103 mph screwball

Shouldn't we have heard if this guy has been picked up yet?

Baseball America Ask BA Yea, I can't imagine KW not wanting this kid even if he turns out to be some kind of project.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jan 29, 2007 -> 12:13 PM) The 'Crede Negotiations' should be the last thing on Ozzie's mind mainly because I don't think any are going on or will be going on in the near future, the guy is as good as gone. Screw the Arbitration clock and screw any Crede negotiations if the team feels Josh Fields provides the Sox with the best possible chance of winning then they should most definitely give him a shot out there (though I do think Mack would do just fine in LF.) IF there are no Crede negotiations, then the last thing I want is Fields learning left field at the major league level. I want him in AAA becoming the best 3rd baseman possible. If the Sox need him, fine. Mackowiak, Erstad, Ozuna, Owens, and Sweeney would be ahead of him on my depth chart.

QUOTE(BurlyMan56 @ Jan 29, 2007 -> 11:09 AM) While talking to Joe...My buddy goes up to him and Joe, ya really gotta fire Scott as the agent, we need ya here. Crede ignores him and then my buddy again says, Joe I wasn't kiddin. Then Joe kind of mumbles with a laugh and says I'm going to need him in the next few years. After that, I had to welcome Josh Fields to the South Side. It stung At least we know that thought has been suggested to him.

I think it would be a bad idea to put Fields out in left without a Crede extension. If he comes up and goes 0-41 with 5 errors, that would not help Crede negotiations. How long does a player need to be in the majors before his arbitration clock starts? Iguchi will be a fine leadoff man until Pods comes back to his 1st half of 05 form. Besides, Erstad is going to be healthy and highly motivated and Mackowiak could also be a fine replacement in left.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Jan 29, 2007 -> 11:48 AM) It is a requirement as a Sox fan to have a media persecution complex. We must always believe we get no respect and the media is always out to get us. Perhaps you are right. I really thought the author of How Tribune Manufactured Buehrle Controversy really took the time to break down things and produce facts. His story is not a crazed rant. He has a well thought out argument specifically quoting the offending articles. If every Sox fan is required to have a media persecution complex, what originated that complex? Media persecution?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2007 -> 11:34 AM) The only guy in our bullpen who doesn't strike me as right now potentially able to hand off from the 8th inning to Jenks is whoever the 2nd lefty winds up being. Aardsma, Masset, MMac, Thor...all of them have the stuff to be very, very good out there. Hopefully, they all step it up this season. Who would be the long man? If, hopefully not, Floyd or 5th starter of choice gives up 7 runs in the first inning, who will be able to pitch 4 innings in the BMac/Lowe fashion? If Haegar does not win the 5th starter spot, I still think he has a role on the Sox. Masset, Thorton, and Sisco used to start. I'm not sure I'd want any of them risking going 4 innings without proper rest and preparation. Go Haegar! He seems like an underdog with his knuckleball when his GM loves the 98 mph heat.

This is why KW needs to be less candid with everyone except his team. How Tribune Manufactured Buehrle Controversy This is very well written by Jeff McMahon. I'm firmly believe that half of the media are scrub fans and the other half are told it is more profitable to feed on the angst of Sox fans. I'm very encouraged to hear that KW plans to change the way he does business because of the mediots. No I'm not scrubsessed. I'm just sick of hearing negative crap about my beloved White Sox, when much of it seems to have an agenda.

5 years 65 million with a 16 million 6th year option or 3 million buyout. Mark gets a full no trade in the 1st 3 years. Partial no trade in the final 2 years (he can have a list of teams he will not play for). He can slide on the tarp during any and all rain delays. He can wear a cardinal hat only in Missouri and only on days that the Sox are not playing. Mark gets generational wealth and 5 years with the team where his heart and soul is. KW gets a hometown discount, good PR, and some wiggle room needs to trade him for some future reason. Fans happy. Get it done. PM me if you need my help to mediate the agreement Maybe the thread title should be changed to Buehrle hopes this is NOT it.

Wow! Thanks! It takes a big man. Williams makes nice with Buehrle I no longer see any reason to e-mail Brooks. Someone in the organization must have read our advice earlier today. Maybe that shouldn't be in green.

All-time winningest Minor League Manager joins the Knights NEW SKIPPER TO LEAD THE KNIGHTS IN 07' Seems very qualified.

I am a huge Kenny Williams fan and I have grown to appreciate his offseason moves. Although I consider Mr. Williams one of the best in the business, I think his comments to the media involving players contracts are not helpful from a public relations and marketing standpoint. Although, I understand that the Sox can not sign all of their players and field a 150 million dollar payroll, constantly discussing money and the possibility of not bringing players back is counterproductive. I appreciate Mr. Williams candor. I feel that it is especially important to be honest with his team in order to be an effective general manager. However, the media feeds on these comments and spins them into the perception that the Sox are cheap despite a payroll near 100 million. I feel it would be beneficial to the White Sox if Mr. Williams would keep his comments positive or vague when discussing his players and their contract status publicly. We fans have grown to love many of the Sox players and being reminded of the business aspect of the game and the potential loss of these players to free agency does not make it any easier for fans if the players do move on. In fact, comments that may be perceived as bickering over money or that devalue such players in some way, reflect poorly upon the White Sox even if they are the cold hard truth. Mr. Williams faces many difficult decisions with the Sox and I am proud to have such an effective, aggressive, and skilled general manager to make those decisions. From this fan's perspective, a change in his relationship with the media to a more positive and private stance would benefit the White Sox. This is how I feel about it. If the poll gets enough responses, I will e-mail Brooks Boyer with my opinion and include a link to the poll.

I didn't hear much about it either, but I think the Bears had a lot to do with the lack of coverage. I think is was sold out right? I want the hear from some people who were able to go? What were some of the questions that the fans had. Which players were cool? Anything that may be of interest to this Sox starved fan counting down to spring training.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 27, 2007 -> 01:34 PM) My big thing is Mark is saying the right things, he's saying optimistic things to Sox fans. Kenny can just keep his freaking mouth shut, he doesn't need to respond. Sox fans are going to be excited just hearing Mark say how he wants to stay in Chicago because a lot of them have heard so much about the Cardinals thing. Kenny doesn't need to turn it into a war of words and he did exactly that. I am a big fan of Kenny as a GM (at one point I was probably one of his very few fans) but he is a complete boob when he takes his players and rips them or says stupid crap about them in the media. Just say that our organization is very leary about giving pitchers long term deals and we have yet to approach Mark with a proposal in the year range that his camp would like as our philosphy differs but that Buehrle has been amazing for the Sox and if there was one guy we would consider doing so with it will be Mark but we will have to see how the season progresses and I will not comment any further on any contract discussions. I don't f***ing care if he doesn't mean it, just say that and end it. Don't use the media to do your contract negotiations. That really is the problem isn't it. Not that the Sox are cheap, the fact that KW keeps having negotiations in the media makes the organization seem cheap. All KW had to say was that he was encouraged to hear that Mark wanted to remain with the Sox and that of course the team would love to have him. He could just say that he will continue working to keep him, but the young pitching the Sox were able to acquire this year could be very valuable if things don't work out with Mark. Mark's very valuable to this organization in 2007, has been a honor to have on the Sox, and hopefully, if an agreement worked out, he will remain a valuable member of the team. And so on. Brooks should be contacted and JR should talk to KW about it. This is bad PR and therefore bad marketing. KW may not think MB is worth more than 10 million. KW may not like Mark at all for some unknown reason. JR might have told KW to not sign Mark. Whatever his reasons, if Mark doesn't come back to the Sox, he should be treated well because of his service here, and because the FANS love him. I thought KW tried to do that with Frank at the end, until Frank threw him over the edge into a very unprofessional rant. KW needs to improve his media treatment of his players, even if it means not telling the complete truth to the media. It's not like the media values truth. He should shoot straight with the players, but give the media nothing negative.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2007 -> 12:20 PM) So, based on how often the statement was repeated last year before the season, I feel compelled to ask....how does his ass look? It looks like it has 50 homeruns in it this year.

QUOTE(spiderman @ Jan 27, 2007 -> 12:17 PM) I liked what Williams did this off-season, giving us lot of young pitching with good upside, but I thought this would be complimented with us using our revenues (great home attendance and new money from the CBA deal) to sign our own free agents. Instead we sound like a mid-market team with the "market is too rich for our team" comments - again, I realize we can't sign everyone, but it seems as if the White Sox are committed to rebuilding the team over the next few seasons, while not competing in the current market conditions and depending on their younger players. The market IS too rich for our team. KW too honest and maybe he should have a stock answer to these free agent questions to quit giving the media fodder. Please don't consider the Sox a mid-market team with a 100 millionish payroll. If the Sox lose Dye, Crede, and Mark and say "whoops now our payroll is 80 million and Sweeney, Fields, and Danks are better anyway", then the Sox have gone cheap. If KW can't keep Mark and Dye, I fully expect Danks and Ichiro. That money will be spent to keep the Sox legitimate contenders for the World Series. It's not about not spending money, it's about spending the money wisely. I am so pissed when the media idiots bring up the notion that the Sox are too cheap to sign extensions even though the Sox fans filled the seats. Half of the media is BIASED and the other half plays to the angst of us Sox fans. Funny how they leave out the Sox payroll figures when the alleged cheapness is being played. Crede has a back issue and is coming off of a career year. Dye is getting older and coming off of a career year. Mark had a subpar season last year and will still command a disproportionately high salary due to Zito. I still expect one or two of them will remain with the Sox. I want all them back. I want KW to keep the Sox World Series contenders more. I understand completely the debate over what KW needs to spend his money on. Please Sox fans, don't consider the Sox cheap as long as they have a 100 millionish payroll and they have not ruled out going higher. The fans have shown up and the payroll has almost doubled in the last 6 years, but the money is not limitless.

Contreras, when not injured, has been the Sox ACE since the middle of 2005. He deserves to start opening day. To have Mark start opening day after his performance last year, would be an injustice to Contreras and Garland. I would have Contreras start opening day even it Mark signs a 6 year 6 million dollar (hometown discount) extension right now. Mark seems honest, too honest. I believe him when he says he wants to come back. If he shows he's back to his old form this year, I wouldn't be surprised if we see an extension for him for loyalty/PR purposes if nothing else. If the money he requires is greater than the GNP of some whole countries, at least KW has some left handers with the potential of winning the Sox 14 - 15 games a year. The Sox can't pay all of their starters 15 million a year and still afford guys like Dye and Crede. Would the Sox be a better team with Mark, Garland, Fields, and Sweeney or Crede, Dye, Haegar, and Danks? KW has to make those kind of decisions because even if every game is sold out, the Sox can't have a yankee payroll. As long as the Sox keep an approximate 100 million payroll (they have not ruled out going higher), I will not consider them cheap or rebuilding. Only the yankees can keep everyone that the "boss" desires. With these unfortunate, unavoidable, difficult decisions our GM has to make, the Sox are extremely lucky to have a bold and shrewd guy like KW. KW is among the best in the game and getting better with experience.

I tivoed every spring game last year. I'm disappointed that they have reduced the number of games this spring. I was particularly looking forward to this spring to see some of the new kids pitch. Maybe some of the radio broadcasts will be different than the televised ones.

Erstad + Sisco >>>>> Gload + cash Nice moves KW!

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Jan 25, 2007 -> 02:27 PM) Mike North, while annoying sometimes, went from a regular fan to a millionaire on sports radio and probably considered one of the top sports talkers in the country. The hating on him gets a little tired on this board sometimes. I admire his accomplishments. However, during the Erstad discussion he blurted in the question about getting him something he could take to get his power back. Can he take some vitamins or something? Yea, North with steroids being such a negative issue to baseball, let's suggest Erstad take something to make him more powerful. I found myself wanting to tell him to shut up so that Hahn has the time to tell Sox fans real information. Murphy is much worse than North to me, however all of 670 AM is suspended from my dial for reasons I've explained in my Murphy rant a few weeks ago.

Rick Hahn was on Comcast Sportsnet Trib Live show. Not a whole ton of new stuff, but here is a recap for those interested. Pods workout routine went to full throttle last week and he aggravated an old injury on the right side of his groin that he had previous surgery on 3 years ago with the Brewers. Not the same injury as last year. 6-8 weeks, but since "speed is such a part of Scott's game, we have make sure that he is absolutely 100% healthy and confident in his ability or he's not going to be able to help us as much as all of us would like." They are going to be conservative with him. This was not discovered earlier because he didn't have a problem until he turned his workouts up to ten. They hope to have something official in the next 24 hours with Erstad. He had a bone spur in ankle last year. He is working out without restriction now. He goes all out and his style of play will cause injuries. He's a grinder and he's being brought for 2 reasons. First, he adds outfield depth, versatility, and help develop Anderson, Sweeny and Owens. Second, the Sox were missing something last year. Hunger, desire, or whatever it is, "This guy (Erstad) is the poster boy, if we were missing something, this guy brings it." Not concerned with his lack of power, wants him to get on base. Lead off, Iguchi, Erstad, Ozuna, Pods, whoever will get on base. If you can't get the jack rabbit leading off, get the guy that is going to get on base. Competition for the fifth spot, Floyd, Haegar, Danks, Gio, Broadway, Phillips. No repeat of revolving door 2004 fifth spot. BMac traded because they feel real good with Danks and Massett and think they will both be impact players for a long time.

Sounds like a reasonable contract, but there still are many possibilities. KW could have a big 5 year contract extension agreement in his back pocket to unveil right before Soxfest. He also could have a trade in place that he is faxing to the league office at this very moment. Remember, Gload avoided arbitration also. I'd love to keep Joe Crede from an emotional standpoint. However, when I consider the fact that I want my team to win every year, Crede with a Boras inflated contract and an iffy back may be too big of a gamble. In that case, KW would be smart to move him now if he can get a valuable return. I'm glad the Sox have such a talented GM to make that difficult decision whatever it is.

Just a reminder, the Sox had a top 5 payroll last year and will have a payroll >100 million. This is not the 58 million 2003 Sox. ONLY the Yankees can pay whatever for whoever and even they see the wisdom in what KW is doing. Besides, I'd be willing to bet that a fan favorite will be signed long term just before Soxfest this year.

I would not be surprised to see KW sign someone to a high dollar extension this offseason. In fact, I think he will put quite a bit of effort into it in order to disprove the notion that the Sox are going cheap. Dye would be the most likely player. Crede has Boras issue and Mark has the super inflated pitching market problem. I also think the fact that Anderson has not performed the way the organization had hoped can also facilitate a Dye extension. The Sox just are not as deep in the outfield as they were at the beginning of last offseason. As KW said, Jermaine has been a classy guy and he has been clutch on the field. I'd love to keep rooting for him for years to come.

My big problem is not that Murphy is a cub fan or that he is annoying. He went out of his way to establish that he does not root against the Sox, then he spewed negative propaganda that would make a 3rd world dictator proud. He's not an idiot. He used his spot on the radio to take a dump on the Sox organization under the guise of "talking White Sox baseball". I would not want the flag ship station of my beloved Sox to be totally biased for the Sox. However, I definitely do not tune in to hear my team unfairly slammed by twisted words. Sox fans that come to this site know the difference between criticism of the team and a verbal attack by a cub fan. I'm not so sure the average Joe would be able to detect the bias that was so blatant to me. My advice to everyone is not to listen to 670 from 12 to 2 on weekdays. Many of you are way ahead of me on that. I have suspended 670 from my radio, except for White Sox weekly, until I hear Farmer doing Spring Training games or until Murphy moves on to a new position at the Tribune. If his intention was to piss me off, he has succeeded tremendously. If his intention is for me to listen to more of his garbage, he has failed miserably. I will be downloading the Soxtalk podcast as well as other podcasts to fill my desire for talk radio during my daily commute. I won't miss the heavenly bodies commercials. Thanks to Soxtalk for providing me a forum to vent.