thomsonmi

ESPN 1000 just reported that the White Sox have made an offer to Peavy re-working the $22 million final year of his contract and are waiting for a response from Peavy.

I don't start many topics here at Soxtalk but I am up late tonight thinking about how excited I am for the coming season. I love the critical analysis here at Soxtalk. Part of what makes being a White Sox fan so damn cool is how we fight with ourselves so passionately regarding the team and its future, its general manager, and its coach. I truly believe that it is a special thing to be a White Sox fan. For so many reasons, I truly believe our White Sox are the greatest organization in all of sports: (1) Barack Obama; (2) Kenny Williams; (3) Ozzie Guillen; and (4) Jerry Reinsdorf being at the top of the list. But, read this article by Jerry Crasnick at ESPN and smile... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2009/c...&id=3948072 We have the making of a ridiculously good team coming together. The competition between young and old. The naive of young players like Quentin, Ramirez, Danks, and Gavin combined with veterans like Thome, Konerko, Dye, Pyerzinski, Buerhle, and Jenks. Throw in the competition at 2B, 3B, and CF and this team is literally exactly where I'd want my favorite team to be. To make it even better, the young talent in this organization is phenomenal with Gordon Beckham and Dayan Vinciedo soon to claim their spots as perennial all stars. I am so proud of this organization. Ten years ago we literally had no personality, hardly even a proud history, Now, with some of our favorite former players leading and coaching the team we have personality, we have history, we are cool like no other sports franchise in the world. And, the President of the World is one of our biggest fans. Seriously. Can it get any better? Bring on the 2009 baseball season. I am ready. I love this game! I love the Chicago White Sox!!! :

Posting this from my cell phone while driving from Chicago to Denver down highway 80 so I apologize if this has been mentioned but Bruce Lhevine says his White Sox sources say this rumor is a bunch of crap. Lhevine closed his show at 11am saying this with utter certainty. I know Lhevine is not always right on trade stuff but he sounded like a person who had talked to a very well placed source.

It is all about the South Side now, isn't it? Obama! White Sox! :gosox3: :gosoxretro: :gosox3: :gosoxretro: :gosox3:

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Nov 13, 2008 -> 11:29 PM) I'm a huge Kenny Williams fan but it's worth noting that none of those players were drafted by the White Sox. A whole bunch of them were acquired with players whom KW did draft.

I should add that anyone who thinks Kenny Williams is building for the future really doesn't pay attention. During KW's entire tenure as GM, can anyone identify a single season in which he built the team around the primary idea that he was building for the future? It's simply not in KW's genetic code to care about the future. The man is trying to build the best team he can year in and year out. When guessing his move I would suggest folks consider his past history. The White Sox are not building for 2010. They are in it to win now.

I know that the whole idea of sites like this is essentially to second guess everything our GM does, but what the hell does Kenny Williams need to do to gain the respect of the folks who post on this cite. As best as I can tell, the tone towards the moves he makes is continuously critical. The vast majority of posters here think Kenny always overpays in the trades he makes. And, the vast majority think he sucks at drafting talent. I am left to wonder by what stroke of incredible luck does he manage to come up with players like Carlos Quentin, Alexi Ramirez, John Danks, Jermaine Dye, Bobby Jenks, Tadahito Iguchi, AJ, Gavin Floyd, Matt Thornton, etc... It's not that I don't think its acceptable to question Kenny's decisions. It's simply that there is a stupid level of criticism towards him in which it is continuously suggested that somehow he has a history of bad decisions when frankly the opposite is true.

It's a lot to give up but Miggy is a legitimate superstar and he is only 24.

QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 22, 2007 -> 12:41 AM) We have nothing to offer the Marlins. They're going to want better players than Fields, DLS, and Gio. We suck. You're right. I forget these things.

If we do sign Rowand, I think we will also go big time after Miguel Cabrera. KW will not be satisfied with just bringing Rowand back.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Nov 22, 2007 -> 12:06 AM) I love Rowand but he really is not the guy I want the organization to invest the big bucks in. Right now I think id rather have us pursue andruw jones than Rowand. Plus look more into this fukodome or whatever it is guy. There is absolutely no reason you should waste your time hoping the White Sox will sign somebody who uses Scott Boras as his agent. Just let it go. The White Sox are not going to sign Andruw Jones.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Nov 7, 2007 -> 10:51 AM) Where did you see the $4.5M number? It wasn't in the Rosenthal article. The $4.5 million number is being reported by the Score. The Rosenthal story does say, "Williams said the team re-signed Uribe for a lower salary." The White Sox Press Release also refers to $4.5 million as the amount.

The Score and Fox Sports also confirming. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7418304 $4.5 million for one year. We did actually decline and renegotiate, saving $500,000.

I'm not totally opposed to picking a high upside high schooler. I just have no way of judging who is better. The college players have stats. I have idenitified players who have been successful at the college level. I have looked for high strike out per inning totals, low ERA numbers, and low batting average against. I like those kind of young pitchers personally. They tend to be the guys with the highest upside and liveliest arms. It does have to be recognized that high upside high school ballplayers also present greater risks.

Chris Salberg, Senior at Florida Atlantic This year Salberg has 124 strikeouts in 100.1 innings pitched. Batters hit .225 against him. As a Junior (2006): Started the season in the rotation before being moved to the bullpen on Apr. 29 against Jacksonville...longest outing of the season was 7 1/3 on Feb. 25 against Connecticut....had a season-high 11 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings against North Florida on Mar. 25...second on the team with 82 strikeouts and 73 2/3 innings...ranked seventh in the A-Sun in strikeouts...drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 22nd round.