Jim Fainter

Somebody at SoxFest should take Kenny aside and tell him to get after this one.

RE: Klayton. And we paid about $10 Million for him in salary. How do you spell outnegotiate. Anybody know who we gave up for the Homewrecker? Not that it matters.

Now, Beltran is a guy I would consider to be ready for the "break out season." Probably one of the most overused terms in baseball media, but it fits here. I think he would love Chicago, and he would look great next to Maggs. Gotta be late night wishful thinking on my part.

Is this guy available? Or were those other posts about him wishful thinking? I haven't heard anything even remotely semi-official coming from Kansas City.

TO: Cerbaho-WG: Please translate.....Stay away from AA??

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but..............................didn't Frank start hitting about the time Clayton was released?

Good for him, and goodfor the Sox. Let's roll.

Loiaza has not been an effective pitcher for quite a while. I have no idea why we signed him. I hardly think that he is putting any fear into the hearts of the Twinkies. I don't think he could even make our AAA team, with all the good young pitchers we have in the minors. Makes no sense. Maybe he is trade bait to the Brewers or the Royals.

Why did the Rangers sign him with those great third base prospects they have?

He played well in 2000. He was awful in 2001. Plus, when they brought Valentine in from Center Field (now that was a joke), there was no room at the inn for Herb. Plus, his arm was awful in 2001.

Yes.

Does anyone know the length of Kenny's contract?

1. Why would the Sox want to renegotiate Frank's contract? Frank won't give up anything more. 2. What is this old rumor about Frank having been pursued by the Dodgers? I never heard it the first time around. Must have happened before I saw this web site. 3. Did Frank ever sell his house? 4. Did Frank's divorce ever become final?

DoubleM, you are right about errors being useless stats. Official Scorers have got to be the most incompetent group of quasi professionals anywhere this side of Afghanistan. But there is no way it will ever be solved, short of assassinations. Not calling errors inflates both fielding averages and ERA's. Since the media types who get these assignments either can't or won't make the calls correctly, each team should hire its own guy to do it unofficially, and do it right, and publish the results. For example, if the bases are loaded with two outs, and the pitcher gets the hitter to pop up in short left, and the bozo out there loses the ball in the sun because his glasses are on top of his hat, and three runs score, all charged to the pitcher because the scorer gave the guy a double, ...I think you get my point. And how often does a hitter get credit for a hit when he bounces a hard two hopper right to the shortstop because it was too hot to handle?? for a major league shortstop? My opinions have nothing to do with my loyalty to the Sox. I have vented.

Salt Lake was not an affiliate of the Twins--maybe the Angels, not sure.

I'd rather go with Rauch than somebody like Finley. Rauch should be ready to live up to his promise. He needs to pitch.

Carlos has the worst throwing mechanics I have seen in a long time. My high school coach would have corrected him, but for some reason major league coaches don't seem to bother. Things like that don't show up in stats. But one thing I like about him, is that he seems to be able to hit the really good pitchers. I have no stats to back me up, it's just something I seem to have noticed. I really think he will improve this year at the plate; if he doesn't, then we will know his level of skill, which is about .275 or so, 25, 75. I think he will increase it a notch or two this year, and I would like to see him bat in the three hole instead of Big Frank. With Maggs and PK right behind him, he might get more fastballs to hit, and Lee is a good fastball hitter, whereas Frank has a disturbing tendency to pop up fastballs to the right side. Plus, Carlos is a much better base runner that Frank. JM, give it some thought, please.

If a new general manager descended from the heavens, the first thing he would do would be to have a face to face with MB and fix it.

Yeah, but I was talking about Howry. Ray had the big salary that was not going to be renewed. As much as I disagree with the Durham trade, I can at least see some logic to it. But Howry????? and now we have the line drive maker, Ricky White.

My sister and girlfriend were talking the other day, and they agreed that players should take BP topless. Trouble is, neither one of them remembers Smokey Burgess or Ron Northey, probably the two greatest pinch hitters in Sox history, and they were both built like Jerry Krause.

Last July or so, KW got rid of some of our vets, who, in his perception, didn't have a future with the Sox, so he showed them the door -- Durham, Lofton, Alomar, Howry, Clayton. Now there were issues that could be discussed ad nauseum, and they have, like did we get enough for Ray? or why did we insist on paying all of their salaries?? etc. But I could still see a strain of logic behind the maneuvers. Except for Howry. He wasn't drastically overpaid, he was a decent set up guy, he was still fairly young, he had come off shoulder surgery and was fully recovered, he threw hard, we didn't get a whole lot for him. And now we pick up 34 year old Rick White, the creator of line drives? I don't get it. If we call up Boston and offer to trade White even up for Howry, they would laugh at us. Someone out there in Sox Land, please enlighten me.

Cruz is holding out for $4 Large?????????? What is his agent drinking? Please Kenny, don't fall into this trap. I would rather see Frank Thomas in Center before we pay that underachiever that kind of money. We would be better off with Borchord in Center, even if he is not ready and hits only .200. Same with Harris. And speaking of Centerfielders, has Aaron Rowand ever been given an IQ test? I mean, he has what, 2 years experience in the bigs with minimum success but a fair amount of promise? And he has virtually been handed the starting job in Center with a legitimate contender?? This is a hell of a career opportunity for him. And then he rides dirt bikes in Nevada in the off season instead of working out??? How dumb can you get????? Youth is no excuse for that kind of professional stupidity. If Big Frank really wants to be a leader, the first thing he should do when he arrives in ST is to beat the s*** out of Rowand, just on general principals.

If we need Baldwin, maybe we can trade anyone named Barry or Berry for him. And ask KC to pick up his salary.

If he can't spell his own name correctly, then I don't want him. Same with the new third sacker for the Bosox, Bill Miller.

Rick White got absolutely tatooed last year with the Colorado Rockies. He was throwing line drives all over the place, so they cut him, and the Rockies were absolutely desperate for bullpen help. He would have made Ritchie look good. We have all these promising pitchers in the minors, so we should give them a chance to win the job. The staff ERA just went up.