JUGGERNAUT

I'm not as sold on Koney as you guys are. If he were to have a Thome like year in 05 then I would say sure lock it up to Thome prices. But I would hate to lock him up at those prices with less than Thome production. Koney's not cheap any more.

Since this is a Twin related thread let me ask this question. A cub fan I know suggested the Cub would sell-out if they moved to the burbs & into a 50K stadium. I said no. I said you have to consider that if the Cub move out another MLB team is going to want to play in Wrigley. The Cubune would have to probably sell Wrigley to the ISFA in order to get approval for their new place. That would mean the new Wrigley occupant would rent the stadium from the ISFA. With that being the case I think it's a given Selig would approve the move. Which team would move to Wrigley? I say Twins. Cubs move to Schaumburg or Addison Twins move to Wrigley & the NL Sox stay at the Cell Pitts, & Milwaukee join the AL. Rays move into Rollerdome Royals join the ALW New Cub division is: STL, Cub, Twins, Astros, Cin New NYY division is: NYY, BOS, Pitts, Bal, Tor New Sox division is: Sox, Cle, Milw, Det, Rays New Oak division is: Oak, Sea, Tex, ANA, KCR 15 in AL, 15 in NL The Cub might never win a World Series again!

He definitely gets an A. Any player still on the roster in 05 that was had from a trade in 04 has to be considered in his 05 off-season trade. Additions: Garcia, Contreras, AJP, Davis, Uribe, Hermanson, Vizc, Pods, EL-D, Dye, & Kaitou (Iggy) Subtractions: ELO, Schow, MJ, Valentin, CLee, Maggs, Olivo, Alomar, Cotts, Diaz, Miles, Rauch I think that's everybody. You have to be insane not to give him an A. He greatly improve the pitching, somewhat improved the D, & all it cost him was about 21 runs , 18 rbi from the offense. With respect to that deficit of 21 runs & 18 rbi keep in mind that does not take into consider impact of chemistry in the lineup. The Sox have a lineup that can now feature two waves of speed & power every time. Very few teams have that capability! I'll go out on a limb right now & say that if the Sox remain healthier in 05 than they were in 04 they will exceed 04 in runs & rbi. I don't think any one here would suggest they will not perform substantially better in 04 in terms of runs & rbi against. KW's off-season? We are

http://home.n00.itscom.net/kbt-t/yakyujo_p...uokad04g_e.html Dimensions LF328, CF400, RF328 As someone pointed out the walls are much higher than the Cell. Likewise they won the league title in 00, & the Japan Series in 03. I think Iggy had the series clinching HR in that series.

It's in my sig http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2004/0426/066tab_19.html

We know from the Lee trade, that if you rub either KW or Ozzie wrong just once ... you're OUTTA HERE!

The guy had outstanding numbers in 04. Only his SB's were down, but I'm reluctant to use those. But w/out question if he can hit the top 20 starters in the AL this guy is going to be huge!

Try to put this in perspective. The Sox just upgraded Harris with one of the top 20 hitmen in the PL for Japan in 04, one of the top 10 SBmen in the PL for the past 4 yrs, & one of the top 5 glovemen in the PL for the past 4 yrs. This is a major signing for the Sox!

This guy is definitely going to be hit or miss. If he's a miss he's not going to get a hit vs the top 20 starters in the AL. If he's a hit he'll be like Ichiro. The big difference betw him & Ichiro will be the power. If's he's a miss probably 15-20 HR's. If he's a hit 25-30 HR's. If you read some of the reports of his FKH games he hits most of his HR's in the corners. That place is as big as Safeco I think. With 330, 335 at the Cell he should get his share of dingers. If he's a hit he'll be rookie of the year in the AL & possibly make the all-star team. Soriano will likely get to start but Kaitou should make the team. If he's a miss he'll still be able to hit the bottom 40 starters & weaker relievers in the game equally strong vs L & R. Even as a miss he should still be an upgrade over Harris. But I just don't see any reason to think he will be a miss. SB-wise, if he matches his OBP of 04 & he remains healthy put him down for 40. Otherwise put him down for 20.

https://www.japanesebaseball.com/data/indexJBD.jsp Versus Year PA AB H 2B 3B HR TB SH SF SO BB HBP GIDP CI AVG OBP SLG Left 2002 129 114 31 5 0 5 51 1 2 23 10 2 2 \N 0.272 0.336 0.447 Left 2003 132 105 32 6 0 6 56 0 1 16 25 1 2 \N 0.305 0.439 0.533 Left 2004 127 116 33 7 0 3 49 0 2 24 9 0 2 \N 0.284 0.331 0.422 Right 2002 343 314 80 9 1 13 130 4 0 61 17 8 6 \N 0.255 0.31 0.414 Right 2003 485 410 143 31 1 21 239 1 5 65 56 13 8 \N 0.349 0.438 0.583 Right 2004 447 394 137 27 2 21 231 0 6 66 38 9 12 \N 0.348 0.412 0.586 They have his R+RBI stats at that link as well. He's avg'd (90r, 82rbi) over the last 3 yrs. Kaitou - is my nickname for Iguchi. Check out the nickname thread for the meaning.

Ok. I'm moving his splits to a stat thread I created so we can always look back at it. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...st=0&p=565843 vs L 2002 129PA .272A 0.336O 0.447S vs R 2002 343PA .255A 0.319O 0.414S vs L 2003 132PA .305A 0.439O 0.533S vs R 2003 485PA .349A 0.438O 0.583S vs L 2004 127PA .284A 0.331O 0.422S vs R 2004 447PA .348A 0.412O 0.586S

I will agree with the basic premise that if you can get a top UIF for Harris that's your best move. But I don't agree that these guys will be available. Every team in the majors is always looking for them. Healthy contributors like Graf are not always easy to find. So my premise is that if a team has one they sure as hell aren't going to part with the guy for a trade centered around Harris. The Sox are likely to sign a UIF as a FA after ST. There will be several that might look good but for some reason won't make their team's roster & might be out of options. That's why knowing Beane I can even see him giving KW a call & pitching Bradford for Harris & a PTBNL. Beane enjoys trading with us

But Willie's not just a 2B. He's also a reliable OFer. That opes the door to more possibilities for a trade. There are also solid relievers available. Consider this: Harris + PTBNL (the Sox depth you mentioned incl Adkins) for Bradford (A's). Oakland saves $, & gets two cheap above average players in return. Beane always seems to know more about our talent then we do so I'm sure he would know which PTBNL to pick to make the trade worth his while.

Ok, let me just sum it up clearly. With Kaitou now signed here's our remaining deficit in production: 21r, 18rbi. When you consider our gains in pitching that's negligible. This is a far better team than 04 & it now challenges the 2000 & 2003 teams.

Without Frank: LF Podsednik - great speed 2B Iguchi - great speed RF Dye - above avg 1B Konerko - slow DH Everett - below avg CF Rowand - good speed SS Uribe - good speed C Pierzynski - slow 3B Crede - below avg With Frank: LF Podsednik 2B Iguchi DH Frank - below avg 1B Konerko RF Dye CF Rowand SS Uribe C Pierzynski 3B Crede There is no need to drop Uribe down because you have great speed at the top. Uribe ahead of AJ reduces GIDP's by AJ. Crede is mostly a FB hitter so it doesn't matter much for him. That's a great lineup because you have 2 solid waves of speed followed by power.

I think Willie will be traded for another RP. My reasoning is that numbers wise there is great separation still from Adkins to Politte in the pen. He is the weakest link. Wille should be able to fetch the Sox a player as good or better than Politte. That would make for one of the strongest pens in MLB. No real weaknesses. You can not build a roster on the expectation that someone goes down. You have to assume the guys you sign or going to be healthy. You plan for contingencies with your farm system & your team's ability to make a quick trade. That will be there most of the year for the Sox with so many 2B dangling on the trade wire: Castillo, Polanco, & Boone to name a few. As most of you have said the greatest need is a solid SS backup to Uribe. It's a dire need. Kaitou has played SS in his career but not since the shoulder surgery. It doesn't mean he can't play it. Since 2000 the FKH SS was a solid player as well. It might just have been the best fit for the team. But I would prefer a solid backup SS like Larkin because then if Crede struggles (again) Uribe can move to 3B & Larkin can take over SS. With a solid backup SS you cover both the need to spell Uribe & insurance vs Crede. One last note. If you think about the history of the White Sox since the inception of the closer in baseball haven't we always gone crazy over these guys? I know I did. Gossage, Thigpen, & Foulke to name a few. Even when Marte was closing. If a guy gets it done we go bonkers for him. We love a good closer. We appreciate a good closer. We're not Cub fans.

I couldn't find one. This is a reach for Hawk but I like satto. It means quickly or suddenly. Another such term with the same meaning is ikinari. It might be more suitable because of Ig & Ik. For a team that had a total of 78 SB's last year his 30 SB avg over 4 seasons makes that his most distinguishable feat in his 1st year. Something related to that is a good name. The more common one's are kaitou & shinobi. Both refer to sneaky thief. Kaitou is my favorite in that regards because it's mysterious or phantom in nature. Shinobi implies stealing into so it might be a better baseball analogy. Summary: sattou/ikinari - quickly/agile kaitou/shinobi - sneaky/mysterious theif - base stealer I think when he's on base this year I'll yell out Kaitou!

Now that Iggy's been signed we shall see

Whoa! sportsdaily reports the Marlins have yet to offer a 4th year. It's believe there will be a 4yr option but as it stands now there are two offers remaining on the table: O's at 30M/3, & Fish at 36M/3. The Fish offer includes quite a bit of deferred money making the two offers close. The Mets say they are still in it but it looks doubtful. The Rangers are out. Even though they were the first to offer 48M/4 they made it clear Texeira was the 1B & Delgado would be the DH. He said no thanks. Delgado had made it clear he wants to play for a contender. I think that makes the O's doubtful & keeps the Mets alive. The O's are being used just to get a 4th yr option out of the Fish. Does trading Castillo drop the Fish from contending? I don't think it does. There are plently of teams with quality 2B that might be willing to take on the 16M/3 contract. The Fish would still save $ w/out giving up too much in quality. I wouldn't put it past the NYY$ to fashion a deal centering around Womack to get Castillo. They've got even in the budget for that.

I'm trying to keep all the stat related posts in one thread. That why I can easily reference them & link to them. It's far better than having them floating all over the place never to be seen again. I think the title of the thread makes it clear that this is a stat related thread. Don't be hating.

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/all/news.jsp?news=sports&an= - Let's not forget this link for the future as we continue to build our asian street sox. Well now we can pc the two together. 5.85 - 4.6 would suggest he's got 1.25M in related incentive bonuses. It's a good move on both KW & Iguchi's part. If he reaches those incentives he'll earn more than he would in Japan. If he doesn't he'll earn slightly less. More importantly if he reaches those incentives he sets the table for himself w endorsements. Much more than he could hope to earn in Japan in that respect. I am still cautiously optimistic though because his SB #'s were down in 04. That's indicative of his 02 season were again he was suffering shoulder problems. The good news is that he really bounced back in 03 so maybe he will do the same in 05. I agree #2 is his spot to lose. The numbers are just ! A healthy Pods + Iggy = 110 SB's. That's 32 more than the entire Sox team in 04. All from 2 guys! No matter how you slice or dice this, a below average Iggy is better than an average Harris. Now I can go attack the Castillo threads again

With respect to these mega deals it is true that they are guaranteed but typically at least 75% of the contract is insured at a cost of 20-25%. It's insane. The Orioles I believe are still paying for Albert Belle.

Latest rumor out of the Denver Post: Sosa + 9M for Cliff Floyd. That reduces Sammy's price to 27M/2 yr or just under 14M/yr for the Mets. That reduces Floyd's price to 21M or just under 11M/yr for the Cubs. With the Mets out of the Delgado bidding this is likely going to happen. I suspect the Cubs will throw in 1-2M more in exchange for a PTBNL.

None of you listen to what Ozzie says. Do you? Ozzie has repeatedly stated NO SKIPPED STARTS! As long as all 5 starters remain healthy & effective they will all get a scheduled start every 5th day. This is going to considerably reduce the load on Mark & Freddy. They will have several 5 day rest periods between starts throughout the season. Ozzie has a target of 200-210 ip for each starter & an avg of 33 starts. Mark should be fine. Hernandez is the biggest risk. I hope Ozzie changes his mind.

The Sox have 2 more areas to upgrade : UIF & 6th pen guy. I can see Harris being traded for the 6th pen guy. You're not looking for a major upgrade here. Just someone better than Adkins. Harris should get us that. As for the UIF KW will be able to pick over the best from the Sox & the best from other teams once rosters are cut to 25. So don't get bent out of shape. With both Iguchi & Uribe for your mid IF you can afford to replace one of them with a weaker bat when they sit. To think the signing of Iguchi makes the Crede the weakest link.