Chisoxfn

First off, let me say welcome aboard Sox Badger. Great post. I'm with you in most regards. Right now I'm under the assumption that the White Sox will keep their payroll between 50 and 52 mill(Just my guess) If they do that, then they won't have much after locking up Ritchie and eventually locking up Buerhle. This would mean they'd have to dump some type of salary to pick up a pitcher or get JR to ok adding a little more salary. With the increase in ticket prices, and the all star festivities you could only hope. Right now, I think the best option if we are going to get a real good pitcher is Bartolo Colon, but the Expos will demand a ton and Ken Williams will have to decide whether it is worth it. The Ortiz deal would of been great, especially for the rumored prospects. Unfortunately, the Braves made a far better offer and the Sox couldn't beat it or didn't have the shot to beat it. (I think the Braves gave up way too much, imo) Next off you have the Colon deal. Those rumors have died down, but the Sox are now supposed to be the 3rd team in the running, which lives a little bit of hope out their. Their are also guys like Person that are free agents and don't look to be getting any interest. Person isn't a great pitcher, but the thing that stands out about him is the fact that opponents don't hit him very good at all. If he could ever improve his control, he'd be a extremely good pickup.

Thank you. Byrd turned down a lot more money and more years from the Phillies. Lets face it, the offer that it would of took to get Byrd in the South Side would of been way too risky. Something like 3 yrs and 20 mill is what he had on the table from the Phillies. Sorry, but no way would I give Byrd that much money. He's good, but thats a big risk.

Baggs, as I said to oldroman....would you rather have had KW made the trade for Ortiz which would add $4 million to our payroll and would give us a huge risk in JT Snow or we would have been Ortiz-less with Konerko...you even said it yourself that this could end up like the Ritchie trade....which is one reason I really like it falling through. I am happy with Konerko in a Sox uni...it is fine with me. i didnt say make the konerko - ortiz trde if that was even a possibility...i didnt like that trade...but in the 2 years KW has been in charge we have gone from leading the AL in wins to a .500 ball club..and he has not made one trade that has significantly made this team better...but has made many that have hurt us...until this team wins he deserves all the criticism he gets... Baggs has held his ground since the day KW was hired. I hope to god his wrong, but he is very consistent with his opinions.

He may of made one decent trade(Evans), but I will stick to my guns that KW is better then Dan Evans. I'd love to see Williams able to work with the payroll that Evans has in LA. Now in Evans defense, he didn't exactly get to spend that money, but still, he has a lot more options then Williams.

KW wasn't at fault for missing out on Byrd. Byrd turned down good money with the Phillies and was holding out for the Braves. The Sox weren't going to get him.

I'd like to go out and apologize to everyone for the recent outage on the message board. We've had an influx of hits the past week or so as the site continues to grow and it ended up using the resources of the server. I'm still in talks with the server company and am asking them what I have to do to ensure this doesn't happen again. Once again, I'm very sorry for the outage and were doing all we can to permanently solve the problem. Thanks for your support

The problem is, 3 mill is about the cheapest they can sign him for.

Well, I think if we dump Ritchie we need to pick up two guys, and then we at least have some seasoned veterans in the rotation. This way Rauch can ease his way in eventually and their is less pressure on the younger guys like Wright and Garland. We just need some inning eaters that will do a decent job, unless we are going for an ace.

Lol...I don't dislike Oregon State, but Pitt damn near beat Miami. I still remember the year Oregon State kicked the crap out of my Irish.

I think Witesoxfan is hitting it on the head. Many of us were questioning how this move could of been done yesterday. The Giants wanted to dump payroll, and the Sox didn't want to add too much. The whole Konerko thing must not of been true. The Giants wanted prospects and cheap players and the Braves made a heck of a lot better of a deal.

Anderson is out their. I like him more then Daal too. I wouldn't mind just picking up 2 starters from the bottom end of the pile and just seeing what happens. You can always deal them later in the year if needed. Of course, I'll still hold out we can get a good guy via trade. Robert Person is still out their too (LDF pointed this out)

I forgot about Person, he'd be a good pickup too.

Roman...relax a bit. The deal the Braves had was a top young starter who had a 3.60 era or so last season and was 12-6. That wasn't in a full season either. Moss is a better pitcher then Ortiz, imo or will be and they also got a top prospect from the Braves. The only similar deal we could of offered was PK and a prospect straight up for Ortiz or Wright or Garland and something like Brian West. We'd of been nuts to do either of those, imo. KW never turned down that Liefer deal.

They are still looking at things. I think they will end up getting someone. The thing is, now all that is left is a real blockbuster like Colon or Vazquez or settling on a free agent or dealing for a lesser commodity like Ponson(I happen to like this guy a lot)

The Braves had a much better offer on the table, imo. Those reports aren't true as of yet, that KW turned down that offer. The Braves and Sox were negotiating with the Giants at the same time, the Braves had a much much better deal on the table.

Colon and Vazquez aren't gone yet.

I definately think Ritchie is a better pitcher then last year, but if money is such an issue with the Sox, I would rather have 2 starters then just Ritchie. Of course, maybe I'm wrong and thats not how it will end up.

Ted Turner no longer owns the Braves, AOL does and they have constantly said they will cut payroll. They want it to stay around 80 million, no higher.

Basically if the Sox bring Ritchie back it will cost them 3 million. Am I the only one that thinks the Sox would be better off signing Daal and Valdes and letting Ritchie go at 3 million? They'd get a lefty and righty, both that are decent and wouldn't cost much at all.

I think their is truth that the Sox are the mystery team.

Plus, I think at the money Clemens would want the Sox would have many more affordable options that could put up similar numbers.

Quickly, I'm gonna jot some names down as options still out their... -Omar Daal (FA) -Ismael Valdes (FA) -Roger Clemens (FA) -James Baldwin (FA) -Brad Penny (FLA) -Ryan Dempster (CIN) -Braves Pitcher (ATL) -Sidney Ponson (BALT) -Andy Ashby (LA) -Brian Lawrence (SD) -Livan Hernandez (SF)

Lol, thats a good one :metal

Well, according to the USA Today, the Sox are one of the three teams with the shot at getting Colon. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/20...s-dealing_x.htm Its a decent read. The weird thing is, for the past week, we've heard a slim shot at it, but no major affiliate will report it.

Well, now that I think about it, wouldn't a three deam deal of made more sense? Giants get Moss and Braves Prospect, Braves get Konerko, Sox get Ortiz and Ainsworth. I do think KW will be talking to the Braves. ESPN says Maddux will likely get a ton of money in Arbitration and I can't doubt that.