Jim Fainter

Sometimes in cases like this, when the team's Designated Negoiator succeeds only in pissing off the jock, it works best if the owner steps in and does it himself. I think that this is what JR should do.

Besides Mesa, Al Belle didn't like Omar Vizquel, either. As an aside, Omar had the reputation for being the Supreme Ladies Man in the majors for quite some time. Set some records, allegedly.

I just saw Vladdie G for the Expo's and Brad Penny of the Marlins go at it. Pretty good for ST. Vladdie did not let go of the bat, wonder what will happen to him? I think those two guys were teammates for a while. Whenever I see a player hold a bat like that, I think of that old bat fight between Juan Marichal and John Roseboro. Willie Mays actually broke it up. There have been some dandies over the years. Some of the other most memorable (remember, I'm an old guy) include some really good Sox brawls. One was where Walt Dropo got into it with Enos Slaughter of the Yankees. Pretty one-sided fight, but I remember Slaughter going back to the dugout after the fight with his shirt torn off, hat on backwards, and a bloody face. Another great Sox Yankee fight had Larry Doby of the Sox hitting Art Ditmar of the Yanks with the most perfect left hook anyone has ever seen on a baseball field. Ditmar was covering home on a wild pitch, and Larry got revenge for an earlier brush back pitch.

Pujo is probably as untradable for the Cards as Maggs is for us.

Miles in Center???????? That notion is beyond dumb.

Yes, he was a hard throwing lefty for Cleveland. Sudden Sam. I don't know how anybody could hit him when he was young and could really hum.

Sidney Ponson???????????????????? How did he get into the equation? He is not even close to being a .500 pitcher. I wouldn't trade Josh Paul for him, or anybody else on our 25 man roster (once it is established). We have to stay with Lee. This should be his year to step up.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Sandy start the season on the DL That delays the inevitable decision of Josh Paul.

Someone mentioned Robin in another post, and I had a few random thoughts about him. What was the deal with him and Manager Terry Bevington? There was some kind of incident on a team bus in which Robin caused a mini revolt or something? I wasn't living in Chi then and didn't have internet, so I never got the whole story. I didn't like what I heard, because a leader of the team shouldn't be contributing to team dissension. I have to think that one of the reasons Bevington was fired was because of his relationship with Robin. I know, there were other reasons, too. I also know the Sox were criticized for letting him go, but they offered him $7 Large per year to re-sign. Isn't that enough? Robin went on record saying he should be paid "Matt Williams like numbers", when Williams was hitting a ton. Robin was not as good as Williams in those days. I thought he was out of line and overrated. I know he had a few gold gloves with us, but I also remember one year at the end of his tenure with the Sox when he was making all kinds of errors. He certainly did not play an error free third base. I mean, he is your basic .270 or so hitter with decent power and Konerko-like speed (I am writing this without looking up his stats). He left us for the Mets, had a great year, and returned to mediocrity. They let him go. Did he have a rift with either Frank or Belle? I don't mean to be bashing Robin, because I pulled for him like crazy when he was with us, but I still think he was overrated. I sensed something about his attitude in his last few years with us. He had a terrible injury in ST one year, but that was his fault, not the team's. If he really had the bad attitude, I have trouble justifying it. Maybe I'm imagining things. If so, I will probably hear about it later in this thread. I look forward to the board's opinions.

The Twinkies will still be tough. Now their rookie Santana will get Milton's innings. He is supposed to be a dandy. The 19 or so games that we have with the Twins will be important/critical. Don't get overconfident about them. Our players better not. There's not a doubt in my military mind that the Twins think they have the better team.

I wonder if there is a chance Mario will make the team over Rios. Can they even send Rios to Charlotte if they want to? Options?

He is the second player from New York to write an autobiography and then, when criticized for its content, claim innocence because he never read it. The other idiot was Darryl Strawberry.

Rex, you sure know your s***. How would you rate him compared to Rowand? jf

How did he hit in 2001? And where?

Will someone please tell me this kid's history? I believe he missed last year, but don't know the details. Age? Does he have a chance this year? Thanks.

Ed Yan in the top 30?

To Jim Bullard: I, too, appreciate your comments and look forward to hearing more from you. Please don't take any perceived criticism of Dayen Holt or anyone else out of context. It goes without saying that we are pulling for all of you guys to do well. Anyone who wears the Sox uniform has our best wishes for success. After you have had a few days to get settled and you have seen everyone in action, I would appreciate it if you would comment on some of our position players who have caught our eye(s). Namely, Anthony Webster and Jeremy Reed, who look like terrrific prospects. Same with Holt, who, of course, is in his first season with the Sox organization, and thus has not been seen by any of us. I look forward to your comments, and good luck.

What did Holt hit last year?

I still remember the 1959 series like it was yesterday -- lots of bad decisions.

If I remember right, Joe had a decent ST last year until he broke his foot and missed almost two months. I think that really set him back last year and hurt his overall stats for 2002.

Great article on our two future stud righthanders. I wish I could find out from an insider, or even someone who just knows, whether or not ex-pitching coach Marti Contrary delayed the progress of Garland and Wright. Just what did Cooper do differently? Is it something physical or mental, or both? I don't want to use this space as a rant against Marti, but I would like to know something specific if something specific exists. Of course, in Marti's defense, he was also the Beurhle's pitching coach.

As much as I liked Ray, he was a bit of a butcher in the field, although he would make some great plays too. My memories of him in a Sox uniform will be that of a pretty good hitter, who could hit in the clutch, but, especially, he was a great, great baserunner. Not just stolen bases, but just a tremendous base runner period. Very few big leaguers could cut the corner rounding third without losing speed on the way home the way Ray could. Same going from first to third. Same scoring from third on a short sac fly. In the words of The Hawk, "I love to watch Ray run."

I know this is off the subject of this thread, which is Minnie Minoso and the Hall of Fame, but every time I see or hear of Dick Allen, I think of one of my all time favorite jock quotes: on artificial turf: "If a horse can't chew it, I don't want to play on it."

It's my experience that sluggers like Paul Konerko seem to hit their peak around age 30 or so, then level off somewhat for a few years before their hitting skills start to diminish. PK has five years in the bigs, and you can discount his first year when he didn't play much and was traded in mid-season to the Reds. Then we got him. Starting in 1999 he has had four full seasons as a full time player, and his stats have increased ever so slightly each year. He is still improving, and I think he will continue improving for the next 2-3 years until he levels off. In one of those years he will have a significant leap forward in productivity. I'm saying that this is the year for that to happen. His age is 27. If PK had a "hole" in his swing, the pitchers would have found it by now. He has already proven that he is a very good, dangerous power hitter. He has everything going for him now to have a really great offensive year as he seeks that particular skill level that will define his career, kind of like Maggs did last year. I know there are exceptions to my thinking, like Barry Bonds, who made a quantum leap in his late 30's. If PK stays healthy, you all watch, he will take that proverbial step upward in offensive productivity.

Regarding that picture above Mark Jacobsen's article, I would swear that it is a picture of Dick Allen, not Minoso. Will someone please confirm or deny.