DBAHO

Gload will be on the bench, I've got no doubts about that. He's put up the numbers in the minors, time to test him at the Major League Level. Being a LH helps him tremendously, he's just been stuck behind players like Todd Helton. Borchard needs more time at Charlotte, no good to hav him sittin his ass on the bench every day.

Here's all the motivation u need for the season ahead boys, Dissing by omission After several years of verbal jousting with the White Sox, the Twins seem to be pointedly ignoring their archrivals as AL Central contenders FT. MYERS, Fla. -- Terry Ryan delivers results, not provocative quotes. It wasn't surprising that he tried to duck away after being spotted behind a batting cage at the Minnesota Twins' camp Monday. But Ryan knew he couldn't escape "unscathed," to use his choice of words. Back-to-back division titles bring attention, like it or not. So it was that Ryan found himself forced to address the state of the American League Central. "We've taken a lot of criticism over our lack of moves, as we do every winter," said Ryan, the Twins' general manager. "I thought Kansas City had the best winter. Detroit added a lot, and Kansas City did a good job adding and retaining some of their guys. Cleveland's going through a transition period, and Chicago has been quiet." Outfielder Shannon Stewart, the one key free agent Minnesota retained, was asked his assessment of the division. "It's going to be tough, a lot tougher," Stewart said. "Detroit's looking good, real good. Kansas City is going to be tough. Cleveland's got some young players who will be good in a couple of years, if not this year. They're going to be all right. It's not going to be an easy division. It's not an easy division, especially not with Detroit, the way they look on paper." Detroit? What about the White Sox? In recent years, the Sox and Twins have traded verbal jabs. Billy Koch accused Minnesota of being lucky. Doug Mientkiewicz derided the Sox for a lack of togetherness. Now it appears the Twins are giving the White Sox the biggest insult of all—the silent treatment. In the months since the Sox faded down the stretch and then lost Bartolo Colon to free agency, Minnesota has turned its attention toward Kansas City. The Royals added Juan Gonzalez and Benito Santiago while re-signing Brian Anderson and Curtis Leskanic. Detroit, which lost 119 games a year ago, improved its lineup by adding Ivan Rodriguez, Carlos Guillen, Fernando Vina and Rondell White. It would be insane to pick the White Sox below Detroit or Cleveland. But it does appear that many will pick either the Twins or Royals as favorites in the Central, though nobody has had more wins than the White Sox over the last four years. Truth is, there might not be a strong team in the division. Like the Sox, the Twins appear weaker on paper this spring than they did at the end of 2003. It took a 46-23 second half, triggered by the addition of Stewart, for Minnesota to win 90 games last year. Rookie Joe Mauer, who has played 73 games above Class A, replaces All-Star A.J. Pierzynski at catcher. He's the guy the Twins selected with the first overall pick in the 2001 draft, ahead of Mark Prior. He'll be handling a pitching staff that has major questions in the rotation and the bullpen. "With Shannon Stewart re-signing, our lineup has a chance to be real good," Ryan said. "Our [Nos.] 1 through 9 have a chance to be pretty good, depending on whether Mauer is ready. … The biggest question mark facing us is our pitching staff. That's what has been carrying us the last few years." With 13-game winner Kenny Rogers gone and Joe Mays sidelined after elbow surgery, the Twins have only three certain starters—Brad Radke, Kyle Lohse and Johan Santana. They're counting on journeyman Rick Helling and converted reliever Carlos Silva to fill the vacancies. But the biggest issue is the back of the bullpen. The emergence of closer Eddie Guardado and setup man LaTroy Hawkins in 2002 turned a potential weakness into a major strength for the Twins. Both were lost to free agency over the winter—Hawkins signing a three-year, $11 million deal with the Cubs and Guardado going to Seattle for $13 million over three years. Given an abundance of outfield prospects, it's possible the Twins would have been better off keeping at least one of the relievers while letting Stewart walk. But Ryan didn't have enough money left in his budget to sign any of those free agents until Philadelphia took Eric Milton's $9.3 million salary off his hands. That trade was made on Dec. 3. Hawkins had signed with the Cubs earlier the same day. "We needed to free up some resources," Ryan said. "I never did make LaTroy an offer. He had signed with the Cubs before I had the flexibility to do anything. I did make an offer to Eddie, but we ended up signing Shannon. We got that contract done just before the deadline, actually. Unfortunately, LaTroy signed before we could make an offer. I don't blame him." Manager Ron Gardenhire expects 29-year-old right-hander Joe Nathan, who was acquired from San Francisco in the Pierzynski trade, to fill one of the two holes at the end of the bullpen. He compiled a 2.96 earned-run average over 78 appearances for the Giants a year ago but has only one career save. Left-hander J.C. Romero, who disappointed in 2003 after an excellent '02, and right-handed rookie Jesse Crain are the front-runners for the other job. That most likely will be as a setup man for Nathan. "It was pretty easy to manage when you could go to the eighth inning with Hawk and the ninth with Guardado," Gardenhire said. "Well, it's never easy to manage, but that was a pretty good feeling." Though Ryan says the 20-year-old Mauer must earn a job this spring, few expect the Twins to open the season with light-hitting veteran Henry Blanco as their catcher. That's not why they traded Pierzynski. Mauer is a skilled, strong-armed receiver with tremendous potential as a switch hitter. His .330 average as a pro has kept Minnesota fans from thinking too much about Prior, who didn't want to sign with the Twins anyway. But the Twins may be asking too much from this hometown hero from St. Paul. Since the beginning of divisional play, 176 teams have gone to the playoffs. Only 11 of those had primary catchers under the age of 25. Only two teams in the era of divisional play reached the postseason with rookies as their primary catcher—Atlanta, behind glove man Bob Didier in 1969, and Detroit, behind slugger Matt Nokes in 1987. Perhaps these Twins can make that a three-team list. But there are no sure things in the AL Central.

Hav a great one Murcie! Keep those Brunson Burner rants coming.

It should go for an hour to an hour and a half if every1 shows up.

Bring back Mugsy Bogues! Ilgauskas can't play D at all, Silas wants him moved for a swingman, so they can giv Diop more time. I could see a Ilgauskas for Ronald Murray and Vlad Radmanovic trade mayb.

Dallas already has a A-Train clone in Troy Hambrick, and I think Parcells really wants Thomas Jones or Duce Staley and draft a rookie in the 2nd or 3rd round to take ova in 2005/2006. Raiders could be interested if they lose Garner, but I've heard he could stay with em afta all.

Alex Brown and Jevon Kearse would certainly bring a very nice pass rush, but would that D-Line be good against the run. Personally I'd prefer Wistrom, he's betta against the run, played for Lovie Smith already, and he'd be cheaper so u could fill more needs. Plus Kearse is very injury prone, which is always a problem.

What type of market will there be for the A-Train though. I can only see Baltimore bein interested because of Jamal Lewis but they still want to giv Musa Smith a shot.

Best of luck to ya Alex, we're all rootin for ya.

Post ur "I hate Wirtz" messages here, It's rumored that an enraged Hawks owner Bill Wirtz demanded that general manager Bob Pulford trade Sullivan because of a dressing-room conversation with teammates in which Sullivan intimated the team's portion of the profit-and-loss study commissioned by the NHL was inaccurate because it allegedly didn't include skybox revenue. Did somebody squeal to Wirtz? "I have no idea," Sullivan replied. "I'm not too concerned about who was around and what was said. That was then, and this is now. Pulford steadfastly denies Wirtz made him make the trade because Sullivan shot off his mouth. "No truth to it whatsoever," the GM said. According to Pulford, the restricted free agent making $3 million yearly was unwilling to take a pay cut after his contract expires this year and was traded because the Hawks feared they'd lose if the sides went to arbitration. Sullivan was in a supermarket, stocking up for a card party that night, when he got the word he was gone. "I was in the middle of my wife's grocery list when Mr. Pulford called on my cell phone and told me I'd been traded," he said. "I left the cart right there, apologized and went home. That little party turned out to be a farewell party."

TUCSON, Ariz. -- About 20 reporters drove two hours Monday to see a pitcher throw 15 pitches. This wasn't just an ordinary pitcher, though. The reporters, from Japan, made the drive from the Seattle Mariners' camp to watch Shingo Takatsu pitch in the White Sox's first intrasquad game. He didn't disappoint anyone. After walking the first man he faced, Takatsu set down the next three hitters easily with his moving changeup. "Sometimes it kind of looks like it can defy a little gravity," Sox pitching coach Don Cooper said of the pitch. "How can you throw it that slow and get it there on a fly?" As soon as Takatsu, 35, took the mound, a group of Japanese photographers gathered behind home plate, snapping pictures of every pitch. "When he's around all the people from his country it must be uncomfortable for him—trying to impress them," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. Takatsu, through his interpreter Hiroshi Abei, said the walk resulted more from trying to overthrow the ball than from nervousness. "I wasn't nervous at all," he said. Considering he earned the nickname "Mr. Zero" because he never gave up a run in postseason play while pitching in Japan, it's unlikely an intrasquad game would make Takatsu uneasy. Monday's pitchers threw a maximum of 15 pitches an inning, regardless of how many outs they got. Takatsu actually got four outs in the inning before using up his 15-pitch limit. "Ozzie told him, 'Welcome to America. We have different rules here. You have to get four outs in this league rather than three in Japan,'" Cooper said. Takatsu needed 14 pitches—nine strikes—to get through his inning. "He commands the ball really well," Guillen said. "His breaking ball is real good, and I know his fastball is going to be better." Outfielder Joe Borchard got a firsthand look at Takatsu's best changeup, which fluttered up to the plate dipping and diving. "I thought I'd get up there and see a couple of fastballs," Borchard said. "Every pitch was changeup, changeup, changeup. He kept it down and looked really good. It dives down and is pretty effective." Takatsu sounded as if he didn't have his best stuff, though. "I thought it was a little bit high in the zone, but still I am satisfied," he said. What he wasn't satisfied with was the opening walk. Takatsu knows that he will likely pitch in the seventh or eighth innings of games and can't afford to put runners on base freely. "I need to fix it," he said. During his 13-year career in Japan, Takatsu walked only 233 batters in 695 innings. There was a thought of keeping Takatsu out of spring games in which the Sox face American League teams so he'd be a surprise to them during the regular season. But Guillen said he has no problems using Takatsu at any time against anyone. "He doesn't have to change his style or the way he pitches," Guillen said. "No matter where he pitches, scouts are going to see him. I'm not afraid to put him against anybody."

From da Trib, TUCSON, Ariz. -- Manager Ozzie Guillen got his first look at his pitchers during a game situation Monday and liked what he saw. "I can't be more pleased with what they did," he said. "The first game is always the hardest." Guillen put together a lineup of prospects to face a lineup of the organization's minor-leaguers. But the pitching staff was made up of guys who are expected to be on the Opening Day roster. The Sox tried to limit the staff to 15 pitches an inning, regardless of how many outs there were. The minor-leaguers scored the only run in the game off Jon Garland. Catcher Ryan Hankins tripled to right and scored on a wild pitch. Mark Buehrle threw 38 pitches in his three innings of work, 25 for strikes. He allowed three hits. "I'm glad to get that out of the way for him," pitching coach Don Cooper said. "He's got three innings under the belt, so we're getting where we need to go." … Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day belonged to reliever Cliff Politte. The free agent from Toronto pitched one inning and struck out the side. He threw 14 strikes among his 16 pitches. "That just didn't sound right," he said of the statistic. … Ross Gload, who is hoping to make the team as a backup outfielder and first baseman, has made an impression on Guillen. "I like his swing and his work ethic," Guillen said. "He's a left-handed hitter. He has a good shot." … The Sox released their TV schedule Monday. The season opener April 5 at Kansas City will be on WGN-Ch. 9 at 2 p.m.; the home opener April 13 against the Royals will be on Fox Sports Net at 1 p.m. The Sox will have five games on WFLD-Ch. 32 and one Sunday game, June 6 at Seattle, on ESPN. … Single-game tickets for home games go on sale March 13 at U.S. Cellular Field. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at 312-559-1212 and 866-SOX-GAME.

We are trying to claim her as Australian now since she was born here, but she is definitely a Kiwi. Did any1 actually see Whale Rider, the movie she was nominated for?

I can't believe it's not butter!

A guy Orlando should be really lookin at signin. big risk, but a big reward if he can get back to his Duke form which is prob unlikely. It wll allow us to pick a big man instead of a Jameer Nelson or Shaun Livingstone as well, but I'd still like to see Reece Gaines be given sum time on da floor.

It will cost a 1st round draft pick and a 3rd round draft pick to sign Ogunleye. Big price tag, although I think 1 team who is desperate for a pass rush like da Bears could be willin to pay that price.

I wonder what the fourth out is?

LMFAO, don't get greedy now Mr. Zero, u r lucky enough to hav him.

Less than 24 hours, should be a blast.

How's King James doin?

For all u Magic supporters out there, Boston put together a 16-0 run in the 4th and all leadin by twenty-sumthin..... Ahh who cares, please oh please, let us get Emeka Okafor.

There's sum nice ways of killin ppl in there.

My money's still on Kobe becomin a Clipper.

Welcome aboard credescrew24.

How he likes being Mrs. YahtzeeSox.