witesoxfan

By the Bills good CB, do they mention which one? Because both Clements and Winfield are pretty damn good CBs

No one should be crying about our payroll. As Rex has pointed out several times, our payroll is increasing this year. However, that's not why I'm not happy with KW's offseason. We could have traded Maggs to the Dodgers earlier in the offseason for some pretty damn good prospects as well as Odalis Perez and maybe Guillermo Mota. All he has to do is force the issue, get it done, and go on to the next thing. In all reality, we could have a damn good lineup, a pretty good starting rotation, and a solid bullpen, had KW pulled the trigger. If he has to add a prospect or two to get a deal done, sure, go for it, unless the prospect is for sure the next big thing. We do this all early and not let a team sit on the idea and think about it, overwhelm them with a trade and get stuff done, we could have an awesome roster right now. What he did was he got too conservative, because the last time he went out and made a move early, he got bit in the ass(Koch for Foulke). Had we made a Maggs and prospects for Perez, Mota, and then Jackson and/or Miller, and we have our #3 or #4 starter, a setup man or a closer, and two stud prospects. Then maybe we trade Konerko for a bad contract - say we don't let Anaheim wait and we give them Konerko and a prospect or two for Percival, and maybe that prospect is Joe Borchard, a guy who is so good that they just can't refuse it. In looking back, it may be a bad move, because maybe Borchard busts out in Anaheim and has .300 50 150 type seasons with a BB-K ratio of 1....you never know. At the time(which would be now), Borchard looks like a potential bust, and we get some major bullpen help. This is sort of how Oakland has been run over the past few years, and why they have been successful. Then with this bullpen, we have Koch, who stunk last year. What KW does is he pushes the deal with the Mets, says we'll take on $1 mill or $1.5 mill, and we get Weathers for Koch, and while we really don't save a ton of money, we get even more help in the pen. Our pen has Marte, Percival, Mota, Wunsch, and Weathers in it, and at that point, we really don't need to make any more signings because the last spot will be given to the best man out of ST. Then with Maggs gone, we sign Reggie Sanders as a decent hitter in the middle of our lineup, and we sign Matt Stairs to play 1B for us. That is maybe $4-5 mill right there, and we'll get some quality at-bats out of them, and out of Stairs, we get a LH power hitter in the middle of our lineup. Our lineup has 2 lefties in it, much like it did in the second half of last year, and has more speed in it as well. Sorry for rambling on, but I really would have preferred KW actually gone out and done somthing then just sat around with his thumb up his ass. I just really don't feel comfortable with this team we have. KW just kind of said "I hope I get lucky as hell and some people have career years, and then I can get executive of the year." The only positive out of this is that if we are contending at the break, we can go out and get missing pieces for cheaper, meaning guys who made $10-$15 mill at the beginning of the year are available. So that means that if KW can get something for Konerko in like June or July, maybe Geoff Jenkins becomes available, we get him, we move Thomas to 1B, have Carlos and Geoff split time in LF and have the other who is not in LF be the DH. Of course, Thomas would get days off and would be able to DH, but that would be up to Ozzie to decide. All I can do is hope for the best. So that's what I'm doing. BTW, sorry for rambling

Payton was more or less in the same boat as Juan Gonzalez, as in, he would be signed had Lee/Maggs been traded and a good OFer not gotten in the trade.

He went deep twice. I remember that game. It was awesome.

FWIW, I was watching a show about some rookies breaking into NFL, and he was one of them. Showed how Fassel was trying to turn him into a good offensive lineman, because Fassel has had success with it before. I wish him the best, as I usually do with players.

I assume you were joking, because to tear the ACL, MCL, and PCL, that would have to be one HELL of a hit. McGahee only tore his ACL and MCL after getting damn near getting his lower leg taken completely off in the Fiesta Bowl last year. You'd think that he'd only tear two because his ligaments were strong, but I don't care how strong your ligaments are, if you get hit that damn hard right on your knee, you're gonna be in pain, and when I saw it initially, I thought he would need a complete knee reconstruction and that he was done.

I'll just say it's not a bad move. I think this team really did need a boost offensively, and while Weis probably would have been better, Mularkey will hopefully be just as good. The thing with coach hirings is that it is always difficult to tell how they'll turn out, especially first year coaches. A lot of times the hire is a good one(Lewis was in Cinci, it was in Carolina with Fox two years ago), and sometimes it is not(like it was with Gregg Williams). This is true in any sport, which is why I wait to truly rip into Ozzie Guillen. I still think some new blood will help get everything back together. Gregg Williams is a defensive mind, and Kevin Gilbride doesn't have much of an offensive mind(which is quite apparent with the Bills 30th ranked offense). I have no idea how Mularkey will coach or anything like that. I just think that an offensive mind will help get something going. The defense was quite good this year, and I hope that Mularkey can get the Bills over the hump next year. And I hope that he tells Tom Donahue to actually draft someone in the first round who will be able to play this year. After seeing what the Bills did this year, that really is starting to piss me off that they drafted McGahee.

His new scouting report: Robert Person: Walks too many hitters(averages 5.5 walks per 9). Nicknames include but are not limited to gas can and/or Jose Paniagua(thanks to his 5.44 ERA in 2002, and his 7.71 ERA in 11.7 innings in 2003). Not a bad cleanup hitter though. His career high in RBI for one game is 7, which is better then Frank Thomas's career high in that category. About the only positive is that he has good stuff, and that he is cheap. I'm looking so forward to seeing Robert Person take the mound for the White Sox!

I don't view him as a failure, nor do I think Jim or cw look at him as a failure(though that is my assumption). They view him as a guy who is past his prime and still wants to play, though he can't put up the numbers and cannot play at the level that he once did. Alomar was not a failure. He was better then Jimenez's lazy-ass. He just doesn't put up the .330 20 100 with 40 steals anymore. And cw, I agree. Kind of like a player saying they like playing in the city they are in, or they aren't in it for the money....that sort of thing. We heard a little bit of that from Bartolo, did we not?

1998 too. As someone said, his shoulder went to s*** in 2000, came back in 01 and had a sub-par, but expectededly bad year, then went to Minnesota and logged in 55 solid innings(3.27 ERA, little better then a 2:1 K-BB ratio with 29 K's which is only like 1 K every 2 innings, so nothing spectacular) I'm not sure where he was last year though.

All I'm gonna say is that I prefer Mularkey over Jauron. Also that I hope Jerry Gray remains the D-coordinator and that Kevin Gilbride has already packed his bags and has put his house up for sale.

If I remember right, he did retire immediately following the World Series. His retirement lasted 78 days or something close to that.

Exactly. Can't hurt, might help

I agree with that very much. They need to end this tie bulls***.

The score was close, the game was not. Indy killed KC. I don't know how the game will end up. They say defense win championships, but they also say sometimes the best defense is a good offense. You see both in this game. I'll say New England, but that is a total guess.

A win is a win, no matter how you look at it. Don't use that overtime rule. I personally think they should change it to the college style where both offenses get a chance, but just because you go to overtime does NOT mean you win(even if you get the coin toss). In fact, Seattle lost on their second possession in overtime, Carolina won their game on their third possession against the Eagles, and Philly won their overtime game on their second possession as well. Indianaoplis had to make a stop when they had to, and they couldn't do it. Therefore, they lost. You could make the same argument if(hypothetically) a team scored the go ahead touchdown that put you up 21-20 with 1:30 left on the clock. You give a team that much time, and there is a possibility that they can go down the field and kick a field goal with no time left to score and win. If they defense can't hold them to nothing, they don't deserve to win. Anyways, I think that the Panthers end up there in a close game. I just think that the Panthers are playing incredibly good right now, Delhomme is hot, Steve Smith in Carolina is catching everything thrown around him, and that they have two good running backs they can use in Davis and Foster. I think it will be close, but Carolina will again come up big and will win it in the last minutes.

For starters, I wouldn't mind having Randall Simon here. He's not a bad hitter and he's pretty clutch, and while he won't walk often, he won't strike out too often either, plus he's a LH stick in the middle of the lineup. Second, Steff is doable. Anyone on here will tell you that.

I've actually read where since the Mets could not get Vlad, they are going to try to get Maddux with that money. And because Baltimore could not get Vlad, they will probably go out and get IRod now. For anti-Cubs fans(myself included), I think it's great news. Two guys the Cubs were hoping to sign because their price was going down are probably going to end up in different places. Also, it is a great move by Houston. They undoubtedly have one of the best rotations in the majors by far. I just hope that the bandbox they play in doesn't effect their numbers too incredibly.

He can do that all he wants. That's just part of what makes him the best QB in the NFL, bar none. No one is even close.

Very much so. And if you then insert in a winning philosophy into it as well, you have yourself a hell of an organization. Moneyball is a great book BTW. I enjoyed reading it a lot, though it seemed to favor the A's quite a bit. Many have brought up the point that the White Sox got Miguel Olivo in return for Chad Bradford, and Miguel Olivo, if he ever does anything offensively, will be a hell of a good player. His arm alone is enough.

I'd rather have him come back to Buffalo....he'd be better then Jauron anyways.

Exactly. It's not how much money you spend, it's how you spend it. Teams like the A's, Twins, Marlins, etc, all spend their money very wisely which is why they have won. Meanwhile, we go out and spend $8 mill for Paul Konerko, or $6 mill for Billy Koch, only to see them disappoint incredibly. We could get quite a bit for $14 mill. Now we are talking about getting Nomar and locking him up long term....that would take $15 mill a year ATLEAST. Why? Personally, I'm not sure

He didn't resign anybody because he couldn't. We had Konerko on books, Maggs on books, Koch on books, Valentin as well....you add those guys salaries up, and you have like $33 mill. Then you also have to factor in that Thomas will probably(and did) pick up his end of the mutual option, and he makes $6 mill this year, putting him at $39 mill. He then picked up Loaiza's option(duh), which adds another $3.5 mill, putting us at $42.5 mill. He then figures that you probably have to give Carlos $6-8 mill, so he gives him $7.5 mill a year. We are at $50 mill, and the budget he wanted in place was $58 mill. You then give Garland $2.5 mill, Buehrle $4 mill, and Show $1.5 mill, you are at your budget with like 10 players. There wasn't much he could do do retain those players. We really need a trade to get rid of some salary badly.

He wouldn't sign here anyways. He has actually said at times that he would like to play in Florida.

You said something similar last offseason as well, something about you making love to KW if he got Colon. BTW, how was that love-making with KW murc?