winninguglyin83

i don't like it that so many sox players leave pissed off -- black jack, Alex Fernandez, Pudge, Ozzie, Maggs, Frank and others. Buehrle gave us a world title. If we don't want to pay him too much money, I understand. but I don't want to hear weeks and weeks of b****ing about the cost of today's pitchers -- especially when they keep jackingup the price of everything from parking to bottled water. Sox fans support this team. they don't want to hear management b**** that they're not making enough money.

how many years of Garland do we have? two. are garland, Crede and Vaz the big free agents of 08? buehrle, Dye, Iguchi this year?

I'm more worried about Nick Punto and Jason Tyner. Those are the guys who drove me -- and Hawk and Ozzie -- nuts. freakin pirannahs.

I said we picked higher back then. But over the last 10 years, guys like Stumm, Honel, Borchard and otthers have been very bad.

To remember that we once had a four-year streak of: Jack McDowell robin Ventura Frank Thomas Alex Fernandez is to understand how badly we have drafted in recent years., We're not picking as high as we were back then, but we've been horrible. Not only the bad first picks, guys like Tim Hummel and Matt Ginter come to mind, too. Glad to see Kenny call them out. How many homegrown guys do we have on this team? Buehrle Anderson Crede Logan And then rookies like Haegar, fields and Sweeney. That's poor.

five career big-league innings for Perkins. They ccmpare him to Glendon Rusch. I gotta believe Terry Ryan will find a bargain basement free agent project during spring training. He'll come with a better arm from the farm system in mid-summer. Didn't realize Nathan was a free agent after this year. THAT is very good news.

I like this team.a Erstad will help. Good attitude. Can play many places and he should light a fire under Anderson. Crede continues to play for big money. Buehrle needs to bounce back to get the contract he wants. We improved the bullpen -- which sucked for long stretches of last season without Hermie, Politte and Cotts doing anything. I think Vaz is going to have a BIG year. Just a hunch. But he has the ability. Second year with Coop should help him. Toby Hall is a plus. We've got as much reason to be optimistic as the Twinkies -- who lost Santana and Radke. The Tigers will be good, but it's tough to stay motivated after everybody pats you on the back all winter. Plust that extra month should hurt their bullpen, which already has to replace Jamie Walker. The team that worries me the most is Cleveland. I think they will be much improved -- if they stay healthy.

Picked up Sporting News Baseball Yearbook today. they like the Sox -- but not enough. We're picked the 8th best team in the majors, 5th best in the AL. But only number three in the Central -- behind Twinkies and Tigers. They have faith in a Minny rotation of Santana, Bonser, Silva, Garza and Perkins. They don't seem to be big fans of Gavin Floyd. Say he doesn't have enough self confidence and cannot throw his breaking ball for strikes consistently. And they list Buehrle as the Sox fantasy player to dump, Dye as the guy to buy and BA as a sleeper. They rank Fields as the fifth best rookie in the AL -- behind Delmon Young of Tampa, Alex Gordon of the Royals, Adam Miller of the Indians and Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox. And, they like Chris Young -- from Ariziona by way of the Birmingham Barons -- as the young player they like the most in the National League. That was a VERY painful sentence to write. Just got the book. If I find any more gems, I'll pass them along.

It's time for Mark to put on his St. Louis hat and head down the Mississippi River. The Sox strategy with him has always been apparent. Pitch the hell out of him for six or seven years -- and then wish him well. it's a business. And this is a business decision. Sad, but true. We don't need a buehrle soap opera all year -- and if the team doesn't win, it's going to be a soap opera. Mark has not seemed to enjoy himself since he was told not to slide on the tarp. Thanks for the memories.

explain?

white sox no contest. Bears a nice group of thugs and punks, like most NFL teams. White Sox were lights out in the post-season, delivering a thrill long-time Sox fans thought would never arrive. Plus, we shut up the Cubs Nation for a long, long time.

I have no problem with this deal. What were our alternatives? Stewart is just as injury prone as Erstad -- and cannot play CF or 1b. this guy can play three spots and doesn't cost much. What did BA do last season to guarantee him 500 at bats? He was the worst hitter among AL outfielders for the first three months. If he hits, he should play. If he sucks again, let him sit. And this allows Sweeney the needed time in Charlotte to gain more confidence as a hitter. Thumbs up, I say. Erstad is no world beater. But he is a solid functioning part as a fourth outfielder.

What is a slingbox, for the technoogically inept? I have DirecTV. Have had the package for 10 years. It's basically fine -- and not really that expensive. I think it was only $159 last season -- and they take it in four payments. The only annoyances have been that you have to watch the home team announcers (mute button essential for the Twins' games), they only carry the Comcast and WGN games (excluding WCIU or whatever that other channel is) and the picture does disappear during bad weather, which if very annoying if the weather gets bad in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning. But, I'm thinking about the mlbtv.com package this season. Can anybody speak to the pros and cons of Mlbtv.com vs directv? Does that also force you to listen to the feeds from Twinkie Land, the Red Sox and other annoying play by play chumps?

if he's inexpensive, healthy and willing to split time at LF, CF and 1b, it's an OK move. At his age, you gotta figure the guy wants to play on a team that wants to win. He won't gripe about playing time Better to have him around playing part time than Sweeney. Rather see Sweeney finally repeat one level of the minors, improve his confidence and refine this game.

Adam Ricks or Don Lucy grinders

i'd also take Figgins and Aybar for Crede. You have to figure Joe will be gone in two years. And Fields is going to have to be the Guy. Figgins provides a guy who can play 3b, lf and cf -- and bat lead off and steal a base.

somebody better tell Gammons Crede is not a free agent until after 2008

.281, 27 HR and 81 RBI, most of them for the Sox before he is dealt in july for pitching prospects to make room for Josh Fields.

seems like we have a hard-on for the pitchers in the Rangers system -- and I don't remember Texas producing many pitchers through the years.

Buehrle will be here for this season only. And he won't make it to August if the Sox fall out of contention. He'd be a great chip to deal for more proven prospects at the trading deadline (as long as he isn't pitching the way he pitched the last three months last year). As for JD, I don't see us resigning him either. Sweeney will be the RF of the future. JD has too many miles on the odometer and his career record suggests that he will NOT reproduce the numbers of last season.

Who is Tom Gorzelanny?

as long as you don't need Bernie for more than 200 ABs, I like the idea. switch hitter. should be cost effective. if he is going to play, seems as if he would want to play with a winner.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 6, 2007 -> 07:14 PM) But if the Cardinals offered me $0.000001 more, hello St. Louis People all love their employers and believe they will stay forever, but like in every line of work, people switch companies. Frank Thomas took less, a couple of times, and was later discarded. Fisk was released without a farewell. I'll cheer for whomever is in the uniform. If Mark got a better deal tomorrow and left, it would not change what he did in Chicago and I would always enjoy those games he pitched and wish him luck. No hard feelings, it's just the business side of the game. exactly right. the only thing that concerns me is that it often seems like Sox players leave with more bitterness and anger than you see with other teams.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Jan 6, 2007 -> 06:40 PM) He makes the Sox look the bad guys at this point in time though. Pretty smart if you ask me. exactly right. agent inspired talk. Maggs didn't want to leave. He left. Ventura didn't want to leave. He left. they all say they don't want to leave. Paulie stayed -- and took a few less bucks. He's the very well paid exception -- not the rule.

My prediction: Buehrle won't be back. I think it's obvious that the White Sox have no intention of giving ANY pitcher a four or five year deal at 12-15 per season. Especially guys who have thrown as many innings as Buehrle. We saw it in the past when they let McDowell, Fernandez and Alvarez go. We saw it this year when they traded Garcia and tried to trade Garland to Houston. They're going to keep doing it, by trying to collect enough healthy young arms, hoping that one or two of the guys come through. They've pretty much said they think the market overvalues pitchers. We're going young. get ready for it.