SSH2005

Yep, even though it's an obvious April Fool's joke, even Cubs fans realize that this would be a horrible trade for them and that Hendry would never even consider it.

Peralta is the guy I wanted but the Royals obviously had waiver priority over us when the Angels cut him loose months ago.

I'm sure the Cubs were and possibly still are interested in Carlos Lee. But trading Murton, Guzman, and Hill for Carlos Lee would still make no sense for the Cubs for the present or for the future, especially with both Wood and Maddux likely being gone next season. Hendry would never make this deal. In other words, the Cubs actually trading for Carlos Lee could make some sense. This specific deal, however, would not make any sense for the Cubs. By the way, even Cubs fans would feel that they were getting ripped off in this proposed deal. They love Murton and Guzman and realize that Carlos Lee is overrated, especially if they would only have him for one season before he hits free agency.

The premise of the deal doesn't make sense. Murton is a good, young, cheap outfielder. Why would the Cubs want to lose him, especially for only one year of an overrated Carlos Lee? Also, Wood and Prior are as fragile as glass. The Cubs need Angel Guzman and Rich Hill as pitching depth to compete this year. They have no idea how many innings Wood and Prior will give them this season. After this season, Wood and Maddux will both be gone. Wood has a $13.5 million team option that most likely won't be picked up and Maddux will be a free agent and nearing retirement. The Cubs will need Angel Guzman and Rich Hill.

I can't believe people are still falling for this April Fool's stuff. Anyways, the value of Matt Murton, Rich Hill, and Angel Guzman is far greater than only one year of Carlos Lee. Afterall, we traded two years of Carlos Lee (when he had better numbers than last season) for Podsednik and Vizcaino. Murton, Hill, and Guzman are much more valuable than Podsednik and Vizcaino.

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

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

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

Recap | Box score

If McCarthy could = Scot Shields out of the pen this season, I would be giddy.

Yep, there's no problem with starting a rookie. Contending teams develop talent all the time. Just look at the Red Sox (1B Kevin Youkilis) and the Angels (1B Casey Kotchman). They are throwing those guys at the bottom of their lineups and depending on them, just like the Sox are doing with Anderson.

All he has to do is worry about playing defense. His bat won't matter too much because he is replacing Rowand's .736 OPS.

Well, I think "mop-up man" is a better synonym for it.

Yep, even Cooper said this. They want McCarthy pitching the higher pressure / more meaningful innings and Thornton pitching long relief / mop-up.

I don't miss Marte at all. I think he will still be the same headcase that he was last season. He might have a decent season with the Pirates pitching in no-pressure meaningless games but I doubt he would have been successful in Chicago with Ozzie and the fans still on his ass. But I was completely wrong about hating on Vizcaino last season. I would give up my left nut for a guy like him in the pen right about now. I just thought that Hermanson would be healthy and able to replace him just fine as our mop-up guy / 6th inning man this year. I thought wrong.

I hate to say it but that rumored Dye + Contreras for Abreu + Gavin Floyd trade wouldn't look too bad right now either, minus Abreu's salary of course. Gavin Floyd had a great spring and is now the Phillies' 5th starter. They pushed Ryan Franklin to the pen because they think Gavin Floyd has finally "found it." http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/NASAp...t=.jsp&c_id=phi This wouldn't have helped our bullpen any though.

El Duque was just the overpriced junk that the Diamondbacks had to take on to get Chris Young. The Sox WANTED to dump him. Especially since he only wanted to be a starter and definately wasn't going to even over McCarthy. This is why El Duque had no problem leaving and didn't say a bad word about the Sox when he left.

The argument for Matt Thornton and Boone Logan makes a lot of sense and I can't really disagree. But Jenks was going to be depended on this season no matter what. It's not like Jenks wasn't going to have a spot in our bullpen after last season. And adding Vazquez pushed McCarthy to the bullpen. I can't really fault Kenny for improving the rotation even more at the expense of McCarthy. Vazquez in the rotation with McCarthy in the bullpen is still better than McCarthy/El Duque in the rotation with Vizcaino in the bullpen.

Our farm system apparently ain't half-bad according to Baseball America.

f***ing scary, ain't it?

Yep, awesome. We traded away Chris Young, Gio Gonzalez, Daniel Haigwood, Jeff Bajenaru, and lost Fabio Castro to the Rule 5 Draft. Not bad.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prosp...ures/26854.html How we ranked from 2005-2001: 2005: 12 2004: 20 2003: 15 2002: 9 2001: 1

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