witesoxfan

Our offense depends on one guy...and that is Thomas. If Thomas hits like he did last year(.250-.260, 25-30 homers, 90-100 RBI, 115+ K's, 90 BB) then we will have an offense similar to last year's offense. If Thomas is back to 2000 form(.330 45 145 with 120 BBs and 90 K's), our offense will be better than 2000's offense....because Valentin will then get fastballs to hit, and he does hit fastballs well....and then Jimenez will start to hit well....and Olivo will, and Rowand will, and so on and so on....a chain reaction....and it all depends on 1 guy....that being Thomas. We could have a team AVG of around .280-.300....seriously. If Jimenez, Valentin, Olivo, and Lee all hit .270....Konerko and Crede both hit .290....and Thomas and Maggs both hit .330-.350(which is possible)....along with good averages from the bench....that is atleast a .280 team average....given, this is statistically speaking and the only stats that matter are wins and losses...but these two have a direct correlation. This isn't even mentioning the power numbers these guys could put up....6 of them could and probably will go deep around 25 times....and 8 of the guys in our lineup could hit 20 homers....with Jimenez contributing 10 or so....and this brings me to my simple theory for offensive success.... good team average + good team power = a lot of f***in runs And this all lays on one man's shoulders....Frank Thomas. I can see why JR wanted him back so badly.

It seems to me that most minorities bring this on themselves....but if you watch some shows mainly for black people....it seems they'll basically take shots at white people. Not only that, but if they want the racism issue to dropped and forgotten....then why the hell can't THEY drop it or forget it? There are assholes all over the nation....and they will use racial slurs. People need to get over it though....I know it is very offensive....but if these kids remember back to elementary school and middle school and high school....they'll realize this same s*** went on, only then it was on a less offensive state....it doesn't mean it didn't hurt any less because it was less offensive. It wouldn't surprise me if these people calling others racists did make fun of kids during their school years....and they see nothing wrong with this picture? I don't understand

He's got a degenerative hip, if I remember correctly....which is a reason why he was forced out of catching...and he had the range of a turtle so he couldn't play 3B....the only position he could play was 1B....and he's not a bad 1Bman. And if I may use another Angels comparison here(I know how we love comparing our players to last year's Angels)....if anyone has a Troy Glaus like year, I personally believe it could be Konerko....regressing rather than progressing....and all I have to do is look at the second half of last year....he hit around .270-.280 with few homers and few runs produced....given, a lot of it was due to his foot, but you can't overlook those kind of pitiful stats(compared to what he put up in the first half....those were incredible, but he should have atleast hit 30 homers...and he didn't)....it's just hard not to.

Some really good points on the thread so far....if you ask me which lineup we'd put out there, I'd guess it would be something like Jimenez Valentin Thomas Maggs Konerko Lee Crede Rowand Olivo If I had my way, Lee would be gone and Daubach would take over LF fulltime, with Borchard being a bat off the bench...as for the rotation... Colon Buehrle Garland Wright Heredia/Loaiza/Rauch Each is a different pitcher, and in a series, you couldn't bank on one game plan...for instance....last year, the Giants ripped up RJ....and the next game they had Curt Schilling, and they ripped him up....I assume the reason is because the Giants were hitting those types of pitchers well at the time and they had one game plan, so they had time to get locked into that speed of a pitch....with the rotation of above....we have Colon, who can throw it 96-100, Buehrle, who throws it 85-92, Garland, who throws it 92-94, Wright, who throws it 94-96, and Rauch, who throws it 90-92 or so, though it looks a lot faster coming down from so high up. Koch Marte Gordon Glover Wunsch White No explanation needed. Probably have a bench of Daubach, Alomar, Graffy/Miles/Hummel/Nunez, Harris and probably Rios or someone else.

Uh yeah, I'd very much have to agree with sox247 on this one....because Jimenez can't get ROY....if I remember correctly. He's had quite a bit of playing time in SD....so Olivo or Rauch will have to win it. I'm not sure who will though....there will be a lot of good rookies this year....Cuddyer, Texieria and Blalock in Texas, Godzilla and Contreras in NYC and about the whole Indians roster....and the Royals, Tigers, and DRays will have a lot of rookies as well. If I had to make a bet on who would win or atleast get the highest on the Sox for the ROY...I'd go with Rauch, assuming we don't sign Rogers.

Marshall did produce Pennington, as cw pointed out, and, as big of an asshole as he is, Randy Moss....the kid has a lot of talent, but I don't want his attitude on my team....especially considering my team is the Bills....Moulds, Price(assuming they resign him....dammit resign him) and Reed as the 3 receivers and Travis Henry as the RB and Bledsoe as the QB....hell, the Bears can take anyone they want for all I care....but make sure whoever they take is good. Personally, if I were the Bears, I'd take Leftwich....he looks like a real good QB....good, accurate arm, big enough to run, fast enough to run, strong enough to run, and he plays the game with a ton of heart(like Miller)....it seems that in the game where the Thundering Herd won the MAC conference this year(or some big game I believe against Toledo), Leftwich was hurt pretty badly but still played through the pain and won the game for Marshall....that's what I want in a QB.

The whitesox.com board wars started and I thought that board was stupid as hell because of it....and I had registered and made 1 post once upon a time on WSI....and I didn't post again...so I just decided to come here...I believe someone told me about it(maybe cw)....anyways, the rest is ancient history, and I'm here, and that's all that matters.

Oh s***...that would not be good if PK's career ended premature because of his hip, but it probably will, unless they can come up with some neat s*** to repair that kind of stuff. They have made a lot of neat s*** though....so maybe they could.

Good luck Jim and I wish you many Cy Young awards in the future....about 7 or so!

I think Thomas will have a huge year....a .340 45 150 year would not surprise me in the least....and neither would a .360 50 165 year....hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the guy hit .400. OK, maybe I would be a bit surprised if he hit .400....but in all honesty, I wouldn't be if he hit anywhere .340-.360....and between 35-50 homers and 130-160 RBI....because they are all achievable. In 2000....Thomas's only protection going into the season was Maggs....and Maggs wasn't the hitter then that he is now. Now, Thomas also has Valentin, an improved Maggs, Konerko, Lee....you just can't pitch around him. That happened last year, and he choked, mainly because he babied his arm....he won't do that this year. I seriously believe Thomas could be ready to have one of the best statistical seasons in MLB history....or so I hope. Maybe I haven't seen baseball in about 5 months and that's the reason I'm so optimistic...but others feel the same optimism that I do regarding the Sox as a whole...so maybe not.

Heather...I don't think you need to tell us that the Sox are winning...it is a well known fact that the Cubs will be worse than the Sox year-to-year....the same as how everybody knows that CLee is a dumbass!

You know what I think? I think that the majority of these fans are actually baseball fans....and another 36% are idiotic people that look to movies like Major League 2 and Angels in the Outfield and see how mean of a team we are, and then they look at movies like Rookie of the Year and think, hey, that makes perfect sense....the Cubs are good in that movie and are rushing a young pitcher to the major leagues when he obviously isn't ready. If this poll had 0% idiotic people voting on it, then it would be something like "Cubs 3% - White Sox 97%"

The only one I'd even CONSIDER signing(aside from Kenny Rogers, that is, and that's only for $1-2 million) is Mike Morgan...and that is for the simple reason of him being on yet another different team....like 14 teams. That's incredible....though he probably wouldn't make the team much better

That's right....what the hell was I thinking? I even remember reading it several times that it was his left shoulder and not his right. My mistake....I was thinking he was one of our pitchers from 2001!

For those who care....I voted Rowand, though I am a big fan of his. I am just not sure that he'll be great after surgery...maybe a bit of range lost, having his swing babied, his arm weaker....etc. I think all will be fine....but Rowand has the best shot of being a bust. And if Thomas has a good year, which I think he will, Jimenez will have a good year as well.....because Valentin will be in the middle, and he'll get pitches to hit if Thomas is hitting well, and then Jimenez will get pitches to hit batting in front of Valentin. We have Borchard in the minors in case Rowand falters....so, IMO, it is no biggie if Rowand is a bust(though I don't think he will be)

I read an article once upon a time.....it said the Orioles wanted to increase their team OBP....so instead of resigning Bordick(though he isn't a big OBP guy) got Deivi Cruz, who's even worse than Bordick....and he hits worse than Bordick as well. If they finished in 2nd place....I'd do something really strange.

I love it when you knock Evans - you may be the only person in the world besides me who thinks little of his GM abilities - keep it up and I will write you into my will! If that's the case....EVANS SUCKS, EVANS SUCKS....HE'S AN IDIOT, AN EVEN BIGGER ONE THAN KW....I WANT TO GET INTO CWSOX'S WILL....EVANS SUCKS, EVANS SUCKS Anyways....I think KW is actually understanding how to GM....and he's doing a good job of it(aside from Buehrle's situation)....he's just gotta quite favoring players and making them 'his boys.' Valentin, Lee, etc.....if a great trade came up, say two top prospects for CLee, I don't know what would happen....but I hope he'd accept it.

Then again, CLee didn't hit .285 12 40 or so in, what, 150-200 at-bats...and don't even mention their defensive capabilities at their respective positions.

Our 1-5 is pretty much set....Colon, Buehrle, Garland, Wright and Rauch....that's who it should be anyways. Bartolo will be in shape and pitching well. It hadn't dawned on me, but baggs pointed it out in another post somewhere....the reason Colon's K numbers were down last year was because of the fact that he got smarter as a pitcher....he obviously put up a better ERA, but on 2 strike counts, instead of trying to pour a 98 MPH fastball in there he would instead change speeds, use breaking pitches, and bust guys inside or hit the outside corner....maybe throw one in the dirt...something like that. It's a lot easier to take a 98 MPH fastball out than it is an 87 MPH changeup on the inside corner....but then again, it is easier to miss a 98 MPH fastball than it is an 87 MPH changeup on the inside corner....see the correlation? I didn't until it was pointed out....so the decrease in K's is not something to worry about. However, aside from our offense, the thing we have that is the best is depth.....we are very deep all around....we have a number of lefties off the bench, we have guys that can play a lot of positions, we have 2-4 guys that can start, and even more than that that can be used out of the bullpen....to put it lightly....we could get rid of every starting player and pitcher on the team...and still be a second or third place team in our division. Then again, that isn't saying much....other than the fact that our bench, the best players on our AAA team and the best players on our AA team are better than what the Royals, Tigers and Indians will put on the field this year(and the only team that I'd even consider better than us in those 3 is the Indians, and that is raw-talent wise, not proven-talent wise). I have no concerns with this team as we speak....we have every hole filled with someone suitable.

Rogers is a good pitcher, and as I said in another thread....I don't think I am ready to totally forget about him....that is, until he signs with someone. I hope he signs with Detroit or KC or someone like that...and then pitches against Minnesota about 7 times this year...and beats their ass every damn time!

So... too evil to die? OK, I'll accept that, I have a great-aunt who's like that. - Pete Exactly....because of that George Steinbrenner will probably live to be about 150 years old.

Mark wants respect....I don't even need to ask anyone that. He got $15,000 taken away from him last year and then he got a potential raise of $10,000 this year.....that is bulls*** and we are jerking the franchise's best pitcher around on a leash. If I had to take a guess....I'd say that he'd accept a 4-year, $7-8 mill deal with an option for the 5th for about $5 mill.....because he seems like a better guy than the media has made him out to be. However, 4 years and about $16 million would suit me and Marky real well....and then we resign Colon this offseason....and maybe a few others....then we have to worry about Maggs, because 2004 is the last year of his deal....and he will make $14 million. Sign him long term from 2005 to about 2010 or 2012 or so.....with an option or two at the end of that deal.

Because she is an old, rich person that is an asshole.....the exact same reason Carl Pohlad hasn't died yet and (prior to this season) the same reason JR hadn't died yet. However, I am liking JR a little more. Pohlad should die though....he is worth like $2 billion or something like that and the Twins payroll is slightly over $50 million(which is the highest it's been in team history by quite a bit, I believe). Do you realize how damn good the Twins could be if Pohlad dished out some money? They could be the frickin Yankees.

If he wants $4-6 mill, then he may as well retire....because not even the Yanks or Red Sox could pay that much for him. We could still end up with him in the long run....when Rogers(not Boras, that arrogant bastard) realizes his value is way down. I think when players find out that Boras can't get them big contracts anymore, than Boras will be fired a lot by a lot of players. Teams just won't want to deal with him anymore....and neither will players. Boras = moron

I can think of a few teams that would consider Slash.... the Cardinals, Seahawks, Cowboys, Panthers, and Bears in the NFC....the Broncos in the AFC....that'd be my guess anyways. It'll be interesting to see where he goes....I can tell you that for sure.