Getting Williamson is going to be huge for them.

 

That's true, I hadn't even thought about Williamson. Still though, I'd be genuinely surprised if they were to win a playoff series with their current pen plus Williamson. I dunno what Hendry is thinking. It's pretty much baseball law that you ain't going anywhere without a quality bullpen. There have been exceptions, but not many.

Since their bullpen was awesome in 03.  :rolly

 

And their rotation is not 'average at best'.  I'd say average at worst.  Prior-Zambrano-Maddux-Williams is a very solid 1-4 and then Rusch or Hill is a solid 5.  If Prior and Zambrano can stay healthy, they are a very solid and very underrated team.

um ok well Prior is a stud however Maddux is old and his ERA is near 5. Zambrano is very inconsistent. He can be good one day and than bad the other day. Rich Hill is a rookie and Rusch is ok. I would take teh Sox rotation anyday over teh Cubs.

They will be a very scary team in the 2nd half.  If the team in general can stay half way healthy, I see them taking the Wild Card.

 

Ummmm.... aren’t we forgetting about the Houston Astros? These guys have been on fire since the 2nd half started. Their top three of Oswalt, Pettite, and Clemens is sick. Their #4 guy can be alright at times (I can’t remember his name), but they’re the favorites to win the WC. Not to mention that they have Lidge to finish a game off.

 

So even if the Cubs are healthy I still don't think they can win the WC. They're a team that relies on the HR way too much.

I actually think the Gerut/Lawton deal benefits Pittsburgh. If you look at the #s, Lawton isn't that much better than Gerut. After that, look at the ages and salaries of each player.

Maybe Gerut got traded because he realized that as a Sox fan he could never really play for the Cubs.

Getting Williamson is going to be huge for them.  I really would have liked to see the Sox pick him up for an incentive-laden contract in the offseason.

IF he's completely healthy then I agree. The problem is he's coming back from this injury far to quickly, I wouldn't be surprised to see him either not at 100 percent or land back on the dl.

Maybe Gerut got traded because he realized that as a Sox fan he could never really play for the Cubs. 

 

The poor guy probably couldn't sleep at night. It had to just eat away at him.

For everybody who says Jim Hendry is a Great GM they don't look at how bad some of his Free Agent signings have turned out to be: Todd Hollandsworth has sucked this year, He didn't get any bullpen help this off-season, and the biggest mistake he ever made was giving Kerry Wood a long-term deal in which wood will average almost $11 Million in. How is that turned out for him? Not only that but he gave Wood a complete No-Trade clause. Also he got robbed in the Juan Cruz to Atlanta deal for Andy Pratt. Pratt has been a complete bust while Cruz was a huge part of Atlanta's Bullpen last year. Also all of his big trades like the ones with Pittsburgh came when their was either a financial issue or w/ nomar when he had an attitude issue in Boston. He is an OK GM however i'm sick and tired of everyone kissing his ass in this town.