winninguglyin83

rather see him move up to Winston Salem and find out if he can play SS. we need one. maybe he just had a bad year.

on the world series radio broadcast last night, Jayson Stark predicted Andy Pettitte would leave the Yankees, probably for the Astros. Four logical reasons why: 1. Clemens is retiring. the guy is his best friend. 2. Stottlemyre is leaving as pitching coach. He loves him. 3. Torre has only one year left on his deal. Pettitte won't want to sign a four-year deal if he fears Torre will be gone after 2004. 4. He has three young children and an off-season home in the Houston area. if the Yankees lose Rocket and Pettitte, they'll pay Colon 60 million for three years, folks.

my guess is they're going to string Buehrle out. if they only sign him for three years, he walks when his six-year clock is up -- probably to St. Louis since he is legitimately a huge Cardinal fan. They probably need to offer at least four years -- which goes against the Sox way of doing business. Garland might sign -- but he'll come much cheaper than Buehrle. not optimistic about the long-term chances of Buehrle staying on the South Side.

let's remember one thing: Cito Gaston has done solid work -- but it's more important to get excited about the makeup of the team Kenny Williams gives him. Gaston with Colon has a chance to be a lot better manager than Gaston without Colon. I also heard the Stark and Campbell comments. One thing Campbell also said was: don't forget that Reinsdorf will have some input in the decision.

I would expect most teams to be dumping guys. the more free agents the better. drives down prices. What becomes critical, then, is scouting. Sox need to troll through the list and find some bargains -- like Loaiza, Ortiz and several others were last winter.

I agree with Rex. If Frank turns down the $6 million for 2004, he is also walking away from money for, I believe, that is guaranteed for at least two more seasons. So, in effect, some team needs to offer him a three-year guaranteed deal. What knucklehead GM would do that? Nobody in the NL because he can't play first base EVERY DAY. If he did, Every runner who reached first base would try to get picked off and then challenge Frank to throw him out at second. Every smart manager would bunt toward first base with a fast runner on third and less than two outs (see video of Game Three of the 2000 ALDS for details.) So now you're limited to AL teams. Eliminate Toronto, Tampa, KC, Minny, Cleveland, Detroit, Texas, Seattle and Oakland. They're not going to spend the money. Not on Frank. Boston and New York don't need him. That leaves Anaheim and Balty. Balty needs a bat and has cash. But would they want to rebuild with Frank? I doubt it. Anaheim lost Fullmer and could also use the bat. Frank likes L.A. But nobody knows if the new owner would spend his FA money on Frank. More likely to go younger. Frank would need his new agent, Arn Tellem, who is based in the LA area, to talk the Angels into this one. Throw in the fact that it is well documented that FRank lost money in some business deals and a divorce, and by the process of elimination, I'd say the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of Number 35 being back with the Sox next season. That said, it is then critical that the Sox have a manager with the stones to push Frank down in the order to 6th or 7th, which is where he should be hitting. He's not a Number 3 guy any more.

Gload is a career minor leaguer -- much like Daubach was before he finally got a chance with the Red Sox. Gload doesn't excite me

missed the show, unfortunately. did KW say A) when they expect to have word on Bartolo? Or what the chances were of reeling him in? Are we keeping Sully and Gordon?

Seems to be more people who want to see Willie get a legit shot than those who think he'll never make it.

Like Ginter (a major myster), Rauch (another one), Brian West and Malone. Good arms who have stalled in the minors for a variety of reasons. We need somebody from the system to step forward and deliver. With Hankins, offense is nice, but I wonder if he has any potential as a catcher. No way he could be ready for the bigs. But we need to know if he can make it eventually.

I agree about Cito. something strange there. With all the openings over the years, how come no other team has hired him? not many other guys have had multiple World Series winners. plus, he went back to Toronto as a coach. That seemed odd. I'd rather go with Ozzie. Or somebody else.

excellent point, Dick Allen. Cito isn't coming here unless he is pretty sure Bartolo will be back, as well as Robbie and several other veterans.

Dan Patrick had Peter Gammons on his ESPN radio show earlier this afternoon. He asked Gammons to predict who the new managers of the Orioles and White Sox would be Orioles? Eddie Murray. Sox? He said Buddy Bell and several others had been interviewed. Said he thought it would come down to Ozzie Guillen and Cito Gaston. Said as much as Reinsdorf loved Ozzie, in the end his lack of managing experience would hurt and he predicted the Sox would go with Gaston. I realized Gammons has whiffed on some past predictions. just passing this along.

Harris sure hit in the minors. At Triple A this season, he hit .380 with an OBP of .470 in 100 at bats in the International League. Had 6 doubles, 1 triple and 6 homers -- better power numbers than Borchard during the time he was there. 17 walks, which is good 20 Ks, which is too many 9 of 12 stealing bases, which will work. Then the sox called him up because the team needed some offense. He struggled, they benched him, I believe he was injured, went back to Charlotte, came back to Chicago and never got an extended chance. As Hawk said, you don't bunt .380. He's too young to be labled a AAAA player. He's never been given an extended change to hit in the big leagues. I hope he gets one.

if teams dumped every young pitcher who came up and struggled, everybody would have a two-man staff. The Priors and Buehrles are the exceptions, not the rule.

i'm talking about the way folks on this board jumped on him. THAT was ridiculous. He's one of our best pitching prospects. He needs to make some improvements to be a solid big-league starter. But it was silly the way folks on this board buried the guy in August.

Jumping on him is OK. burying him -- the way Cotts was treated -- is what is ridiculous

plus Spiezio grew up in the Chicago area, the son of a former utility infielder Ed Spiezio. Unfortunately, I believe Spiezio was a Cubs' fan.

Kid just keeps hitting and hitting. Team USA has played seven exhibition games in the Arizona Fall league. Jeremy is 5 for 15 -- four singles and a double. Most impressive? Only one K and three walks. He's scored five runs and stolen a pair of bases without being thrown out. Only one RBI, but he hits high in the batting order, I believe. Bottom line: Rowand, Borchard and the other center field candidates better come to spring training ready to play because this kid could hit his way from Tucson to US Cellular.

two major problems if Colon leaves: 1. Lots of innings for somebody to have to eat. 2. It moves everybody up a slot in the rotation. Makes Garland a Number Three, something he's never proven capable of being.

Just to throw some stax into the debate: Pierre turned 26 in August. Played college ball at South Alabama. Only a 13th round pick in 1998 so he wasn't a stud in college. Probably viewed as a two or three tools guy, taken mainly because he could run. Got to the big leagues in 2000, his third pro season. In 1999, his only full season in the minors, he hit .320 with a .366 OBP in the South Atlantic League. So-so pop -- 28 doubles, 5 triples, one home run. He doesn't strke out much, but he also doesn't have an extraordinary number of walks. Don't know the stax for this year, but in his first 1409 big-league at bats, he had only 85 walks. He makes it as a singles hitter. Prior to this season he's had 434 big-league hits and 367 have been singles. Now, for Willie. He turned 25 in June. Played at Middle Georgia JC and Kennesaw State. Drafted in the 28th round out of high school but refused to sign with Pittsburgh. Taken in the 24th round in 1999 by Baltimore, more evidence that speed is his primary tool. He played in the South Atlantic League in 1999, one year after Pierre. BAtting average was not nearly as good -- .274 -- but his OBP was much better -- .396 -- because he drew 89 walks. Followed that up with a .304 BA and .364 OBP in AA in 2001. Showed more pop than Pierre in the minors -- 22 minor league homers, 22 triples and 84 doubles -- but also strikes out more than twice as much as Pierre. Unlike Pierre, Harris has never gotten a chance for 400-500 at bats in a season in the big leagues. Bottom line: I'd like to see the Sox at least find out if the guy can play because, as I've said a zillion times, he's the only prime-time speed we have on the big club. He gives the team a different look than all the right handed sluggers who roll into all those double plays.

As little as we saw of Harris, we saw even less of Miles. Two mystery men at second base. KW has to do something with them. If he resigns Robbie, one of the two has to go in my opinion. Plus, Graff is also in the mix -- I hope.

assuming we had a manager who MADE this team compete against Detroit, Cleveland, Anaheim and Texas and figured out a way to keep them from sleepwalking through EVERY west coast road trip, I'd say 92 wins. But it's unlikely Loaiza will win 21 or anything close to it again. And I got a bad feeling Flash ain't gong to be back. Or everett. and probably Colon.

opinion certainly seem split on Harris, which isn't surprising considering his inconsistencies as a player. I think we'll be able to tell how much of a chance Harris will get when the manager is named. A guy like Guillen figures to give him a chance because he'll view Harris as a guy who can put pressure on the defense -- Marlins' style. If Gaston gets the job, I would assume the Sox are going to re-sign more veterans and put Harris on hold.

Ozzie as manager becomes more likely with every game the Fish win. Can't see Backman as the third base coach. No way he'd want a guy who also wanted the job looking over his shoulder. Be another third base coach.