TLAK

Update from Scott Merkin's Sox.Com Mailbag column.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 07:13 PM) Some of these predictions are crazy. My plan is better.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 05:33 PM) And plain and simple.. he just don't listen!! You hit it on the head. For better or worse, this is Ozzie's team and if he don't like you, you will be gone. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Jan 24, 2005 -> 03:16 PM) There seems to be an inordinate amount of people hear sipping the kool-aid and ready to place this guy in Cooperstown tomorrow. I was wondering what you thought his production would be next season... .avg/.obp/.slg HR RBI Translations go both ways. What do you think Willie would hit in Japan? Could he be as good as the great Greg LaRocca at .328? The immortal Alex Ramirez who hit .305? I was shocked by the thread that said the Sox didn't scout him with their own people, I'm sure the central bureau put a watch on him but most of us -except Shingo, will get our first look at him in Arizona. No predictions until I see him. I'm gonna skip the Kool-Aid and stick with the beer until at least mid-March.

Iguchi Coochie Coochie Coo

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2005 -> 10:27 AM) Considering he just canceled another workout, I am going to have to say BS. Maybe they'll use him to keep Williamson company.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jan 23, 2005 -> 10:34 AM) And if you think the Twins will never trade Torii Hunter, consider this: Hunter will earn $8 million in 2005 which is approximately 15% of the Twins' payroll and $10.75 million in 2006 which will be approximately 25% of the Twins' payroll. They just can't afford to keep Hunter, especially when they have Ford, Restovich, and Kubel earning nothing. Lew Ford can play CF. The Twins aren't going to pay Hunter $10.75 million in 2006. Not a chance in hell. Scratch Kubel.

I can never remember a player being blown up so high on this board with nothing to back it up. Folks are extrapolating power and hitting numbers based on what a true star player, Matsui, did in that league. This is like saying everyone who hit .300 in A ball will hit in the bigs because Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Lee did. I think this is nuts. What do we know about Iguchi? 1. Ray King says he can't hit a fast ball. 2. The Red Sox worked him out but decided to sign Mark Bellhorn at 2.7 million instead. 3. The Yankee's , who have the history of identifying and signing a star player from Japan, passed him over to sign 34 year old Tony Womack at 2.0 million. 4. The Cardinals were rumored to be looking at him but opted for Mark Grudzielanek at 1.0 million. I've never seen this guy play. But people who make their living evaluating talent, and have seen him, didn't sign him. That speaks much more to me than anything I have read on this board.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jan 21, 2005 -> 07:37 PM) I did and everything i try to use as my avatar gives me a warning like this. IPB WARNING [2] stat failed for /home/www/soxtalk/forums/uploads/av-1504.jpg (errno=2 - No such file or directory) (Line: 1100 of /sources/lib/usercp_functions.php) Thanks More seriously, make sure it complies with the size limits, etc. Many programers don't write proper error messages.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jan 21, 2005 -> 07:37 PM) I did and everything i try to use as my avatar gives me a warning like this. IPB WARNING [2] stat failed for /home/www/soxtalk/forums/uploads/av-1504.jpg (errno=2 - No such file or directory) (Line: 1100 of /sources/lib/usercp_functions.php) Thanks I think your screwed, dude.

From JapaneseBaseball.com forums Don't think I saw this posted. I usually don't quote message boards but this includes a quote from a newspaper.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Jan 20, 2005 -> 10:11 PM) I forgot about TangoTigers scouting report by the fans, for the fans -- http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/scoutResults2004.html -- But it further enforces my belief that Rowand should be in Center. Here's how the two ranked. Player Age GP Overall Position-Neutral Instincts FirstStep Speed Hands Release Strength Accuracy Ballots Agreement Level Rowand, Aaron 27 122 70 71 74 71 66 67 69 67 17 0.79 Podsednik, Scott 28 151 44 31 53 83 35 36 22 39 11 0.46 Rowand is in the top 20% in every defensive category. The agreement level is very low for Podsednik, but across the board his numbers are worse than rowands. The low agreement means that some people rate him very high, while others rate him low (see Jeter/Valentin) Very cool. As you point out, that low agreement indicates some fans just hate him. I, myself, have a personal bias toward speed in center -I used to campaign to put Willie out there full time- which predisposes me to favor Scott. But I must admit I have not seen nearly enough of him to back up my argument with anything more than Baseball-Reference stats. To get the CF job, all he's got to do is play better than Aaron Rowand, so he'll have to do pretty good to pull it off.

But Boros said it was just minor tear, like a golfer gets! What a fraud, foisting damaged goods for millions of dollars. That guys going to end up in jail some day.

Back to my point, Uribe is just as big of an if and there isn't a backup plan I can discern.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2004 @ Jan 19, 2005 -> 06:06 PM) That and Mr. Crede. Yeah, Joe hit his way to the bench for a while too.

Everyone is so worried about Willie that Juan Uribe is getting a free pass. Don't forget he went into such a slump last year, hitting .123 in July, that he had to be benched. I think Uribe is easily as big of a risk as Willie. If Juan goes south again for an extended period who are they going to play at SS? The current answer is Wilson Valdez or maybe the minor leaguer they signed today, Ozuna. Is Kelly Dransfeldt still with the team? He wasn't in the Sox ST article but they didn't list all the invites. Both middle infield positions are big ifs, and the guys behind them are even bigger ifs, this could be the Achilles heel of this team.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jan 18, 2005 -> 09:23 PM) Do other people besides me consider contreras our fifth starter? With the projected improvement in the bullpen I hear they want to reduce the number of innings from the starters, holding even MB down to about 200 (he threw 245 in '04). So they are aware of burning guys out, and everyone will get a shorter rope this year. They also said they will try to get match ups, instead of just trotting the guys out there in a preset system. To me, this means holding El Duke back sometimes to save him for bigger games. So, what ever order they open the season with I predict the innings will still shake out about like this, barring an big injury: Buehrle Garcia Garland Contreras Hernandez

QUOTE(Beastly @ Jan 17, 2005 -> 05:47 PM) It was in an older thread...but basically they were talking about what the White Sox organization was doing for the communities on the holidays. There was a kid who has an illness and had his Frank Thomas picture burned in a house fire. A good deed, my friend. I started that thread and at the time, kind'a thought your offer might have been grandstanding but you really came through. The world is a better place because of you. I thought about donating my Magglio Ordonez autographed Sox hat but was afraid the kid would torch it and burn the new house down.

QUOTE(Leonard Zelig @ Jan 17, 2005 -> 06:57 PM) :fthecubs A succinct and eloquent response.

QUOTE(Tannerfan @ Jan 17, 2005 -> 06:36 PM) In this day and age an angioplasty procedure is not that big of a deal, he'll be fine From what I gather from friends who have had it, if it were serious they would have went right to the bypass surgery. Once you're down they don't even wake you up, you don't find out about it until the next day when you wake up and ask for the number of the truck that hit you. So, it sounds like JR will be back and active pretty fast. I'll bash him over baseball, but his charity work won me over and I wish him a speedy and full recovery. -- so I can bash him about baseball again.

Here is the press release. MLB.Com

I know Oz has mentioned Rowand as the CF but we'll have to watch in spring training, things have a habit of changing. Based on last year's numbers, as nice as Aaron played, I have to give Pods the edge. Year Ag Tm Lg Pos G PO A E DP FP lgFP RFg lgRFg RF9 lgRF9 GS Inn Pods 2004 28 MIL NL CF 153 392 5 4 2 .990 .987 2.59 2.26 2.63 2.53 152 1361.0 Rowand 2004 26 CHW AL CF 126 290 8 6 1 .980 .988 2.37 2.35 2.63 2.64 114 1018.7 Pods equaled Rowand's range per 9 innings, despite playing in the National League. Everybodys range numbers are lower in the NL because of all the extra strike outs from the pitchers hitting. He also has an edge in fielding percentage. I've heard the grumble's from Milwaukee about Pods over running or misreading balls (wait until they see Carlos!), but he sure got to alot of them. This is a nice problem to have for a change. Until we see a couple weeks of games I have to vote for Pods in the middle.

QUOTE(Chisoxmatt @ Jan 16, 2005 -> 02:57 PM) Pods Rowand Dye konerko Everett Pierzynski uribe Crede Harris Ozzie's lineup isnt final and I figure pierzynski will bat 6th. Who backs up 2b, SS, 3b? Sorry ChisSoxmatt, meant to quote and ask Soxfan1

I think it was Melton talking about it on the radio yesterday. If I understood him right, Joe's old timing mechanism makes him turn his right foot toward the pitcher, putting him out of position and lengthening his swing. Have to watch him real close in ST and see if we can pick up what they are doing with him. Hasn't Greg Walker been a big plus? It will be fun to see if he does anything with Podsednik.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Jan 15, 2005 -> 03:02 PM) I think we have to look in the mirror. Frank Thomas is a national afterthought because he is underappreciated by Sox fans in general. He can be a bit of a kuncklehead when he opens his mouth, but he's not a bad guy and he's been a HOF hitter for us. I'd like to see more #35 jerseys around town. I think that people turfed Frank in favor of Magglio and it was a bit disrespectful to the Big Hurt. I'd like for 2005 to be the year of reembracing the big man. There is certainly truth in what you say. I did think it turned around some last year, the fans treated him much better. Of couse it helped he was hitting.