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Honestly, I think this is going to be the Jack McDowell saga all over again, except this time, playing the role of Jerry Reinsdorf: Kenny Williams. Buerhle is an excellent pitcher, & I know about 30 some odd teams that would take him in a heartbeat. Let's get him signed so he can continue throwing on the South Side!

Hey everybody. On Chicagosports.com, Phil Rogers wrote a great article on the Sox, at the time they traded for Bartolo Colon. Some of you may have already read it, but for those that didn't, here you go: Sox's trade a Twins killing -------------------- Phil Rogers January 16, 2003 Whoosh. That was the sound of wide-eyed hope being sucked out of the Metrodome late Wednesday morning. We humbly submit the Minnesota Twins should have taken better advantage of the chance to host playoff games last October. That's because 2002 probably will be as good as it gets for a determined bunch of overachievers who deserve better than they'll get from owner Carl Pohlad. There won't be a second chance, not with Bartolo Colon's size-14 spikes shattering Cinderella's slipper. "Man," says Montreal general manager Omar Minaya, the guy who traded Colon. "He's a difference-maker. This guy's a horse. ... Put him right up there with the top five guys in the game." By acquiring such a force without giving up anyone more than significant than setup man Antonio Osuna, White Sox GM Ken Williams tipped the balance of power in the American League Central toward Chicago. He didn't want to admit it. But facts are facts. Barring major injuries, the Sox have assembled a base of talent that is more likely to run away with the Central than finish behind Minnesota for the third consecutive year. If manager Jerry Manuel can't reach the playoffs with a rotation of Colon, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Dan Wright, it will be time for a change at the top. That's nothing against Manuel. He has done solid work. But 90-plus victories and a title should be the mandate given a lineup loaded with thunder and a potentially devastating bullpen that should get major contributions from newcomers Billy Koch, Tom Gordon, whose signing is pending only a physical, and Arnaldo Munoz. "We're very excited," Williams said after announcing the three-team deal with Montreal and the Yankees, which the Tribune reported Wednesday morning. "I can't tell you how excited we are. [but] we have a lot of work to do to catch a good team." Minnesota is blessed with a good manager in Ron Gardenhire and players who rose to the occasion when faced with the possible elimination of their franchise. But the standings didn't tell the whole story last season. The Twins were hardly 131/2 games better than the White Sox. Manuel's team should have won more than 81 games; it scored 58 more runs than it allowed. Gardenhire's team should not have won 94 games; it scored only 56 more runs than it allowed. Part of that comes from the Twins being among baseball's most fundamentally sound teams and the Sox being among the poorest at catching the ball and running the bases. But the reality is that 2002 was simply Minnesota's year, just as 2000 belonged to the White Sox. That young Sox team couldn't handle the altitude. Will the Twins be able to handle it? Doubtful. You just don't duplicate what happened beneath the Metrodome's Teflon roof last summer. And while the national view is that Pohlad's expanded commitment has allowed GM Terry Ryan to keep the team intact, that overlooks the jettisoning of David Ortiz, who was third on the team in run-production stats--for comparison's sake, imagine the Sox without Frank Thomas--and setup man Mike Jackson. With the cost of hanging on to veterans driving the Minnesota payroll up from $40 million to about $50 million, Ryan has added only infielder Chris Gomez. Hard to see that providing the size XXXL emotional lift Sox players will get from seeing Colon throwing 98-m.p.h. fastballs every five days. While teams like Texas and the Sox have tried for years to slug their way to greatness, nothing wins like pitching. You'll hear a lot about the 39 games that Colon and Buehrle won last year--only Arizona, Oakland and Boston have tandems that won more in 2002--but the Sox's strength goes beyond this potent 1-2 punch. In Colon, Buehrle, Wright and Garland, the Sox have four starters who threw 190-plus innings while making at least 30 starts last season. The other four teams in the Central have only one such creature--Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia. Because of injuries, Minnesota's trio of Brad Radke, Eric Milton and Joe Mays all went the wrong way in 2002. Since the middle of last season, Kansas City's Paul Byrd and Jeff Suppan and Detroit's Jeff Weaver and Mark Redman have left the division. No, there are no certainties in baseball, and it wouldn't be interesting if there were. But considering that the White Sox outscored the rest of the Central in 2002 and since have turned their pitching staff into a strength, they should be heavy favorites. Don't confuse the Colon trade with the David Wells and Todd Ritchie flops. This one is totally different. Hoping to upgrade with Wells, Williams gave up Mike Sirotka. In a similar move for Ritchie, he gave up Kip Wells and the underappreciated Josh Fogg. But because a harsh financial climate persuaded Minaya to buy into the promise of Rocky Biddle and Jeff Liefer, who was replaced almost instantly by Armando Rios, another upgrade, the Sox were able to get a 20-game winner without dealing a rotation member or even top prospects. Hard to believe. While Minaya will be besieged by critics wondering why he couldn't get more for Colon, Yankees GM Brian Cashman and Williams will sleep peacefully. Cashman not only moved a spare part in Orlando Hernandez but filled a void with Osuna, who should be the same kind of force in New York as predecessors Ramiro Mendoza and Jeff Nelson. Williams strengthened both ends of the White Sox's rotation. It was a little thin in 2002 but now has only one vacancy. The Sears Tower, otherwise known as Jon Rauch, should fit perfectly. Last seen, Rauch was keeping the Minnesota lineup quiet in two late-season starts. From top to bottom, the Sox have an entire rotation capable of doing that regularly in 2003. Copyright © 2003, The Chicago Tribune While I definitely won't take Minnesota lightly, I do love our chances this year. Go Pale Hose!!! This is our year!!!

I was ecstatic when they acquired Colon, finally giving us that addtl starting pitcher to help compete in the AL Central. But when the Sox take the field against KC on opening day, I'm giving the ball to Buerhle to kick off the season. The way I see it, in 2001, he was slated as the #5 starter, & 16 wins later, moved up to the top of the rotation. In 2002, he showed that 2001 wasn't a fluke by winning 19 games, (and could've had 20 if he hadn't ran out of gas in the 8th inning vs the Twins). I also feel putting that extra pressure on Colon could do more harm than good. The 2001 David Wells trade gives me this feeling. The rotation should be the following: #1 Mark Buerhle #2 Bartolo Colon #3 Jon Garland #4 Danny Wright #5 Jon Rauch/Gary Glover The top two guys should get us into the 7th inning, the next 2 at least into the 6th inning, & #5 to the 5th inning. The less pressure put on the starters, the better the result should be.

If the season were to start tomorrow, everything fell into place for the Sox, how many wins do you think they would have at the end of the season? Call it unrealistic, or even stupid if you may, but I'm going to say 104. Feel free to disagree. This is just my opinion.

OMG, how sad. No person should have to live in those type of conditions, & to have his livelihood taken away from him, that's just wrong. The Cubs organization should be ashamed of themselves. The really sad thing, though, is the Cubs might not be the only organization that does this, just maybe the first one to get exposed.

Didn't see it from that perspective, but that is true. If Rowand can put up those type of numbers, opposing pitching staffs would have absolutely NOTHING to pitch around. Rowand is definitely a player that needs to have a major impact for us to take it all!

A classic no-hit, no-field type of player.

I have been critical of KW in the past, but this trade for Colon, I tip my hat to him. Unlike last year's fiasco of a trade, he didn't give up a bunch of prospects. Liefer wanted out of town, the trade for Koch put the writing on the wall to Osuna that his closing days were over, & Biddle just seemed to be hit/miss all the time. To get a quality pitcher like Colon, even if just for one season, showed commitment on KW's part to help bring a winner to the Windy City. No prospects (except Lantigua) were mortgaged for this trade. And another thing, if Cashman's sole intent was to keep Colon out of Boston, so be it. In the end, Cashman & the Yankees will be sorry when they have to face the Sox in the ALCS, & watch as Colon stomps all over them. And finally, if Pudge Rodriguez is still available, take him. Again, like Colon, if just for one year, you'll solidfy the entire diamond, & all question marks just might be answered.

The real question is: How is he defensively. We haven't really had a good defensive SS since Ozzie left town.

Average Right Fielders: Vlad Guerrero Sammy Sosa Larry Walker Shawn Green Ichiro Average Center Fielders: Jim Edmonds Andruw Jones Bernie Williams Darin Erstad Steve Finley Johnny Damon Yeah, Torii might be a better CF than those guys, but look at the different RF Mags has to be compared to? Outside of Edmonds & Jones, (both NL guys), who else is really dominant in CF? Mags #s rank with the best in the league, & look at the caliber of players in that category. Mags over Torii, hands down.

Over on the main Bears message board Chicago Bears Message Board the argument has been who the Bears should draft. Some want them to use the #4 pick to either draft Carson Palmer or Byron Leftwich. Others want the Bears to focus on defense, like Jimmy Kennedy or Terrell Suggs. What do you think the Bears need to do?

Shaq got a good chunk of his pts when Yao was on the bench, & he was being guarded by Kelvin Cato. Really, only in OT did Shaq start to dominate Ming. But the true story of that game was Stevie Franchise. The matchup of him vs. Kobe was exciting to watch.

If he didn't mind coming out of the 'pen, I'd have no problem if we re-signed him. You can never have enough leftys in the pen.

I agree with you Heather on Frank Thomas. He needs to have a monster year to shut up all the critics (especially Jay Mariotti of the Sun Times, I hate that f***ing jerk). I read that he's working with Walt Hriniak again, & remember the last time he did that was the 2000 campaign where he should've won his 3rd MVP award (but also understand why they gave it to Giambi). Truth be told, last year his #'s weren't bad, except for one glaring stat: he had more K's than BB's. He has to get back to 110-130 BB per year, & cut those K's down to 75 or less. I think if he does that, the BA will be back around .325/.350, the runs will increase, & I'm definitely not worried about his power numbers. They'll definitely come around.

Take it for what it's worth, but Peter Gammons of ESPN.com wrote that Carlos Lee should have a monster campaign this year.

Naturally, everybody's going to have a different opinion on who that player is. One player might be Frank Thomas, who needs to have a strong year to help solidfy our batting order. Another could be Bartolo Colon, to live up to all the hype that has been given him. Or, Billy Koch, as he should have something to prove after helping the A's to an early exit vs the hated Twins. But, in my honest opinion, the player that has to succeed for the Sox to see the playoffs, & possibly the World Series has to be Jon Garland. When we traded Matt Karchner a few years back to get him, just about every analyst raved about him. And until last year, the hype had went unfulfilled (remember, he was almost traded to the Angels for Erstad, until it fell through at the last minute). Last year, he showed glimpses and stretches of dominance. This year, practically fully entrenched as a starter, he has to really be able to step it up this year whether out of the 3/4 slot. Buerhle & Colon should get their wins, but Garland himself will need to produce this year should the Sox want to get to the World Series. If he can produce 15-17 wins, we should have a strong shot at the playoffs over the Twins. What does everybody else think?

Torii over Mags??? Not likely, dude. Magglio is by far the most underrated player in the game today. The media can continue their lovefest with Slammin' Sammy across town. The rest of us, though, know who the best RF in the game is.

all he needs to add is "It's time ...to come ready to play" check it out now.

Honestly, I don't think so. I have this feeling, he, along with many of his teammates had career years. Taking nothing away from his defensive skills (in 2001, of those losses to the Twins, he was responsible for more than half of them), but he faded down the stretch offensively. Now, of course, I could be wrong, but I just don't see him duplicating those numbers again.

Obviously, the guy's got some talent. But with Valentin set to play SS, & the Sox high on D'Angelo Jimenez at 2B, where do we put Harris? I think if Rowand struggles in center, I'd rather see Borchard out there due to the defense and his throwing arm. But I sure as hell don't want to give up on Willie Harris. He could be a valuable commodity to this franchise. Should he wait a year, then take over 2B in 2004 & move to Jimenez to SS. Should he be a super sub (ala Graffanino). And can he play any other position besides 2B & CF? What does everybody think?

Ask the Lakers how confident they were after Sacramento's beatdown of the Mavs 123-94 on 1/15/02. I knew they had to have watched that game. The Lakers don't want to go into Arco Arena, cause they know they'll get the living s*** beat out of them by the Kings. The Kings are firing on all cylinders, & will win the NBA Championship. The Lakers better pray they don't draw the 7 or 8 seed, cause they'll have positively, NO CHANCE IN HELL!

Optimistic, aren't we?

He's not fat. He's big boned!!!

If there was one good thing that came out of the David Wells fiasco, it was that he was enough of an influence on Mark Buerhle that help Buerhle become a better pitcher. If Colon could do the same with Danny Wright, you could be looking at two 200K pitchers on staff. Awesome, f***ING AWESOME!!!

Hey, as long as he can follow that scouting report, & deliver 18-20 wins, I don't care how much he weighs. It'll be all good buddy.