witesoxfan

I'm not saying that at all. All I'm saying is that as a closer, Gordon did not blow 5 saves. He blew 4 of those saves as a setup man, so really, they could be considered blown holds, but they do not have a statistical category for blown holds, just blown saves. And with my Marte point, all I was suggesting is that just because a setup man blows 5+ saves, it does not mean that he was not very good, because Marte was very good. With setup men, blown saves are overrated, because the offense still has atleast another chance to come back and get the win, while with closers, this is a lot of times not the case. Another thing, I do agree we won't miss Gordon....in fact, I personally think he could end up on the DL within a month....however, I'm more worried about replacing his production, especially from June-September when he was actually pitching well(I don't think he got his ERA down into the 3.00's until late May, and I know he started out April very s***tily). We'll have to get his numbers from somewhere, and whether that be Politte, Shingo, Koch, Wright, or all of the above(or none of the above), I really don't care. It needs to be replaced somehow though. However, like I have said before, I'm very glad we did not resign Gordon, especially for the money he got. BTW, about the little fill-in-the-blank thing...I think the age limit was probably common sense...I don't know too many 10 year olds yelling that, let alone most 15-18 year olds.

If he gets on base and hits .275 with a .350 OBP, he might steal 40 bases. If he hits at pretty much anything less then that(especially something around .225 .300), he won't steal 40 bases. If he hits .250 and can draw a walk now and then(maybe a .320 OBP), I'll be satisfied. And if you took the time to read my other post, I talked about what little range Walker really has, and if you comprehended that, you would understand that I didn't want Walker at all. In fact, I am not exactly sure why the Cubs signed him in the first place. My only guess is that they did it so, if they needed to, they could trade Grudzielanek to a team that needs him or wants him...say the Yankees for instance.

Brando, you're killing me. Damaso Marte also blew 7 saves(11 for 18), while not even closing most of the time. He also was 4-2 1.58 ERA 1.05 WHIP 2.18 K-BB ratio(which seems a tish low and is a slight cause of concern, considering it was 3.60 in 2002, but nothing I'm panicking about). At times, SV% and, moreso then even SV%, blown saves, can be misleading. If a guy has been a setup guy at some point in any season(which Gordon was with us for April and May), he will have blown saves that are not actually blown saves but to be stated more correctly, blown holds. For the record, 4 of Gordon's 5 blown saves came when he was a setup man(he was 0 for 4 in SVO in April and May, his main 2 months as a setup man). In June, July, August, and September, he was 12 of 13, which is a 92.3% save conversion rate. That's also not bad. And in 2003, his 96-100 MPH fastball lost 5 MPH, and in turn, led to a 5.77 ERA, as well as being embarrassed by Carl f***ing Crawford in Tampa Bay. I know for a fact that 40% of Crawford's homers from 2003 were of the walk-off variety, and that number may be larger too. Then again, he only hit 5 homers all year. Anyways, I always thought Koch was tough as nails, and he could hurt you. However, I started to dislike him when he blew it for the A's in the 2002 ALDS by giving up that 3-run homer to AJ Pierzynski in the top of the 9th of game 5. That pretty much sealed the team with the score being 5-1 at the time, and then knowing that Mark Ellis would hit a 3-run homer in the top of the 9th, only to go home and watch Anaheim completely destroy Minnesota in the ALCS hurt me a little bit, and made me dislike Koch a little more. And then we traded for him. Well, if he doesn't have his high-heater to work with, let's hope he retires until he remembers where he had it last. If he does have it, girls will probably be yelling, "Koch, I wanna suck your ________" at the ballpark this year(fill in the blank, it's a madlib).

May I point out that Eric Karros had a .235 15 63 .691 OPS season in 2001, and a .271 12 73 .722 season that justify his trading(though he was slightly better in less action with the Cubs putting up .286 12 40 .786). And McGriff had been from one team to another to another....I believe the Dodgers were about his 6th team. Frank Thomas is still putting up good numbers, even though he has turned 35 and will turn 36 this year(.262 42 105 .952 OPS last year), and has done it all for one team(for what that's worth...some people, this is worth very little. However, there is the issue of respect, and respect is a big key to a lot of people, and those people may include Jerry Reinsdorf and Frank Thomas. If it does, Thomas will probably be here for 5 more years and he will retire). Karros started to struggle at the age of 33 when he had his .235 season. And as I said, McGriff has played for 6 teams, so that same sense of respect is lost right away. This is not mentioning that winning this year seems to be a big deal around here, especially with how the Cubs are expected to perform, and that with a trade of Frank Thomas, we would be building toward the future, and building toward the future doesn't fly real well when you are trying to win this year. Not only this, but he is one of the best hitters on the team(top 2 at the very least...you can dispute whether he or Maggs is the best hitter all you want) at an affordable price($6 mill). If a Konerko and Lee for Encarnacion and Perez deal could be made, that would be a deal I would be very in favor of. Then again, with the Dodgers new ownership and DePodesta as GM, they may not take Lee and Konerko at about $15 mill this year for Encarnacion and Perez at about $9 mill, and they have said that they don't believe Thomas can make it 140-150 games at 1B. Therefore, the roster we have now is pretty much locked in until May or June. Anyways, if Thomas stops producing(which I highly doubt anyways), his knack for drawing walks and getting on base will be enough along with 25-30 homers, which I think he can easily put up.

This is simply not true. Spam is one of the few foods on the market today that can be eaten almost any way it is prepared, whether that be unprepared, fried, grilled, and probably boiled and broiled and the whole 9 yards. Maybe I say this because I like to eat Spam?

Because he likes you. Actually, he'll have to tell you, because I have no idea.

$5

I hate to say this, but... What a little b****! :fyou

I think it will be me. Not because I'm arrogant, just because in most of the leagues(in general, both baseball and football) I've been in, for some strange reason or another, I've gotten a high pick, and like 3 or 4 of the times I've gotten the 1st overall pick.

You are thinking of Skoal

Because the Cubs are viewed as a contender, and we are not. He wants to win, and will take reduced money to win, apparently. And just for fun, comparing Walker to Royce Clayton, Walker's career Range Factor is .29 below the league average, and Royce's is .28 OVER the league's average throughout his career. However, Clayton's career Range Factor is 4.47, Walker's is 4.42. And another "just-for-fun", Robbie Alomar's career Range Factor is 4.75, which is .19 above the league's average over his career. So not every stat is perfect, but most work well enough.

Unless he can pull a Vince Coleman(who in 1986 stole 107 bases with a .301 OBP while hitting .232 in 154 games...he was on base 201 times that year, and stole 107 bases...that's insane. Also, in 1994, the strike-shortened year, he stole 50 bases with a .285 OBP in 104 games...he got on base 135 times that year...once again, that is insane), he isn't gonna steal 40 bases. He has the potential to, but as they say, you can't steal 1B, and if you can't steal 1B, how the hell are you going to steal 2B and 3B?

I believe it was also partly due to the fact that he wants a chance to close, and he probably felt this was his best chance to close for a major league team. Who wouldn't feel that way?

Uh, no. Koch blew 6 saves in 2002, but got 11 wins because he was used in 84 games, meaning he was brought into many games where Oakland was tied or even losing. A save% of 88%(which he had in 2002 going 44 of 50 in saves), is fairly good.

A few things come up in this thread. For starters, Rex really did hit it on the head with why we didn't spend the money...it's because we didn't really have that money in the first place. Colon resigns, and you are looking at a team without Koch and Konerko, or a team without Maggs, whichever KW could have gotten the better value out of. Second of all, Colon is a stud. He is the definition of a horse. He brought an attitude to each and every game and could flat out dominate you on any given night. His 15-13 3.87 stats are not impressive(while his 240 innings are very impressive), but I have said, I personally felt that Bart was the backbone of the rotation, and that with him gone, you will see the rotation struggle more at times this year. He seemed to stabilize the rotation, whether it was the fact that he almost routinely gave the bullpen rest or that he could just flat out dominate, I'm not exactly sure, maybe it was both...all I can tell you is that his prescence, or lack thereof, will be felt greatly this year. Finally Buehrle's numbers have declined slightly. Whether it is a sign to come or not remains to be seen, but it is scary to look at it. (these numbers are 2001, 2002, and 2003, in that order). ERA - 3.29; 3.58; 4.14 K-BB ratio - 2.625; 2.197; 1.951 WHIP - 1.10; 1.26; 1.37 And the one thing people bring up to counter this is the fact that he has won. They don't mention his W-L % has dropped each of the past 3 years as well. W-L% - 66% of his decisions in 2001, 50% win% overall; 61% win% in decisions; 56%(and that is the main exception, and that has a little to do with him getting a ton of run support and having a lot of decisions...a 19-12 record is 31 decisions, and that is, quite frankly, a s***load...that means he only got 3 no-decisions, and I can think of atleast one off the top of my head(the Yanks game where Foulke gave up the 3-run bomb to Giambi)); 50% win% in decisions, 40% overall...so really, even that has declined. If this trend continues, you could be looking at a potential 12-15 4.50 1.650 K-BB, and a WHIP of around 1.45-1.50....that is a serious, serious, serious concern, and if this has not been looked at by the White Sox front office by atleast someone, we could be in deep s***. That being said, I think Buehrle rights the ship this year and puts up Colon-esque numbers, without the domination. I honestly think he'll put up about 15-13 3.85 235-245 innings with a solid, but not great WHIP. I think Esteban will pick up Buehrle's innings from last year, and Garland will do the same for Loaiza. I can just hope that Scho can throw 190 innings and I can just hope that our #5 starter(s) will actually get us more then 3 wins this year.

Dammit, I wanted to say it this time!!! :finger

Meanwhile, Thomas's career OPS of .996 destroys Konerko's career OPS of .812. And Thomas's OPS of .952 last year will probably be repeated this year(if not better), and it will most likely wipe out whatever Konerko does. If we can get Odalis for Konerko, straight up, get it done and over with and make DePodesta's first move a very s***ty one.

I'm 1 for 4(knew Fogerty, then kind of went )

Sorry to say this, but.... Tough s***. He's going to. :puke

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if we do not keep Grilli on the 25-man all year, do we not send him back to Florida for $25,000?

Agreed. And like I said, if he hits .280ish, I won't even be mad. He drops a .220-.250 bomb on our ass...

I'll answer this one. It says no active players included.

Exactly.