http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/article/20...s-low-key-moves

He called Thome too expensive...

I hope he wasn't thinking that Thome would be too expensive based on his recently-completed contract from the Phillies.

 

You don't want to pay him so little he feels insulted, but Thome is a trooper and something in the vicinity of $2.5-3.5 million should get it done. That's IF Ozzie and KW want to bring him back.

Really accurate article IMO.

 

I think the "battle" here is really between Ozzie and Kenny. I don't mean to imply that there is fighting going on but Ozzie has been wanting a team with lots of speed and defense all along and Kenny has generally been providing him with a softball team.

 

It's just not easy to put together a team with complete balance unless you have unlimited money. I think that this position on the roster could be a big factor in determining where this team ends up. If they add a "Thome type" for DH instead of keeping a guy like a "Nix type" Ozzie will really not have the type of team that he's been wanting.

 

KW has always been more about adding power and this is where he and Ozzie have always differed. I have to say that I really enjoyed watching the 2005 season and I wouldn't be opposed to watching another one. I like World Championships.

Edited December 22, 200916 yr by WHITESOXRANDY

I want to be greedy like the Red Sox, Yankees and Cardinals fans.

 

It's been 5 years since the last Championship KW; our trophy's getting dusty!

 

Pretty good article. A lot of fans have been asking for the big splash, but it just wasn't going to happen with us adding Peavy and Rios late last season. Just removing a lot of the dead weight from last years roster could be considered addition by subtraction.

Good article but I don't understand the "balance the line-up with 8 right handed batters" part. Aren't Pierre, Pierzynski and Teahen left-handed? That would be 3 LH with 6 RH regulars if Jones was DH and 4 with 5 if Kotsay were the DH.

noticed the part about how juan and ozzie were together in Florida. Hopefully ozzie gets em back to what he was doin in FLA, that .326/.374/.407 with 45 bags would look great a top this lineup

Good article but I don't understand the "balance the line-up with 8 right handed batters" part. Aren't Pierre, Pierzynski and Teahen left-handed? That would be 3 LH with 6 RH regulars if Jones was DH and 4 with 5 if Kotsay were the DH.

The big problem I see is...unless Teahen suddenly puts up an .850+ OPS like he did a couple years ago, all of our power comes from the RH side, esp. if Jones is the regular DH. If everyone performs roughly average, the heart of your lineup is, in some order, Ramirez, Beckham, Quentin, Konerko, Rios, Jones, with Teahen and Pierzynski being bottom-of-the order guys. That winds us up having pretty much no choice but to bump up a worse hitter to a better RBI spot just to break up the string of righties, so that a RHP or a ROOGY can't beat us with ease every day.

noticed the part about how juan and ozzie were together in Florida. Hopefully ozzie gets em back to what he was doin in FLA, that .326/.374/.407 with 45 bags would look great a top this lineup

45 bags at what rate?

 

His last three years look like this?

 

2007: 64/79 (81.0%)

2008: 40/52 (76.9%)

2009*: 30/42 (71.4%)

 

2009 he didn't play full time. But I'm concerned about the trend. If 2009 was just a lower year, since Juan isn't that old, and he can be more in that 77-81 range, then by all means, steal some bags. but if he keeps declining, and he's in the low 70's, or the 60's, then we should all hope he decides to not steal bases very often.