TLAK

Yeah, but nobody offered 1.25 Mil. What the heck, everybody (including me) was wrong on Loiza last year. It will be a fun story to watch as it unfolds.

Here is a link to info on the trial: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/f...x/blacksox.html This should give you some good background, and being public record is much more factual that all the 8 men out type movies and novels. As to the effect on Modern Baseball, well that's your job. However, many feel it was the establishment of the Commissioner's Office, and there could be a good paper in how the best interests of the game were viewed by Judge Landis as compared to Bud Selig. Ha!

Heres a grain of salt to go with the spring reports. Zero was a free agent who could sign with any team. He signed for $750,000 in 2004, with a club option for $2.5 million in '05 or a club buyout of $250,000. A 1 Mil deal. Even the Brewers could have done that but choose not to. Were the other 29 MLB scouting departments all wrong? We'll all find out together watching the games. I lo-o-ove baseball.

My Dad told me about the time Dizzy Trout (Steve's father) visited in Sherman Park. The local boy's tried to hit against him and Dad says it was impossible. One ball would drop a foot, another move sideways, the next one rise but they all looked the same leaving his hand. This was around the WWII years. I don't know if they called these different pitches by different names back then, but the old timers could make a ball dance as well as anybody.

There is a separate thread going on this but it also pertains to this one. From the Sox site on MLB.Com "New addition: Frank Campos was added to the White Sox roster as a non-roster invitee, bringing the total in camp to 54 and the total of pitchers to 30. Campos was acquired from Milwaukee in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft during the Winter Meetings in New Orleans. "The 31-year-old, who pitched nine seasons with Triple-A Campeche in the Mexican League, dominated during this past winter ball season in the Mexican Pacific League. Campos topped all hurlers with 10 victories, 68 strikeouts and a 2.19 ERA in 90 innings for Mazatlan."

I got negative optimism. I predict the Grubs will lose 90 games. Hell, they might even lose more!

Josh Stewart. Had pretty good numbers before he got hit by a liner by the O's. Tried his next start against the M's and got splattered, then he went on the DL. I thought the kid showed some promise last year, if he's healthy he could help.

God bless her. White Sox christmas tree lights? Little baseballs with Sox logos that light up? Where do I find them, where do I find them, I don't care what they cost! Add them to the SoxTalk swag page and you won't have to worry about paying for the server anymore.

You didn't mention the 77 K's in 329 ABs. Or that by month he hit .300, .333, .269, .235 (6 Games). I wouldn't cast the plaque for Cooperstown yet.

I pulled the numbers and to my surpise they are a lot closer to each other than I thought. And remember Soriano was mostly used to lead off. When you take Soriano away and put A-Rod in you get a little bit better. Take Boone out and put Enrique Wilson in and you get a lot worse. Think the Jankees are done dealing?

If their pitching comes around and they think they can make a run on '05, don't discount the Tigers. They drew 2.4 million as recently as 2000 with a bad team in a new park, no small market. And they are owned by a fella named Mike Ilitch.

For the life of me I can't understand why people keep bashing Frank's fielding. Doesn't anybody watch the games? I'm not saying he is as good as John Olerud but he's adequate. Look at 2003: Player G POS RF FP Konerko 119 1B 9.30 .998 Thomas 27 1B 9.26 .995 Daubach 45 1B 8.60 .996 He does not throw well, he didn't in 1994 either, and they still gave him the MVP. God did not bless him with a fine arm, he doesn't make the 3-6-3 like Paulie, but he stretches nicely and digs out low throws and bad hops quite well. If I'm the Dodgers (or the White Sox) I would have no qualms about his D.

There should be a warning that wearing it for more than 4 hours may require medical attention.

The Jury (us) has been sworn. The opening statements have all been made. Soon we will see exhibits 1 through 162. That is unless the judge throws out the case in mid-trial.

Carlos has 57 GIDP's ranking him 42nd in the bigs, with just the raw numbers. But this is like a pitchers loses, or blown saves, you've got to be pretty darn good to get enough opportunities to lead these categories. This chart shows GIDP's per AB and per RBI for the 2000's. 1,000 or more AB. The guys are still up there but there are some other interesting names. CLee ranks #99 per AB and #158 per RBI.

Everyone knows he can hit. It's always been a question of whether you can afford to keep his glove in the field over the long grind. The Rocks look to be going all out offense (ala the '77 hit men), and much like the beloved Alan Bannister, Aaron will put offensive numbers up. Great for fantasy leagues. We'll all find out together how the team does. God bless him and I wish him great success.

KW: Maggs: Rex, KW made it sound like the Sox approached Magg's folks but were told to go away because we're testing the market. Entirely different spin from Maggs' story.

Isn't this a very different tune than the 'Magglio wants to test the free agent market' party line KW has been puttin out? Magglio's quoted that he thought his market value was near Vlad or Tejada's numbers, both of whom are getting LESS than Maggs is this year. Doesn't sound to me like he turned down any negotiations, or that his starting point is unreasonable. Is KW just a big liar?

Here is link to Shoeless Joe's signed and sworn deposition. Read the part where he says they paid him $5,000 then tell me again how he should not have been kicked out. He was not convicted because this and other sworn depositions mysteriously dissappeared and were never shown to the jury. The Black Sox Trial 1921 BTW welcome to the boards!

Think of the crying, the agony, the gnashing of teeth, the pages and pages of posts if Frank Thomas said something like this!

Is there something unsaid in this story, a guy goes the hospital because he got bit by a mosquito? ... and I know Olivo got sick and went to California. Is there some kind of epidemic going around the Islands that hasn't made the papers up here?

He developed inflamation in his right elbow during spring training. I'm pretty sure they just rested him, I don't remember any surgery. He missed the entire first month and didn't come off the DL until May 8, making his first start the next night. He never looked right to me the whole year, he couldn't (or just didn't have the confidence to) snap his breaking ball. So he would dance around the plate, get behind the hitters and have to come right down the middle late in the count. The hitters would tee off. With a full year between him and the injury, I hope he can return to form and throw all his pitches for strikes. He had plenty of stuff to be a very good major league pitcher.

Park Ribs is still going strong, I get a fix about once a month (when I need it bad baby). 65th & Narragansett? You must have grown up on Parissi's (spell?) on 63rd ... looks like a slum but its the best beef & burger drive in on the southwest side, they line up out the door at lunch time. I know a guy who drives in from Arlington Heights a couple times a year just to go there.

The press conference is still available through the archives at the Sox MLB.Com site. I just listened to it again, trying to be fair to Ozzie. The reporter never mentioned Frank, Ozzie just took off. The reporter was Les (Grobstien?) and the question was that the Sox were criticized for relying too much on the long ball, would he play more small ball, bunt etc? Ozzie gave a rambling 3 minute answer saying if a player doesn't do the job, he doesn't care who he is, even Frank, he would bunt him the next time up. Then he said don't give me good players, give me players what want to win. It doesn't look nearly as bad in print as it sounded, his voice was petulant and every other sentence was me, me, I, I. Not single good thing was said about any player. Really turned me off.

Twas I. I fired my former tavern the night the Grubs clinched and the barmaid wouldn't turn off the blabbering idiots on Sheffield and put the boys on one of the four TV's. That turned out to be the 15 run game in KC. So when I read your post I decided to give it a try. I liked it and am now a semi-regular. It's immaculate and attracts a good crowd. You said everyone there is a Sox fan so I pointed out to Bobby's wife that this is a lie because she is a die hard Yankee fan. I can't wait for baseball to start again, maybe I'll run into you at Bobby Gs.