JUGGERNAUT

In CINN: Scoring Summary Top 1st: Chi Cubs -C. Patterson homered to deep right (BOOOOOOOOOOO!) Top 3rd: Chi Cubs -M. Alou doubled to left, M. Grudzielanek, C. Patterson and S. Sosa scored (BAH!) Bot 3rd: Cincinnati -D. Jimenez singled to center, R. Freel scored, J. Castro to third (WOOF!) -B. Larkin grounded out to second, J. Castro scored, D. Jimenez to second (YO!) Top 4th: Chi Cubs -K. Wood singled to shortstop, M. Barrett scored (PUFF!) Bot 5th: Cincinnati -S. Casey doubled to deep center, D. Jimenez and B. Larkin scored (COOL!) K. Wood 5.0 5 4 4 3 6 0 7.20 (COOL!) C. Lidle 5.0 6 5 5 1 4 1 9.00 (BOO!) WP - K Wood. HBP - C Patterson (by C Lidle). Pitches-strikes - K Wood 95-63; C Lidle 79-48 Ground balls-fly balls - K Wood 7-3;C Lidle 7-4; Batters faced - K Wood 23; C Lidle 23 Bummer .. 6-4 now on an E7.

Scoring Summary: 2ND IN: -P Konerko doubled to deep right center, F Thomas and C Lee scored. -S Alomar Jr homered to left, P Konerko scored. Chicago Sox 4, Kansas City 0 -B Santiago grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, J Gonzalez scored, K Harvey out at second. Chicago Sox 4, Kansas City 1 4TH IN: -C Lee homered to left center. Chicago Sox 5, Kansas City 1 IP H R ER BB SO HR PC-ST ERA M Buehrle 4 4 1 0 0 1 0 50-28 0.00 B Anderson 4 6 5 5 0 4 2 77-47 11.25

For those who are late .. Top of the 2nd inning -F Thomas singled to left. -C Lee singled to left, F Thomas to second. -P Konerko doubled to deep right center, F Thomas and C Lee scored. -J Crede struck out looking. PK picks up 2 RBI ... 2 RUN SHOT BY SANDY ALOMAR! SOX 4-0 over KC! 2 outs, top 2nd. Ozzie at the last second swapped Olivo with Alomar!

NL East: Philadelphia Atlanta Florida NY Mets Montreal NL Central: Houston Chicago St. Louis Cincinnati Pittsburgh Milwaukee NL West: San Francisco San Diego Arizona Los Angeles Colorado WC: Chicago MVP: Jim Thome CY: Randy Johnson ROY: Adam LaRoche ______________________________________ AL East: NY Yankees Boston Toronto Baltimore Tampa Bay AL Central: Chicago Minnesota Kansas City Detroit Cleveland AL West: Anaheim Oakland Seattle Texas WC: Boston MVP: Vlad Guerrero CY: Curt Schilling ROY: Joe Mauer __________________________________ NL Divisional: Philadelphia over sCrubs 3-2 Houston over San Francisco 3-0 AL Divisional: Anaheim over Boston 3-1 NYY over Chicago 3-1 NL Championship: Houston over Philadelphia 4-2 AL Championship: NYY over Anaheim 4-3 World Series: NYY over Houston 4-2

I love to see the enthusiasm! Where's the PTC thread? GO SOX !!!!

The reasons to vote for Bush are obvious (Is America safer since 9/11). But there are other reasons that are not obvious: 1) The Dems continue to point to the deficit Bush has built for they fail to mention the deficit is a direct result of increased spending on fighting terrorism. This is what I will call a temporary discretionary spending item. It's not a new program that the rest of Congress get slice up to get their pork. 2) He mentioned steroid use in his state of the union address. This is not just a MLB issue. The lastest data suggests 4% of HIGH SCHOOLERS are now taking steroids or HGH. One can only wonder what the usage is in college. I think it was very responsible for Bush to be the front runner in opening the national debate & bringing national awareness to what is becoming a very BIG problem. I still shake my head when I see Dems criticize him for this. 3) Prescription drug care coverage: Yes it might bankrupt Medicare sooner but the bottom line is that Bush just signed land mark legislation that will reduce the cost of prescription drugs for seniors. No matter how you slice it seniors will keep more of their money as a result of Bush's leadership. As for bankrupting Medicare, 10 yrs sooner is going to mean much. Medicare is like a broken cow feeding flies, lizards, crows, etc. It's so sick, that the sooner we put it out of it's misery the better. Without question, I see Medicare being replaced by government healthcare. In the last 4 administrations this issue has been debated & that debate grows stronger. It's inevitable though Canada will slow the rate at which America changes. 4) Tax cuts. No matter what you say about it, Bush's tax cut meant every person who pays taxes benefited. Three things Bush can do to win in a land slide: 1) Outsourcing - make it less attractive for corporations. Balance Corporate income vs payroll when it comes to taxes. Introduce a scaled tax rate system for corporations similar to what exists for individuals. To offset the higher tax rates, allow corporations to deduct payroll taxes on their income taxes. The net effect of this change would be to lower taxes on those corporations that employ more US workers & raise taxes on those corporations that employ little to no US workers. 2) Explain the complexity of intelligence gathering to the American people. Let them know the truth that intelligence is still for the most part dependent upon human intelligence. Human intelligence can be bought & sold to provide truth or lies. Actions as a result of intelligence gathering are always going to be hit/miss. There are no guarantees. 3) Make trade with Canada more effective. Canada's socialist government with price controls provides a tremendous opportunity for America to pressure american companies without the need for legislation. Canadianpharmaciesonline.com is an example of this. These are Canadian companies setup in the US offering drastic reductions on drug sales on-line. They can offer such drastic price reductions as a result of Canadian legislation. The US should expand NAFTA to essentially grey the borders when it comes to healthcare. The arguments about the FDA having to approve all these Canadian drugs is very weak. Most of the drugs supllied to Canada are already FDA approved. What these Canadian companies are doing is essentially re-importing goods back to the US at a discount price. In other words, American drug manufacturers provide drugs to Canada at drastically low prices because of the price controls. Canadian companies are now buying those same drugs at very low prices in Canada & re-importing them into the US at much lower prices than what the American manufacturers offer. Now this is happening today without any new legislation by the government. It's happening because of the internet. New legislation would allow it to happen outside of the internet. American companies have no real choice in the matter. It's said that they would stop supplying Canada at those prices if this re-importation would expand. But that's such an empty threat considering the profit they make, the number of drug suppliers, & most importantly the fact that the Canadian govt controls the drug patents. The bottom line is that if the American companies want to stop supplying Canada, Canada has many avenues to maintain their supply. I think this is a great tool for America to use to improve American life without legislating a socialist agenda. Canada & America would form a symbiotic trade relationship benefical to both. Reasons to vote for Kerry: If he ever mentions the 3 things above, I might have some. But right now his ideas sound pretty dumb.

ST does not support trading Koch. He had a slew of games were he did not surrender any runs. More importantly he recorded his first save in ST of a close game. With respect to Slownerko, no trade is going to free the SOX from 8MIL. Either the SOX will pick up the same/more salary in the trade, or the SOX will pay a substantial amount to pick up a prospect. Again the Dodgers come to mind. If I were KW this is the trade I'm pushing for: Slownerko + 8 MIL -> LAD Perez + 4 MIL, prospect -> SOX espn.com: Odalis Perez: Pitching VS. LEFT: .201 / .583 VS. RIGHT: .284 / .798 HOME: .215 / .606 AWAY: .297 / .836 Perez has superb stuff. His fastball routinely reaches the low 90s and tails off as it nears the plate. Righthanded hitters who try to pull this pitch usually end up with a 6-3 on the scorecard. He complements the heater with a fine changeup and curveball that has a nice downward slope. Essentially the SOX pick up a decent LH & a prospect for the same price they are paying Slownerko. LA has some fine pitching prospects for the SOX to choose from. Pressure building on LA Dodgers: General maanger Paul DePodesta hasn't added a power hitter to the offense, but according to the Los Angeles Daily News, it's not for lack of trying. "You don't see a whole lot of trades going on around the game right now, certainly not with everyday, middle-of-the-lineup kind of players," DePodesta told the newspaper. "Teams aren't looking to give anybody like that up before the season begins. If it's somebody who would be a middle-of-the-lineup guy for us, he's probably somebody else's middle-of-the-lineup guy, too." DePodesta said there are no "untouchables" on the roster but implied (without using any names) he would be hesitant to deal some players. Clearly when KW signed Slownerko to the latest contract he had faith in him. So to say it's not easy to part with him is an understatement. One big year by Slownerko & Williams looks brighter than he does now. But as time grows short for the Dodgers & with new ownership not willing to accept a 4th place finish in a very competitive division the deal must be looking better & better for KW to have made that statement.

This morning admist the scandal facing Israel's administration we now know that Israeli Intelligence was convinced that Saddam had WMD's. Before we debate whether WMD's will ever be found in Iraq, let's keep in mind that Iraq is a BIG country with lots of places to bury things. What we know is that Saddam has used chemical/bio WMD's on Kurdish rebels in the past. This is an indisputable fact. Now, let's put that debate aside for a minute because there is a MUCH more important one that without question has made America safer since 9/11. That debate is about Libya. Today we also learned that Israeli intelligence was clueless on Libya's WMD program. Now I'm focusing on Israeli intelligence because this is considered the leading intelligence agency in the world today. Libya's WMD program was/is a fact. It was a surprise to the US, Britain, & Israel as to how far along it was. It not only included bio/chem WMD's but also missile/nuclear. It is also a fact that Libya surrendered it's WMD program as a direct result of the Iraqi war & the swiftness in which Saddam's regime was defeated. It does not surprise me that congress does not want to mention this in either party because the last impression they want to give is that the best defense is a strong offense. But the facts are clear on this subject. Likewise, the cooperation now coming from Pakistan is not only helping to defeat Al-Queda but MORE importantly diffusing the battle that was waging between Pakistan & India. This is arguably MORE important than N Korea because both of these countries are nuclear powers both in defense & industry. Pakistan & India relations are better than they have been in the last 20 yrs as a result in US involvement in aligning itself with Pakistan for the hunt for Bin Laden. Finally, let's not forget that the Clinton administration is directly to blame for N Korea's nuclear program. This administration took a prevent style defensive measure in beleiving that if it gave up yardage it would prevent a score. Unless you have HIGHLY disciplined players, the prevent is a like plugging a dam with a finger to keep it from bursting. Needless to say, the tough stance that Bush has taken has N Korea leaning to making a similar decision like Libya. So in my opinion the facts of the matter clearly indicate America is safer since 9/11.

This has to be Paul Konerko. A 308 AVG, 388 SLG is not getting it done. This is reflected in just 19 TB. In comparison Thomas has a 368 AVG, & a 711 SLG. Of the 9 position players slated to start & ride the bench right now, the two worst in SLG % are Slownerko (388) & Olivo (387). At this point if KW can get anything in return for Slownerko trade him. I'm sick of his sorry arse streaks.

Well more facts have surfaced & now I really question Red Sox management. I think it was a matter of the team thinking they could sell A-Rod to a major reduction. As I understand, A-Rod was willing to lop off 25-35 million off his contract to be a Red Sox. This of course made Boras unhappy but he just wanted to be done with this. That would have enabled the Red Sox to meet Hicks demands of paying 20mil towards Manny's contract. The union came back & offered a 13 million reduction in exchange for Red Sox logo rights in merchandising for A-Rod. The Red Sox emphatically said no. What surprises me about this is that this was not deferred money. The Red Sox were seeking to reduce the overall value of the contract. The 13mil was not deferred either, but the union felt the logo rights would make up the difference when A-Rod markets himself as a Red Sox. Of course the union did add the stipulation that A-Rod could become a FA after 2005. It's that last part that has me really scratching my head with Red Sox ownership. Did the Red Sox not put Manny Ramirez on waivers a few months back? We're they not willing to part with his talent & receive nothing in return for the sake of saving 97.5 mil? Yet here they have a chance to get A-Rod for as low a minimum of 2 yrs at a cost of 60mil (payment to Rangers incl) for that same player & they turn it down. I don't think they realize what's at stake. They need to come up with a min of 50MIL to re-sign Nomar & Pedro if they can't dump Manny. The A-Rod trade makes sense because you get Manny's production at Nomar's position. A-Rod is in his prime & Manny is tailing. So here's the way the Red Sox should have looked at this from the start. To keep both Manny + Nomar will cost 35mil. To get A-Rod will cost 30mil. I even heard that the Rangers were willing to accept only 10mil+Manny, which would drop the cost to 27mil. Getting someone to play LF better than Manny & match Nomar's RECENT production will cost a few mil a yr. So trading for A-Rod saves the Red Sox a little more $ in the future. Not making the trade means putting Manny on waivers every yr for the next 5 in hopes that someone will pick up a 20MIL DH/LF. I really think this is Boston's last change to dump the worst contract in MLB & if they don't do it, you could see an Albert Belle think happening before the contract ends.

It's always the same with SOX fans: look for the negative. What the hell does Rotoworld know? How many games as that guy seen of Lee's play to evaluate him? Not to mention, his belief that his RISP numbers were fluke is pure bull. I've posted the situational for Lee the past 3 yrs. Every yr he's improved. You would have to belief that with a commitment of 15/2 & even better 23/3 to Lee that the SOX will work much harder with him in the offseason to improve vs LH pitchers & NL pitchers. If you bother to look at the details of his stats, he already crushes most RH pitchers. So it's not a question of talent. As Brandon said he should be much better against LH. So it's either mental or something with his vision. Either way, I'm sure the SOX will help him out. I read in the Sun-times today, that Kenny had teams practically lining up to trade for Lee after his 2003 season. There was even a reference that Lee would command more talent from the Dodgers in a trade than Maggs. So clearly many other teams see Lee in a different light than you do. By the way Kenny's response every time was he is not interested in trading the 27 yr old.

Was his performance vs LH's an aberration in 2003 or is it systemic? 03: 165 ab, 59 tb, 20 r, 20 rbi, 274 obp, 358 slg 02: 112 ab, 50 tb, 14 r, 13 rbi, 400 obp, 446 slg 01: 115 ab, 40 tb, 16 r, 12 rbi, 302 obp, 348 slg 00: 098 ab, 50 tb, 28 r, 18 rbi, 371 obp, 510 slg His 2000 numbers are pretty good, but my guess is there are certain LH's that own him. I forgot a VERY big stat for Lee: 01-03 vs MIN 345 obp, 576 slg. Best on the team. Some other ALC worthy stats: vs MIN Santana : 14 ab, 400 obp, 714 slg vs MIN Lohse : 29 ab, 438 obp, 828 slg vs MIN Radke : 47 ab, 333 obp, 511 slg vs CLE Sabathia : 22 ab, 460 obp, 545 slg Ok, it's obviously not all LH's so it must be certain ones. vs DET Maroth: 16 ab, 619 ops vs KC Anderson: 18 ab, 261 ops vs KC May: 12 ab, 583 ops vs KC Affelt: 9 ab, 384 ops It's not all LH's but a pattern emerged in 2003: Teams with strong LH pitching weakened Lee. vs ANA: 30 ab, 656 ops vs LAD: 13 ab, 539 ops vs NYY: 25 ab, 616 ops vs OAK: 36 ab, 549 ops vs SFO: 10 ab, 533 ops His 3 yr splits: vs LH 0392 ab, 50 r, 45 rbi, 700 ops vs RH 1281 ab, 207 r, 232 rbi, 858 ops Well, let's be honest. If he ever learns to hit LH's as well as he hit's RH's his price will be well beyond the means of this team

QUOTE: Do you honestly think Lee with utterly average speed, excessive weight and (prior to 2003) bad instincts is = anything close to 18 steals in 21 attempts again in 2004? He does not have average speed. If you watch the games, you know that at a decent weight (like in 2003) he has deceptive speed. With longer legs he has a greater potential for SB's than Maggs. So as long as his weight remains decent I do believe he has 20SB potential next year. QUOTE: He is an 814 career OPS LF'er with average defense, I am so sick of the career stats! These are young players that are expected to show improvement over the years. So what's important is not the number but the progression of the number. As for the average defense I disagree. It's clear that the one year was an aberration & last year most of us who watched & attended the games believed he was the most improved defender. He made some spectacular catches. He has a rare combination of size & speed to do so. A 978 fldg pct in 323 TC is above average. And btw, this is the SOX remember. We take things 1 yr at time. So I consider Lee at 6.5MIL for 2004 reasonable. Again what do you think he's arbitration value would have been considering he was the best offensive player on the team in 2003?

I always show both sides of the story. Lee clearly needs to improve vs LHs. vs LH: 218 av, 274 obp, 358 slg, 165 ab vs RH: 317 av, 388 obp, 518 slg, 458 ab Situational OBP, SLG: 2003 NON: 325, 458 RON: 339, 554 RSP: 378, 654 **** best on the team (runners in scoring pos) R2O: 390, 704 **** best on the team (runners in scoring pos, 2 outs) C&L: 239, 360 - close & late. He had the most ab's & failed to produce. Still he produced 32 TB with those numbers & that ranks 4th on the team. Situational OBP, SLG: 2002 NON: 349, 466 RON: 373, 507 RSP: 367, 525 R2O: 383, 642 C&L: 388, 429 Situational OBP, SLG: 2001 NON: 289, 402 RON: 358, 548 RSP: 355, 527 R2O: 316, 500 01 C&L: 341, 607 Situational OBP, SLG: 2000 NON: 366,533 RON: 321, 429 RSP: 320, 444 R2O: 275, 333 00 C&L: 355, 485 Look at his improvement in RSP & R2O over the years! Proof positive that Lee might be the best GRINDER & CLUTCH player on the team.

Finally! Yessssssssssssssss! I don't care what any of you say, Lee is the MAN. I'll break down his offensive production vs wins for the team & I guarantee you he has been the best clutch hitter on team over the past 3 yrs. He's a rare combination of power & speed & has Canseco like potential. From a PR standpoint, once again Lee signs a reasonable contract 15/2 with an option at a time when the SOX can really use GOOD news. It goes w/out saying he's my favorite player because he works his arse off & ALWAYS beats the SCRUBS. He's coming off a year where he had the most ab's (623), most r (100), & most rbi's (113) on the SOX. It's arbit value was clearly more than 6mil. Yet for some reason (LOVE FOR THE WHITESOX maybe?) he accepted a deal that pays 6.5mil in 2004, 8 mil in 2005, & a .5 buyout or another 8.5mil in 2006. Let's look at what Lee really means to the SOX: 03: 623 ab's (1st), 100 r (1st), 113 rbi (1st), 311 tb (2nd), 18 sb (1st) 02: 492 ab's (4th), 82 r (2nd), 80 rbi (4th), 238 tb (4th), 1 sb (11th) 01: 558 ab's (4th), 75 r (4th), 84 rbi (3rd), 261 tb (4th), 17 sb (3rd) 00: 572 ab's (4th), 107 r (4th), 92 rbi (4th), 277 tb (4th), 13 sb (5th) Is it just possible he was playing hurt in 02 & that's why both his SB's & OF play suffered? I think the SB #'s are indicative of that. His performance in 2003 was the best on the team & a lot of that has to do with the extra 50 ab's. How much of an improvement has he made? In 2000 his ab/tb avg was 2.08. In 2003, he lowered that to 2. In 2000 his ab/rbi avg was 6.22. In 2003, he lowered that to 5.51. My Lee forecast: 04: 620 ab's, 100 r, 121 rbi, 330 tb, 20 sb, 30 hr Definitely worth 6.5MIL.

Neyer is an idiot. Has any one read his column on how he thinks Nomar+Manny is pretty much the same as A-Rod+Ordonez? It's blatantly obvious he's not considering ab's in that equation & he's not looking at the $$$ stats. Here are the numbers for the past 3 yrs: Maggs: 1789 abs, 308r, 347rbi, 562h, 199w Manny: 1534 abs, 294r, 336rbi, 499h, 275w diff : 255 abs, 14r, 11rbi, 63h, -76w A-Rod: 1863 abs, 382r, 395rbi, 569h, 290w Nomar: 1376 abs, 234r, 233rbi, 419h, 105w diff : 487 abs, 148r, 162rbi, 150h, 185w Now maybe I'm not a student of Neyer baseball math but it would seem to me that a net gain of over 700abs, 162r, 173rbi, 213h, 109w is pretty significant. It's like getting the production of 3 guys out of 2. Since Manny at 611 abs at DH it's even a bigger gain on the field. So this is the deal: Nomar+Manny+cash to pay Nomar's salary to Texas for A-Rod, & OF with ML experience. Now the trade potential with the SOX blossoms: A free Nomar to SOX for a Val + cash to pay his salary & a potential starter. The SOX offer the 30yr old Nomar a 60/5 contract. If he accepts great, if not then we ship him to either ANA or LAD for pitching. For those who think Nomar isn't worth it, think again. Sag's Runs Per Game avg 00-03: Nomar: 9.08, 5.77(DL), 6.40, 6.33(IR), Jeter: 7.67, 6.73, 5.97, 6.55, Maggs: 7.10, 7.20, 7.88, 7.34, Tejada: 5.92, 5.34, 6.31, 5.58 The only one who broke through & experienced an MVP yr was Nomar. Maggs has the highest RPG av over the past 3 yrs. But clearly, Nomar appears to be the best hitter of the 3 SS's. His biggest knock his is health & it's an important one. Despite his recent health history Nomar is still a fan favorite & a marquee player that can increase attendance. I think that alone is worth the risk of trying to sign him long-term. If the Rangers are smart, they wouldn't trade Nomar but instead over him 60/5. Now you're looking at Nomar+Manny production over the next 5 yrs at a total cost of 157.5mil. Still less than you were paying A-Rod. With the extra 20mil you might be able to entice a pitching rich team to take Manny+10mil off your hands. That still gives you Nomar's production + major pttching upgrades for about 70mil/5. Not a bad way to build a contender in the ALW at a time when Oak is likely to loose star talent to FA, & ANA is likely to spend themselves into a firesale. The M's will be competitve for some time to come. So if we assume Nomar's out of the picture what else is there left in Boston for the SOX to trade for? How about this? Millar, Williamson, Damon for Maggs,Koch,Konerko. Salary wise that's 13mil for 28mil, but Maggs alone is worth the difference. The SOX fill their CF need, get a young but reliable 1B, & a decent relief pitcher plus a savings of probably 10mil after arbit prices for Millar & Williamson. Boston replaces Manny's prod with Maggs, & just needs to find a suitable replacement for Damon. Much easier shoes to fill. In addition they've got the possibility that Koch can nail the closer job with Foulke has the setup guy. That could become the best 1-2 finish in the league. With the 10mil, we can go & sign a reliable starter like Rogers, Ponson, & a few relievers. With 30SB, & an OBP of .345 Damon becomes our Lead off hitter: CF-Damon SS-Crede/Valentin LF- Carlos Lee DH-Frank Thomas 1B- Kevin Millar 3B- Joe Crede RF- Joe Borchard C- Alomar/Olivo 2B- Willie Harris/Uribe I like this because you have lots of speed at the bottom as well as good speed at leadoff. So if any body gets on for Damon, it's going to put major pressure on opposing pitchers. Assuming KW goes the cheap route & uses the 10MIL saved on rent a players: Starters: 1) Buehrle 2) E-Lo 3) Rogers 4) Garland 5) Schow/Estes/FA/Wright/Cotts/Rauch Relief: Williamson Wunsch Wright FA (Schow) FA Closer: Marte I think we can win the division with that team, & if KW can pick another E-LO out of the mix maybe more.

The owner of the Manny trade was dumber than the owner of the A-Rod trade: All we ever hear about is A-ROD & 252. Clearly Hick's was a dumb arse in offering to pay approx 7mil/yr than the next best offer that year, but when you compare A-ROD's value as the best player of the game vs big salary players it doesn't look so bad. Looking back, I found an article to where A-ROD discusses the other teams in contention. Boston & Seattle were mentioned & A-ROD denied rumors of a 4th team that Boras circulated. The next best offer appears to have come from the Braves : 128/7. A little over 18mil/yr. A-ROD will likely never see the 252MIL as he will probably take the mutual out clause after 7 yrs & sign elsewhere. So Hicks will have paid 171/7 or 24.5mil/yr. Now let's assume that Hicks had to beat ATL to get A-ROD. To be honest, for one of the worst teams in the league at the time to acquire the games best player probably would have required an offer paying more than 20mil. So in reality, Hicks probably over paid A-ROD no more than 3mil/yr more than he should have. Would 3mil/yr have made much difference? Yes. Being a door mat affords the Rangers higher picks. Having a few million more to make offers to those picks makes all the difference in the world. So what should Boston have offered & what should the union have accepted? Simple. A contract guaranteeing A-ROD to be the highest paid player for the next 7 yrs. There is 7mil left on the signing bonus. Ramirez is owed 97.5mil over the next 5 yrs. Making him the 2nd highest paid player. Now A-ROD was willing to shave 12MIL off the value of the contract which Boras estimates reduces the value by 28MIL. The Union of course padded this to 30 & said no way. Here's where Boston needs to be creative & realize what they are getting. They owe Manny 97.5mil. We are essentially talking a 1-dim player who is likely to play DH in the last 2 yrs of the remaining 5. Now what's it worth to Boston to exchange that money for A-ROD play & $$$ in those 5 yrs? Because that's really what we are talking about. Let's put it this way: Manny actually finished ahead of A-ROD in the RPG rankings. Manny was 2nd only to Delgado & A-ROD was 3rd. But here's where A-ROD's value becomes apparent. Jeter & Tejada finished 19th & 39th in the rankings. Yet Jeter is an 18mil/yr SS, & now Tejada is a 12mil/yr SS. In otherwords the league pays a premium on solid hitting middle IFers. Putting this another way, A-ROD's RPG was 8.17, Jeter's was 6.55, & Tejada's was 5.58. That means that A-ROD was 25% more productive than Jeter. If A-ROD was deserving of 25% more pay than Jeter that would put him at 20mil. He made 22mil. That's the way Boston should have approached the contract renegotiations. Not seeking to reduce the total payout but rather defer the total payout. I would rather have A-ROD at an avg of 25% more than Jeter over the next 7 yrs that Manny at an avg of 25% over Bonds for the next 5. NYY owes Jeter a total of 145mil/7 yr. A-Rod is due 179/7 or roughly 23% more. A-Rod's had 4% more AB's than Jeter in the last 4 yrs. A-Rod's had a WHOPPING 22.5% more AB's than Manny in that time. A-Rod played all of those ab's at SS, whereas Manny played a WHOPPING 800 ab's at DH in that time. That's over 40% of his ab's in that time. No one should be surprised why Texas is asking for more. What Boston should offer A-Rod is 145/7 structured like Jeter & defer the remainder of the 34mil in 2011-2021 plus interest so that it does not diminish the total value of the contract. The union should accept that. So let's think of what A-ROD really means to Boston: Over 20% more production than Jeter, & over 20% more ab's than Manny each yr. I would say that's worth more than 20% of Manny's current contract. That would be equal to 117/5 or 23.4mil. Extending that out to 7 yrs, & the total comes to 163.8mil. The 252mil doesn't look so bad now. Now for trading the game's best player for the games best DH what should Texas get in return? If I'm Texas I ask for Nomar & Manny & Boston to pick up Nomar's 2004 salary. To suggest that Texas has a SS in waiting is crazy. They certainly don't have one with ML experience. For Texas to be competitive in 2004 they will need a real ML SS. Now if they want to save more $, they can still ship Nomar to the White Sox or LA or whomever. But for 2004 they get both Nomar & Manny for a price less than A-ROD. That's a pretty good upgrade with a rent a player & we're done with it. Texas of course should ship Boston an OF with ML experience. They have several good ones to choose from. Have we all forgotten that Boston placed Manny on waivers earlier this year? Does that not tell you how horrible that deal has become? Texas is in the drivers seat & Boston needs to realize that there maybe no better opportunity to erase that deal than this. Every yr that Manny gets older the worse that deal will become. If he's at 40% of ab's at DH now, is 60% over the next 4 yrs unrealistic? When you consider all the factors in this trade it's hard to believe it won't get done. >>> http://cp.yahoo.net/search/cache?va=%2bTex...rangers/tue.htm Rodriguez said his final choice came down to a $128 million, seven-year offer from the Braves, who wouldn't give him a no-trade clause, and a deal from the Mariners that guaranteed him $48 million for three years. If Texas doesn't file for Chapter 11 first, Rodriguez will bring home a mere $21 mil per year through 2004, a respectable $25 mil in '05 and '06, and then an it's-about-time $27 mil in the final four years of the contract (there is a mutual out clause after 7 yrs, & clause in the final 2 guaranteeing that A-ROD is the highest paid player in the game). It’s never mentioned but there is a 10mil/10yr signing bonus as well. Incidentally prior to the contract signing, A-Rod visited with the Rangers previously but was reportedly disinterested. In fact, he claimed he hadn't given much thought to playing for Texas at all. <<<

The MLBPA union is out of control. Good luck in 2007 when every baseball fan will look upon the Winter of 2003 as the year the MLBPA told A-Rod, "No you can not accept less pay to go to a BETTER team." If they had any fan support in the last CBA, they will have none now. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/191sd1.htm Rodriguez offered to reduce salaries in his contract by $12 million in exchange for increased marketing and logo use rights, agent Scott Boras said. Plus, Rodriguez would have the right to become a free agent after the 2005 season. The proposal from the Red Sox that the players' association rejected a day earlier would have cost Rodriguez $28 million, according to the team's evaluation, and $30 million, according to the union's analysis, Boras said. "The players' association's intransigence and the arbitrary nature of its action are responsible for the deal's demise today," Lucchino said. After Rodriguez and Boston reached an agreement Wednesday, the union refused to approve it, saying it reduced the value of the contract, the highest in professional sports history. If the blockbuster deal had gone through, Boston probably would have traded longtime shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, possibly to the White Sox. <<< What I don't understand is why didn't Boston just package that 12MIL into an 8th yr? A-ROD is young enough to where he can be expected to play beyond 7 more yrs. All BOSTON has to do is pkg the 12MIL into a buyout for an optional 8th yr. It's like BOSTON guaranteeing A-ROD a min of 12MIL in 2011 no matter where he plays but still allows BOSTON to match/beat any other offer. Maybe Boras is only smart when it comes to greed, but dumber than a box of rocks when it comes to improving a client's work situation.

Speaking of being fleeced it looks like Beane swindled a PTBN later from the Nsiders. Barrett is not willing to take a cut in pay & will likely be non-tendered by the scrubs this weekend. That's exactly what the A's were going to do. With Barrett likely to be a FA this weekend, Beane essentially got something for nothing. What a guy!

Kenny pretty much put a ka-bosh on my wish list for now. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/191sd2.htm Williams said it's very likely the Sox will go to spring training with the position players currently on the roster. 1B-Paul Konerko 2B-Willie Harris SS-Jose Valentin 3B-Joe Crede RF-Magglio Ordonez LF-Carlos Lee CF-Aaron Rowand or Joe Borchard C-Miguel Olivo and Sandy Alomar DH-Frank Thomas Williams would like to add another arm to the bullpen and possibly another starter. There is still interest by the New York Mets in reliever Billy Koch, which could result in Williams freeing up more than $6 million in salary. But whether the Sox and Mets can complete a deal remains to be seen. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/191sd3.htm I'm including this dish on the northsiders because I don't understand what happened here with the SOX. Why couldn't the SOX have signed Merker, & especially Glover? All SOX fans agree that Glover was a reliable relief pitcher. So why didn't the SOX sign him to a ml deal? Right now we are short 2 relief pitchers. I just don't get this. Likewise I don't get why the SOX didn't try & pursue Hollandsworth for the OF. Hollandsworth, a major leaguer since 1995, has played for Los Angeles, Colorado, Texas and Florida. He has a .276 lifetime average with 77 homers and 308 RBI in 840 games. In 2003, Hollandsworth played for the World Series champion Marlins and hit .254 with 29 extra-base hits in 93 games. He hit .350 (7-for-20) as a pinch hitter. And he went 3-for-3 with two RBI against the Cubs in the seven-game NLCS. These are all deals the SOX could have & should have made.

Agreed. No one guy is going to carry a team through the post-season. A team needs heroics & Pudge supplied more than any other player on the Marlins leading up to game 5 of the NLDS. From there on Beckett surpassed heroics & became legendary. Looking forward though the Marlins had to make a choice. The gave Pudge a reasonable offer of 24/2 & he declined it. The franchise player has to remain Beckett. No team on a modest payroll will ever get that far w/out heroes for a season. If you look at the Angels, Anderson & the F-ROD played that role. I think the SOX have potential heroes in Lee, Beurhle, Garland, & Marte. Thomas would probably make that list, but his post-season show in his career has not been note-worthy. I suppose the potential is still there though. That's why I consider these 5 guys (throw in Crede) as keepers for the SOX.

Dude, that in itself is a technicality. The Twinks good not afford Prior with thier first pick, so they took Mauer instead. A dumb move on their part & SOX fans are thankful for that.

You will never get a network spot for this awards show with so few awards. Crank the noggin's & create more categories! Of course we all know the most important is the PTC winner award

The latest news out of Dallas is that the BOSOX may be able to meet Hick's financial demands but Hicks will have to part with more talent. Names mentioned to make up the extra $ the BOSOX would be paying: Hank Blalock, Kevin Mench, Mark Texiera, Gerald Laird, Michael Young, & Laynce Nix. In otherwords Epstein & Henry are thinking, ok we'll pick up A-ROD's contract, & pay Manny's bonus but we're going to get talent equal to that bonus $ in return. If you're thinking RF, that would be Laynce Nix. His most notable stat: 81 TB, 53 gms. That progresses to 250 TB/yr. That would be on par with Trot Nixon. All of the guys listed above are 1 or 2 yr players. So Boston would have them for at least 4 yrs. That makes Hick's demands much more reasonable. The other option is of course, A-ROD lowering his salary demands. If you're wondering how, it comes down to A-ROD's last 3 yrs. They are for all intended purposes option years. Not counting those years, the payouts between the 2 contracts are very close. What A-ROD is considering is re-structuring the contract so that the final 3 yrs are massive & guaranteed. This would allow Boston to pay Manny's bonus $. The final option is that, Boston doesn't pick up Manny's bonus but sends 2 prospects to Texas along with Manny. A combination of this & A-ROD's contract restructuring is what will probably get this done. If you're asking why, it's simple: A-ROD is willing to do whatever he can to go to Boston. Why is Boston willing to do this? Because Tejada's new contract avg'g 12MIL/yr, just put Nomar near the Jeter range for an extension. This is about 3-5MIL/yr Boston is willing to pay. Now that ANA has paid 48/4 for Colon, & is likely to pay big $$$ numbers to keep Anderson, Nomar is likely headed to the Dodgers. It's not likely they would be interested in Maggs for 14MIL after that.

Any trade of this magnitude would undoubtedly be dependant on LA working out a multi-year contract with Maggs. It doesn't sound like Maggs is interested in that right now so even if LA was willing to pay in talent, it won't be enough. We here so much about 10 yr players having veto power over trades. But realistically so do marquee players that are 1 yr away from ufa. If a team can't sign them they're not going to trade for him. Take Konerko please.