witesoxfan

Parque was butter....that was when he was good though. But cw's right.....nicknames can't be forced. They just happen. But for Bartolo.....courtesy Tim Hudson...."Tree trunks"

Maggs makes $9 mill this year, Carlos makes $4.2....that's $13.2 mill....Griffey makes $12 mill this year, Dunn just over the league minimum(say $500,000).....we'd be better in the financial standpoint and then Maggs makes $14 mill next year(more than Griffey) and CLee is destined to make around $5-6 mill(we'll say $5 mill)....that brings their total to $19 mill and Griffey and Dunn stay about the same. However...Griffey has been very injury prone the past two years....I wouldn't want to make this trade and then have Griffey's knee go to s***, and then have Maggs put up huge numbers for Cincy. If Griffey and Thomas could return to their mid-90s form though.....we'd have the two biggest hitters in the AL during that time on the same team 10 years later....ouch. Our offense would be improved, our defense improves and our pitching is then a by-product of it and it improves as well. I'd do it....we'd have a cannon at every OF position and all 3 guys would have good range....our defense would be as good as Minny's and everything else of ours would be better than theirs. If Griffey stayed healthy, we'd win the division...and then with a balanced lineup, we'd be potential World Series contenders. Jimenez 2B Valentin SS Dunn RF Thomas DH Griffey CF Konerko 1B Borchard LF Crede 3B Olivo C Look at our lineup 3-8.....L-R-L-R-S-R....that's cash money....and that would drive managers crazy. I love Maggs as a player...and he's one of my favorites on the Sox...but that is a hard offer to turn down.

I don't think Maggs will look to hit the long ball....I think he'll start to drive the ball better as he matures....I could most definately see a .345 45 150 season out of Maggs in the future....and a .330 40 140 season from him this year. I think Hawk is right....Maggs is the smartest hitter on the team. He knows what to do and I don't think that this will slow him down. He's taken place in two home run derbies this offseason, and I'm sure he took place in Carlos Delgado's in years past as well....I think he'll have another great year....no reason he won't. I'll be pissed if he starts hitting 50-60 homers....but I don't think he will. I think Borchard could do that in the future though.

So baggs...what you're saying is that this past season if Maggs would have hit 35 homers he would have hit .335? Not so sure about that.

On the Carlos situation....I think you gotta look at it this way(and I think people here have looked at it this way many times)....if he starts out good and has a good season overall, he's looking at $6-7 mill in arb....we can't take that kind of hit next year. If he sucks ass this year to begin with and we use Daubach in LF for much of the year....then CLee's value goes way down and we'll be lucky to get anything at all for him. Signing CLee to a big contract was a lose-lose situation....so I'd have to agree baggs, that that was KW's 3rd biggest blunder. I hope come the Twins in Chicago series(whether it is the first or second series with the Sox), Eddie is still closing and he has been lights out up to that point, and the Sox are down by 2 going into the 9th...Valentin comes up and singles to leadoff the inning. Thomas comes up and smokes one to the gap. Then Maggs comes up and blasts one deep into the LF stands....game over. And then 'Everyday' Eddie is no more and he gets the s*** kicked out of him from that day on....because that kind of thing can start a fire inside a team....we need a comeback like that early and as often as possible.

Talk about a moron....he basically comes out and says that the NL Central sucks, and that no team is great, though there are some good teams....no team is superstar packed....can anyone name me one team outside of the Yankees that IS packed with superstars? The only team that could be is the A's, and they aren't....because no one else is....period. So there is no logic there. I agree with one thing though...the Flubbie Fannies won't lose 95....it will be more like 85-90 losses....and still be 15 games out of first.

Put it this way....the Sox have the best chance....whether it is the Red Sox or White Sox is a different story. If we could sign him to a 1-year deal with $1 mill guaranteed and then maybe the possibility to earn up to $3 mill.....I'd like that deal if I were Kenny Rogers.

Wasn't 5 Ray-Ray's old number?

Alomar and Olivo are basically guaranteed roster spots out of ST, assuming they are healthy....if Alomar goes down, then Jamie Burke and Josh Paul will battle it out for the backup spot(along with the other one we signed)....I hope that Alomar can atleast make it through May....that would be real good....because by then Olivo should have settled into his role as starting catcher and he should be hitting well....and Alomar will only have to catch 1-2 games a week. I'd say Paul is going to have to clear waivers....and if someone wants him, say, the Padres....we trade Paul to them for some A prospect who could be decent....that'd be my plan all the way through it.

Goddamn...I really gotta get me a PS2....I just finally got myself a Playstation 1 system(not the PSOne - the really damn small one...I think I have the very first model ever of a Playstation system)....all these games sound f***in awesome. I guess that's what my summer job will be for....saving up for a PS2. My first game...probably will be a tough decision between Vice City(or the next GTA that comes out) or World Series 2K3. Then I'll end up getting some football games, then some basketball games, and then some miscellaneous games.....other than sports and GTA, that is.

I'd send cash to KC along with Lee to get Beltran....Lee, Stewart and Ginter, along with cash, for Beltran and a diamond-in-the-rough prospect.....that's the kind of deal KW would make....and it would be great in my book.

If we traded place with the Yankees.....and that's not as bad as it could. We could still contend, though the Yankees would win the division by a ton. Imagine us switching places with the Athletics....they'd probably win 125 games and win the division by about 50 and the Tigers, Royals and Indians could be about 70 games out....and then we would probably be, at best, a 2nd place team in the AL West, though more likely a 3rd place team, behind Seattle and Anaheim...I could potentially seeing us beat Seattle....but that is potentially. I wouldnt' see us beating Anaheim. About those 1-2 more pieces that could put us over the top...I figured out what we need. Better team speed. Put it this way...our fastest guy is probably Jimenez or Olivo....off the bench it is Willie Harris(nothing wrong with that though)....however, Jimenez or Olivo wouldn't even be considered fast on some teams. Speed may be overrated in the regular season....but I've seen what effects team speed can have in the posteason....speed and baserunning....if both are good, your team will do well in the postseason. If not, then forget about it....everyone saw what the Angels did this past postseason with good speed and baserunning....that is what it can do for you in the playoffs. If we could get a Jose Cruz or a Carlos Beltran to take over in CF....that would be nice. Hell, I'd consider trading for Dave Roberts in LA....I'd give them Josh Stewart and then maybe Matt Ginter as well....he may not have a good OBP(though that can be fixed) but the man can steal a base...I think he had like 45 or so in limited action....I'd like to have that on the Sox. Maybe Alex Sanchez on the Brewers...though there is a big risk in getting Clayton or Ritchie back as well!

baggs...two things you forgot to answer regardling Delgado....though he swings for the fences more(though I don't believe he truly does...that's MHO though) he also has better plate discipline and is a bit faster than Paully on the basepaths...and both started as catchers(in fact, I believe Delgado was still catching when he made his big league debut, but I could be wrong on that one), so that is one way to look at it. I'd do it if I could get rid of Carlos....maybe trade Carlos in the deal....because then the Jays could give $3 mill or so in cash and I'd give them both Carlos and Paully.....use Delgado in the #4 spot and have Daubach or Borchard play LF and be in the #6 spot....or you could have Delgado bat 3rd, Maggs 4th, Borchard/Daubach 5th and Thomas 6th....but that's just an idea. If the above move occurred(Lee and Konerko for Delgado and a prospect or two)....that would give Manuel plenty to tinker with in the middle of the lineup and he could just leave 1-2 and 7-9 in the order as they are. As for the leader thing...I believe Jose is the team leader....so unless he is gone after this year, I could live with this trade. However...I wanna ask....who in the hell was the clubhouse leader for the A's this past year? Tejada, who can barely speak English? I don't really think you need an emotional leader...you just need guys to lead with their bats....and you need to have everyone figure that out. If Maggs continues and Thomas gets back on par, everything else settles in....Valentin will then get a steady diet of fastballs and he should hit about .275 or so with 30 homers and 100 RBI, Jimenez will hit well, Olivo will hit well...it will basically be a chain reaction. It may take till May to get it rolling big time....but it will feel something like 2000. That is how a big number of players have career years like that....a slow(or fast) chain reaction. This could very well be a second half team and they could carry a hot streak into the playoffs(assuming they get there)....with a great 1-2 and a great offense....ouch. After straying off topci there for a bit....I think that there are better 1Bman out there than Konerko, and that's fine with me....but I can live with Konerko. If we could upgrade without paying much more, I could live with it...but that and only that. Regardless...Konerko is fine....I like him and as long as he returns to his first half numbers of 2002 and puts them up over a full year, I'll be very happy. I also think that he won't be playing as much 1B as he has in the past...I don't think Sox management wants his foot doing what it did last year...that was not good.

baggs....you want Rick White to plunk Pierzynski and Hunter? I want Billy Koch to 'plunk' them with a 100 MPH fastball in the ribs....see if they bother charging the mound after that happens. Regardless....Hunter wouldn't charge the mound anyways....he'd just whip the ball back at him.

Oh man...there is a part of me that wishes I was born about 30 years ago rather than 15....so then I could be seeing some of these shots out of Old Comiskey and seeing what a beautiful park Old Comiskey was in person rather than in pictures(because from the pictures I've seen, it looks somewhat like the old Tiger Stadium, only greenish....and it was just beautiful all around...not much more I can say)....but the other part of me is glad that I was born just 15 years ago...because now I don't have to suffer the constant no World Series's....man, that has to be frustrating seeing how close and how good their teams have been in the past, only to fail later on. I hope we put on together here very soon....I want to witness one myself. As far as farthest home run goes....for the Sox, it was Thomas's against the Twinkies last year....the new record or whatever, but from what I've heard, Chavez's was farther....the farthest homer I've ever seen though.....I don't know...I've seen a lot of damn homers and a lot of them go damn far. But Bonds's last year in the World Series was, simply put, massive.

Moss is a heartless scum bag that is too high on himself to do anything, because he's a douche bag. The kids got talent....but if anyone in the NFL is a John Rocker type, it will be Randy Moss. He constantly gets himself into trouble....showboating, making harsh comments, running over traffic officers, and going public about s*** like that. You know, in his first two years, I didn't hear much about Randy Moss's big ass mouth. Those were his two best years. After that, he started to suck, and this year without the protection of Carter by his side, he blew chunks. Good riddance. He'd better hope that the Queens sign someone good this year to be a good receiver, so all the DBs aren't on him all day long. I'd still rather have him over Keyshawn Johnson though....Keyshawn has good hands, and that's it....he doesn't have speed, he doesn't have a good arsenal of moves, he doesn't score touchdowns, he is cocky as hell and he has a huge ass mouth....he thinks he runs the NFL. Too bad he's not even a top tier receiver. I wish them the worst for the rest of their careers.

And that's exactly what I was doing too was using the high end....saying Valentin will make $5 mill instead of the $2 mill offer you said....Daubach making $5 mill instead of $2 mill....etc. Thomas could also accept his part of the mutual agreement, making him $6 mill instead of $8 mill next year. Using the low end....it's just under $53 mill....and if the Sox have any kind of success this year, $65 mill will be easy to have....maybe getting White and Gordon back isn't as doubtful as it looks, though I won't be looking forward to seeing them in a Sox uniform past this year. You know what I just realized....if a team that has decent pitching needs a LFer or could atleast use an upgrade offensively that will only cost them about $1.4 mill or so....we could trade Carlos at the deadline and use Daubach in LF and bring Borchard up as a bat off the bench(assuming he doesn't make the team out of ST)....maybe get a solid 5th starter or some prospects or something like that. Maybe Carlos won't even be on the team by the end of July....but one can only hope. I don't see any reason we couldn't do this....a payroll of $65 mill, especially with very good success this year, can be accomplished. We are about 1 or 2 pieces away from becoming a team that could contend year in and year out.

Not that there is any interest at all....just asking a question....if given the chance, would you trade Konerko for Delgado, with some minor tweaks along with it....and the trade is eventually even out money wise....say Toronto gives $3.5 mill(bringing Delgado's salary down to $14.5 mill and essentially bringing Konerko's up to $10.5 mill)....but if a reason is needed for why the Jays would do it....I don't know...I suppose because they want to get younger, though that is a bad reason. Just asking.....because it would be real interesting to see what people would think about that deal....hell, maybe the deal is Konerko with a 3rd team getting involved, though the main package is Konerko for Delgado....something like that. I also agree on the lineup that it would be incredible, but I'd bat Delgado cleanup and one of Maggs or Thomas 3rd and then the other 5th...get that R-L-R matchup....sometimes that kind of thing drives managers crazy.

If you had to choose between Colon or Konerko....uhh....I think that is the easiest question ever. I'd be going with the Colon. I could settle with Tony G as our 1Bman if it would help bring Colon back....seriously. Hell, you could stick some bum like Josh Paul on 1B and it wouldn't matter....hell, play Colon on 1B if we need it....point being, you could take about 90-95% of today's ballplayers and have them play 1B....the taller the better. Jon Rauch or Randy Johnson would make an incredible 1Bman, assuming they had good range. However.....if I had to choose one firstbaseman over Konerko....I'd take Delgado, Helton, Giambi, Thome.....and they're all left-handed as well. How about this...a harder question than baggs'....if a trade of Carlos Delgado for Paul Konerko came up(possibly a few A level prospects or something included...nothing big), would you do it? Toronto takes some of Delgado's salary so they even out....would you do it? I would.

The first and last Minny series's....the Cubs, and the Athletics(because to me atleast it seems these two teams are getting something going on between them, like some kind of aura or some strange s*** like that, but I don't know what it is). Oh, I almost forgot about the 3 home series that the Sox have with the Tigers...I'm sure everyone, myself included, is looking forward to those!

Hey, I got an idea.... Let's just beat the f*** out of the Cubs in June!

Nothing to argue with there Brando....except that I am wondering how many homers Daubach hit around Pesky's Pole....anyways, he probably hit a few to CF that just got caught out there in the Bermuda Triangle and didn't go out and that in Chicago those are homers....regardless, he'll be a better hitter facing easy pitching in the AL Central rather than some difficult pitching in the AL East. I think Rowand probably is 6'1''....he's not a big guy by any means, but then again, unless you are Chinese(not count Yao Ming), 6'1'' is not that big I think KW's plan is to get rid of Thomas somehow, some way....however, with JR being head honcho, Lee will be gone before Thomas. Mark my words...Thomas will make between $6-8 mill next year...so I'll use $8 mill for this case....Maggs will make $14 mill....Konerko will make about $7 mill....and then Daubach's contract could be extended....maybe around $3-5 mill a year....Buehrle will make $5 mill atleast next year(or he should atleast)....Koch will make $6 mill, assuming we resign Colon, that's $10 mill, and Jose could be resigned, say, at $5 mill a year....so if Thomas, Maggs, Valentin, Konerko, Daubach, Buehrle, Koch and Colon come back at their prices....that is about $59 mill between those 8 guys....we better win a whole hell of a lot to keep all those guys...and I don't think you can count on Rick White's or Tom Gordon's options being picked up either. If we advance to the ALCS, I say this is a possibility....then and only then though. A World Series birth would be nice and would make the White Sox Chicago's #1 team again...and a World Series win and people would forget there is even a major league team that plays on the North Side of Chicago. That is all wishful thinking....but it is a possibility. Not a big one...but it is there.

One tidbit of advice.... Never bet it all with the White Sox....never ever. Ever since 1919, betting on the White Sox has been a jip....if all 4 teams in the AL Central died in a plane crash(hypothetically speaking), the White Sox STILL wouldn't win the division if you put money on them.

Paully and Hudson apparently like each other....maybe one more than the other. Paully has a .375 BA against Hudson? That's pretty damn good considering how good Huddy is. I can't wait to see the commercial....I wonder what it is about. I also hope Bartolo can handle the obese jokes and just laugh at them....because he will receive quite a few of them in Chicago. Tree trunks....LMAO

Jimenez and Olivo people can be concerned about....because other than the last two months of last year, Jimenez had been a career .240 hitter....and Olivo has played 6 major league games....nothing proven there. Rowand may not be ready for CF, Harris may and probably will suck this year and Borchard could strike out 150-200 times if he were up at the majors this year(though he would hit 20-30 homers). People can worry about all 4 middle positions, though 3 is the more logical answer....I am only concerned about CF.