WCSox

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 10, 2008 -> 10:54 AM) Sandy Alomar Jr. had the exact same surgery Crede had when he played for Cleveland. I think he had the surgery in 1998 or 1999, and he played for a while after that with no back problems. And I imagine that a catcher would be more susceptible to back problems than most other position-players. Interesting.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Apr 10, 2008 -> 09:26 AM) While that is a very popular characterization, I think we underestimate our interest in elections and what is happening. And it is meeting people here that has changed my perception. Lots of people care, but you seriously can't spend the same time caring about elections as you do on entertainment. Agreed, but there are still waaay too many people who choose to not educate themselves on issues/candidates, or even vote for that matter. Keep in mind that most of the people who post here are intelligent, educated, and actually care about the future of their country/local communities. While I'm not necessarily saying that people here are the exception to the rule, there are way too many people in our country who don't have these characteristics. Anyway, I don't want to hijack this thread with politics...

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 10, 2008 -> 09:08 AM) I tend to agree with you but I also think Jackie Robinson had an impact on the nation as a whole, even for those not concerned with the game. It was a watershed moment in our history whereas Ruth's elevation of the game of baseball was just that...a baseball-related phenomena. No, it wasn't. Babe Ruth was a larger-than-life, inspirational figure who essentially DEFINED America back then. During WWII, the Japanese would yell, "F**k Babe Ruth!" at our troops. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 10, 2008 -> 09:08 AM) How many people hold rememberences on Pearl Harbor Day? We as a country do ourselves such a disservice by not understanding where we came from, and avoiding those same pitfalls. Because we're a bunch of idiots who care more about watching American Idol than voting in our elections.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Apr 10, 2008 -> 08:45 AM) As I was reading your post, I'm wondering if perhaps we are in a period of some people forgetting and needing to remember? Many of the people involved are dead, and many more will be over the next few years. I could see at some point in the future where Robinson is relegated to a smaller remembrance each year. This is about a human need, and just like 9/11 Vigils have gotten smaller and smaller, so too are ones to people like Ruth. Reading some of the responses, I believe some people think we are already there. Just an incomplete thought and another log on the fire . . . And speaking of African-American athletes who fought through excessive racism, how about Jesse Owens performing in front of Hitler and then getting screwed over by his own country...

QUOTE (max power @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 03:19 PM) When you celebrate lincoln you celebrate him because he was a good president, not because he was a good white president. Its not the same. Lincoln's birthday is "celebrated"? That's news to me. Sadly, I'm still going to work on Washington's birthday as well. I'm all for everybody wearing #42 on their jerseys or on a patch or whatever to honor Robinson. He was a phenomenal human being who fought through bigotry and hatred in about as classy a way as humanly possible. And he deserves to be honored not just for changing the game with his courage, but for being a heck of a player as well. But if we're going to honor people for having incredible and positive impact on the game, I think it's only fair that MLB honors Babe Ruth in the same way. Baseball arguably never would have emerged from the ashes of the organized crime scandals of the early 1900s to become the "National Pastime" without him.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 01:32 PM) Well, Lincecum has been mentioned, Harden has been mentioned. It's really a case of how the season develops though. You have to see who is in contention, who is not in contention... Taking a quick look though, some teams that may need a 3b now or in the future include: Anaheim, Baltimore, Cleveland, Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle, Texas, Toronto, Atlanta, Florida, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. Despite Sabean being a moron, I doubt that he'd deal Lincecum for Fields. And while I'm sure that Beane would love to deal Harden for a player who isn't made of glass, I wouldn't want to give up my future 3B for him (unless Crede has inked an extension).

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 12:22 PM) Oh, I couldn't agree more. Not even sure I would want Oswalt.... I'm talking putting a package together for a young pitcher. Assuming you deal Fields, you have to account for the money you are spending if you are keeping Crede around, which makes getting a pre-arb player fairly important. So, do you have any particular young pitcher in mind? IF the Sox can come to terms with Crede before the deadline, I might be willing to take a risk on a high-priced dinosaur like Smoltz.

QUOTE (wsgdf_2 @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 12:47 PM) Yep... a really good pitcher to add to the rotation to try to make a playoff run. Not saying it's going to happen, but IF the Sox are in it AND Crede is playing well... QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 01:04 PM) Yeah, this is not lost on me. But what if we are 3 games up on Cleveland on July 28th and our sp is struggling a bit? If a team wants to dump salary (like, say, the Astros want to unload Oswalt), I'd have no problem dealing Fields and some middle-tier prospects. But I don't want some old, injury-prone guy (Pedro, Kenny Rogers) who may or may not be healthy in October.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 11:46 AM) I just think Fields is sort of a redundant player for us at this stage. We don't really need a player with huge power right now, and while that may not be the case two years from now, if we're going to try and win this division now, I think it's best to use the assets we have to supplement the team's needs now- not in 2 years. Given Thome's fragile health and Dye's age, I'd say that having a cheap Plan B slugger is a pretty big asset. What happens if the Sox are in first place in the last week of September and Thome pulls a hammy or ribcage muscle? And I foresee the Sox saving $10 million by buying out Thome's contract next year, so that opens up a roster spot. I'm sure that Fields could competently play a corner outfield position, and that would allow Dye to move to DH. Plus, the core of their team (Paulie, Thome, Dye, Crede, Cabrera, Buehrle, Javy, AJ) are either past their prime or nearing the end of it. While winning now is important, they desperately need to get younger and have very little in their farm system at this moment. In that situation, you don't want to trade away cheap, major-league-ready talent with significant upside unless you're getting something really special in return. If I were KW, I'd stand pat with this squad as long as they're playing relatively well.

QUOTE (SoxWS05 @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 10:50 AM) You may be a Sox fan but deep down inside you were hoping Crede would fail, so your man-crush Fields could come up. I can't believe you said it would be moronic to trade Fields for Harden or Lincecum! These players are easily double the value of Fields. I expected to be called a moron for even suggesting Fields is worth the value of Lincecum or Harden. Harden would be an injury risk, but he's dominant. Lincecum is just plain filthy. If we got either we would be contenders for real. Guess what? The Sox have money and no one player is going to "suck payroll flexibility" as you put it. YOU think before you post son. QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 11:00 AM) But simply because Fields is our best young hitter doesn't mean it would be moronic to deal him. If Joe can be signed to what both parties deem as fair, then Josh can be dealt to fulfill a different need. Sure, he COULD be dealt. But from what I've seen so far, I'd rather stick Fields in LF or RF and keep his bat in the lineup if they re-sign Crede. While Fields isn't some untouchable super-stud or anything, it's going to take a pretty good player - or a VERY nice package of prospects - to get KW to trade away a cheap, young player with Fields' skill set.

Didn't the '97 Cubs start 0-14 or something? I remember Mark Grace on Leno and I think this had a lot to do with it, as Jay was teasing him about it. Anyway, what's bad for the Tigers is good for the Sox. I thought that the Central would be competitive this year, but nothing like '06.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 08:55 AM) Hopefully, in a couple more weeks, Mr. Danks will make you regret this statement. I wouldn't be surprised. After seeing what he did early last season, I'm pretty high on Danks. But this is what really concerns me... QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 9, 2008 -> 09:13 AM) I think he will, but Contreras won't.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 07:55 PM) Yeah I agree. As long as their winning I could care less. +1 If they continue to play well, the entire dugout can look like a ZZ Top look-alike contest for all I care.

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Apr 7, 2008 -> 12:04 PM) I can imagine that his entire season will be like this. Either he is on and inducing GBs or not and getting hammered - no in between. Exactly. But as much as I like Cabrera in the #2 slot and Uribe at 2nd, I'd rather have Jon occupy then #3 spot than Danks or Contreras.

Given what a bunch of asstards Red Sox/Patriots Nation can be, it was nice to see them finally get off this guy's back.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 04:05 PM) True...for fans like us. But for kids who are coming up with the game, they will be curious. And those are the peole we should be thinking of.... If those kids watch baseball on television, they'll hear plenty about Jackie Robinson. I'm all for players wearing a patch that day and/or teams honoring him before the game, but asking everybody to wear #42 is a bit silly, IMO.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 04:28 PM) Fields hasn't proven he can play anything other than 3b. Just about anybody athletic enough and with a strong enough arm to play 3B can play LF or RF. Certainly, Fields would be as competent defensively in LF as Pods or Carlos Lee. But he would need time to adjust to a corner OF position. Crede and Fields are the only two people in the Sox organization who are ready to start at 3B in the majors. If you deal the latter for something else of need, you'd darn well better get a good 3B in return or be able to pay what Boras demands for his client. Fields should be an every-day player by next year. And it doesn't matter to me whether it's 3B or elsewhere. He brings a lot to the table and I don't want to see him in no-man's-land like Anderson.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 03:14 PM) You guys are talking about losing Cabrera, Uribe, and Crede after this year, and then Thome and Dye the year after that I think that they buy out Thome's option next year. Fields can play 3B and both corner OF positions, and can hit the crap out of the ball. I agree with what you're saying overall, but I don't deal Fields unless somebody can offer a pre-arb guy with a lot more upside. Unless the Nats want to give us Lastings Milledge or something, I don't see Fields being dealt in a lateral move.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 02:23 PM) So now we're going to move a guy who hits 35-40 homers a year for Joe Crede? I'm not going to make this into a debate, so this is the last I'll say on it in this thread, but I think that's a terrible idea. All things being equal, I'd take a 20-30 HR 3B with Gold Glove-caliber defense in his prime over an slugging RF in his mid-30's. That said, things are not equal, as Dye will only be owed about $20 million after this season. It'd cost about $60-$75 million or so in guaranteed money to sign Crede.

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 04:53 AM) Someone I know argues that the Bears would've won more than one Super Bowl in the Eighties if they had a "real coach" like Parcells or Walsh or Gibbs. Possibly, but it would've helped even more if the Bears had enough talent in the front office and on the offensive side of the ball to overcome McMahon's injuries. That '86 Bears could've easily won a SB if they had a halfway decent passing game. I'm also not sure that Walsh would've won without Seifert's defenses, and Parcells never won another ring after parting ways with Belichick. QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 06:52 AM) Ditka does not deserve the extreme reverence that many still display. I agree with that in general. But much of that has to do with (1) the excessive importance of the Bears to Chicago and (2) Ditka's very Chicago-ish, blue-collar attitude. It's not that he was a great coach, but that he happened to coach an insanely important team to a championship and that he has an attitude that most of the city loves. I like Ozzie well enough. He's a decent guy who effectively motivates players and manages his games well enough. Outside of throwing his players under the bus publicly, he does a fine job. That said, I've always thought that baseball managers affect the outcomes of games a heck of a lot less than football head coaches.

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 10:19 AM) I say we let fields hit in the minors for this season. Then sign crede long term, trade dye and bring in the crede 3b and fields and quentin corner outfielders era. I don't think that you let Dye go at his very reasonable salary. The odd man out should be Thome (IIRC, they can buy out his last year) and Dye could be moved to DH. Crede here for the long-term would be an interesting prospect, but I don't see JR/KW ponying up the money. Crede would likely cost over $60 million. And probably a lot more than that.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 8, 2008 -> 07:12 AM) Amazing how energy returns when you've got 3 solid MLB outfielders playing everyday instead of 2 who should be out of baseball. It's also amazing how energy returns when you have competent starting pitching, a strong bullpen, a lineup that scores runs, and your confidence is restored after ripping off five in a row. Historically, slow starts have decimated the Sox. It looks like they're on track to get back to '05/'06 this year.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Apr 7, 2008 -> 03:55 PM) Even more sad, I'm thinking all this does is make it easier to trade him and get good value. That's true. However, I don't see Joe going anywhere if the Sox are still in first place (or close) in July.

QUOTE (Shadows @ Apr 7, 2008 -> 03:37 PM) Ok, well good job Joe keep it up Doesn't change the fact that Fields shouldn't be in AAA right now.. +1 As impressed as I've been with Quentin, Fields should've gotten more reps in LF and a chance to start there. No way. You don't deal a cheap player that you'll need at 3B next year that has Fields' power.

Holy moly, I'm picking the absolute worst times to work today.