witesoxfan

QUOTE(Man Of Steel @ Jan 12, 2005 -> 12:30 PM) Leinart and Rodgers are the two best QB's in the draft followed by Alex Smith, Orlovski, Walter, and Orton in terms of Pro Quarterbacks Adrian McPherson and Jason Campbell might be 3rd round QB's.. McPherson has a ton of potential White and Greene are just those types of QB's who can dominate the college ranks but would not be NFL type Quarterbacks Charlie Frye from Akron is in that top tier list too. Probably above Orlovski, Walter, and Orton.

Thurston was once a big time prospect, wasn't he? Thurston for Davis wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit. Then we have Burke be the backup(even though that would be dumb, having removed him from the 40-man and all only to put him back on the 40-man), and we get a low-risk, high-reward guy in Thurston. Bring in a catching vet as a NRI during ST...maybe sign him to a minor league deal...something like that. We could work something out.

Do you risk pulling a Lee Evans? He's gotta go pro. His value will almost undoubtedly never be higher, as he almost assuredly will be a top 3 pick, perhaps #1. You can't get any better then that

Anyone got a "He Gone" sound byte, or a call of "You can put it on the booooooard, YESSSSSSSS" ?

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Jan 10, 2005 -> 07:51 PM) I prefer Durham over Boone. I prefer Harris to Boone.

OPS does not matter for a leadoff hitter. The point of a leadoff hitter is to get on base. Alfonso Soriano, for the record, is a terrible leadoff hitter. His highest career OBP is .338...yet people want this guy on our team, and in some cases, want him leading off. While, on the flip side, people are complaining about Harris and his .343 OBP. Hmmm...

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Jan 10, 2005 -> 12:34 AM) The Eagles are sending three defensive backs to the Pro Bowl. As a matter of fact, all three are starting in the Pro Bowl. Moss should be a non-factor... ...especially if his ankle isn't fully healed yet.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jan 9, 2005 -> 11:25 PM) Arizona is quickly becoming one of the worst mlb teams in the major ( stupidity wise). Reminds me of the Mets and Orioles...cept the Mets might actually be decent this year.

Randy Moss may be an asshole, he may be a bad teammate, may be what not else, but he is still the best receiver in the NFL. 6'4'', 42 inch vertical or so, 4.3 40...when he is healthy, and playing well, he is uncoverable. I don't think he is a head case...a head case is a guy who has all the talent in the world, or is very good at what he does, but sees his game go to s***...Chuck Knoblauch, Mark Wohlers, Rick Ankiel...those types of players. That is not Moss. Moss is just a dumbass.

Damn I hate blowing 2-game leads. Go up 2-0, and then lose 4 straight I'm gonna go crawl in a hole now OK, or not.

QUOTE(Winnin Ugly @ Jan 9, 2005 -> 11:58 AM) As for getting on base Soriano had a 328 while AJ had a 312 OBP. So i guess Soriano gets on base more than AJ Soriano costs around $6-7 mill, and will cost some solid prospects(at the absolute least, I would see it to be Cotts and maybe a higher up prospect not named Sweeney, McCarthy, or Anderson). AJ Pierzynski cost us $2.25 mill and no players(except Jamie Burke). He's terrible defensively, and the return would not be a ton greater. Also...isn't it funny how he went from a pitcher's park in Yankee Stadium, having put up back-to-back .310 40 100 .870 35 years, and then goes down to Texas, a very good hitter's park, and puts up a .280 30 90 .800 20 season? Consider that the Ballpark at Arlington is a BETTER hitter's park then USCF(its park factor was 111-hitting, 109-pitching...USCF's was 107-106 respectively). Also...I'm not sure anyone is arguing whether Soriano is the better player then AJP...because Soriano is. However, we are likely going to get .270 average, .350 OBP, and 20-30 steals atleast from Willie against RHP this year, and some cheap veteran 2Bman can be brought in to face LHP, and they should be able to duplicate what Willie does(except the SB number). From the catcher spot, prior to getting AJP, we were going to be lucky to get .250 10 50 .700...now we will be unfortunate to get .270 10 70 .750...because AJP can put up better numbers then that. There is quite a large difference there, especially for the money. Catcher was by far a bigger need then 2B. I want no piece of Soriano at that price. Castillo on the other hand, I would imagine, would probably take Harris, Cotts, and maybe another prospect...and then again, maybe not...costs $4.5 mill, which is $1.5-2.5 mill less then Soriano makes, is better offensively in the fact that he gets on base more often and is usually a better base-stealer, and he is better defensively too. For what the team needs and is looking for, Castillo > Soriano.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jan 8, 2005 -> 01:50 PM) That is a work of art.

For starters...I was one of the first to bring up the thought of Ray Durham earlier in the offseason, so I'mma pat myself on the back here real quick Secondly...there is no way I want him back at around 7 mill a year for 2 years. That's insane. If San Fran takes on half of that, then we can talk. Thirdly, Ray can steal bases, and he can do it well...but I don't want him trying to steal anymore then 30 times this year if he is not fully healthy. He has proven to be quite injury prone in San Francisco, having only played 110 games and 120 games respectively with them...that's roughly 2 DL trips a year. Finally...he or Polanco would both be very good #2 hole hitters for us. I wouldn't be sad if we acquired either one of them.

QUOTE(whitesox91403 @ Jan 8, 2005 -> 02:47 AM) IMHO, I think DH's and RP's are just as much a part of the game as an INF, OF, SP or whatever. With that being said, because they are a part of the game, then they deserve just as much Hall Consideration. It just amazes me that guys like Gossage, Sutter, and Lee Smith are still not in. The thought with closers is that they look a lot better because of saves, when quite frankly, saves are quite a worthless stat. Similar to wins and losses by a pitcher. When you look at the very best closers of all time, you really have to consider if they would be some of the best relievers of all time...if they are not, they are not HoF worthy. What you need to have to make the HoF is longevity or a stretch of quite a few years where you just absolutely dominate, while putting up good career numbers in the process. If you can play and just absolutely dominate your entire career, you are a first ballot hall of famer. Frank Thomas, from 91-97, and then in 2000, was a monster at the plate. And he was not bad in 03 either. That is 9 years of very good baseball from Frank...and solid career numbers to boot. Frank Thomas will make the hall of fame...and if he gets to 500 homers and doesn't get in on the first ballot, it will be a shame.

OK, Jay, when fully healthy, Maggs is second rate to Beltran...that is a fair comment to make, especially considering the source...talk like you are God and use no stats or facts of any type whatsoever to prove your point. Here is my point Jay...you're wrong. Maggs... 2001 - .305 31 113 .914 2002 - .320 38 135 .978 2003 - .317 29 99 .926 Beltran... 2001 - .306 24 101 .876 2002 - .273 29 105 .847 2003 - .307 26 100 .911 and for s***s and giggles...let's put Beltran's 04 season up there too, since it was his best yet 2004 - .267 38 104 .915 Now Jay...just curious here...how many seasons did Maggs have while fully healthy that were better then Beltran's? Step down b****

The main argument against Frank for the HoF is that he has been a DH for most of his career, meaning he has not played in the field, meaning he is essentially a 1-dimensional player. So, if that argument holds true, someone needs to take Ozzie Smith's plaque out of the HoF...he may have been one of the best defensive SS's of all time, if not the best, but he put up .262 28 793 .666(a career OPS of f'in .666...Ben Davis puts that up in a bad year). He did steal a lot of bases, but this was also in a time period where stealing bases was at one of the all-time highs...during this same time period, Vince Coleman stole 100 bases in 3 consecutive years, one of which his average was .232 and his OBP was .301. To me, the same argument applies to both Ozzie Smith and Frank Thomas, though just on completely opposite spectrums...Ozzie Smith gets in with no-bat, great glove, Frank gets in with great bat, no glove. Frank Thomas is a HoFer, and if/when he gets to 500 homers, it should remove all doubt of him being a first ballot HoFer.

Words cannot describe how truly funny that really is.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jan 7, 2005 -> 10:45 PM) Okay, say we were to trade Garland and Konerko for him. What if we did that and got Dough Mientkiewicz(seems to be pissed off about PT and Boston is pissed off he won't give back the ball) and also end up signing Iguchi with the leftover dough. Also wouldn't we have money left over(a little bit at least) to pursue a mid season trade??? so PK+ Garland = Vazquez, Iguchi, and Mientkiewicz We already brought one alphabet soup from Minnesota in...no need for another. Besides...his statistics do not warrant him coming in for $1 mill, let alone the $3-4 he will end up getting. I would rather Ross Gload start for us over Doug Mientkiewicz.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jan 6, 2005 -> 08:48 PM) What about Willis McGahee even? I get where you are coming from, but this is his first year playing. He is not coming back from anything in the NFL...and of course I know about his knee...I have a terrifyingly gruesome picture of that on one of my computers. IMO, if Brees shouldn't be able to get the award for just having a great year and having a better then mediocre year for the first time in his career, Willie McGahee can't get it after his first full year as a starter. Also...I had never thought about Fields. He would have been a good candiate for it too. Better then Brees anyways

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Jan 6, 2005 -> 03:08 PM) Yeah I know what you mean. When I hear Comeback Player of the Year, I'm thinking coming back from an injury. Not just sucking the year before. That could work too. But, to me, a player breaking out and having a great year while having a mediocre career is not the same thing as a player coming back. If we're going to talk coming back from injury, I say Michael Vick(or is it Mike Vick? :banghead ). He has not had great numbers, but he is the MVP of that Falcons team...without Vick, the Falcons aren't even a .500 football team, and we saw that last year.

Goddammit, this kind of thing pisses me off. This is like Esteban Loaiza winning comeback player of the year in 2003 for the Sox. WTF IS HE COMING BACK FROM?! Brees was solid his first year of starting, and was bad last year...and this year he just is awesome. He's not coming back from anything, he's breaking out and becoming a star. I can't offer a better replacement for the award...just saying that is bugs the hell out of me that he would get that for not coming back from anything. Frank Thomas got the award in 2000, and that was deservedly so...he had 2 bad years prior to that, and then has an MVP season for the Sox, leading them to the postseason.

BTW, Juggs...this is what I am mainly referring to...not likely that they are just going to give him away, but I am sure he is more then tradeable. Placido Polanco - PHI - Dec. 20, 2004 - 12:34 am et Phillies announced that infielder Placido Polanco accepted their offer of arbitration. GM Ed Wade isn't loving this. Polanco, who will get a raise from the $3.95 million he made last season, must have found teams less eager to sign him because they'd have to sacrifice a draft pick. The Phillies could attempt to trade him, as they've made it clear Chase Utley will be their primary second baseman.

I do know that he accepted arbitration, but as Rowand pointed out, Philly didn't resign him with the intentions of having Utley play every day. They offered him arbitration for obvious reasons...seeing the two seasons he had in Philly, and seeing as how Cabrera got a contract around $6-7 mill a year(the numbers are not coming to me right now), one would expect the superior offensive player(and he's not much worse defensively, considering he is a 2Bman compared to a SS...and he is more versatile then Cabrera too) in Polanco to get atleast $5 mill a year in offers. He didn't. And I do think Harris and Adkins gets it done, or that it very well could anyways. Obviously, there were not a lot of teams very interested in him as a FA...or there were, but they were not willing to pay him the money he was looking for...and Philly has basically come out and said they are looking to move him, so his value is not real high right now. I would almost venture to guess that we could be overpaying in this case, with the money Philly kicks in possibly help even out the trade a little. In Harris, the Phils get a solid backup 2B/OF...a whole lot of upside, with very little risk...and in Adkins, they get a guy who will very likely be a solid setup guy some day. We make the trade because we are getting a replacement for Harris at 2B(a superior replacement, I might add), and we have quite a bit of depth in the pen now due to 2 signings this offseason, so a reliever like Adkins is tradeable right now(fwiw...off the top of my head, I can think of Shingo, Hermanson, Marte, Politte, Vizcaino, Cotts, Diaz, Walker, Munoz, Baj, and perhaps more that could all make the pen and contribute in some way or another...so Adkins is very tradeable). To me...a lineup of Pods - LF Polanco - 2B Rowand - CF Thomas - DH Konerko - 1B Dye - RF Uribe - SS AJP - C/Crede - 3B Crede - 3B/Davis - C is killer, and if Crede actually did figure out that flaw in his swing(I have my doubts, but maybe he did), then our lineup is even more dangerous. That lineup, from 1-9, is very solid...the only concern in the first option is Podsednik at the top of the order, and I really do think he will have an in-between year, comparing his rookie year and his 2nd year...and in the second one, I worry about Davis too, but that's just because I really do not like Davis...sorry, I can't help it Again...this is just me in crazy-think mod...but I do think I would prefer Polanco to Iguchi, even knowing we would have to trade for him and he'd likely cost more money then Iguchi this year anyways.

I guess that means Lee Evans was second in the voting... ...along with every other offensive rookie the NFL

Iguchi sounds very intriguing to me...like he could be a pretty good player for us. However, I gotta ask...having seen our team and seeing how we have a lack of a #2 hitter...wouldn't it make sense to trade for Polanco, who the Phillies are basically trying to move? Dangle Willie and Adkins and have them take on $1.5 mill or so, give or take...have Polanco as your everyday 2Bman, Uribe your everyday SS, with Valdez backing up both of them...and with Polanco and Uribe's versatility, we essentially have our backup 3Bman starting at both SS and 2B. Also, in making that trade for Polanco, we open up a spot on the 40-man for AJP. Probably crazy, and obviously I wouldn't be disappointed if we did sign Iguchi...I just went into my crazy think-mode there for a second.