DBAHO

LOL, seeing this thread a couple of hours ago about the negatives on Grossman and Hester, and hey they sure turned it around didn't they.

How would people feel about giving Walker and Speier around 4M deals for 2 seasons with a team option for a 3rd? (think of the deals Howry and Scott Eyre got last off-season). It significantly beefs up our pen, adding Speier and Walker to Jenks, MacDougall, Thornton etc. should definitely increase our bullpen ERA from last season which we majorly struggled at. Signing Walker gives you the flexibility to trade Cotts + prospect for say Coco Crisp as well, if you don't want to sign Pierre or Dave Roberts in the off-season. Wonder what the Angels would want for Figgins as well? I assume they're gonna go real hard after J.D Drew now since they missed out on Ramirez today.

Giving up a reliever who you can control for the next 5-6 seasons, for a SP who was likely to be a FA the next day, is well insane. The O's are just an absolute mess of a franchise. I wouldn't rule out Wright bouncing back under Mazzone though, but they could have gotten him for nothing in FA.

QUOTE(beck72 @ Nov 12, 2006 -> 11:16 PM) The sox would be in the same boat if they keep Uribe for '07 and decline his '08 option. But if they rade for Omar, the sox could re-sign him for '08. The chances they would pick up Juan's 08 option--slim and none. As far as going after Drew, no. He'll ask for and get over $12 mill a yr for 3 yrs. And reading an LA article, Drew is the kind of guy who takes it far too easy on the field. After having to "baby" Pods for much of the last 2 yrs because of his legs/ groin, the sox shouldn't go after an injury risk who won't give 110% on the field. This isn't saying Pods didn't give his all. Just that the sox should get a guy with a clean history on his legs who can run with abandon--ala Figgins, crisp. If Boston do go out and sign Drew, then the chances of them trading Coco Crisp increase as well, IF the Red Sox have Drew in mind to play CF, which I think they will considering they can just use Willy Mo Pena in RF.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Nov 12, 2006 -> 06:40 PM) OMG WHAT EVER WILL WE DO Big fan are we?

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Nov 12, 2006 -> 07:42 PM) The Blazers have a great player in Zach Randolph... if he can stay out of trouble they can be a pretty decent team. Roy is the most NBA ready of prob. all the rookies in the draft and darius miles is also a pretty good player. Miles is simply a cancer. The Blazers should be doing all they can to keep trying and ship him to the Knicks under Thomas.

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Nov 12, 2006 -> 09:57 PM) And when Omar retires the Sox have SS options where? Omar could still play for another couple of seasons (whether it's at the same high level as it is now, I don't know). The Sox can always go into the FA market to sign a SS when he retires, or find a solution in the trade market just like they did when they first traded for Uribe giving up Aaron Miles. Plus it gives time for the likes of Robert Valido to prove whether or not if they are ever going to be part of our plans for the future.

$120M sounds like a pretty close figure to what I think the payroll will probably be around. Remember over the past 5-6 seasons, Reinsdorf has increased the payroll each season, the most being last season after the World Series. I see no reason for that to change. And if you trade a SP like Garcia, that gives you $30M in change to play around with. As RME said earlier in this thread, some of that money will go to the likes of Joe Crede this off-seaon. But we could still have at least $20M to play around with to fill our holes. For example; Justin Speier - 3year $12M deal. Dave Roberts - 2 year $10M deal with a team option for a 3rd. So just signing those 2 players, could still leave you with another $10M to use, to beef up the bullpen more, or go after a bonafide stud CF in the trade market like Vernon Wells perhaps?

Trading for A-Rod just ain't going to work, unless you can clear some major salary first (e.g moving 2 SP's, which ain't really a good idea in itself unless you can sign a SP in FA to a cheaper deal), and the payroll increases by more than the $5-10M we expect it to. And the infield defense decreases dramatically which doesn't bode well for our pitching staff.

I'm going to say he's ending up with the Angels. They'll end up with either him or Aramis Ramirez. Many people also believe that Drew wouldn't mesh well in the White Sox clubhouse under Ozzie, so I think it's pretty unlikely that he ends up here. Is he worth the 5year/60M type of contract that he's probably going to get? I don't know. His slugging percentage has decreased in both years since he had that big season for the Braves, and I doubt he'll be worth it when it comes to the end of that contact.

They're on the right track but I think they're still going to end up with the worst record in the West when it's all said and done, for these main reasons; 1) Don't think Jack and Umoza would start for any other team in the NBA right now. 2) Lack of depth. Besides Pryzibilla, Outlaw, Dixon and Webster, most od whom are still young and inconsistent, they don't really have much else. 3) Youth. Put simply these guys still need time to gel. So if I'm a Blazers fan, I'm still hoping for that #1 pick to get Greg Oden. Then you've got something. I do like Brandon Roy very much though, and I couldn't believe teams like the Bobcats chose Adam Morrison over him.

Well I'm happy with this because Sheffield's probably one of those acquisitions who's more trouble than he's worth. The Tigers could have just gone into the FA market and tried to sign a J.D Drew instead, and they give up 3 quality pitching prospects for him.

QUOTE(easyw @ Nov 10, 2006 -> 01:22 PM) Neither of these guys has what it takes to be a leadoff hitter in the big leagues. You should hit at least .300 with an OBP of .400. And how many players in the major leagues can actually do that?

Seeing Chris Young on there makes me .

If you can get him on a 2 year deal, I think it's a pretty good solution, just because of the fact I don't want to give out long - term deals to the likes of Pierre or Matthews Jr.

And as Stan says; "I am socializing r-tard! I'm logged on to an MMORPG with people from all over the world and getting XP with my party using Teamspeak!"

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 9, 2006 -> 08:39 AM) WMD was never, ever the primary reason for going to Iraq. WMD was a public-facing excuse for it, just like the other "reasons" they tried to market after the war went badly (like ousting Saddam, or doing it to somehow save the Iraqis, or because of some non-existent 9/11 connection). I saw this story that had quotes from Rumsfeld and I found this beauty from 3 years ago; As for Australians thoughts about this, well I think it's going to be pretty damn positive. Rumsfeld was seen by most down here as an idiot and one of Bush's lackies to put it bluntly.

Talking about Trains reminded me of this;

Sounds like players aren't goin back to Venezuela anytime soon;

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 09:12 PM) My wife and I ate at Ruths Chris the other night. Probably one of the worst rip offs of all time. I'll spend money on a good meal, but that place sux. Sound like my experience at Ruby Tuesday in Park City this year (it was either that or Arby's, and I'm not David Puddy). And then there was the choosing of Carl Jr's on the 4th of July last year for lunch instead of going to a Steakhouse. Not to say, that you guys don't have darn good restaraunts though. Especially in Phoenix, there were restaraunts EVERYWHERE wherever you drove, it was crazy.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 09:53 PM) I don't have a problem spending the money, in fact I have been screaming about KW blowing off the bullpen last season, but at least $2 million for Riske is insane. The guy sucks. Cleveland, which can use some pitching, made Boston take him. He can't handle pressure situations. He had 0 holds in 2005, something unheard of for set-up men making $2 million a year. He's no better than the minor league crap Williams signed last season. In fact, a piece of that crap was used to acquire Riske. I'm not a huge fan of Riske by any means, but I wouldn't say he sucks. Although he has problems with control from time to time and recently striking out hitters, a guy with a ERA in the mid to high 3's can't be THAT bad can he? Neal Cotts has better stuff than Riske but worse stats than Riske this season. Does that mean he sucks more than Riske? And I don't think Cleveland really wanted to dump him, especially when you consider how bad their bullpen was this season, in fact Riske probably would have looked pretty good there.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 10:46 AM) Yes, cause we could always trade him. Exactly. Teams are always desperate for relief help, and you could probably ship off Riske for a prospect if he accepts the arbitration. Being able to get a couple of draft picks for him though, would be a PERFECT situation. Flash I'm sure you would agree here.

QUOTE(SoxFanForever @ Nov 8, 2006 -> 10:10 AM) Agreed, he has also shown he is an excellent ball hawk with his steals and decent defense. Otis Smith said recently the Magic almost took Thabo at 11 instead of Redick, but they didn't want to take another international player after the Vazquez debacle last time, which is kind of crazy if you ask me.

It's all John Cena's fault.

Don't think Alou is going to settle for a platoon job, especially when he can probably get an everyday job for a team like Cleveland.