witesoxfan

For the record, I do believe Kenny Williams picked up Jose Valentin's 2004 option worth $5 mill. He never "resigned" with us. Also, if you think he would get more then $2 mill, how much more then $2 mill do you think he would get. Personally, I would give him $4 mill a year at the max, $8 mill over 2...but that's all the further I go.

When are they going to get one? They HAVE a solid catcher. Barret had a down year in 2003, but in 2002, he put up .265 12 50 .750 OPS. His 2003 was quite bad, but he did not play an entire year, which was probably part of the reason.

Um, no. I'll take Klesko, Giles, Nevin, Hernandez, Loretta, Vazquez, Payton, Burroughs over the Cubs offense. I'll take the Cubs rotation over almost anyone's rotation in a second though(and when I say almost, I mean I'd have to consider long and hard between Chicago-Houston, Chicago-Oakland, Chicago-New York, and Chicago-Boston, and that's about it).

Of course, Renteria will also cost us $8-10 mill, and Cabrera is not that much worse offenisvely or defensively then Renteria...I personally think Renteria has probably benefitted from being in the middle of that awesome Cardinals lineup, and if he went to another team, you wouldn't see .330 15 and however-many-RBIs-he-had numbers from him....maybe even as low as .280 10 a-lower-number-of-RBIs-then-he-had-with-St. Louis. Cabrera has really never had that type of protection around him. I'll take Cabrera at $7 mill over Renteria at $10 mill....that $3 mill can be spent very well in other places, like for instance, resigning Jose to play 2B(as I said, I would absolutely love Jose-Cabrera up the middle, and while it would take literally a little bit of time for Jose to adjust, like maybe two weeks or so in ST, we would almost undoubtedly reap the benefits later).

I wouldn't give up on Rowand yet. Let's see how he pans out this year. I think he'll be decent at the very least...probably will hit .260-.280, double digit homers, 60-70 RBI, along with solid defense and a solid arm in CF. However, I could just as easily put Harris in CF and dump Rowand if Rowand does not pan out and Harris does....it would make us stronger up the middle defensively with ease(because when Harris is healthy, he can fly and he would be able to cover more ground then Rowand, meaning some doubles with Rowand are outs for Harris). We'll just have to see how it plays out.

I see no reason why Jose wouldn't sign for $5-6 mill, in fact, I'd go as far as saying he's quite possibly getting more money then he should(but loyalty, good defense, all that bulls***) Here are Reggie Sanders's stats (for the record, he got 2-years $6 mill from the Cards) .285 31 87 .912 OPS 15 SB(5 CS)...however, he also had a very bad 2.89 K-BB ratio(38 walks, 110 K's) Given, SS is a position that is much harder to play everyday, however, Jose's .240 28 74 .776 OPS 8 SB(3 CS)...however, his 2.11 K-BB ratio is a little easier to swallow(but not by much...54 walks, 114 K's). So really, I'd say he's worth closer to $2 mill a year, but $2.5-$3 mill a year, ah, who the hell cares...it's a little easier to handle when a guy is overpaid by $500,000-$1 mill compared to a guy like Paul Konerko who is being overpaid by like $3-4 mill, if not more. But as you said, it's quite easy for poor teams to sign guys who are good if they use their money correctly...in fact, I'd say both Sanders and Valentin would be good additions, and next year, they'll probably make about as much as what Koch will make this year.

Oh they will almost undoubtedly add a starter or two. I can't imagine Ismael Valdes being there too awfully long, and for all we know, David Wells could raid a Hostess packaging plant and be sent to jail for 10 years. Also, whoever the bigtime reliever it is that is going to hit the FA market this year, I would imagine San Diego will be after him as well. To me, it really says something about a team when they have a guy in Terrence Long who gives you 15-20 homers a year and pretty good defense and have him as their 4th OFer. I personally feel that they are the best offensive team in the NL, and I think they'll be better then several AL teams as well offensively.

If Harris does not pan out and plays like s*** this year, and no one else steps up and plays well at 2B, Maggs is gone, Koch is gone, and Konerko is dealt....I make priority #1 to resign Loaiza(assuming he has another solid year). Then, if we can, resign Jose to like a 2-year $5-6 mill deal, and then try to sign Orlando Cabrera as well. We sign Cabrera, and we have very good defense up the middle with Valentin at 2B and Cabrera at SS(where he once won a gold glove IIRC). He's also decent offensively. We get him for something like $5-7 mill a year, and we are good from that standpoint. If not, we go into next season with Jose as our SS at $2.5-3 mill for the next two years, and to me, that is great. I don't like him here for $5 mill for 1 year, but $5-6 mill over 2 years is fantastic...a decent power hitter of a SS who has good range both ways but a questionable glove and a sometimes erratic arm....it ain't the best, but it is very far from the worst, and I'll take it.

Anything's fine by me, no matter how it is worked out. Also, I would prefer the OF, OF, OF over LF, CF, RF, but as I said, I'm fine with anything.

Huh? If that offense is healthy, to put it plainly, they could be real good. Klesko, Nevin, Giles, Payton, and Hernandez(a good hitting catcher), along with Loretta and Vazquez up the middle....I personally like their chances a lot. Probably will have a lineup that looks like... Loretta - 2B Vazquez - SS Payton - CF Giles - LF Nevin - RF Klesko - 1B Hernandez - C Burroughs - 3B pitcher To me, that looks like it is probably the best lineup in the NL West, and it would kick our ass, I can almost guarantee that. A solid staff with Wells, Lawrence, Valdes, Peavy and Eaton, and a bullpen that will have Hoffman back, along with Osuna, Hitchcock, Witasick, Scott Linebrink(who had a pretty solid year last year), along with Rod Beck, who was better then a lot of people expected him to be last year(including myself). And then their bench has Terrence Long, Jeff Cirillo, Brian Buchanan(I remember seeing him when he was with the Twins, if he ever gets a hold of one, he'll hit it a mile....very good power guy off the bench), as well as Todd Sears(another former Twink)....I like their chances of competing a lot. I look at that team and see a team that could be NLCS material. You are correct in saying that Maggs will not sign there though. As deep as they are, they have no need to sign him. The biggest weakness I see in that team is that they do not have a great cleanup hitter. Me, I personally feel that Brian Giles is better suited as a #3 hitter, but in this lineup, I have him batting cleanup. I have him there because I tried to balance the lineup up evenly into L-R-L-R order. That's why Jay Payton is batting cleanup, when he really should be batting 5th at the highest, but preferably 6th or 7th. If they would be willing, I could easily see a trade like Klesko for Maggs of some type....maybe have them include like Peavy and/or Witasick, or maybe we get one/both of those two and then take on a guy with a decent sized salary(like maybe Terrence Long for instance, who will probably make $4 mill or so in each of the next two years). They would then move Nevin to 1B and put Maggs in RF, making their lineup look like this... Loretta - 2B Vazquez - SS Giles - LF Maggs - RF Nevin - 1B Payton - CF Hernandez - C Burroughs - 3B pitcher At that point they are quite possibly too right-handed, with no lefties in the order from 4-7...that then becomes a problem as well, and then they either trade for Todd Hundley and hope for the best( ), they trade Payton for a good powerhitting LH CF, leave it like it is, or they can look to trade Loretta along with others to Montreal for possibly Vidro(and Montreal will probably be out of the race by then). Vazquez would then probably move to the top, Payton to #2(not a great spot for him, but it is better then #3), Giles remains at 3, same with Maggs at 4, Vidro goes in at #5, and Nevin slips down to #6, with the rest remaining the same. Anyways, sorry to talk extensively about the Padres on a White Sox message board(the funny thing is, I have never followed the Padres in my life, in fact, the only time I have ever cheered for the Padres was the 1998 World Series, and they got swept then, which was no fun), but that non-contender thing irked me a little bit, and then one thing let to another, and before you know it, there is about a book and then some on the Padres. Oh well.

If I had the choice, I would take neither. My starting 1B and 2B would have been Daubach and Jimenez/Harris. Just as a hypothetical here to everyone...what if the Konerko for Ortiz trade last year goes through? I would assume we don't get Colon(maybe a wrong assumption...maybe we make the deal still because we still have money, then maybe Loaiza takes over the #5 and he breaks out and we have a rotation of Loaiza, Colon, Buehrle, Ortiz, Garland, being the best in the AL, and we all live happily ever after). Would have been a wacky team and I would say probably would have been the best in the AL, even better then Boston and New York.

I knew that(your doctor checks your prostate the other way), just thought I try to make a funny. And I'll do it later, thanks anyways though.

"All sports talk radio in Chicago has been about:, TAKE A GUESS!" A little late, but... The Rush?

We(as not only a society but also as a race) are not perfect and sometimes overlook the obvious. It happens, and it happened to me here. You brought up good points that I had not considered. I do think I'd still rather have Ray on here then have say Paul Konerko at the same price...but you can look at it other ways, as in, if we kept Ray, who says JR doesn't open up the pocketbook and does not let us bring in Bartolo. It's all in the past and there is nothing to worry about now.

It's kind of an interesting thought with New England trading up, but from what I can remember, they like to have a lot of picks and to not trade up. The more guys they have suited up, the better their chances are of getting some that work out, the better their chances of winning. I didn't watch much of any of the big time running backs, so I can't tell how they are receiving out of the backfield. My guess would be that they stick with the picks they have now and draft either Greg Jones or Chris Perry with the last pick of the first round. There is also potential of them moving up....I'm just really not sure what New England wants to do. I am quite sure they will get a HB in the draft.

Thank you for helping me prove my point. Apparently, you and I are the only ones to take Reggie Williams(assuming you picked him)...dare I say, great minds think alike?

I know where that is, but when I stick my finger up there, it comes out brown and stinky.

I see.

I had trouble with this pick. All along, I've just picked who I thought the team was going to pick, but then read the question, and it said who do you think the Bears(in this case) should pick...I think they should undoubtedly pick Vince Wilfork....however, I get this strange feeling that Kevin Jones will be available and that the Bears will pick him....don't know if it's because he's the best available, ATrain has not had a great year for a year or two, because they missed out on McGahee last year because of his knee injury, all of the above, or something else...but I do get the feeling that Jones is picked...so that's who I selected.

Atleast a month? By a month you mean like from November and December, right? Because, IIRC, about all the rumors involving the White Sox and Dodgers began in about November-December and at some point Lee, Ordonez, Valentin, Thomas, and Konerko have been involved in rumors of going to LA. I just want ST to start so these BS rumors can stop.

Dammit, go and knock me off my high horse like that you bastard!

I would piss my pants with joy had Maddux signed with us. Is it just me, or is it looking like a Cubs-Yankees World Series could take place, therefore becoming the worst World Series ever(from a White Sox fan's standpoint)? Now more then ever I hope we win 95 games, get a horse for the pennant run, and just completely destroy anything that gets in our path.

Speaking of the devil, on Yahoo's main football page, the main story is that the Bills could be one of the main teams to trade for Drew Henson. Another Bills QB named Drew....awesome. Not only that, but he's been out of the game for atleast 3 or 4 years, hasn't he? While we're at it, why not sign Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders, part of the old Cowboys dynasty. Back to the subject at hand, you are supposed to draft the best available, but that just seems to be getting out of hand...3 good DT's? I'm not so sure about that.

I just made a point that Ray was good at turning the DP. No need to get all uptight about it.

Another pitcher on the Scrubs for the Sox hitters to light up. Yay!