TimB

"As for Soriano's possible destinations. ... White Sox GM Ken Williams was unusually candid in confirming to the Chicago Tribune that his club was one of four finalists -- along with the Tigers, the Angels and the Yankees -- for him." This came from MLB.com and adds some insight. Everything points to Kenny posturing but not actually following through on this trade rumor. It even seems like he's having fun feigning interest. B-Mac is going nowhere. If any deal happens it'll be for a bullpen arm.

I listened to Kurkijan as well. I believe it's been said on this board before that the Sox may just be raising the price tag associated with acquiring Soriano. By Kurkijan's scenario we would be moving Pods to center and Soriano to left. The last thing our inconsistent staff needs is worse defense playing behind it. I do like getting MacDougal if that is available. I don't know comparative numbers, so I could be proven wrong; but if I remember correctly MacDougal has a live arm. I'd need the folks on this board who know our minor leaque system confirm if it's worth Lumsfield.

You've got to be kidding me. ESPN decided to air Yanks-Marlins instead of Sox-Astros. This is bs.

When this fiasco started with Ozzie, I couldn't help but think of the Family Guy bit: Cleveland: The only English idiom I know is that *** means cigarette. Peter: Someone needs to tell this cigarette to get out of my face... I'd actually be much happier if someone coached Ozzie to criticize Mariotti's grammatical writing. It's just as absurd as Mariotti being critical of baseball.

Here's what I heard on Tony's local show in DC: The TK/Mariotti fued started when Mariotti had his radio show. Mariotti used to take cheap shots at Tony almost to the point of accusing TK as being a local hack, which seemed alot like jealousy since Tony had the national show on ESPN. It's a pretty bad move to tick off Kornheiser. Very few people can pick apart and ridicule a person better than TK. So, it was always entertaining to hear Kornhneiser call out Mariotti every once and awhile on his local show (after ESPN dumped him)

QUOTE(bmags @ Oct 25, 2005 -> 12:40 PM) it makes us look pathetic and without heroes...but i'll tell you what, i have so many good memories of the sox in my life and sox players...i remember getting a fake team autographed ball in one of my first sox games in 93, and i would go through every signature trying to figure out who it was, rubbing in my hands until all the signatures rubbed off. It was awesome. One of my favorite memories just staring at the ball. I disagree slightly with you. I think the article reminds us that on a national level, the Sox are fairly nondescript, which shouldn't be construed as pathetic. Baseball is such a huge "statistics" sport, and in that sense, we don't have too many players nor statistical team seasons that stand out. The pesonal memories are great. That's what makes being a White Sox fan and being in the fraternity of Sox fans so special. It's weird, because my Dad is a lifelong Sox fan, and the last time he saw them in the WS was when he was 28 years old. And now he's waited 46 years to see them back in the WS. I'm 28 right now, and I can't imagine waiting that long for another opportunity. Bottom line is that we have to enjoy this while we can, and hopefully these will be among the best memories we'll have about the Sox. ...That's probably the sappiest thing I've ever written. I need a drink - fast.

QUOTE(sec159row2 @ Oct 25, 2005 -> 10:06 AM) my sister is in DC and calls me to find out about the sox... she says since the sawx have been eliminated the sports pages only cover football.... That's a fair statement. Boswell has been covering the WS, but with the Redskins winning, they spend the majority of the sports page covering the resurgence of Brunell, the soap opera of LaVar Arrington, or the most recent Sean Taylor arrest...all things I could care less about.

This is an article written by Tom Boswell for the Washington Post. An interesting take on why the White Sox tend to go largely unnoticed. Finally Sizing These Sox By Thomas Boswell Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Page E01 CHICAGO The Chicago White Sox are so old that when you mention the '05 team, you have to say which century. Yet for 105 seasons, they've been baseball's most overlooked, ignored and almost utterly invisible team. This is a franchise so eternally slighted that, in its entire history, it has had higher attendance than the 2005 Washington Nationals in only one season. Now that the Pale Hose are halfway to winning their first World Series since World War I, it's conceivable the franchise will finally get its due. After all, the Black Sox aside, there's no shame in the White Sox' record (.506 all-time). In the past 25 years under Jerry Reinsdorf, they've been respectable (.516) with 15 seasons over .500 and not a single year with more than 92 losses. Yet, until this month, if you'd asked what team had Scott Podsednik, Aaron Rowand, Joe Crede, Tadahito Iguchi, Juan Uribe and A.J. Pierzynski in its everyday lineup, many would have responded: "How about a hint? Which sport?" The White Sox' defining characteristic has always been their ability to deflect illumination like a black hole. You know they're there. The standings say so. But who are they? Year after year, they sit in the middle of the pack in the Midwest, too respectable to be mocked but too imperfect to be studied. In 1960, my first Senators hero, Roy Sievers, became a White Sox player and led them in homers. I tried to follow his career from afar. Good luck. Aliens might as well have abducted him. Roy had vanished. When Bill Veeck owned the Sox, I visited him one day. His office had no door. Walk in and say, "Hi, Bill." That captured the White Sox -- unpretentious, but also undiscovered. Veeck loved his unappreciated team, especially their hardworking, anti-trendy fans. And he valued the absence of any binding White Sox tradition. How could he insult the memory of a franchise that threw the World Series? If "Disco Demolition Night" turned into a riot and a forfeit, it still couldn't disgrace the Sox' pedigree. Now that Ozzie Guillen and Ken Williams have arrived as manager and general manager, the White Sox' days of obscurity may be numbered. But before we celebrate Paul Konerko's five homers and 15 RBI this postseason or wonder whether Chicago can go through the entire playoffs with only one defeat (they're 9-1), we should look back one last time and ask, "How could any franchise remain so unexamined, such a baseball void, for more than a century?" Upon examination, we discover that there actually is a reason: The White Sox earned it. In their entire existence, no White Sox team has ever won more than 100 games. So, when all-time great teams are discussed, Chicago is never mentioned. In fact, the White Sox have only won more than 95 games five times. The Yankees have done it six times -- in the last nine years. The Orioles have won more than 95 games 11 times. And they weren't born until 1954. The White Sox also had the perverse misfortune of never being abysmal -- which would've attracted attention. The team has only lost 100 games once since 1948. However, the White Sox' biggest hurdle to recognition has been its incredible, odds-defying lack of truly great players. If someone charismatic ever dons a White Sox uniform, he leaves quickly, arrives late in his career or only makes a brief stop. Only one man has hit more than 221 homers in a White Sox uniform (Frank Thomas). Only two men have had more than 1,000 RBI as White Sox (Thomas and Luke Appling). Only two pitchers have ever won 200 games for the Sox (Red Faber and Ted Lyons). Neither played after World War II. the 1972 season, only one White Sox pitcher has struck out more than 200 batters in a season (Esteban Loaiza). When White Sox fans voted for their all-century team in 2000, they picked 18 everyday players. Of those 18, 11 hit fewer than 100 home runs in their entire White Sox careers! Welcome aboard, Chico Carrasquel, Guillen and Jim Landis (career .250). Gary Peters (91-78) was one of the nine all-century White Sox pitchers. Talk about being hard up for legends. Finally, in an act of (alarming) forgiveness, three of the eight Black Sox were voted onto that 27-man all-century team. True to the White Sox' ironic history, the man who holds the team's single-season records for home runs, RBI, total bases and extra-base hits was only in Chicago for two years: Albert Belle. So, it's not a conspiracy that the White Sox have gotten so little attention for so long. At least the Cubs had stars who stayed at Wrigley Field long enough to have an identity. In the last 50 years, half the Cubs' history, Ernie Banks, Sammy Sosa, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ryan Sandberg and Mark Grace all had more than 1,000 RBI in their Wrigley years. No wonder the hard core of White Sox fans, loyal as it is, remains so small. Even this year, with the White Sox winning 99 games and sitting in first place every day of the season, the Nats outdrew them by 4,804 per game. Of course, U.S. Cellular Field, with its vertigo-inducing 38-degree slope in the upper decks, does not help. When the White Sox' new home opened in 1991, it was the first of the "new wave" of ballparks. Not bad, everybody said. The next year, Camden Yards opened and Chicago's new yard was instantly out of style. Talk about White Sox luck. At least if the White Sox can finally win the club's first Series since 1917, the franchise's despicable anonymity may finally start to end. (Did somebody around here pick the Astros?) Those in search of White Sox omens certainly don't have far to look. Last season's champions, the Red Sox, had not won a Series since 1918. The bizarre linkage between the two Sox is hard to miss. The Red Sox were adored and endured by New England for a century. The White Sox were ignored by the Midwest, in favor of various Cards and Cubs, for just as long. Now, finally, the world's smallest bandwagon is accepting passengers. All you need to get a seat is prove that your White Sox loyalty is more than a month old. Name any of the three Sox managers in the 12 years before Ozzie Guillen arrived last year. Tick tock, tick tock. Time's up. Gene Lamont, Terry Bevington and Jerry Manuel are delighted to welcome all three of you aboard.

"Anderson was batting .295 with 23 doubles, 15 home runs and 54 RBI in 11 games at Charlotte." -taken from the Sun Times this morning. Pretty impressive numbers for 11 games...

I agree 100% with this assessment. It's a headache the Sox don't need. Also, people shouldn't be naive about steroids and who is taking them. I wouldn't be suprised if a couple Sox players have taken them in the past or may even be taking them now. Steroids is a vicious cycle. I had a friend who played with a couple organizations; the Mariners, Tigers, Devil Rays and he mentioned the staggering number of guys that were taking steroids (with the Mariners alone he mentioned A-Rod, Edgar Martinez, Buhner...he was a no brainer...) My friend was just a doubles hitter, so despite some small stints in the majors, he was frequently passed because he didn't hit for much power. He finally became so frustrated that he did a cycle in a last ditch effort to get another call-up. He was promptly busted in the minors a couple weeks later and served a suspension. It's hard for players to avoid the temptation. I'm not condoning it, but my friend is a great guy, level headed family man...and the temptation was tough for him to resist.

Where's Timo on the poll?

Thanks Southsider, That's interesting. I could have completely misinterpreted Stark (I'm not in the best shape at 7 AM...) although I do know he was convinced Griffey wouldn't move.

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board, so I apologize if this has been posted elsewhere. I was listening to Mike and Mike this morning and Jason Stark was filling in for Golic. When asked about Griffey moving to the White Sox, here's what he had to say: 1) Trade was probably not as close to being completed as Williams has eluded to. Apparently neither Griffey or his agent were asked whether they would wave the no trade clause 2) It'll be tough to claim him on waivers since the original deal included minor leaguers. Apparently minor league talent is tough to move through waivers since other teams can snatch them prior to the Reds. This is news to me. I didn't realize trades during this period required both parties to move their players through the waiver wire, but that was in essence what he was saying. Bottom line, Starks does not believe Griffey will be going anywhere.