Wealz

Lost in the shuffle, Nightengale also wrote the Sox have talked to Mueller as insurance for Crede's back.

"High-ranking club officials revealed that the White Sox have informed the Phillies that they want first baseman Jim Thome. And, yes, the Phillies replied, Thome is very much available. Trading Thome would clear room for Rookie of the Year Ryan Howard. The Phillies have several suitors for Thome, but with $43.5 remaining in his contract, they will likely have to swallow nearly half of his salary. The Phillies also realize that their offseason options could be severely limited by Thome, who has a no-trade clause. And guess where he'd love to play next year? On the South Side of Chicago. The White Sox believe that Thome can help bring them another World Series championship. He not only provides insurance in case free agent first baseman Paul Konerko flees for a potential five-year, $65 million contract offer from the Angels, but he becomes the finest DH in the game if Konerko returns." http://www.usatoday.com/sports/bbw/columni...16-majors_x.htm

QUOTE(Steff @ Nov 14, 2005 -> 11:56 AM) A little birdy told me that season ticket holders are up to just under 17K... Do you know if that's full season, of both full and split?

Looks like they're going back to Sunday 1:05 starts. I preferred the 2:05 myself, but oh well .... The bigger news though is they're pushing Friday night games back to 7:35. I kind of like that. Link

Someone in the know on 35th told me yesterday that they have sold so many upper reserve season tix this past week that they might not offer upper reserve season tickets this winter. Also, I've heard from someone not on 35th that LD sections from 113 to 153 are now almost completely filled on season tickets. If all this is true, is it a safe bet that the season ticket base jumps from just over 10,000 to around 18,000, maybe more? What's that mean for the payroll?

QUOTE(Steff @ Sep 23, 2005 -> 02:22 PM) Ahh yes.. because Kenny makes the lineup and f***s with the pitching staff. Rich.. Oprah rich. There isn't a lineup combination you can dream up that will suddenly make Carl Everett and Aaron Rowand productive middle-of-the-order hitters.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 23, 2005 -> 02:06 PM) Well, maybe if there was any sense of urgency 2 months ago, it would have never got to this point. I know a lot of us used the phrase "taking their foot off of the accelerator". This Sox team isn't good enough to just have no focus and win games. The offensive fire power isn't strong enough. Just isn't good enough is right. That is why Williams is at fault here. No team has ever had its foot on the accelorator for 162 games.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 23, 2005 -> 01:52 PM) I disagree. They are falling apart at the seams. They lost 2 out of 3 to KC one of the worst teams ever. They lost a very winnable game last night. They are feeling the pressure no doubt about it. Hopefully, Minnesota sans Santana and Detroit are just what the doctor ordered. The problem isn't blowing a 4 game lead. It was turning a 15.5 game lead into 4 that did them in.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 23, 2005 -> 01:53 PM) I don't care how good or bad you're supposed to be, but you should be able to maintain that type of lead with 2 months left. What were the games they choked away? The last two probably are the best ones to point to, the Wednesday game against KC probably. All of those came after the Indians cut into their lead by 11 games or so.

QUOTE(Steff @ Sep 23, 2005 -> 01:45 PM) Flash, I agree with you on all counts except KW's responsibility. Ozzie needs to be held (more) accountable for not passing along the info about the diaper wearing cads.. and I don't think he did. I honestly think he never thought Cleveland would catch them, all the while knowing big issues were arising in his clubhouse and did nothing to stop them. I don't think this collapse is a matter of nerves. They just aren't good enough to hold a 15.5 game lead on Cleveland.

QUOTE(Steff @ Sep 23, 2005 -> 01:42 PM) Yea it is, and that's how this team was built. Why isn't Ozzie the GM/Manager then? Williams job is to populate the roster with the 25 best players he can find. Ultimately, Timo Perez is a part of this roster because of Kenny Williams.

QUOTE(Steff @ Sep 23, 2005 -> 10:52 AM) How is it the GM's fault the players peed themselves..? Ozzie asked for, and got, what he wanted from the GM and owners and it worked for 3 months. It's now the GM's fault Ozzie mismanaged (according to many) and the players suck (according to many)? I'm going.. and I'll be in the Q&A.. but if we don't make the playoffs, or get swept from them.. it's not Kenny I'll be yelling at in January. It's not the job of a GM to get the manager the players the manager wants.

QUOTE(Bias @ Sep 23, 2005 -> 12:50 PM) All I know is regardless if the Sox win the division, make the playoffs, win a series, go to and or win the World Series Jerk Reindsdork and KW best bring in better players! JR has said for years if we come to the park, they'll have the $$$ to spend. Well, we came this year and if they don't bring in quality players.....not the 2-3 years passed their prime Carl Everett, Jermaind Dye types.... but top of the line free agents I will not attend any games next year. I want a bonafide run producer and I want a bonafide closer! Problem is it's said to be one of the worst free-agent classes of the last 10 years.

I think Ozzie's done a pretty good job handling the staff. Look at the years Hermanson, Pollitte, and Cotts are having. The problem is it's real hard to beat a team when their starters are allowed to throw only 64 pitches through 5 1/3 innings like Santanna had last night and similar to what Elarton had the night before. This is the offense that Kenny Williams is responsible for.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Sep 20, 2005 -> 04:37 PM) Yes, but the discussion also involved throwing in Jon Rauch along with another prospect to get BOTH Ortiz and Jones. The Braves were looking to get out of Jones' big contract, and the Sox were having a hard time resigning Maggs at the time. The Nomar deal also involved Scott Williamson, and there was talk of spinning Nomar to LA for a package involving players such as Mota, Perez, Greg Miller (was a top pitching prospect,) or Edwin Jackson. Hell I remember talk of sending Magglio to LA after the Boston-Texas trade broke down. Garland for Erstad. You don't remember that?

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Sep 20, 2005 -> 04:56 PM) Based on some of your previous posts, I can tell you have some kind of connection to Reinsdorf. What exactly is KW's contract status? If the Sox win the division, how long do you extend him for? What if the Sox blow the division, but win the wild card? I prefer not to get into my organizational connections.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Sep 20, 2005 -> 04:42 PM) That 2000 team was broken down before the end of the 2000 season. The rotation was in shambles and one really has to wonder how much guys like Baldwin, Sirotka, and Parque all overachieved that season. 2003? Don't get me started. KW provided all of the pieces yet Jerry just couldn't motivate them. It also didn't help that Minnesota won 11 games in a row in September finishing 4 games better than the Sox. How can ou possibly say that this .500 ball the past few weeks is Williams' fault? Rarely are things this cut and dried, but here's where we stand today. If they make the playoffs -- don't have to win the division -- he deserves a contract extension. If, on the other hand, he is the GM of a team that owns the biggest regular season collapse, he should be fired.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Sep 20, 2005 -> 04:31 PM) The rehaul started in the middle of 2002, so that's two and a half years of rebuilding. Didn't KW try to trade Magglio to Boston as part of the A-Rod only to have Boston (I would love to see you try and spin that one on KW) f*** up? Didn't KW try to trade Magglio to the Braves for Andruw Jones, but it didn't go down because Maggs never recovered and the Braves went back into contention? Oh great, now I just gave you ammo how KW f***ed up a potential Jones-Ordonez deal. Four years after inhereting a 2000 division winner he has zero division titles That includes a 2003 team that collapsed down the stretch. If they somehow blow this lead there will be no excuses left for Williams.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Sep 20, 2005 -> 02:34 PM) For people thinking that KW should be fired after the season, barring a White Sox collapse.... We fire KW. The end. What exactly does that solve? If the GM has no bearing on wins/losses why even have one?

QUOTE(S720 @ Sep 20, 2005 -> 02:07 PM) And go back to Schueler and Manuel? HELL NO! We are very close now. Two more good bats (3B & DH) and a reliever during this offseason will do wonder for the team next year. If we are going to fire someone for the sake of firing, Walker is the one. Firing a hitting coach should an historic collapse occur? You have to give me more, much more, than that.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 20, 2005 -> 01:58 PM) Nice try. But he won't be. Next, Fire Ozzie. Nice try. But he won't be. Next, GET A BAT. Nice try. And that will probably happen. The hangover effect from a collapse would be so severe that I think you'd be best served to blow this entire thing up and start over. Yep, Ozzie'd be a candidate to lose his job, but given the contract extension he got that won't happen. Kenny Williams is next in line and since his 2003 team also flopped it would make perfect sense for him to be the one to pay.

If the Sox pull the historic collapse Kenny Williams has to lose his job.

That group on 35th despises the local media so much it's no surprise that the Chicago writers would be out of the loop here. I can't remember the last trade that was broken in a Chicago paper. They've been broken by either Levine (flagship) or the other team's local media.

Coppock reiterated on his show on Sporting News Radio about a half hour ago that the deal is very close. He said he talked to two Sox executives today. One he said told him he believed the deal had already been consumated.

QUOTE(Texsox @ May 16, 2005 -> 08:00 AM) I could not find much to disagree with in that article. In a small way, Jay probably helped attendance with that article. If he wrote a fluff piece that most Sox fans drool over, praising everything, it would not bring any attention to the enormous challenge Brooks and the Sox face. TV and cheeks in the seats go a long way to a bigger payroll. How often have Sox fans replied we don't buy tickets to watch a crappy team, like they do on the north side? Well why wasn't the Cell closer to a sell out? Why did almost every one here who played the YNOT contest predict an even lower attendance figure? Reletavely speaking, there aren't a lot of Sox fans, but you know what that's okay. Chairman Reinsdorf has set up the franchise in such a way, best stadium lease in all of sport and excellent media deals, that they don't need to draw 35,000 a night to have sufficient revenues to field a competitive team.