witesoxfan

"You must be this beautiful to ride the Quagmire."

LMAO...I was going to start a Cubs one earlier today too. Well done

Oh no you didn't...not a wise choice my friend. Get comfortable, you could be in for a ride. For starters, I would trade for a lefty power hitter. Whether it be Cliff Floyd(who would be the most attractive player, however, he does have a no-trade clause, and I'm not sure who he can veto a trade to). If he is not an option, I would trade probably end up trading for Tino Martinez or Randall Simon, or maybe even wait until the trade deadline and wait for another team to fall out of contention(maybe see if Toronto falls out and trade for Delgado...that would be my first choice), maybe look for a better leadoff hitter, or at the very least, a better 2Bman(I'd take Spivey or Vidro, also, you have to look at Marcus Giles as a possible option if Atlanta falls out, but we'd have to overpay, and Atlanta would have to fall out...both are unattractive and unlikely...another possibility is Alfonso Soriano in Texas, but that is in the same boat as Atlanta, though Texas will not contend...we'd almost undoubtedly have to give up Cotts, and probably Diaz and/or Rauch too, along with another solid prospect...I would do it though). Catcher, SS, and 3B are fine(however, if possible, you could try and convince Jose to move to 2B if necessary and then that opens up more possibilities too. If he does accept the option of moving to 2B if necessary, Orlando Cabrera becomes an option, and if St. Louis drops out, Edgar Renteria is also an option, however, he is in the same boat as Soriano and Giles. Catcher could be upgraded, but I'm not sure who would become available that would actually help us a lot(Olivo is here for the cannon attached to his body, also known as his right arm, and we basically have him to hit .250-.260 with solid power numbers, maybe 10 homers or so...if we could get IRod and have Detroit take on around $3-5 mill a year for the next 4 years, then he's an option...otherwise, there are very few options to go to). There is very little that can be done in the outfield, however, if we could get an elite LH power hitter that can play any OF position(and there are plenty available...St. Louis falls out, Edmonds is an option; Larry Walker could be an option, however, he would have to play LF or RF, which would mean one of Lee and Maggs would be involved, and if that occurred, we would may as well just trade Lee and Konerko, along with a prospect, for Helton, and use Reed or Borchard in LF, or trade for a solid LFer or CFer and plug them in...the best thing I can think of is trading for Jose Cruz in Tampa, put him in CF, and then move Rowand to LF; Shawn Green could be an option, and he can play both OF and 1B, so that is going for us...we might even be able to get him for just Lee, but the Dodgers would have to take on some of his salary, or they'd have to give us a solid prospect and take on Konerko too; Geoff Jenkins has to be an option, Chipper Jones, Cliff Floyd....there are several more options, but I've covered the ones that I feel the Sox should consider). As far as pitching is concerned, another starter could be brought in. I've made it very well known that I would love to get Kipper back. Another option is the infamous Odalis Perez, who we heard about ALL offseason. If Seattle falls out(which they very well could), you have to consider Joel Piniero too. Again, it would cost quite a bit, but he'd probably be worth it. There are not many other options, but there are some Blue Jays pitchers who wouldn't be bad either, but I'm not sure of their contract situations(Lilly would be solid, Batista is pretty good, and Hentgen is a former Cy Young winner). Personally, I feel it is damn near pointless to get a pitcher to be your #4 pitcher, especially when we need a top starter to help us in the playoffs(which would be the reason we acquired a starter). Also, as seen, the bullpen could be shored up. Several relievers will be available....too many to be named. At this point, you have to sort your priorities and determine which you need the most. For me, the list goes something like this: Starter, LH power hitter, 2Bman, leadoff hitter, reliever Here's what I do. For the starter, I see what Pittsburgh wants for Wells. I offer them Borchard, Rauch, and Adkins, and see if they do it. If they don't, I offer them another solid player, say Diaz. If they don't do that, I make one more offer, and I see if they take Lee. We'll say they take the second offer. If they don't accept either of those 3 offers, I back off that, and go for Perez. I would offer LA probably Konerko and Diaz, and see if they bite. If they do, and I would guess they do, Odalis Perez is ours. We then have either a hole at 1B, or have to address the LH power situation...either way, this is covered in my next move. I see what it would cost to get Delgado here(again, assuming Toronto is out). I would offer them Borchard, Rauch(Cotts if we get Wells), Adkins, and Koch(to take on some of Delgado's salary), and would ask for one of Speier, Lopez, and Lightenberg in return....also, if the Wells trade is made, like I have it being made, Konerko would go along as well, but we'd get their most expensive reliever, even if he is their s***tiest reliever. We'll say we get Lightenberg. That fills the hole at 1B, we have 5 starters(Buehrle, Loaiza, preferably Wells/otherwise Perez, Garland, and then Wright/Scho...if Wright is doing better, I would deal Scho for another solid reliever...if Scho is doing better, I just move Wright to the pen). To make it easier, we'll just say that it is Wright doing better and Scho is dealt(to San Diego for Jay Witasick). At this point, we are pretty much toast in the upper minors as far as prospects are concerned. I then see if Texas will deal Soriano for Reed, Pacheco, and Harris(I know Reed is a stretch, but I've always felt that in baseball you sacrifice the chance of winning in the future for the chance of winning in the present). If they don't, I don't worry about it and completely forget I even brought it up(unless they ask me about it again and accept it later on...then I do it). Just to make it fun as hell, we'll say they do make it. So now, our team looks like this... Soriano - 2B(I don't like his OBP, but we have little other choice...he has speed, and offers power from the leadoff spot) Lee - LF(however, if the third Wells is made, a LFer would be traded for, or maybe even a CFer...maybe a solid prospect for Jose Cruz Jr, and then put Rowand in LF) Maggs - RF Delgado - 1B Thomas - DH Valentin - SS Crede - 3B Rowand - CF Olivo - C Rotation of Buehrle, Loaiza, Wells, Garland, Wright....however, in the playoffs, Loaiza would go in game one just to make it a R-L-R to open the playoffs. Pen of Wunsch, Jackson, Lightenberg, Witasick, Politte, Shingo, and Marte, however, one could be demoted/traded. Looks good to me...probably costs a bunch more money, but this would be done mostly at the All-Star break, when non-contenders are having their 50% off sales. Just off the top of my head here real quick-like, it looks like the team would make somewhere around $78 mill or so to open the season, so this would not be the team to open the season with, but could possibly be a team to trade for at the deadline.

Simple logic. You gotta love it

I haven't seen it - is it better then the astroturf they used to play on? I think it's funny. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I could handle playing baseball on carpet.

3 full counts in one inning is a little scary to me. He got squeezed really on one call to Graffy, and that was it.

I did notice that. And they proved me right today. Good outing from the bullpen, other then the one inherited runner that scored and the fact that Koch damn near put me in the ER because of cardiac arrest. Then again, he always does that, so I should come to expect that. I'm telling you, 90-95 wins, and a division crown. And like last year and the year before and the year before(every year since 2000 basically), we will play better in the second half, because I think trades will occur that will help the team.

Sox win, and they do it in true fashion too with Koch trying to blow it. Damn near started to grab for the Rolaids. It's all good though.

They have to get another scorer before they are a top 10 team again. G-Mac and Warrick are both good, but they cannot get it done alone. The loss of Billy Edelin killed them. Had Edelin played the whole year, I have no doubt they could have been a Final Four team. I'll take a wild guess and say that it is OK State. No reason why. Also, I predict Ga Tech is in the top 5, just due to them not losing anyone critical(that is, of course, unless they do lose someone critical...but I don't see how that will happen).

FWIW, you were not alone. Do you think that if we have a 6-run 9th and comeback and win the game tomorrow that we'll get as much air-time as the game yesterday did?

The problem with that is we then we have to depend on Cotts to be the lefty out of the pen. I vote Koch. Let him have it. If not Koch, Politte should get it.

I do the obvious...I realize that there's still 161 games left.

I disagree with most of what Old Socks has. However, he is not talking about what Konerko will do on the field, he is talking about how much he is worth and how much he is actually getting paid. Konerko is really worth $3-5 mill, and he is getting damn near $8 mill a year. IMO, to earn $8 mill, he will have to put up .310 30 110 .900 OPS(and while we're at it, 20-30 SBs would be good too ). Also, if he had a season where he didn't pull a Jekyll and Hyde on us and be s*** one half and being the s*** the other, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with him. And of course, I can't comment about his speed, or lack thereof, anymore now can I?

But Duhon has been to more Final Fours

Doesn't matter. Loaiza has always been incredibly good in April.

I bet that would hurt to get hit by a stick that many times. It's fun to watch too:

For being a rookie manager, Ozzie is sure as hell acting like he's been managing for 5-10 years. He loses a huge lead on opening day, his first day managing, and he says to forget about it. This team will win this division. At this point, I think we only have to be close to first(and by close I mean 5-8 games or so either in front, which is obvious, or back, and I bet we are still in it), and a starter or a reliever(or both) will be acquired and whatever else we need as well.

Agreed. Did anyone catch DJ try to bring up 2003 yesterday, only to be silenced right away by Hawk? I can't remember exactly what they were talking about, but it was worth noting.

This thread sucks! Anyways, all I have to add to this thread is what I've said about 2 or 3 times already. The team in the White Sox uniform that I saw yesterday is a 90-95 win team. The way they played was much better. This team, if it comes together like I think it will, could be scary good by June.

Two from Tex in "Go out and get drunk, do whatever" Steff to the board after she thought we took it wrong: Tex's response: Also... ROTFLMFAO!

LMAO to both.

Which is why no college team will ever hire you as a scout, let alone an NBA team. But I would take Duhon over Gordon because Duhon has won in his career and Gordon never will

Fairweather? What do you mean? Those fans have stuck by them, win or lose, since 2001

First of all, to end all this "Koch is our closer, stick with him" stuff, Guillen commented that "while Koch is my closer, I will put other pitchers in to close out games for me if I need to." That being said.. From what I could, Ozzie made no mistakes at all yesterday. He brought in a reliever to get out of a jam when his starter was out of gas. He brought in Koch when Politte was done. He played the numbers correctly and brought in Marte to face the lefty Stairs(who destroys RHP, but is awful against lefties) which was then countered by Pena's move to send Lopez up there. Lopez had 3 homers all of last year, so not much is expected out of him. Marte didn't have his stuff, but battled anyways. On a 3-1 count, he threw a bad pitch, and quite frankly, it still hasn't landed. The rest is history. As I said in another thread, sometimes, it is better to be lucky then good. I can guarantee you that if we played like that and they played like they did(assuming Marte would have half decent stuff), we would win 9 times out of 10. We just got unlucky.

And our staff ERA of about 3.75 or so last year was what killed us in the end. Pitching has not ALWAYS been the problem. From 2000-2004(including the one game this year), pitching has been a problem the majority of the time. However, saying pitching has always been the problem is like saying the Diamondbacks have never had enough pitching to win the World Series. If I said that, you would laugh at me, because the DBacks did win it all in 2001, and it was almost solely because of their pitching that they won too. However, they apparently did not have enough pitching to win in 00, and not enough in 02, and not enough in 03, correct?