pretty overwhelmingly one-sided.

Figured it was about that time.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Jun 5, 2007 -> 11:02 AM) I'll take your guys advice and not get into a Dunn argument as I think he is very overrated as well. I'll just add that Dunn

If Kenny were going to be a buyer, I would expect him to be buying sooner rather than later. If Kenny were going to be a seller, I would expect him to be selling later rather than sooner.

Think Progress is reporting from an unnamed source that Rep. Jefferson will drop his committee assigment.

Kick ass and take some names, MB.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Jun 5, 2007 -> 08:40 AM) He is on the Homeland Security Committee. He was placed on that committee back in February, and there were at least a few of us who did attempt to make a fuss about it.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jun 5, 2007 -> 09:09 AM) When was the last time that JR allowed his GM to sign a pitcher to anything more than a three- or four-year deal? I'd love to see both Mark and Jon ink five-year deals, but history suggests that it's probably not going to happen. And, perhaps most importantly, history has also shown over and over and over and over again that it's not just a bad idea to give a pitcher a 5+ year deal, it's a horrendous idea.

QUOTE(29thandPoplar @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 02:31 PM) I was down there for a while, here's why, its because they wanted him to focus on his swing, get him more comfortable at 3B because they were/are concerned with Crede's back. They felt asking Fields to learn another position was a bit much. Agree or not, that was the reason. And now it appears he is responding with the bat. They worked with him about learning the strike zone better too and his walk totals are up. And all things considered, it looks like we'll probably be needing him @ 3rd sooner rather than later in the big leagues, teh way things are going, so he might as well focus on improving with the bats.

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ Jun 5, 2007 -> 08:38 AM) He has to know that it's possible Fields, Anderson, Owens and Sweeney might all fail, so there has to be some type of back-up plan in place (whether you want to call it Plan B, Plan C or Plan D). I think the simple fact is...if all of our top-level draftee prospects wind up failing...then plan B is to wind up last in the division for a couple years. There is virtually no way this team could get around that in this baseball environment. If we can't fill in a couple holes with guys we draft, then there's just no way we're going to be a winning team. End of story.

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 04:33 PM) It really sounds like the freezer full of cash was just the tip of the iceberg on what they have on him, and was actually a huge impediment in moving a case forward because of the possibility of the apartment search being improper. When it's all said and done I think he's going away for a long time, as well he should. It wasn't the apartment search that delayed things I believe, it was the search of his congressional office. The congressional offices do have legitimate privacy concerns (i.e. Dear Congressman xxx, I am a constituent of yours and I suffer from disease yyy) which is the issue that got this hung up in court. I don't know whether or not the search was necessary for the case, but if it was just the AG being heavy-handed and ordering in the soldiers without thinking things through (HEAVEN FORBID!!!!) then Rep. Jefferson kept his job for at least a year longer than he would have otherwise. If something valuable was found via that search, then Kudos to all involved for the determination.

QUOTE(watchtower41 @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 03:07 PM) Many people are shocked about this thinking it would be 2-4 games, taking last years suspension into account and the time he served in the clink. This new commish definitely has a bug up his azz, and that does not bode well for Ron Mexico. If he doenst get suspended at this point, this could get real ugly with profiling. I don't see why people would be shocked given that this was a multiple-offense thing for Tank and unlike the other 2 guys he actually spent some time in jail.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 08:54 PM) I agree, but I don't think either Fields or Crede is the answer. They both suck. At least one of them will only make $400k.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 02:56 PM) of course she will raise corporate tax. she will also raise middle class, small business and upper income tax rates. hillary clinton will introduce the largest, by far, tax increase the country has ever seen. Which of course, will be said about almost every tax increase that ever happens, just like every tax cut that happens will be the largest in history...because you know, the value of the dollar changes with time.

I have nothing but cheers to see this finally happen. Rep. Jefferson, the guy with the freezer full of $90k, the guy who right after Katrina stole a bunch of national guard units and used them to escort himself to his house to make sure no one could get their hands on anything incriminating, is finally under indictment for bribery. Hopefully, Speaker Pelosi takes the next logical step now that an indictment has come down and revokes all of his committee assigments until the case is resolved.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 02:42 PM) I'm not saying that Thome is a bad player or a bad addition to the Sox. I'm just asking: where is this huge upgrade that he provided? I'm not even saying he promised that: Kenny did. KW said that the 2006 Sox were even better than 2005 and Thome was the major part of that. The 2005 White Sox scored 741 runs, good for #13 in MLB. They were also #9 in the AL. THe 2006 White Sox scored 868 runs, good for #3 in MLB and in the AL, 2 runs behind Cleveland. The entire step downwards in the records between the 2005 and 2006 White Sox was the huge backstep in pitching performance.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 02:44 PM) I have to leave for work right now, so I can't validate myself, but I don't believe this is correct. I thought first round picks can still be obtained, in addition to a sandwich pick, for a Type A player. It's just the percentage of people considered Type A has decreased. And Here is your answer.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 02:38 PM) Also, what do you think the Dodgers would be willing to give up? I want to say Matt Kemp, but I doubt that. I bet the Dodgers would be willing to part with Kemp, but the question is whether the Sox actually would want him these days. They've soured a little bit on both him and Billingsly over the past year or so, and either of them might well be available. I'm not sure whether they'd part with Loney, but they seem to be doing all they can to prevent him from every showing up on a big league roster.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 02:27 PM) Perhaps Dye has a tremendous two week stretch against National League ballclubs and a team such as Los Angeles believes his bat would be a valuable addition, at the risk of several prospects. I doubt it as well, but I'm not going to entirely dismiss it. It's not my concern one way or another why another team woould overpay for Dye. It's just Williams responsibility to wait several weeks, see how things play out with Dye, then shop him around July. The LA Dodgers, btw, are last in the big leagues in home runs and 10/16 teams in the NL in terms of runs scored.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 02:25 PM) If he wants to spend that much money on an outfielder for next year, then hold on to Dye the rest of this year, get the high compensation picks, and then go after Ichiro. Bobby Abreu is a bad baseball player. He's lazy, and his power numbers make it look obvious he was a steroid user. Oh, and the last thing we need is another guy who can't his lefty starting pitching. I was reading a scouting report on Abreu the other day about how he looks like he's done. BTW, Jermaine Dye is likely to be the best power hitter, along with Teixeira, that could possibly be available come the trading deadline. You absolutely should expect to get good prospects in return. Fathom...for once, you and I are in incredible, total agreement. And I still want the draft picks if we don't trade Dye. Draft picks we wouldn't get with Abreu.

Does anyone here think that either of these 2 folks have/will be worth their contracts? Mags, $75 mil for 5 years after missing nearly the first full season, CLee 6 years, what, $100 mil? Mags, maybe, if he keeps up this level of production for the next 2.6 seasons.

When I saw "Blackberry Curve", i figured it was a graph of # of Blackberry's with time, showing Exponential growth leading up to June 29, 2007. Then rapidly turning around.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 07:41 AM) Tampa Bay wants a relief pitcher for Elijah Dukes if the other team is willing to put up with him. His price would be pretty low right now and could probably be had for McDougal. Would you do it? I'd say there's a reasonable chance that it wouldn't even take MMac to get Dukes out of Tampa at this point. The question 30 other teams are asking though is...has tampa bay gotten sick enough of this guy's act to just dump him entirely and release him?

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 4, 2007 -> 10:40 AM) He might well be better in the future, but for 2007, I don't see where anyone would think he is going to be better than what we have now, especially when you factor in defense. Good god with as bad as our pitching has been, I shutter to think what they would look like without some one of Crede's calibur at 3B. How long do we keep making our #1 priority be 2007?