Yeast Confection

Oh yeah and if McCarthy somehow carries this dominance into his remaining 3-4 starts... And Contreras hits a stumbling block.... I start Brandon in the playoffs without hesitation. Next year should be fun with Twins and Santana/Silva/Radke/Liriano/Baker...

McCarthy is not as good as he will be (barring a major injury, natch) in a couple of years when he's not a rail, but hopefully his recent brilliance against offensive juggernauts in their house will shut the "why do Sox waste time withthese finesse types when they can be loading up on flame-throwing projects" peanut gallery heard from so often earlier in the year. Just wait until they see another "soft-tosser" Gio a couple of years from now... I hear Haigwood and Broadway aren't that hopeless, either As for Cincy/Lindner/Griffey... f*** them, hard. :finger

I remember Uribe's swing/approach looking much better (even if results weren't always there) around our first trip to Boston, then Juan relapsed so to speak on the Minny road trip, before starting to rake in September. But his recent success only highlights his year(s)-long stupidity/selfishness, and for all his considerable physical talent, you get this feeling he will find a way to screw things up. Fool me once and all that... If he matures overnight and kicks ass in October, I'd be happy to admit I was wrong.

He's no spring chicken but he is not 35, either. Hits for average, with some power - gap power that, unlike pull-HR power, doesn't magically disappear against good/great pitchers... in addition to playing good 1B... and running bases better than most first-sackers, something which you may not appreciate until you have, say, 2 outs, game-tying run at 1st and a ball is hit down the line... All at 350 K. Let's see: one-dimensional athri-hip Konerko at 11-12 Mill for 4 years... or Gload at 500 K for 3 years. A year ago I would have said no question Paulie. But now, as much as I appreciate what Kong has done the last 3 weeks or so, I seriously give this one a second thought. Gload needs to impress in September again, though, which won't be easy playing once a week tops.

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Damn, those Injuns jus' keep up on coming. Cut the lead to double-digits in the loss column with 20-some games to go. Mommy hold me!

Yes and no.

At least I didn't compare Whisler to Mark effin' Prior.

Yes, because that's precisely the course of action that I had suggested.

Yes. I am well aware of his less than spectacular "performance history"; this is one of the few times where I go on a limb. Aaron's pitch-selection/recognition is as abhorent as I remember it, but I still maintain that the strides he made last year in that respect, were no fluke. He may not be the 950 OPS guy he was in the final 4 months of 2004 when Ozzie gave him a chance to play every day, but I honestly believe Aaron is capable of low-to-mid 800 OPS. A late bloomer, perhaps, but there you have it. The key for him is to remember that God made him a 20 HR/45 double guy, NOT the other way around - nowdays, Aaron's mostly trying to jack everything to Left, which is counter-productive to say the least. Again.... Anderson may or may not (notice how I not writing him off just yet? Good) be the next JoBo - as in, overrated range, overrated arm, overrated baserunning, as well as the swing that can't square up a good ML fastball or a good ML breaking ball. Oh how quickly do people forget all the complimentary gems hurled "4.5-tool" Borchard's way circa 2001-2002? :rolly .

What's with the tude, little man?

Unit was flat as helll; even Greg Norton took him deep twice in one game when he was really off. Santana is Santana is Santana, but Anderson looked like s*** - the kind of s***-looking that would probably result in a bagel against a lesser lefty. Radke walked Uribe; he wasn't his dominant self either. But I guess I'll keep an eye out for Anderson, maybe he will break out tomorrow.

How about 850 OPS - which is what Rowand will have next year... versus Anderson who may (or may not) be a glorified Borchard?

If true... that is a big deal. It's not fair to ask him to gun fast runners down off his back leg from the 'deep', but what is reasonable to ask for is someone who doesn't allow medium-to-slow runners take extra bases almost at will. Speaking of which, Pods sucks in Left.

I am dancing to FF's 'Take Me Out'-themed Ipod commercial. What color am I?

Huh?

Who cares what he will do. I am talking about what should be done.

While 26-31 may seem like ancient stuff to us, in the world of 21st century baseball, that is still considered prime last time I checked. Furthermore, guys like Durham, Giles and Muller are not big-swinging HR meisters; they seem to get better with age at finding gaps and getting on base. Durham is here only for 2006, while Giles and Mueller won't get anything beyond a 2-year deal with an option. Sure, the age-related downside exists - as it did for the Yankees back in late 90s - but that's what makes those players semi-affordable in the first place. Then again, some may prefer to see the 1999 version of the Sox take the field...

Sox will go 24-17 the rest of the way. (Could do better but they will be sitting the regulars.) Can Tribe go 30-7? Fathom and Co. flick forth a resounding "Yes!". Others disagree.

I don't care how weak/strong the market is. Some things you do; some things you just don't. Mueller is not a bad idea unless he costs more than 4 Mill. In addition to that, Sox might want to dump some of their overrated prospects in exchange for either Tracy or Overbay, who should be cheap for at least 3 more years. Get Durham. There, you have 1B-3B-DH shored up with "grinders" for as little as 10 Mill. Giles works for me too, though Sox would need to get rid of Dye'a 6 Mill first, which won't happen unless he has a helluva September to pretty up the overall numbers. Giles may never Slug 600 again, but as long as he gets on base at 420-430 clip at USCF, I don't care; he'd be crazy not to give us a slight discount the way the ball jumps to Right especially. LF Pods (healthy) DH Durham RF Giles CF Rowand (his Slugging should bounce back to .500+) 1B Overbay 2B Iguchi C AJP 3B Mueller SS Uribe (looking better lately; hopefully he's growing out of his moronic ways) Something along those lines. Not gonna finish with 250 HR on the season, but when it comes to Quality Pitchers in Big Games, that line-up can hold its own with anybody.

Can't speak for anyone else, but I like my closers/relivers making no more than 2-3 Mill a year. Unless you're Gagne on roids or Mariano or somethun'. Politte-Cotts-Vizcaino-Jenks-Marte are just gonna have to get it done on the cheap in 2006. (Assuming Hermanson is traded while he has value.) The $$$ freed up from departures of Everettand Konerko + whatever raise JR promised should be spent mostly toward offense. And, no, that don't mean throwing 10-12 Mill after Furcal matter, either.

Anderson didn't blow me away thus far.

Ray's numbers are a little skewed by the stadium he plays in (880 OPS away vs. 725 home), but they're still rock-solid - and I happen to be a fan of the OBP/speed/gap-hitting combo more so than of the HR monsters whose inflated slugging makes for "Sexy" regular season OPS but who invariably end up getting eaten alive by good pitchers in high-pressure games. While he's refreshingly kuh-razy, I am not a huge fan of Jurrasique's on-field contribution; he comes off the books after this season, anyway. Made 4 Mill. Assuming Giants pick up some dough in exchange for good-but-not-great prospects, that's as almost as much as Ray will cost next season. LF Podsednik DH Durham 2B Iguchi (may be comfortable enough with MLB pitchers to drive the ball by '06) Ray was always liked by the fans and he can give the team the kind of production it needs the most - he's even cut down on the strike-outs since his Sox days... The only problem was we couldn't afford him beyond 2002, but now with his age, lack of position in NL and Giants sucking bad, that may change.

Spataro letting people down again. Damnit.

Anyway, I think Kanny, Bristol and Great Falls are all off. Or not worth following. Or both.