JUGGERNAUT

Quite a few DND's there. Ugly. *

I don't know if this is true or not but Phil Rogers seems to believe the Maggs contract is not like the IROD one. With IROD the Tigs have protection each yr of the contract. If in any year IROD is on the DL for 5+ weeks they can void the rest of the contract. Rogers feels that the Maggs deal only provides protection for 2005. If Maggs is able to avoid the DL for less than 25 days the contract is guaranteed otherwise the Tigs have the right to void it. Again I don't know if this is true. The Detroit Free Press seemd to suggest it was structured like IRODs where the 25 day stipulation applied every year of the contract. But if Phil is correct then this deal is assenine & borders on Hicks like insanity. Hicks may have spent 252M on AROD but he did so when AROD was at the top of his game & healthy as can be. That meant AROD maintained his trade value. Hicks took a gamble on AROD getting hurt in those first few years but was lucky the NYY's helped him escape it. Illich is spending betw 75-105M on a player who is neither at the top of his game or healthy. Maggs has no trade value with this contract.

Sheets will sign a 1 yr deal for 6M. Meeting the Brewers 1/2 way on their arbitration amounts to avoid arbitration. He is still open to a multi-year deal. This is about winning & losing. If the Sox could win the division this year they could become a favorite to land Sheets. They can certainly offer as much as the Brewers can.

CLE & MIN might have the best LH bats in the AL. That's why.

I wonder if this means they are planning to renovate the Cell to hold banquet halls so that they can hold the reception there as well. If they do that they could open the cell for holiday parties as well. Certainly food preparation is not a problem If this idea where to catch on we might find a hotel being built near the Cell in the near future. Maybe double up on the south lots & give lot C to room for a hotel.

That's not possible. We must win at least 50 games before the all-star break. This team will have to find a way to win 30 games before Thomas' return in June.

When Min clinched the divsion Ozzie said he was just happy his team played over .500 after Maggs & Thomas went down. But he also added that he didn't have a leadoff hitter & that was a major need for 2005. Enter Pods. Pods 03 http://baseball.espn.go.com/mlbhist/player...tting&year=2003 Pods 04 http://baseball.espn.go.com/mlb/players/sp...tting&year=2004 His decline is a mystery as is his SB's. His free pass to strikeout ratio remained basically the same so if he was swinging for the fences it didn't lead to more strikeouts. Leading off an inning he hit 272, 328O & an OPS 759. Respectable #'s. In 03 w 618PA he had 175H, 1291B & 60 FP & 43/53 SB%. In 04 w 705PA he had 156H, 1061B & 65 FP & 70/83 SB%. In 03 he stole 2B 40 times, & 3B 3 times. In 04 he stole 2B 61 times, & 3B 9 times. There's no one thing you can point to & say .. there that is why he declined. At this point it looks mostly mental & coming to a great hitters park like the Cell & starting the season w a home stand should help he greatly.

Nen's rotator cuff is torn -- perhaps as much as 75 percent -- but surgery to completely repair it has a very low success rate, Conte said. And Nen doesn't want to go through another operation. Mendoza, who pitched horribly for the Red Sox the past two years, had right shoulder surgery in mid-January. The righthander told Newsday that he's shooting for a May return. The Dodgers have also have expressed interest, but Mendoza very much wants to return to the Bronx, so expect it to happen - even if Mendoza has to spend some time at Triple-A Columbus. Damn. So either we go with Adkins & Cotts in a 6-7 man pen or we find someone better that doesn't earn a ML spot in ST. Slim pickings.

You learn something knew about the game all the time. Why did the commisioner's office reject the deal? I didn't know you could over rule that with approval by the other owners. It's not that I don't like Adkins. I'm lukewarm about him. I like Cotts better. But I'm looking at it from a strength in the pen perspective: Strong vs RH: Shingo, Hermanson, & Politte Strong vs LH: Marte, Vizc, & ?? I'd like to replace Adkins with an experienced arm strong vs LH. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/features/freeagents - up to date RP: Boehringer, Santos, Fetters(40), Frederick, Gracesqui, Leskanic, Levine, Mendoza, Nen, Shane Reynolds, Service, & Zimmerman. SP: Ashby, Daal, Oliver, Poppel I would like to see either Mendoza v LH: 216A, 286O, 294S; v RH: 233A, 270O, 367S or Robb Nen v LH: 224A, 270O, 316S; v RH: .242A, .297O, .290S .

The options thing again. Ok help me out. I think that means he can refuse an assignment & become a FA. For the Sox to assign him to a ml team he must first pass waivers. Is that about right? As for it clearing room for a MIF there aren't many left. The truth is that Iggy has played more G as SS in his career than Uribe or any one who would play better than him. I've been reading some more stuff on Iggy from fans of the Hawks (the best place to get the real deal) & they were entertaining the idea of his playing SS in 03 for the Hawks to get rid of a weaker bat in their lineup. So the fans of the team still felt he could play an adequate SS as late as 03. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=1989606 Some have retired, but there are still good names available: LHP: Omar Daal, Valerio Santos, Darren Oliver RHP: Curtis Leskanic, Ramiro Mendoza, Alan Levine, Jeff Zimmerman, Pat Hentgen, Mike Fetters, Shane Reynolds, Scott Service, Todd Van Poppel, Brian Boehringer, Andy Ashby, Robb Nen 2B: Mark McLemore, Rey Sanchez 1B/DH: John Olerud, Carlos Baerga SS: Barry Larkin Some of them no doubt will accept arbitration but there are still a lot of names available to pick up an arm better than Adkins for the pen.

I don't know about the rest of you but when I proposed it was not a complete surprise. I think in general when two people get serious about one another there is a feeling out period where they just kind of slide in questions about the perfect date, perfect engagement, perfect wedding, perfect honeymoon, perfect vacation, etc. The world perfect or dream or ideal is always a part of it. So when it comes time to proposing you take what you learn from that & try to make her day. The thing about the movie "My Best Friend's Wedding" is that would have made Roberts day. She was a character who loved baseball & loved the Sox when she knew the groom in her younger days. I'm sure there are women out there who both loved the movie & idea. As there are women like mine who don't. There's nothing wrong about either group. She goes to a few games with me a year just for the atmosphere & I think that's cool of her. If I were a guy entertaining the idea of a wedding at the ball park here's what I would do: Once you're passed going steady & things are getting serious mention the My Best Friend's Wedding the next time your at the park with her. If the conversation moves to weddings at the park in general than there's your opening. If she likes the idea go for it when you propose. If she doens't forget about it. It's sort of a pre-requisite that she needs to go to a few games with you a year before entertaining the idea That's why I say this is a brilliant move because there exists a popular movie that encompases the idea & the ball park as a conversation starter.

He's a little old (24) for A ball don't you think? 108G 292A, 1HR, 37RBI, 30B w Class A Savannah 2004. 6'3", 195#. .292A .365O .349S 30/43 SB% 49WHBP 59K. I think Escobar has a better future.

Ozzie Guillen after Twins clinched - "When you have a team that shows up every day and performs like they do, they should be proud of themselves because I know how to be prepared to be in that position. I know how hard you work to get to the postseason. [...] Ronny [Gardenhire, the Twins manager] did a better job than me and that's why he's there. I have no regrets, but believe me, I will think about what we did wrong and think about how we can get better. I guarantee I see myself winning with the White Sox." Ozzie Guillen - “My team’s all full of crap. I hate that. Tip your hats to those guys; hey, we just got beat. I hope (the Twins) win, because that means if they win the World Series, I lost to the best team in baseball in 2004. You have to be smarter than that. Did they kick our butts? They did. Did they play good against us? They did. And we went there at the wrong time? Yes, we went there at the wrong time because they were playing great baseball and we didn’t. But, c’mon, if you get beat, you get beat. They played better than we did. They executed better, they pitched better, they caught the ball better. If the playoffs started today, they have a great chance to win because of the way they are playing the game right now.” Well I think that explains a lot about the off-season changes. Lee - panzy-assed slide into 2nd in the Torri over Burke game. Pods - Ozzie said they had no leadoff hitter last year Everything else fell into place from their.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/deluca/cst-spt-deluca16.htm ''This is the team you win with -- pitching, defense and speed,'' Guillen said. ''There are only two teams that can just beat the crap out of you every day -- the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Everybody else has to play baseball.'' http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-doug16.html "If the players play the way they should play, we should win the [American League Central] division,'' he said. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=3453 "There are so many different things he might be jealous [of]...I was a better player than him, I've got more money than him and I'm better looking than him." --Guillen, Him - being Buck Showalter "Atlanta is going to win!" "They are going to Kick your (butts), (steal) your girlfriends and drink your beer!" --Ozzie Guillen (ATL vs NYY 2000) "You know, I thought Bobby (Cox) was my friend. He's trying to ruin my career, he's playing me everyday!" --Ozzie Guillen on playing more often. (Aug 1999) Joey Cora: They have different styles. Alex is very intense and can get mad. Sometime you have to settle him down a bit. Ozzie is a veteran, and he knows a lot about the game. He has a lot of fun and he's always chatting with the umpires and stuff. They're different, but they're both very good. “Every time we play here, we can never win”.” We can’t ever get enough runs”. ‘Every time we face this staff, we struggle for runs”. “We never swing our bats well here”. - Ozzie Gullen (after losing to the A's in OAK) Gene Lamont - "If the Sox win, [Guillen] will think it was a great experience. But if they lose, he'll think the clubhouse had something to do with it." "When we saw Takatsu in spring training, I never thought he could even pitch in this league...Now to put him in there, that's another gamble because I don't know he can do that. I know he has done it [in Japan.] You don't save 300 games just because. You have to be something special." - Guillen "Frank is a grown man," Guillen said. "He knows what he's doing. I'll be behind my players 100 percent no matter if they're wrong or right." If this is the best job in baseball, then why do you guys get gray hair and fat so quickly? - Guillen on managing a ML team "If my players don't like it, that's a message. You got to play the game hard. I know if it happened on my side, I'd be high-fiving my players." - Guillen after Torri charge over Burke Ozzie Guillen on baseball’s Winter Meetings: “It’s like a high school convention (reunion). Everybody is hugging everybody, and nobody wants to make any deals.” Guillen on Shingo Takatsu: “He not only fools the hitters, he fools the manager and a lot of other people.” Guillen: “The way Rowand played center field last year, he should be the center fielder this year.” Guillen on Carlos Lee during the Torii Hunter game: “He slides into second base like his wife was turning the double play.” Guillen on the payroll: “We have to win, and then you guys show up.” Aaron Rowand on Joe Crede: “This guy sleeps more than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

I'm glad to hear that Cooper is still advocating pacing Hernandez. Depending on how effective Garland & Contreras are in ST I still believe they will use the off-days to skip Duque starts & stretch his rest. Cooper has said that earlier & hopes it will leave Duque at his best in Aug & Sep. From what we heard from Rowand & knowing that this is Thomas' negotiation year (he'll never leave the Sox) I think Thomas will be in the lineup before June. Everett might surprise all of us in April & take away more Dye AB's than Thomas ones.

I hope we can make this a sticky & others will contribute so we can have one thread to hold all of Ozzie's best lines. If there is a thread out there please move this there. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/131sd8.htm "I know how to swear in a few more languages," a grinning Guillen said at the close of the 2004 season. "Japanese, obviously Spanish and English I knew, and then whatever language (shortstop) Juan Uribe thinks he's speaking."

My Best Friend's Wedding

You're right about Shingo vs LH. Not all but some. vs. L 107AB 23H 5D 0 5HR 15RBI 12WHBP 19K .215A .294O .402S .696OPS vs. R 113AB 17H 1D 0 1HR 3RBI 11WHBP 31K .150A .226O .186S .412OPS When LH do hit him they have solid hits. 5D+5H in 23H vs 1D+1H in 17H. Don't expect improvement there. MIN LH bats: Mauer, Morneau, Jones, Kubel(PH), & Ryan(PH). CLE LH bats: Broussard, Cora(PH), Gerut(PH), Hafner, Sizemore(PH) MIN is very balanced betw RH & LH's. What strengths don't they have? This is where Vizc & Hermanson come into play & where Shingo might not always start the 9th. Ex. Politte vs Stewart(RH), Jones(LH), Hunter(RH). You can't user Politte for just 1AB so he's got to face Jones. Vizc vs Morneau(LH), Hermanson vs Ford(RH), Cuddyer(RH). Marte vs Mauer(LH), Shingo vs Bartlett(RH), & Rivas(RH) I hope Oz will see it the same way. Use up Vizc before Marte against the strong LH bat or to simply force that bat out of the lineup. If a LH leads off in the 9th use Marte. Keep Marte in there for each additional LH. The opposition might choose to take their chances with LH vs Marte instead of RH vs Shingo. The key guy in the bullpen is the guy who has to face both: Politte.

Halladay vs Santana: You're forgetting the biggest difference - the division they play in. When you compare Halladay's ALE #"s to Santana's, Halladay's year is much more impressive. To do what he did in the ALE was remarkable. Santana doing it in the ALC is less remarkable. Likewise I don't think it's a given Santana will outperform Halladay in 05. Halladay finally paid the price for all those IP in 04. He should be healthy for 05. Adding RJ to the AL is going to boost both road gates & TV ratings for MLB & the NYY. People who have a lukewarm interest in MLB will tune in for those matchups because of Randy's stature. Halladay vs RJ is going to be one of those matchups.

This is a brilliant idea by the Sox & the ISFA. They already have the Roberts movie with the famous cat fight scene in the bathroom. So marriage, weddings, & the Cell was already introduced to the public. This idea could actually lead to another Hollywood movie that includes a wedding at the Cell. Maybe even featuring Roberts herself. It's an idea that can't hurt & an idea that could really be embraced by Hollywood. There's nothing like the silver screen to sell your ball park

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-sox13.html They did a fairly good job outlining the pro's & con's of all the impact players. It's obvious where I disagree with them. - Pods - LF, Rowand - CF. They feel that LF is Rowand's natural position & CF is Pods. - Dye is the best fielder amongst the 3. I feel that Rowand knows the Cell more than Pods does which means he has better instincts on where the ball will drop based on the sound a hit makes, the direction & intensity of the wind, & maybe even the directions the flags are blowing. Pods has zero experience at the Cell. If he becomes acclimated to it quickly I would say his speed allows the Sox to cheat to the right & reduce the area Dye needs to cover. I would take Rowand & Pods before Dye for overall ability to make D plays. - Pods & Iggy will share the 1-2 spots. I disagree. I think Rowand has the speed, avg, & OBP to be more effective as a #2 man than Iggy. Especially when Iggy is still an unknown. I would rather have Iggy at #7 betw Uribe & AJ so that he sees good pitches & helps put good speed aboard for AJ. - Konerko just a yr removed from mediocrity. I disagree. Koney was not 100% healthy in 03. In 04' he took his best strides yet to becoming a consistent monthly force. '04: Apr 918, May 846, Jun 1010, Jul 883, Aug 778, Sep 974 compare that to his 3 yr avg: 3yr: Apr 857, May 728, Jun 937, Jul 837, Aug 864, Sep 784 His '04 year is a much more impressive pro than 03 is a con. - No one really wanted AJ. Maybe it's true but I can't think of a mgr more capable of getting the most out of him than Oz. His 77RBI at SFG should translate to 90RBI at the Cell. Assuming he has over 450AB's. I think he's going to be a very good influence on Garland. They were right on with assessing Garland. AJ should help Jon keep his focus more. -Thomas' walk yr. 3.5M buyout vs 10M (Player option) or 12M (team option). Thomas will need to produce MVP like #'s in the 2nd half to avoid having to re-negotiate a new contract with JR. I just don't see him walking .. ever. His market value seems to rise with each passing article of roids abuse by one of the other major prolific sluggers in the game. I can't not emphasize more how Thomas may be worth to the Sox organization beyond what he does on the field. In the wake of Canseco's book the book Bond's Girl is far more damaging not just to Bonds but the sport. If you believe it's credible than Barry's own words seem to imply that roids usage to quickly recover from injuries was rampant. I do believe Barry did this & I do believe many other players incl pitchers have done this as well. She mentioned acne, bloating, & rage as signs of his usage. Acne is probably the easiest to verify. There would certainly be medical records for treatments if it were that severe. If there is no prior history of it being a problem in his family or his younger life that would stand out like a sore thumb in the controversy. Do we consider it moral for a player to use it to recover injuries but immoral for a player to use it to just bulk up (like Giambi)? That's for you the fan to decide but I will say this much. People in my own family who have suffered injuries in the past few years were put on roids for a little while as treatment for recovery. It's not uncommon for the medical profession to use roids (depending on the injury of course). With respect to the Big Hurt he's always been a big man. He's no bigger today (except gut wise) than he was at Auburn. So there's no phyiscial sign of his using roids. Likewise his best numbers were in the 90's & 00 which paints a typical pattern for a traditional ML baseball slugger. As the roids & performance enhancers are weeded out of the game I think Thomas' natural production will begin to stand out over the league like it did in the 90's. Even at his late age. If I were the Sox I would start marketing him as The Big Hurt: The Natural. - Crede has to rebound. I agree. - Shingo will struggle. I agree. I don't buy into this theory that the league will have caught up with him because there's no sign of that having happened in 04. What there is however are his splits vs CLE & MIN. MIN hit nearly 300 vs him, & CLE wasn't far behind. He's going to have to pitch his best games to date to improve against them. I don't know if there is any improvement left for him. What he does have going for him his a strong pitcher's mentality that can't be overvalued. He knows how to get guys out any way he can. Unlike Garland he's not infatuated with any one pitch in his arsenal. - The other makeshift closers in the pen are not reliable. I agree with respect to Politte, & Herm but not Marte. Maybe it's just me but I expect Marte to do better vs RH in 05. I have faith in Cooper that they will look at the film over this off-season & concentrate & what caused him to become less effective vs RH. Was he tipping off his pitches? I think again AJ will have a positive influence here. For all you Nathan fans just remember the drop from Marte '03 to '04. There are no guarantees when it comes to the bullpen.

Lohse won 2.4M in arbitration but Santana is still rumored to sign a multi-year deal before his hearing date. I still can't believe Silva signed for what he did to avoid arbitration. Lohse might have more potential than most 4/5's but he's yet to show it. I'd put my $ on Garland emerging as a 2/3 before Lohse will.

Myself -> , for not knowing the unbalanced ALC schedule. @ - Away, v - Home There were a few other minor ESPN mistakes w W coast games. I got this from whitesox.com this time. 05 SOX vCLE 3, @MIN 3, @CLE 3, vSEA 3, vMIN 2, @DET 2, @KCR 3, @OAK 3, vDET 3, vKCR 3, @TOR 3, @TAM 3, vBAL 4, vTEX 3, @CUB 3, @ANA 4, @TEX 3, vANA 3, vCLE 3, @COL 3, @SDP 3, vARZ 3, vLOS 3, vKCR 3, vCUB 3, @DET 3, @OAK 3, vTAM 3, vOAK 3 All-Star Break 05 SOX @CLE 4, vDET 3, vBOS 4, @KCR 3, @BAL 4, vTOR 3, vSEA 3, @NYY 3, @BOS 3, vMIN 3, vNYY 3, @MIN 3, @SEA 3, @TEX 3, vDET 4, vKCR 3, vANA 3, @KCR 3, @MIN 3, vCLE 3, vMIN 4, @DET 4, @CLE 3 05 SOX vs ALC: 11-8 v CLE, 10-8 v MIN, 10-8 v DET, 12-6 v KCR : 43W 05 SOX vs ALW: 6-3 v SEA, 6-3 v TEX, 4-6 v ANA, 6-3 v OAK : 22W 05 SOX vs ALE: 4-2 v TAM, 5-3 v BAL, 2-4 v TOR, 2-5 v BOS, 2-4 v NYY : 15W 05 SOX vs NL: 4-2 v CUB, 2-1 v COL, 1-2 v SDP, 2-1 v ARZ, 2-1 v LOS : 11W 05 SOX: 91W Again the key is to get at OAK & DET early. We played 8 gms under 500 against both of them. There's no reason we can't make that 5 gms over 500 this year. That's a major swing. The Chi-town series will probably determine the post season for both teams this year.

ESPN -> ESPN, you're a dufus. 19 gms vs MIN, KCR. Not 18! I corrected the schedule based on expected off days. It adds two gms on the road: 1@MIN, 1@KCR. 05 SOX vCLE 3, @MIN 3, @CLE 3, vSEA 3, vMIN 2, @DET 2, @KCR 3, @OAK 3, vDET 3, vKCR 3, @TOR 3, @TAM 3, vBAL 4, vTEX 3, @CUB 3, @ANA 4, @TEX 4, vANA 3, vCLE 3, @COL 3, @SDP 3, vARZ 3, vLOS 3, vKCR 3, vCUB 3, @DET 3, @OAK 3, vTAM 3, vOAK 3 pre-AS Break 51W wCLE 9, wMIN 5, wDET 8, wKCR 9 05 SOX @CLE 4, vDET 3, vBOS 4, @KCR 3, @BAL 4, vTOR 3, vSEA 3, @NYY 3, @BOS 3, vMIN 3, vNYY 3, @MIN 4, @SEA 3, @TEX 3, vDET 4, vKCR 3, vANA 3, @KCR 4, @MIN 3, vCLE 3, vMIN 4, @DET 4, @CLE 3 pos-AS break 40W wCLE 10, wMIN 14, wDET 11, wKCR 10 Note to Sox players: Win more than 51 gms before the break. That way you won't be pressured to win in the stretch. Survive the road trip from hell. If you get swept kill MIN at home.

I'm sure AJ will have something to say about it soon enough. Just as I'm sure more than one such play will occur in 2005. I find it reassuring that Tori has us on his mind considering all the analysts have CLE as the real threat to the Twins