DBAHO

Here's a question. Does anyone think that Minny's defense has the potential to be better than Chicago's defense this season? I mean they trade for Jared Allen in the off-season, who's argubly the best pass rusher in the NFL. They've got a great front 4 with Kevin and Pat Williams, and the secondary's pretty good as well with Winfield in there. As a Cowboys fan, they're the team I'm most worried about this season. Jackson should be better with the addition of Berrian as well. Don't forget that the Vikings have had terrible WR's ever since Randy Moss left.

Right now I think if the Sox were able to "dump" Contreras, and then find a third baseman to replace Crede who would; 1 - Give you better defense than what Joe has given this season. 2 - Get on base more than either Crede or Fields Then they would look to move Fields for a young starting pitcher in the Danks mould who could become that 5th starter in the rotation. Of course that's very unlikely to happen, but I think with the Sox moving more towards finding hitters who are able to get on base more than the "all or nothing" approach, Fields may not be a fit for this team in the long - term both offensively and defensively (if he can't improve there either).

Ended up having Deep Dish Pizza at Lou's yesterday. It looked small when we had it (only got the individual pizza), but it really filled you up. The sauce was really good, and I'll definitely go back there again.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 20, 2008 -> 08:30 PM) Anybody who knows baseball knows he's a great defender, and his D this year has been a fluke. How can you know that for certain?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 18, 2008 -> 02:54 PM) The bottom line is booing Konerko would be a classless act. If you have no class, and must boo, by all means boo. Its just a shame that all White Sox fans, at least nationally will be lumped in with the drunken knuckleheads that wouldn't say squat to Paulie's face. Yeah pretty much that. And yeah, Konerko's had a horrible season. But it's not like the team as a whole has sucked because of Konerko's bad numbers. If he keeps producing the way he has though, it wouldn't surprise me to see him booed, but I think he'll turn it around, his BABIP is down in the .230's, and it's not going to stay that low forever.

It's all about hanging with the Peloton for those guys. More often than not, those mountain climbers can make up so much time on the Pyroneise, but during the time trials / normal races they're just not very good.

QUOTE (almagest @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 11:21 PM) On topic, I'm not really worried about Crede, except for if he can reach type B or A free agent status to bring us back some prospects when he leaves. If he and Cabrera both were type A's and left, we'd get 4 compensation picks. And with the way we drafted this season (probably our best draft in years), I'd be excited to see what we could do with that.

Menchov is the main danger I think. I still like Cadel's chances though. So long as he's close when the final time - trial comes around, I think he'll win.

Hawks play the Rangers at MSG 1st game of the season. I'm going to have to try and get tickets for that, but it'll be hard I would imagine.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 02:44 PM) Love the Move. Very happy with the draft/off season. I just wish we would have signed 1 more Guard. Are you happy with how the Bears have dealt with the QB/WR situation?

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 02:42 PM) Hasn't Bush been thowing out the 1st pitch for the Nats the last couple seasons? Yeah I think so. I know he definitely did this season with the new stadium opening up and everything. I wonder if they'll get the new president to do it next season? But yeah, let's hope none of this goes to John's head or anything and he keeps pitching the way he has. We need him to, with others in the rotation faltering leading up to the ASB.

He can do better than that.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 12:28 PM) It's not like Cabrera has been bad this year. He'd be better than Freddy or Lance and would certainly be better than JC imo as well. Yes, he's a bit of a project to get him to reach his potential but he still should be able to be a decent mid - bottom of the rotation starter for us right away. All depends on the cost though. My guess is it would be fairly steep. MacPhail got a good package for Bedard, and obviously it won't be on that level, but it'll still be a decent one.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 12:22 PM) Since April, Broadway has been horrible. If he's an option, the White Sox will be in trouble. Well go for Egbert then. Broadway's a guy who's a bit hit and miss though (who honestly expected him to dominate in his 1 start up last season, even though it was only 1 start). Still if JC turns it around, this discussion will all be moot.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 11:23 AM) Well, I think these trade rumors were BS. LA has no reason to move Kopitar... Maybe if you offered something like Khabibulin, Barker, 1st rounder, and Skille you'd have something though... but I think Barker's just going to be a late bloomer and could be very important to the team. Seems to me as if Dean Lombardi has an obsession with good young defenseman (he's taken 2 with 2 top 5 picks in the last 2 drafts (that's a lot of 2's)). Hence why he's being linked with Mesjaros I guess. Barker could end up being very good, but Kopitar's flat out a stud right now and could be a 100 point player if he had the right linemates around him. I think with the team wanting to win now, this is why they want to make the move if they can. Players such as Skille are going to be 3-4 years away most likely from being good consistent NHL players, and while their currency is still fairly high, if DT can move them for a young stud who can produce now, I'd go down that route.

My decision would be to turn it over to Richar. I just get the feeling with Getz, he may end up being nothing more than an "Aaron Miles" type of player, or even a poor man's David Eckstein who plays at 2B. To me, he'll be a fine utlity man for this team in years to come, and he'll take over the Ozuna / Uribe role from next season, but that Richar has the potential to produce 15-20HR's and get to around an .800 OPS if he was given the opportunity. That maybe way too optimistic of me, but I'd like to see him be given the chance to do so.

Wouldn't it be worth just offering Khabibulin and say Barker for Kopitar and not getting Ottawa involved (and offer picks and prospects if you have to get a deal done)? Having a 1-2 punch of Toews and Kopitar would be Crosby and Malkin like. The only issue would be how would you re-sign all 3 once they hit RFA I guess.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 17, 2008 -> 12:11 PM) Are we willing to finish behind the Twins this year so that we might be able to develop someone like Cabrera for next year? That's why I'd rather a stopgap e.g Garcia if he's healthy, or a Broadway given a chance first. If you were going to target DC, do it in the off-season.

Maybe he can be the new treasurer to fix the economy then right George?

I would have agreed with going after Cabrera a season or 2 ago. He's just been so incosistent, it just makes you think it doesn't matter where he is, he's never going to become that dominant starter that he should be with that stuff of his. Still Cooper has turned around many pitchers before, and ones who have good velocity but control issues e.g Matt Thornton.

Just on Getz vs. Richar, if there was an opening at 2nd base next season, who would you rather start b/w these 2?

I remember when she was a blonde back in the day 101. Good times, good times.

Shame for Schnur, been following him quite a bit over the past 3-4 seasons. Hopefully he catches on somewhere and starts to hit. Didn't someone say he was a better prospect than Josh Fields back in the day?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 16, 2008 -> 04:23 PM) There aren't a ton of hostels to choose from in Chicago...unless I'm mistaken. Yeah I'm being cheap, so I tried to find somewhere close to the loop / downtown area because I figured that would be close to most things.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 16, 2008 -> 02:21 PM) It just seems unrealistic and not plausible at all. My guess is we give up at least the 2nd round pick we got from Calgary for Bourque. Got to be draft picks involved.