RME JICO

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 8, 2005 -> 08:35 PM) Pre All-Star: .329, 19 home runs, .977 OPS, 62 RBI Post All-Star: .276, 7 home runs, .733 OPS, 36 RBI. They can tell him to shut up and play all he wants, but if he doesn't want to try...well, the 2nd half speaks for itself. That might have been due to the lack of B-12 vitamins.

Wow, Boston is really forming an awesome infield: Red Sox Starting Infield 1B - K. Youkilis 2B - M. Loretta SS - A. Cora 3B - M. Lowell

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 8, 2005 -> 08:12 PM) You have to wonder whether the mess that their club house turned into after Palmeiro was suspended and then blamed Tejada in the press could be a major contributor to this. Ya also have to wonder if the Sosa trade also helped. Here's an idea...Manny for Tejada, Boston pays the salary differences? Boston already has to pay $8 million in the Renteria trade, so I doubt they would tie up anymore money, but I guess you never know. This reminds me of the whole Arod thing in Texas. He signs a big contract, then complains when the team does bad because they don't have enough to pay other players. I wouldn't trade for him with that attitude.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Dec 8, 2005 -> 06:10 PM) no way that will never happen!!!!! he'll never come here. I agree, who would the Sox give up, Marte?

So, taking a look at this again after the Mack-Marte trade, the roster is starting to take shape. So it looks like there are only two roster spots open: SP 1. Buehrle 2. Contreras 3. Garcia 4. Garland 5. McCarthy RP 6. Hernandez (SP/RP) 7. Cotts 8. Politte 9. Jenks 10. Hermanson 11. Vizcaino 12. LHRP TBD C 13. Pierzynski 14. Widger IF 15. Crede - 3B 16. Iguchi - 2B 17. Konerko - 1B 18. Thome - DH 19. Uribe - SS 20. Ozuna 21. Mackowiak OF 22. Dye 23. Podsednik 24. Anderson 25. Owens* ? - Harris ? - Perez

Just FYI. Cool pic of Arow at the Bears/Packers game here: http://www.chicagobears.com/fancenter/photogallery.jsp He did the coin toss.

John Rocker is available.

Just heard it on ESPN, so no Hoffman to the Indians.

The Rocket wanted $20 million for one year and the Stros already had $65 million tied into 5 players for 2006 - ouch!

QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 09:30 AM) If he does sign with us, he deserves a standing O when he makes his first plate appearance at the Cell. Or after his first put out Then some national sportswriter (jackass) would come up with the Gaff-a-nino scandal: "Graffanino purposely lets ball go through legs in 2005 playoffs in exchange for lucrative offseason contract as a Utility Infielder"

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 08:57 AM) Bobby Valentine, you can start talking s*** when you arent run out of the bigs and forced to take a job with another league. What an incredible amount of disrespect for the accomplishments of another team. He basically said "We have the same stuff and we did it better." The only way the White Sox could have done it better last year is if they would have gone 11-0. Valentine can go back to wearing bad disguises again, what a douche. How about another COUNTRY! This guy has zero credibility. He is a little late in his assessment anyway, because most "analysts" picked the Red Sox (Sox swept them), then picked the Angels (Sox 4-1), and then they picked a 6 or 7 game series against the Astros, and we all know what happened. Just another ignorant person voicing his opinion based off what he saw on tv. Hilarious.

I was thinking about the Sox adding him once I saw the free agent list come out. He would be a good fit if he wanted to play that utility role - as long as he doesn't let grounders roll through his legs.

QUOTE(rangercal @ Dec 7, 2005 -> 05:48 AM) My prediction: Frank Will hit 25 Hrs the next 2 years. Come back in 2008 with the white sox and Hit # 500. He will retire after 2008. That is a nice thought, but that is not going to happen. If KW wouldn't sign him now, then there is no way he going to sign him 2 years from now, unless he wants to do the sign and retire thing like others have done.

The biggest risk with Frank is if he reinjures his foot, his career is over. It is not like if he gets injured that he can come back in a couple of weeks. The next foot injury and he is done. That is a very high risk.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Dec 6, 2005 -> 07:28 PM) Are you his trainer? How do you know this? No I am not his trainer, but there have been no reports to say he is anywhere near 100%. All I keep seeing are reports like the following which leads me to believe that he is nowhere near ready and his health is still in doubt:

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Dec 6, 2005 -> 07:24 PM) You must have seen a different report. He said Frank IS in good shape, met with the Athletics and he sees a deal getting done. He was on ESPN News just after 5 PM eastern time with Steve Phillips. Reynolds, Ravech and Kruk were in the studio. I just caught the last part of the show and Gammons said something to the effect of Thomas would be a good fit, but I did not hear anything about a deal, so I missed that part.

Gammons didnt exactly say that. It was more like things he sees as a good fit. He makes a lot of those statements. Frank is nowhere near ready and with his health in doubt, I would be surprised to see a deal for more than one year. Either way, it will be sad to see him go, and I wish him the best.

Here is some good info about the draft: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/...02rulefive.html

QUOTE(sayitaintso @ Dec 6, 2005 -> 06:28 PM) When is the Rule V draft? December 8th in Dallas. Sox draft 29th, so I doubt Howard will last that long.

That is the only way people listen to him. He tries to stir the pot so irate people call in and bash him. He is stupid and the best thing to do is ignore the dumb4ss. Now that the Sox won the WS, you are going to see this a lot. Especially next season when everyone will NOT pick them to win anything. That is fine for me, it adds a little motivation.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Dec 5, 2005 -> 03:20 AM) Where's the no one option? I just rolled that up with "other". I can't edit it or I would put that on there. Either way I was asking who was the "most likely" if you had to choose someone. I assumed Marte would be high, but I am surprised to see Garland in 2nd.

Yeah, but there should be some type of MLB policy in place that prevents stuff like this from happening. The same thing goes for the Yankees and now the Mets outrageous contracts, that should be stopped as well. A team shouldn't have to sell off its high priced players every 3-5 years to stay competitive, or because they can't get a new stadium. The Marlins organization is doing this to completely justify their move. Unlike when the Browns just left CLE for BAL, the Marlins are making their fans leave before the team moves. In doing this, they are giving away some of their top players for prospects, which most people always say are just prospects until they do something. I know some of the deals had nice prospects, but the Marlins basically advertised that they having a firesale. This is just bad for baseball. I wouldn't be surprised if they break the record for the losses in a season. They are only keeping Willis and Cab, and how would you feel if you were one of those players. There is no way you can make this into a positive situation except for the teams that are getting proven Major Leaguers for prospects. Just my 2 cents. Check this thread out: http://www.marlinbaseball.com/forums/index...showtopic=54110

I am just wondering if there is going to be a big surprise since after the Thome and Konerko deals, everyone feels like the Sox are basically done. This normally means something big is in the works.

I just tried to consolidate the threads for the Winter Meetings, and the discussions on who the Sox intend to move. I would say it is between El Duque and Marte, but with KW you never know. I added a couple of longshots.

The A's signed Loaiza as their 5th starter, so Zito is gone. They don't want another starting pitcher, so Garland is not going there. If they do end up moving Jon, I would assume that they would try to get some high level prospects in return to replenish the farm system.