CSF

QUOTE(SuperSteve @ Mar 26, 2005 -> 02:10 AM) Zito... Damn you, SuperSteve!

"Deeply gifted"?

Herges goes on penance drive March 25, 2005 BY DOUG PADILLA Staff Reporter SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- While White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski continues to do maintenance on his damaged reputation, one member of his former team still seeks penance. Pierzynski was not part of the traveling squad Thursday for the Sox' game against the San Francisco Giants, but his presence still was felt. At least two of Pierzynski's teammates with the Giants last season ripped him anonymously in a now-infamous Oakland Tribune article, saying he was selfish and put his own numbers above all else. Those teammates later were revealed to be pitchers Matt Herges and Brett Tomko, both of whom remain with the Giants. While Tomko was working out Thursday and unavailable for comment, Herges expressed deep regret for making the issue a public matter in the early May article. "What happened was, it was a conversation with a person and it was just ... I was wrong,'' Herges said Thursday. "I entertained a conversation with someone that was negative about a teammate. Above all, I wish I could have taken it back. "It happened, and the second I heard [the article was printed], I went straight to the field. I even went early and I walked straight in the door and I said, 'I want you to know what I said. You can hit me in the face if you want, and I'll take it.' It's something I take pride in, being a good teammate.'' Whether a teammate is good or bad, the cardinal rule is never to bash him publicly. Herges crossed that line and now is willing to pay the price. "Let's put it this way, A.J. can say anything he wants to now,'' Herges said. "He has that right.'' To that extent, Herges is fine with Pierzynski's actions earlier this spring when he offered any Sox teammate $100 to hit a home run off Tomko in a game in Tucson. Joe Borchard delivered with a shot to right field, and even though Pierzynski was not playing that day, he made sure to leave a crisp $100 bill in Borchard's locker before he left. Tomko, though, apparently has not offered Pierzynski free rein for revenge and was less than thrilled with the $100 bounty. "Once an ass, always an ass,'' Tomko told a San Francisco reporter after learning of Pierzynski's actions. Whether he was the victim of inappropriate bashing from his former teammates or the criticism was deserved, the entire incident has made Pierzynski introspective. Last year was Pierzynski's first away from the Minnesota Twins, and the assimilation process did not go well. This year he vows it will be different. "I definitely made some adjustments from what I did last year, and it's been a little more open-minded here,'' Pierzynski said earlier this week. "They have been a lot more with open arms, and I appreciate that. You never want to have to move around a bunch, but it's part of the game now and guys do it all the time, so you have to find a way to get it done.'' Herges said there were no lingering hard feelings after Pierzynski was bashed in the article, but the catcher's contract was not renewed at the end of the season and the Sox obtained him for more than $1 million less than his 2004 contract. "It was one of those things that where, although I'll feel bad for it the rest of my life, he didn't show me any more ill will the rest of the year,'' Herges said. "I even shook his hand and gave him a semi-hug at the end of the year. I think he understood how bad I felt about it, how I wished it never occurred. It's probably the low point of my career, no question about it.''

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 25, 2005 -> 09:59 PM) He's been wearing #74 all spring like Heads said, FWIW He should stick with #74. Seriously, I just read the Buerhle article in the Phil Rogers thread, and he mentioned that Buerhle was assigned #56 in ST in 2000, yet decided to keep the number. At least we would know that BMac would stand out from the rest.

What amazes me is how Buerhle has never won less than 14 games since his rookie year, yet has only 1 All-Star appearance to his credit. Guess everybody else can see the talent with the exception of Joe Torre.

6 innings, no runs, no hits, no walks, 7 strikeouts. I'd say Buerhle's ready to go.

He reminds me a little bit of Tony G. What he lacks in power, he may make up for in speed. Plus, he's solid in the field.

DAMN YOU SHINGO! You broke up the no-no.

64-63 final. KU's goin' home.

800 posts in this thread. Yikes.

Great pic of Old Comiskey, Rooftop. To answer your question, Hawk is signed thru 2008, DJ 2006, Rooney and Farmer's are up this year.

Cubs examine Plan B Acknowledge Wood may miss opener; Dempster an option By Paul Sullivan Tribune staff reporter March 13, 2005, 9:17 PM CST TEMPE, Ariz. -- Ryan Dempster will fill in for Kerry Wood in Monday's start against the White Sox and may join the rotation if Wood is not ready by the April 4 season opener. "We've talked about possibilities, rearranging things possibly if [Wood] is not ready at that time," manager Dusty Baker said. Baker said it's too soon to predict whether Wood's shoulder bursitis would sideline him for more than one start, but the Cubs for the first time are addressing the possibility Wood won't be ready in three weeks. Baker conceded Sunday the Cubs have a "Plan B" in place. "I just hope we don't go to [Plans] C and D," he said. "I'm always considering a Plan B. Circumstances change. That's the name of the game: adjust and re-adjust." If Dempster were to take Wood's spot, that would pare the three-man closer's race to a two-man competition between Joe Borowski and LaTroy Hawkins. Wood is scheduled to play long toss on Monday at HoHoKam Park and may begin throwing off a mound on Tuesday if his shoulder feels OK. While Wood maintains the injury is minor and the decision to fly to Chicago for an examination was purely precautionary, the Cactus League schedule leaves him with only three possible starts to get ready for the season if he misses only Monday's start. That wouldn't give him much of an opportunity to build his arm strength to go six or seven innings at the start of the regular season. It's hard to know exactly what Wood is thinking because he rarely changes his demeanor, even when he's hurting. "That's why he's a good gambler," Baker said. Wood tried to rush back from a triceps injury last year and wound up sitting out two months. Do the Cubs have to be more cautious this time, knowing he'll want to be out there for Opening Day? "He was honest enough the other day when he said he felt something," Baker said. "He'll tell us. We know we've got a long way to go. He's much more mature than he was before. We have a long, long way to go. We just want to get it right as soon as possible, without rushing things. I know it's contradictory." The Cubs always have the option of throwing Wood in simulated games to make sure his shoulder is OK rather than risk using him in Cactus League games. But Baker didn't appear interested in going that route. "The thing about simulated games is you don't have the same intensity," Baker said. "I don't care how hard you try, you don't get the same adrenaline rush in a simulated game. But we've got to see how he does on flat ground first." Glendon Rusch remains the wild card in the picture. The Cubs need a second left-hander in the bullpen to go along with Mike Remlinger, and no one has stood out in the games thus far. Rusch could be one of the five starters, but he also may be the second lefty in the pen, with Sergio Mitre as the potential fifth starter. Rookie Angel Guzman, the team's top pitching prospect, would be "Plan E" at this point. The Cubs don't want to put undue stress on Guzman's shoulder. He made only 11 starts last year, and the Cubs will likely start him out at Triple-A Iowa. Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune Uh-oh........

Fields' day not too distant Sox hope third-base prospect has rapid rise like fellow Oklahoma State product Ventura By Bob Foltman Tribune staff reporter March 10, 2005, 10:52 PM CST TUCSON, Ariz. -- Manager Ozzie Guillen and general manager Ken Williams were sitting in a golf cart watching some of their prospects take infield practice. Judging from their reaction, they may have been watching the future left side of the White Sox infield. Guillen said he loved watching shortstop Pedro Lopez and third baseman Josh Fields take ground balls and it's possible, in the not-too-distant future, both of them, along with Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney, could be the building blocks of the Sox's next generation. In the case of Fields, Williams said fans may wonder why the Sox don't bring their first-round pick in last June's draft to Chicago right away. All that is heady stuff for Fields, who still has a "do I belong here?" look. "I'm a younger guy and all the game experience and everything that these guys have, I lack that," Fields said. "I'm just trying to talk to them and hang around them and learn." The Sox are hoping Fields turns out to be like another first-round pick from Oklahoma State—Robin Ventura. The similarities are there. Both are 6 feet 1 inch, with Fields being slightly heavier at 215 pounds to Ventura's 198. Both were high draft choices—Ventura the 10th pick in the 1988 draft, Fields the 18th pick. It took Ventura just two years to become the regular third baseman, playing 150 games in the 1990 season at age 22. After spending his first year of professional baseball at Class-A Winston-Salem, Fields, 22, is expected to begin this season in Double-A Birmingham. In 66 games last season, Fields hit .285 with seven home runs and 39 RBIs. Baseball America rates him as the best power hitter in the organization and the club's fourth-best prospect. "Fields is going to be a great player," Guillen said Thursday before the Sox's 7-2 victory over Texas in Surprise, Ariz. "He's going to have to work a little bit more on his defense. He's still raw. He's a baby on the baseball field. He has a tremendous opportunity to be on the baseball field pretty soon." Fields hit into an inning-ending double play Thursday and is batting .250 (3-for-12) in seven games. Third base long had been a wasteland in the Sox infield before the drafting of Ventura. The Sox even tried Williams, a converted outfielder, at third in 1988 and Carlos Martinez in 1989 before Ventura took the clear opening for a rapid rise. Joe Crede is the incumbent now, but his inconsistency may crack the door for Fields if he has a strong season in Birmingham. Crede being arbitration eligible in 2006 with Sox nemesis Scott Boras as his agent doesn't hurt Fields' chance for a quick promotion either. Fields was a standout quarterback at Oklahoma State, which is fitting for a Sox team that also can hold its own in a flag football tournament. Fields threw for more than 5,500 yards with 52 touchdowns in two seasons as the Cowboys' quarterback. He threw for seven touchdowns against SMU in 2003 and six against Kansas in 2002. But for Fields, the decision to pursue baseball and pass up his senior year of football was an easy one. "My dad was a pitcher in college and a high school baseball coach, so I was always around it and liked it," Fields said. "You get a better feeling being in the clubhouse and out on the field in baseball. In football, everything is tense." Fields used his football scholarship to pay for his schooling and admitted the football staff wasn't thrilled with his desire to play baseball as well. They didn't make things easy on him in his freshman season. "At first I think they thought I would see how hard it was [to play two sports] and drop one of them," Fields said. "I've never quit anything and I think it showed them something when I stuck it out." Fields said his first two years were grueling. He would play a baseball game in the afternoon, then attend football practices and meetings in the evenings—not to mention those pesky college classes as well. "All that was stressful," Fields said. The football coaches let up on Fields a bit after his sophomore season and there was a point where Fields was told by scouts and his coaches that he might be able to make the NFL "That entered my mind, [but] I knew where my first love was and that was the baseball field," Fields said. "No matter how much success you have in one sport, you have to go with what you like doing and this is it." If Fields turns out like the last third baseman they took from Oklahoma State, Sox fans will be very happy he chose his first love. Tribune staff reporter Mark Gonzales contributed to this report. Copyright © 2005, The Chicago Tribune

You're gonna try to explain to a group of people who still believe a goat is cursing them the reasons why Frank is HOF-worthy? Good luck with that.

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30737

Cubs send Wood back to Chicago The Associated Press March 10, 2005, 2:01 PM CST PEORIA, Ariz. -- The Cubs flew Kerry Wood to Chicago on Thursday to have his right shoulder looked at by a team doctor. Wood left Arizona one day after leaving a spring game in Mesa before the third inning of a 6-5 loss to Texas. He said he had tightness in his pitching shoulder. Wood had a magnetic resonance imaging test before he left, manager Dusty Baker told reporters before the Cubs' exhibition game with Seattle on Thursday afternoon. The team doctor was going to look at the MRI and make a diagnosis, Baker said. "He's such a valuable commodity," Baker said of Wood, 27, who missed two months last season because of tendinitis in his right triceps. He missed the entire 1999 season after undergoing ligament replacement elbow surgery. "After what happened last year, this is just precautionary," Baker said. "It was just a matter of him going back and seeing our team doctor. Right now, it's nothing. We just decided to do this for a precautionary sake." Baker said Wood, scheduled to be the Cubs' opening day starter, might have to miss a spring turn. "He possibly might miss one start," the manager said. He applauded his ace pitcher for coming out of Wednesday's game. "You don't want to take a chance," Baker said. "I'm glad he is mature enough to stop when he felt that tightness. In the past, he might have kept trying to pitch. You just got to be safe at this point." Baker said Wood would be back in Mesa on Friday. Last season, Wood had an 8-9 record with a 3.72 ERA in 22 starts and 140 1-3 innings. He struck out 144 and walked 51. The Cubs gave right-hander Mark Prior his first spring start on Thursday. Prior, expected to be Chicago's No. 2 starter this season, had an injury-filled season in 2004, going 6-4 with a 4.02 ERA in 21 starts. He was scheduled to pitch three innings. Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press Ruh-roh.

Speaking of pre/post game hosts, have they chosen one yet for Comcast Sportsnet? I'm guessing they'll either go with Kerry Sayers or William Jackson. I see Gail Fischer probably doing Cubs pre/post.

Link I'm not gonna post the entire article. Read it as you wish, but one paragraph once again has me :headshake at Capt. Clueless: 'kay. I remember Frank mentioning his ankle injury and the grapefruit comment, but if memory serves me correct, I think I also saw this: Just once, I'd like to see him report the truth instead of his usual garbage.

FWIW, last year when Baseball Tonight had one of their Winter Meeting specials before the start of the 2004 year, Phillips had the Sox as his least improved team. Looks like some things never change. Whatever.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Mar 7, 2005 -> 04:56 PM) SoxFan1-Do you have a source on the Bears drafting Benson if available? In his latest mock draft, Kiper has the Bears taking Benson as well.

QUOTE(Spod=Ratings @ Mar 3, 2005 -> 03:57 PM) :banghead Panthers signed mike wahle..pack are really gonna miss him And they're about to lose Marco Rivera to the Cowboys.

They probably want a group of the accused, plus those who aren't invited. Hence, Frank & Schilling.

Just saw this on Sportscenter. They've also invited Schilling, Sosa, McGwire, Canseco, Giambi, & Palmeiro. Take it FWIW.

Unless Green forsees Bryant Johnson emerging at the other WR spot, I don't see why he would look at this trade.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 3, 2005 -> 03:36 PM) What's everybody's favorite song from the sound track? I got three: 1.) Hot Hot Heat - You Owe Me An IOU 2.) The Zutons - Pressure Point 3.) Louis XIV - Finding Out True Love Is Blind Everytime I hear "Pressure Point", I think of that Levis commercial with the girl running from the dog trying to retrieve the jeans she's wearing. Ultimately, the dog wins.