witesoxfan

I guarantee a Pistons victory. Someone will be eating crow tomorrow night.

They were 5 outs away from going to and most likely winning the World Series last year, and you still don't take them seriously. All they did this past offseason was get a damn good 1Bman, add Todd Walker, sign LaTroy Hawkins, and get Greg Maddux. They won something like 90 games with Shawn Estes as their #5 with Matt Clement struggling most of the year. Clement has figured his s*** out, Zambrano is filthy, Wood and Prior are dominant, and Maddux is a solid pitcher. If they add another reliever, they could be the team to beat in the NL. You know what that means. Time for us to get another starter, a stud reliever, and Steve Finley, and watch Oz-ball take form. Watch us get the clutch hits that are needed to be gotten, and get the huge pitching performances when our backs are up against the wall. And to this day, I still think a Cubs-White Sox World Series would be great for baseball, but terrible for the city of Chicago...like literally. You consider how heated the Cubs-Sox rivalry is with just interleague play, imagine if it actually meant that one of the streaks would be broken. In-f***ing-tense.

That's almost exactly how I looked at it.

Damn, that's a burn and a half!

We all would have.

IIRC, Thomas was not an all-star in 2000.

I like how hockey does it. Isn't it in hockey that you have to be 26 or under to be ROtY?

I don't think we're worried so much about Shingo/Marte. But you have to get them the ball, and having a good reliever to pitch the 7th for us would be nice. As of right now, we have Politte, Jackson, and Koch pitching that inning for us. That scares the s*** out of me. IMO, you need, at the very least, 4 good relievers in the postseason to be successful, and more would not hurt. As of right now, we probably have 3...Shingo, Marte, and then Scho or Garland, whichever is not in the 4-man postseason rotation. I'd like to get another reliever anyway possible, be it Urbina(for cheap), or Grimsley or Felix Rodriguez or Guardado...whoever. Just get another good reliever(or two0, and I'm fine.

Crede could be moved and it wouldn't be the world's biggest loss. But let's not move him for a Scott Boras client, please. Someone else can have Beltran, let us have Finley.

That's down for Frank Thomas. He averages an .834 OPS for Frank Thomas is awful...this is a guy who is 3rd on the active OPS list with an OPS of right around 1.000. 28 homers is below average, 92 RBi is below average. He was recovering from an injury, but that's besides the point. That is a below average season for Frank Thomas. Duh. OPS of .885? For a guy whose career OPS is around 1.000? That's like Bonds hitting 20 homers and only walking 100 times while striking out 80 times. If Barry Bonds hit 20 homers, it would be s***ty season for him. Guess what...1999 was a s***ty year for Frank Thomas. His 77 RBI was well below his career average, 74 runs were well below his career average, and his 15 homers was awful compared to his career average. He had a very down year in 1999. May be not sucking ass. But they are not good. Consider Frank's career numbers, his career averages, and these are, for the most part, well below. His .861 OPS from 98 is, quite frankly, not that good(for Frank Thomas). The numbers themselves do not suck. If Joe Crede could hit .260 30 110 with an .860 OPS, I would s*** my pants. It's who they are by compared to his career numbers that suck ass. Again, I'll use the Barry Bonds comparison...if Barry Bonds hit .280 25 70 OPS of .850, that would be considered a s***ty season. But if Royce Clayton hit .280 25 70 .850, he would have had MORE then a career year. Different standards for different players. Frank has been a solid player his entire career, but has not been great his entire career. He had down years in 98 and 99(and down years is a nice term for sucking ass), was injured in 01, and had a down year in 02.

Let KC trade Beltran elsewhere. Let us have Finley. He costs less, and while is maybe not just as good, he is still a very solid player. He has a ring and has been to two different World Series. Problem solved. I'm more worried about getting a stud starter and then a reliever or two before getting a CFer personally.

I asked a friend yesterday... "Did you hear Ronald Reagan died?" And he was like "Yeah, it's everywhere." And I was like "Yeah, that's my point." No disrespect to Ron, but he was 93. It shouldn't come as a big shock.

And Bud Selig won't allow it. He shot down a trade last year at the deadline because the Yankees gave up too much cash...I see no reason why he will not do it again. BTW, does Jorge Posada have a no-trade clause with his new deal? I'm sure if the Yanks are desperate enough, they'll pick up most of Posada's contract.

For the youngsters on the board(this includes me, but I've heard the story before), most of May's thumb was blown off in an accident. Here is a link to an interview with May(it is from WSI, but it's a good read nonetheless) link

He sucked ass for Frank Thomas in 1998. He sucked ass in 99. He was out for the year in 01. He was awful in 02. He hit .260 last year. The Frank of 91-97 and 00 has left town before. But he is back. And, just to toot my own horn, who predicted this huge season? Yeah, that's what I thought.

I'd take Grimsley. He's pretty nasty. I'd take Affeldt in a second as well(if we can turn Marte around and Scho around, I have no doubt we can turn Affeldt around). That's about all though.

Wise choice.

Where's the love for Jose? Have Uribe go as a 2Bman, Jose as a SS. I can think of a few SS's who have had solid years(Eckstein, Guillen, Tejada, Young), but Jose really is a top 2 or 3 SS in the league right now. And you all wanted him castrated for making a few errors in April and May.

Honest to God, I'd make this deal... ...if Anaheim gave us a good prospect or two and they took Billy Koch. Valentin straight up for Ortiz?

I don't know much about the minor leagues, but I do know that 23 in A-ball is s***ty as hell, especially if he is a good prospect for you. If that is any indication of what the Yankees can give up, I feel confident that we will get Garcia. I just wish they'd do it quickly so we can get it over with.

I feel the same way about Kobe. I think Kobe's a s***head. I can't stand him.

It's been every bit AS good STAT wise, but talent wise and results wise, the Cubs is better then ours. They haven't been playing up to par, and they've had injuries take out their 1-2 punch(Prior for April and May, Wood for probably June, and maybe a little of July), while our rotation has been 100% all year long(our 1-4 that is).

Real bright. Stoop to personal attacks. Well done. No need. I'll do it. 13-8 4.05 ERA with a WHIP of 1.355, K/9 of 5.7, K/BB of about 2. Real dominant Again, no need. I can do that as well. 8-6, 3.47 ERA, WHIP of 1.175, K/9 of 8.3, K/BB of of just under 3. Not bad. Not as good as you thought though, huh? On the contrary. Here's Prior's playoff stats and Wood's playoff stats. 2-1, 2.31 ERA, WHIP of 1.072, K/9 of about 7, K/BB of 2. Pretty damn good 2-2, 3.86 ERA, WHIP of 1.284, K/9 of about 10, K/BB of 2. Much of that is as much as it is due to ONE bad outing. As I have said before...I take Wood and Prior over Clemens and Pettitte. I have always thought that the Bartman catch was fine. Note that I said Bartman/AGonz(especially AGonz)...you'd think maybe there was something else that ruined the Cubs chances OTHER then Bartman? If AGonz fields the ball that was hit to him cleanly, the Cubs are the defending World Series champs...period. Bartman could have stuck his ass in Alou's face and farted, and nothing would have mattered so long as Gonzalez fielded that ball. It's quite simple, really. "U" might just be an Astros fan. Like I could give a s***. I actually dislike the Cubs very much, I just look at s*** realistically. Any smart man would realize that Mark Prior(18-6 2.43 K/9 of about 10, K/BB of about 5, WHIP of about 1.15...also quite possibly the best pitcher in the league) is the actual ace of the staff. Dusty Baker may have Wood over him in the depth chart, but Prior's the ace. Period. You mean the same Clemens that's 41 years old? The same Clemens who had an ERA of 3.91 last year? You'd have him over Mark Prior, who is just 23, who put up 18-6, 2.43....numbers last year? You are simply clueless if you'd do that. You take Clemens now, see him start to fade as the second half goes on, and see Prior just dominate hitters in the second half, and then see Clemens most likely retire next year, while I would have Prior for another 15-20 years for me. How about you try again. When did I say that? You are putting words into my mouth. I would take Wood over Pettitte(because you make it sound like Pettitte is the greatest thing since sliced bread). Wood's never had an ERA under 3, but I could care less...he's a horse out there. He's like Bartolo Colon. Colon's had an ERA under 3 once in his life, and I would take him over most of the pitchers in the league(though not this year...it appears Colon's fastball is in Billy Koch-land and he's burnt out). Wood walks a lot of hitters. So did Nolan Ryan. Are you going to take another pitcher over Nolan Ryan because Ryan walked a lot of hitters? Walks, while you would not like to have them, are not as big a deal as you make them. And wins for a pitcher is quite possibly the most overrated stat ever. Prior to 2003, Wood had been on several very s***ty Cubs teams. The only playoff team he'd been on was the 98 team, and I do not believe he started the year with the team(noting that he only started 26 games that year). And he should have won more then 14 last year, had the bullpen not blown about 5 games that he started and left with the lead in. He could have had 17 or 18 very easily. Oswalt is good. I'd still rather have Zambrano over him though, expecially considering that Zambrano is putting up these numbers at the age of 23(and he just turned 23 less then 2 weeks ago...June 1st). He could be putting up insane numbers by the time he reaches his prime. And if you'd rather have Pettitte then Zambrano, you can worry about different sports, because baseball is not for you. Pettitte is one of, and may very well be, the most overrated pitcher in today's game. Wade Miller, the one who's 6-6 3.99 ERA 1.34 WHIP, K/9 of about 8, K/BB of less then 2? Over Greg Maddux, who's 5-4 4.13 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, K/9 of 6-7, K/BB of about 3.5? I can give you that. That's pretty much a tossup. I wouldn't say Maddux is declining, but I'd definately say he's getting older...much like Clemens. About time you said something smart. Will you take Redding over Clement once his ERA is under 5.00 though? I bet you do. You mean the one who was 12-11 3.60 WHIP of 1.20 K/9 of 9.5 or so, K/BB of 2.5 in 2002? Or the one who was 14-12 4.11 WHIP of 1.23 K/9 of about 7.5, K/BB of 2.5 in 2003? I can't figure it out. And I'd take either one of them over Redding...in a second. In fact, I'd be hard pressed NOT to take Clement over Miller. Clement's a good young pitcher. How so? He's 7-4, ERA's 3.28, WHIP's 1.12, K/9 is about 9, K/BB is about 3.5. I don't get it. No it's not. Cubs rotation >>>>>Astro's rotation. Open your eyes and admit that the Astro's rotation is inferior to the superior Cubs rotation. The Cubs rotation is the best 1-5 in the majors. When Matt Clement is your #5(and he'd be atleast a #3 in our rotation), you either have a dumbass manager who doesn't know how to make a rotation(which is true in some cases for the Cubs but not this one), or you have a kick ass rotation. The Cubs have the latter.

I was pointing out that the Sox pen is better then the Cubs. How hard is that to understand?

Me too. I don't necessarily like the guy, but watching him play is insane. He is dominant. It's like watching the Michael Jordan(in basketball of course) of baseball.