RME JICO

I am really glad the Sox got him back. That was the one guy I hated to lose in the Thome deal.

I would be surprised if the Sox traded anymore starters this offseason. I figure they will go into opening day with Buehrle, Contreras, Garland, Vazquez, and B-Mac, with Floyd competing as well.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 27, 2006 -> 02:16 PM) damn, not compatible with the new version of firefox. I have been working it. I actually have a new working version for FF2.0, but I need to re-check all the links since some things have changed. I will PM you when I post back here with the updated link. Probably later today or tomorrow at the latest.

QUOTE(rcpweiner @ Dec 15, 2006 -> 06:33 PM) Bodog.com has the White Sox at 8/1 to win the World Series next year. That is 4th lowest odds, behind the New Yorks and BoSox. Link Actually they have the 3rd lowest tied with the Red Sox at 8 to 1. I think the team at 12 to 1 odds is hilarious. Yanks 4 to 1 Mets 6 to 1 Sox and Sawks 8 to 1 Angels, Tigers, and Cards 10 to 1 Cubs 12 to 1

I do know if this has any bearing on offseason moves but the 2007 White Sox calendar has Pods, Konerko, Buehrle, and Garland on the cover. It would be kind of weird to put a player on there that was close to being traded or that would eventually be traded (Garcia, etc). So is this some kind of hidden statement. So does this mean Garland and Buehrle are staying put?

That is hilarious. They will have to put a "No Guitar Hero" clause in future contracts. The next injury I expect will be caused by the Wii Remote.

In today's game with Free Agency and everything, I think the Sox season was even more amazing.

I was taking a look at some of the available Free Agents left on the market and came up with a few that piqued my interests: Backup Catcher: Toby Hall - C, $2.25Mil 20006 Salary, RH (Lifetime .685 OPS) Rod Barajas - C, $3.2Mil 2006 Salary, RH (Lifetime .692 OPS) Todd Greene - C, 700k 2006 Salary, RH (Lifetime .730 OPS) Robert Fick - C, $850k 2006 Salary, LH (Lifetime .743 OPS) Another LHP out of bullpen: Eddie Guardado - LHP, $6.25Mil 2006 Salary Ray King - LHP, $2.5Mil 2006 Salary Arthur Rhodes - LHP, $3.7Mil 2006 Salary JC Romero - LHP, $2.2Mil 2006 Salary Scott Schoeneweis - LHP, $2.75 206 Salary Other Relievers: Dan Kolb - RHP, $2Mil 2006 Salary Ryan Franklin - RHP, $2.6Mil 2006 Salary Leftfielder/Centerfielder: Shannon Stewart - LF, $6.5Mil 2006 Salary (Lifetime .364 OBP) Steve Finley - CF, $7Mil 2006 Salary (Lifetime .333 OBP) Todd Hollandsworth - LF, $900k 2006 Salary (Lifetime .328 OBP) Preston Wilson - LF, $4Mil 2006 Salary (Lifetime .330 OBP) Darin Erstad - CF, $8.75Mil 2006 Salary (Lifetime .341 OBP) What do you guys think, anyone worth a look? Do you think any of these guys fit the KW/Ozzie mold? I thought that Todd Greene looked pretty interesting. Had some pretty good numbers for 2006, is cheap and RH. Ray King or Arthur Rhodes? Shannon Stewart's lifetime OBP was also surprising. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/features/freeagents?type=avail

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 14, 2006 -> 11:52 AM) With the massive money deals we've been seeing, there will likely be more trades at the deadline than the previous few seasons. It's just too bad we weren't more interested in Abreu, as his contract seems below market value now and he'd be the perfect leadoff hitter for the Sox. I never thought about that. There should be a lot more options around the trading deadline this year. That is good news for the Sox. With the lack of news and rumors lately, I am expecting something soon. Hell, give Hall an early X-mas gift and sign him.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 14, 2006 -> 10:42 AM) They have never cut payroll before any season when the profits from the previous season allowed them to increase or maintain. They have ALWAYS put back into the club. Why, after all this time of the having a well established pattern, would think this year is different? I don't think KW is just going to spend money to spend money. If the market is out of control it seems like he is just going to wait out the storm. If all he does is add a backup catcher and one more reliever, the payroll will be lower for 2007. This situation will give him huge flexibility at the trading deadline.

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsBaseball/home Average of $18 million a year for 7 years.

I wonder how the attendance is compared to the TV Ratings. It seems like more diehard fans are actually going to the games now. It will probably take a couple more years for the ratings to go back up.

Full listing: American League Angels: Jason Bulger, RHP A's: Jerome Williams, RHP Mariners: Joel Pineiro, RHP Orioles: David Newhan, OF; Aaron Rakers, RHP; Todd Williams, RHP Rangers: Mike Wood, RHP Rays: Damon Hollins, OF Royals: Scott Dohmann, RHP; Brandon Duckworth, RHP Tigers: Alexis Gomez, OF Twins: Luis Rodriguez, INF; Willie Eyre, RHP White Sox: Eduardo Sierra, RHP Yankees: Aaron Guiel, OF National League Braves: Marcus Giles, 2B; Chris Reitsma, RHP Cardinals: Rick Ankiel, OF; Jorge Sosa, RHP Cubs: Jose Reyes, C; Adam Harben, RHP Dodgers: Toby Hall, C; Jayson Werth, OF Mets: Victor Zambrano, RHP Padres: Jon Knott, OF Reds: Brandon Claussen, LHP; Miguel Perez, C Rockies: Chin-hui Tsao, RHP

I don't watch baseball games other than the White Sox, and the only times I see Wells or Hunter is on ESPN Web Gems. However, even though they make a ton of highlight reel catches, it is possible that they also misplay other balls that don't get shown on the highlights, or get bad jumps. I would think this metric is fairly accurate. It lists Pods as under average along with Manny, Griffey, CLee, Magglio, and Bonds. It can't be that bad.

1. Leinart 2. Young Leinart looks good and he has some young talented receivers around him (Fitzgerald, Boldin). Young has looked solid lately, but I think teams will eventually figure him out. Cutler has not played enough for an assessment.

The one thing about Vazquez's stats that doesn't show up is how he implodes in the 5th and 6th inning on almost every start. When he is on, he is a very dominant pitcher, which is normally the first 75 pitches, but after that his performance drops off significantly, then picks up again. Here are his numbers by pitch count for opponents BA and HR allowed. 1-15 - .245, 0 HR 16-30 - .185, 4 HR 31-45 - .225, 1 HR 46-60 - .248, 2 HR 61-75 - .287, 2 HR 76-90 - .361, 10 HR 91-105 - .241, 4 HR Besides for pitches 76-90, he is a dominant pitcher. He gave up 9 HRs in the first 75 pitches of a game, and he gave up 10 in the next 15 pitches. If somehow he could solve that issue, he would be a keeper.

I would think Arizona, Houston, St. Louis and the Mets would be the primary teams, with others like the Rangers, Orioles, and Blue Jays. Houston lost Pettite and Backe, and probably Clemens for 2007. Those are some huge losses. St. Louis no longer has Marquis (no big loss) and Weaver (FA), so they seem pretty thin for World Series champs.

QUOTE(PlunketChris @ Dec 9, 2006 -> 11:45 AM) I was going to include Cotts and some other relievers, but they seemed like longshots. Well, that makes sense if you include them. QUOTE(CubKilla @ Dec 9, 2006 -> 12:34 PM) Garcia, Hernandez, Hermanson, Politte, Cotts, Marte, Vizcaino..... He didn't list all of them in the poll. QUOTE(RockRaines @ Dec 9, 2006 -> 01:12 PM) Since when does 2 count as many? I thought the same thing at first.

I would say El Duque's individual performance vs Boston, then the collective effort of the SP's to throw consecutive complete games in the postseason. P.S. I like the title, "Now that many of the 2005 staff is gone..". So I guess 2 is many.

The article is not that bad, but it is funny how they put a spin on "only having 3 players under contract in 2009." That's actually incorrect since MacDougal just signed an extension. It is 4 players under contract, but another 10-12 players will still be under the Sox control (Arb/Res) in 2009. That is 12-16 players that are currently on the roster, and that may go up with Buehrle, Dye, and Iguchi still out there for 2007 contracts. Also, 3 players that don't have contracts in 09 are bench players (Cintron, Mack, and Pods). FA after 2007 - Dye, Iguchi, Buehrle FA after 2008 - Cintron, Crede, Garland, Pierzynski, Pods, Uribe, Vazquez It looks like next offseason will be more important than this offseason with several positional players and starters in their last contract year.

Garland seems like a better fit for a Pettite replacement than James.

joeynach, When I did an estimate mine came to around $107 million before deducting about $8-9 million from Thome/Vazquez deals. When I use your numbers and add them up I come up with $107.25. Where are you getting $98.85? Using your numbers it should be $107.25 and $98.75. Your off by $8.4 million unless I am completely missing something. You can probably plug Floyd into the bullpen spot instead of the veteran for $1.5. Cheat did an estimate at SSS and he came up with $98.15 after the cash deductions, so with the modified numbers you both look very similar.

Great signing. After seeing what some of these other relievers have been getting, this is a great deal.

ESPN News is stating that Jose Uribe was the father of Chicago White Sox SS Juan Uribe.

Stats are pretty rough, but he was on KC. (25-33, 5.38 ERA, 1.51 WHIP) His Service Time is 3.077 and he made $1.225 million for 2006. The best part is he fired Boras as his agent, so he is almost a shoe in for the Sox.