iamshack

I don't really know how much of this is true, but I do know this: 1) Omar Minaya loves Javier Vasquez as much as anyone in baseball, even Kenny Williams. 2) The Mets have no closer and no bullpen; the reason the Mets didn't make the playoffs last season was because of this. If you do not fix your mistakes as an executive in NY, you lose your job. The White Sox are reportedly willing to move Jenks. 3) The Mets need outfielders. The White Sox are reportedly willing to move Jermaine Dye. 4) The White Sox won the AL Central Division last season. It seems odd that they would unload three important pieces for a package of prospects after winning the AL Central Division. 5) The Mets have a few valuable commodities, such as David Wright, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana and Carlos Beltran. Wright is the fan favorite, Santana just signed a bajillion dollar contract, Beltran is aging, makes $18 million per season, and is on a team that already is short OF's. Which one of these kids just doesn't belong? Clearly, I am not saying the Mets would trade Reyes for that package. Just saying...

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 11, 2008 -> 03:31 PM) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA H AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH A HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA H AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I wish. Yeah, I think you exaggerated your point a bit, but I get it....he is basically my favorite player in baseball...let me dream... "On the other side of that page," who do the Mets have that might be worth those three players, Steve? Other than obviously Wright and Santana, who aren't going anywhere? And I don't consider Beltran worth that package, btw.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Nov 11, 2008 -> 02:01 PM) If you got a solid package for Jenks and Dye, then acquired Willy T and Street, for spare parts, this could be a pretty solid start to the off-season. You get some young blood into the organization with the Jenks-Dye trade, while also clearing some payroll, along with getting a solid, young arm for the pen in Street, while also adding the speed element everyone is so crazy for(Not a Willy T fan, but it seems like it's going to happen.) I would love to have Fernando Martinez in this system. I just don't see Kenny trading some core pieces like that for unproven talent. If he were to move three pieces like Dye, Jenks, and Vasquez, it's going to be for some major league ready players. Reyes?

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Nov 11, 2008 -> 11:36 AM) That's a bummer, but thanks. Looks like a gotta go to Cuba! I think he is saying even in Cuba, the jersey is no longer sold because Alexei defected, which obviously is not very well looked-upon by the powers that be...

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 9, 2008 -> 03:13 PM) Then you would have been against trading Marte after 2003. You would have been against trading Shingo in 2004. Obviously, no one here is saying give him away. If you can get a lot for him, it should be considered for a guy with all his red flags who pitches 65 innings a year. If 2 years from now he gets eight figures, $10,000,000 for 65 innings is over $150k/per inning. Didn't we trade Marte for reasons that were not related to his performance on the field, to be more specific, he showed up late a few times and Ozzie did not get along with him? We didn't exactly get much for him in Rob Mackowiak.... And Shingo...well, as much as I didn't expect him to so quickly become terrible, he was incapable of throwing a fastball in the high eighties and his success was solely based on one pitch. It certainly wasn't unforseeable that he would become ineffective once hitters learned to look at the pitch. Of course, he did seem to forget rather suddenly how to get any other pitch in the zone... The point is that Shingo and Marte are not particularly analogous to the Jenks situation and thus not really good examples. That being said, it's clear that Kenny understands the trends that occur around him in the industry and is quite capable of understanding what happens when closers start reaching the stratosphere in terms of salary. Not that any of us know for certain, but I would guess that Kenny falls squarely in the camp that high 7 figures is too much to pay for a guy that pitches 60 innings a season. I wouldn't be shocked at all if Bobby was dealt, but think it would have to be in a package for a player Kenny has really, really been fond of for a long time...

QUOTE (scenario @ Nov 1, 2008 -> 12:58 PM) I think Kenny is serious. So most people who expect different are simply setting themselves up for disappointment. I think he is serious as well....I'm not of the mind that he won't look to improve at 2b and 3b (and leadoff), but I do believe he is mentally prepared to enter the season with those guys. That's not to say he wants to do that, but it certainly gives him a slightly firmer ground to stand on in negotiations with other GM's and Free Agents. As for the scout's comment regarding Jerry Owens, I'm not sure it's an inditement on the scout so much as it is on Kenny Williams and the Sox FO.

So Shields, Kazmir, Garza, Sonnanstine.... http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/01/sp...playoff/sports/

EDIT: To expand on Tony's comments earlier in the thread- Not sure if this has been posted already, but I thought it was very classy of Gardenhire: Afterward, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire made his way to the White Sox clubhouse door and waited patiently outside as Chicago outfielder Nick Swisher tried to retrieve Guillen from the champagne spray and cigar smoke of the room. A few minutes later, a soaked Guillen appeared at the door. "Where's Gardie?" Guillen said. Guillen shook Gardenhire's hand hard. There was a long hug and a backslap. Guillen has made no secret of his admiration for the Twins manager and for his team. "I'm very happy for you," Gardenhire said as they embraced. "Make us proud." http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/sto...mp;sportCat=mlb

Javy, step up and prove your detractors wrong...you're good enough to do this... I'm going to go out on a limb and say if we get him 3 runs we have a good chance to win.

Who will we see in Game 3? Garza or Sonnanstine?

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 30, 2008 -> 11:02 PM) I'm sorry for saying Thome's not clutch. HAAAAA Before we all get too excited here, let's remember we backed into these playoffs. We were given a chance by the Royals to get in, now let's take advantage of it! We're facing an uphill battle against the Rays. Let's hope our men are up for the task! We must win in that dome...

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 30, 2008 -> 10:50 PM) BTW, having Kubel hit for Gomez was terrible. I know Gomez isn't very good, but he can get on with the bunt or infield single and that would be an automatic double. Yeah, that was as if Ron Gardenhire had become Ozzie Guillen with that decision. Why not save Kubel to bat for Casilla? I was so happy when I saw Kubel up there... As for BA's catch...that was nothing....Brian makes that catch in his sleep. At least we'll see Swish starting game 1.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 30, 2008 -> 07:06 AM) Jake Hahn, the son of Assistant Sox GM Rick Hahn, told his dad to call "heads" on the coin flip which decided whether the Sox or Twins would be the home team for this game 163. Thank goodness the kid never heard of "tails never fails."

QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 01:22 AM) Danks will be on 3 days rest right? Yeah. Danks pitched Friday and lost. Don't remember his pitch count but he didn't go deep into the game so he should be relatively ok...

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Sep 25, 2008 -> 11:03 PM) You forgot... the green... Hah...I was being serious.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 25, 2008 -> 11:01 PM) Anyone up for a late night chat to vent? Game

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 25, 2008 -> 10:51 PM) You'll be happy to know we're close to giving him a contract extension. I honestly would be overjoyed.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 25, 2008 -> 10:59 PM) If we feel like we're getting screwed on calls, then why doesn't our jackass manager go get tossed? I was honestly glad he didn't make an ass of himself. It would have just made their fans go even crazier. Probably was best to just bend over and take it at that point.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 25, 2008 -> 10:56 PM) That Span play was so close that it would be inconclusive. What's that thing they use for the lines in tennis matches? They should use that.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 25, 2008 -> 09:41 PM) Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome really disapeared when this team needed them most. Dye looks like a below avg player. I'm not going to lump Thome in there.

I have never been so disappointed in Ozzie Guillen....I'm not one to complain much about our manager, but I feel, I think for the first time, that Ozzie cost us that series, and possibly the chance to make the playoffs. There is just no way one can overlook Ozzie's failure to to adjust the style of play necessary to win right now, considering the recent performance of Jermaine Dye and the injury to Carlos Quentin. The sick, sick thing is, we have players on our roster right now, due to the expansion of rosters to 40, to match up fairly closely with Minnesota's speed, but we just refuse to do so. I'm not saying we should have abandoned the style of play and the horses that got us here, but on some level, you've got to concede the fact that the Twins are going to hit bloops all over the turf, and get some speed in your outfield. After we took the lead 6-1 tonight, I would have put Wise in right, BA in Center, and Swisher in left, and benched Dye and Griffey. Again, I am so disappointed in Ozzie...not angry...but disappointed. Why the hell did we not have a "no doubles" set on with Gomez on first as the TYING run and Span up in the 8th? I have been telling myself for weeks that we aren't good enough this year; that we won't do anything in the playoffs anyway. That we probably can't beat Boston or Tampa in round 1 so it doesn't matter if we make the playoffs or not. But to blow it this way, in this fashion, in that ballpark, to those particular players...talk about a tough pill to swallow. Shame on you, Ozzie Guillen. You know better than that. You are better than that.

QUOTE (C_LEE45 @ Sep 25, 2008 -> 09:26 AM) hawk will be crying about something before pitch 1,its to the point where you have to mute the TV Believe me guys, I'm in Vegas so I am at the mercy of whichever broadcast Extra Innings gives me. The last two days, I've had to watch the Twins' broadcast and Bert and Dick whine just as much as the Hawkeroo. Bert is constantly crying about the strike zone and claiming our players are trying to spike the Twins' players, and Dick is acting like every hit we get is sheer luck. It's not just the Hawkeroo....

All I can say is we have some interesting fans. Let's hope we can get one tomorrow. I did not watch nearly every game this season to give up now. Let's get 'em, Gavin!

Talk about your all-time backfires....

While I don't necessarily agree with you Caufield, thanks for posting this. Something to get my mind off of last night... I agree with a lot of what's been said, mainly that it is quite difficult to try to imagine a KW GM'd ballclub more than a year or so in advance. I highly doubt KW will be lucky enough to hit on 4 good young players as he did this year, but if he could continue to find 1 or 2 a year, he would still be well ahead of the curve. I'd really like to see him turn his attention to finding some good young players at the corners. I feel like Getz will get a look at 2b next year and would fit into this ballclub very well. I'd also like to see Kenny try to figure out which direction we are going in terms of the OF. I'd like to see the situation stabilized. Of course, that probably cannot really be done until Dye's contract runs out. But in terms of rebuilding, Kenny has done a fantastic job of rebuilding on the fly and to suggest he needs to do so in a few years is to imply he isn't already doing so now...so I'm not really sure that is an accurate request.