clujer420

I think 2000 was his best season overall because of the simple fact that the team won 95 games. He was the leader of that team (.328, 43, 143) and was league MVP for the 3rd time until Giambi paid someone off to vote for him. He may have been more dangerous in the mid-90's, but except for 1993 and 1994, the Sox were pretty much an average team all of those years. In 2000, it all came together for the team with Frank at the helm. The good thing for the Sox is that when Frank puts up similar numbers this year, he'll have an improved Magglio and Konerko to back him up -- that's something he didn't have in 2000.

Hmmm.... 1998 and 1999 -- down seasons for Frank when he was injured 2000 -- monster season 2001 and 2002 -- down seasons for Frank when he was injured There's a pattern there. 2003 -- Don't doubt this man...just sit back and enjoy the show (and believe me, the main feature is about to begin).

You're wrong about one thing...Sammy CAN and DOES carry his team.... To the couch -- with his arm muscles and testes drowning in roids -- so they can watch the playoffs from home and have a collective crying session each and every October. . But, as long as Sammy gets his .300, 60, 150, Cub fans are happy -- and I'm sure Sammy is too.

If Frank played at Wrigley during his prime, he would have hit 50+ a season and would have had a legitmate shot at the triple crown. Also, to my knowledge Sammy has been healthy in recent years. Frank has had a myriad of injuries (elbow, foot, and triceps), and has missed significant numbers of games because of it -- not to mention all the games that he has played at far less than 100%. If I could have either of them up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th down by a run, I'm taking Frank. Even when he's not swinging the bat well, he finds a way to get on base. Not to mention the fact that Sammy is likely using something to enhance his performance. Look at his career HR numbers and how DRAMATICALLY they increase from the mid-90's to the late-90's.

Yeah, he's made 3 errors in 12 games. That projects to just over 40. I'm sure, though, that he will settle down (as you said). At least I hope so! And ya know, I don't know when they occured...lemmie try to find out... His 1st error came in Game #1 (@ KC) His 2nd error came in Game #3 (@ KC) And finally, his 3rd error came in Game #8 (@ Cleveland) So for the most part, his errors came early in the season. BTW, doing that "finding out" with dial-up took a long time!

Agree completely. If it comes out that he was buzzed, then so be it. But until then, we should show some respect and assume it's just a horrible accident that could happen to ANYBODY.

I don't have a problem with Aaron so far this season. I think we need to give him a full season before making a judgement on his future with the Sox. Until then, the jury is out IMO.

Also, if you're looking for a small ball player, Borchard is not the man for the job.

You wouldn't have a problem losing Frank? I sure would. Frank is one of a FEW active players that will be in the HOF and have a shot at doing it all in 1 uniform. Jeter is another player that I can see making the HOF and never wearing anything other than the NY pinstripes. I would love nothing more than Frank to wear the Sox uniform for another 5 years and go in as a first ballot HOF'er. If the Sox do well in 2003, there's NO reason why we can't keep Frank, sign Colon, lockup Buehrle, and add another big name (perhaps Tejada). Our payroll is already relatively low (around $60M), and the revenue that would come from a successful '03 would make us able to elevate that to around $75-$80M. If we have to lose anyone, have it be Lee -- not Frank (the best player in franchise history).

I think this is all far too premature. We're only 2 weeks into the season, so I don't think we should worry about the off-season just yet. Also, Lee very well could turn it around and have a monster year and $6M would look like a bargain. Stranger things have happened.

Is he going to be a FA after this season? I was under the assumption that he was under contract beyond this year. I could be wrong. But if he's going to be a FA, the Sox don't have to offer him arbitration, you're correct. But if he's signed beyond 2003 and is going to be arbitration eligible, the Sox don't have a choice as far as I know.

It doesn't matter what the Sox offer Carlos. It's like MB. If they want, they can offer him (MB) $1M, but in arbitration, he very well could get nearly $10M. The Sox will offer Carlos a contract, but if he doesn't accept it, it will go to arbitration, and if Stewart can get over $6M for his 2002 performance, C-Lee very well could get $6M awarded to him (assuming he turns his horrible start around, of course).

You sure? I heard that 9-0 is the best start in the majors since 1993. Maybe I got bad info.

He's on pace for 40 errors. A+?

how drunk was he to fall??? i drank a 1/5 of vanillea vodka last night. lets just say i had the worst dry heaves last night the only thing i ate all day was a chicken rice bowl and i was puked up 1 french fry and that was it for food the rest was alcohol and water i hate flavored vodkas, the only one that settles right is green apple. i was still able to walk straight, and not fall over. A man falls and apparently almost dies, and you assume the fall is a result of being drunk? What the f*** is your problem? Did it ever occur to you that people DO fall while they're sober? Just because you're apparently an alcoholic pothead, that doesn't mean everyone else is. Asshole.

That's good to hear. As I mentioned, I missed today's and yesterday's games. Definitely something I'd like to see more of as this year progresses.

To clarify, he didn't get ejected today. The announcers were talking about it today -- I'm guessing it happened earlier this season. Anyway, I have no clue how it happened.

Ya know... I was checking out that link and some of the Sox stats, and I was looking at Aaron Miles. I see his batting average -- .278. I think "Wow, that's not too bad, I wonder what his OBP is?". Expecting to see something AT LEAST .340 or higher, I see ".278". 18 AB, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts. I'm sorry, but there is NO way this guy deserves to be on our team (or any ML team for that matter) unless he can get his OBP above .350. So unless this guy plans on having a batting average of .349, he can sit his ass in Charlotte until he learns what it takes to win. And for ANYONE that thinks Aaron deserved the 2B job over D'Angelo out of ST, here's what #5's done so far for us.... 14 for 45 (.311), 7 walks, 4 strikeouts, .404 OBP, and 1 error in 11 GP

If I remember it correctly, olivo has thrown up 2-3 runners and sandy threw 1 out. I remember Josh threw out a runner. At the time, the announcers mentioned that every Sox catcher had a CS already this season. So I think the breakdown for Miguel, Sandy, and Josh is 2, 1, and 1 CS, respectively.

Sacrifice bunts, stealing bases, hit and run. It's often referred to as "little ball". Sometimes it's called "manufacturing runs". Whatever you want to call it, it wins ball games (see, Anaheim Angels of 2002), and so far in 2003, the White Sox have done NONE of the above. Save the last 2 games, I've watched nearly every inning of this young season (MLB Extra Innings rules!), and I honestly cannot remember seeing the Sox successfully do any of the 3 things mentioned above. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen the Sox steal a base, lay down a successful sacrifice bunt (OK, I do remember 1 now that I think about it -- but that's in 12 games), and I haven't seen them execute a hit and run. So far, we're 7-5, and pretty much have relied on solid starting pitching from Mark Buehrle and Esteban Loaiza to reach that point. 7-5 is good, but when you look at the caliber of teams the Sox have played so far (6 vs. Detroit, 3 vs. KC, 3 vs. Cleveland), it's not that great of a record. On the other hand, the Sox really haven't played well -- particularly the offense -- so 2 games over .500 is promising. But, that's just the thing. The reason we aren't 9-3 or 10-2 has been our inability to push runs over the plate in crucial situations. Today was a perfect example. D'Angelo gets a lead-off triple, and our 2-3-4 hitters are unable to get him across. That is just completely and utterly unacceptable. Jose Valentin ought to be able to lay down a successful squeeze play bunt, or at the very least either he or Magglio ought to be able to hit a sacrifice fly to get the run across. Today wasn't the first time I've seen Jose have a poor AB. The other day D'Angelo led the game off with a double, and Jose came up. I was doing PBP and said that he should be bunting, and just then Jose bombed a 2-run HR to left. Now, it turned out good, but there's no doubt in my mind that Jose should have been bunting in that situation to set up a runner on 3rd with 1 out, with Frank and Magglio coming up. More often than not, those 2 guys are going to get the run across, and would have given the Sox an early 1-0 cushion. And let's not even talk about hit and run and basestealing. The Sox don't really have that many guys who can run effectively enough to be a threat on the bases. But that said, you have to at least make the opponent THINK you might be stealing just to keep them honest. Guys like D'Angelo, Jose, Magglio (I don't care if he's our superstar, he's got some speed), Lee, Rowand, and Miguel are all guys that IMO have above average speed, and should try to swipe a base every once in a while (I think we should have an a SB attempt at least once per game). Right now this team isn't hitting very well, which is exactly why we need to try to make things happen offensively. As Chisoxfn said a couple of days ago, this Sox team generally doesn't strike out very often (especially now that we've got Jimenez at the lead-off spot in place of Durham), so let's try some hit and run. If we hit into the occasional line-drive DP, I can live with that. As long as we're being aggressive in a responsible manner, I have no problems with having it bite us in the ass once in a while. Until Frank, Konerko, Lee, and Magglio get their averages up near their career batting averages, we need to create offense, and the guys who aren't our superstars (guys like Jose, Miguel, Rowand, Lee, Crede) need to AT LEAST advance the runners a base when they're up, and not go back to the dugout without doing anything productive. It's been 2 weeks guys -- time to kick it into gear, and it starts Tuesday against the Royals.

But anyway, I'm watching the Mariners/Rangers game, and the announcers were just talking about when Aaron (former White Sox) got ejected after 2 pitches. Anyone know what happened to cause that???

Why the hell is Jose not bunting here? Guy on 2nd, 0 out, you BUNT -- unless you're a bona fide power hitter or a perenial .300 hitter. Jose is neither of those. OK fine, a 2-run HR will work too!!!!!!!!!

The Lakers are doing the thing they've done for the past 3 years -- getting it all going on 8 cylinders just in time for the playoffs. In the last week and a half, they've beaten Dallas twice (once in LA and once in TX) and last night they fairly easily dismantled the Kings in LA. Shaq is unstoppable, and Kobe can do it all. I don't see anyone dethroning the champs until one of them gets injured or unless the supporting cast (guys like Fox, Horry, Fisher, Shaw, George, et al) falls on their face. I don't see that happening. And also, if Pippen is smart, he'll decide that he wants to win and he'll sign a mid-level exemption contract with the Lakers for $4.5M this off-season. However, I don't think the Lakers want him as much as they want Gary Payton or Jason Kidd (of course, it will depend on if those guys want money or victory).

Yep, been a Laker fan my whole life (I'm not a loser bandwagon fan). Also, there are 4 teams in the West that are so superior to any team in the East that I don't think we'll have to worry about "da bulls" for quite a while. Everyone knows the Western Conference Finals are the REAL NBA Finals.

I can't say that I disagree -- he's probably not nearly as bad as some of us make him out to be. However, there really is no need to have 3 catchers on this team. If Sandy is handled properly, he will not get injured, and we've got Olivo who is supposed to evolve into a great all-around catcher. That said, I really don't see the need to have Josh on the 25-man roster. Having someone like Willie Harris (a faster runner and more versatile player) or Aaron Miles on the team would be more beneficial IMO.