baggio202

i hate these friggen things...maggs is no home run hitter...he is at his best when he looks to drive the ball to RC ala edgar martinez...i dont want maggs hitting more than 35 homers because for every homer over 35 ill bet his average drops 5 points im saying if he gets homer happy his average will come down....because he is at his best hitting to RC field..when he pulls the ball (unless its a hanger or a grooved fastball) you can count on a lot of grounders to SS...he needs to look to RC and turn on the mistakes...vary his pattern just enough to keep pitchers guessing...

i dont understand what the problem is with millar...if he doesnt want to play in japan he doesnt have to...regaurdless of what contract he signed there is no law that forces him to go work overseas...matter of fact the exact opposite is true...he is protected by our constitution if im not mistaken....the japanese club is s*** out of luck for the 1.2 million to buy millar's contract...the 2 year deal he signed becomes void...since he hasnt taken any money and no services were rendered..there is no damage to the japanese club... i liken this to japan making US teams pay for the right to talk to one of their players...if you pay 5 million to talk to matsui and he signed with someone else..thats the chance you take...if you buy millar's contract and he changes his mind..that the chance the japanese club takes...

i hate these friggen things...maggs is no home run hitter...he is at his best when he looks to drive the ball to RC ala edgar martinez...i dont want maggs hitting more than 35 homers because for every homer over 35 ill bet his average drops 5 points

i agree..if he hasnt inked with anyone by the 14th..i think we can get him..if i was kenny and its true that boros told him to pass on texas' offer id fire boros on the spot and make my own deal

one of the reasons i became a sox fan was that they wernt "america's " or "anyone else's" team...the sox actually draw a vast majority of their fans from a small market..a few neighborhoods on the south side..northern indiana and western michigan...with sox fans being in the minority in all other chicago areas even if you go into the southern suburbs you probably find more scrub fans..the sox do have alot of fans in the northwest suburbs where im at but its still more scrub fans..by a lot...and most of the sox fans here are transplanted from the south side neighborhoods anyways... the sox fan base really comes from a small concentrated area..they are a neighborhood team...kinda like brooklyn was....show me another team that draws a majority of its fans from a smaller area???..we are a throwback to a time where people lived and died within a few miles from where they were born...kinda cool huh???

very good article...just a couple of points 1.) on ray durham you said this "Granted, he batted over thirty points below Durham, but he drew 50 BB 400 AB vs. the 73 in 564 AB from Durham. There's a reason Jimenez was one of the top prospects in the Yankee farm system for a number of years. He is closer to the prototypical leadoff hitter - a contact hitter that draws walks. " on the walks..you make it sound like jimenez walks more than durham when in fact the opposite is true...jimenez's walk rate was .125 while durham's was .129...saying jimenez is more of a prototypical leadoff man because he walks more is false...he does make more contact but a prototypical lead off man should be able to steal 30 plus bases a season...durham does this regularly...jimenez has stole 8 bases in over 700 ML at bats...i think you would be hard pressed to find 5 leadoff men in baseball that can put up better numbers than ray (im just guessing here so prove me wrong!!)..this , to me is the number 1 concern for the sox..replacing ray's offense...now that ray is gone we will realize what a dynamic force he really was...he put up some tremedous numbers over his 7 years here...i dont see jimenez replacing durham..so the other guys better pick up the slack.. 2.) excellent points..id add to that with "cancer k-layton" gone it can only mean good things for frank...was it just a coincidence that frank started hitting right as the cancer was released?? 3.)nothing to argue here..i would still love to see 'the gambler' added to our staff.. 4.)disagree on valentin's defense but we have argued that ad naseum...i dont agree lee has improved..i think he hs regressed...and now that other teams really see how bad he throws there will be even more extra bases taken...to me, this guy has to either become our dh or be traded..so , get the hell out of dodge carlos..other than those 2 i ageree on all points...how good is colon at defending his position??? 5.) you didnt answer your question..do you think we are better or not???..i think we are...crede is a potential gold glover..ill take valentin over the cancer at SS anyday..jimenez looks to be solid and possible an improvemt over ray.....thats an improvent at 3 infield positions from last year...olivo is an unknown as you say...rowand/borchard / harris versus lofton???...its hard to say because kenny's defense seem to go south with his bat after april...we could actually gain here...overall i think we are a much better defensive club..especially if olivo's defense is not all hype... 6.) foulke is the better closer...he was just misused by the tinkerer...in '01 koch had a 4.80 era and blew 8 games...if he does that with the sox by june - marte / gordon /white will be closing and koch will be mopping up...foulke's numbers beat koch's in every catagory.. youre right baseball isnt soley a game of numbers... but when you beat the other guy in EVERY CATAGORY,you are the better pitcher....the reason koch looks more palatable to us is because we havent watched him day in and day out like we did foulke...when koch blew a save we wernt watching and it wasnt for our favorite team so it didnt hurt...foulke blew a save and it was devastating...now koch comes under the microscope...if he puts up his '01 numbers everyone here will be screaming for his head...no matter which version of koch we get he will walk more , give up more hits , give up more runs and strike out less than foulke...that much has happened every year since koch joined the majors...we wont like that...the newness of koch , the facial hair , the 100 mph heater, the attitude, will wear off real quick if cory koskie takes him deep in the 9th for a game winner just once... 7.)agreed...another reason why i hated the koch trade...any percived gain with koch over foulke is lost on the fact MJ isnt here and we had to bring alomar back...sandy was great in his day..but he has had 11 knee operations , cant throw because of a shoulder impingment , and if he isnt on the DL by june ill be shocked...i would feel so much better with a tandem of MJ/olivo then what we have now...lets face it..in todays weak catching market mark johnson was an average catcher..he did not suck....if manuel feels we need to keep 3 catchers because of sandy's health and we cant afford to let josh go , we might end up cutting brian daubach loose...that would make the koch trade even that much worse... 8.)you didnt answer this question either..is carlos going to live up to expectations or not???..i say no..and if we do keep daubach i expect him to end up with about 200 at bats in LF alone...if carlos starts off like last year (6-24 -255) by the time the scrubs series rolls around i fully expect daubach to be the new LF..and hopefully carlos gone...he better do it this year...giving this guy 4 million dollars a year was kenny's 3rd biggest blunder behind ritchie and k-layton... 9.) good point on colon...he was consistent all year..winning 10 games with 2 teams means you had to have 2 real good halves...s***head wells was 15-5 at the all star break and won only 5 games with a plus 5 era after the break the year before the sox got him...he was old and on the decline...colon is in his prime...this is the first pitcher in a long time the sox have gotten at the height of his career...plus - while colon strike out numbers went down significantly , so did his era and his pitches per inning..that shows me he is learning how to use the old noggin and not just his 98 mph heater...his best is yet to come.. 10.) the sox have definately improved...thus their record in one run games should improve too..but to me the key here lies in minnesota's bullpen..they had so many career years last year...i cant see a repeat performance..so the question is how much of a drop off with the twins suffer...if its slight..then its a close race..if its drastic..then the twinkies could fall out of sight by the all star break...i look for fast eddie to implode..he is in a bitter contract battle and frankly i think the twins are right for not giving him big bucks...he had a career year and he's not that good...he implodes, kills the twinkies

there is a good chance sandy could end up on the DL before ST ends...thus making this arguement mute...olivo and paul might end up our catcher...god save us all

i cant see KC taking on lee's salary...we would have to send cash with carlos to get that deal done....beltran , nixon..either guy is a major upgrade...

i just picked up the early 80's red and blue road gray jersey with the 75 year comiskey park patch...its awesome...id go with that one another nice one ive seen is the 3/4 sleeve '19 jersey made out of wool..exact replica...

I'm telling you all, the one by Sega is going to be sweet. You can have 4 man rotations, you hire and fire coaches. You set up a percentage of when your bench players come in. Its going to be sweet. That and the EA one are the two that look best to me. All Star Baseball seems like its falling behind when it comes to the Franchise mode. Yeah the Sega one will be the best in my opinion. It is called World Series Baseball 2k3 and it will be out for the PS2 and Xbox. The franchise mode will be insane! For a preview of franchise mode go here: http://xbox.ign.com/articles/383/383953p1.html But basically you can hire and fire coaches (pitching,hitting,manager etc...) as well as scouts for certain amount of money and they all have ratings. Hiring badly rated scouts could cause you to have highly rated minor leaguers who in reality aren't great. You can customize your coaches to teach what you want them to teach. Like Pitching Coach can focus on velocity,mechanics or control. It also has the ESPN liscence which makes it more authentic. on this game do you actually have to act like a player where you pitch and hit or do they have like a mangers mod where you just make managerial decisions and the computer does the rest???...because i would love the stratagy part but actually trying to play these games - i suck big time

yas , supernuke or any of you guys that are planning to come in from out of town....make sure you guys let us know when you are coming...HSC, cwsox and the rest of us local yokels will do our best to make sure we all get together for a tailgating in your guys honor and who knows what else...

i think the way to go is to package up lee and a good pitching prospect or 2 for a quality left handed power hitting CF...then LF is open to borchard (or RF and move maggs to left) when borchard is ready and rowand can patrol lf until then (which is more his natural position anyways) i know alot of you didnt like it but i still think sending lee, wunsch and a pitching prospect (or lee and some other combo) to boston for nixon and nilsson would really go along way to strengthening our up the middle defense... our line up jimenez - 2b valentin -ss maggs - rf thomas -dh konehead -1b nixon-cf crede -3b rowand -daubach platoon -lf c- olivo - alomar/when alomar goes on the DL - nilsson boston damon - cf giambi - lf nomar- ss ramirez -rf lee - dh ortiz - 1b hillenbrand -3b varatek -c walker- 2b not sure of the exact order but those 9 would make a real power packed line for beantown..that line up is better than ours..they have quality hitters one through nine.. i think its a deal that really helps both teams...

athough cub fns would probably be thinking the same thing...probably go 7 games..with game 7 going like 20 innings...my heart couldnt take it...there'd be no way...id end up dead never knowing if the sox won or not

Don't you think things will be different THIS May? Honestly, I really do. it better be

I'll tell you, old Comiskey was beautiful. I have felt that way since my father took me to my first ballgame as a kid. I never forget walking into that stadium from along the first base line, watching that field appear before my eyes... the stands, the scoreboard, the players... I was just awestruck. I really think I fell in love with baseball at that moment. I was hooked for life. what i remember most about old comiskey was infield practice..back then teams took infield everyday...the sox would take their infield right s the gates opened...when dad took me i the weekends i remember pulling him by the arm trying to hurry up to get to the field to see the start of infield.. a ground ball to SS would be thrown to first then over to 3rd, then to 2nd back to first then home...a 6-4-3 double would be turned then the throw would go to 3rd to 2nd to first then home...about halfway through this the catcher, after recieving a throw for the first baseman would then start throwing to third and then to 2nd and get a return throw...while these throws were going on a ball would be hit to the outfielder who would throw to the designated base then the throws would start all over again...it was always timed perfect so when the throw came in from the outfield the last throw was being made to the catcher..it was a thing of beauty

one thing about manos..he likes it here...he turned down a much better offer from balt to stay here...if the sox win the division and set themselves up for post season for the next few years manos will take a pay cut to stay here...he seems to be one of the few guys in baseball that would actually play for nothing (he plays every year in puerto rico - for practically nothing already) and realizes that even if he doesnt sign the biggest contract he is still getting played to play baseball...he actually gets it..he realizes what a lucky SOB he really is....gotta love that about him one thing im noticing on the dork...he is in his 70's now..he gotta realize that his years are numbered and he cant take it with him...its not like he has any immediate family to leave the team to (i think he has a nephew thats learning the business - but thats not like a son)...with this deal with us cellular and the park taking on the retro look for '05...he is gonna want to show case it and to do that he has to put fannies in the seats...i really think he will make one last effort to put a winner on the field...i dont care how much of a s***head somebody is when they are a man of reinsdorf's means as they get to the end of life they always want to put their best foot forward and leave a positive statement about their life...this is the reinsey's last chance to not be looked at as a cheap bastard and be remembered the way comiskey was...

ther eis no gaurentee we would have won that game in boston had jose not made that error...it would have still been tied..and judging by the strike zone boston as getting that day i dont think there was a chance in hell we were gonna win....

im pretty sure we released him...KW said last year in an interview on the radio that barcelo could never figure out how to pitch with pain..he always thought he wa injured when he just had a sore arm or something like that....after that i knew his days were numbered...

the first twinkie series...I WANT A SWEEP...set the tone early that the sox are kicking their ass this year...also want to see rick white plunk aj piezisckwenii in the ribs first time he faces him...then torrii hunter..let either of those too little s***s charge the mound on rick...lets see if they are men or not! !!

the one thing delgado brings over konehead is a lot of homers from the left side..thats something this team needs...but delgdo is a slugger always swiong ing for the fences...paulie is a much better situtional hitter..i think he makes alot more productive outs than carlos does...i like paulie's defense over delgado too... a big determining factor that no one hear can answer is how much of a leader has paulie become in the club house...it looks like he wants to take that roll on but wanting and doing it are two different things...that would be big question in my mind as to whether or not move konerko for anyone... is he really the clubhouse leader now or is his quest to be "the man" actually making him more of a clubhouse nuisance???..ive seen alot of positives in that respect but remember paulie really blew it last year (imo) going after frank in the press....did that mistake hurt his credability with his teammates???..or in the long run did it help???..the answer to that question would go a long in way in how hard i would fight to keep him here

good points...speaking of our division...its so damn weak..all we have to do is outspend the twinkies..they either do one of two things...either let us and do nothing to counter (their tack this year) and we become a better team...or try and spend with us and end up going broke and become the royals....we could dominate this division for 10 years..put a run together better than the tribe did...we just have to get the right mix of talent and chemistry..THEN PAY THEM TO KEEP IT ALLTOGETHER... btw..could you imagine if we traded place with lets say the yankees...lmao..they would win this division every year by 35 games

couple of things....we will move carlos lee ..he will make 6 million in arbitration...were not paying that bum 6 million... daubach wont make 5 million..we know his worth but what he brings to the table unfortunately for him really doesnt translate into big bucks...2 million will get him resigned... jose valentin at 35 will never make 5 million...he will be lucky to get a 2 million dollar offer i think colon makes more than 10 mill...probably 12... my total comes to 55 million so we are close..but it will take like 5-8 million to sing the remaining players...remember half those guys are coming back at around 300k...the only guy left thats arbitration eligable that will make any kind of cash is garland (1 million - if he wins 18 games 2 - 3 million..no one makes more than that their first year in arb) even using your numbers 59 million plus the high end of mine 8 = 67 million...thats very doable

has a whole team ever died in a plane crash? not in the pros but twice in college...evansville basketball team i nthe 80's and the marshall football team in the late 60's or early 70's...they have a memorial to the marshall right outside the stadium and that prick randy moss said while he was there he never even bothered to visit it...what a s***

somebody else is celebrating with us....they have their b-day on the 8th...im thinking one of the zach's???.

here's a question..if the sox could only sign one guy..either konehead or colon...which would you take??? i go along with brando's thinking here...its a lot easier to replace a 1st baseman