Jermaine Dye and Cristian Guzman

[whitesox61382]

Here, IMO, is what The Sox should do. If they want to play little ball, then sign Vizquel. This guy is an excellent number 2 hitter. Make Uribe your 2B. Every time I watched Uribe this season, the more I liked him, even when he was struggling at the plate, he nver got cheated in an at bat, plus his defense is incredible. Keep Carlos, move Willie Harris to CF and make him be Juan Pierre, he's really not that far away. Rowand in RF. Trade Konerko for pitching and sign a bullpen guy, starter or whatever. Gload plays 1B. Keep crede at 3B and make Valdez your reserve INF. Uribe can give Crede a day off and so on. Carl Everett, if he's healthy gives The Sox a stud off the bench.

No offense, but I hope the Sox don't do what you suggest. The lineup you project is a significant downgrade from what we started with this year.

 

Who is the Sox leadoff hitter? Harris? WANTING him to be a Juan Pierre, and him actually putting up numbers like Juan Pierre are two entirely different things. Have you seen Harris play? Because when you say he isn't too far away from being a Juan Pierre, it appears that you have never seen Harris play. Only once in Pierre's career has he hit below .305(.287 in 2002) and he has a career BA of .312. Only once has Pierre posted an OBP below .353(.332 in 2002) and he has a career OBP of .361. Only once has Pierre SO more than 35 times in a season(52 in 2002). In each of the last 4 years Pierre has had at least 45+ SB. By comparison, Harris has never hit above .262 in a season(small sample size) with a career BA of .240(the point is that Pierre came into the majors and hit .300 from the start). Harris has never posted an OBP above .343(small sample size) and has a career OBP of .305. Harris is SO prone and averages about 80+ SO in a full season. Despite Harris's speed, he is not a good base runner and didn't even steal 20 bases last year. Pierre and Harris are drasticly different and they aren't even close. The Sox will be in some trouble if Harris is their leadoff hitter.

 

I am still trying to figure out the obsession with Vizquel. He is 38, has been very inconsistant the past 4 years, has lost a step defensively and on the base pad, and yet most people proclaim that he is the Sox savior. Yet the middle infield talent pool(via FA and trade) is so deep this year, and Sox fans want to settle for a so-so option like Vizquel. Furthermore, your lineup loses two huge bats in the middle(Maggs and Konerko) without finding a decent replacement for either. I like the idea of improving the pitching, but you don't improve the team by significantly downgrading the offense.

[beck72]

Everytime Ozzie/KW/Hawk/whomever mentions "small ball," Juan Pierre comes to mind.  IMO, he is exactly the type of guy Ozzie gets off about....and rightfully so.  The last 2 years with Florida, he's not only played in 162 games each season, but hit over 300 each season....2nd in the NL in SB behind Podsednik....s***, he led the leage in hits this past season too.

 

I'm generally against trading PK or Carlos this offseason, but if they could somehow get Juan Pierre, I'd part with either of those two guys....plus, he could solve our RF problem next year by taking Rowand's place in center.

 

Would be a tremendous pickup.

Getting a CFer, via trade, seems the best way to add speed and a leadoff hitter to the lineup.

 

The key is could the Sox give the Marlins an "offer they can't refuse", knowing what Pierre would give the sox? I'd be willing to bet the sox could strike a deal w/ FLa. Castillo hit leadoff for them a lot in 2004.

 

I have no problem w/ a PK or Lee trade, as long as they replace them with proven guys