caulfield12

Obviously the Marte and Barfield experiments didn't work out so well. I think they'll really miss Blake, although DeRosa is a good substitute. Both are versatile, veteran, offense-minded players. Peralta just seems like a pending disaster at SS as he keeps growing, putting on weight. I won't label him the reincarnated equivalent of Viciedo at SS exactly, but he's about as mobile as Tom Brady these days. Garko's one of those streaky players that looks to be on the verge of playing himself off the team one year (due to his lack of typical 1B power numbers), but he's an RBI machine. The main problem is that Victor Martinez is also a DH, so you're either stuck with Hafner or a very lousy catcher, probably the worst in the baseball. It will be interesting to see what Flowers gives us from that spot in a couple of years...or if he also moves to 1B/DH. I guess keeping Peralta and Cabrera as the DP combination seemed the more logical way to go. Still the only "power" hitter on that infield is Peralta (for his position), and he's really a 3B now. It's just that DeRosa will cause less damage at 3B than 2B, I guess.

The irony is that they're looking to trade Rowand (among others) in order to bring Manny Ramirez on board, largely because Rowand is one of their more expensive players now. Aaron has never been able to find either a guaranteed starting position or a team he can get really comfortable with for 3-5 years, for whatever reason. He's one of those players like DeJesus with the Royals that's borderline really good, but certainly not the pretty good you pay $10+ million per season to acquire.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Jan 2, 2009 -> 01:25 AM) "I'm more set than I think you guys have written and talked about," said Williams with a laugh. "We've got a lot of confidence, but that's not unusual. It's not your job to scout and project players' performance. That's our job, and we'll continue to do that with the best players we put on the field." - Kenny Williams lol I think Brooks Boyer simply is paying off KW with some of his marketing funds, as KW's unbridled/unabashed enthusiasm has been one of the constants this offseason in the face of all the criticism. I don't know if 2008 validated any of his (KW's) theories or not, but he seems to be pretty sure of himself, almost too sure. (Maybe that quote about Detroit turning out to be true has gone to his head?) So either he's playing a great game of poker with Bond and Le Schiffre or we'll still see some twists and turns before the season opener. I know that he would have had a lot to answer for at Sox Fest (not that he would care!) had he done this coming off a non-pennant winning year, and with the tickets rising in price. I'm not sure how many of us are convinced on the message boards, but they say if you keep repeating something to yourself over and over again, i becomes the truth, at least your version of the truth. Maybe KW is telling the truth, or at least what he believes to be the truth. That or we're in for a really tough season again.

Historically, the White Sox have always been 2-3 years too late on getting players past their prime/s...this time, KW really brought in Iguchi at the perfect time and place, as he was one of the catalysts in unwinding the selfishness of the previous teams and serving as a role model in how to play the game quietly and correctly, in a way that wasn't really reflected accurately by the box scores.

Plus he doesn't have the type of swing that's conducive to coming off the bench and only getting 150-200 at bats in a season...he needs to play close to everyday, and, at his age, I'm not sure if his stills haven't gone the way of Roberto Alomar and Steve Sax when they were on the SouthSide.

According to SI.com's Jon Heyman: The Giants appear to be taking a close look at free-agent third baseman Joe Crede. They've reviewed Crede's medical report and don't appear discouraged about pursuing him. It seems likely that Crede can be had on a one-year deal; Scott Boras has done many such contracts to rebuild value. He'd be another excellent short-term addition for the Giants, who are remaking the team through smart free agent signings. Crede would complement new shortstop Edgar Renteria, who is well below average on plays to his right.

i think that OSU is still the better team than Penn State, for what it's worth...but neither are dominant teams as for me, i'm happy to see Florida instead of USC as a Sooners fan...USC/Carroll already beat us once in a game we were supposed to win, but this offense against OU should be able to put up 50-60 on Florida, the only question is how many points the defense will give up, although they showed some signs of waking up late in the season

That team not only looked old, it looked very pathetic going forward because of our minor league system's lack of anything but Andy Gonzalez and E. Wasserman, among others. I guess Fields was about the only encouraging thing to come out of it, and maybe Jerry Owens for one fairly decent sustained streak of hitting, stealing bases and high OBP. Couple that with Cleveland's resurgence, the spending going on in DET (after the World Series team) and the usual grittiness of the Twins, things looked very, very bleak indeed. Now the AL Central is suddenly like the B10 conference compared to the AL East.

But you'd have to admit that the Iowa team playing at the end of the season and the one with Stanzi prancing around like a newborn on baby legs were two very different teams....Iowa's offensive and defensive lines have become dominant units, the hallmarks of the 2002-2004 years. As I said, Iowa ALMOST lost against Iowa State...but they could make a legitimate argument they weren't that far from an unbeaten season either. Obviously, Iowa would get crushed more often than not by the Top 5-7 teams in college football, but they could battle just about anyone on a neutral site with Greene, a more confident Stanzi and the combination of OL/DL.

Along with tuition and the prices of all consumer goods (see inflation...although deflation is the next worry, not stagflation). The one area to fall dramatically is oil prices...so you can pay for your Sox ticket increases with the money saved on gasoline, lol.

Owens, Fields, Andy Gonzalez (unfortunately) and Wasserman played/pitched a lot in 2007...that's more rookies on the field than we'll have at any point in 2009, fwiw.

Then how do you explain one of the most unathletic teams in Iowa beating Florida, LSU and now South Carolina? Iowa didn't have better athletes on the field in any of those games, did they? Sure, we've had a Shonn Greene here, a Dallas Clark or Bob Sanders there (the last two were two star recruits or not even on the "map" in terms of rating services)...but can you really say that it's impossible for Big 10 teams to defeat USC or teams from the SEC? Yes, Iowa was wiped out by USC in 2002 in the Orange Bowl, but USC and LSU beat Oklahoma when those Sooners teams were SUPPOSED to be the best team in the country, and OU had plenty of athletes as well. Georgia was predicted to be the preseason #1...they could beat any team in the country on any given day, especially at home. They could also lose to just about any SEC team this year, as proven. If you want to talk about conferences that have fallen off, look to the ACC and the Big East. Are they relevant to anyone anymore? Did anyone really expect Northwestern to beat Missouri? They played a good game...against a Missouri team that was fighting it out for the National Championship at the end of 2008 and heading into 2009. Minnesota didn't even deserve to be in a bowl game, look at their final game against Iowa (also for Wisconsin)...heck, you could say pretty much the same thing for South Carolina, and they certainly played like a team heading in the wrong direction today, while Iowa had all the momentum in the world on its side finally after some very close early season losses at Pitt, against Northwestern (they had that game put away until a fumble at the end of the first half let NU back into it)...and they were in the games until the final minutes at MSU and Illinois. That said, Iowa would have been the worst undefeated team in recent memory had they snuck into a BCS game somehow. Whenever Iowa fans get discouraged, Ferentz always figures out a way to resuscitate the program. He has done it twice now. It's easier to rebuild from scratch than to have a sustained level of success (three consecutive #8 finishes in the country from 02-04), lose it almost completely and then get back to a very high level again. You almost never seen a program under the same coach recover these days in those situations. With all that said, with the weakness of Michigan and the surge by Texas Tech and OSU this season, the Big 12 South and the SEC are the two dominant elements of college football, along with USC.

Only if he's coming back as a "fundamentals" instructor.

Cue the Roberts to Cubs speculation. Almost as annoying as the Konerko/Figgins annual storyline, Willy Taveras or Peavy to the Cubs talk.

Well, no matter what with Stewart, Miller, Cole Armstrong and then Flowers, our depth at that position is the best it has been in a decade. Not to mention the infamous Francisco Hernandez, if he's even still with the organization...and I Love Lucy.

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.

1) First, you trade Jose Ceda, our closer of the future who was "untouchable" in a Roberts deal last year, for Kevin Gregg, who led the NL in blown saves last year. He's going to battle Marmol now to be our closer? 2) Then you let Wood go, saying we don't have money while you try to trade for a pitcher we don't need (see below) and who was hurt for a time last year who makes much more than Wood wanted. You didn't even offer arbitration, costing us a draft pick. 3) You try to trade everyone we have left (including Josh Vitters, who is all we have left in the minors)for Jake Peavy who was hurt last year, makes a ton of money that we supposedly don't have to pay him, and who would give us (at that time) 7 starters. You offer up everything, including spinning DeRosa into the deal, even though you were dealing from advantage and should have been controlling the deal from day one. 4) You trade DeRosa for three worthless pitchers, who the media says aren't even going for Peavy anymore, to give Fontenot and Aaron Miles a chance to play. I like Fontenot, but he's no Mark DeRosa and by playing every day he takes one of our best weapons off the bench. You wanted to get rid of his $5 million salary? So you sign Aaron Miles to make half that for a total net savings of $2.5 million. Book the cruise.... 5) You sign Joey Gathright, who is the equivalent of if Tom Goodwin (during his Cubs days) and Felix Pie had a child. 6) You are on the verge of signing Milton Bradley, a DH, to play right field and who won't play more than 110 games next year and who you will be trying to dump his contract off (while paying a good amount of his salary) by the following offseason. You won't even discuss Adam Dunn, who would probably take a lower pay to play for the Cubs and who would give us power to replace DeRosa's, who you threw away to the Indians for nothing. So Mr. Hendry, unless you are going to pull a rabbit out of a hat now and actually improve this team, then on behalf of Cubs fans everywhere, we are very disappointed. My wife doesn't even want to go to the Cubs Convention anymore, and I don't blame her. from chicagotribune message boards....loved this rant, especially #5

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 31, 2008 -> 02:29 PM) I don't know why I said Score. I did hear Murph say Miles is a good defender and legitimate leadoff hitter. lol. What a dumbass. Well, I can't see Miles holding up over an entire year at 2B and leading off. He's not a stolen base threat, if he ever was one to begin with. There has to be more behind this move than just Bradley and minor leaguers, although seemingly their LH bat and leadoff problems are 50% solved theoretically. Although Fontenot will perhaps figure more into the equation now as well. I guess one can look at selling DeRosa "high" in the same light as the Sox potentially dealing Dye. And I guess this puts the Josh Barfield Era officially to an end in Cleveland.

Even more ironic is that he used to play for WVU, and Iowa and OSU both were destroyed by Huggins in the last month or so. Iowa's coming around and becoming more competitive on the road. I just don't know if Lickliter can get enough athleticism to win with his system in the Big 10, in terms of recruiting. I think he will fall a little short of Alford's hype as a recruiter, although the program will be better off from an overall standpoint, I just don't see him taking Iowa to the Elite 8 or Sweet 16 on a consistent basis. However, the fact that Iowa's really learning how to play much better D is a good sign, something that didn't really happen under the Golden Boy.

I don't think Guillen's calling out Vazquez or even Swisher had any effect on their trade value. Lots of NL teams (and GM's) still see (for whatever reason) Vazquez as a 1/2 caliber starter. That will always be the case. The other thing you have to take into consideration is he's not exactly cheap. Lowe's being offered $36 million for 3 years by the Red Sox. I'm pretty sure he will get a little bit more than that, but that's right in line with what Dempster and Vazquez make per season, although Javier's deal only goes for two more seasons. If the White Sox agreed to take on some of that salary (unlikely), then they would have received an even better returned, potentially the top 3 names we heard bandied about so often at that time. But, at least for the White Sox, he was nothing close to what Dempster and Lowe would be expected to be for their new teams, which is a 2-3 type.

It reminds me of all the angst over the supposed three player deal for Jon Garland with the Astros that blew up...people read the Internet, blogs, mlbtraderumors, and they're convinced their GM is an idiot because half of what is written there is nonsense. I mean Gilmore gets compared to Ryan Sweeney and is labelled a disappointment simply because he's from Iowa? What? I mean, give the kid a chance to develop, c'mon. I've seen some premature rushes to judgment, and I'm not saying this is going to work out like the Herschel Walker trade did in the end, but there's almost no point in saying who won and lost a trade until 3-5 years have elapsed. Even then, it's kind of tricky. You can make many arguments back and forth about Vazquez for Chris Young still today...about who won and lost that deal. It might look very different again in another year. Same thing with the Swisher trade/s and the development of Viciedo. Maybe if we don't trade Swisher, we can't sign Viciedo for that amount of money...there are many ripple/cause-and-effect what if's with any trade. Like the one that got us Cotts, who played a big part in leading us to the World Series, even though that trade looked like a disaster at the time. Or Olivo for Bradford. Because it netted us Garcia eventually.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 31, 2008 -> 02:38 PM) I miss Ivan. Actually, if we trade Dye, we could use an Ivan-like player in 2009. In a strange way, so do I....and not just because he passed so quietly away either, barely a blip on the celebrity-obsessed radar screen. In fact, Calderon and Carlos Martinez were two of my favorite players of that era...I guess I still think of Calderon as a more talented, mercurial outfield version of Uribe...and I have fond memories of supporting the White Sox in Old Comiskey in the late 80's when you could almost have a guaranteed foul ball the number of fans in the stands was so pathetic. That's why the 1990 team will always be #1 in my heart, on par with the 2005 team. People forget what it was like to be a White Sox fan from the late 70's (with the exception of 1983) 'til the late 80's when Thomas, Ventura, McDowell, Fernandez, Bere, Alvarez, etc., all came together at almost the same time.

By the way, who was the brilliant GM who ever authorized giving L. Vizcaino $4 million per season? I mean, he was the BACK end of our bullpen, the garbage guy for a majority of 2005...although he had a very good run with the Brewers before those sliders wore down his fastball into the low 90's/upper 80's.

You forgot the Barack Obama factor in the attendance and merchandising, lol. Well, that's a pretty extensive/good list of reasons not to fret. This is not the late 1980's, and Ivan Calderon is not our best player anymore. Young kids growing up with the World Series title in the back of their minds will start to identify more with the Sox if their allegiance wasn't already formed a childbirth. All things considered, KW is going to be in a much more flexible position than he would be had he kept Cabrera, Swisher, Crede, Uribe, Griffey and Vazquez. With all of those players returning, would we be again favored to win the AL Central? I don't really think so. Obviously, there's so much love out there for Cabs, Crede, Uribe and Griffey that it might be until February before they find teams, and I wouldn't be surprised if they (some) didn't even received guaranteed major league contracts. We won last year with pitching, surprise offensive performances from Ramirez/Quentin and a lot of smoke and mirrors. Just think of the Cubs as another big Ponzi scheme (contracts for Soriano, Harden, Ramirez, Lee, Zambrano, Dempster, etc.) that will collapse/implode on itself at some point in the near future.

Would anyone pay Juan Uribe $4.9 million (the contract for Aaron Miles) to stick around for two more years as a sub? Interesting question. Obviously Uribe had more of an impact with the White Sox (especially 04-05-08) than Miles had with the Rockies, but they are fairly similar players at this point in their careers in terms of their value/s to other organizations. We haven't heard much of anything about Uribe landing somewhere else, and yet Miles, Punto and Felipe Lopez. Adam Everett even found a taker. Cabrera, Eckstein and Uribe are still out there though, among others.