DBAHO

Don't be majorly disheartened Willie. When I was applying for colleges / universities, I didn't get my 1st preference on the 1st list of entries. I would have had to go to Uni 1 hour east of Melbourne. Luckily, I applied for my 1st preference again, and when the 2nd list of acceptances came out 1 month before semester started that year, I was accepted. So hopefully, with the appeals process or whatever you have to go through, you get what you wanted.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Dec 15, 2007 -> 05:10 PM) I would think the next move for the D'Backs is signing Dotel. Makes too much sense. Now trade Kong to ARZ for Jackson and a young pitcher to slide into the back end of the rotation next season. Funny how Ed Wade could have just done that, but decided to give up some more prospects and Chris Burke for Valverde. The D-Backs are going to be hard to beat over the next 5 years. They have their main pieces locked up, a great young core, and now a fantastic 1-2 punch. And the NL West was argubly the worst division in baseball 2-3 years ago. Now you could argue it's the best.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 15, 2007 -> 03:56 PM) Oh boy, you didn't. We both had long hair at one point, that was it. I've never gone the dirty mustache rout. Well for the mustache you better get cracking then. But yes the Sox hate and logo are very popular fashion accesories. I've even seen people down here who wouldn't have the slightest clue about baseball wear them.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Dec 15, 2007 -> 04:02 PM) Probably because he rejected the extension... Which was really a dumb decision on his part, as Gilbert put it. He's a double - double player at best.

Depends on how Mohammed does. He was decent in New York, but hasn't been the same since. They obviously don't see Okafor as a C long - term. Herrman is the sleeper in the deal. If he produces what he did at the end of last season, I like the deal for the Pistons.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 15, 2007 -> 01:07 PM) I doubt he's a Sox fan but if he was, he'd be the worst of all time. Why? Because he looks like you?

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 03:04 PM) Women. Anyone got an instruction manual? Don't tell them Crazy Ivan stories for starters.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 04:38 PM) I have so little confidence in Kenny's ability to make trades it's ridiculous. I know some of you like the Garland deal because of the money Garland will want when he's a free agent, blah blah. But I just dread what he's going to get in return for Konerko. It scares me what he'll get in return for Paulie. Rowand and two minor leaguers who will never play in the bigs would not surprise me in the least bit. Now Greg, why would the Giants trade Rowand just after they signed him? Would that NOT "suprise" you?

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 03:51 PM) I would love to pick up Conor Jackson. They have decisions to make with both Reynolds and Tracy. Word is they are considering moving Tracy to 1B. If Conor comes 75 cents on the dollar, I would love it. Jackson's not exactly great defensively at 1B though, you'd lose quite a bit in defense switching from Paulie to him.

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 03:36 PM) I despise the idea of playing Fields at 1b, as you're taking away a year of development at the position he'll be at for 2009. Crede would be such a mediocre player at 1b. If you dealt Konerko though, there may not be many better options out there for the Sox. I mean who's available in a trade? Sexson? LaRoche maybe? Jackson? And there's not much left in FA.

QUOTE(South Side Fireworks Man @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 03:26 PM) If they swung that deal, maybe then the Sox could turn around and offer Vazquez and Gio in a package for Rios. That's too much to give up for Rios IMHO. I'd rather trade a reliever / prospect for Willits. CF - Willits SS - Cabrera DH - Thome RF - Dye 3B - Fields C - Pierzynski 1B - FA or trade for someone. LF - Quentin 2B - Richar. SP - Buehrle SP - Vazquez SP - Linecum SP - Contreras / Danks SP - Danks / Floyd From the scenario above, we have a much stronger rotation that we can build around, and use Contreras as a chip to upgrade at 1B.

It comes down to whether Cabrera re-signs with us over the long - term. Because if you sign Eckstein and then have Uribe replace him in defensive situations, at the end of 2008, you have no SS and need to go into the market to get one (don't know off the top of my head who the potential FA SS's are in the 2008 off-season). If Cabrera doesn't however, then yeah KW probably could have played the Garland trade a little better.

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 03:17 PM) Yeah, there's not a chance in hell we'd get Lincecum or Cain for PK. I really hope it's not something stupid like Winn and a prospect for Konerko. I'd say there's a small chance. The Giants need to keep attendances above 3M to help pay off the ballpark from which they have quite a debt from IIRC. And you know Brian Sabean just loves his veteran players. Konerko could be the "big name" player the Giants need to keep butts in seats after Bonds leaving. If we offered say Konerko, MacDougal and Broadway for Linecum, I'd think they would at least consider it a little for the reason above.

QUOTE(South Side Fireworks Man @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 02:44 PM) I've heard a lot about Lincecum, but I have never seen him pitch. How does he compare with Gio Gonzalez? How much ahead of Gonzalez is he ranked by most scouts? If the Jays were offering Alex Rios for Lincecum straight up, would they be interested in Gio and one other Sox prospect (not Fields) for Rios? Doubtful. They want someone to step in now to that rotation alongside Halladay, Burnett, McGowan etc. Hence the interest in Linecum, who's young, cheap, but can help now. I'd trae Konerko for Linecum, and then do what I could to get a CF such as Reggie Willits or Nate McLouth and an upgrade at 1B, and we may be good to go. It would also make Jose Contreras expendable IMHO.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 12:02 PM) Before he got hurt...in his first callup in 06, he hit 9 home runs and put up an .872 OPS in 166 at bats. There's no "Improve" about it. If he's as healthy as he was in 06, look out. There's no question he's got the talent to be a difference maker on this team, as the stats show, I think in AAA when he came back in 2007 he had an OPS above 1.000 as well. I just heard a few reports here and there coming out of Arizona that he got down on himself when things weren't going well, so he's going to have to improve that. Still I was asking the Sox to trade for him before they did so, as I thought he was the type of OF we should be targeting. Young, cheap, excellent defensively, and should be good enough to put up an OPS above .800 especially at the Cell. And when you see the likes of Jose Guillen getting $12M a year, this could end up being a real valuable trade for us if Quentin can fuflfill expectations.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 10:28 AM) Quentin is a better bet to play CF than Stewart. I really don't even consider Stewart a viable defensive option in left (he makes Pods look good in the field). Ya, it shows how good of a defensive player Quentin is (especially in a corner OF spot). Hopefully he can improve enough offensively to be a good enough starting OF for us.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 11:35 AM) So would people do it if it were PK for Lincecum straight up? That was supposedly what was talked about with Alex Rios earlier this offseason, Lincecum for Rios straight up. I'm really not sure I would. Yeah I would. Just the oppurtunity to get a legiminate potential ace is one this franchise shouldn't overlook. As for who would play at 1B, the Fields at 1B and Crede at 3B as Tony said is a possible option. The Sox could maybe try to pull a Contreras for Richie Sexson deal (with Seattle picking up some salary), as I think Sexson would be a good candidate to have a bounce back season moving from Safeco to the Cell. So you're basically putting Sexson in Konerko's spot, and moving Linecum into Jose's spot in the rotation. Of course the chances of this actually happening are very slim.

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 09:58 AM) He might be cheap and that's how the Sox management seems to like to do business it would appear. Yes, let's not forget the fact that we have a payroll over $100M. As for Stewart, if he could play CF, he wouldn't be the worst option. But I'd much rather Quentin in LF and Owens / FA in CF instead of Stewart in LF and Owens / FA in CF. And that's of course if we do decide to make an acquisition for CF to upgrade over Owens, because there's not a whole lot left out there.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 14, 2007 -> 05:26 AM) Its Capitian Feathersword, duh. Some Aussie you are... :headshake It would be funny though having a pirate for a kids group holding up a saw instead of a sword. But yes, it shows how "into" the Wiggles I am.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Dec 13, 2007 -> 05:01 PM) And they still won, amazing. Ended up 6/22. Also, the Bulls suck, the Knicks LOST AT HOME TO SEATTLE (!!!!) and Orlando forgot how to play all of a sudden, Dallas is really struggling, and Portland is improving. Yeah we've hit our 1st speedbump, lost 3 in a row. Offensively we're back where we were last season, committing around 20 TO's a game and only shooting 35-40%. That's not going to work, and we need to pick it up.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Dec 13, 2007 -> 04:44 PM) It was actually Pedro Lopez whom he hit. Oh ya that's right. Too bad it wasn't Andy Gonzalez. Of course it was Lopez's inability to hit in the 1st place (not that Gonzo was much better), that pretty much sealed his fate out of the White Sox organization.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Dec 13, 2007 -> 04:39 PM) These are the type of deals Williams needs to go after at this point. Try and get lucky with every pick up, see if you strike gold. Even if the team sucks, but Aki is pitching well, he is very movable at the deadline. Exactly. The Sox might possibly have a look at Matt Wise as well. He wasn't the same reliever when he hit someone in the face this season (think that was the story, might not be right), but he only had an ERA just above 4. I'd imagine there'd be quite a bit of interest in him too. Basically if we can't improve enough offensively this off-season (and with only 1 upgrade so far, it looks like that maybe the case), and with a subtraction to the rotation, the bullpen is going to have to really improve from 2007, if the Sox want to have ANY chance whatsoever in 2008.

I hope so. He's worth the risk on a short - term deal, if he can prove that he's healthy. The Sox could then use either MacDougal or Thornton in a deal to try and fill the CF need. There may be some hope left. EDIT: I just wonder though with the Sox already giving Linebrink a 4 year deal, whether or not KW would be willing to sign another reliever for about $3-4M. He should, because it was that bad last season. And if Linebrink and Otsuka could provide ERA's below 4, that alone from last season would probably give the Sox an extra 5 wins or so. So it would be a start.

Well this means that the Mariners still need a SP for the back of their rotation. They could just go out and sign Carlos Silva to fill that need, but maybe the Sox should be offering Contreras to them and see if they bite? EDIT: And the D-Backs as well.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Dec 13, 2007 -> 12:06 PM) I think more Sox fans tend to see that Tejada contract as a larger albatross (not me.) How about OC for 3 of those 5 players? That's what you have to weigh up. Is it worth either; A - Hang onto Cabrera and then get 2 draft picks for him if doesn't re-sign OR B - Trade him for Scott, Albers and 1 of the other prospects? Is that worth more than 2 high draft picks, when the Sox need to rebuild their system? Is it worth having Uribe in the lineup again with his sub .300 OBP again for another season? I'd probably lean toward to the 1st. The Sox can still either sign Ramirez or trade for a Nate McLouth to fill the CF need, and keep Cabrera which would make the lineup better. And would the Sox play Scott in CF? Is he good enough defensively? I know he's got some very good offensive numbers in the time he's been up with the Astros, but I don't know how good he is defensively, especially not in a corner OF spot.