witesoxfan

Explain to me how the Cubs not having had back-to-back winning seasons in 30+ years is "owning" the sport. Hell, I'll go as far as saying the Cubs are an example of a team rebuilding the correct way. Their rotation of Prior, Wood, Zambrano, Clement, and Cruz(or Maddux)will have 3(or if Maddux signs, possibly 4 if you include him, though I don't because he's spent the last 11 years in a Braves uniform), and they got Clement for practically nothing in a trade. The bullpen consists of players brought in via signings, trades, and those brought up from the minor league system. And the lineup hasn't been brought in entirely from FA while spending $100 million on it....Sosa was brought in via trade, Patterson is home-grown, Derrek Lee was brought in via trade, Grudz/Walker were both brought in in good moves, Gonzalez was brought in via trade, Ramirez via trade, Barret and Bako via trade....in fact, I would have to say their only major signing in their lineup is Moises Alou. Their bench has been mainly small signings, so nothing to complain about there. Tell me these two things again... 1) How have the Cubs owned the sport? 2) How have the Cubs done it like the Yankees and Red Sox?

:headshake Oh well....maybe I should be on here at 11 next time then...?

Hey I got an idea. How about we put all the main active posters(probably use some type of measuring stick, like say if you have atleast a certain amount of posts per day and/or a certain number of total posts), and then we just make a new T-Shirt every year with a different logo every year(and every year, a different person wins the logo contest, so we'll never have back-to-back winners). Or maybe we can do both name things....like have all the names with the criteria I mentioned above from like the portion of the shirt just below the armpit down do the lower back on the back of the shirt, with the posters either posting name, their real name, or whatever they want(basically, a custom name) on the top, jersey style. Or maybe we do all the names on the front below the main logo with the name across the top of the back with a number also on the back(in this case, the back would be totally custom). Or maybe we could use all of these ideas and people could buy up to, say, 3-5 shirts as a maximum per year, and you could have any type of design you wanted. You may need to talk to someone so you could do something like that legally, but I think you get the idea, or atleast I hope so. And PA, you son of a b****, how could you not put me on the list? Who cares if I wasn't on at 11? :fyou J/k

Yellow or white? Dr. Pepper, Mt. Dew, Sunkist, Vanilla Pepsi/Coke, Cherry Pepsi/Coke, any kinds of Gatorade or Powerade(except the purple Powerade...not really a fan of that)...hell, about anything that isn't diet or tea(and about that tea, I like most raspberry teas)

Was I the only one who thought that the that white guy from the Nuggets should have atleast gone on to the final round in the dunk contest? His first dunk got a 42, and that was bulls***, because it was like the 2nd or 3rd best dunk of the night I thought. I bet the judges were racist

Jets suck. Sorry, I know a new guy's team is the Jets, so I gotta give the Jets a rough time. After all, I am a Bills fan and there are atleast two Dolphin fans( :headshake ) on here. BTW, I said the Jets will pick Williams. They'll need a LB, so they'll take him. I think the Bills then take Reggie Williams with the 13th overall pick.

Hell, I would take on ARod for $112 over 7 years. That's $16 mill a year, and while that is a lot, it would be worth it. Why the hell didn't Kenny Williams get on the phone...say we'll take ARod....take Maggs, have Jon Garland, make us pay only $112 mill over 7 years, and hell, we'll even include a prospect or two, and you have yourself a deal. Obviously it is just wishful thinking, but thinking none the less.

I thought I'd heard they might try and move Soriano to CF, which would seem to keep Michael Young at 2B or SS, wherever they want to put him. I think they wouldn't mind taking on Jose....but I don't want to give him up. We better get some damn good players if we give Jose up...we would have the upper hand in the deal. Still, I would most likely not be in favor of a deal sending Jose to Texas or anywhere for that matter. He is, afterall, our only LH power, no matter what his average is.

I believe I recall that night. I think I tried to record the game to see Bartolo Colon in a White Sox uniform, it didn't record, and it didn't matter because I didn't want to see Bart lose.

You mean like last year right? Or the year before that? Hell, maybe even the year before that one too? Torre is a guy that can handle 15-20 egos in check....which is why it would be very bad for the Yankees if Torre is fired by George. Seriously though, if this team doesn't win 120 games, I don't think a team ever will win 120 games. I honestly don't think they win the World Series, but they look like one of the most dominant regular season teams ever going into the year. I would hate to see what happens if the DBacks fell out of contention early....probably see a rotation that includes Mussina, Johnson, Brown, and Vazquez(and Jose Contreras as the #5 starter)...and then if the Marlins fail to repeat, Luis Castillo will probably be traded to NY to be the 2Bman, and for good measure, the Yankees will give an extra $4 mill in the Arizona deal and will get Robbie Alomar as the utility infielder.

We're almost always on opening day anyways; they have been on WGN the past two years.

Just as a slight correction that could be misinterpreted badly if one wanted to(and it's quite obvious no one would), Frank's career OPS is at .996, which is still among the best ever and is very close to being over 1.000. I'm sure someone could do the math and figure out how many walks/hits/homers it would take to get Frank over that 1.000 mark again and it would probably be a shockingly little amount. Also, I agree with both ninetyfour and supernuke. Loyalty is important, no question about it, but if we could make a trade that would bring us a pitcher that would lead us to a World Series(atleast the World Series that is), I'd be all for the trade.

Musta missed this one.

Bingo

I think you can talk about the pitching staff in general as the weak point. You mentioned the starting pitching as being potentially weak, then you look at the bullpen and see Rivera(who is the best in the pen) and Quantrill(who is also pretty good) along with Flash(though as I have pointed out earlier, the last time he was in 65 games in a season was 1998, and the next season he was gone for a year and a half by June or so), and then you have Karsay who is coming off surgery, Felix Heredia, and who knows what he's going to do, and then a question mark(I think the two on here that I have are Jorge DePaula and Bret Prinz...not exactly household names). If they need to, the Yankees will improve themselves at the trade deadline, if not earlier.

Back to Bevington... Didn't the dumbass once go out to take a pitcher out and have no one warming up in the bullpen?

In a post further from the one you quoted(I believe) "be it by Oakland's stellar rotation, (or) Boston's big 1-2-3, " I also mentioned a sleeper is possible, the Angels being the one that comes to mind initially, and possibly a team like the Twins, Royals, White Sox or Mariners(really the only other teams that have a shot at the playoffs that I have not mentioned....I think the Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays, Indians, Tigers, and Rangers have little shot, with the Jays being the best of the bunch but having the problem of being in the same division as the Red Sox and Yankees), or a sleeper from the NL(Dodgers, Astros, Marlins, Padres, and Dbacks come to mind with the best pitching staffs, and you can never rule out a team with Leo Mazzone or Dave Duncan as pitching coach, so St. Louis and Atlanta should also be considered atleast possible sleepers) I just mentioned the obvious ones, and the ones who seem to strike out the most batters, because the Yankees lineup is very strikeout prone, which is its major weakness.

The lineup is loaded, but as has been proved by the Yankees in the past 2 years, you cannot win because you have an incredibly good offense. If you want a strength anywhere, make it in the pitching staff. IMO, the offense is too strikeout prone and would be beaten in the postseason, be it by Oakland's stellar rotation, Boston's big 1-2-3, or a Philadelphia/Chicago/San Fran/some sleeper. I would like Esteban's chances against the Yankees this year...he'd probably get 10-15 K's. Buehrle on the other hand would probably get torched. Right now, they don't have the pitching to win it all. Come September, they might due to trades or a minor leaguer stepping up or something of the like.

Mussina, Vazquez, and Rivera are the only guarantees to be good. Brown has been injury prone over the past couple years(37 combined games between 2001 and 2002, equaling about half a year per), with 2003 being his first full year since 2000. Contreras has not pitched a full season yet, though he was solid during his time up this year (7-2 in 18 games, 9 of them being starts, with a 3.30 ERA, and 1.15 WHIP and a .202 BAA...again, if he does that over a full year, it's a different story). Lieber is not fully recovered from his Tommy John surgery and will probably not be 100% until 2005, and lord knows if Flash's arm will stay on or if he will even be effective...before this past year, he averaged 34 games a year(which is about half a year each year) in his last 3 years, the past 4 overall. He missed all of 2000 with his surgery(I believe Tommy John), and had a 5.60 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP in 1999 before going on the shelf. The last year he pitched as many as 65 games before 2003 was 1998, and as I said before, the next year he had a s***ty year and was then done for the rest of that year and the next. Who says that doesn't happen again? A name you did not mention was Paul Quantrill, who is a pretty damn good reliever. So from what I can tell, their bullpen is composed of Rivera, Flash, Quantrill, Karsay(if he is healthy by opening day), Felix Heredia, and then who? Looks to me like Bret Prinz and Jorge DePaula. Not the worst pitching staff, but not the best either. If the Yankees faced the Cubs in the series, I got a bad feeling the Cubbies would destroy them and whip their asses. If the Giants staff stays healthy, Jason Schmidt would make the Yankees look silly. The Phillies could do quite a bit of damage as well. Of course, this bullpen is bound to change, as George will get a little pissed and will trade for whoever he can get his hands on. He'll probably get whoever the hell he wants to.

I don't think they would....however, someone on here posted that there had been a hitch in the negotiation on an extension, and there is a good chance he won't resign with Boston. Just throwing an idea out there. Not saying it would happen.

How's the pitching?

Nixon's also a good LH power hitter for the middle of our lineup. Probably would cost us Garland too, but that'd be fine with me....I'd rather have 3 good starters then 2 good starters and 1 question mark on how the hell he is going to pitch.

So Tex, from all of us.... Ha, we have nice weather and you don't.

for Maggs that is....in case someone wants me to get technical about it.

I'll take Lowe and Nixon.