SSH2005

Yep, that pretty much is the best thing about his blog. Looks like Ozzie may consider Mackowiak to be our backup leadoff hitter when Podsednik isn't playing. Mackowiak strikes out a lot but he still has a career .328 OBP. That would be better than what Ozuna and Timo did in the leadoff spot last season.

Without scoring runs you can't win a game regardless of how good your defense is.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CLE/1995.shtml They had a rotation with Charles Nagy, Dennis Martinez, and Orel Hershiser in it. Their bullpen was insanely good with Paul Assenmacher, Julian Tavarez, and Jose Mesa in it.

IMO -- pitching, homeruns, and defense in that order.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CLE/1995.shtml Their lineup was absolutely filthy -- Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, Eddy Murray, Kenny Lofton, Omar Vizquel, Carlos Baerga. They even had Herbert Perry, Sandy Alomar, and a washed-up Dave Winfield on the bench. Brian Giles, Jeromy Burnitz, and David Bell also had a cup of coffee on that team but they were just starting their careers. One thing the Indians could always do is develop great hitters.

One of the only other good memories of Marte... http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...d=cws&ym=200504 April 23: CWS @ KC • Marte tags out Diaz: 56K | 350K Hawk and DJ blew their collective load on that play.

Even Marte was hopping around like a little kid, haha. You can see him in the replay at WhiteSox.com.

Konerko will play third base.

WSCR 670 is replaying the interview up next.

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/NASApp/...xt=.jsp&c_id=sf The Giants just love their old players, don't they? The sad thing is that Winn is one of their younger players at 31.

Not sure. Urbina does seem like he has a big temper but I'm sure there are blackmail scams like this all the time in that country.

I think you meant Burnitz, not Kearns. Kearns is with the Reds. Anyways, can't Freddy Sanchez play SS? Trade Jack Wilson, put Freddy Sanchez at SS, and put Jose Castillo at 2B. The Pirates shouldn't be spending this kind of money on a guy like Wilson and spending too much money on old rejects like Jeromy Burnitz. Either spend more money on good players or play your prospects. The Royals have a similar problem but they are even worse. They barely play any prospects and continue to sign washed-up bums instead.

Nah, just comparing salaries. Clayton is an old fart now. I do think that Neifi is a comparable defender to Wilson at SS (Wilson is still a bit better) but he is getting paid $5 million over the next 2 seasons. $20 million over 3 seasons for Wilson is just flat-out ludicrous. Defensive specialists with no bats should not earn almost $7 million per season.

It was. I still like watching replays of that grandslam more than Podsednik's walkoff.

My God, it's actually true... http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AnBm...ov=ap&type=lgns The Nationals signed Royce Clayton to a minor league deal and Jack Wilson gets $20 million, lol.

Wilson's defense is great but he's still not worth almost $7 million per year. They may as well sign a defensive specialist like Neifi Perez to start at SS then. Neifi will earn $2.5 million per year over the next two seasons and he's not even worth that much. Wilson's bat is just as pathetic as Neifi's. Neifi (.681 OPS) was actually better offensively than Wilson (.662 OPS) last season. Jack Wilson (career stats): .263 AVG | .304 OBP | .368 SLG | .672 OPS Neifi Perez (career stats): .270 AVG | .301 OBP | .380 SLG | .681 OPS Without his great glove, Wilson would be one of the worst regulars in baseball. At least Neifi is supposedly coming off the bench for the Cubs. There's no way Jack Wilson is actually worth $20 million over 3 years, regardless of how good his defense is. If true, this is a horrible signing by the Pirates.

* Konerko talked about why he accepted the 'C'. Says he just accepts his manager's orders since Ozzie is the boss. * Once he was re-signed, he was finally able to enjoy the full spectrum of the championship. * Talks about what a great clubhouse guy and player that Thome is. McCarthy already loves Thome and is following him around everywhere (maybe Thome has replaced Frank as his favorite player now?). * Says that every team will have a superstar ego. Not every team can have a bunch of guys like Thome. Terrell Owens is brought up. Konerko says that the egos will come out in the media sooner or later and it matters to the fans. Says fans want role-models, not big egos. * Says that team chemistry is important but you still need good players to win. A good mix of both breeds winning. But every season is different so the chemistry will change from year to year. Even if the Sox had kept all 25 players from last season, there is no guarantee that they would have had the same type of chemistry. * As captain of the team, he probably won't have to call out another player for not hustling because Ozzie sees everything already. But says that he, Dye, or Thome will call out a guy if it happens. Konerko says it probably won't happen though. * Konerko hates when players in the clubhouse are on their cell phones. Even though it is against MLB rules, players still do it all the time. Konerko will call out players when it happens. * Discusses when he called out Frank in the past. Said he would have went to Frank first instead of the media but he was pissed off at the time. * Defends KW's comments to Frank. Said that they were just a build-up of anger over time from all of Frank's comments. * Says that Ozzie tells it like it is and that's why the clubhouse has been so good since he was named the manager. Says that players will behave because they are afraid of Ozzie calling them out in front of everyone else.

With Boers and Bernstein right now!

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...t=.jsp&c_id=cws

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/NASApp/m...t=.jsp&c_id=pit Why the hell is Jack Wilson getting $20 million over 3 years and why are the Pirates paying it?

Jim Thome (career stats at The Cell): 210 AB | .286 AVG | .382 OBP | .600 SLG | .982 OPS | 18 HR | 50 RBI Jim Thome (career stats vs. Sox): 420 AB | .295 AVG | .406 OBP | .650 SLG | 1.056 OPS | 41 HR | 107 RBI

Yeah, and Bonds was trying to play off his weight by saying he was fat. :rolly

I saw this posted over at Cheat's blog. http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2006/2/28/105432/870