cwsfan13

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 9, 2006 -> 06:25 PM) Good article, but I still don't feel good about the Joe situation. Even if he had the surgery I dont know how good I would feel about it, but I just have a feeling we will once again be hearing about the back in 07... I dont know what to think either .Thats great if he doesnt need surgery but he didnt need it in the 05-06 offseason and he ended up with problems . Luckily the Sox have Herm Schneider to keep an eye on it.

Sorry man but I have to agree with Rock/Can on this too .Its a big risk signing a guy whos been prone to injury .Were not talking about a DH here ,this guy will be out every day that hes healthy running down flyballs in left field .Dont get me wrong it could work out but there are younger players with better track records health-wise . Dont forget that the Sox have players to trade to get what we need which is whole lots compaired to most teams. QUOTE(R.Sweeney @ Nov 9, 2006 -> 05:09 PM) Sorry man but I have to agree with Rock/Can on this too .Its a big risk signing a guy whos been prone to injury .Were not talking about a DH here ,this guy will be out every day that hes healthy running down flyballs in left field .Dont get me wrong it could work out but there are younger players with better track records health-wise . Dont forget that the Sox have players to trade to get what we need which is whole lots compaired to most teams. sorry I meant a whole lot less than other teams.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 08:02 PM) No, you did not say anything about Carl, but when you imply even remotely that Jim Thome had anything to do with our decrease in speed this year compared to last year, it begs the question as to what exactly Thome did. The decrease in speed-runs this year was due overwhelmingly to 1 man, and 1 man alone: Scott Podsednik. Rowand was not a huge base stealing threat, although he got a few, and Iguchi was still here. If Scott had been able to steal at a 75-80% clip, like he should have, then whether or not Thome was in the lineup, he'd still have been running. The reason we had to start keeping him at first base was that he was getting thrown out too much and that was hurting Thome's RBIs, not that Thome was somehow keeping him from running. I never said or meant to imply that Thome was reason for the reduction in speed .Im not thinking that at all .Thome drives in runs and thats why hes here .I know hes not out there for his ability to go from first to third on a ball hit to right field . Hey I like the guy too but if this team can get potentially better by trading him or anyone else for that matter then Im all for it .Me personally my favorite team comes b4 favorite players.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 07:36 PM) Clearly, we should put Carl Everett back at DH. He was quick as all hell. And anyway, Anderson learns any actual technique on how to steal bases, and he'll be more of a base stealing threat than Rowand. More raw speed, just doesn't yet know how to use it. Oh come on now I didnt say anything about that prick Carl .I never did understand why the Sox traded for that idiot in the first place .Someone should have taken him to the Field Museum to see the Dinosours that never existed . But you are right about Anderson .Anyone who can cover that much ground has speed .Hopefully he learned something from Raines b4 he was let go.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 07:15 PM) With the sorts of pathogens that could make one lose 20 pounds that rapidly...trust me, Tums don't do jack. Neither did anything else for that matter. I understand that ....just making a joke is all .The important thing is he'll be ok.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 07:04 PM) Once again, it all goes back to pitching. While the media will gush about 2005 and "SmallBall", plain, and simple, it's bulls***. "White Sox Smallball"=Pitching out your ass, hit bombs. Thats what they did in 2005, worked like a charm. It all goes back to pitching, and thats really it. You have the 05 staff and the 06 Offense, and you have a 115 win team. Hell, if you take any of those teams from 2000-2006, and put the 05 staff with the offense, and we are in the playoffs every year. We hit 200 HR's every year. We did it in 05, did it in 06, and will probably do it again in 07. If we pitch, the offense wont really matter... I agree with ya but they played great defense,stole bases and ran the bases well too.It wasnt just homers that won games . Think of how many times a pitcher lost his composure because he was pre-occupied with guys like pods,tad and rowand on base . There was alot of things that helped win the series but yes the most important was pitching and hopefully they get to where they should be in 07 Dont get me wrong im not a Thome hater by any meens .Just want to see faster guys on the bases to put the pressure on the pitcher .

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 06:54 PM) I'd hope he'd stick up for the organization. I really don't think Ozzie cares. You can tell KW has no problem considering the hand was essentially forced and Kenny's right there are plenty of other leagues that may even be safer to play in. I know I for one wouldn't want to have to go to Venezuela for a month to play baseball if I was coming off a long minor league season already (in fact if I were a top prospect I wouldn't, now if I were fringe I may just suck it up). Right and Im sure thats why BA didnt want to go in the first place .I understand that you do what the org. says but after struggleing through his rookie season he prob. just wanted some much neede rest which he ended up getting after all .I guess they dont have TUMMS down in Ven..

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 06:19 AM) Sounds like players aren't goin back to Venezuela anytime soon; Makes you wonder how Ozzie feels about players not going back Venezuela .Too bad well never know .

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 05:37 PM) Just because the '05 Sox won a title with no left handed pop doesn't mean it's overrated it just means that team had one of the greatest pitching seasons ever recorded and thus was able to make up for a pathetic offense. Theres no guarentee Left-handed pop will win you anything .The Sox led baseball in homers and it didnt get us anywhere .I will admit that it would have been a diff. story if we had the similar pitching like in 05 .This team offensively is looking alot like the early 2000 teams with Maggs,Carlos,Frank and we didnt win s*** accept for that 3 and performance against Seattle . All Im saying is they have to change something because the are relying on the long ball too much .If we can get a replacement for pods and add another player or two with speed it changes this line alot.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 04:21 PM) No it wouldn't "make sense" to get rid of the second best hitter on your team (only because another guy was having a career year) just because you can get a lot for him. Would you trade Scott Podsednik and Mike MacDougal for Bobby Abreu? Of course you would. So why would you trade Jim Thome for Figgins and a reliever? Well thats just a matter of opinion . Im kind of wondering how long b4 J.T. 's skills/helath start to diminish .I m not saying it will next year or the year after but sooner or later it will happen and when that time comes he wont be worth nearly as much in a trade. Just hear me out .If that trade or something like it were to happen we could put J.D in the D.H. role sometimes to help keep his legs fresh and better his chances of staying healthy .Lets face it weve been lucky with him so far being in a sox uniform b/c he was injury prone before he got here .Opening up R/F would allow Kenny to get not 1 but 2 guys with speed to help put more pressure on opp. pitchers .If not another speedy player we have Sweeney who might be ready or if we find a true C/F put BA in right . The only thing I dont like about the idea is now we wouldnt have much power from the left side but thats over-rated anyway b/c we won a world series without much power from lefties anyway . Thing is we all have ideas but none of us have ANY idea what Kenny will get us for X-MAS this year!

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 2, 2006 -> 11:56 AM) We have a thread on Carl Crawford but I really believe Gary Matthews Jr. deserves his own thread. Yes, he's going to get paid probably 20-24 mill over 3 years (maybe someone even gives him a 4 year deal) and yes this was by far his best season in his career. However, look at his stats from the prior season and you'd see that this is a guy whose made great strides and is developing into his prime. This is a guy that would fit in beautifully in the 2 spot on the Southside and would also play gold glove caliber defense in CF. Now I realize we have a lot of salary comitted and I'm not necessarily saying this is a signing I'd make, but I'd once again say we shouldn't acquire someone because we have money going to a ton of our pitchers or other guys. I stick to my guns that if I were in charge Crawford would be in Chicago (especially if all it took was McCarthy) and that Thome would be packing his bags elsewhere and we'd be freeing up salary that way (in addition to probably moving a starter for prospects). That would open up the flood-gates to make a push at Pierre/Matthews Jr/Figgins to join Crawford and team up to form one of the premiere 1-2 bunches in baseball (the type of 1-2 punch a manager like Ozzie would gush over). Its also the type of 1-2 punch that would be very affordable considering Crawford's contract. Yes, we'd lose Thome from our lineup and yes it would make our lineup very right handed dominante, but lets also remember that a right handed dominated lineup did quite the job in the 05 playoffs and this lineup would be superior to that one in every way, shape or form. The Thome deal would give the team some top top notch pitching prospects and payroll flexibility to make a move and obviously we'd have to find a DH. Well thats where a lefty bat fits in and that could even be a guy like Sweeney (if we want to stay cheap) who would obviously get tons of time in the OF as well. Or Mack could get some of that DH time or they could try and pick up that DH in the Thome deal. Now you have a lineup consisting of: Figgins or Sarge or Pierre Crawford Dye Konerko AJP Crede DH (Or if we get a better DH, you flop him with AJP) Iguchi Uribe The rotation would currently consist of our remaining 5 (as no starters have been dealt) and Thome salary has pretty much gone to Crawford and the other outfielder. So now you ask how does that really help the team? Well we now have Brian Anderson, top prospetcs from the Thome trade (in fact Figgins and a couple top prospects could probably be a fair deal w/LAA), and front of the rotation starters who we can deal. Possibly Josh Fields as well (depending on where the Sox stand with Crede). I'd like to think that with that the club would have the flexibility to move one of our starters for a major league ready young starter or we could also have the chips to go get a Jake Peavy or another young starter to enter into our rotation (if we deem it necessary). Basically we overhall the offense w/speed(it still has power), improve the defense, rebuild the farm system (through the Thome trade and potentially through a deal of a Garcia or someone else) and still throw out one of the best rotations in baseball. Yes, we'd have to re-sign some of these guys in 08 but we now know that the club has prospects to get other starters (or these guys could develop on there own) and quite frankly if Buehrle or Garcia walk the club has money thats freed up which they could than spend on finding another starter to come in (or money that we can add via trade and a prospect or two to get that starter). Basically put I don't worry that much about losing Garcia/Buehrle because Kenny would have all the chips in place to find new guys to enter that rotation when the time comes while still being a potentially dominant team in 07 (and in the future). In the end we could be rolling out a much more balanced lineup, a strong pitching staff (obviously Kenny would have to find a way to add a reliever), and a farm system in which Kenny can develop from or trade from. I have to disagree with you on Brandon but I do agree with you on J.T. Hes a great guy but he is getting older and it would make sense to get rid of him now while we can still get alot for him .The Angels are dying for a left-handed power hitter to back-up Vlady and that would help them and we could prob. get Figgins and a reliever or possibley Santana so we get the best of both worlds :pick up an OF with speed and a reliever all in one trade .If for some reason we were able to get I.Santana in the deal well thats just too bad....So long Freddy AND Javy.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Nov 7, 2006 -> 01:10 PM) Another thing about the "tough lefties" that were mentioned: Liriano is out, Redman isn't back with the Royals (Thome had a 1.000 OPS against,) Robertson was torched by him (1.255 OPS,) and he had a 1.000 OPS against Johan Santana. Hell yeah! I seem to recall J.T hitting a few homers off of Santana this season and lets not forget that we spanked Cliff Lee like red-headed step child . Alou is a nice idea but we could find somebody else to get the job done . If we did this who will remind Alou to take his geriatric pills?

I wouldnt worry about this B.S. rumor .Kenny is not stupid enuff to do something like this .Forget about Sheffs charicter , the fact that hes 38 and Freddy is only 30 makes this a lopsided trade even if we get cash cons.. Besides Ozzie has already said that he needs more speed for this team anyway and I cant see Sheff stealing too many bases. This is a typical rumor started by typical N.Y. media .

QUOTE(bmags @ Nov 6, 2006 -> 12:36 PM) i recall anderson missing twice I recall BA landing at least one shot and tossing Mabry around like a rag-doll

QUOTE(Soxman72 @ Nov 6, 2006 -> 10:15 AM) The only negative I have ever heard about BA is that he likes to party. He would be out late drinking and having a good time until 3 or 4 in the morning with his "hunnies". I mean the kid is just enjoying his youth, but baseball and the team have to come first. Frineds of mine would spot him out real late with a game the following day. I also heard this from a friend that works in the Sox front office. Take it for what it is. Hers an idea. Dont trade him. Open up a new position for him "Fight Coordinator"! I heard John Mabry has given BA his full endorsement . Lets face it BA hits alot better with his fists than his bat , at least for now anyway .

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Nov 4, 2006 -> 07:30 PM) My gosh Gonzalez is an idiot. In what world is Jerry Owens a top prospect? In what world would Jerry Owens be an acceptable starting CFer for a team aspiring for a World Series? Can't this team have but one intelligent beat reporter...? EDIT: Damn, it was Gregor who said it. Yikes. Point remains the same. BTW, I don't see how this can be used against Anderson. Losing 20 pounds in two weeks is a helluva lot of weight to drop. I don't blame BA at all. And still no quotes on the topic from KW, unless I'm missing one. While Guillen continues to rave on and on about BA, the man with the brains hasn't said a word regarding Anderson. IMO, it'd be a pretty short sighted decision to dump Anderson after one year, especially (like Heads said) considering that Williams more or less chose Anderson over Chris Young. If there's a better bang for your buck CFer out there (combining baserunning, defense, and offense), than go get him. I don't see that guy on the free agent market. It's certainly not the one year wonder Gary Matthews, and definitely not Pierre when he gets $8 million a year. Well if Ozzie is looking for speed how about W.Taveres from houston ? Hes about to turn 25 in December and Houston maybe looking for pitching depending the 2 geriatrics who cannot make up their minds if they want to make millions again next year . Taveras #s arent the best but he does have potential and can steal bases .The only prob. with him is he might be a bit of a pie thrower for CF.