CSF

I heard on Joe Bartosch's show last night when they said that some of Takatsu's pitches have unbelievable movement. As long as they're near the plate and nestle safely in Olivo's glove, it'll be all good.

Here's the tidbit from Newsday: LA Rejects Big Hurt New Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta scuttled the Frank Thomas-Odalis Perez deal that was in place before he was hired, telling people Thomas is "an AL player." The new idea might be to try to redo the deal, substituting Paul Konerko, though his $8-million salary is rich for the Dodgers' new pauper owner, Frank McCourt . . . There's word that Dodgers scouting director Logan White could be in trouble, odd given that "the Dodgers have the best prospects of anyone," one NL exec said ... Former Yankees exec Kim Ng has been asked to return by DePodesta.

According to Newsday, DePodesta and the Dodgers think Big Frank is only suited for the AL. Now that this has been settled (I hope), I hope Frank puts up an MVP type season and shut all the doubters and naysayers up. GO BIG FRANK! GO YOU WHITE SOX! (BTW, I heard this on the Score. I'll try to find a link. And if this has already been posted, sorry.)

Awww, CRAP! That pud is like a bad omen to Sox prospects. (of course, JM's constant tinkering and mismanagment didn't help either. )

With people like Mariotti being the primary voice of one of the largest newspapers in the country, I'm not so sure of that. Frank could give Ozzie a big hug and be the 1st in line for the shuttle drill, and some reporters would try to put a negative spin on it. The offseason is the players time. Let them have it. This is an issue that should be brought up when the players report, not days, weeks, months before.

Frank Thomas seems to have a beef at every spring training Frank Thomas seems to have a beef at every spring training February 22, 2004 By Greg Couch Staff Reporter Advertisement ÒThat's poor, Frank." — Jerry Manuel, after Frank Thomas produced a doctor's note excusing him from participating in a drill. ÒI'm not even probably in the top 50. I do have a problem with that. You can't have A-Rod making $25 million and we're coming in at $7, $8, $9 million." — Frank Thomas, on his $10 million salary. ÒHe had no clue what was going on. If he had put 12 years in and won a few MVPs and done a lot better on this field, he would have wanted an explanation, too." — Frank Thomas, reacting to Paul Konerko's criticism of him in 2002. One year, Frank Thomas brought a note from his doctor giving him permission to skip a conditioning drill because of an owie on his toe. Remember? One year, he blew off his new general manager's inaugural address to the team and walked out of practices for six days, complaining that his $10 million-a-year salary was an insult: "What's fair is fair,'' he said at the time. And one year, last year, he ripped one of his own teammates and said the way he was being treated was a "slap in the face.'' What's it going to be this time, Frank? Thomas is expected to join the Sox in workouts on Wednesday, and it has become a rite of spring training to watch the Big Hurt have a big spat. It has happened three of the last four years. What could be the problem this year? "You don't run the bases, you're done with me.'' That's what Ozzie Guillen said when he became the Sox' manager this offseason. It was a direct shot at Thomas, who some people felt needed a good kick in the pants. Play my way or don't play. The team hasn't heard from Thomas since. They can't even get him to return their calls. "Knowing Frank and knowing Ozzie, they both really want to win,'' said Jeff Torborg, who managed Thomas and Guillen for the Sox, and also hired Guillen as a coach in Montreal and then in Florida. "In their own way, both are very proud competitors. "When they get the uniform on together, hopefully they will be on the same page. It'll work out fine. But, of course, I don't know for sure.'' Torborg is an optimist. But what did he mean, exactly, when he said Guillen and Thomas do things in their own way? It seems that Guillen's way is to talk, talk, talk, sometimes slipping up. And Thomas' way is to listen, listen, listen, quickly taking offense. When they were teammates, Guillen often poked at Thomas, making jokes at a guy who takes everything seriously. And personally. "Nobody escapes Ozzie's barbs,'' Torborg said. "But if people take him real seriously, he recognizes that. That White Sox clubhouse will have energy.'' The year of the doctor's note was 2000. Thomas arrived saying he had had reconstructive toe surgery. During the previous season, Thomas had been ridiculed for being felled seemingly easily for a sore toe. And even manager-at-the-time Jerry Manuel had taken shots. Spring of 2000 was to be fresh and new, and then the team was running a shuttle drill. And Thomas produced The Note. "That's poor, Frank,'' Manuel said. It led to a two-hour screamfest between the two. "That's a bunch of [deleted], and it had better stop,'' one of them, reportedly Thomas, was heard to yell. "I'm not having it.'' When it was over, they shook hands, and Thomas apologized to his teammates and told them to come to him when they need help or advice. He said he wasn't a "me-first guy'' and promised to be a team leader. "We hashed that [toegate] and other things over,'' Thomas said. "Now it's time to move on.'' Frank had learned? "Is it an issue because he didn't come? Yeah, he made it an issue because of not staying for the workout and [not] clarifying to everyone what his motivation is behind not coming.'' That's what Sox general manager Kenny Williams said in spring of 2001 when Thomas arrived but didn't stick around for Williams' little speech or for the first workout. Thomas said that Manuel had given him permission to leave. But a six-day walkout turned out apparently to be about Thomas' puny $10 million salary. Other salaries around the league had skyrocketed, pushing him into a comparative poorhouse. "I'm not even probably in the top 50,'' he said. "I do have a problem with that. You can't have A-Rod making $25 million and we're coming in at $7, $8, $9 million.'' Thomas wanted his contract renegotiated, with less money deferred. He also was upset over the clause that allowed the Sox to cut his pay to as little as $250,000, with $10.1 million deferred, if Thomas' performance dwindled. It became known as the diminished-skills clause. Thomas' agents, Mike Moye and former pitcher Scott Sanderson, advised against the walkout. But Thomas walked, and then his agents dumped him. The odd spring out was 2002. Thomas arrived and was asked about his troubles with former teammate David Wells. This is what Thomas said: "Let bygones be bygones.'' What? "It's over.'' What? Had things gone right for the Sox in the final few weeks of the 2003 season, he might have even been the MVP. But that doesn't mean there wasn't a spring blowup. His salary had been cut to $5 million under the diminished-skills clause. And he was still fuming over harsh words from teammate Paul Konerko over Thomas' reaction to being benched just before the 2002 All-Star Game. "He had no clue what was going on,'' Thomas said. "If he had put 12 years in and won a few MVPs and done a lot better on this field, he would have wanted an explanation, too.'' Once again, Thomas started off the Sox' year in form. "I've done things that people have never done before,'' he said, talking about his salary cut. "For me to be in the middle of the pack on salary on my own team, yeah, that's a slap in the face. I've earned the right to be at a certain level ... I've been slapped down a little, but I'm used to that.'' Does Thomas carry a grudge over the entire offseason? Or does pressure just build as a new season approaches? Whatever, for Thomas, the result is usually the same: a smack back at a perceived insult. You don't run the bases, you're done with me? See you Wednesday, Frank. I expect this type of sludge from Kotex Boy, but I thought Greg Couch was a better writer than to write garbage like that. It's like they're hoping Frank and Ozzie try to kill each other.

No kidding. Didn't he wait until the last week of ST to give the starting nod to Buerhle?

Wow, that sucks. I was hoping that Corwin could put all the pieces together this year. I do hope that he can come back and have a good ML career, but his prospect days are probably gone too. It's the Pawtucket Gammons curse! Everytime he says a prospect on the Sox is gonna break out, they always struggle. He did it with Garland, Malone, & Borchard. Somebody hit him with a lead pipe if he mentions Reed or Honel.

260 lbs is still pretty big for a pitcher. But it's better than 310. Maybe if he makes the club, he'll slim down some more.

I knew Mussina went to Stanford, but I thought he was from California.

Why do I hate Mariotti? I'll leave it to one reason (otherwise I could type until next week): He goes out of his way to villify Frank Thomas, all while going out of his way to kiss Sammy Sosa's ass. Big Blurt? Big Skirt? Baby Huey? And I bet you if he ever came across Frank face to face, he'd wet his pants.

I was misquoted.

Swieca also said that most of the Sox position players are already in Tucson. Time to get that bonding time in. :

Swieca asked Wunsch along with Koch being in shape if he had his 5 mph back on his heater? Wunsch said he wasn't sure.

Not much more on the interview with Wunsch, but he did say that the players should be more loose under Ozzie. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Wunsch said Carlos Castillo has slimmed down, and that Koch is in great shape.

Did he recover from that clot he suffered due to that line drive? If so, is he 100%? Can he compete for a rotation spot? Has he fallen off the face of the earth?

I'm hoping for positive optimism from him. Something, anything over this Cubbie koolaid they're serving.

I think with Rowand being 100% healthy and NO Soxfest/mid season trades as a distraction, he can have a great year. He was in the tank early last year, I think as a result of that injury to his scapel still lingering. He'll be alot better this year.

From Chicagosports.com: Recalling when the Sox had a 'sure thing' By Bob Vanderberg Tribune staff reporter February 18, 2004, 8:48 PM CST A Chicago baseball team, coming off a glorious but just-a-bit-shy-of-marvelous season, heads into new year with grand expectations. The fan base is energized as never before, the players are equally optimistic. Everything is positive. And then, on top of everything, to a starting rotation already brimming with brilliance, the team adds a pitcher closing in on his 300th victory and a plaque in Cooperstown. Where have we heard this one before? We turn back the clock a mere 20 years, to 1984, the season after the White Sox had (a) become the first Chicago baseball team to top 2 million in home attendance, (B) collected a major-league-high 99 victories and © won the AL West by a record 20 games. Alas, the Sox had lost their magic—or, more correctly, misplaced their bats—during the ALCS defeat at the hands of the Orioles, the eventual World Series champs. But they had shored up their weakest spot, the bullpen, by trading aging starter Jerry Koosman to the Phillies for reliever Ron Reed. Youngsters like Harold Baines, Ron Kittle, Scott Fletcher and Greg Walker were only going to get better. The flashy second baseman, Julio Cruz, acquired the previous June, was going to be around the entire season. And the veteran core of Carlton Fisk, Greg Luzinski and Tom Paciorek was primed for a repeat. But perhaps the biggest reason for optimism throughout Soxdom—a land much bigger then than it is today—was the starting pitching. The leader was Cy Young Award winner LaMarr Hoyt, 24-10 the season before and just 29. There was 28-year-old lefty Floyd Bannister, 16-10 with a 3.35 ERA in his first year with the Sox, who had made the former AL strikeout king the biggest free-agent signee of the previous off-season. (Imagine that.) Then there were the "kids"—25-year-olds Richard Dotson and Britt Burns. Dotson had gone 22-7 in '83, Burns 10-11. But Burns had won 15, 10 and 13 games the previous three years. Then, to this array of talent, the Sox added Tom Seaver, plucked from the New York Mets to make up for the Sox's loss of free-agent pitcher Dennis Lamp to the Blue Jays. Seaver, who had just turned 39, had won 273 games and still had plenty of good pitching left in his right arm. Not only that, there was all that pitching insight he would be able to pass along to Dotson and Burns and even Bannister and Hoyt. So the 1984 White Sox were a sure thing, right? Well, not exactly. The Sox started slowly—they were no-hit by Detroit's Jack Morris on the opening homestand—before rallying with a seven-game winning streak to reach the All-Star break at 44-40, good enough for first place in a weak division. Thereafter, they went 30-44 to finish fifth in a seven-team division whose champion, Kansas City, won 84 games. Seaver was blameless, going 15-11. But Hoyt fell all the way to 13-18 (and a 4.47 earned-run average); Bannister's ERA rose to 4.83, Burns' to 5.00 (to go with a 4-12 record). As for the hitters, Luzinski dropped from 32 homers to 13, and Fisk (.231) and Cruz (.222) struggled through injury-ravaged seasons. Kittle hit .215, Paciorek fell from .307 to .256 and Rudy Law from .283 to .251. So much for a sure thing. Tribune sports copy editor Bob Vanderberg has written several books about the White Sox.

So who was the mole?

You mean the same Mike Adamle that normally spends 2 1/2 minutes doing Cub highlights and less than 15 seconds on Sox ones? Yeah, I think I know who you're talking about.

OMIGOD!!!!! All of the local channels (2, 5, 7) led off their newscasts with MADDUX! YOU'VE GOT TO BE FRIGGIN' KIDDING ME! Oh s***, I'm about to be sick again! :puke

I don't know. How about who the Bears are going to cut or sign via FA. Who the Bulls will trade by the deadline. Whether the Blackhawks will fade into oblivion, whether the Illini can overtake the Badgers for 1st place in the Big 10, whether the sky is blue............ANYTHING BUT THIS CUBS KOOLAID TALK! :puke

Sportscenter just quoted that next to the Red Sox, no team has been cursed with more bad luck than the Scrubbies. Attaboy, ESPN, keep the myth going for them and sell more tickets for the Beer Garden. We've waited 87 years, but let's remember: We don't count.