Chisoxfn

I'm not too high on Suppan. He does one thing though, and thats pitch innings. Right now I'm pretty happy with our rotation. Finley, Rogers or Stewart are the only guys I can see possibly taking Rauch's job.

I think Miles deserves a shot this spring. If he plays great, then he should be up. The one problem is, the Sox seem to need a backup centerfielder and Harris is one that can fit that bill while still playing 2nd. HSC's also right about Miles never getting a shot, because he did have Biggio in front of him, and if I recall he was with Houston pretty much his whole career. If he rips the cover off the ball in spring or dominated down in Charlotte, then he should be with the Sox.

The more I work on my preview article, the more I think the Barons could be really fun to watch. They are going to have an awesome starting rotation, that will be lefty dominated. I've never seen a team or system with as many lefties as the Sox. The offense will be what it comes down to, but whenever you have a reall good pitching staff and a great coach like Wally Backman, you got a good shot at competing.

The thing is, Old Tigers stadium was one of the coolest parks I'd ever been. I even think Wrigley is a pretty nice park. CW, since you live in that area, Were the Tigers fans upset they got rid of the stadium?

Its amazing considering how well the A's did even though they were in the toughest division in baseball, although some could argue that the NL West is the toughest. Either way, Oakland is one team I never want to play, cause they own us. There offense isn't near as fiersome as it used to be though. There rotation is still good, but they made a mistake moving Lidle, but they do have Lilly, so they got 4 solid guys.

Baggs, Curt Schilling is one guy that comes to my mind about coming back from a previous surgery. Of course he was fully developed at the time. Eric Gagne seems to of done pretty good recovering from his very early surgery that occured in the minors. As far as Finley goes, there is now one thing that scares the heck out of me about him and thats what kind of an influence he would be in the clubhouse. I don't know if this is true, as its from his ex wife, but I was reading a magazine and they were interviewing her about the whole incident. First she said Finley gets high before every start and that he's been taking steroids for quite some time. Secondly, she said Finley hit her first and was very abusive. Don't know what to believe, cause I never heard bad things about Finley and you know after that previous incident that she'd be mad. I like Finley a lot as a pitcher, and being that I'm near Anaheim, where Finley pitched for almost his entire career and I've never heard one person say a bad thing about him.

Column: Shades of 2000? Part Two: The Bullpen By: Matt Michel

Derrek Wheeler. He's a Redshirt Freshman. It was cool, he got in a couple minutes at the end of the blowout. Since he's a freshman/walk on he doesn't play too much yet. All I know is they whooped UCI. On Saturday I'm gonna go see them play Long Beach State. Ya, Cotts should be pretty good. I've heard good things about him. Also, it would be sweet to see your stuff up.

My buddy plays basketball for the Gauchos. I'm going to see him play tonight as they are playing back in our hometown against UC Irvine.

Welcome aboard Jim. Its really awesome to here from you. I know one of our regular posters, HSC, goes to Bham every year for a week or so and watches the players and says how much fun it is seeing the future Sox play. Hopefully your right about the Barons. I'm writing something up on them right now (Just taking a break from it) and from what I can see the one weakness will be having players with much experience in AA back. I do think the rotation should be pretty good, especially with Malone, Ulacia (IF he's in AA to start the season) and You at the top. Its not too often you see 3 lefties at the front of the rotation and being a lefty myself, there is nothing I like more then good lefties.

Good thinking, CW or anyone else...please go tell him we think he should get Beltran

Because he will make a lot of money this year. Look what the Expos got for a Cy Young Candidate in Colon. They got stiffs. Kansas is going to get mainly stiffs in return as well. Rowand isn't really a stiff, Stewart is a quality prospect that can immediately start, and Ginter could go to the pen. Pretty fair to me. No one wants to take on payroll this year. Then look at Millwood, who went for nothing at all cause he made money. I don't know what Beltran will make, but my guess is it will be a good amount this year.

I think he's there for sure on Friday, and he may go the other two days.

First time in a couple years I didn't go to the Bulls Clipp game, and I think I was glad I wasn't there. They played like crap and then Bill went off, especially on Fizer. Fizer's been playing his ass off, so I think it was wrong of Bill to pull that stunt, especially calling his players out in the media. He better do some good apologizing or he could just lose the team after a stunt like that. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but you just don't rip your players via the media, you do it behind closed doors. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...ome%2Dheadlines

Lol; what did you think of the armenian comedian?

I think some of the spaces may be off. I had to read it carefully, but other then that it wasn't too bad. The grammar wasn't too great, but that comes down to the writer.

The Sox AA club, the Birmingham Barons, are looking like they are going to have a lousy team this year. Most of our top prospects are either in AAA, with the big club, or in the low minors. I take it....... Malone, Diaz, West, Arnie, Sanders.......etc are all going to charlotte? Too bad all their records are gonna suck.......because hitting is pretty weak up there..... Maybe with the addition of Holt, a healthy Jb, and a healthy Mario Velenezulea (SP?) they can do som damage. Malone is going to be in AA still. He's got to prove he can pitch there and that he's 100%. I think he'll rebound and have a pretty good season. That guy has a very high ceiling and can be a devasting lefty in the rotation. his rep is that 1 yr he does good and the next he doesn't The problem with Malone last year was control and an injury. The control stems back to an injury as well as the fact that he is still pretty raw. Otherwise, people didn't hit Malone much. The year before Malone had a huge jump as he started to figure things out. The guy will be a slower mover strictly because the Sox will have to teach him more things, mainly mechanically, but stuff wise he's right there with Diaz, imo, except he's got a bigger build, which lends me to believe his body will be able to harness his stuff. Something that is a big questionmark when it comes to Diaz, whose very small in stature, much like Juan Cruz, Ramon Ortiz, and Pedro Martinez.

"I don't think I'd rate him in my organizational Top 10, mainly because he doesn't have the upside of other guys in the system." "Diaz, Honel, Wing, West, Wyatt Allen, Royce Ring, Edwin Almonte, Arnie Munoz, and Sanders all rank ahead of him in my book. " question...doesnt bullard have a higher upside then guys like ring,almonte,and munoz??...i dont know much about bullard other than he has put up good number everywhere he has pitched but when you talk about upside you are talking about as far as a guy can go...any starter in the minors should have a higher upside then a reliever because alot of starters become relievers but very few go the other way..and starting pitching is more of a premium... to look at it another way..if ring cant make in his role..game over..if bullard cant make it as a starter he can always make the move to the bullpen..eric gagne comes to mind in this respect...never had it as a starter..but now is closing for the dodgers...btw..thats another of KW's screw ups everyone forgets about....howry for gagne was a done deal..till williams said he wanted another prospect from the dodgers... Gagne was a power pitcher with filthy stuff. I know you and I were always drooling at the shot to get Gagne for Howry. As far as Ring, Munoz, and Sanders go they all are lefties with good stuff, especially Ring and Munoz. Munoz has a nasty nasty curve, while Ring has harder stuff and is closer material. Those two may be relievers, but they ain't like typical relieving prospects. Also, I kind of have a feeling the Sox are going to try converting Munoz to the rotation. As far as Sanders goes, he fits more of the Bullard mold, not overpowering, just solid pitcher. Bullard could pan out though. I can't wait to see some of these kids in Spring.

I can't see KC trading Beltran to a team in their own division unless we make a seriously one sided offer. That is just shooting yourself in the foot. Also Beltran is going to be looking for a hefty contract and we are already looking at some arbitration for our rising stars in the next few years. I agree with you on both points. KC wouldn't trade within the division and we won't be able to sign Beltran. He's represented by Scott Boros and we have to take care of the talent we currently have. I don't think we could sign him, but to me it would even be worth renting him for a year, then dealing him in the offseason. I think next year will be a better climate for trading, although I may be wrong. Either way, I think that proposed offer is the best deal they could possibly get cause they want to unload them and have wanted to for the past year or two. Now that he's going to make more money they are even more desperate.

Ya, I think most of the proposals have them keeping the Green Monster, just building a much better stadium around it.

Finally someone who agrees with me on that stadium. Its a freakin dump. They should blow the damn thing up and build a new stadium right now.

Good interview. I think Williams is a very smart guy, and a 38 he's still got a lot of growing up to do, but to me he seems to be figuring things out. I know I'll take shots for this and I'm not going to call him GM of the year or anything like that, but I still believe he could turn into a real special and talented gm. I also KNOW that he's much better then Dan Evans. If KW is sucessful, he could be here for a very very long time. The key is, the Sox will have to spend money, he'll still have a lot of growing to do, and the fans eventually are going to have to show up if this team keeps winning the next COUPLE of years. Hopefully, KW is being honest in this, and I think he is. I like what he said about the media. He has pretty much admitted his mistakes, something few general managers do. Thats a trait I really like because we don't have to be stuck with someone that just doesn't fit too long. Yes, he held onto Royce too long, but he admitted it was a mistake. With Ritchie, he gave up on him admitting that mistake. Still, KW and JR have a lot left to do until I'll believe they are constantly going to be thinking with this new train of thought I've seen so far this offseason. I believe KW is very willing to spend money, but its up to the owner to give him the ok.

The Sox AA club, the Birmingham Barons, are looking like they are going to have a lousy team this year. Most of our top prospects are either in AAA, with the big club, or in the low minors. I take it....... Malone, Diaz, West, Arnie, Sanders.......etc are all going to charlotte? Too bad all their records are gonna suck.......because hitting is pretty weak up there..... Maybe with the addition of Holt, a healthy Jb, and a healthy Mario Velenezulea (SP?) they can do som damage. Malone is going to be in AA still. He's got to prove he can pitch there and that he's 100%. I think he'll rebound and have a pretty good season. That guy has a very high ceiling and can be a devasting lefty in the rotation.

youre joking right...he makes over 4 million now I meant the general payroll I think. I can't even figure out what I was saying. Next year I don't see Lee making more then 5 million a year. He'll probably sign for similar to what he's making now, even with a bigger year. Its just the new economics of the game. On a sidenote, Lee isn't worth 4 mill, he's worth about 2.

The Royals want to move him, they aren't looking to pick up salary and in this current market they are likely to give him up for not that much. There is no way we'd have to give up our top prospects in this deal or anything close to that. Greg is right, they could ask for 5 minor leaguers and we could get away with giving them pretty much 5 stiffs. Beltran is going to make money this year as well as next year, and thats something not many teams are willing to pick up this year. I'm not sure what the current payroll is, after all the trades and signings, but I'm still guessing if we picked up Beltran our payroll would be about 55 million, which would put us in the vicinity of last year. Also, I wouldn't even care if we gave up those guy and lost him in 2 years because we still wouldn't be giving up much. The one thing I love about Beltran is all the tools he has. To me he's a way better version of Jose Cruz Jr. One that plays awesome defense and has maybe, the best arm of any centerfielder in baseball. This would be a sweet pickup, and I say if we got Beltran, we'd definately be favorites to win the division. Hunter in Minnesota is the best, but Beltran is darn good. Royals desperate to unload, and Beltran isn't quite the commodity Colon was. On a sidenote, Beltran could of been acquired by the Cubs last season for Michael Tucker or that was something that was rumored after they dealt Tucker for a PTBNL. Most teams said it was going to be Beltran but that the Cubs didn't want to add payroll. Of course, whether thats true or not only the other teams management knows. Please KW, go get Beltran...then call it an offseason.