29andPoplar

Excluding me I guess. I was down there, Erstad had to prove he could play CF and hit somewhat decent, which he did. If Erstad fell flat on his face in Tucson, he wouldn't have been gived the job. I posted in the catch all thread at length so I won't go into it again here.

If I were him I'd be frustrated too. As for Brian doing what it takes to better himself ... that's always been debateable to say the least. Throwing a pity party upon being sent to Charlotte is just one example.

It cuts both ways. How bad are Anderson's wrists. Young, maybe. History of good health? No. If Erstad is back (big if and we should find out soon), he will have to accept a reserve role, period. They will not go down that path again, no matter how many fans think Guillen will start him just because he likes Erstad. Also, maybe the Sox management types are a bit different, but they do care how hard a guy works. Anderson's head isn't always on baseball when it's supposed to be. He's been talked to numerous times. Which is why I agree with you on the point about not caring much about Anderson at this point, because he doesn't seem to care enough about being his best.

I hope he gets it, for two reasons. One, I 'd like to see how he manages, hopefully he'd do well and help the Pirates do better in the NL Central. Two, I would love to see a veteran old school bench coach, i.e. a guy with managerial experience.

CWS, This issue seems to be a hot button on this site, there are 2-3 posters who seem to have really strong feelings about how Anderson was screwed last spring. While spring training stats, standing alone, don't mean a whole lot, Anderson had better stats, although in less at bats. Erstad: 80 AB's. .300 average. 4 BB, 14 K's, .329 OBP, 2 stolen bases, 1 caught stealing. Anderson: 52 AB's. .308 average. 8 BB, 8 K's. .393 OBP, 2 stolen bases, 2 caught stealing. It all depends how "performance" is defined, especially in spring training. Anderson fans (Erstad haters?) don't want to hear it, but working hard, watching film, staying late, getting in early, helping teammates, demeanor, professionalism, and other intangibles are factored in. I was there and heard/saw a lot. Not that what I heard/saw means much. But let's just say Erstad > Anderson in those areas. And it is my opinion, actually strong opinion, that Brian has a habit of digging his own holes. To be frank, the real problem was Sox management relying on either Darin Erstad or Brian Anderson as CF. They badly needed a better combination of talent and intangibles, and they still need it now. I do agree that Erstad had the advantage coming into camp, primarily due to the deep frustration level the management team had with Anderson. If Erstad had totally fallen on his face he wouldn't have gotten the job in CF, at least to start the season. He didn't though, his stats were reasonably close to Anderson's and all the other stuff which can be summed up in two words (work ethic) was exemplary. Some on this site will dismiss all this as nonsense and fluff, that is ok by me, so be it.

I doubt they'd just eat the contract. While I tend to agree he should've had the surgery, the doctors felt he could rehab it to 100%. Not a surprise he was so ineffective, highly doubtful that short of a rehab period did the job. Hopefully the rehab process is now complete or it will be by March. He's a decent player but they can't have a catcher who can't throw again, nor have another horrible year at the plate. By the way thanks for the advice in the How To section on my link question. On Brian Anderson, frankly nothing he does or says surprises me. His says no one in Sox mgmt. communicates with him, the agent counters it by saying they contacted him (agent). Anderson also admits to throwing a pity party when he got sent down to Charlotte. He seems to have a tendancy to do dumb things. If I were the White Sox, I would tell him: Hey Brian if you don't feel healthy enough to play winter ball, then don't. Come to camp ready to go. We are signing another CF but we aren't just giving you away, not now anyways. You will be playing to get noticed by other teams. We suggest you shut up and work hard. You will be starting in Charlotte, barring injury. When we get approached by another team with a decent deal, we will give you a fresh start. OK Brian, now repeat this back to us so we know you comprehend. P.S. - regardless of whose fault it is, your trade value is bupkis right now. Get your trade value up so you can get a fresh start, have a decent career, and make lots of money so you can attract lots of honeys. See you the end of Feb.

This is yet another blow to baseball in Tucson. Anyways in answer to your question, the answer is zero, because the White Sox will be having spring training in Glendale sooner than later, and also because the Sox like most of their farm teams clustered together to facilitate evaluation and player movement, if necessary. The obvious "sore thumb" as it were is Great Falls but all the others are short driving distance from one another.

Possibly, but I would state those two minor leaguers the Tigers gave up are as good as or better than any prospects the White Sox have. Also I have my doubts the Dodgers are looking at White Sox prospects, they have a lot of their own and IMO would likely want "win now" talent, if they decide to trade Furcal who had a down year. Tons of pressure to win out there, and Grady Little is apparantly on thin ice.

Looks like an $11M option after 2008 season. Red Sox are paying part of his salary and would be responsibly for paying the $3M buyout should the Tigers walk away from Renteria after '08. Very favorable financial situation for the Tigers.

The Braves site says Renteria is due to become a free agent after this coming season (2008). If that is true, Detroit is giving up two talented young players for a rental. The CF prospect is extremely highly regarded. What this speaks to, as much as anything, is the Tigers drafting. They take CF prospects just about every year, just as the Phillies do. Speedy 4/5 tool CF prospects can net just about anything you want in trade. They still have Maybin so this kid was a tradeable asset. Not to be a downer but meanwhile the White Sox sit with Brian Anderson, who might fetch a middle relief prospect at best. All we can do is hope the new scouting direction will give the White Sox more results. It also speaks to Atlanta's scouting and development because I believe they've got someone ready to step in.

Not a shock he opted out as Boras is all about getting his players to free agency. Hank Steinbrenner emphatically states it's a goodbye, the Yankees are out. Boras will now do what Boras does best, he'll play one team vs. the other, drag this out for a while. Now the speculation begins. Arguably every team could use ARod but only a few will fit, both financially and in terms of competitiveness and market. Mets are an option but quite possibly Rodriguez and his wife want out of NY (although I believe $$$ will make this decision in the end). Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Cubs also come to mind and I agree with the poster who mentioned Giants. My guess is Dodgers or Angels, the whole LA marketing aura fits with Boras' M.O. and both teams have a pressing need for a big bat. I don't see it with the Cubs due to ownership issues but then again it won't be the Tribune Co. footing the tab. Pinella is a selling point but he has two more years and then he may very well retire. But I would not count the Cubs out of this, they have shown they'll spend and spend a lot. The White Sox will inquire but IMO will be used as pawns, at best. I got a huge kick out of the "reasons" Boras listed though. ARod doesn't know who the closer will be, doesn't know about an ace pitcher, doesn't know about the catcher blah blah blah. The opt out clause was there for a reason, to get ARod to free agency once again.

I was shocked. Ebay charity auction, hello???

Hello, thought maybe one of you young people could help me. How do I do a contextual link? For example let's suppose there's a story on the White Sox website and the link is something like: http://whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?y...sp&c_id=cws and the story is about the Sox hiring two new coaches. I notice some of you will display the link and re-title it (which I call a contextual link), for example when you display the link it shows up as: Sox hire two new coaches Can someone tell me how to do it, thank you!

LaRussa's law degree is from Florida State per Vance Law, and I agree Rick Hahn would have little to do with players (free agents or free agents to be) wanting to come here or stay here. Players generally get a feel for that stuff from other players and knowing what the manager is like. Hahn is the primary guy who takes that level of interest and puts wheels to it, i.e. by developing a contract, negotiating, "selling" the city and franchise if it needs to be done. That's the aspect of recruiting I'm touching upon. In a good front office, several guys are trained and able to do that sort of thing. Guillen does a lot of recruiting too, mostly by the seat of his pants. I did not mean to diminish Williams' or Guillen's role in the organization as it pertains to recruiting, retention, negotiations/contracts in KW's case ... just pointing out what Hahn does in response to questions in this thread, and also stating that in my opinion he is very valuable to the White Sox front office and will be big shoes to fill if he leaves. Also, as an update of sorts to this Hahn/Cardinals thing, a blog I like to read about the Cardinals, Viva El Birdos, seems to think their new GM will be the Cleveland guy, Chris Antonetti. They are basing it on the timing and some things LaRussa said when he re-upped.

True enough. I didn't mention him though because all he could do is not report, forfeit whatever money is left on the contract, and retire. Unless there's a no trade clause in his deal, in which case it wouldn't happen anyways. Either way there would have to be lots of "bygones are bygones" statements.

He did a great job on the Baseball Tonight shows during the playoffs, maybe that'll be a new career for him. Besides maintaining the .300 career average, the only other major statistical goal is 3000 hits and I would say he's every bit of 4 healthy and productive seasons away, so I don't see it. He's at 2409 now. I also don't see a return to the White Sox as an active player, whether they are in contention or not. Agreed it would be nice though. The only possible scenario might be, Thome goes down with a season ending injury and the Sox are in contention, it's near the trade deadline, Frank is healthy and productive, and Toronto is out of the division and the wild card. Oh, and Kenny Williams contracts a bad case of amnesia. Maybe Ozzie Guillen too.

What a great hitter he has been. I believe his contract expires after this year and although he's talked about playing a few more years, I wonder if 2008 will be it for him. And I would agree he knows exactly where he stands in relation to those numbers. And just a guess on my part, the .300 career average is extremely important to him. Not a criticism but he has always been in tune with his numbers.

Well, they have all taken the blame for the disaster which was 2007, every one of them, from Reinsdorf on down, including Hahn. Actually the farm system does fall under his umbrella. Quoted from his bio on the White Sox site: "Hahn’s primary responsibilities include assisting Senior Vice President/General Manager Ken Williams with all player acquisitions, evaluations and contract negotiations, as well as with overseeing all elements of the club’s baseball operations, including the scouting and player development departments. Williams credits Hahn with negotiating multiyear contracts with several current White Sox players, including 2006 All-Stars Mark Buehrle, Jose Contreras, Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski." What is fair to note though is he was promoted to Vice President and Asst. GM from just the Asst. GM title before the 2007 season. I'm not certain but I believe the oversee responsibility of the scouting and player development departments were added last winter. If my memory is correct, he's only had that responsibility for one year. I do know he's been a strong voice to make changes to scouting and player development, many of which are being implemented now, plus we all know about Duane Shaffer and some other changes. So, not to quibble at all, but because he's been a big part of what's going on down there, he does IMO get his share of the blame. I do agree though, he has done a fantastic job on the contract side and if he is in fact a motivating force behind changes in scouting/player development, more power to him. Not to mention, his Harvard Law degree and other things on his resume are extremely impressive. Anyone who I've talked to that's met Rick is very impressed. I have been lucky enough to meet him several times and in addition to being impressive (what he knows and how he expresses himself), he is a genuinely nice guy, for what that's worth. I can see why other teams would be interested.

Not sure where this is coming from, certainly not from Williams himself. He beats himself up a lot more than any fans might. As for Danks, any scouting report I remember reading said #2 starter tops. He is young with room to grow as a pitcher, he showed some mound smarts. As you said though, running out of gas when he did is a huge concern. Yes, he will likely get stronger and more durable as he adapts to the major leagues. I share your concern about penciling him in for 175 effective innings. His mechanics, particularly the follow through, were inconsistent, which cause him to leave an inordinate amount of pitches up in the zone. I don't have the stats but I remember a bunch of HR's when he pitched. Like most young pitchers, he needs a better level of consistency and confidence. There were too many deep counts, again from memory. He is a hard worker so there's no concern about that. He wants to be better and he will compete. The White Sox badly need one of these young guys to develop into a consistent starter. Maybe more than one. Otherwise they've got more problems than they already have. It will be interesting to see what they do with Nick Masset, I feel he has proven he's not a reliever.

Do you think he'll be a CF because they are badly lacking in CF prospects in the system, or are you thinking/hearing he's not that good at 2B? From what I heard (which was very little), they like his athleticism and his bat. I know they had him in CF a fair amount this year but I didn't get much of a read on how it turned out. The batting surge in the 2nd half is a good sign though.

It's hard to say. They still have time to put him on the 40 man, the rule 5 is still several weeks away. So it's not cut and dried they won't put him on. Also, it's tough to make the evaluation in a bubble so to speak, maybe they have their eyes on a similar player or two they're sure they can acquire. The obvious solution to me is this, put him on the 40 because it appears he's coming into his own and the White Sox need as many high energy players as they can get. He most certainly looks like a better option than Andy Gonzalez, I see zero reason why he should be on the 40. Plus there's several other marginal guys on the 40 so there's no reason they wouldn't have room, at this time anyway. Maybe I am jumping the gun on this but the comment from the Sox mailbag made it seem like maybe they'd retain him and maybe they wouldn't.

The White Sox mailbag speculated they'd try to keep Bourgeois in the organization and perhaps offer him a minor league invite to camp. I don't see why they just don't put him on the 40 man, it seems stupid to me. Maybe there's something I'm not seeing but he looks like a sparkplug type to me and he can play multiple positions.

It's a fair question. There are many things actually. First of all he is the primary contract guy. I remember people on this site who were 100% positive Buehrle wasn't going to re-sign with the White Sox. Some bullwinkle even said it was a shame, Buehrle would win 280 games in his career and most of them would be in another uniform. Thank Rick Hahn in large part for getting it done. All of these contracts, especially the ones where they buy guys out of a couple years of free agency, that's Rick Hahn for the most part. He is also the labor relations expert for the team, a very critical role. Further and not a lot of people are aware of this, but Rick does a great deal of the initial trade negotiations. Williams can't be everywhere and Hahn does a ton of networking and discussing personnel with other GM's and his counterparts. He is extremely respected in baseball circles and that alone is enough reason to like him and think highly of him. He is a large part of getting personnel moves to happen. He is a big part of recruiting free agents, he helps a great deal with getting draft choices into the fold. Lastly, he has been a huge element of insisting the Sox look very hard at their minor league and scouting operations, and recommending changes and a plan of action. Regier and Laumann and also I believe Wilder report directly to Rick, freeing up Williams to focus on working with Guillen and the coaching staff. Bottom line, Hahn has a great deal more responsibility than most Asst. GM's and it's because he has the complete trust of both Williams and Reinsdorf. It is also a credit to both Williams and Reinsdorf that they have prepared Hahn for a greater role, not only has it been beneficial to the White Sox these last few years but it also good for Hahn's career, and that's what the White Sox like to do, they like to further develop their upcoming executive talent. If Hahn ends up in St. Louis I would expect Wilder and Regier to have greater roles, assuming Regier doesn't end up working for MacPhail in Baltimore. So hopefully that answers some questions about Hahn.

Rozner is bitter about lots of things. He is right in that the Hawks have been badly mismanaged, but he is bitter some of his best sources have been squeezed out. As a result, he gets most of his info 3rd hand, but he still has connects down there because he knows lots of people on the rat hockey circuit. He's bitter about Yawney, he's bitter about Billy Gardner, he flip flopped on Pulford a dozen times, he crossed a line with Mike Smith and got personal, he's bitter about Tallon after flip flopping on him too.

Yes. You will note I mentioned Boston pitchers execution, and several aspects of Boston's hitting. One of the big reasons why Ortiz and Ramirez are so good is they're selective and generally make pitchers work.