SSH2005

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Translation: No teams are interested in El Duque right now. Hopefully, he will show he's healthy and perform well in Spring Training so some team needing a starter will take on his $4.5 million contract.

Good question.

That's what I was thinking but Kenny seemed pretty confident that he would be able to re-sign Konerko.

I never called Rowand an excellent or top tier player either though. I said that if Pierre's defense was as good as Rowand's, he would be an excellent player. I consider Pierre an excellent leadoff hitter but I don't think he's an excellent player because his defense in center field is shaky. And you guys shouldn't take offence to my opinions because I actually like Pierre.

Wow, that wouldn't make much sense unless VAfan was right! Maybe the Sox did want Giles in LF, Podsednik in CF, and Dye in RF.

Bill Mueller may be a little expensive but $3 million a year is what I think he will get. Timo Perez made $1 million last year. I'd rather have one Bill Mueller than three Timo Perez's.

Wow, take it easy. My whole point was that Pierre isn't a top tier player. Your last post made him sound like he is. You also have to factor in things like how many runs he gives up because of his defense and weak arm in center field. If he played center field like Rowand, I would agree with you.

I wouldn't call Pierre an excellent player. He doesn't play good enough defense in center field to be an excellent player. He's an excellent leadoff hitter though.

Brad Wilkerson is Adam Dunn lite, but with good speed, better defense, and the ability to play center field. Just like Adam Dunn, people aren't sure where to put Wilkerson in a lineup. They don't hit for average, strike out a lot, but also have good power and draw a lot of walks for a high OBP. I would take Wilkerson over Brian Anderson in center field in a second. And the Nationals would definately laugh at us if we offered only Marte for Wilkerson. The Cubs didn't re-sign Burnitz because he was absolutely awful in the second half and finished with a .757 OPS. That's terrible for a starting right fielder. Murton will start in left field. He's not good enough defensively and his arm is too weak to play right field. They will still need to sign or trade for a right fielder.

It's pretty obvious that he's talking about Manny's defense in the outfield.

I think you should go back to the light gray background. It's a great photoshop but that light gray background provided a much better contrast. The white is too bright.

No, that would be Mueller's left shoulder. But from our perspective, it's his right shoulder.

This is the exact way I feel about it. I would have hated Pierre if we didn't re-sign Konerko. We would have lost too much power losing Konerko and adding Pierre. But now that we have added Thome and re-signed Konerko, we can afford to have a high OBP, great speed, and good fundamentals (bunting), no power guy batting second for us. I'm pretty neutral either way though. I wouldn't mind Pierre or Anderson starting for us in center field.

Great photoshop except for the extra white space above Mueller's left shoulder.

You answered your own question. That's exactly why the Indians won't be getting Manny. Manny is going to earn $64 million over the next 3 years. The Indians would have to give up good prospects and still take on quite a bit of Manny's contract. They can't afford to do both of those things.

He's just restating what Phil Rogers speculated: No way would Pierre cost that much though.

I would like to see one of Mueller as well.

To quote Hawk, "WHERE WOULD HE PLAY?!?" Besides, I think the Cubs are okay with Derrek Lee at first base.

Phil Rogers still thinks we will trade for Pierre: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stor...phil&id=2242443

How are the Indians going to be able to afford Manny? They wouldn't give up the prospects for Thome. They couldn't sign Giles. They damn sure aren't going to give up a ton of prospects and pick up a huge portion of Manny's contract. It's common sense, especially considering they still need to try to re-sign Millwood, sign a closer, and also need a decent first baseman.

I don't care if Mueller likes to bat #2 or not. With a .295 AVG and .369 OBP, he would be best suited for that spot in the lineup regardless of not having much speed. Batting him 8th would be a waste of his OBP.

Bill Mueller?

Replace Timo with Borchard. That's the way I see it. Hopefully, Bill Mueller is the 25th man.