JUGGERNAUT

We should probably lower our expectations of Pods & SB totals overall for the Sox. The AL got stingier over the past year. Los 117 Fla 118 Det 128 Bos 123 Phi 112 Col 111 TBJ 126 Cle 117 Mil 100 Cub 108 Bal 121 Tbj 91 Nym 98 Phi 103 Bos 101 Sox 90 San 95 Hou 101 Tex 96 Nyy 90 Atl 91 Nym 100 Kan 95 Ana 87 Hou 86 Ari 97 Nyy 92 Kan 84 Ari 84 Los 96 Oak 91 Bal 82 Cin 77 Atl 91 Cle 84 Oak 74 Col 73 Mil 89 Ana 80 Min 73 Cub 70 Pitt 72 Min 70 Det 71 Fla 70 San 72 Tam 65 Tex 71 Pit 69 San 69 Sea 62 Tam 67 San 67 Cin 67 Sox 58 Sea 64 Stl 55 Mon 58 Mon 40 Stl 53 2003 1304 2004 1405 2003 1269 2004 1184 So Pods is moving from a league that gave away 1405 SB to one that only gave away 1184. About a 16% drop. Conservatively speaking we should expect no more than 58 from Pods then. I-Rod greatly improved Det in that dept. For the most part KC, Det, & Min are pretty stingy. Cle is not. Offensively, Ana led the league w 143-46 SB, Min led the ALC w 116-46. The Sox won't beat Ana but they should beat Min in this dept. The Sox were 78-51 in SB. Harris + CLee + Val = 38. Assume 88 betw Pods + Iggy + Dye so that's a +50. Good for 128 total. I would say leading the ALC in SB in a key to 2005 since we gave up a lot of power towards that goal.

There are some interesting numbers from 04 that gives us an idea of 05. Min 48SV, in 68SVO. (71%) Sox 34SV, in 46SVO. (74%) The Sox finished 9gb with 22 fewer save opps. The improved rotation & middle relief core should get us many more SVO. Min 1123K/431 BB, 1013K/Sox 527 BB. The improved rotation & middle relief core should get us more K's & less BB's.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...ex.jsp?c_id=cws Another interesting poll: 57% Absolutely!, 26% Slightly, 9% No, 9% No Way!

04: HOU 14, CUB 9, PIT 7, STL 6, ARI 6, CIN 5 = 47 SB 03: HOU 04, CUB 5, PIT 6, STL 4, ARI 0, CIN 7 = 26 SB This gives you some idea on the disparity. Definitely looks to be more attributed to change in personnel on teams than his OBP.

The MLB.com mailbag has lineups I've not seen mentioned here. LF-Pods, 2B-Iggy, RF-Dye, 1B-Koney, DH-Everett, CF-Rowand, C-AJP, SS-Uribe, & 3B-Crede. Pods & AJ are the LH. LF-Pods, 2B-Iggy, RF-Dye, DH-Thomas, 1B-Koney, CF-Rowand, C-AJP, SS-Uribe, & 3B-Crede. Pods & AJ are the LH. If Iggy struggles he'll likely swap with Uribe. That's the only likely move. What I'm most surprised at I guess is Dye remaining in the #3 spot in both scenarios. It's certainly not your avg lineup with a power guy like Crede hitting 9th. I think any team would like Rowand-AJP-Uribe-Crede as your 6-9 chain. We talk about risk w this lineup, but certainly there's no greater risk here than there was with the 04 lineup. The greatest potential for weakness is all bunched together: Crede-Pods-Iggy. That minimizes the effect of that weakness. Dye has good enough speed to where he can score from first with a long single or double from either Koney or Thomas. http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...4&&sortByStat=R We should rank in the top 5 in runs again. http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...mit&timeFrame=1 Pretty bad. With the new rotation & pen changes we should rank in the top 5. That puts us right around the 90 win mark. Need some more hope to get beyond that. The key as always is health. We're have little depth in the pen or IF so that is what must remain the healthiest. We can probably absorb a minor loss in the rotation or in the OF & still remain competitive.

Again I really think we need to look at which pitcher's he stole the bases against because that's a big factor in all of this. It could just be the change in rotations in the NLC in 04 led to many more opportunities. One thing for certain he will have a field day vs CLE. They are horrible in defending the SB. Gave up 117 last year. Worst by far in the ALC.

I won't boo unless the people around me do. Sort of like being overwhelmed. But I will heckle like "strike this greddy bastard out" or "peg him in the knee" or "play him some chin music". Not necc directed toward Maggs but rather the opposition. I can just imagine though the guys that sit behind the plate will ride his every at bat. They can get pretty loud.

Miller park is not as hitter friendly as some think. http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...5392&statType=1 344, 371, 400, 374, 345. The power alley's are good but the lines are deeper than most others. I slight advantage to RH over LH. It's pretty easy though to move the lines in & make it a hitter's park. If you look at Pods HR chart there are several borderline ones. Those are probably sure things at the Cell. Likewise some of his fly outs would clear the Cell walls as well.

This is as good a place as any to put this. This link has Maggs' breakdown for all ALC parks. It provides a nice pic of dimensions of parks. I've ranked them in order of being hitter friendly. UC http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/d...0044&statType=1 LF 330, LC 377, CF 400, RC 372, RF 335 - air flow give it edge over Kan. Kan http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/d...0044&statType=1 LF 330, LC 375, CF 400, RC 375, RF 330 Cle http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/d...0044&statType=1 LF 325, LC 370, CF 407, RC 375, RF 325 Min http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/d...0044&statType=1 LF 343, LC 385, CF 408, RC 367, RF 327 Det http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/d...0044&statType=1 LF 345, LC 370, CF 420, RC 365, RF 330 I never really noticed this before but one of the reasons we struggle so much @MIN & @DET is because it's brutal on RH's to hit a HR there. Det's LC is listed at 370 but it's a sharply defined park. There's a very small part that is actually 345. The rest begins at 370 & increases steadily to 420. Min's Left side is not much better. That might also explain why their pen is so dominant. It can build a lot of confidence playing vs RH at home.

The trade should have been centered around Lee, cash, & prospects for Hudson. But it's over now. Forget about it.

Comerica: Left-field fence, 346 feet Left-field power alley, 402 feet Center field, 422 feet Right-field power alley, 379 feet Right-field fence, 330 feet I couldn't find anything else on changes but I don't see how this will help Maggs. As a pull hitter the vast majority of Maggs HR's are on the LF side. That's where the biggest disadvantage is for a hitter in that park. That's also why LH bats are so important vs the Tigs. http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/d...0044&statType=1 The 12M figure is interesting as well. That's the guaranteed amount Maggs is playing for in 05. That might be why he mentioned arbitration. After 05 the contract is voidable for the Tigs if re-occuring knee problems should surface for Maggs.

I just want to say one more thing on the arbitration issue because this is really were the credibility factor of this debate strikes. Everything I read as far as KW quotes always mentioned arbitration as being an open option contingent on the Sox medical staff coming to the conclusion that Maggs would be ready to play come April. I never read anything that ruled that option out. KW is on record as saying that neither Maggs or his agent ever discussed or provided any records to help the Sox medical staff come to that conclusion. Now unless Maggs can provide something factual to dispute that he has no leg to stand on credibility wise to suggest that he did everything in his power to convince the Sox to offer arbitration. I'm not up to speed on the parameters of Type A arbitration which is what I think we're talking about here. That's where the team offers & if the player declines the team gets picks. Apparently the Sox had so little to go on they weren't even willing to risk the money in exchange for the picks. Who's fault is that? Maggs.

Off-topic: Calculus & really any math or science class can't just be read it must be worked. There really is no other way to learn them. I know teachers who disagree with me but I really believe that math & science take homes of this nature should be graded on pass/fail only. They would argue that all students taking such a class have equal access to internet sites & other form of outside tutor help so it's fair to assign a real grade. But I would argue that the assignment is over a break period & you should not assume that each student has equal time to share in doing the assignment. On-topic: I think better than playing Beane ball is playing Twin ball. The Twins have been a legitimate contender 4 straight years because of a dominant pen, good D, better than average rotation, & better than average offense. The Sox should not spend 80M+ until they have a dominant pen. We have a better than average pen. I don't know how you grow a dominant pen but the Twins do. Look at the turnover in their pen over that time & then look at their success. How do you pull that off? There's no formula I can think of where the Sox could keep Maggs & develop or buy a dominant pen for under 90M+. That includes trading Lee. That being the case, you have to spend less & risk more & put greater hope on potential. I think KW came to this same conclusion. I believe KW's biggest blunder this off-season was not getting Hudson. There's no reason I can think of why he couldn't build a Lee for Hudson trade to satisfy Beane. That trade fits w/in the Sox' budget. Even if it involves a 3rd team. That being said does an 05 team with Hudson, Dye, Maggs & AJP added given the Sox the edge in the division? No. Because the pen would still be below average. Revisionist history is over. Let's put our faith in KW's faith that adding Vizc & Herm will make our pen good & not just above average.

It's off-topic but let's finish it. I didn't read anything suggesting the school did not provide a tutoring resource over the summer. It's common for tutors to be available during summer school so I find that kind of odd. But let's say your assumption is right. In the absence of a resource the teacher has in effect assigned a take home test. That is likewise not uncommon in universities over breaks. It's a useful means to do skills assessment on students. Even if they seek help on thier own that process will increase their aptitude. So assigning such work is not unjustifiable. What is unjustifiable is grading that work. As long as the teacher assigns such work as Pass/Fail where as long as a reasonable effort is made to work each problem the student passes then the assignment is both reasonable & justifiable. But if the teacher assigns a grade that would impact the student's GPA then I would agree with the student's right to sue the school on that basis. No take home test should ever impact a student's GPA. Back on topic. I guess the bigger question for Sox fans is this. Let's assume Maggs accepted arbitration from the Sox at 12M. Should that have precluded the Sox from signing El Duque, AJP, or Iggy? Essentially what's being asked is whether retention of Maggs for another year justifies a mid-80's payroll. I think it does. Grant it the Sox are profiting millions were they can afford to splurge on payroll. But they are operating far below the debt level of most other teams. We don't talk about that much here & we should. The fact that they play rent free nearly every year means the only real debt they carry forward are player contracts. They don't have any players with more than 3 yr contracts so their debt level remains consistently amongst the lowest in MLB. So it's not unreasonable for Sox fans to expect a mid revenue low debt team to splurge every now & then. This decision of course has huge ramifications. Retaining Maggs does not preclude Dye from joining the Sox at 10M/2yr. That still would have been a better price than Lee & Dye is capable of playing LF as good as Lee can. So let's assume Dye still signs. Our OF then is Dye, Rowand, Maggs. What do we then get for Lee? What we should have gotten: a starting pitcher. You're just hiding your head in the sand if you don't believe Lee was not worth more than Pods, Vizc, & a PTBNL. Just look at the contracts that were signed this off-season for any RBI producing bat. A team trading for Lee gets 2 yrs at a reasonable price for a near 100 RBI player. Hudson for Lee, cash & prospects it not unreasonable when you consider what Beane eventually got for Hudson. Trading 2 yrs of Lee & prospects for 1 yr of Hudson is not a bad deal. Signing Hudson long term was not out of the question either. So now we have a rotation of Hudson, Buehrle, Garcia, Contreras, & Garland. And an OF of Dye, Rowand, Maggs & an IF of Crede, Uribe, Harris, & Koney. That probably puts us in the 70M range. Still enough left for Hermanson & AJP but not Iggy. That's a team that offensively rocks & rotation wise kicks ass and pen wise improved. All for a mid 80 price tag. Pods really needs to prove me wrong this year that KW didn't get fleeced on that trade.

Thank You. Very informative & fact based. I agree with you. His long term ability to play MLB is doubtful. But I believe Illich has structured the contract such that if he's unable to play it's voidable. Maggs will not decide. Detroit's medical staff will. That is why I say if he's cleared to play he should put up mid-800's. His knee will never be as strong as it once was & that will hurt his overall production. Detroit might even be looking at a situation where Maggs is primarily a DH 3-4 yrs down the road. The arbitration argument is interesting. As I understand even after the collision & after the first diagnosis a 58/5 deal remained on the table. That's a little under 12M a year. If I'm not mistaken a team can offer as little as 20-25% less than the previous yr's salary. That would be around 12M. Very close to the offer that was there in the summer. Should the Sox have done that? Because it's an arbitration award it's unvoidable. Whether Maggs could play or not he would have cost the Sox 12M. It's a tough call. Putting the business aside there needs to be a certain level of trust between a player & his agent & the team. I think during his time with the Sox Maggs probably earned that trust. I never heard a bad word about him until this last yr during the contract negotiations. For him to mention this it sounds like he would have accepted the offer even with it paying him less. If that's true then I don't think you can fault him or his desire to remain in Chicago & play for the Sox. If this were just about Maggs and the Sox I would say KW should have offered him arbitration. But it's not. Even with Maggs gone the Sox did a salary purge with C Lee. It's safe to say that 12M to Maggs means no El Duque, no AJP, & no Iggy. It's highly doubtful Maggs will return to a 30/300/100 form again. So it amounts to spending 12M on a player most likely to perform below C Lee's level. With the OF depth in the Sox organization I think KW made the right move.

Read your post again & then try & convince me that your tone is not sarcastic towards the approval process for healthcare goods & services in America. I noticed you didn't bother to mention a thing about the legal aspects of America's healthcare system & how that burdens the system as whole. As for medical innovation overseas I don't see one line of what I wrote that suggests anything sarcastic towards that. But since you brought it up I agree with you. America not only doesn't have a monopoly on healthcare but in many areas is falling behind other countries. Innovation is occuring in Japan at a brisk rate. As for the homework debate, I'm sorry but Calculus is not a mandatory class nor one that does not require pre-requisites. You must both apply & qualify to be admitted into the class. It's not out of the ordinary for this to happen at a university & Calculus would certainly qualify as a college-prep class. Likewise since it's just homework the teacher doesn't have to be there as long as the student as some form of tutoring available to them from the school. I know it is difficult for your personality type but do try to respond in an intelligent manner void of personal attacks. When you make such references as ignoring facts & common sense you only insult yourself. There is rarely a post made by me in this forum that doesn't include some statistical & fact based reference. Common sense is a relative term relating to the majority. Since you tend to always reject majority opinion in your posts you might want to try moral relativist thinking as a phrase instead.

That's something who is ignorant of Frank's contract history with the Sox would say. As long as Frank can get reasonable dollars to play for the Sox both him & JR will work something out. He had a better offer from the O's last time but it wasn't enough to pull him away from the Sox. You need to understand why. 1) Frank is no longer playing just for $. He is playing for the HOF & the 500 HR mark. His best chance of putting those numbers up in the AL is to remain with the Sox. 2) JR & Frank are friends beyond baseball. JR respects Frank. That's why he (NOT KW) worked a deal with Frank last time that does not require him to be a part of Soxfest. 3) Frank pulls in the fans. The fan surveys prove that many fans come out to see the Sox to see Frank Thomas. 4) Frank will not cost the Sox 12M. The player option is for 10M. Frank will take that. The only way Frank will cost the Sox 12M is if he finishes in the top 5 in MVP voting. If he does that it's hard to argue that he isn't worth 12M.

Did you bother to look at the link? Lev 1: Pods 32+ SB Lev 2: Iggy 22+ SB Lev 3: Rowand 19+ SB Lev 4: Uribe 17+ SB Now I will respond to your comments. Have you bothered to read any fantasy baseball sites? Pods: They are all indicating Pods is a must grab player because they expecting a much better year from him. 50-60SB is the floor for him. Iggy: If you bothered to look at his stats there's a pattern there. When his shoulder flares up he's good for about 20 SB's. When he's healthy he's good for over 40. The 01 = 40+, 02 = 19-20 range, 03 = 40+, 04 = 19-20 range. That would suggest to me he's due for a 40+. But I will play it safe & put him down for 25-30 SB. Rowand: If you bothered to look at his splits you can see a pace of 20-25 SB. All of the guys with speed on this team are going to be learning by watching Pods how to become better instinctive runners. Uribe: He has enough speed to steal 17+ SB. Barring injury, this team will easily lead the ALC in SB's.

Well this is the happening thread & once again I'm late to the party. Well better late than never. Obviously my comments are going to be directed mostly to Texsox who seems to want to take pot shots at the AMA & FDA in an effort to defend Maggs. But I will expand to other areas as well. Tex, there is good reason why the procedure has not been approved in the US: insufficient clinical data to warrant approval. The reason why it takes so long is because the US has more healthcare related suits filed each year than any other nation on the planet. In fact the numbers drawf all of the EU itself. We are a nation with people like you who support students who want to sue their board districts to get out of homework & sue cookie makers & fast food joints because they made them fat. So for you to suggest that it's somehow wrong for the FDA & AMA to insist on LONG-TERM clinical research before approving a drug or procedure is laughable. The reason why no other team was willing to over more than 30M/5 (The Mets best offer) & the reason why Detroit has signed him to a voidable contract if he can't play is because the procedure is controversial with little to no data supporting the long-term effects. It might just be a quick fix that will have dire consequences down the road. Not unlike procedures involving steroids. I feel no ill will toward Maggs. I am happy he's gone. I never felt he was consistent enough month to month to warrant 14M/yr. When I am paying a player double digit millions a year I expect them to produce at least a 925+ OPS each & every month. Maggs didn't do that. Like Sosa he had his power months, & then his mediocre ones. I realize the Sox are hard pressed to support a 70M+ payroll every year. The writing is on the wall when the team ranks in the bottom 10 in attendance every year. Try & keep in mind it's the local media revenue that gets shared with the rest of the league. Not the gate. That hurts the Sox probably more than any other team in MLB. The fact that Illich did this contract is really a no-brainer. On the surface it looks insane but we have to put things in perspective. His Red Wings are locked out. When they return it will come at a much lower cost. That creates an unexpected windfall of cash to burn for this owner. The signing gives them a marketable star as long as he can play well. I do believe he will play well. No where near the 15M level but if he can play he should perform on par with what he did before he was injured in 04. .302BA .357O .503S About a mid 800 OPS player. What's that worth? Another thing to keep in mind is that MLB is a financially irresponsible sports league. How many teams have really paid for signing the big FA contracts? I can't think of too many. Owners are crazy. Dumping & trading for big contracts is happening all the time. Look at how Hicks got out of the A-ROD deal. The consensus was that would never happen. As long as you have players other teams want there really is no such thing as a long-term commitment in MLB any more. There is no such thing really as a no-trade agreement. Nearly all of them now act as limited ones. No one wants to play for a team that doesn't want them any more. If Maggs can play at a mid-800 level & the Tigs still suck then Illich will be able to move the contract. Given Illich's overall situation this was a good move to make.

Forget Sweeney. 55/5 in Mar 02. A team trading for him owe's him 24/2. He's not going any where.

I've been saying this for years but no one over here seems to listen. Baseball is very big in Asia. That means Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singaport, Taiwan, China, & many other regions. It continues to grow. All of them are fans of MLB as well as Japan because they represent the best of the best. They all envision their own nations having teams of that caliber. Especially China. I predict that before the end of this decade China will be exporting MLB players to the states

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/images..._lg_532x524.gif The nostalgic selling point was that home plate of Old Comiskey is in the same spot as the Cell. The truth is that a SE orientation allowed them to make more use of the land they owned (OC) & less intrusion on the land they don't. If it had been NE then the Sox are likely looking at annexing all the property between 35th & 37th including the school. Personally I think that would have been the better way to go. South of Pershing is worse than 33rd to 35th. That state had a responsibility to provide low income housing to the people that lived there. I accept that. But I also believe the people living there would be better off north of the park. The Sox could have used all the space between 35th & Pershing for the Park & Parking. No need for Lot G. The school could have been moved to where Lot C is now & the housing between 33rd & 35th. With nothing but parking surrounding the Park it would be easily visible from the Ryan with the scoreboard facing the city. The scoreboard should have been designed so that when it "explodes" you can see the lights both in & out of the park. When people are driving along the Ryan they would be attracted to the lights from the board. With Lots directly in front of the ballpark an OF gate could be added for extra convenience for the fans. No more having to walk as far as home plate just to enter the park. Assuming the Lots would include some form of gentrification fans would have easy access from Wentworth or Pershing to the Lots with a nice theme park like setting that increases the feeling of being safe. But again this alone is not going to get you an avg of 30K a night. To do that you have to increase the size of your college enrollment substantially. I've been through this more than once. Wrigley enjoys an area surrounded by more than 30K college students year round. That comes from De Paul, Northwestern, DeVry, Wright JC, & several other extension campuses. The Cell is next to IIT which has about 5K students 4 of the 6 months of the season. In the summer it drops to about 2K. That's a huge difference. If you're going to build a new ballpark you need it to be in an area where there is a high concentration of college students. This is a no-brainer. Since politics put the Cell where it's at then politics should help bring students to that area. I don't if there is land available there but I would take what is available & use it to expand UIC. Expanding IIT is not an option because it's a private university. But building a UIC extension campus in the area would certainly help. There is need for such extension. IIT's lowest enrollment are in those areas where it has the least experience: business, liberal arts, & non-engineering disciplines. A UIC extension could bolster those depts & possibly create a cross-degree program between the two schools. That's really beyond the scope of this discussion but it's easy to say that such an extension would easily double or triple the college enrollment around the Cell. That would lead to a 30K avg a night.

The keys to this team are not individual numbers but pair numbers. It's very well balanced team. Hitting: Pods + Iggy : All we need is a 350+ OBP, & 400+ SLG avg out of this pair. I don't care if that means Pods gets a 360 & Iggy gets a 340. It's what they do as a pair that matters most. Thomas/Dye + Koney + Dye/Everett: We need a 330+ OBP & 500+ SLG avg out of this trio all yr long. Rowand + Uribe : Similar to Pods + Iggy. We do not need HR here. Getting on-base is more important. AJP + Crede : We need a 320+ OBP & 430+ SLG out of this pair all year long out of this pair. That should produce more R than the 04 team. Pitching: It's all about the losses. Min 04: Nathan+Rincon+Romero+Crain = 12L Min 04: Santana+Radke+Silva = 22L Min 04: Lohse+Mully = 22L Min 04: others = 8L That pretty much says it all. Sox 05: Shingo+Marte+Herm+Viz = 15L Sox 05: MarkyB+FreddyG+Hernandez = 22L Sox 05: Contreras+Garland = 20L Sox 05: others = 9L We need to provide a better cushion for losses due to our pen because it's not as good as Min. That cushion must come from Contreras & Garland. They are the two most important players on the team in '05. There is no margin for error with them. If they have more than 20L combined we will lose the division to the Twins. Again. This is likewise why I think KW will be open to trading both all through the season. Any upgrade here would greatly increase the Sox chances of winning the division. It would more than compensate a loss elsewhere in a trade.

Once again, if you take a conservative estimate of R & RBI production of the guys we picked up vs the guys we lost we have a deficit of about 20-25 R, & RBI. That is not a big deal. Not when the same analysis produces about 70-75 less R, RBI against us. So think of it this way. Whatever we loss offensively we gain 3 times as much defensively. Now with respect to both analysis there are wildcards. The arms we picked up did not pitch in the Cell. They can expect to do worse. The bats we picked up did not hit in the Cell. They can expect to do better. Dye: He could have an MVP type year at the cell. If you look at his hit range over he's hit many of his HR's along the lines. At 330, 335 the Cell is tailor made for him. AJP: Again should flourish in the cell. It's realistic to say that both Dye & AJP should have improved numbers at the Cell & thus improved numbers overall. That alone should make up for the calculated deficit in R, & RBI. Pods: Let me be the first to say that his drop-off from 03 to 04 had more to do with pitching changes in the NLC than anything else. Take a look: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp...=4405&teamId=16 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp...=4405&teamId=18 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp...=4405&teamId=24 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp...=4405&teamId=17 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp...=4405&teamId=23 A pattern emerges there. He is strong vs power pitchers & weaker against finesse pitchers. Maddux is the best finesse pitcher in the game. The ALC has few quality finesse pitchers. You can see this clearly in his G/F ratio. 03 Mil 628PA 247TB 2SF 8SH 4HBP 2IBB 11GIDP 204GB 148FB 1.38 G/F 04 Mil 713PA 233TB 1SF 6SH 7HBP 2IBB 7GIDP 243GB 167FB 1.46 G/F As much as we hear about him swinging for fences the truth is he generated about 25% more GB outs in 04. That's evidence of good finesse pitchers like Maddux shutting him down. The ALC has very few such arms & the AL has a whole doesn't have many. This is one of the stark contrasts between the 2 leagues right now. AL is power pitching & NL is more of a mix. I never bothered to look at Uribe's numbers that closely but I would expect it a similar pattern for him as well. NL guys who fare better against power & flyball pitchers are likely to improve in the AL. When you look at the type of pitchers Pods will face in the ALC I agree with the fantasy baseball reports that he's expected to return to a 300 hitting form. If you play fantasy baseball he would be a player you'd want to grab. Iggy: He's a complete unknown but he's had more post-season success in Japan than Katz had. I think that means something. I expect his first year to be 350+ OBP, & mid 700's SLG. A marked improvment over Harris. As for the regulars, we should expect some decline in Koney & Rowand, but some improvement in Uribe & Crede. The contribution of all 4 should be a slight decline over '04. Finally we look at DH. A healthy Everett + Thomas should have a marked improvement over last year's DH production. That's why again, assuming we remain healthy (a big IF) I think we should surpass last yr's R total.

CC 02-04: 41 SB, 24 CS MB 02-04: 10 SB, 22 CS It should be very interesting. The fastest team in the ALC vs one of the slowest teams in the ALC. Slow in both speed & quickness. The tribe is going to sorely miss Vizquel in the field, at bat, & on the base pads. He ranked in the top 5 on the team in all 3 categories. It's a shame we couldn't sign him.