DBAHO

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 10:08 PM) Absolutely not. He's a terrible hitting coach and we should fire him yesteryear. Quentin was already as stud coming from Arizona. Alexei was already a Cuban pro...clearly similar talent than the MLB. Dye figured it out himself because he's a veteran. Oh, and Joe Crede's 1st full year was with Walker as a hitting coach. Crede figured it out on his own as well. Well Quentin had dominated in AAA, but injury problems hindered him obviously. Was he a stud at the end of last season? No, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten him so cheaply, but people who had followed him closely knew the potential for him was there to really produce in the right situation. Cuban Ball is not similar talent to the MLB. It's AA ball (AAA at best), so you have to give some credit to Walker for how Alexei has done in his 1st season. How many international hitters have come into the league and hit over .300 in their 1st season? Sounds as if you are just blaming Walker for everything, and not giving him any credit for when our hitters actually do produce because there's "other circumstances" for that.

Up at the end of the year I believe. Stupid move. At least he didn't give up J.R Towles (which I thought may actually happen here). But that franchise is just a mess. Worst farm system in baseball, and they'll be stuck in mediocrity for a long, long time it appears.

Konerko's got what $13M a season for 2 years left after his deal. And he'll only agree to get traded to a West Coast team I'd imagine. The Dodgers may be the best opportunity to dump him here. But you know that KW has tried to get make the core group of this team younger, so if there's a chance to get Kemp or LaRoche, I think he'll certainly look into it.

Don't the Sox have above average offensive numbers in the AL this season compared to other teams (well not in BA, but in OBP, RISP and HR's)?

Those poor Mongolians.

Kemp and LaRoche would be a nice package to go after. Fields + Konerko + Poreda maybe. The Dodgers could always move Loney back to a corner OF spot. The Dodgers do need power hitters in the worst way possible.

There really is something wrong with the rule if Crede ended up with say 25HR's and a .260 average, and didn't get type B compensation if he left as a FA. Anyways, let's hope he does get type A, but we'll wait and see.

I'd still let Crede and OC stay for the season and get the 4 draft picks. It allows us to keep contending, and then we can always plug in Fields / Getz / Richar if we want to next season, or target some players through a trade or FA such as Rafael Furcal, Adrian Beltre, Casey Blake etc. Right now I think the main concern should be a starter / reliever, and maybe upgrading on the bench somewhere.

QUOTE (The Critic @ Jul 22, 2008 -> 08:47 AM) You think so? For me, she gets the "Get Off My Television" heat usually reserved for useless bags of crap like Jeff Jarrett and Sean Waltman. Not that she'd make a good babyface, either. She's useless. Well I mean "best heel" in terms of how much booing and abuse she gets at every event. WWE haven't had that since I don't know to be honest. And I mean Edge has been a wonderful heel, but he doesn't get that kind of abuse (not since the whole Matt Hardy / Lita thing). And people were actually siding with Edge over the whole wedding / affair storyline apparently. Pretty funny stuff.

Yeah getting another arm for the pen should be a priority. And I know fathom, you've said that we don't need another LHP, but Thornton and Logan have not been great lately, and if they don't turn it around, maybe KW might try to beef up that area. But right now, getting another good arm in there should be KW's main aim. We've seen over the past couple of games what a bad bullpen can do to you, and we need to get that fixed.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 21, 2008 -> 03:27 PM) Cameron Maybin was also the main piece along side Andrew Miller in the acquisition of Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. They aren't looking to move him, let alone for a mediocre prospect in Josh Fields. C'mon Wite, Fields is not a "mediocre" prospect. How many prospects are there with his power potential in a corner infield spot?

Are they actually trying to turn Vickie babyface now? Terrible move. She's the best heel they've had in a long time.

They drafted his brother anyway with their 1st rounder (Oakland) didn't they?

Heath Bell would be a guy I would maybe look at, but his away splits are just brutal this season. Matt Capps could be another option, depending on what Huntington would ask for, maybe less than what Beane would charge for Street. I do agree that another quality righty in the pen would be an important addition. You can never have enough good arms in the pen, as we have seen lately.

Who's the 3B for the Marlins at the moment? Is it Cantu or McPherson. Because I'm just throwing out the scenario, if anyone would be interested in a Fields for Cameron Maybin trade (and the Sox could always throw in one of their fringe starter prospects to get a deal done).

Good opportunity for him to make an impression. There could be an opening in the rotation next season, and guys such as Richard, Egbert and Broadway could be fighting out for a spot. I would have actually liked to have seen Jack get a chance, but he'll be up in September anyways I would imagine.

That's certainly a lot of seafood. I never knew how big shrimp was until I came over here also FWIW. Seems like you can get it anywhere really.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 21, 2008 -> 01:01 PM) It would all depend on what was available for him. I think a lot of people are going to be pretty dissappointed if they think Fields is going to be a 40-50 home run guy. Well considering he hit what about 22-25HR's in 2/3'rds of his first major league season, and that he would hit in argubly the best ballpark for HR's in all of baseball, I can see why people would think as he progresses that he could certainly hit that. The thing is, can he cut down on the K's enough to raise that OBP?

So what third baseman are there out on the FA or trade market this off-season that could give you a better OBP and defense than what Josh Fields could offer you in 2009? Garrett Atkins? Casey Blake?

I like what Doug Melvin has done with the Brewers also. He's put them into a real good position to win this season, and they always draft well so they can reload on the fly. Excellent young group they have there obviously. The key is whether or not they can keep them all together.

Did you go down to Bourbon Street at all Jimbo? New Orleans is on the "To Do" list.

I'm hitting up Lombardi's on Friday Night. Never had I had this much good pizza in such a short period of time. Our pizza blows.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 21, 2008 -> 11:11 AM) Any time you put together an excellent defensive line, it has the ability to cover up many other flaws on your defense. Case in point: the Giants last year rode their D-Line through the playoffs to the title. This is some of the beauty of the NFL. Outside of probably 5 teams...everyone else can look at their roster and see reason to think that they could be a super bowl team. The Vikings could certainly put together one heck of a team this year, but so can the Bears. The Vikings at least have a stud RB though. It's hard to say the Bears have one above average playmaker on any spot on their offense. That defense is going to have to be 2006-2007 dominant if they want to make the playoffs again IMHO. But the overall competition in that division is a lot tougher now also.

I would have gone Beinfest if he was there, the Marlins do a great job with their scouting and drafting each and every year, and for that team to be contending after they traded their best power hitter is quite amazing. I would have said Josh Byrnes before the season, but he made a couple of bad decisions (trading Quentin and giving Byrnes that large 3 year extension) which has come back to hurt that team. He's still definitely a top 5 GM though IMHO. Andrew Friedman's another guy who would be up there, but with all of the early draft picks the Rays have had, they were bound to click eventually. Still done a very good job though. So I'll go with Epstein. Yes he has loads of $$$ to spend, and he's made some bad decisions (Julio Lufo 4 years $36M), but he keeps finding good players, and the Red Sox always do an excellent job at bringing in good young players that they draft and can give them excellent payroll flexibility.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 19, 2008 -> 08:33 PM) There really is only one gaping hole on the offensive line and that is at LG. Garza is a league average player who isn't as bad as some fans make him out to be. Williams is a question mark but only because he's a rookie. Dumping Fred Miller was addition by subtraction. And can you count on Williams as a rookie. Don't get me wrong, he was absolutely the right choice for the Bears at that spot, but can you rely on a rookie tackle to produce from the get go? There'll be a lot of pressure on him, especially considering he'll be protecting Orton or Grossman's blind side.