spiderman

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 14, 2011 -> 07:35 PM) Minneapolis and Chicago are both CT. I'll go with that. I'll go with game postponed.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Jun 14, 2011 -> 07:09 PM) tentative 8:45 start time FUUUUUUUUUU Is that CT or ET?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 10:48 PM) Let's start a spirited debate about our various options of protest... I'd probably go on a serial murder rampage.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Jun 4, 2011 -> 11:52 AM) Apparently PK is pretty sore today. Doubtful for tonight, possible for tomorrow. Not surprising to hear, no matter how minor the surgury was. I'd be surprised if he plays a full game this weekend, perhaps, a pinch hit appearance on Sunday if that. The White Sox are going to be cautious, no reason not to be.

They had a winning May after the awful April and have played fairly well on the road this past month. I just don't see the logic in firing Ozzie Guillen and/or coaches when they have shown some flashes of putting things together. Granted, their horrible month may have buried them in the division, and they haven't gained back any significant ground (I believe they are 10 games back in the loss column) over the last month so playing better in May is probably for not, but considering that the weather is starting to finally improve in Chicago, and they supposedly have an offense that can score runs at home, I can't help but think that June should (on paper at least) be a strong month for the White Sox. I think firing a manager or making drastic coaching changes aren't necessarily going to help Adam Dunn (and others) to hit better. These are veteran players for the most part - it's on them now to make up for lost time, and have a strong stretch now at home, and Ozzie's teams have always been competetive - I see no reason to change that right now with the team showing signs of life. Let's get back to .500, and then build from there.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 30, 2011 -> 12:57 PM) It's Memorial Day, May 30. Memorial Day is the first legit "Evaluation day" we hit during a MLB season. This team is 7 games below .500, 9.5 games back in the division. If they don't win this series, it's just about selling time. Not sure how many games the White Sox play from now until end of June, but they need an 17-10 type of month to turn this season around. If they play another .500 month, they could find themselves 11 or 12 games out heading in July and Kenny Williams would have to start looking at the team for what it is.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 30, 2011 -> 11:22 AM) I'd probably bring up Viciedo and play him everyday in LF against all but the toughest RH pitchers. Pierre would be a PR and play maybe twice a week. I wouldn't take at-bats away from Dunn...probably, I'd make Alexei Ramirez the new leadoff hitter. Ramirez Beckham Quentin Konerko Dunn Viciedo AJ Rios (Rios with 10 more days of starting before I benched him for Lillibridge) Morel/Vizquel I'd give that at least the full month of June to kick-start the team before I contemplated any trades in July. This - isn't it time to give one our better hitting prospects time in the majors? We've given the current team 2 months to hit, and they haven't. Juan Pierre has hit better, but the team, due to the struggles primarily of Dunn, Rios, Beckham (and others)....just can't score consisently. Try Viceido.

Realistic Adam Dunn expectations? Probably 200K and meaningful HR's once the team is 10 games out in June/July.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 30, 2011 -> 02:14 PM) These are the changes we need! Now we have....8 starting pitches on the roster? EDIT: Nevermind, Harrell went down. Still 7 starters. 2 more mediocre pitchers called up to get knocked around by major league hitters.

QUOTE (The Baconator @ Feb 12, 2011 -> 12:43 PM) I thought he was their beat writer now? That was my interpretation a few months ago. He's a columnist now.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 02:36 PM) One of the goals of the off season is getting people excited about the team. Mission accomplished /awaits the rain on the parade folks Do we know how season tickets packages are going?

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jan 8, 2011 -> 01:19 PM) Latest from Heyman: #yankees still in on soriano. #chisox pen looks good/full now. #angels could play for sori but need hitting even more I would love to get him on a 1 year deal for 8-10 million, but the Sox never seemed to intersted, and the Yankees/Angels would probably be willing to give him 2 years.

QUOTE (MuckFinnesota @ Jan 8, 2011 -> 04:00 PM) If he is done, is this the accurate 25-man roster? Buehrle Peavy-DL Jackson Floyd Danks Sale Bullpen: Crain, Infante, Pena, Santos, Thornton, Ohman Konerko, Beckham, Ramirez, Vizquel, Pierzynski, Pierre, Rios, Quentin, Dunn Bench: Castro, Teahen, Morel, Lillibridge, De Aza/Viciedo Would Dolsi or another reliever be good enough to make the team? Just a small point, but I do think, barring an awful spring training, that Morel is the likely starter at 3B, although, Guillen is going to use Vizquel plenty there so Morel won't be any everyday starter.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 11:35 PM) Here's what the Kaps blog said about "Kerry wood being close to singing with the cubs." I don't know if I consider it news. The Cubs, who have a major need for a veteran right handed reliever are moving towards finalizing a deal with free agent Kerry Wood. Wood, who spent the first 10 years of his major league career with the Cubs spent 2010 with the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees and compiled impressive numbers down the stretch for New York as the Yankees qualified for the post season. Acquired by the Yankees at the trading deadline, Wood went 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA in 24 games. If he finalizes his deal with the Cubs, Wood should provide tremendous support to Cubs closer Carlos Marmol and along with left hander Sean Marshall will form a very formidable back end of the bullpen. Wood has made Chicago his permanent home and told me just last week that whatever decision he made about where he would pitch in 2011 had to be a good fit for his family. Being able to stay home and his longtime relationship with Cubs general manager Jim Hendry are huge factors in the Cubs favor. Per CSN blogs Interesting to see the Cubs trying to compete, but where are they getting the money to do this? I know Lee, Lilly and Theriot are off the books, but there were some reports that they were slashing payroll by 10-20% from last season. They gave Pena $5 million with $5 million more deffered, and my guess is Wood will be another $2-3 million for next season....not sure how they are doing this, and not sure I completely understand why the Cubs needed Wood - I thought their bullpen was in decent shape, but I guess I lost track of them when they had guys coming up and down all season. In any case, they still look like a team that could compete in the NL Central if their veteran's (Ramirez, Zambrano and Soriano in particular) turn back the clock, but, if not, will probably be competetive, but not good enough to overcome the Cardinals and/or Reds.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 08:14 PM) Eh, it's really hard to get excited about the signing of a middle reliever especially when we gave him 3 years, these contracts have like a 90% failure rate. But hey, at least we're trying. Gotta love that. This is how I feel as well. Hopefully, he works out, but don't be surprised if this goes bad.

A few thoughts... 1) Jim Hendry is the one who should be on the phone if the Cubs are really interested (and that's a big 'IF') in moving Zambrano. I believe he's owed around $18 million for the next few seasons, and the Yankees are the one team, now probably desperate to land a front-line starter, who may be risk-adverse and willing to take a chance that he'll continue his late season success. Again, something tells me that Hendry is probably not creative enough to find a way to make this happen though. 2) The White Sox don't have an ace, but they do have dependable starters in Danks, Buerhle, Jackson, and Floyd (well, sometimes he's dependable). Hopefully, Peavy is able to return by June as a 5th starter, but I really don't know that trading one of the top 4 makes sense anymore now that the Sox are making a run - on most days, they will get a quality start, maybe not domination, from these top 4 guys, and with this offnesive firepower, it should be a good combination. I don't want to weaken the rotation espeically with Peavy already down.

What do the Yankees do now? They're going to start throwing money around now, right? Who's the trade market that that they can get besides Grienke, who supposedly doesn't want to go there? Is this the Cubs opening to move Zambrano, if they are even considering it?

Now that the White Sox are probably done making in the free agent market, how do see Williams addressing the bullpen? It's probably not likely that they add a closer with Sale, Thornton and Santos probably the in-house candidates, but they probably will need to add 2 more decent arms to the bullpen for next season, and Williams has already mentioned being "creative" in a trade. What do you think he's got on mind? Quentin? If he moves him, how do they fill that hole?

QUOTE (joeynach @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 12:16 AM) Hes getting like 4M in 2011 and 4.5M in 2012 with a 1.5M buyout or 6.5M team option. Thats not a bad deal at all. Im dissapointed the sox couldn't match that and pay him 1M and 1.5M more collectively than what we paid him last year 3M. There are not that many solid free agent relievers that make 4M on the open market. I wonder if the White Sox are going to be more apprehensive in the future about giving long-term deals to middle relievers considering how up and down they tend to be from year to year. Granted, Putz could have been our closer option so I think a 2 year deal for him, hardly a long-term deal, would make sense. Now, it seems as if, barring something unexpected, we're looking at spring training competition between Thornton, Santos and Sale. I'd prefer to keep Thornton in his role, and would love to start Sale, but I think he's the favorite right now. I don't believe Kerry Wood will be signing with the White Sox since he's looking for mult-years and pretty big money.

Question - if Konerko doesn't tae the Sox offer, why the focus on another 1B? Why not give the job to Viceido, and spend the money on other needs? I'm not advocating or expecting this to occur, but just wondering what people thought of going a different route should Konerko move on.

Are the White Sox talking with Derek Lee's agent? Has there been any talk or is just logical speculation on whom Williams may target? As to these comments by Williams about looking at other options, it's public posturing, but it's also probably true. Williams has to explore other options at the same time, but I have to believe that a deal will be struck very soon between the Sox and Konerko - he'll get 3 years at around $13 million per season. What is Lee's expected value on the market? Is he a 1 year deal at $10 million?

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Dec 7, 2010 -> 02:39 PM) things like this are why KW and Sox are pushing for PK resolution, they have other plans in place and want to have a full plate of options if PK is going to leave While I understand the urgency for the White Sox to get resoultion on the Konerko situation (I'm actually surprised that it has taken this long, I'm assuming the White Sox are offering him about what they gave Dunn on a per year basis), if the backup plan is LaRoche, I'm willing to wait this out for a little while longer.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Dec 5, 2010 -> 01:43 AM) Heyman tweeted tonight he predicts PK returns to the ChiSox next week at the meetings. Heyman is probably just making an educated guess though. It would make sense that he'd come back, but I am wondering how serious Konerko is about exploring other possibilites. Obviously, he wants to see what his options are next week at the winter meetings, but is there a team or dollar amount that would cause Konerko to leave? Also, are other teams interested in Konerko going to go full throttle after him because of the perception that he's likely headed back to Chicago.

Do we think it's going to be a 3 or 4 year deal? I love Konerko, but his age (34) really concerns me. His 2009 season was great, but is it more likely that we regret giving him 3 years at $13 million per season or do we think we'll be happy with the production that we got out of this deal?

I'm sure that this is just the White Sox covering their bases. If some team (Baltimore being the latest) makes Konerko an offer that he can't refuse, Williams needs to have a replacement in hand. It's even possible that he may choose Dunn over Konerko if he can get him for less money and/or years though most of what i have seen for Dunn is for four years. In either case, the Sox need to have some semblance of a 30 HR hitter in their #4 spot in the lineup next season along with improving the rest of the lineup, and it's going to be hard to do both.