witesoxfan

KW tried to trade Garland multiple times and then finally did, and Garland went on to have a pretty poor season. Why would KW bring him back on a multi-year deal? It seems to me that KW had or still has concerns about Jon's shoulder. I'd have no problem with Garland, it just seems as though he wouldn't be in the teams plans and that he'd be better suited on an NL club anyways.

QUOTE (StatManDu @ Jan 5, 2009 -> 02:19 PM) Because of his injuries, Ben Sheets is a drain on a team ... Not worth the payoff Sheets has thrown 140 innings every year in his career but one...if it's a short-term deal, I'd have no problem with Ben Sheets in the rotation. He won't stay healthy, but he'll stay very solid and give you some damn good innings and 10-14 wins.

because the Twins always have money that they are more than willing to throw away towards the end of the offseason. How else do you explain Rondell White, Tony Batista, Ramon Ortiz, Sidney Ponson, Mike Lamb, and Livan Hernandez?

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ Jan 4, 2009 -> 06:02 PM) I enjoyed this article: It is ironic that you despise the Colts yet enjoy the everlasting success of the Braves when the franchises really are similar within their sports. Classy franchise from the players to the front office, fantastic general managing and coaching, fantastic leader(s). Nothing more than that though.

If Gonzales knows anything (I don't know if he has good connections or not), it seems that this type of deal would be predicated by the Sox dealing Dye, trading Floyd, and then resigning Roberts to an extension. One would then assume the Sox go out and sign Abreu, have Alexei start off at SS with the intention of moving him any given place where the team may need him in the future (I'd say either keeping him at SS with Beckham moving to 3B or Alexei to CF with Beckham staying at SS...it also doesn't rule out a potential dealing of Beckham and/or any of the other infielders the Sox have in the system). The lineup might very well be the best in the AL Central, but the pitching staff would struggle big time. Roberts - 2B Abreu - RF Quentin - LF Thome - DH Konerko - 1B Pierzynski - C Ramirez - SS Fields - 3B Anderson - CF Buehrle Danks pitcher acquired for Dye veteran retread/young pitcher young pitcher it all seems like a huge long shot to me in the long run, but mainly just trading for Roberts. Dye may or may not be traded either way and I'd put it at about 50/50.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jan 3, 2009 -> 09:23 PM) http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?...e=gammons_peter it's a pretty good read, he's mentioned along with good company. Do we see slayer in 09?? Hes the only one mentioned from this past draft class, do you guys think he is the best player drafted? no he's not the best player drafted, he's merely the closest to the majors with the best opportunity to be promoted to the majors.

"I'm Ko Simpson with the Buffalo Bills. I am worth millions!" alright, whatever you say Ko

List of free agent starting pitchers there's still a few of them out there, and a lot of the guys looking to build their value on 1-year deals would find Chicago very attractive with 2 holes in it, let alone 3. I think this would be an absolutely terrible move due to the overwhelming number of 2Bman in the White Sox system (and by overwhelming, I mean 1 player with 3 others that have a chance at starting there) and the lack of cheap, solid starting pitching.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 2, 2009 -> 04:08 PM) Roethlisberger, Delhomme and Eli Manning are mediocre? yeah. I'm probably being nice to Roethlisberger too, because he was pretty terrible this year. In regards to QB rating...Manning 15th (86.4), Delhomme 18th (84.7), Roethlisberger 24th (80.1). I don't know why you didn't question Chad Pennington, seeing as how he had the 2nd best QB rating in the game, but my reasoning behind him is merely that I think he is. He was fantastic this year, but overall has been a mediocre QB. I will also say that Eli Manning might be the most overrated player in the entire NFL. People consider him an elite QB when quite frankly he is anything but an elite QB. Mediocre completion percentage, yards thrown, touchdowns thrown, and QB rating...the only thing he was good at, and pretty much fits hand in hand with a mediocre, game managing QB, is that he didn't turn the ball over much (10 INTs, 2 lost fumbles). Eli Manning is not a franchise QB.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Jan 2, 2009 -> 04:01 PM) It wasn't Rivers fault the Chargers had a terrible defense. It's also not Peyton Mannings fault that he had a backfield full of mediocre or banged up running backs all year too. That, and the Colts had to win 12 games to get into the playoffs helps their case too.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 08:34 PM) Why? You can groom a franchise QB more easily than drafting one and getting lucky. There are probably more franchise qb's that are later round picks than 1st round picks. The problem is teams like the Bears think that guys that suck (or are mediocre at best) for multiple seasons will somehow turn it around. Or, more accurately, they believe that putting a mediocre QB on the field with an expected good running game and defense is a recipe for success. I think history shows that your odds of success are pretty low using that formula (like 2 super bowl appearances in four decades). Who on the roster are they grooming for the future? They have no plan. For the 5th year in a row now we're hoping some mediocre QB can manage a game and allow the defense to win it for us. It's pathetic. The Titans, Vikings, Ravens, Dolphins, Steelers, Panthers, Falcons, and Giants all agree that it's a pretty good philosophy.

QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Jan 2, 2009 -> 08:28 AM) 2009 Giants = 2008 Miami Dolphins? They went from worst to first with unnoticable free agent signings. The Dolphins also had the greatest football mind of the past 25 years as team president too. That doesn't hurt.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Jan 2, 2009 -> 09:04 AM) just keep repeating, "everything will be fine." fields will hit 30 homers and play decent defense - I don't think it's too far fetched alexei will make the shift to SS and play just as well as cabrera - He did last year getz will hit .280 and play solid D - It seems pretty reasonable, given his minor league history konerko will rebound to his 2006 performance - I don't know of anyone who has suggested this at all AJ will catch 135 games, so we don't need a capable backup - 7 straight years of 128+ games behind the plate owens will have an OBP of .360 and steal 50 bases - Owens blows clayton richard's ERA of 6.00 didn't really show his true ability. - Richard was much improved after his first 3, but I agree that he's better served in the bullpen #5 starters don't matter, everyone's #5 sucks. - and I still see the Sox bringing in another veteran starter what's the worry? I don't see a ton to be concerned about

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jan 2, 2009 -> 02:10 PM) Thats a possibility. I think 2b is the clubs biggest asset as far as depth wise with Getz, Lillybridge, Nix and Beckham. I don't understand why people are really counting Nix as depth. He's almost certainly triple A fodder and his career is likely to end up with him as a utility infielder than anything else. I also view Lillibridge as a CFer rather than a 2Bman, though he obviously has the ability to play both, along with SS.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 1, 2009 -> 09:44 AM) DeRosa is going to be 34, his career OPS is .770 and he's going to the very competitive American League...I think his best offensive days are behind him. An upgrade from A. Cabrera and Josh Barfield? For sure, but he's also a pretty weak defender and that infield has all kinds of question marks to me with Peralta at 3B, Cabrera at SS, DeRosa at 2B and Hafner/Martinez/Garko at 1B. That might be the worst defensive infield in baseball today. With their pitching, it's a far cry from Alomar and Vizquel up the middle. DeRosa is going to play 3B for them. From 3B to 1B - DeRosa-Peralta-Cabrera-Garko Still really not that pretty, but it's probably better than with DeRosa at 2B.

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Jan 1, 2009 -> 11:56 PM) This board is hot for Uribe, but is only luke warm over Gooch. Help me out. OPS of .747 (OPS+ 92) in 2007, OPS of .598 (OPS+ 66) in 2008, lacks versatility around the diamond, and isn't stellar defensively. He's also 34 years old, which is almost always the downside of a career, while Uribe is entering his age 29 season. It's pretty understandable.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 02:08 PM) 3 years with a 4th year option bringing the deal to 20M. Probably makes Montero available now. Montero's been available, but any team trading for him is trading for him to be a starting catcher, not a backup. He's going to cost quite a bit.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Dec 31, 2008 -> 05:58 PM) You kind of missed the point of my post in totality. Vazquez value was not at all aided by Guillen's slamming him in the media at the very end of the regular season. Maybe we got fair value for Javy but I would absolutely like to have known what he'd net without the Guillen comments. That's all that's being said here. If you have GM/Mgr synchronicity---if they are at all working together---- then you wont use the press to potentially tank the value of guys you are 2 months away from putting on the trade market. You have to admit that Guillen saying "he's not a big game pitcher" followed by him losing the following starts makes him look like a dud on the market. It sure doesnt help. Ozzie called Javy out for not being a big game pitcher with the hopes that Javy would step up and become a shutdown pitcher. It didn't happen. That's who Ozzie is and it's how he manages, and Javy would have choked either way. Ozzie's comments had little to no effect on Javy's value because Vazquez is who he is and teams know what they are getting into when they trade for him.

QUOTE (MO2005 @ Dec 31, 2008 -> 08:08 AM) I don't recall the Kids Can Play era was in 2007? I think that was the old guys can play era...If you read through thoroughly you would notice that I didn't make a false claim, but you made false assumption that I was talking about 2007. To my understanding the Kids Can Play era was in the early 2000's and late 90's. They've also won 3 division titles and a World Series since the Kids Tried to Play. Their marketing director is one of the best in the business. USCF has some of the funnest experiences for younger kids to partake in. And season ticket renewals too. Besides all of that, I'm not too worried. If pricing goes up again next year, it'll be a problem, but I don't know how they could legitimately raise ticket prices again.

QUOTE (MO2005 @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 05:24 PM) Well Lillibridge and Marquez could very well play those starring roles by the end of the season..who knows? The bottom line is the These Kids Can Play era brought roughly 18-20,000 fans a game...and if we expect to make a run in a few years with that type of fanbase at the stadium, forget about it. Unfortunately we don't have a fanbase that goes to games when they are bad. The 2.6 mill that the Sox drew in 2007 WAS a pretty weak showing by our fan base, wasn't it? It really looks meager in comparison to the 2.5 mill the Sox drew in 2008...I mean, what a fantastic attendance year this past season was. Do your homework before making false claims. If anything keeps fans away from the park, it'll be the economy. Seeing as how attendance would have to drop by 1 million (that's 1,000,000), it's about as likely to happen as Al Capone rising from the dead. Besides that, even if the craziest case scenario ever happens and they DO average less than 20,000 a game, the Sox are still losing a ton of contracts, have a ton of prospects to deal, and have the pieces and money to spend. What's so hard to understand about that? I think this team is probably a .500 or so team as currently constructed, but the Sox also have some solid younger players to plug into some holes and these kinds of players can surprise. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see Fields put up an .800 OPS nor would I be surprised to see Getz put up .290/.340/.400 type line, and both would be just fine by me. It's the starting pitching I'm concerned about, and I see Williams bringing in a veteran starter or two on incentive laden deals.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Dec 28, 2008 -> 08:40 PM) Damn it, Penny could have been had for $5 million? I liked the idea of seeing what he could do over here... his shoulder is shot and he was absolutely terrible last year. It's a safe bet that Richard will have a lower ERA this year than Penny.

Zito's a mistake they'll be stuck with for a while. I could also see them dealing Sanchez for hitting, as the Giants have seemingly no problem developing pitching but their offense is absolutely terrible.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Dec 26, 2008 -> 03:17 PM) I love when you think your opinion trumps the years of schooling and the actual hours in the profession that ptatc has done. truly amusing reading I find that saying Kerry Wood's injuries were inevitable when ptatc said that some pitchers can pitch with poor mechanics like Wood's is pretty funny too. Wood obviously can't, but there are some pitchers who can get away with it.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 26, 2008 -> 08:39 PM) Not really. Joe has been injured the past two years with the same injury. He's not injury prone, he has just taken bad advice from his agent. Call him stupid, but it's not nearly the same situation. Brown has been injured numerous times in the past and I believe this is the first time in a while he has even played 15 games. Crede has been hurt, with the same back injury, 4 straight years. He missed a few weeks in 2005, he was playing hurt down the stretch in 2006, missed most of 2007, and missed half of 2008. It's a pretty similar situation quite honestly.

QUOTE (jenks45monster @ Dec 26, 2008 -> 03:35 PM) I don't know if I'd call it a weakness of his as much as I'd call it Ozzie being cautious. Yeah, he was taken out early a few times because it just wasn't his day. But there were a few other games where he was pitching well and he ended up with 6 or so innings. John Danks splits, pitch counts Gavin Floyd splits, pitch count Danks dominates within his first 75 pitches and then generally gets hit around. Floyd is pretty consistently mediocre throughout the game, and he limits damage a bit better deep into games. It's Ozzie being cautious for good reason, Danks gets hit around like a pinata after 75 pitches or so; Danks can't really go deep into games at this point in his career.