witesoxfan

Ummmm if you say so? The twins were given a good shot to win the division last season, and they have not been good for only a year. The Sox were chosen over the Twin's last season. The people who predicted that were wrong. Frank didn't do what was expected of him which really shout our chances. The Twin's are sure to put up a fight this year, as well as years to come. It wasn't even a race last year for us, this year, though, I think the Twin's are going to be the ones playing catch-up ! By the way, I am now in AAA ball, so hell yeah! We didn't win last year because we had ONE good starting pitcher....Garland and Wright were decent, and Ritchie, Rauch in April, Glover....etc....sucked. Biddle and Rauch, for the limited time we used them at the end of the year, were OK as well. Had we had Colon last year and a better Garland and Wright(as they improved tremendously in the second half), we would have won the division. If Thomas has a good year this year....the Twins are already dead.

Prospects I'd consider trading both Konerko and Lee to Baltimore....but they really don't have many prospects at all. Gibbons is a good player and is cheap....but the don't have much else. Cordova isn't that great and he costs quite a bit....their starting staff is crap....though their bullpen is nice. If we could somehow get Jorge Julio, Gibbons, Geronimo Gil, and 1 good prospect for Konerko and Lee....I'd be all for it. We get a stud reliever, a helluva hitter, a great backup catcher, and a good prospect for Konerko and Lee....if we did this, we wouldn't have to resign Daubach....because he and Gibbons are very much a like.....though having Gibbons for depth would be nice. It is unnecessary though. A lineup of Jimenez, Tejada, Thomas, Borchard, Ordonez, Gibbons, Crede, Rowand, Olivo.....that's still a helluva lineup, and it costs under $40 mill....that is quite possibly the best lineup $40 mill can buy in today's game. I would rather have Rodrigo Lopez than Jorge Julio. Just because we already have a lot bullpen of talent in both the minors and Majors. And adding Lopez to a rotation with Mark, (Potentialy)Colon, Jon, and Dan would give us the best rotation in baseball. Just think of having 3 guys who would be the #1 starter(Mark, Colon, and Lopez) for most teams and another 2 who have the talent to be top #2s(Garland and Wright) in the league. Damn, I forgot about Lopez(I always do....even if he kicks our ass). Yeah, I'd most definately add him over Julio. Hell, they could keep Gil for all I care....Konerko and Lee for Gibbons and Lopez would be worth it....we'd still have a hell of an offense and, as you said, the top rotation in the majors. That also makes Wright/Rauch available....and then, if we don't resign Buehrle or Garland or Colon....we have Honel in the wings. If we did that deal....our rotation would be like Colon, Buehrle, Lopez, Garland, Wright and our bullpen would be Koch, Gordon, Marte, Almonte, Wunsch/Sanders/Munoz, Glover....and Diaz could come up and eventually replace either Gordon or Glover....making Glover available(because if we decided Diaz would replace Gordon....we just wouldn't resign Gordon). Hell, we could trade Wright in the deal and then get the prospect and Gil too....as much as I like Wright(though I don't like him as much as Garland)....it would be worth it. Maybe, if we dealt Wright in the deal to help them replace Lopez, our rotation would be Colon, Buehrle, Lopez, Garland, and Stewart/Rauch/Loaiza/Munoz/Malone....etc. That's a half decent pitching staff....and we'd still have a killer offense.

On Yahoo's baseball page...it said every Arizona league game was cancelled....except the one where the Royals got hammered by the DBacks 15-1. What was up in Arizona today?

We could use Stewart until Danny comes back....and Stewart gives us another lefty out of the pen, unless he is scheduled to start in the near future. And he could still come out of the pen and give us an inning or two. I'd like that idea. Besides, there's a difference between Sasaki and Wright....I'm not sure how long Sasaki had them, but Wright will have them the whole year, and Wright is a starter....something Sasaki is not. Sasaki will come in for 1 inning a game, or at the most, 2....if Wright goes 1 or 2 innings as a starter, he is nothing. I don't want to ruin his career by making him pitch hurt....just let him have the surgery to remove them and let him be back by June or July or whenever....don't rush him back.

If they had traded Gibbons to Colorado for Cust....their GM should be shot. He would have been shot already. Their GM is alive....because Gibbons is still in Baltimore. It was Richard for Cust. Trading a stud in Gibbons for a guy who didn't hit in Colorado of all places would have been a huge mistake.

And he's gonna make me proud this year! Both ON and OFF the field, if ya read me! Is Carlos married? Heather....you said yourself you aren't going to have sex until you are married.

Prospects I'd consider trading both Konerko and Lee to Baltimore....but they really don't have many prospects at all. Gibbons is a good player and is cheap....but the don't have much else. Cordova isn't that great and he costs quite a bit....their starting staff is crap....though their bullpen is nice. If we could somehow get Jorge Julio, Gibbons, Geronimo Gil, and 1 good prospect for Konerko and Lee....I'd be all for it. We get a stud reliever, a helluva hitter, a great backup catcher, and a good prospect for Konerko and Lee....if we did this, we wouldn't have to resign Daubach....because he and Gibbons are very much a like.....though having Gibbons for depth would be nice. It is unnecessary though. A lineup of Jimenez, Tejada, Thomas, Borchard, Ordonez, Gibbons, Crede, Rowand, Olivo.....that's still a helluva lineup, and it costs under $40 mill....that is quite possibly the best lineup $40 mill can buy in today's game.

Yeah, my lineup's not very realistic. Realistically, if we're going to get Tejada, we'll probably lose Colon. If not, we'll lose Lee, Valentin, and possibly even Frank. To me, losing Colon for Tejada isn't worth it, and Tejada certainly isn't worth Carlos, Jose, and Frank. IMRO (R for realistic and/or rational), there's no way we can get Tejada and keep enough of this team to make it worth while unless JR decides to do his best Steinbrenner impersonation. If we pursue Tejada, we have to lose Valentin....meaning we don't try to resign him. IMO, we don't have to lose both Carlos and Frank....we only have to lose 1 of them. And the one with the most exceptional year stays. Thomas could hit .300 30 110 and Carlos could hit .280 30 90....and Carlos would stay, not Thomas....because Carlos is younger and cheaper and just as good. Now, if Carlos hits the same thing and Thomas hits .330 40 130....Thomas stays....because he had a much better year. I don't see us keeping both Lee and Thomas next year....because, even though Joey B has good range in CF, it's not good enough to cover the area Lee covers, and our OF defense would suffer immensely. We need decent range in both LF and RF....because Rowand has decent range in CF....and Lee does not have good range.. Both Frank and Carlos should DH for the rest of their career....Thomas I know will. And there can't be two DH's in the AL....only 1. The tough part is this....say Thomas has a .350 50 150 year....and Lee has a .320 40 120 year....both very exceptionally good....or Thomas has a .260 30 95 year....and Carlos has a .250 20 65 year....both very exceptionally s***ty....at this point, it is up to KW and JR to decide who stays and who goes....but mainly up to JR, because it is HIS team. Thomas is a JR boy, and Lee is a KW boy....you tell me who stays. If JR has it his way....Thomas will be in a White Sox uniform next year...and Lee will not be. $70 mill isn't out of the question....well, maybe a little....but Daubach might settle for a little less(maybe $3 mill), and Thomas might make less than $9 mill(like, say, $8 mill), and Buehrle makes $2 mill instead of $3 mill....we are then at $66.5 mill. Maybe Colon takes $8 mill instead of $10 mill....that brings it down to $64.5. Maybe we don't pick up Gordon's option, Toronto gives back Majewski and we use Majewski instead....we then save another $1 mill or so...bringing it down to $63.5. And then maybe Garland is renewed for $500,000 and not given a deal like he gets....and it is $63 mill. Maybe in the trade we make that gets rid of Lee(because that's what would happen under my scenario), we get $1 mill in cash....which essentially wipes out another $1 mill. Maybe Tejada takes $10 mill instead of $12 mill....that brings it down to $60 mill. That's all stretching a bit....but all a possibility. If we made it to the ALCS or World Series....it wouldn't be too unimaginably difficult for us to add like $2-4 mill to the payroll. Also...I assume the teams that would be interested in Tejada would be the M's, O's, Flubbies, LA, and then us...5 teams....that's not that many. And I'm not positive that Seattle would...I know Baltimore would, and LA probably would(isn't Izturis a SS? I know he's a good MI prospect...just not sure if it's SS or 2B)....and there is no doubt the Chubbies would. If just us and the sCrUBS were interested in Tejada, it would be sweet as hell if we got him over them. We would get to laugh our asses off at the pathetic Flubbie fannies. It's possible

Or like, for whatever percent it was(like 23%) of Americans who didn't even know where their own country was. I hope the 23% were just f***ing around when they missed that question.

It would have to be a 1-game emergency case for Harris to go to CF too. He just flat out sucks in CF. No arm, and even if he did have an arm, he wouldn't get much on his throws if he throws flat-footed like he did in the Cubs game that we lost 3-2(though that game was fun to listen to on WGN....Caray and Stone are talking up Zambrano and how he's gonna have a great year...he'll probably have a year where he wins 10-12 with a 4.50 ERA....much like Garland last year) We have Rios, who can play CF....that's all I need to know. Our bench should be Alomar, Daubach, Graffy, Miles, and Rios or something close to that. I have changed my mind on that one....I didn't realize that Rios could play decent defense in CF....now I do. We don't need Harris in the majors anymore. You rarely ever need a SB late in the game...all you need is good speed and good baserunning....both Graffy and Miles do that(or so I assume on Miles anyways). It doesn't matter how fast you are if you are a dumbass on the bases.

True...I'm a loser for so much more. Self-deprecation -- ain't it great? LOL....obivously, I didn't mean it like that.

That's true....if Danny goes 5 innings....that'll be great. The bullpen is then used for 4. Hopefully, we'd be able to score a lot of runs during his start(much like we did last year) and he could be gone by the 5th....and we could use Glover for 2-3 innings....and then White for 1-2 innings....and then, if necessary, Gordon or Marte for the 9th. We'd still have a somewhat fresh bullpen. Hopefully, Loaiza will go 6 or 7 innings his first start....maybe even 8. That would be a real sigh of relief.

Clujer....I just did a little math...and with some thought out guesses to some guys's money-numbers for next year....that lineup would cost about $49.5 mill. If you want to resign Colon and Buehrle....than that is about $13 mill more....which jacks the payroll up to $62.5 mill. Then you add Koch's $6.5 mill or so....which brings it to $69 mill....and then Garland's deal....which brings it up to $70 mill. And then you add the rest of the team....and that brings it up to about $80 mill. Adding $24 mill to payroll is a little too much, even for an ALCS or World Series team that hosts the All-Star game.

Ditto, if he doesn't take some big steps forward this year he never will. Also i think Garland needs to step up, he's had enough time in the majors to adjust and with his stuff there's no reason he can't win at least 15 games. Garland should, but he's too young to give up on if he doesn't do it yet. I agree. Last season was Garland's first as a full-time starter, so he should have all the jitters out of his system. There really are no more excuses for him not to post a good ERA with a decent # of wins (he should win 15 or more with this offense and his talent). MLB Agreed. But if he puts up a 3.75 15-10 season this year....don't think that that's what he'll do all the time. He'll put up much better numbers that in the future. With him being so young....I'm not sure he's fully matured. But he could still put up monstrous numbers. However, if Garland pitches well and becomes the great pitcher he has been hyped as possibly being....it's hard to believe it, but we would have a top 3 1-2-3 combo. Only Oakland and Arizona could have a better one. And we have a much better offense than both those teams, and probably a better bullpen too. This could be a very special year

Clujer....you're not a loser for this. Don't worry about that. And I personally don't think I can think of anything you can improve on....because it is so good. You mix in some humor along with what the commentators are saying while doing some great play-by-play. It is fun to read. I missed the damn game today...but felt like I was listening to it. That was great.

Chemistry(or kharma....whatever you want to call it) will not be a problem....so don't worry about it. Also....pitching and defense mean a lot in the postseason....but you can get by with a decent pitching staff as a whole and a crappy defense as long as your offense makes up the difference.....if you look back to 2000, you'll see that that is how we got to the postseason....a less than mediocre rotation, and an incredibly good bullpen. We nearly won 2 of the 3 games we lost in the postseason that year anyways(and Seattle had to cheat to win) and were out before you knew it. That will NOT happen this time. We will not be humiliated like that in the postseason this year(assuming we make it....and I truly believe we will....no question. I want a good race...but I see us winning the division by about 10 games)

I see Tejada hitting 2nd. If we used my lineup....putting Tejada 5th instead of 2nd bumps someone else up to the #2 spot....and the only one that could is either Rowand or Olivo....and it has Magglio batting atleast 6th....and if we wanted to keep the R-L-R thing going....it would bump him down to 7th. Maggs is too good a hitter to bat 6th, let alone 7th. If we use clujer's lineup, that would pretty much have to bump Olivo up to the #2 spot....and we'd have Crede batting 9th. Tejada would pretty much have to be the #2 hitter...because I don't know where we would put him otherwise.

? Well, it wasn't really a rant...you just said "does anybody appreciate this...should I keep doing this?" Yes....you should keep doing it....we all appreciate it

As long as Danny is healthy....baggs is happy. Doesn't matter if Bartolo, Mark, Jonny G, Koch, Gordon, Marte, Thomas, Maggs, Konerko, Valentin, and Crede are down....as long as Danny's healthy

I bet there are some people on this board who can atleast play CF equally as good as Harris. Maybe that's a stretch....but I wouldn't bet against some people on this board having better fundamentals in CF than Harris. Harris is not a good CFer. Miles could play CF just as well as Harris can....I'm sure Josh Paul or D'Angelo Jimenez or Jose Valentin could play CF just as well as him too. I like Harris's defense at 2B though....he does have good hands and has a little bit of range. I won't forget the game in Minnesota where there was a liner hit that was heading towards RF and Harris just dove and made a helluva play. Man, was that slick.

So are we gonna go off on how we should sign Tejada or what? Because, assuming JR wouldn't mind adding about $12 mill to the salary per year, he could. Why the hell not? I may as well turn this the Sox way and make it interesting. Say we get rid of Lee....that frees up $5 mill or so from next year's salary. We then lockup both Colon and Buehrle long term, Buehrle making about $3 mill next year, Colon making about $10....Thomas makes about $9 mill next year, Maggs $14 mill.....that is $36 mill between the 4 of them. We then trade Konerko(don't get me wrong....I love the guy....but this would be part of the plan), freeing up another $8 mill or so....we don't resign Valentin either. Koch will make about $6.5 mill or so next year....so that is $42.5 mill betwen the 5 of them.....we sign Daubach for about $4-5 mill....so we are at about $47 mill. We then get Garland to about a 3-year, $4-5 mill deal....so we are at about $48 mill. With everyone else included.....the bench and bullpen guys....we are maybe looking at about $58 mill. If we get to the ALCS or World Series(and we'd probably have to get atleast to the playoffs to even consider resigning Colon), JR may be willing to spend a little more....whether or not he is willing to spend $12 mill more is debateable....but he probably wouldn't. However, to make this fun, we'll say he will....so we then are at a payroll of about $70 mill. If we made it to the ALCS or World Series, would $70 mill be out of the realm of possibility? I think not. Can you imagine that lineup? Jimenez - 2B Tejada - SS Thomas - DH Borchard - OF(whether it be LF, CF, or RF is unknown to me....we'll say RF as default, because of his arm strength) Maggs - LF/RF(we'll say LF....see Borchard) Daubach - 1B Crede - 3B Rowand - CF Olivo - C We still have a good rotation(Colon, Buehrle, Garland, Wright as the top 4 and then Rauch, Stewart, Malone, and whoever else is available as the #5....maybe Jimmy B? Hopefully) and still have a good bullpen(Koch, Marte, and we might pick up Gordon's option, which would make him available, though I don't want White's picked up....maybe a bullpen of Koch, Gordon, Marte, Almonte, Wunsch/Sanders/Munoz, Glover....that looks real good) and a somewhat deep bench. The question remains though....is a payroll of $70 mill out of the question? IMO...it is not

Clujer....once again, thank you....you are much appreciated(since your little rant, you've been getting that alot ) I also like your "in-game analysis"(that chick with the black top has nice cans....lmao )

Don't get me wrong...I want Wright in the rotation as long as possible. But if he struggles 3 years down the road...he could get demoted to the pen and then be used as a setup man/closer. I like Wright's stuff as much as baggs does....I remember seeing him on ESPN once, and I absolutely fell in love with his stuff. If he can learn how to use that effectively....watch out. We could have a helluva rotation in the near future(especially if we keep Colon) We have the potential to have a helluva rotation RIGHT NOW. Right now works too

I know it was atleast 35%....but it was probably 40%. He could also handle a bat well. He never hit very well, but he could get down a bunt, he could draw a walk, he could put a ball in play....he could just never hit .240. If MJ ever hits .240 as a starter....I will seriously s*** my pants.

Or a whole year....just look at 2000