JUGGERNAUT

I think he was referring more to the fact that the WSox have been stronger in the 1st half & weaker in the 2nd. Whereas the Twinkees have been one of the strongest teams in MLB in the 2nd half the past 4 yrs. However; I think he said this not knowing that Silva is now gone till at least July & possible late Aug if indeed he needs surgery to repair the tear in his knee. Silva had the best start for the Twins this year & is coming off a 14-8 yr w 33GS. He was really coming into his own. Now that Lohse is likely to follow Radke I wonder if Radke would have said anything at all.

I think you can put a fork in them with this news. He had the best start in the rotation this year, and was coming off a 14-8 year. Only 8 losses in 30+ starts is damn good. The backend of their rotation with Lohse now having to move up to 3rd can't compete with the Tigs, the Tribe, nor us. It might even be challenged by the Roys. Mays wasn't even pegged as the 5th starter before this happened. Now this AAA kid is going to be their #4? They could be 10 gms back before they get healthy, Santana puts on his Cy Young cape & Radke resembles an all-star pitcher. The WSox are too good to let them catch up this year.

How much of our 4-1 record is attributed to Uribe's spectacular D play at SS? I think it's quite a bit. He's gotten tough outs that could have stretched innings & changed the momentum of the game. That was all KW's doing. A trade many of us didn't like. But we didn't know he could have such an impact in the field.

Ozzie is turning out to be one of those managers who is very blunt & doesn't care about an ex-player's feelings when he talks. For that reason alone you have to tip Williams hand in hiring him. Recently he stated no one wanted to pitch to Olivo. That tells you something right there. Reed may very well go on to be a great player but it's not like the WSox have had any trouble of late producing such players in the OF. So I definitely give the edge to the WSox in that trade. Many of you crap on Garcia. Making light of his numbers because he pitched in SEA all these years. But I don't. I think his road numbers over those years are still pretty solid. He's easily a #2 on the WSox & a #1 on many other teams. We don't know how it's going to shake down over 162 gms because of health (El Duque, Dye), but right now this is shaping up as Williams best yr as a GM. He really owes the credit to Ozzie because I don't think he makes these bold moves w/out his influence. I've said it before & I will say it again. I don't care what Uribe hits. I've seen enough in his field of play to realize he makes all the difference in the world with his D play. He's not only sure handed but he has much better range than Clayton did & he's got the best cannon I've seen play SS for the WSox. That was a great move for the WSox. Even if Miles becomes a great player. That kind of presence at SS is exactly what we needed. Iggy is proving to be a solid player who can hit & run. What more can you ask for? Pods just scored a R on a FC, WP, PB. When was the last time that happened? On the road no less? So what if Pods only hits 250A. It's undeniable how his presence on the base pads gets under the skin of pitchers & catchers. Maybe we should start keeping track of R scored & hits given up after Pods reaches. That's an intangible asset that comes from a player not just blessed with great speed but also the know-how to use it. How do you steal 70 bases while hitting 244? Getting on any way you can. Including FC. So far all the moves Kenny's made have contributed to the 4-1 start. Even the one move he didn't make (replacing Crede) finally made a contribution. We second guessed him on Perez but how important was that HR last night? It's all good so far & Kenny deserves a LOT of the credit. Along w Ozzie of course.

Some more WSox news links of interest: http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/101sd5.htm DYK? Hunter is hitting just .250 with ONLY 1 HR vs Mark lifetime. Mark contends that in a mid-Sep battle in the dome Hunter yelled "These &!@&% are done." Hunter denies ever saying that. Hunter in an interview this weekend jokingly implied he would take out AJP like he did Burke. More on Silva: He's likely going to need surgery to repair the tear. That puts him out to July the earliest but Aug more likely. Really tough blow for the Twinkees. I now think the analysts are going to be moving towards the WSox as the favorite. Replacing Silva w a AAA arm can't inspire confidence.

Some more WSox news links of interest: http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/101sd5.htm http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/101sd6.htm http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/whitesox.asp Setting the record straight: In late Sep a reporter asked Mark what he thought about the Twins post-season aspirations. Mark bluntly said they're not good enough to beat the Yankees. When Hunter took offense at this, Mark asked "I'm not allowed to have an opinion?" More recently Mark said "If he doesn’t want to say anything to me, it’s not going to hurt my feelings. I’ve got enough friends in this league. One guy doesn’t matter to me.’’ Jurrasic: “The difference is we have more legs. It’s tough to play a team that can run. You can’t defense speed. To try to defense speed, and also have guys that can hit the ball, it’s tough. I don’t ever want to face a team where everybody can run and hit.’’ Example: Pods & Iggy were 2/8 but scored 3R. Pods showed how easy a FC can become a run when he advanced on a WP to 3rd & PB to score. Garland: "I didn't want to be the guy to end the streak (of quality starts). A.J. was calling a lot of sinkers. “My defense played great and really helped me out.’’ First trip thru rotation: 3W-0L, 1.91 ERA. Best in MLB. Oz's mind: It doesn't sound like he plans on using Shingo vs Tribe again. In reference to their LH lineup it sounds like he's leaning towards Marte to close out the Tribe from now on. DYK? Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez won the Player’s Choice Award as the 2004 American League Comeback Player.

Some fine WSox news links of interest: http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/101sd5.htm http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/101sd6.htm http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/whitesox.asp http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...eball/whitesox/ Unlikely heros: Perez, Crede, & Uribe - ignited a 4R rally in the 7th. Did it make a difference? News broke in the clubhouse that BMC had 10K's giving up 2H in 7IP in a 3-2W for Charlotte just hrs after Oz endorsed Jon as being better than a 5th starter. Jon said his body hurt but the medication made him feel better. Mark brings a 13-7 lifetime record into the dome today where he is 7-4. Santana brings a 3-4 record (2-2 in 04) & a 5.40ERA lifetime vs WSox. Oddly enough both of us his 04 losses came against Jon but they were before his 14-2 run. DYK? Santana was a CF w Houston in 1999. They let him loose via R5 draft in 1999. Twins grabbed him in a deal with FLM. Looking towards May: Thomas is struggling w scar tissue in his ability to run the bases. Oz's June prediction is looking more likely now. This is certainly going to hurt Frank's contract position w the WSox & probably allow JR to get a better deal going forward. Frank's only guaranteed 3M for 2006 thru a buyout. Oz: "Not too many people liked to throw to Olivo." Guillen will rest AJP on Mon because Freddy & Widger have experience together. It seems like Oz is moving in the direction of getting the reserves every week or two. El Duque + Garcia help Contreras: They noticed something in his mechanics while watcing video of his start. He worked on it Sat. Great team work. I hope it helps. Oz's mind: If the flu had kept Jon out Sat + Sun then Oz was going w either Politte o r Cotts to start Sun's game. No call-up. Apparently he's fine with his 6 men pen. http://www.suntimes.com/index/sox.html Garland reported to the park on time Sat and with heavy congestion in his throat said he was ready to go. Ozzie: "I hope he shows up sick every day if that's how he's going to pitch. I'd Put him in the hospital and bring him here every five days and he can do the job.'' Noteables: HR's ( Everettt, Perez, Koney). RBI single (Uribe), Speed R (Pods FC-WP-PB: no hit) Today's game notes: Silva was placed on the 15-day DL for the Twins. This would be like the WSox losing El Duque. A big blow. With it being a tear in his knee he's probably not expected back on sooner than Thomas is with the WSox. Ozuna is expected to play LF today. No word on whether Pods moves to CF & Rowand sits or Pods sits. My guess is Pods would still but could come in later in a PR sit.

Another fine game by the WSox yesterday. Timo proved his worth. Both Crede & Uribe got clutch hits. The WSox lineup still looks like jeckyl-n-hyde but for right now at least we've got the best rotation in MLB. But let's not forget the Twinkees don't turn it on until the 2nd 1/2 of the season. They typically play about average ball the 1st half. Nothing really special. OPS Dr Jeckyl's: AJP (774), Dye (813), Iggy (820), Everett (965), Timo (1000), Koney (1365) My Hyde's: Crede (222), Uribe (276), Rowand (526), Pods (618), Harris (667) Let's hope some of them get on a roll. Get the brooms out in the dome WSox fans as Mark should be able to close out the series. Radke looked bad in SEA & he looked bad last night. Santana looked bad in SEA & I don't expect much of an improvement tonight.

I cast my vote for the baseball only forum. Two Lee articles of interest: http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/ds.../pro/101sd6.htm Lee: ""They needed speed and defense. It's not like they wanted another power guy. They still got Paul Konerko and Frank Thomas. Jermaine Dye can hit the ball out of the ballpark. And they got Carl Everett, too. They got five or six guys who can hit 20 or more homers." WSox staff: "It wasn't that Carlos was a bad guy or didn't work hard. He was just different than the others. If we had a meeting at 12 o'clock, Carlos showed up at 12 o'clock. That's how he went about his business." DYK? Over the last 5 yrs, Lee has avg'd 27 HRs & 94 RBI. He played error-free in 04. Lee hit .345 w 8HR & 23RBI in ST, & leads Milw w 3 DB's & 5 RBI's this week. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...tesox-headlines Lee: "That's pretty funny. That's awesome when you go out there and they boo; that means you did something to them." DYK? Over the last 6 yrs, Lee hit 327 vs Cubs w 9HR. He owns a 351A w 6HR & , 19RBI's lifetime at Wrigley. On Sat Lee was 0-3 vs Zamby, but hard two hard hits that needed good defensive plays to get him out. Yost: "He really has filled a huge hole for us. He's one of the best hitters I've ever seen. He never panics in the box and he stays with his plan." On the trade: This past SoxFest Oz made it apparent that Lee's failure to go hard into 2B after Hunter ran over Burke had a lasting & negative impression on him. Even after those comments were made, Lee has been nothing less than gracious to the WSox for giving him a chance to play in the big leagues. Compare that with Maggs. It's funny. Maggs could make the Tigs, Lee could make the Brews. Over 24 games vs the Twins betw them. Not only did we weaken our division rival the Twinkees but also our hated inner-city rival the Cubs. All we need to do is take care of the Tigs & both these ex-WSox players will help secure us a division crown. Having seen Pods go from a FC to a R w/out a hit I'm coming around on the belief the trade was good for both teams. The ALC is tailor made for Pods. It's cash-strapped & usually features unproven, wild, & nervous arms on the mound. He's what I would call a stress-mounter. When he gets on the sweat begins to pour & the odds of a mistake jump dramatically.

In the 2nd half of the season .. yes. But his first start in SEA & his 5.14ERA suggests he's pitching like he normally does in the 1st half. I mean it's pretty hard to pitch that poorly at Safeco. Regardless, the Twins & Radke will be up for tonight's ball game. But whether it's Mar or Jon on the mound I'm confident we'll win it. BTW, Santana got roughed up at Safeco as well. Maybe they both are 2nd half pitchers? 2004 Pre AS 3.78, Pos AS 1.21 .. 02-04 Pre AS 3.32ERA, 02-04 Pos AS 2.40 I'd say he's a damn good pitcher in the first 1/2 & a Cy Young pitcher in the 2nd. Still it can only help our cause knowing they both are coming off rough starts in arguably the best pitcher's park in the Majors.

Radke is NOT our Daddy. 2004 vs CWS 4.50ERA, 20IP, 256A He's to be feared after the break. 02-04 vs CWS 4.73ERA, 64.2IP, 291A ... 02-04 Pre AS 4.59ERA, 02-04 Pos AS 3.62ERA

Exactly what intangibles are you referring to suggesting Hawkins is a good closer or Lee is not playing at an MVP level? Rumors, innuendos of how Lee was a club house cancer? I don't buy it.

Jul 1, 2004: JG earns a 2-1 win over Santana in the dome to close out that series. Could we see a repeat? I'd rather see Mark but I'm still confident if it's Jon. I think they would have to call somebody up if he's not good to go for Sun. Herm has already pitched 3 IN / 2 days & we still have the weekend. That means if you go short on Freddy then you have to go short on Contreras as well. But then how do we manage the call-up? Send someone down? Put them on the DL? It's a mess. Seeing Adkins or BMC use up an option to battle Santana is a no win scenario as well. Let's just hope & pray for the best w Jon's health.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gameLog?game...50408109&full=1 He was behind in the count 10 times in his first 6 innings. He faced 24 batters. It finally caught up with him in the 6th when he fell behind both Koney & Rowand & they made him pay with HRs.

We'll have to see how things shake down when Thomas returns but right now Encarnacion & Cabrera are getting it down in FL. Both have 900+ OPS. The potential for trading Crede lies in finding a team in need of upgrading their OF & willing to swap a decent 3B for a high potential one. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/battin...Min=0&ageMax=99 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/battin...Min=0&ageMax=99

Great game tonight. A lot of things are starting to come to mind. 1) Jermaine Dye - Maybe his play in RF had something to do with the ERAs of the Big 3 in Oak the past couple of years. What he lacks w the bat he more than makes up for w his arm & glove. I've yet to see any one get more than a double on a hit in RF & I doubt that's going to happen. He's very sharp & smart in RF. This also means it will be less likely for Everett to take his job away when Thomas returns. 2) Uribe - Holy s***! I don't even bother looking at his bat any more. What a sweet playing SS. Great range, bullet arm, & a joy to watch. 3) AJP - When do we start giving him some of the credit for these quality starts? After Garland maybe. His stick has been nothing less than consistent. Quite possibly the best move KW made. 4) El Duque - Oz played it great. He was around a 90 pc entering the 7th so you go ahead & let him pitch it. He finished with a 104 pc. As for his stuff - man it was filthy. Who has more movement on their pitches than this guy? 5) Koney - I told you Lohse was not a good SP. All night long he was behind in the count & showed signs of frustration at times with bouncing balls to the plate. It was just a matter of time. Koney finally got a pc of him. He's certainly making it tougher for the WSox not to resign him. 6) Rowand - He owned Lohse before the game & he still does. 7) Pods - Did you see how he beat out an IF hopper to the pitcher for a hit? 2 SB/4G. The 1B committed & by the time the ball dropped Pods was a few feet away from the base. Speed can get you the cheap hits. 8) Hermanson - the guy's looked terrific. Great signing by KW. 9) Everett - He is doing a great job filling in for Thomas. Even stretching the counts. The biggest hole on the team right now is Crede. He's getting pop ups but still doesn't look good at the plate. At least he doesn't look like he's sleeping up there any more. I'm not really concerned though because Everett is playing so well that when Thomas comes back the WSox will have some major trade bait to upgrade 3B. I'm still not sold on Harris. Iggy never played on that kind of surface before so I can understand Oz going w Harris. But Harris had a chance to move runners over & he didn't do it. Fielding wise he looked good. It's a long season & Dye & El Duque are still candidates for DL time but they both are playing great defensively right now & that's had a major impact on this team. When the ball went under the padding in RF that could have been a 3B. If Maggs had been out there it probably would have been. But Dye got it in as fast as possible & held it to a DB. Those are the intangibles that don't show up in the stats. 3W-1L : good for 1st place in the ALC. All alone.

Well I mentioned this before & I would have to look up what the Marlins outfielders are doing but Everett is going to have high value & no place to play regularly when Thomas is back in form. I'm again thinking along the lines of a Crede+Everett+prospect for Lowell trade. You're getting an all-star caliber player for a very productive outfielder & a high potential 3B plus a prospect. It helps the Marlins financially & a change of scenery might do Crede a world of good. He still clearly has the tools defensively to be an all-star 3B. He just needs to figure out his ABs.

Hawkins 02-05 Pitches 1-15 626AB .252A .278O .363S .641OPS Not closer material. C Lee had an RBI DB, H, 1K, 1W in 7PA. That RBI DB was Milw's first. C Lee 2005 3G .357A .400O .786S 1.186OPS Not too shabby.

Flubs lose. Baker refuses to accept the fact that Hawkins is not a closer. C Lee 2005 3G .357A .400O .786S 1.186OPS Damn. I wish we had another 250K fans a year so we could have kept him.

I have to bend that rule when it comes to El Duque. If he gives me 5IP & 2ER or less I'll award him w a quality start.

Miami Herald: Tampa Bay outfielder Alex Sanchez's positive drug test was triggered by Paradeca, a prohormone once contained in several over-the-counter supplements popular with bodybuilders." When the information is worth something leaks are inevitable. This sort of brings new light to MLB's policy. Maybe it's a lot tougher than most of us think when you consider all the substances listed.

I wanted to add that what makes things worse for the WSox is that every team in their division gets a bigger chunk of the local media rev pot then they do. The pots divied up based on who has the least local media rev. It ignores the gate rev completely. So that puts the WSox at an even greater disadvantage. Pohlad of course is always accused of pocketing that $. Again the Cubs don't care because they cook the books to hide a great portion of their local media $'s with the WGN tie-ins. So since the big Wrigley craze started they've always had the $ advantage in the division.

You're leaving out revenue though. The WSox revenue doesn't necc reflect there attendance. Revenue wise they earned $30M less than the Cubs. At least that's what was reported. That was good for middle of the pack. They are keeping the payroll in line with revenue. But that doesn't tell the whole story either. The WSox rank in the top 12 in local media revenue. But that's the pot the league grabs out of for revenue sharing. The gate revenue is all theirs. That's why attendance is very important. When JR says they have lost a few million a year over the last few years the numbers tell me he's not lying. Unlike other teams which own their stadiums (SFG, NYY, CHC) the WSox only rent US Cell. So the increased value of the Cell doesn't impact the value of the WSox as much. It's why the WSox are not ranked in the top 15 in franchise value. I tend to believe for the most part that the WSox books are legit & JR does what is within reason to try & win. I don't think the same can be said for all the other teams. The Cub easily have a franchise value, revenue gate, & media revenue to rank them in the top 5 in MLB capable of a $140M payroll. Yet they only spend $103M, 13 of which is playing for BAL. If you want to call someone cheap they sit at the top of the list.

You asked why Cotts? Because he's pretty close to dominating in his first 15 pitches: 555 OPS. Adkins is no where close to that. He's not good for leading off an inning but he is good for finishing one.

The big surprise right now for the Brewers is their rotation. If they can keep this up they might leep over the Cubs. I see the Brewer's as MGD & the Cubs as Bud. We all know which is the better beer. BTW, why is it that WSox fans will go to Cub games when the WSox are on the road but the Cub fans won't extend the WSox the same courtesy? I'm going to a game this weekend because I got an invite. It seems the only time Cub fans go to the Cell is when it's a 1/2 price night or when the Cubs are playing there. It just further strengthens the belief that WSox fans are true baseball fans & Cub fans are mostly Wrigley fans.