Chisoxfn

Don't blame the country because most of the time its just one f***ed up asshole that's f***ing everything up. NK's leaders don't care what happens to there people and if they go down they want to take a lot of people with them. Don't worry, the US wont attack North Korea. Bush won't have that kind of support needed to take down a country as powerfull as them. In the end NK will promise to shut down there nuclear weapons program, and the US (and UN) will buy them off in some way. Its the few in control that have all the power over there. Its pretty sad in North Korea.

I dunno, if they get some 14 year with a broken arm that can throw 105 mph then they are definately going to the series.

I think he's just slow, just like Bengie Molina is on the Angels.

They made a mess and they have absolutely no talent in there farm system. They do have a good looking 2nd baseman that is supposed to start this year. They'll be decent and they got a darn good manager. If Brown and Dreifort are healthy they could be pretty good.

Thomas was really cool the one time I talked to him. Well, it wasn't much of a conversation. It was befor the 2000 season at spring training. I looked at Frank and said your looking ready for a monster year, how do you feel? Damn Good...then he was cool signed my ball and then Gary's ball and he went onto have what should of been an MVP season. Just cause the media says bad stuff about him, dont' mean he's an ass. It just mean he don't like the media.

Thats just what I keep hearing out here. Yes they raised the payroll, but it wasn't by some big time free agent signing. I think it was simply contracts going up and they don't have many marketable players. They could of had Floyd to play first, instead went cheap. They let Daal walk, couldn't deal Jordan, couldn't deal Beltre. This is a team that definately has a lot of problems, namely all the money invested to Brown and Dreifort. Brown, Jordan, Greene, Beltre, and a couple other players all combined to make quite a bit more this year then they did last year if i Recall. I know my dad is pretty pissed at the Dodgers right now, so is most of the media. They got themselves into this mess though.

Well a new pitching coach would of worked better with Kip, but a bit more time would of definately helped him. I like the fact that the Sox aren't rushing there players anymore. Olivo is kind of getting rushed, but he has the defensive abilities to fall back on, plus he isn't in a high pressure spot. Plus, it isn't too difficult to out hit MJ.

LA won't pay him any money unless there is a new owner in charge. Fox is pretty much content on selling the team and if they can't sell them you'll see them continue to lower the payroll till it is around 70 million or so. Thats a big drop off from what it currently is. If the Dodgers were willing to pay the money they'd already have Frank. Supposedly they offered him something, but it wasn't good enough to make him leave JR. The two of them really respect eachother.

Tell my story Jason, because I don't even know it. Well, Ian joined up a week or two after I joined up. He was here for a while and then resigned. About 4 or 5 months ago, he came storming back and he's been here ever since. Anything you want to add Ian?

It won't let me see the results of the poll for some reason. I know one thing, the Sox are a better team then the Cubs, then again, I think when everything is over the Sox will be wearing the rings.

I don't think it would be too far fetched to say that either Heredia or Loaiza is a better pitcher than Rauch at this point. Rauch's upside is far greater, but he has pitched a grand total of 8 games in the Majors. Loaiza, on the other hand, has started 32, 28, 15 (plus 15 appearance out of the pen), 31, 30 and 25 games in the six years. He hasn't been a great pitcher, but take his experience, our offense and project him against other 5th starters in the leagues. I think we would be in good shape. Heredia must have been hurt all last year, because I cannot find any numbers on him, including the Mexican League. He has made 128 career Major League starts with a 4.46 career ERA, so his experience is nothing to be laughed at either, especially if he is healthy. He has a couple of really nice years with Oakland. This is not a knock on Rauch, just shows the options we have. Rauch's time will come, but I am not convinced it will not be better served with at least another half year of AAA. Going slow with Crede seemed to work, Garland and Wright have had their growing pains, so why not be patient with Rauch if we have options? If I'm not mistaken Heredia was out of baseball last year. The year before he was with the A's and coming off a pretty good season, but then all heck broke lose and he fell apart. I don't think he even stuck with the A's for a full season he was so bad. He was a solid pitcher though for a couple years. The one good thing about Loiaza is that he has pretty solid stuff. From what Matthew said he's got a really hard fastball and some solid breaking stuff. Not to bad for a 5th starter considering he'd provide innings. Rauch is special though. He showed me enough late last season when he was finally healthy and even then his velocity wasn't quite where it was and he still wasn't back at full strength. This year he should be really good. I really think he could be ROY.

Significantly better than Heredia or Loaiza. Keep in mind that the 5th starter is not needed regularly in April, hence my feeling they will want Rauch to get regular work. We saw last year what happened when they put him in the bullpen and only pitched him once every 10 days. Man, were thinking alike tonight Hudler. I don't think Loiza or Heredia will have too much sucess in the hot air. Rauch's curve won't have near as much hook to it either. just remember jas it will be cold still when they return here.........lol and our starting games are all in cold weather this time around... detroit, here, kc, no domes nor florida type weather till its hot here and by then who cares huh.......lol......... The weather could very well be another reason the Sox won't bring Rauch up to start the season. First they figure the Sox are only going to use the 5th on rare occassions in the first month. Secondly it will be really cold. Why not let Rauch pitch in the warmth and get warmed up down in AAA and Spring Training and once May roles around and you start using the 5th full time you call him up.

Maggs won't go anywhere. JR will take care of him. Magglio is a very marketable player and once the White Sox pathetic Pr team realizes this, Maggs merchandise will really fly off the rack and his love in his home country will sky rocket. This will all happen during his MVP run this year or next. The guy has all the tools and its bound to happen. Oh ya, I think the Sox are going to keep most of these guys together for a while. Lee or Thomas will be gone next year, but I think Colon will be back.

Lol, so true Mark. We regret that decision every single day

Significantly better than Heredia or Loaiza. Keep in mind that the 5th starter is not needed regularly in April, hence my feeling they will want Rauch to get regular work. We saw last year what happened when they put him in the bullpen and only pitched him once every 10 days. Man, were thinking alike tonight Hudler. I don't think Loiza or Heredia will have too much sucess in the hot air. Rauch's curve won't have near as much hook to it either.

I don't consider that a bust if he's playing good defense. Think of it this way, its still a definate upgrade over last year. Olivo is better defensively then Paul or MJ. The one thing MJ has on him is that at this stage of the game he calls a better game. That should change as Sandy teaches him.

Well, all signs right now point to it being Loiza's job to lose. Now I'm thinking Rauch is going to pitch damn good and will make the rotation. Thats just me hoping cause I want to see him there. I guarantee he's starting by May 1st though. The Sox may just want to have him in the minors for the first month if Loiza isn't going to be used much. Still, I see no point in holding Rauch back unless they think he needs another month. If thats the case, then I trust the organization. Now if they think Loiza is the better pitcher, then they are nuts.

Don't you love it when Wheels gets an infield hit. I'll never forget his inside the park homer in Tampa. Man was that great. PK should get a shirt that says, "World's Fastest Man"

Preseason poll can say whatever it wants, its the postseason standings that matter

He should of just accepted arbitration. He'd of been making quite a bit of money and playing on a good team.

As a starter Rowand has been good. He looked good before Lofton came over and then he looked good again last last season. I really got a good feeling on Rowand. If he improves his walk ratio, he'll really be good. I think he will draw more walks this year. He seems to really be learning the strike zone, although I don't have stats to back that up, just what I've noticed from watching him. I see him lay off a lot more stuff now then he used to.

One day I saw on a message board that Mario was starting up a site. I didn't have a clue who he was, but I decided I wanted in, so I emailed and I've been here ever since

I think we'll see Daubach get a lot of the playing time against really good righties in favor of Carlos. Of course that all depends on whose hitting good and who isnt.

I'm surprised more haven't picked Olivo. This is a kid thats making a jump from AA to the majors and is still considered very raw. He still has to learn to call a better game and to block the plate. The tools are all there and I expect him to do good, especially with Alomar teaching him, but it could definately take him some time. I know he's going to play good defense, provide good speed and turn into a solid guy at moving guys over. Eventually he'll hit around .280 with decent power, 25 hr's max once he fully develops, and good speed. I see him really comparing with Pudge offensively and defensively, hopefully not heatlh wise.

Welcome Aboard As far as the icons and all that stuff. Hit My Controls and then if you want an image under your screename, that is called an avatar and you hit something like Avatar Settings and then you can attach it from your computer. Smaller images work best so you can see them. Then when it comes to getting a signature, the images on the bottom of the posts. You go to edit signature settings under my controls and then you can use the img tags and set it up so there is an img there or you can put in other type of writing. Now as far as Frank goes, I expect him to do much better then last year. Of course he still knocked in 93 or so and that was in limited playing time as he was benched at times. I'd say thats pretty darn good. Late last season he turned things on. Right now my conservative guess would be .280, 35 hr's, 110 rbi's. Thats me saying he's going to play almost every game this year, improve the avg and power just a bit and the rbi's should go up from additional games played as well as the slight increase in power and avg from last year. With the fences in comiskey shorter and Frank looking really strong last season and supposedly in great shape this season, I wouldn't count out say .320, 45, 125-130. I don't see him doing worse then he was last year, which is why I think his numbers will fall in between the two stats that I provided.