bigruss

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 6, 2007 -> 06:50 PM) And if the Sox really want to they could always deal Vazquez after the '08 season to free up some available cash for free agency and this way they'll be trading a player with 3 years left on his deal as opposed to a guy who would only be arb eligible and looking at a $14M deal. I don't see this happening but it's certainly a possibility. exactly wat i was thinking, it gives us options for the future, since now we have a trading piece to land someone or maybe he turns into a star this year and we just saved a ton of money, and if he doesnt pan out then we dont have to worry about getting caught in a devestating contract, great move by KW, keeps a talented pitcher around at a fair price without restricting his creativity

broadway needs more innings, no doubt about that, and with an addition of a good changeup he could be another garland with the sinker, but i see him more of a stretch at a 3, but more likely a #4 pitcher who will get wins and keep the era around 4-4.5, so good but nothing special, but nowadays that projection leads to 10 mill a year

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 5, 2007 -> 04:30 PM) anyone read this yet? http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...s&fext=.jsp yep, cubs at 3? they didnt do a good enough job to persuade me, i think the sox are right up there if BA improves along with Uribe, but some of those teams are a stretch, and no Indians? they have the potential to wreak some havoc this year

LINKY article rates the best GMs, not just in baseball, but football basketball and hockey also, weighs the rating on winning and payroll, but double emphasis on winning, so why would Hendry be ranked #58, when KW is #67? i think the system is screwed up because of this, KW is much better than hendry, and with the winning being so important i think he would be higher, especially considering their payroll has been pretty similar to ours, oh well i think we all know who is better in real life

I like how the plays (or maybe it was player) of the game was soriano getting 3 hits, man i only watched about 2 innings and decided i would rather go back to work than listen to those guys

they all have better numbers than our "real" starters

QUOTE(TitoMB345 @ Mar 2, 2007 -> 03:26 PM) if anderson is not the starter for this team this year and/or next year, ozzie HAS to go. he is going to ruin one of our best young players. anderson has full responsibility over his future, if he hits well and plays great defense then he will start, but he hit horrible last year and needs to win the job back. Why give the job to somebody who obviously wasnt ready for it, he needs the ABs and unless he shows that he can still hit during ST then he should have another season in AAA. I know everybody thinks he is the future starting centerfielder, heck even i do, but if he isnt going to help us win now by picking up his game and worry more about how long his blonde curls are then he shouldnt be on the team. He needs to improve and quickly QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 2, 2007 -> 03:26 PM) Yeah, Erstad may very well start in CF. i remember how Rowand wasnt a top notch hitter, yes he had that one year but taht wasnt even a full season, he was a .260-.270 hitter with 20-25 hrs, and a ton of strikeouts. but his biggest contribution besides his defense was that he hustled and led by example, giving a spark or fire into teammates. I think Erstad can do this, should hit around those numbers and give that spark, and for everybody who is talking about injuries these "grinder" type players can still contribute while injured, rowand last year had a couple of major injuries missing a lot of time but he really changed the attitude of the phillies and they almost made the playoffs with taht change

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Mar 2, 2007 -> 01:38 PM) I absolutely agree. Bonderman, Verlander, and Miller all have great, great stuff (the first 2 have fatsballs that legitmately sit at 95 and 98 MPH, in addition to good breaking stuff). There isn't a single starting pitcher in the Sox organization outside of Contreras that has an arm like that. The reality is that none of Danks, Gio, Sisco, and Broadway project to be dominating in the bigs. They simply aren't in the same league as guys like Pelfrey, Hughes, Bailey, Garza, etc. I understand that the Sox haven't had the best draft position, but neither have the Yankees, BoSox, and Twins and yet they have great minor league pitching. And the Sox bear repsonsibility for routinely not offering arbitration to FAs to get more picks, and not drafting guys with signability issues. I'm assuming that both those issues come down to the budget they have for the amateur draft. Anyway, I'd really like to see the Sox have a minor league pitcher with legitimately great stuff. I don't see one right now. The Sox aren't going to get an ace on the FA market, they have to develop one on their own. I know how much I'll get bashed for saying this, but the sox just dont have enough money to compete with teams like the Red Sox, and Yankees (okay the Twins are just different, we should jsut hire out their scouting department) and so they can afford to offer arb andd overpay for a guy/get draft picks, and they are also able to bring out the cash for "committed" players in the draft, they will shelve out thousands if not millions more for a player, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesnt, but they are able to after these higher ceiling guys and in much more quantity, they i see it is that the sox can only afford to go after a couple of these guys each year, while spreading the money around to more "solid" or "safe" prospects giving them more of a chance to contribute something to the big league club in the future (since higher ceiling prospects are more risky and dont pan out as often) while teams like the yanks and bosox can afford to draft many moer of the higherceiling guys (not to mention they have the picks from arbitration players) and can draft more meaning a greater amount of talent contributing to the big league club. Its a cycle to me, the Red Sox spend lots of money on the draft, develop these guys, sign free agents, and win games with the high ceiling prospects, then they develop a surplus of players and are able to trade or let them go thru ways like arb and get those good picks, all the while they are racking in the big bucks from their strong market, and that leads to the beginning again of able to draft the guys i dont know if the WSox can afford a cycle like that because it does cost a lot of money and you dont always win in giving a player arb, (we would have been stuck with riske since no one was going to give up a first round pick for him) and so teams like the Red Sox are able to absorb those hits with their deep pockets and i just wanted to mention that the Red Sox declined to give an extension to schilling and now he plans to hit free agency next year, jsut thought i would say taht so people would realize that the Wsox arent the only team not able to afford all their players or dont want all of them back due to other reasons

The White Sox had four prospects in Baseball America's Top 100 45 JOSH FIELDS, 3b, White Sox This former college quarterback is working out much better for Chicago than Joe Borchard did Opening Day Age: 24. ETA: 2007 55 RYAN SWEENEY, of, White Sox Has been on the fast track since hitting .367 in big league camp as a 19-year-old Opening Day Age: 22. ETA: 2007 ^^^^^ Sweeney was also labeled as a risk factor 56 JOHN DANKS, lhp, White Sox Quality young pitching is hard to acquire, yet White Sox traded for Danks and Gio Gonzalez this offseason Opening Day Age: 21. ETA: 2007 72 GIO GONZALEZ, lhp, White Sox The White Sox liked him so much they reacquired him this winter after including him in the Jim Thome deal a year earlier Opening Day Age: 21. ETA: 2008 heres the link

There were some very good predictions last year, and good is a probably a bad term since it was a prediction that the sox werent going to do as well anywho my predictions for this year... White Sox bring in solid season once again, with 90 victories just good enough for the wildcard Either Detroit or Cleveland will get on a hot start and win the division (i know its sort of cheating picking both but i jsut cant choose yet which i think will shine) Dye will hit .310 with 36 hrs Crede will hit .290 with 32 hrs Floyd wins 5th starter, goes 8-12 with a 5.2 era, some spots granted to haegar and friends bullpen in late innings dom with jenks thornton and mac, but aardsma and others will still give up more runs/games which results in a couple less wins rotation regains form from top 4 starters and produces near but not quite the 2005 level

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 02:26 PM) While I don't work under a contract, if I asked for a raise and was told I was free to look elsewhere, and I went looking for a better paying position, if I had to go through the process of looking elsewhere and then got a better offer and my current employer said they would match it, I personally would tell him to f*** off. It would be an insult to me, a total lack of respect, that some place where I have invested a lot of time and effort would only pay me if someone I hadn't worked for were to offer me more. I must say that this is different, in that they have paid agents whose job is to find them the best price, and if the player wants to stay or even sign with a certain team, then they may not get the most money, hence the "hometown discount", but money isnt everything sometimes and some players like to go where they are comfortable, and some teams cant afford to give the best price out there for some players. It has to be a mutual agreement for it to work out and if that isnt the case then its better for the player and team to move on

QUOTE(AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Feb 18, 2007 -> 05:23 PM) No I will not shut up. KW has been horrible this offseason. Poor trades for Garcia and McCarthy. Trading Cotts for nothing. And now unwilling to even talk about extending our up and coming free agents. Sure we won a World Series, but I don't want to be a one and done team. And at this rate, why would any good free agent want to come here and why would any of our players want to resign with a hard nose, small market approach. Overall it's not get business to get your own players, and your fan base upset. uhh lets see, u just said one and done, thats what kenny is trying to prevent by having a surplus of young pitchers with high ceilings to replace the overpriced free agents. and i guess your right, why would any free agent want to come to a team were so many fans are so negative on their general manager who won the world series only 2 years ago and now wants him fired after winning 90 games in baseball's toughest division, yeah i wouldnt want to sign on that team either because of the negativity that fans like you bring onto a team that has once again a very good chance to win it all this upcoming season and in the near future. and poor trades? how do u know that the trade is poor before spring training hasnt even gotten into full gear yet? if floyd is as good as our scouts say he is (and our pro scouts are quite good) then he could have a very surprising season in the 5 hole, and some scouts think gio is the next liriano, all for a guy who was being paid 10 mill for next season, probably wasnt going to resign, and had a dead arm for half of last season, oh by the way everybody (atleast almost everybody) knew and wanted him outta here danks is projected as a little bit better than mccarthy, who even tho with a year in the bullpen and some outstanding performances as a starter, still wasnt any garuntee stud. someone else posted saying that teams tend to struggle versus pitchers with little or no scouting on them, and that def happened. im not saying hes going to suck, but he may not turn out to be as great as everybody thought, plus he gave up a ton of homers as a starter and reliever, then masset could also start, but seems better fit in the bullpen and has been seen as the next jenks, which i wont complain about getting cotts, as incredible as his 2005 season was, has been wildly inconsistent, as his ERA has been up and down throughout his major league career, and to get a power arm in aardsma in return sounds pretty fair to me, plus i like wat KW said in that he is trading for players who fit well in the Cell I do agree that KW has said some pretty stupid stuff (beurhle situation) and he needs to improve on PR situations, like the Frank Thomas one THE ONLY WAY THE FAN BASE WILL NOT BE UPSET IS IF THE TEAM WINS GAMES AND CHAMPIONSHIPS, and that is what kenny is trying to do, he did once and i have faith that he can do it again very soon

QUOTE(wsxkid @ Feb 18, 2007 -> 02:10 PM) Just because our payroll is 100Million doesn`t mean we are being competitive in the market. If Buerls turns it around and has a great year we should try and sign him BEFORE he hits FA.We need to start by maybe offering a 4 or 5 year deal like everyone else will.This 3 year limit for pitchers is fundamentally a good idea,but sometimes you have to say, "hey this guy is worth it". JD has been as big a part of our success as anyone,he wants to and deserves to retire as one of the White Sox,KW should make sure that happens.These guys are great teammates already tested in the World Series,and we would just let them walk,something is wrong with that picture. I`m a season ticket holder,and have been in some fashion for alot of years and I am tired of KW/JR running this team like it`s Milwaukee for Pete`s Sake. The very players that we hope for our young guys to become,could be leaving in droves,and we would let them go saying we can`t afford them.Because we are running the team like a small market team.I`m not saying we need to be the Yankees,but they are in the playoffs every year so they must be doing something right. So Frank Thomas should have stayed, even tho he was a cancer in the clubhouse and on one really knew if he could come back, but he was a great player so the sox should have made room for him even if that means jepordizing the teams chance to win, nice logic. And i know that they are diff situations in that JD is healthy (for now) and has more of a role in defense, but look at the maggs situation, everybody seems to forget that with maggs leaving we went out and signed a bunch of players that won a world series for us, as much as i like JD i like winning more QUOTE(AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Feb 18, 2007 -> 02:20 PM) Can we fire Ken Williams now? He is going to kill this team for years to come. can you shut up now? he brought us a world series trophy, and the team is still very competitive and jsut because teams like the cubs and giants raise the market value for players and the sox cant afford to chase players vs. the Red sox and Yanks and other big spenders means we should fire him? cmon, no general manager would somehow be able to lower the asking price of these players, and KW has a plan and if JD, Beurhle, or Guch arent in them then so be it, KW is committed to winning and so far has had a ton more success than alot of other people

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Feb 18, 2007 -> 01:01 PM) There is a difference between being cheap and not paying ridiculous contracts for players who aren't worth that amount of money. KW has always shown a willingness to sign people, he's just not going to overpay. It's not like we won't sign anybody to fill those holes next year. And like I, really Milkman, said above, he is hoping those prices come down so he can gets the ones on this team already. Going cheap makes me think that our payroll would go way down, but we haven't seen any sign of that. It's just not going to go way up past 100 million, which it would have to do if you are going to give guys like Buerhle 5 year, 15 mil a year. thank you for somebody actually talking common sense here, the Sox have only raised their payroll from 2005, signed PK, traded for Thome, Vasquez, better (and more expensive) bench players, exercised options on their players, and all KW is hearing about is how cheap he is. He is just letting the fan base know that the sox will not have a payroll of much more than 100 mill, as even tho the increased ticket prices and attendance will help they still wont cover for that much of a rise in payroll (The sox do not have resources like the yankees where i have heard that their radio contract makes more than the sox TV contract) and so they will not be able to resign all of the players at the market price, hence the need for better scouting and the fans awareness that the future sox will be much different from the one right now. Does that mean we will suck? no, he may just find players that can help win at a cheaper price, its called business and guess what, it worked in 2005 and im sure it will work better than spending money on huge contracts restricting KW

He fails to mention how white sox fans would respond to a future season like the cubs just had for the white sox if they didnt acquire good young players. The white sox were and are doomed to lose key players in the very near future, and kenny did a good job of atleast giving the sox a chance to replenish some of the holes that will be gaping. Yes he could have gone after position players but im more worried about our starting pitchers than our lineup anyways, and hopefully the power bullpen works out

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 10:25 AM) Where's our Liriano? kenny is thinking that gio could be the next liriano, everybody has to admit that the twins just raped the giants in the AJ trade, but i believe that opened eyes across baseball and making teams less hesitant to trade away top prospects, more trades like Bostons Beckett trade have already haunted teams, so trading for Garcia is a huge risk for the team, he's over 30, had a dead arm for the first half of last year, didnt pitch statistically all that well, and has one year left on his contract, so really, did Kenny underrate him? i dont think so, i think most of the guys here are overrating Garcia and if i had to trade for him i wouldnt give up to much more than what the Phillies gave up. And i cant remember who but somebody posted asking for a major trade that included majorleague talent that KW was succesful, the Seattle trade for Garcia was succesful in my mind, yes they got some good young players but none are stars while Garcia was one of our top pitchers for every year he was with us(except last year) he helped us win a world series with great pitching in the post season, and now brought us back a good prospect and a coop project with his value being the lowest in his career QUOTE(Jimbo @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 10:43 AM) we better have one of these kids step up...we only have liike 5 awesome prospects. If they suck, could be the end of KW's scouts. Kenny knows that the Sox need to draft better, and i think that with the ability of the system to contribute with guys like broadway, gio, danks, sweeney, and fields etc, that they can go after more high ceiling prospects who have a less chance to make it or just farther from the bigs. The influx of pitching talent higher in the system will enable the sox to have more time in developing these guys since they wont need to worry about replacing older vets whose time may be up. that said, i love all the "small" trades that kenny does, and if we dont have a good draft this year then we should decide to make some changes in our amateur and college scouting departments

1) What format you prefer playing (head to head or roto) either one 2) Your relative level of experience (experience is not required to play, I'd just rather not put beginners in the stronger leagues) i havent played fantasy baseball yet 3) Your league preference (if you have played before) none 4) Whether or not you are willing to be a league commisioner (especially for people that have done it in the past and/or veteran players/posters) not right now

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Jan 30, 2007 -> 07:24 PM) Id love a deal to the Angels involving Figgins/Aybar being sent to us, even if we have to lose Crede to do so. I'd hate to see us give up crede (this year atleast) since i believe fields will be a good player, just needs another year in the minors for seasoning, but figgins could def solve our leadoff spot and aybar sure seems like he's going to be a stud, but right now im not sure if the loss of crede is outweighed by the gain of figgins and aybar

Would Youkilis play 3rd? but yeah thats a scary lineup, but the Yankees would like Helton i just dont see them making a strong bid, they are trading guys away to add to their system, and the Rockies would ask to much from them i believe

For whoever thinks the white sox are so cheap by not handing out big contract extensions is just crazy, this is just how kenny works, just look at the maggs situation-- we let him go after offering a pretty fair contract but he got more money else where, so instead of tying up a huge portion of our payroll in one player (who was injured at the time and no one really knew if he would come back fully) he went out and improved the team thru shrewd acquistions. Kenny will not tie himself into long contracts in which he cannot maneuver the way he wants to, he is to creative in his trades and signings to do that. That said, contracts are still going thru the roofs and Kennys rant on the scouting department was to reinforce that the Sox are looking to build from within more than signing guys to these huge deals. I believe AJ will be signed for one ore two more years unless a catcher really starts to stand out, Iguchi will be signed for 2-3 years, and Garland will be the only starter resigned (due to his age, success, and the need for someone to lead the rotation), and finally i believe Dye will get a three year extension The problem is with these signings is that a guy like iguchi, who is consistently good but not great, could still get up to around 7 mill (that may be on the upside but is completly possible) One thing about having all of these high ceiling pitching prospects is taht if they do turn out to be what they can, then the sox can refocus their money on the position players and save on pitching in the future

Great article, except one mistake in that Tyler Lumsden was traded for Mike MacDougal, but other than that it was very well written, Peter Gammons is definitely one of the smartest baseball analysts out there

He will have a better season i believe, offensively and defensively as he adjusts to the american league and his new STARTING role .302 14 HR 76 RBI

Im guessing KDUb was looking at the deal this way: 1) We have another great defender/ horrible offensive catcher in Gustavo Molina in the minors (and i remember reading somewhere that he was the best liked catcher by pitchers in our system) 2) We dont have a need for a young catcher right now with AJ and Hall and its more of a luxury 3) We can try to get a high ceiling guy that needs alot of work 4) Our lower class teams suck and we need to add some depth to those teams for the future

Im suspecting legal trouble to get in the way leading to a disapointing (again) season of .231 30 RBI 7HR these stats come from less time due to the emergence of Cintron as the starter and uribe the defensive bench replacement

The Sox to me have the chance to once again reclaim the fame to the best rotation in the central division. To me the Tigers will overall degress, as I do not believe all that highly in Kenny Rogers or Nate Robertson, plus their fifth slot is also a little shaky with the post injured Maroth and second year Zach Miner. While the twins are returning Santana, Bonser, and Silva, while hoping Ponson and a bucnh of prospects can fill the remaining two slots. Silva has never impressed me and Ponson will probably be to drunk to find the plate, but some o their prospects had some succuss last year. Of course they could pull some trick out of their hat as they seem to do and turn those guys into some good pitchers this year. What do you guys think?