DBAHO

I've never had Jimmy Johns. I win. EDIT: That said I'm getting sick of Subway. The girl who wrapped my sandwich yesterday got Mayo everywhere, and it was one of my most untidy eating experiences in a long, long time.

From this season, what was the difference in OBP's b/w Rios and Wells, because I know Wells had the better slugging percentage but Rios hit for a better average. For mine, Rios is probably worth more than Rocco Baldelli (just), but not as much as Crawford (obviously).

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Dec 18, 2006 -> 09:22 PM) Is this the catch-all video game thread? If so, someone please try and convince me that Smackdown vs. Raw is not the greatest thing ever invented by anyone in the history of the world. Ok, WTF is up with this storyline?

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Dec 18, 2006 -> 09:33 PM) I can't see the Sox having B-Mac and another new starter for 2007, which would mean the Sox moved Buehrle, Garland, or Vazquez. The current rotation seems to be locked in for 2007. If the Sox make any more moves, I assume it will be another reliever or another OF that can play LF and CF. Rios would be a great addition, but it seems like the Jays want to much for him. I would rather go for Taveras and send some mid-level prospects to the Rockies. I disagree on that. Right now the Sox are in a position where they don't have to move a starter. But if they get an offer too good to refuse, then I think they'll take it. That type of offer would be a Pelfrey / Milledge for Vazquez or Danks and Hurley for Garland type of deal etc. The Sox would then have an open competition for the 5th starter's position b/w the acquired SP spect who's closest to the majors, Gavin Floyd and Lance Broadway. As for Taveras I don't see how he's an upgrade on Pods. OBP's of .325 and .333 over the past 2 seasons compared to Pods's .351 and .330.

Here's what Rotoworld said bout him; The only way I can see a SP being dealt is if you get a young stud SP in return like a Jason Hirsh, John Danks or Mike Pelfrey. If the Blue - Jays made it David Purcey or Ricky Romero and Rios for Garland, then that makes it interesting at least for me.

QUOTE(Brian @ Dec 18, 2006 -> 03:47 PM) I thought it hit the ground as well. When the Bears came to the line on the next play, you could see Gruden yelling at the refs in the background but no challenge came. Ronde Barber who was covering said it definitely hit the ground, but no challenge from the booth came. Offensively the Bears looked good and they would certainly be happy with that. But this team is built on defense, and there's just signs with the secondary that they could be exploited again. Mike Brown has really been a BIG loss for you guys. A team like the Saints or Cowboys if they meet in the playoffs is really going to try and take advantage of that. At least you have 2 fairly easy games coming up now though.

The Hawks are just rollin on very nicely right now. Savard may be up for coach of the year if the Hawks can keep producing like this for the rest of the season (although that is pretty much not gonna happen, cos at some point they will go into a slump). Khabibulin has really stepped up this season and produced. I'm sure it helps when your defense is a year older, and you have guys like Ruutu and Havlat on the ice though. Speaking of those last 2, they seem to be working up a nice combo at the moment, which is really good to see.

Riccardi would probably ask for B-Mac I'd imagine, so that'd be a no no. But if you could get him for some of SP spects like Lance Broadway (which I doubt would happen) I'd be for it.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Dec 18, 2006 -> 12:21 PM) This whole time Soxhawk was talking about "signing" Abreu, I thought he was talking about last July. I heard and read NOTHING about Abreu being moved. All I remember is hearing Abreu talk about how much he enjoys playing in NY. Why would New York trade Abreu if they already traded Sheffield? Abreu seemed like the perfect #3 hitter for them, and really got their offense motoring when he came across (well except for in the playoffs). Don't really see the logic in the Yankees trading him about 3 months after they acquired him (unless he pissed off Ol' Steiny by saying he doesn't like his macho head games or something).

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Dec 18, 2006 -> 09:53 AM) When the team has serious holes to fill for the coming season, I don't think it makes sense to trade your best trading chip for prospects that won't help you this season. I don't think that is entirely a choice between winning this season or being competitive in the future. But when you have a good chance to contend immediately, I think you need to maximize that chance. Again, I'm not saying trade a bunch of prospects for veterans. That would be mortgaging your future. I'm saying don't trade veterans for prospects. That is ALL about the future to the detriment of the present. As I have said many times, I never had any problem with trading Garcia. BMac will fill his rotation spot nicely. But that trading chip should have been used to upgrade the current team. Or, if you trade for prospects, use that money to acquire an upgrade. Unfortunately the significant FA upgrades are off the market. Perhaps KW will make a trade which will bring in someone really good, and thus put that money to good use. If so, depending on what he gives up in that trade, he could turn the Garcia trade into something good. I'm hoping. Two obvious choices that would have been affordable are Abreu and Guillen. They would have been huge upgrades over Pods and affordale. Not a bad argument there. But I look at it this way. The AL Central is going to be the toughest division for the next 5 years. Minny have a lot of great young players and they always develop pitching, Detroit have got their act together and have Zumaya and Verlander while Cleveland has a good young core with the likes of Grady Sizemore. So those 3 teams are going to be +.500 teams for the next 5 seasons IMHO. Now if say Buehrle, Dye and Iguchi leave for FA during the next off-season, that's going to open up some big holes. If we didn't trade Garcia for Floyd and Gonzalez, who would fill in for Mark in the 2008 rotation? Lance Broadway? So in my mind, KW has looked at a team like Minnesota and seen how important good young pitching is. It's easier to find and sign a better hitter than pitcher in FA, because pitching is at such a premium right now, every team wants it. So if you can develop young effective starters, that is going to offer you a lot of payroll flexibility over the upcoming years. Personally, I would rather the Sox be competitive and have a chance at making the playoffs for the next 5 years, then to put all of our eggs into the 1 basket, and try to win everything again. And the Sox have made some acquisitions which should help the team not only in the future but for next season. Aadrsma should add to the pen, while Vazquez could be a possible lefty reliever for us in the future. Gload gets traded for a young lefty with good stuff, while B-Mac just slides over into Garcia's spot in the rotation and that could certainly be an upgrade for us. Hall gets signed as a backup catcher, which will be a major upgrade on Widger and Alomar from last season. The 2 areas that COULD have been upgraded are at LF and SS. But you have to look at the options. Jose Guillen got something like 5M for 2007 and a 9M team option for the next season. Plus I've heard his knee isn't going to be right until the 2nd half of the season or something (although I could be wrong on that). So if you signed him, do the Sox then have to move Iguchi into the leadoff spot, or does Ozzie insist on acquiring a Figgins, Crawford or Baldelli and giving up some of that young pitching which could be extremely important in the upcoming seasons? Dave Roberts was an option in my mind, but I would have given him 2 seasons at the most. As for possible SS's, well basically there's only the trade market, as an Alex Gonzalez doesn't really excite me (unless you're Wayne Krivsky). QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Dec 18, 2006 -> 10:36 AM) Abreu was available. "Guillen who" is Jose Guillen. Iguchi could lead off. Abreu could lead off. As I have said before, you don't need a base stealing speedster leading off. You need a guy who can actually get on base. And I think we all understand that. The problem is, Ozzie Guillen is going to insist on having a "speed" guy up there, because that's just the way he likes it.

Good signing, although I have questions over Hall's character a little after what he said about the D-Rays this week. Hopefully he develops a nice rapport with the pitchers straight off the bat, and we seem him in pretty much every game against an opposing lefty. Nice to have a guy who wants to be here though, which at least that we must be doing something right. QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Dec 18, 2006 -> 09:28 AM) Huh? Did somebody wake up on the wrong side of the offseason today? What would make me happy is upgrading this team in significant ways. One hole we had was backup catcher and it has been filled very nicely. I made my comment in response to someone who said that with this season, he was fully satisfied with the offseason even if no other acquisitions are made. I'm not. I don't see how anyone could be. A third place team needs to fill some holes. Essentially standing pat isn't enough. What would make me happy? A real overall upgrade to the team. Not an overhaul. Not necessarily bringing in a marquee player. But something that does good job of filling a hole from the 2006 team. So in other words you're basically saying, you would want a team that would have a better chance to win this season, at the cost of being as competitive in future seasons? Is it not worth us acquiring good young starting pitching considering the current market price for pitching in the FA Market? In terms of an overall upgrade, what guys were out there that could of been had, and if they were in the FA market, was it worth overpaying (e.g giving 3 years to Dave Roberts) to accomplish that?

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Dec 18, 2006 -> 02:35 AM) It's scary that Barber was the 2nd best back on his COLLEGE team. I wonder if he'll ever take Julius' job. Your defense is a concern though, they didn't look too good again. He honestly deserves to be the feature back over Jones, but I can see why they are doing what they're doing. They want to keep Barber fresh for the 2nd half so he can just run over defenders. Pound for pound, I don't know if there's a harder runner than he is, he never gives up on any run. Defensively the lack of a pass rush besides Ware is killing us, but also the lack of a quality coverage FS (hence teams are attacking Roy Williams over the deep middle) and Anthony Henry had a real bad day. Jason Hatcher came into the lineup over Marcus Spears (bust) though, and gave us something on the pass rush. And not a great day for the Bears even though you pulled out the win.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Dec 17, 2006 -> 04:03 PM) No, Gload's old role is completely obsolete right now. The real necessary bench role is that of back-up CF. EDIT: The guy must also be righty. And for that reason alone, despite what other people may think, I think unless there's a signing or a trade from elsewhere, that 25th man spot is going to Luis Terrero.

There's strong mail that the Rockies are going to try and trade Taveras for a young pitcher. They'll then trade that young pitcher, with one from their system and Clint Barmes to acquire Baldelli, because remember the asking price is 2 young pitchers and a SS. For us, that's basically the equivalent of trading BA, Uribe and a young pitcher from our system.

QUOTE(toasty @ Dec 17, 2006 -> 01:47 PM) That's something i doubt. While I dont mind this trade, as it addresses a need, Ross is an excellent bench player... i think he has been our best bench player the past 2 seasons. where else have you seen someone get as few ab's as ross, and have him contribute as he did? sooo many guys would be stone cold sitting on the bench that much... but ross? no way. Rogo would be a long shot to get a bench spot, since he's a 1b/dh only... not flexible enough. at least ross could play right if he had to. I'd prefer for macowiak to not play 1st, keep him on the left side of the infield or spot left. Well there was a reason Ross got so few AB's in the 1st place, it was because he was the backup 1B behind Paulie (who had a great offensive season) and the fact that he couldn't really handle the OF well enough defensively to be given AB's there ahead of the likes of Mackowiak (although I'm sure some posters here would argue against that point). Hell I wanted him out mid season thru 2006 because he only had something like 33AB's somepoint in June and he was hitting below .200, and at that time we were CRYING out for a CF who can actually handle the position defensively. As for Mackowiak, if he's not going to get AB's at CF this season, he needs to find other position to do so. Play anywhere from 1B, 3B, LF and RF to try and get the same amount of AB's as he did this season, because if he can hit like he did in 2006, his value will really rise because he's not going to cost the Sox as much defensively as he did at CF.

Marion Barber. Didn't play well tonight, especially defensively, but the offense and Romo bounced back well, and it was a good comeback win.

At least we pulled out the win, against a Columbus team that has been doing very well lately under Hitchcock. Interesting to see that Arkiphov has been getting a lot of ice time under Savard, 20 mins tonight, and he responded with a 2 point game. We got outshot, and dominated on the faceoff circle as well, so all in all, it's a good win.

Love the trade, KW's best deal of the off-season so far IMHO. And I wouldn't use Sisco as a reliever. Have him start the year off at Charlotte as a starter, and let Boone Logan or a FA pickup be used as the lefty reliever out of the pen. Because if Sisco can get his stuff back and succeed as a starter down at Charlotte, it gives us another potential young SP to put into the rotation. But Kenny, keep going after that young pitching. And a guy like Rogowski or Terrero can easily replace Gload on the bench, or Mackowiak simply takes Gload's AB's as the backup 1B. And go after Justin Huber, he could be had for basically nothing now, and I think he can still succeed as a major leaguer (and no it's not simply because he's an Aussie). Interesting to see this is the 2nd deal b/w the Royals and the Sox since Dayton Moore took over though, so there is some trading within the division going on here. Sucks for Gload though, going from a former World Series Winner to possibly the worst team in baseball today.

That fastball-curve-change combo is a lot like what B-Mac has now for comparisons sake. And with the change, B-Mac showed how effective he could be as a starter if he could locate that pitch, it was almost a bit like a screwball (from the 1 game I remember that he pitched at Fenway). That's a major challenge for Gio in the upcoming years, to try and get the changeup on that sort of level. Confident he can do so.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Dec 16, 2006 -> 07:05 PM) I was baiting you for all that may have responded. I would rather have Howard, but it looked like Okafor gave him some trouble for sure. I drafted Okafor in the 5th round of my fantasy league, and after 4-5 weeks, traded him for Tim Duncan. Needless to say, I'm very happy with that trade now. The thing that kills Okafor is this. He has problems putting weight on, because if he does, it's going to put more stress on that bum ankle of his. And that's unlike a Howard, who started out about 240lbs IIRC, and he's now about 275. Okafor's about 258. But basically every team is double teaming Dwight down low every time now. He's got to adjust to it like Tim Duncan has, and basically cut down on the TO's, and make better passes out to the guys that are open. And that's where a J.J Redick could be very important in the upcoming years.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Dec 16, 2006 -> 09:04 AM) Okafor> D Howard that is all. BWAHAHAHA. Uhhh no. Okafor had a great start to the season, but he's dropped off lately over the past 10 games since Brezec got back into the lineup and Sean May got hot.

Quality Young Pitching. Draft it. Trade for it. Develop it. Just get it. KW and the Sox have found this out now from the current market. If Buehrle is dealt, it'll be for quality young pitching.

The PP could be the one thing that stops the Hawks from making it to the playoffs this season. They really need to get a good handle on it, and quickly, in terms of set-ups, and the different systems defenses use, so you have different looks etc. Hopefully when Bondra gets into shape, this will help a bit though.

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 15, 2006 -> 11:09 AM) Yep, like I fear, we won't upgrade our 4th outfield position. I saw Terrero play quite a bit last year, and never did he strike me as a MLB caliber player. Was that when he was at the majors or when he was hitting in AAA for Ottawa (because he had some pretty nice numbers to finish off the season with in AAA IIRC).

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Dec 15, 2006 -> 12:42 PM) I would, his only value is to us at this point. He isnt one of our top three, he doesnt have great stuff and he isnt major league ready. I'd rate Gio ahead of him, but then it's probably a toss up b/w him McCullough and possibly Floyd as to who's our 2nd best SP spect (where's Tyler Lumsden when you need him). Personally I think he'll be a #3-#4 starter at the major league level, which if he hit FA this off-season, would get you Jason Marquis type of money as a minimum.