Chisoxfn

The Sox outfield can hit. Their defense outside of Ordonez is suspect. If you're talking just offense, the Sox are in the top 10. Looking at the whole package, they aren't. Ofcourse this is all going on the fact that Rowand is in CF. If it is Harris or Borchard different story. I also think our outfield has more questionmarks then other outfields, simply because we see these guys more, but we also expect more out of them. We all know Ordonez is a machine and that Lee came on strong late last season. Some of us like Rowand others don't. The great thing is, the outfield has an amazing future. All are young and we also have Webster, Borchard, and Reed in the minors.

I dunno, if you look at Salmon, Anderson, and Erstad they have 3 real good defensive outfielders and all are good hitters. Anderson had a real good year. Erstad, has all the intangibles, plays great defense, hustles and is a good hitter at the plate, and Salmon put up real good numbers once he got on track. I think on that one he looked at intangibles a bit. Of course, our outfield is good.

Flash is coming here knowing his role. With the cubs no one knew there role, from Hundley all the way down to Bellhorn. The team was in dissaray last season and Flash was the best man for the closing job. Here he has already been told he won't be the closer and at this stage of the game he's jsut going to have to deal with it. If he excells then he can go elsewhere, but his days of getting a big money contract are over. He's older, and has a history of arm trouble. Setup man is as good as he'll do, imo. Although I think he's a heck of a set up man.

Perhaps, but the Dodgers? The Dodgers??? Don't think so! I'm with ya on that. Jordan stinks and Roberts had a career year. Green is darn good though.

I don't even think Guardado hits 95, more like 92. The guy doesn't have good stuff and he's pretty old, coming out of nowhere. I think of it as a career year, one that he will never ever get close to reaching.

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!! Then eventually you can mix Almonte and his changeup in there. Oh ya!!!!!

Well, Alou is better then Lee or at least proven and Sosa and Maggs, well thats a break even, but we know that almost all sports writers will give Sosa the nod, because of the homer and fame. As far as Patterson and Rowand, I am not a huge Patterson fan, but he is very talented and well Rowand isn't near that talented so it makes sense. Now as Lee grows up this season (He will) then they will be better, especially once Borchard steps in next season or real late this season.

I consider Diaz a premier prospect, STUFF wise. The guy has filthy stuff, but he does have health questionmarks. Thats what holds him back from being thought of as one of the top prospects, although he is still rated very high. Trust me though, this kid will be fun to watch.

I'm just going to call them 1a and 1b.

He has signed, but it won't become official until Monday. It is pending a physical though. I'd give ya a link to our story on it, but the main page is down as the server is being upgraded/ undergoing maintenance. Once its back up, I'll give ya the link though.

I just think that Minaya screwed up and held on too long. The Market died and he had to make a deal and JR knew this. I do think he had some inside info, but hey, I'll take it any way we can get it. Sox Swindle Expos

The nice thing is, both teams should beat up on the crap teams and since they are in such a week division the wild card and division winner should come from the AL Central. Of course the A's, Mariners, Red Sox and Angels are all very talented. I don't include the Yanks in that, they are locks to win the division, although I hope I'm wrong.

Ya...that server is being upgraded and improved as well. Some people may be able to acess it while others can't. The upgrading/maintenance should be done later tonight.

I'm not sure, but I think they still need to drop like 4 million or so, at least.

Borchard is also a switch hitter, as is D'Angelo Jimenez and Willie Harris. I'm assuming your talking about power hitting lefties though. I think another one would be nice, but we'll eventually have that with Borchard.

Well...it will make the all star game more exciting, although I thought last years was real exciting. Plus, how long after the game were people still talking about it. I think the controversy was good for baseball cause it led to people talking about it a lot more for a couple of weeks.

I think our bullpen is better simply because I can't see Guardado duplicating what he did last season. He just isn't that good of a closer.

I never said that....but that trade is nowhere near the level of importance of the Colon or Durham or Ritchie trade....if something is as bad as the Durham trade is, it is important. KW got hosed terribly on that deal. Diaz wasn't the Giants top prospect and Meaux won't amount to much more than a reliever. In Colon, we got a great pitcher for one of our biggest needs. And we got screwed in the Ritchie deal as well. The Lofton for Diaz-Meaux deal was great...I was happy that we got anything at all. It doesn't make KW any more or any less of a dips*** though. One thing though, if we never made the Durham deal we'd be in bad shape going into this year. We wouldn't know who to play between Harris and Jimenez. I know they still aren't too proven, but at least tehy both had ample playing time when we weren't in the thick of things. Sometimes you got to make a deal just to open up room for everything else and if people really think there was a better deal out there, then I think were mistaken. I know we were all talking about Lidle and others, but the facts were no one had interest in his salary. How he got Diaz was amazing. Just throwing it out there. No Adkins isn't an ace, but everyone forgets it gave the youngsters time to play. We knew Ray wasn't going to be here and ya his compensation would be a nice thing to have, but now we learned Harris wasn't quite ready and he learned what he needs to work on and we also found out Jimenez is pretty damn good, or so I think he is.

Its also the same KW that acquired Damaso Marte, one of the best young left relievers in the majors as well as Edwin Yan. Its also the same KW that acquired D'Angelo Jimenez, our leadoff hitter/2nd/ss of the future that is a very very talented player that is going to do real good things for the Sox. Its also the same guy thats built a tremendous farm system and got us Willie Harris for Chris Singleton. He also got us Felix Diaz, one of the premier pitching prospects in the majors when healthy for KENNY Lofton. Ya..the Durham deal stunk and the Ritchie one stunk (Not as bad as everyone thinks it did though), but hey, I see more nice deals than terrible ones. Of course many also consider the JB deal that netted us Majewski and got rid of Baldwin bad as do most consider the Clayton deal bad. I consider those even deals, and I also consider the Boomer deal an even one. You can't rip that one or the JB one cause we didn't give anyone up that did anything special or really anything at all. The Clayton one I can see as a negative, because of the clubhouse problem, plus KW already admitted it a mistake. Then there is the Osuna deal which was a good deal. Oh ya then there was the awesome Colon deal!!!!!!!!!!!

Two things I never thought I'd read in print except for in a sarcastic font color. this is from baseball perspectives by Mike Bauman. You can read the entire article here I love hearing it. When I see him in spring training (The past two years he's been there, so I figure he will be there this year) I'm gonna have a nice talk with him. Last year I told him the Ritchie deal stunk, this year I'm giving the man a compliment.

Jimenez will leadoff. As far as centerfielders go, Jose Cruz and Orlando Palmerio are about the only options out there. I like the idea of signing Pudge and then going with this lineup Jimenez Pudge Thomas Ordonez Konerko Caballo Manos Crede Rowand/Harris

I'm with ya Cerb. I still think we have the best pitching organization in the majors, along with the Anaheim Angels. The Cubs are pretty good too, but almost all of theres are at the lower levels, while the Sox have a very good mixture.

Well, whats everyones take on him so far. I can't label him a bust yet, although I never wanted them to draft him, but I would say if the right offer is there I'd trade him. On a side note, lets say were picking #4 or so next year, you think we could package Jay and the 4 for Lebron? Me, I'd make a trade.

Just wanted to quickly Say GO HAWKEYES. I was shocked to see them pull the upset. Alford is a heck of a head coach (I think he's one of the best in all of college basketball) and he's doing an amazing job so far with a less then perfect squad. Go Hawks Go!!!!!!!

i wonder what mr showtime has to say. i may have missed his comments yesterday, since he been right the last several yrs. Ya...its easy for a pessimist to be right when he talks about the Sox. I do know he's excited for this trade. Somewhere on the board he started a thread with his take. And optimistics like me, were usually wrong but NOT this year!!!