Jim Fainter

The Rangers signed Clayton to that contract. When it had two more years to run, the Rangers signed A-Rod, so they didn't need Clayton, and they put him on the trading block. KW obliged them, did them a big time favor, by taking Clayton and his contract off their hands. The Rangers had no leverage, and KW just aimed to please. I never understood that trade, notwithstanding Clayton's defensive abilities. The economics of the trade made no sense to the Sox. It's like we paid 20 % of A-Rods salary for two years.

247: My understanding of the waiver rule is that the team claiming him off waivers need only to pay the minimum. The balance is owed by the team that held his contract (Sox). Pls correct me if I'm wrong.

Negative.

Rick White is supposed to be a professional pitcher. A professional long to middle relief guy. That's his career m.o. WTF difference does it make if he comes in during the third inning or the fifth or the seventh. If the manager hands you the ball, just go out and do your best. And that reference to a couple of our key guys who were overextended is nonsense. That happens when you have a 13 inning game that you're trying your damndest to win. We should trade him to the Cardinals.

We'll probably see him this week.

Any trade that we make we get out-negotiated. It's axiomatic. I hope we stay with the currrent team, unless some no brainer falls in our lap.

To Royce Clayton fans, and I know there are legions of them out there, has the distinction of having the lowest BA in the majors for the month of July (.143). Who was it that paid him $4-5 MM per year for two years in 2001-2002?

WhiteSox 247, if we cut him, we pay him.

Koch has proven beyond any doubt that he is not a good pitcher anymore. If that trade doesn't get made, we are easily in first place. No question. Now, Cotts might come through next year and beyond, but for this year the trade is a disaster. As an accomplished second guesser, I can't help going back to Koch's performance at the end of 2002 and wonder if the Sox did their necessary due dilligence in checking out Koch and then giving him a fat, two year contract. We basically are playing with a 24 man roster.

I think the Sox should have a clubhouse meeting, and Big Frank should pinch off White's head.

The allegation that Dusty did not like Bonds was news to me. Kent was old news.

Skip Bayless of the San Jose Mercury News just wrote a dandy column on Dusty. He really hammered him, calling him a "Clubhouse Wrecker" among other things. The column was essentially pro Bonds and anti Baker/Kent.

Outlandish salaries like that make arbitration a joke.

I have a comment about the possibility of using Ginter as a starter. I remember a game way back in 1950. There was a rookie pitcher for the Phillies who was strictly a relief pitcher. His name was Jim Konstanty. The Phillies won the pennant that year (they were called the Whiz Kids, and they had Richie Ashburn, Curt Simmons, Puddin Head Jones, Granny Hamner, Andy Seminick, among others). They had to win a one game playoff vs the Dodgers to win the pennant. Ashburn threw out cal Abrams at the plate to end the playoff game. Konstanty had a great year, and I believe he was rookie of the year. Anyway, he was their best pitcher, so in game one of the World Series against the Yankees, the Phillies surprised everyone by starting Konstanty. He pitched his heart out and lost 1-0. Joe Dimaggio had a big hit as I vaguely recall. I still remember listening to that game on the family radio (no TV yet). It can be done.

Ibazna (sp?). He kill us.

You know, I love that name for some reason. 2-3 days ago Ron Dibble listed three well known pitchers who never throw inside. One was Bartolo. Bart had his second super outing in a row today, and the highlights on BBTN showed 5-6 K's, all on the outside corner. I didn't see the game, obviously. Was he throwing inside at all? Tks.

No. Yes.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Because last year he played very well after we traded Lofton. He has a strong minor league resume of playing everyday. He's a damn good ballplayer, who got into a terrible slump for 2-3 months, which may have been caused by that off season accident. Then he started to hit, and we got Carl. I would much rather see him get the playing time than either Lee or Konerko. Also, he might very well be a starter next year, regardless. No one knows where Carl or Carlos will be in 2004. Right now, Rowand is better than those other guys, plus he is probably the second fastest player on the team. Aaron will be a starter in the big leagues, hopefully for us.

I take all the credit for Frank's resurgance. Some time last May, I believe, Frank's average bottomed out at around .220. Of course, the whole team except for Loaiza was playing for s***. So I got my calculator out and figured out many at bats Frank needed to get below the Mendoza line. It was something like 12 more hitless AB's were needed to do that. So I created a post to that effect, and he immediately started hitting.

Rauch is struggling at AAA. We would just be giving him an opportunity to fail. Wright can still get one more start in Charlotte before we need him.

Remember, there are only about 4 more starts from the 5 hole. But still, we don't want to lose them all, either.

Huff comes to bat with two out, men on second and third, first open, and White, who is struggling big time, starts pitching to Huff, and Hawk and DJ could not believe it and said so. So Huff gets a solid hit, a double I think, breaks the game open, and the rest is history. Later in the game Hawk expressed himself again. Huff, of course, hits lefty, so even if JM doesn't want to walk Huff, he could at least bring in Wunsch. I personally think it is against JM's religion to bring Wunsch into the game that early.

I wonder if there is any way they can get some benefit from not being able to sign Delmon Young. I know they can't trade the pick or trade any signee for a year. You would think there is some loophole in there somewhere.

Kudos to Hawk for telling it like it is regarding JM's decision to pitch to Huff. And he said it before the event, it was NOT a second guess. Then he twisted the knife a bit later.