SSH2005

With Logan and Thornton as near locks for our bullpen, I wish Ozzie and Freddy could fly to Venezuela and break him out of there or at least pay off the government to release him. Urbina would look damn good in our bullpen right now.

Jenks has been throwing in the high 90's since high school. And he damn sure doesn't look like he's ever taken a drug that helps build muscle or cut fat. He's pretty much just a fat slob who throws extremely hard like RockRaines said and I'm glad we have him. I just hope he starts showing some signs of control soon. Ozzie wouldn't be having meetings with Jenks and talking about Cotts as a fallback closer plan if there weren't some concerns about him.

All I can say is thank God it's fairly obvious that Jenks has never done steroids in his life. But I definately don't believe that Ozzie, the Sox, or any other MLB team tells the truth 100% of the time.

Don't be so sure. Just remember, any team that wants Castro will have to keep him on their roster for most of the season. Just hope he gets shellacked, as mean as that may sound. I just saw this... http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...ate.f60b5b.html

Exactly.

I hope so. I'm more worried about his control than his velocity. Our bullpen looks rather shaky right now with Jenks having issues and both Logan and Thornton as near locks for bullpen spots.

And even more troublesome -- he can't find the strike zone to save his life.

Guillen doesn't lie? And you know this how? Who is he... Mother Teresa? I remember Ozzie saying during the offseason before Marte was traded that the Sox were going to count on him as our second lefty out of the bullpen. Do you really think that Ozzie didn't know that Marte was going to be traded? He probably lied about it to up Marte's trade value a bit.

Do you really need an answer to that? Just look at the team up north. They have been lying about their injuries for years. Wood, Prior, etc. They are always supposed to be healthy to start the season and then end up missing a month or so to start the season. TV gun readings are absolute s***.

Well, I definately don't believe everything I read in the paper but I could see Jenks hitting 94 MPH once or so and then not hitting it again and mostly working at 92 MPH. Trust me, I'm no homer. And good point about Hermanson. He was supposed to be ready for this season. :rolly

Both Dick Allen and Art Kusnyer are to be believed. Jenks could have been hitting 94 MPH in his other outings but he may not have been hitting 94 MPH at the game Dick Allen went to. Dick Allen is just telling us what he saw Jenks throwing at the game he went to. I don't see the need to call him out.

I guess that makes more sense. If Jenks was actually hitting 95 like the television speed gun shows, he probably wouldn't be getting rocked so hard.

Great article.

I think that the Rangers can try to work a deal with us so they can obtain the rights to send Castro to the minors outright without having him clear waivers. But if the Rangers decide to try to send Castro to the minors and sneak him through waivers at any point during the season, he can still be claimed by other teams. I believe we are last in waiver priority so many teams could take a shot at keeping Castro on their 25-man roster for the entire season.

I think so. Ozzie loves the lefty-lefty matchup. He used Marte the same way last season and even did it with Cotts a bit before he let him face both lefties and righties. I think KW and Ozzie view Logan as our true LOOGY and Thornton as a long reliever / mop-up guy to replace Vizcaino. The problem is that even Vizcaino saw some important innings last year so Thornton likely will see a few this season as well.

YASNY posted this in the "2006 MLB Catch-All Thread": http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb...ack=1&cset=true I wouldn't mind Kevin Gregg (I'm not a big Yan fan) but the only "veteran left-handed hitting reserve player" we have is Ross Gload and I don't see us trading him now. Where's Timo when you need him?

I don't have much of a problem with Logan and/or Lopez. Both would only be used as LOOGY's and face a few lefties per outing and they actually appear to throw strikes.

Both are worthless, that is my point. I'd rather see us lose Borchard for nothing than see Thornton blow games for us. This guy may earn a roster spot just because he's out of options, no matter how bad he is. Adding Thornton could actually hurt us more than help us just by the fact that he might pitch in meaningful games as opposed to being at Charlotte and working on his control or not being on the team at all. If better relief options become available during roster cuts, I hope KW jumps on them and doesn't keep Thornton just because he is out of options. That was my whole point. This guy is so inconsistent it's scary... http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...tesox-headlines http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5436738

It's the 3/31/06 issue with A-Rod on the cover and it says, "WATCH OUT, WHITE SOX!" It's a special double issue for baseball 2006.

The third lefty pitcher Rosenthal meant to say is Jack Taschner. But you are right. I think we should give Boone Logan a shot. Afterall, a LOOGY only needs to get one or two lefties out and we will also have Javier Lopez , who looks decent, as a fallback option at Charlotte. Logan actually throws strikes which is what Marte had a lot of trouble doing last season. Like you said, we need a right-handed long/middle relief guy to replace Hermanson (well, Thornton now) more than another lefty. Also from the same article... http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5439750

The price will go down if he really wants to trade Cruz. I'm not sure I even believe that's what Beane asked for.

Go for it, KW.

I don't see our bullpen being #3 anymore with Matt Thornton and Boone Logan in it. That's the only ranking that I disagree with.