flavum

15 invited including Daniel Cabrera. Jared Mitchell Jordan Danks CJ Retherford Brent Morel Charlie Leesman Josh Phegley Waiting for complete list to be released.

Pirates sign DJ Carrasco.

If they're going to spend some extra money to get better, I'd like to see Johnny Damon join the team. I think he'd be a wise investment if they can talk him into a one year deal. Pierre and Damon batting 1-2 in either order, then Beckham and Quentin batting 3-4...that would be nice.

Cole Armstrong was dropped. http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/press...sp&c_id=cws

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 02:31 PM) I coulda swore I heard that Castro had signed with someone else already...guess not. I hope Castro can repeat his performance of last year and get the Sox another perfect game! The Blue Jays were thought to have signed him, and then it was denied and he was back out there.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 02:24 PM) I haven't gotten enough in the way of specific medical reports since last May, but Marquez was dealing with bone spurs when he was pitching last year. If it were me, I'd want to see if he could recover from that before cutting him loose. But then again, if it came down to Marquez vs. signing a DH, the choice is obvious. I think the chances of Marquez getting picked up on waivers is pretty low, so maybe they can get him by and outright him to Charlotte.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 02:21 PM) Cole Armstrong would be my guess. I definitely think Armstrong and Marquez are the two top candidates for a DFA.

QUOTE (scotty22hotty @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) Oh oh... Is Kenny working on trading Flowers now? No. He'll be in Charlotte. So who gets dumped from the 40-man? Marquez?

Tweets Ken Rosenthal. http://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/7680733527

Some of the stuff I've read in this thread have made me question the future of mankind.

Retherford story. Gotta root for the guy. http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=cws

I just watched the interview with Costas. He came off terrible. He said he used it to stay on the field. Doesn't think they helped him hit more homeruns. Blah blah blah. He called Pat Maris today and she was not happy, and he doesn't blame her for being upset. But yet he didn't think steroids helped him. Why do you feel bad, Mark?

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jan 9, 2010 -> 05:53 PM) Any chance Gordon wears #6 in 2010? He should, but it won't happen because Charley Lau was the last one to wear it, and Reinsdorf probably won't allow it. Plus there are probably a lot of people with #15 Beckham jerseys that don't want him to change now. If jersey sales were popular in 1990, Frank probably would have been 15 his whole career too.

If you don't want to recognize Gaylord Perry as a Hall of Famer, go right ahead. I'm almost in a agreement with you on that point. However, two wrongs don't make a right. And I don't look at the "Steroid Era" only in terms of the individuals that used them. It's a larger institutional problem. This is on MLB more than the users, but the users don't belong in the Hall, especially the ones that only made their mark by doing them.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 11, 2010 -> 02:44 PM) If he has good enough numbers, he should be in the hall, cheater or not. Until recently, baseball did not care about cheating. You have admitted cheaters in the HOF, what does it really matter. If Bonds doesnt make the hall, the HOF in my mind becomes irrelevant. The Hall of Fame is almost irrelevant because guys like Sosa, McGwire, Bonds, Palmeiro, (shall I go on?) made it irrelevant. You can make an argument that Clemens and Bonds had good enough careers before their PED use, but McGwire was able to get to 583 homers ONLY by juicing. He didn't even get to 2000 hits in his career. Next to not allowing non-whites into MLB, this is the saddest chapter in baseball history. If you don't see it, I can't help you.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 11, 2010 -> 02:38 PM) I'd say this admission just doubled his chances, or something like that. Sure. Doubling zero is still zero.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 11, 2010 -> 02:31 PM) What a douche bag. He better not ever make the HOF. Probably part of his admission. He knows it will never happen.

Bout time. http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=9533663

Greg Maddux has been hired to be an assistant to GM Jim Hendry. What that entails, I have no idea. Show up and talk pitching once in a while, I suppose.

Reds sign Chapman 5 years/$30 mil.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 11:54 AM) jesus, i just can't imagine that's worth it...by the time the dude gets up his contract will have one or two years, thenyou have to pay him a legit contract again?! I don't think cubano can claim the MLB hates the cubans after this deal, and how it f***s over strassbuerger or whatever haha. Actually, you just reminded me. He could be teammates with Strasburg. I think the Nationals were in on him too. They need to go to a worldwide draft, with slotting. I think that will be addressed in the next CBA.

MLB Trade Rumors has Chapman agreeing to a $30 million deal with an unknown National League team. I think the Reds were rumored at one point. http://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/7598662943

Broadcast schedule: http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/press...sp&c_id=cws

Scott Eyre...retired.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 6, 2010 -> 06:29 PM) Jay Mariotti came out publicly on Around the Horn and said he didn't vote for Alomar on the first ballot because "no one belongs on the first ballot" or some spewing bulls***, and I'm pretty sure he didn't vote for Blyleven because he said something like "if it's been this long then he obviously doesn't deserve it." I hope that man is sterilized. I'm not defending Mariotti, but on the Blyleven thing...it's interesting where he was in the voting early in his eligibility: 1998- 17.5% 1999- 14.1% 2000- 17.4% 2001- 23.5% It wasn't until his 5th year when he got over 25% of the votes. It's an obvious sign that the criteria to get in the Hall has loosened over the years. I think in this new era, you can just look at his 287 wins and 3700 K's and automatically say YES, but if you did a little deeper, you could say he falls just short of Hall status. They say it's the top 1% of players that get in the Hall. I think we're getting to the point where it's the top 1.5-2%, and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. We all know who are all-time greats even with the current guys in the Hall. If more players are recognized, I don't have a huge problem with that. I mean, we're coming off an era of baseball that just s*** all over the record book. The Hall of Fame is almost becoming irrelevant anyway.