spiderman

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Jan 21, 2006 -> 01:56 PM) Brian Dolgin doesn't count? I would say he's not a reporter - he's doing, or did do, pre-game for the White Sox, which makes it hard for somebody in that spot to be critical of the team. I did forget Gregor from the DailyHerald - he does a good job, as mentioned.

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Jan 21, 2006 -> 12:45 PM) i've always thought cowley of the southtown does the best job. he seems to have pretty good sources and generally i like him when i've heard him talk about the team. gonzalez of the trib did not impress me this year. padilla from the sun-times was ok, but he just left for the la times. it will be interesting to see who the s-t pulls in to cover the team this year. I could be wrong, but hasn't Cowley moved on to the SunTimes ? I could have sworn I saw an article or two later this winter by him. Anyways, either way, Cowley is the best. From the radio side, I think both stations in their updates tend to report anything in the paper as their own stories, by using the 'sources say'. Levine seems more intune to trade rumors, most of which turn out not to happen, but he does hit once in a while...Ofman, to me at least, seems to be behind Levine, in digging up information, but he's the Score 'equal' to Levine.

Keep hearing about some of the Ray Nagin 'chocolate' parodies appearing on the Internet, but haven't found them yet. If you know of any addresses, post'em here!

Looking to buy a townhome/duplex in the SW Chicago subuubs, and need some help! This is my first place, and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew from a financial standpoint. Anyone know of any affordable areas in the SW burbs that are also good neighborhoods, affordable taxes, etc ? ? ? I'll be on and off, so let me know if you need more info! Thanks for any help in advance as well!

This sounds like a nightmare...I travel from the SW Suburbs up to the North side (no, not Wrigleyville!) on weekends to have a few and right now it takes almost 1 hour - I really hope this doesn't turn into a 2 hour ride to get to the city!

QUOTE(Beltin'Bill @ Jan 17, 2006 -> 12:50 PM) What a difference a year makes. How many people would have been worried about Crede resigning a year or so ago? He was the throw-in player many of us wanted to discard in hypothetical trades before last season. That is good news, though. I just hope his back is ready for another 173 games. With Mackoviak and Ozuna around, along with the concern the White Sox have with Crede's back, I don't think he'll play more than 120-130 games. Guillen uses his bench during the regular season a lot, we have quality backup players so I'd be surprised if Guillen over uses Crede, especially in the 1st half of the season.

QUOTE(beck72 @ Jan 17, 2006 -> 01:49 PM) Listening to 'the Score' 670 around 12 pm today, Murphy had on John Dewan [sp?] of Baseball Info Solutions. He always has him on doing "The Stat of the Week". Today he talked about a category that calculated how many balls an OFer got to, that took into account exactly where the balls were hit on the field and how many outs the fielder got compared to other players at the same spot. Anyway, he compared the sox and cubs OFers, and gave some of the best and worst in MLB at every spot. In LF, coco Crisp was first. Tied for 2nd were Pods and Carl Crawford with something like +27 [outs more than others players at the spot]. Manny Ramirez was last with something like a -37. In CF, Rowand was first with +30. Last was Bernie Williams at -30 with Griffey Jr close behind. Patterson was like a +8 and Pierre was like a -2. In RF, I think Dye was below average, with something like a -2 or -4. Burnitz got a few less outs than Dye did. TIFWIW, but it sounds like this guy's formula is a more precise measure of fielding than typical range factors and the like. He was plugging a new book called "The Fielding Bible". Interesting how well Pods and Rowand both did for this guy--even though a lot of us fans discount how good these guys are, based on typical measures and stuff like arm strength. I'm sure these guys fielding had a lot to do with the improvement in the sox pitching in 2005. I'm also sure the sox won't go backward and hurt their defense. Hopefully, Brian Anderson can be an above average CFer who can get close to what Rowand did last yr. Maybe somebody should let Terry Boers/Dan Bernstein know about Griffey's lack of range. Last season when all the trade talk was going on about Griffey, those two constantly made fun of callers who suggested that Rowand was better defensively, and that Griffey was not the CF he was earlier in his career before injuries. I remember one caller actually had numbers to attempt to support his argument about Griffey's diminished range, and they had said numbers can be anything you make of them... Rant over.

Murton, Pierre, Jones, and now maybe add Grissom with Mabry to the backup mix ? I would think this would say goodbye to Corey Patterson in some way... And, I would also guess that Grissom would take the LF job at some point since Baker loses his veteran players.

QUOTE(knightni @ Dec 30, 2005 -> 12:05 AM) I like that trade-off but, I'd hate to lose Uribe. Let's not be Cub fans here To get a player like Tejada, you're going to have pay through the nose, and Uribe would have to go!

QUOTE(rangercal @ Dec 30, 2005 -> 12:02 AM) Tejada upset with Orioles' lack of action http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2274777 Take the following insert from espn for what it's worth . Count and uribe would make the most sense to me in any deal for Tejada. If Count and uribe were in the deal the salaries would match up well. I dont know what their 2006 salaries are , but their 2005 salaries go like this: Count $ 8,500,000 Uribe $2,150,000 Total $ 10,650,000 Tejada $10,781,206 We would have to give up more than those 2. That trade would work out for both teams. I don't know why Baltimore would do this. Why take on a pitcher who's at least 34 years old, who just started to live up to his potential this past season with the White Sox, and who isn't signed beyond this season along with Uribe, a nice player, but clearly a major step down from Tejada ? I don't know what other teams are offering, and maybe this offer would come close, but I would think Balimore should be considering not trading Tejada at all.

The Score just said the payroll is at $102 million right now....Who knows if that number is correct, but you'd have to assume that they, according to KW, would want that payroll in the mid-90's.

Keep Contreras, even if we can't sign him! Garcia is pitching in the World Games (or whatever it's caused) after pitching a lot of innings during the season/playoffs. McCarthy is still young. While I think he's going to be very good, he's not proven! I realize we can use another arm or two for our bullpen, but I hardly think it's in bad shape with Jenks, Hermanson, Cotts, Pollitte, and McCarthy (should we keep 6 starters). If the starters stay healthy, and we have another need come August, then we can deal from a position of strength!

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ Dec 27, 2005 -> 04:57 PM) You can't wait becuase in the summer of 2007, we will have to resign Kirk and give other contracts out which will hit the cap hard. This is the year we spend on FA so that we can go over the NBA's soft cap to resign our own players. We were built for this summer to spend. Then they should explore the trade market, whether it's going after Paul Pierce or somebody else. I don't think the answer is overpaying for an average big man.

Do you see what decent big men like Mohammed are getting in the free agent market ? ? This is the 1st time the Bulls will have some money to spend, and I don't want to spend a large portion of it (possibly 6-7 million at least on a long-term deal) for an average big man. I'd rather wait, and eventually use that extra money on a good big man or use the cap space in a trade.

QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Dec 27, 2005 -> 01:36 PM) just ask any school teacher or administrator about No Child Left Behind. They'll tell you what a horrible program it is. And in fairness, it was a joint effort between both parties. The administration did not fund the program however causing schools to eat the entire cost internally. This caused school deficits which inturn caused many schools to go out to voter referendum to increase tax rates making the schools look like the bad guys. Horrible program, needs to be eliminated or at worst gutted and re-written. (and funded) I hear too that the program isn't good, but the people who tell me this are so far left, they wouldn't give Bush credit for anything. Saying that, can you expand on what's wrong with the program ? Are there any good things in it ? What specifically needs to be fixed, etc ? Thanks!

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 10:40 AM) I agree that you can't blame Jon but you also can't blame Kenny for knowing he's going to have to move on. I agree with this. Both sides just want what they consider fair, and, from the White Sox perspective, they probably only have money now (after the Vazquez acquistion) for Contreras OR Garland. Now, I'd much rather see the White Sox add players who can help this season, so it's a little disappointing that we may trade an 18 game winner for possible future help. Personally, I'd love to keep all 6 starting pitchers, but, from a budget standpoint, this seems highly unlikely.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 10:38 AM) 3 years $24 million is a joke for Jon Garland, and I am not surprised at all that it pissed him off to the point where he wants to be a free agent. I can't say I blame Garland for wanting to test free agency, where he's likely to get a 4 to 5 year deal for at least 9-10 million per year as opposed to the short term/less money per from the Sox.

Bruce Levine leaving little doubt, saying that Garland Will be traded for younger players and that he doesn't see any trades for Blalock, etc because the White Sox are looking to cut their payroll back a bit. With arbitration, and the rising costs of starting pitching this off-season, Garland could get as much as $9 million for next season, and has already turned down a 3 year, 24 million dollar contract. Also are looking for another lefty/right out of the bullpen.

After the Cubs lost out on Furcal, I was hoping that Nomar could return to them....He seemed open to playing the OF, and even SS could have been possible if Cedeno struggles early on... The Cubs at this point still don't have a proven SS (they do like Cedeno), LF (Murton looks like he might be ok, but still a risk) and RF....

QUOTE(Frank the Tank 35 @ Dec 16, 2005 -> 11:48 PM) I don't like how this sounds, Mr. Rosenthal: What kind of deal would the White Sox want to make for right-hander Jon Garland? Probably one similar to the Marlins' trade of outfielder Juan Pierre, in which the team acquired three young pitchers from the Cubs. The White Sox's farm system is thin at the upper levels after sending left-handers Gio Gonzalez and Daniel Haigwood to the Phillies in the Jim Thome trade. The Orioles, Rangers and Mariners — all teams interested in free-agent right-hander Kevin Millwood — would figure to be in the mix for Garland. ... I think most around here would be disappointed if the White Sox, after so many moves to help their major league club, took a step back to refresh their farm systm.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Dec 16, 2005 -> 06:54 PM) I thought it was to offer protection if Konerko left. Thome was brought in because we didn't have a 3 hitter last year. He did offer protection as another power hitter/1B if Konerko left, but Kenny Williams did tell Konerko that he was after Thome regardless. I just struggle with Thome as a #3 hitter. He strikes out a ton, and hasn't hit for a great average in the last couple years. Personally, I like him as a protector to Konerko.....

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Dec 16, 2005 -> 06:48 PM) Podsednik (lefty) Iguchi (righty) Thome (lefty) Konerko (righty) Blalock (lefty) Dye (righty) Pierzynski (lefty) Uribe (righty) Anderson (righty) You could swap Uribe and Anderson. This could work as well, but with a lineup this powerful, I'm not overly concerned with the lefty-righty matchups... Also, I thought the whole idea of bringing in Thome was to offer protection to Konerko ?

QUOTE(Felix @ Dec 16, 2005 -> 06:26 PM) Blalock wouldn't hit third, and if he did, something is wrong. Blalock would probably hit 6th or 7th, while Gooch hit in the other one (6th or 7th). He would probably bat either 3rd or 6th. I'd think Konerko and Thome have 4 and 5....Dye could bat 3rd like he did in the playoffs, but if not there's no other choice unless they move Konerko up to 3, which I think they all want to avoid.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 07:51 PM) I think Jon Adkins would disagree maybe we can trade for carl everett around the trade deadline....for jon garland!

After skimming through all the fun trade scenarios, whether it's trading Garland (and others) for Blalock, Tejada, Crawford, etc, would you be happy if Kenny Williams trades Garland for a good prospect or two ? I know the minor league system is one reason we were able to get Thome, and Vazquez, but I also want to repeat next season. I'd rather have Garland, and McCarthy out of the bullpen (as insurance in case of injury) then have the minor league system get reloaded (potentially). What say you ?