JUGGERNAUT

Trade bumps: Katz & the O's have yet to agree upon an '06 salary. Sosa is guaranteed 21.5M w the 4.5M buyout for '06. As fas as the MLBPA is concerned as long as Sosa's net salary is higher than 21.5M over the 2 yrs Sosa is free to negotitate & restructure a new contract. Settling for 10M in '06 would fit that. The O's likewise have expressed a desire to have Farns in the trade. The Tigs & BorASS are clsoe on $. Somewhere betw 11-13M/yr. But far apart on years. The Tigs have offered 5yrs & he wants 7. Unbelievable. All for a guy who has not picked up a bat in 8 months.

Chinatown is a myth. I read an article not to long ago that most Chinatowns are a collaboration of asian cultures: Japanese, Korean, Pacific Islanders, etc. The so-called Chinatowns were built during the railroad days when many Chinese were imported as indentured servants over 100 yrs ago. The other myth is that only Japanese asians follow Japanese baseball. Many Koreans, Taiwanese, Thailanders, & other asian nations follow Japanese baseball. Finally, a much better measure of how many asians are living in Chicago is television. There are at least 2 asian UHF stations in the Chicago area. Mostly geared toward Korean speaking persons, but likewise featuring Chinese-Mandarin & some Japanese. That would suggest to me the overall asian population for that audience is several 100,000. Including some of WI, & IN.

Are his road splits really that bad? I can understand a loss of HR power but what about overall hits?

QUOTE: Although Harris doesn't wish any ill will to his teammates, a slow start from Joe Crede, who hit .239 in 2004, could temporarily move Juan Uribe to third, Iguchi to shortstop and Harris back to his familiar infield slot. That is the most important part of this article. If the Sox see Iguchi as depth for Uribe at SS then the need for a UIF is greatly diminished. Crede is a Boras player so if Iggy is capable of playing SS, the 2006 Sox might be Uribe at 3B, Iggy as SS, Harris at 2B. Then again if I can get Farns for him I would probably make the trade.

Fan backlash has killed the original 10 player LA deal for RJ & any Mets for Sosa deal. I'm sure it will kill this as well. I do not rule out Santana playing for the Sox. Though it's likely he will be a NYY the Sox are capable of bidding for his services. A LH Cy Young winner is worth the inflated $.

20-25/3. That's his maximum value. A 17 Lee, Carlos CHW R 103R 180H 31HR 99RBI 11SB 54W 310TB 591AB .891 OPS A 18 Konerko, Paul CHW R 84R 156H 41HR 117RBI 1SB 69W 301TB 563AB .894 OPS Lee is a much better runner so he's able to stretch more 2Bers. Koney's a better HR hitter so he's able to get more RBI's. Overall they compare favorably to one another.

I won't refer to the article because again it's pro-Cub & con-Sox. But I will say this much about both: Sox - KW should have gotten more for Lee. Lee was our most productive bat in 04. But he didn't get fleeced & the potential is there for grealty filling 2 pressing needs. So on the Lee trade I give KW a C. But just about everwhere else I give him an A. Rotation make-over: Garcia over ELO El-Duque over Schoen Contreras over Garland Garland over Grili Any one who can not see how much of a substantial upgrade that is has to be blind. The Sox have a rotation that should produce 70-75 wins alone on the strength of quality & dominant starts. Pen makeover: Hemanson over MJ Vizcaino over Diaz/Munoz/Cotts With the addition of Iguchi the 05 makeover for the offense has barely skipped a beat in power while greatly improving in speed, consistency, & obp. How can you not be optimistic? The other thing the con article fails to mention is the Sox had 1 healthy yr in the last 5 (03). Bad luck has followed the team. Hopefully the luck of the forest green irish will send it away. Cub - They lost their most productive hitter of 04 (like the Sox) & replaced him with squat. The Sox had least replaced Lee with Pods. A guy who had a career yr in 02. They are pinning thier hopes on a SS who is expected to have no more than 400 ab's. They still are stuck with the bad chem of Sosa who has yet to apologize to either his mates or his fans. They have no proven closer. Either in the MLs or in Japan. The Sox have 3 guys with more closer experience than the Cub. Their rotation consists of 3 health marks, a Cy Young candidate, & fluke. Who expects Rusch to pitch as well in 05? I don't. Prior, Wood, & Maddux are all high risks & good odds to sit on the d/l for some stretch of the season. Did STL get weaker? Sure they lost Renteria, but didn't they also gain Mulder? If he's healthy they still have a team capable of winning 100 gms. Something the Cub is not. Astros are probably out of it, but the Cub will face tougher competion for the WC from most in the NLE, & most in the NLW. If I were a Cub fan, I would be saying who is going to make up Alou's production? The Cub are one of the slowest teams in the MLs. They can't win w/out the big hit.

I think we obsess too much over what other's think. I like what KW has done. I just think we should have gotten more for Lee. Kolb + Pods.

Why keep Grili on the 40 man? He had no chance to make the 25 man. There was no way Harris was going to be dropped from the 40 man. Despite what many of you might think Harris is too valuable a talent to simply give away. So they need at least ST to evaluate whether Iggy is a boom or a bust or something in between.

Even if they have seen medical reports Maggs hasn't swung a bat since June. It would be extremely foolish of the Tigs to sign hm to a 70/5 deal that was guaranteed. I am sure there are clauses based on ab's per year that drastically change the value of the contract. That would be the smart thing to do if you are trying to assume a risk other's are not in order to lock him up. Personally I wouldn't do it. Or I would like it to a successful ST for him. Boras has refused repeated work outs since Dec. He refused most medical report requests until just this month. It's safe to say Maggs has has little to no baseball activity for the past 8 months. Knee injuries are the hardest to come back from. They usually mean more down time for yrs to come. Thomas has been lucky in that respect. There's no guarantee Maggs will come back at play at an all-star level. I liken this situation to Gonzo. All the talent in the world, but when he got hurt he was never the same again. His back continued to bother him & kept him sidelined most of the time.

Gooch is too American sounding. Does anyone have a complete list of Hawk nicknames for the team?

Overall I think it's a good ad but I don't like two things: - The reference to battery & use of force. It's just has an inappropriate feeling to it. - He should have included the A's & Cubs in the opposition list. Did we have market Harris?

I agree that it has more to do with the CBA expiring after the 2006 season than anything else. In addtion they have several ml talents expected to make it on the Sox by 2007. As long as Thomas maintains a 900+ OPS he's going to be on this team. It's just a matter of how much he'll be playing for. I don't see the Sox ever buying him out. I expect them to renegotiate an extension before that happens.

If the Sox win 15+ in April local news will take notice. If the Sox win 15+ in May ESPN will take notic. If the Sox win 15+ in Jun the World will take notice. I expect nothing less.

There's nothing to really substantiate a 70/5 deal. They keep making a comparison to the I-ROD deal & that was 40/4. The article does make mention that it will not be a guaranteed contract. It's tied to his ability to play. If he can't play the value is greatly diminished. I hope he does sign with them. I feel he'll be an albatros around the Tigs. 02-04: Comerica .306A, .359O, .403S, 72AB, 0HR He still should hit for a high average, but his power will be way down. It's definitely park related because he has good #'s vs DET arms: 02-04: DET arms .308A, .377O, .514S, 6HR, 146AB

Suggestion: Most other forums I've visited have a policy where if you have donated $ to the site you allowed to included ad links in your signature. Otherwise it's a forbidden action.

Farnsworth was mentioned in a potential trade w the O's centered around Sosa. If they are willing to toss him in a trade to get rid of a cancer then they might be open to trading him for something they need like Harris.

Those were the biggest mover & shakers in terms of overall $ spent, so I'm not surprised. Keep in mind Stark is only looking at the winter signings. He's not considering that the Sox have a multi-year rotation in Buehrle, Garcia, Hernandez, & Contreras. It's probable that Garland will remain as well.

I don't put any stock in this whatsoever. Hitting fastballs is about bat speed. Iguchi could not put up the numbers he did in Japan in a pitcher's park w/out having good bat speed. I expect him to jump out quickly in AZ. He should finish strong in that exhib series with the Brewers but then struggle against CC & Westbrook. It's a tough opening month but I think he'll find his click vs the bottom of rotations in the first month.

I haven't heard or read any news with respect to steroid usage there. I imagine it's because the player salaries are no where near MLB. The min salary here is like the average there. I don't think it will every be an issue either because most of the players are shorter than 6 ft. I'm sure they take speed just like the MLers do but that's probably where it ends. Overall I think I read somewhere that the lowest payroll in the MLs still beats the highest payroll in Japan. With the bottom feeders of the MLs though you never can tell.

Farns costs 2M now. Uggh. It's not so easy a decision any more. Lock's for bench: Timo, Gload, Davis, <opening>, <part opening> When Thomas returns Everett takes over the part opening, so that leaves one spot & that's reserved for the best MIF the Sox can find. It's not going to be Harris. If we can still play Harris in AAA then I would say let him occupy the temp spot. Even if he's out of options I think a player can still accept a ml contract. If he has no intention of playing in AAA then you have to trade him. Keeping him on the bench all yr long is not an option.

2M? Crap! I didn't know he got that much of a raise. For what? MLB is out of whack. The guy has a much worse yr than 03 & he get's better than a 30% raise.

I agree. Trade Harris for Farns.

Pay attention Ozzie: Hernandez did rescue the Yankees' season by going 8-2 with a 3.30 ERA in 15 starts. He also wore down, though, and gave the Yankees only five so-so innings in October.

With respect to that list, I think you should disregard most of those years. The game has changed. Off-seasons were never as big as they are now. 2002 Angles 999 k's 1995 Indians 926 k's In both those years phenomenal hitting overcame the weakness in power pitching. But that's 2 out of the last 9 years. That strongly suggests that to win a World Series you need at least one guy to become a light's out pitcher. Beckett was that guy in 03, & probably Schilling & Foulke combined for that in 04. Even if that 02 season where the Angels didn't have a starter like that they did have F-Rod & he was light's out in the pen. If I'm not mistaken the Tribe had some light's out guys in their pen as well. In the modern game you can not win a series on phenomenal hitting alone. You have to have dominant pitching coming from someone in the rotation or someone in the pen or both.