Harry Chappas

I agree that one trade was terrible but in the grand scheme of things I like our team better now than if we had Wells and Fogg. We would have no room for Loiaza and he is our best pitcher right now. This makes up for those two and I still think Wells is not an AL pitcher.

That is what my feeling on the deal is. Escobar is a spot starter and playoff set-up man then the closer next year. You posted Valentine's numbers yesterday and the WHIP leads me to believe he is not quite the closer he appeared to be. The J.D. Drew to Oakland makes sense but I think they (St. Louis) would want Lidle as well. Maybe I am overestimating the skills of Drew but Escobar is not that impressive.

I am just excited that win or loss I will watch them tonight and tomorrow. All bets are off if we play like s*** though regarding my attendance this weekend.

I think the team benefitted from that trade in the long run because we picked up Colon and Loiaza both guys we probably wouldn't have wanted because we would be relying on Fogg and Wells in their spots. Our rotation of Buerhle, Wells, Garland, Wright and Fogg is no where near what we currently have so in this regard I like the Ritchie trade.

It was in the Times and Trib and Mariotti talked about it in the early Times edition again today. The Late Sports Addition of the Times had an article from him on the cub acquisition both were actually good to bad they deleted one in exchange for Telander's stuff.

As long as he can judge wheather a ball will be in play or in the stands, I'll take him over most.

If he can learn to play the outfield he may be good but I go back to the cub running Grace out of town three years ago and Choi still not getting playing time there. They hype guys in this town like theya re all the next Ryne Sandberg, Juan Cruz was the best case of this. No maybe Kyle Farnsworth or Kevin Foster.

The PTBNL in this deal is from a list of four, kind of like what Texas got. Hendry would not speak as to names but I would think they are top flight (Cruz, Guzman, Kelton,etc.) They have time to choose and with Guzman being injured this may be what they are waiting for. There may also be a clause as to how Loften and Ramirez perform. Pit will not take Lee has he is going to arbitration. They will also not pay any salary. Hendry stated the cub are on the hook for the full amount of this deal. The Sox best bet would be to give Borchard and Rauch for these two and then try to deal Kendall and take on some of his salary. Remember Ordonez can be a Free agent after next season. The Sox biggest problem is they have a-lot to offer (Olivo, Crede, Reed, Borchard, ) tha others do not. The cub have a nice hype (not farm) system but do you think any team really wants David Kelton? See Hee Sop Choi, Bobby Hill, and Juan Cruz.

Last eve they were kissing the Twins ass then the Twins lost the lead and they went to a piece on a .250 hitting shortstop for the Mets. I just shook my head and turned it off.

Hawk was seen in New York yesterday afternoon doing a rain dance, it worked.

Lilly sucks, Billy got jobbed on this trade. Escobar isn't very good either. Here is their closer after Foulke is gone. I guess they are giving up on Joe Valentine??????

What is our attendance since this team started playing better, Giants series? I hope the series against the Royals is meaningful in a couple of weeks we may have huge crowds, then the A's come to town.

Is this true if so, we are really starting to draw great.

Who had rings on Arizona the previous year. That is a stupid article. The cub is better becasue Alou has a ring I guess.

Sounded like JM was going to hit him, it was classic.

Makes me want to go Sunday if this could happen.

If they are not going to use Koch we need to get some help because Gordon and Marte are not going to be able to be the only guys we trust in the pen. Right now Glover, Koch and Sanders only come in in games we are losing. This is not good but we at least beat teams we should've.

There is something unsettling about this as Marte comes in. 5-2; 2 outs in 8th.

I really wish I was out there, what a nice day, damn work. Sounds like a good game with Colon throwing one pitch, fastballs, for strikes.

The wave started because the game was pretty boring in that the Sox had maybe one baserunner or two after the third inning. After they crushed the ball in the first three it appeared they lost interest. The players in the dugout were cheering with the wave. I think to some extent it shows interest and is like the whistling at Hawk games, a way to tell the players to get going.

I posted about the same thing in the 'opportunities' thread. The 8th inning at-bats of Ordonez and Everett were atrocious, this team thinks they can snap their fingers and just win a game. The number of at-bats that we give up (thomas three, Lee two, and Ordonez,) guys that look like they just want to go sit back down is mind numbing. We easily could have split with the Tigers and were not very impressive last eve.

The eigth inning of last nights game to me said it all. Not to be overly negative but if not for a base running blunder the Tribe could've taken the lead. Then in the bottom of the inning the at-bats of Ordonez and Everett were pathetic. They looked like they wanted to get out of there (2 K's on ALL strikes that were not even close.) Then Lee, well that looked like a guy on the take. The difference between the Twins and Royals and the Sox are that the other two play to win, we playing assuming we are entitled to win just by showing up. Where was Alomar on that pop-up to right? I agree we can gain ground but not sure we should look past the Tribe today.

JM should move him to fourth in the line-up then. All of the things that made him a much better player than sosa are now gone, yipee here comes the 100 K's, 40 walks and ???HR, this does not excite me. We should bring Canseco back and see who can get to 500 first. If last night was the first of the revised Frnak approach, trade him now, he looked like a fool.

Rick White looked better, not trying to start something here and agree with Gordon looking good but he, Marte and White are making Kock look like an afterthought. Now if Glover could get a shot we could have a good pen.

This board is a sounding place for our thoughts and impressions. Obviously they are in line with the organization on this topic. Nobody here was able to trade Jimenez we just pointed out what somehow the team thought as well. Now if only they will realize Thomas should be playing first.