TLAK

He also went on Mac, Jurko and Harry the other day.

Here is the data I used for the chart. The 2004 salaries are from Baseball-Reference. 2005 are from this thread. You can debate where I put some of the backup players but I don't think it affects the gist of the chart.

The White Sox payroll has risen about $5 million from a year ago, so far, but they have also radically changed its distribution among playing positions. Some change was inevitable with the Maggs situation but the total team make over is striking. Last year 1/3 of the budget went to pitching, this year it will be about half. KW and Ozzie promised changes this year and boy have they delivered. It remains to be seen if the team will be more successful, but I am personally excited because the Sox are returning to the brand of baseball I grew up with: pitching, speed and defense. For some reason I identified more with those teams than the ones in the big bopper era. Also, it seems that when most other teams change direction this radically they first tear the team down, sell off all the salaries, and lose 100 games a couple times before they come back. If this team really plays as well as the hype I've been sopping up with a spoon, I'll have to tip my hat to KW for pulling it off in a single off-season. I'll post a reply in a minute with the source of the data.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 6, 2005 -> 06:31 PM) Next question is who gest dumped from the 40. I'm going with Paulino Reynoso. Alex Escobar? Haven't seen his name in winter ball stats. He might be still hurt enough to get through.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 6, 2005 -> 05:32 PM) Nice, and the arb would be based on this new contract and not the previous one, meaning there is a good shot he'd be around another year if he produced. Arbitration is never pretty, last year he took the Giants to arb and won 3.5 million against a club offer of, I think, 2.25. I have a sense that might have contributed to them dumping him for Mathany. Arb always results in bad blood, and is one reason the Sox go to great efforts to avoid it.

Maggs hometown discount? Where's he going to sign, Caracus? The only discount I've ever seen in reality is West Coast players and then only if the money is even. What about RJ's home town discount? The whole story is a bunch of smelly manure.

If this signing goes through the Sox still have to come up with somebody who can backup shortstop... Unless Iguchi's shoulder magically healed.

I predict I will have a good time following the boys. At the park, on TV and on the radio on hot summer nights drinking cold beer on the patio. I'll take bets on it.

I forgot that AJ beat San Fran in arbitration. Lots of bad blood is always created at those hearings.

QUOTE(MurcieOne @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 06:11 PM) From what I heard from Harry Teinowitz last season during his show he said uribe had areally cut stomach..... I always thought Juan was a pretty muscular guy To the point I thought he might be roiding. All this talk about him being fat is just rumor, has anyone seen him? Is he playing Winter Ball? I did a cursory look and couldn't find him.

QUOTE(quickman @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 06:34 PM) I know what your saying but you will get one and Kelly Dransfedt. Dodgers, Tampa, Whitesox, and who did the cardinals pick up? Einar Diaz; talk about under the radar, I didn't remember it either. Diaz had some good years in Cleveland but has tailed off the last 2 years. From Rotoworld:

QUOTE(JimH @ Jan 3, 2005 -> 06:33 PM) Row, I thought about that and the numbers look awfully tough for 3 catchers, but it's a possibility. Assuming 11 pitchers, you've got 14 spots. 3B, SS, 2B, 1B, LF, CF, RF - that's 7 starters. Gload, Everett, Timo Perez, and a backup middle infielder. That's 11. Plus two catchers makes 13. One spot left ... Frank Thomas? If Thomas starts on the DL I can definitely see 3 catchers. If Thomas is healthy I can't see it. This sounds a little perverse, but, if the Sox break camp with catchers who can't hit then they have to carry 3. If they get even one that can hit, then they can go with two.

This has been a recurring knock on Harris but is it really so? Remember the 0'fer stat we talked about in the fall? The number of games where a player has more than 1 at bat but no hits or walks. Willie: 104 G 22 0'fers 21% Alex Cora: 122 G 36 0'fers 30% Miguel Cairo: 104 G 28 0'fers 27% I think Willie sticks in people's minds as inconsitant because he looks SO lost when has a poor match up. Oz held him out a lot when the match up was not favorable, this -I think- helped his numbers. But it also shows that used right, there is a lot of mileage to be gotten out of Harris. It remains a priority to get an IF on the roster who can handle the type of pitchers that Willie can't. The other hope is that Willie learns to bunt or walk on these guys and contribute on days he is overmatched.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 2, 2005 -> 10:06 PM) Plus when you think about it as having Crede in the 8 hole, its not what I'd truly consider a hole. When you get 20 hr's and 60 or so RBI's from the 8 spot nothing to complain about. Then Uribe in the 9 hole is just sick. You young people always confuse me. In this case is 'sick' good or bad?

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Jan 1, 2005 -> 03:10 PM) Or we could just blow it off the map. I'll pitch in for dynamite. OK but we'll have the test the TNT first. You hold it. Seriously, we need more that one year and one group of players to really see the impact of the new roof. At least let them finish the new seats.

MLB's coverage of the Mulder trade included this quote from Billy Beane, 12/18/04. Did something change?

It was second to the Red Sox last year. Second to the Marlins the year before. Second to Anaheim in '02 Second to ARZ in '01

OK, I'll play Take the Yank's who you seem in awe of: Johnson has no cartillage in his right knee and has to be shot up before every start. Jaret Wright is a year back from two shoulder surgeries. Kevin Brown, at age 39 has bigger issues than just punching walls. In his last 4 seasons he has started 20,17,32 and 22 games. Mike Mussina went down with a groin last year. His ERA climbed to 4.59, almost a full run over his career average. Carl Pavano was certainlly lights out last season posting a 3.00 NL era. Very impressive coming off two seasons of 5.16 and 4.30 (Can you say Esteban?) But the murderous Yanks do have the best closer in Rivera -oh, sorry he lost the pennant for his team two nights in a row! So to trot out some adages, every year is a new year, and past performance doesn't guarantee future performance. Will the Sox win? Have to watch the games to find out.

Cora is nice but doesn't bring much that they don't already get from Harris. Versus lefties Cora hit .239 in 46 AB, Harris hit .181 in 72. An improvement but the AB shows you what Jim Tracy thought about using Cora against lefties, he played 35 year old Jose Hernandez ahead of him quite often. Versus righties Cora hit .267 in 359 AB, Harris .279 in 357. Cora does bring a little more pop, hitting 10 HRs against 1 for Willie. I think Willie is better defensively, and has much better speed. On the whole Harris has a stronger upside, and will probably get more productive as he gains experience. At 29 with 7 years in the bigs I think we know Cora's ceiling. What the Sox really need is a infielder to play against lefties. Cora has limited experience on the left side of the infield and his numbers are poor. If ST opened today, Wilson Valdez is a much better fit for the team than Cora, he can take SS with Uribe can sliding over to 2nd on some days, and they don't lose any D. The guy we are really looking for is Tony Graffanino, but Tony's are few and far between.

Mariotti is an anagram for Mario Tit. Perhaps I have that backwards.

Sorry, urban legend. Snopes

If he does get canned by the Times too he can always go to the National Enquirer where they have a better appreciation of his brand of integrity. From his first day, this guy has never sought to enlighten his readers or become enlightened himself. He will say anything about anybody if it will get a rise, truth be damned. I got my fill and quit reading him in the paper years ago. Prior to his full time gig on the radio he had a Saturday morning all sports show that was actually pretty good. But when he got the daily slot he trotted out his controversy at all costs methods and just turned me off. I don't think I've listened to more than 10 minutes since his first week. My thought is, I have to spend some time on top of the toilet everyday whether I want to or not, but its up to me if I want to go into the toilet bowl itself with a turd like him, and I elected not to.

John Rooney's on the Score doing the Miami O - ISU game. He is a riot on football. "He's to the 40 the 35 the 30 the 25 and tackled!" at the top of his lungs, almost faster than the runner. I never heard him on football before, he's more fun than the game.

I hope the blue vermin go 0-35 in spring training too (counting the B games)

A good place for an uitlander to get a feel for the park is to visit the Day of Game Employee Photo Gallery at the bottom of this link. For all the glitzy scoreboards and computerized signage its actually a pretty laid back place. Sox MLB.Com Link