Friend of Nordhagen

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Nov 17, 2006 -> 12:36 PM) He'll also miss at least 20 games. And hit 8 homers in each of those.

I watched Aardsma a few times last year. He was up with the Cubs early in the year, couldn't get the ball over the plate, and was terrible. He came back up later, had better control, and was pretty effective. Somebody quoted Sickels earlier saying he was throwing 88-92 before last year. Not last year. In the games I saw, he threw a lot harder than that, more like mid to upper 90's. And that's taking into account screwed up guns; hitters had a lot of trouble getting on top of his high fastballs. Lots of swinging strikes. If he gets it over, he's certainly better than Riske, maybe a lot better. But that's the big "if." As for Cotts, I'm disappointed to see him go. And I think he'll be quite effective for the Cubs.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 12, 2006 -> 04:32 PM) $20M - $25M? No way was he going to be offered a contract like that. At the most he'd get a 6 year deal but most realistically he'd recieve 5 years. So that would be $18M - $19M a year for Aramis Ramirez? Um no. Yep, here's the paradox with Aramis Ramirez. He'll put up the numbers -- and big hits -- that reflect being worth $15 or $16 million, but ONLY as long as he's surrounded by other good hitters who are raking. Which, of course, demonstrates that he's not worth $15 or $16 million. The better the players around him, the harder he plays and the better he looks. That's the definition of a frontrunner. And that's what Aramis is.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 31, 2006 -> 10:53 AM) Everyone on here keeps calling him a dog, etc. But the guy flat out has great stats. Even with his lazy attitude, he will produce over 100 RBI's for you. He's the Vince Carter of baseball -- total and complete frontrunner, whose effort is directly affected by how well his team his doing.

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ Oct 2, 2006 -> 11:34 AM) The difference here, though, is that Fields appears to be ready-nothing to be gained by not playing him now and keeping someone that will not be here very long. With the age of our star players, working in young players one at a time is essential. We have one ready to play. Is Fields really ready, though? Could be, but I didn't see a guy who looked ready -- yet. The good: Seemed to handle himself pretty well at 3rd, especially for a guy who's relatively inexperienced. Has some pop. Appeared to have pretty good strike zone recognition, again especially for a pretty inexperienced player. Had a good season at AAA, much better than in lower minors, which might demonstrate an impressive learning curve. The bad: Seemed totally overmatched by fairly pedestrian fastballs, with a long swing. We've seen this movie before. So, I'm not sure what we have there. He's no doubt talented, but I question whether he's ready right now.

Lifeless team.

QUOTE(SinkingShip06 @ Sep 16, 2006 -> 12:12 AM) Trade Thome. he carried us for a stretch but the sooner we get rid of him the better. to me he seems like his decline won't be steady. it'll be a big drop off Thome's hurt. He's been hurt for months. The problem is he's 36, so you can't expect he'll be injury-free in the future. But the guy has been sucking it up for months. He's Jim Thome, but dude can't turn on a fastball. That's all you need to know.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Sep 14, 2006 -> 09:17 PM) Who said that? He's definately an upgrade, but he's not worth the price. Early Spring training continues in Cleveland. Extremely tight-butted and silly people at another White Sox fan web-site.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 13, 2006 -> 03:20 PM) He gone. I know this will come as a surprise, but Juan Uribe struck out a changeup low and away.

They're still complaining about Iguchi not getting to 3rd. Dye strikes out on yet another off-speed pitch.

Iguchi doubles to right. Ball rolls around in the RF corner. Hawk and DJ are all over him for jogging into second and not getting to 3rd.

Ozuna nearly beats out a bunt, Alomar to second. Ozuna's activity level is about 300 times higher than Podslownik.

Twins lose.

We have the dumbest hitters in baseball.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 13, 2006 -> 12:56 AM) Would anyone here actually be happy at that development? I know I sure wouldn't. At least we'd hopefully get something decent for Anderson. Like, Better than Vazquez decent. I don't know about next year, but I'll say one thing: I'd take Pierre in left and batting leadoff RIGHT NOW. But given our present situation, I guess that's not saying much.

The one solace I can take right now is that our starters are pitching great ball. In fact, if they'd pitched like this since even August 15th, we'd be looking down at the Tigers. If Mike McD and Bobby are healthy, I still think we'll hang around. If not, we've got a problem. It would be a lot easier if Podsednik could play well. It makes our offense totally different. By the way, Ronge just reacted with shock when a caller suggested that MacD was hurt. He thinks going with Hermanson was a good move. I now have to get back to the planet Earth.

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Sep 13, 2006 -> 12:26 AM) And 2-3 years from now, you might add Teahen, Gordon, Butler, Hochevar to that list. And Lumsden.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 13, 2006 -> 12:25 AM) The disappointing thing to me was just to see Gload's hustle on his double....and how we don't see that from our core players. I made the comment that we need more Pablo in extra innings. I think I'd rather see Gload and Pablo bat in extra innings than Thome and PK. Same thing I felt last week watching Sweeney in Boston -- just that shot of energy from a guy who doesn't ordinarily play. It's something to see.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 13, 2006 -> 12:19 AM) The Twins will win the World Series this year. They have the perfect combination of 2 dominant starters, a sick bullpen, excellent defense and a good enough offense fueled by lefty thump and good average situational hitters. I'll be curious to see what the arrival of Liriano does for them. He's great -- really great. But the fact is, they've gotten the pitching even without him. And sometimes when a team tells itself to keep playing until someone returns, they don't play quite as well when that guy gets back. It happened time and again with the Cubs and Prior in 2004 and 2005. They'd play reasonably well without him, saying "and just wait until he gets back" and then actually play worse when he arrived. I mean, it is the Cubs, but still . . . something to think about.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 13, 2006 -> 12:17 AM) I beg the Sox management that if we get mathematically eliminated, please shut down our 5 starters and Jenks, MacDougal, and Thornton. We should let Haeger pitch every remaining inning of the season, just to see if a knuckleballer can really do it.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 13, 2006 -> 12:06 AM) Juan Pierre I'd take him in left. Dude plays hard.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 13, 2006 -> 12:04 AM) No, that was the next day's game. The game he was terrible in RF was Loaiza against Zambrano. Gload hit a slam in the 1st inning, but it was overturned. The Cubs swept us that series. And the series at the Cell. In the Friday game, he misplayed at least one ball in RF.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 12, 2006 -> 11:59 PM) Realistically, what are the odds to win this game. Not only do we have to hold them here, we somehow have to take the lead, then come out for another half inning, with either Jenks in his 3rd inning, or Riske-Cotts-Mac-Haeger-Tracey.... Forgot Boone. Don't forget Boone.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 12, 2006 -> 11:59 PM) What the hell was Pods thinking when he stopped running on the SB attempt? Is his mind really that out of it? Hey, Dick, I got the impression you were watching the game WHEN THIS HAPPENED. That means you're still thinking about this, 2 hours later. Watching Podsednik play baseball can do that to a person.

QUOTE(Maverick0984 @ Sep 12, 2006 -> 11:58 PM) we can't keep holding them, we just can't I guess you haven't heard of Boone Logan.