Soxbadger

Oh and thanks for all the updates, the posts here actually come 5-10 minutes before the game cast. So I usually read here to get what is actually happening. SB

Damn Crede has been on fire, hopefully Lee keeps getting on base in front of him. SB

All I have is Gamecast and this website, sucks not being in the Chicagoland area for games. Only get to see the Espn and WGN games. SB

I'll respond to each of you in turn... Steff, No Im sorry Im pretty sure that my reading comprehension is not in question. If you would like me to quote every single time a poster said some one or the White Sox sucked with out a qualifiying statement I gladly will. But Im pretty sure that some one of your intellect can go back and read the thread and see for yourself. You can keep your opinions, but I will not personally attack you so long as you keep the same standard with me. My intelligence has nothing to do with this arguement. Baggio202, Unfortunately Im currently enrolled in college and can not make the game at Comiskey due to prior committments, class. If I was able to I would be there every game, but it does not work for me. So I do the best I can and watch every game thats on television and read every game that is on espn. So if my fanhood is not up to par because I go to college, then so be it. As for a Cub fan, you can ask my roomate an avid Cub fan how many times I berate him on a daily basis. Or even how many times I go after my girlfriends parents, or any other Cub fan I can get my hands on. Soxfest, No I disagree, they do not deserve comments such as they suck and that they are never going to recover. Its a 162 game season, if we dont believe in them who will? If we the people that consider themselves hardcore Sox fans wont give them a break, who will? Have you ever had 3 bad days in a week, 3 days you wish you could take back? But no all of you are perfect. So keep attacking me, atleast your venting your anger at a target thats not the White Sox. Now maybe some of you will go jump on the Cubs bandwagon, I hear they are 2-1 and Prior pitched lights out. Even better theif offense has been amazing. So after 3 games I declare the Cubs champions over the Sox. ::note the sarcasm:: This is foolish, support your team, they will respond. SB

I hope that all of you that are on the Sox's case do not come back here and start cheering for them when they start winning. I thought Cub fans were whining babys, but I was wrong. Its the 3rd game of the season and so many of you are already on half the teams case. Get rid of Konerko, Lee sucks, Koch sucks. So I guess Ill join my own bandwagon. The Sox do not suck. The Sox will win games. The Sox will be in the AL Central race. Some times you run up against teams that are on a hot streak, some times a team has your number. I guess everyone forgot to tell Kansas that they cant be in the Final Four because they got decimated in the first few games of the season. ::Shrugs:: If the White Sox are your team then damn support them. If I could be there tomorrow I would be, and Id be shouting for them to win to the very last out. I guess thats what being a fan is to me, I root for my team, I stand by them when they lose, and when they win it makes it all the more sweeter. I just hope that there are some people like that left. SB

Well isnt only giving one run up a victory, considering his first inning he gave up 3. Now if he keeps improving and we keep scoring... And that should of never happend, damn errors. Oh well it still early. SB

And what sucks more is that the Cubs are on two channels, both Espn and WGN. I wish they would go away. SB

Jose hit a triple to deep right, not that I saw the play, but I read it. I hate not being able to watch games, Im reduced to watching the Cubs on Espn and hoping for Sox highlights. SB

Do we know for sure that Manuel even called for the bunt on 2 strikes? Players often times make decisions on their own based on what they feel they can accomplish. Perhaps Graff thought he could put down that bunt. It just seems unlikely to me that Manuel would call for something that is pretty much considered bad managing this early in the season, especially when a win on game 2 isnt a make or break play. If anything Im more upset with the fact that on 2-0 Graf was bunting and not taking. Let the pitcher get that first strike over if you are bunting, or on 2-0 hit and run hoping that hell throw a fastball and youll hit it to the right side where the defense left. All in all, 0-2 isnt where I hoped wed be, but if this is the worst we aregoing to play then I have a feeling we are going to win a lot of games. SB

I say ask Koch, if he wants to stay in then he does. And I believe fully that the Sox are going to come back. SB

So far in the 7th, and I only have gamecast so its not that great... Rick White comes in. Berroa- Safe at first on throwing error by Graffinino Tucker- Struck out by White Randa- 2 run hr, only 1 run earned. Marte Relieves White. Ibanez singles on 0-2 count. R. Johnson pinch hits for D. Brown R. Johnson- Strikes out looking. Top of 8, 5-3 KC I love the updates you give here guys, but the negativity kind of sucks. I mean its the second day and already some of you have thrown in the towel. The game isnt over and if you dont believe that we can score 2 runs in 2 innings, then what chance do we have of winning anything? Ill go back to watching reading my game now. SB

Well usually I try and keep myself even keel when it comes to posting on message boards but the recent posts by HSC have started to get on my nerves: Half of these statements are ludicrous and can be applied to any team that is even considered a contender. Looking at other posts of yours in other threads you seem to think that Cashman is a great GM, so lets take a look at the What ifs for the Yankees: What if Clemens age finally catchs up to him? What if Contreras is not as good as people think? What if Matsui is not able to adjust to Major League pitching? What if Soriano does not repeat last years success? What if Pettite has lost something? What if Weaver cant handle the pressure of the Bronx? What if Wells goes back to the White Sox Wells? Anything in the world can happen, you can second guess, you can say the worst, but no team has great backups at every position. The White Sox in my humble opinion are just as deep as most teams out there at many positions, besides catcher. Its easy to be a pessimist, and its hard to be an optimist. But if every fan believed like you do, then no one would of showed up to any Angel games. Because who were the Angels to beat the Yankees, who were they at the start of the year. No one even thought they would be in the playoffs the AL West was a 2 team division, A's and the Mariners, with some even saying the Rangers over the Angels. But they won the World Series, because thats why they play the game. Because if everyone knew what was going to happen in the next season, we might as well not even watch. You can say that I only have less then 10 posts, you can say that Im not a true White Sox fan, or whatever. But none of that can be considered a valid arguement, character assasination always shows a lack of arguement. As to whether or not the White Sox are done, if Gordon passes his physical, I believe that the White Sox will pretty much have closed shop for this offseason. A long term reliever and/or another starter would be nice, but I do not see it as a necessity. The White Sox are clearly concerned with their budget, so I doubt they will frivolously start to add people that are not really big time players. If this was not the case, then you would of seen the White Sox not only acquiring Colon, but also Millwood. Seeing as for absolutely nothing we could of had him and had a rotation of; Buerhle, Colon, Millwood, Garland, and Wright. And that would of been a rotation to marvel about. In the end, why not just be happy that the White Sox did anything? I was fully convinced that we were not going to get anyone after the month of January began to roll by, but even then I was willing to argue with anyone that would listen that the White Sox had a chance to be great. With the addition of Colon for relatively nothing, the White Sox have an even better chance to be great. You talk about the future, but you have to start with 1 World Series before you can have 2. And personally, Id trade pretty much anything if the White Sox win just 1, because who cares if we have the greatest farm system forever and never win a series. I personally am happy, and unless something terrible happens to the White Sox in the next weeks, I am going to be so optimistic about this season that nothing will drag me down. A true fan always is an optimist, even when your teams magic number is 13 and there are 13 games left, you always hope, because thats what being a fan is. SB

Today in the car I heard KW interviewed about the Colon trade and here is a brief synopsis of what I remember: KW claims that the White Sox have been in fact going after Colon since December, just that the talks with the Expos kept breaking down. This week he asked the Expos who he could acquire to try and finish the deal, El Duque was one of the people the Expos were interested in. He not the Yankees made the contact, and in his discussions with Cashman pretty much used the arguement that not only would the Yankees be getting something, they would also be preventing the Red Sox from getting Colon. He said that they already have a reliever "on the line", but that Major League rules stipulate that he can not say who until he passes the physical, if the physical is part of the contract. Saying that he has an "agreement" but that its not final, I assume this is Flash Gordon and if he passes the physical on Monday his signing will be announced. Williams also expressed that the White Sox are thinking about resigning Colon to a longer deal, but that will wait until after spring training and once the White Sox see if Colon is a good fit. Also he said that if he does try and sign him long term, that the negotiations will be quiet. Seems that Williams used the Yankees against the Red Sox very well, knowing that the Yankees would rather not see Colon in their division and needed a reliever with the losses of Stanton and Mendoza. He also actually looked ahead and started going after Gordon before he got rid of Osuna. In my opinion the biggest loss by the White Sox was Biddle, but in reality we have a plethora of young arms that can replace him, and Williams said that he was going to use in house talent to replace Biddle in long relief. If anyone lost in this trade its the Yankees, seeing as El Duque most likely could of been just as good of a reliever as Osuna, but they were not going to let the Red Sox have Colon. They paid the price and we reaped the benifits. Strange how in the end Minaya playing the Yankees and the Red Sox against each other helped the White Sox the most , because there is no doubt in my mind that had the Yankees not thought the Red Sox were going to get Colon, they would of never settled for the El Duque trade. I think that the White Sox have definitely improved not only their starting rotation, but also their bullpen. With Gordon, Marte, and Koch, they can dominate the last 2-3 innings, and thats not even counting the young reliever talent we have. SB

Tribune Chicago Tribune is also reporting the 3 way deal between Yankees, Expos, and White Sox. It also says it hinges on the White Sox getting Hernandez, and then trading him to the Expos with Liefer for Colon. Seems multiple GM sources are reporting that this trade is definitely in the works, if we can get Colon at the price of Leifer and a few prospects to the Yankees, or even possibly a reliever, it would be quite an addition. SB

Marshall vs Louisville- Ragone vs Leftwich? I would want to say Louisville because they beat FSU, but those were in terrible conditions. So Ill stay with Marshall and predict that Leftwich outshines Ragone. Texas Tech vs Clemson- Texas Tech, they are better then most think. Kingsbury should do well, as the entire year hes had to play against much better defenses. New Mexico vs UCLA- UCLA, dont know that much about New Mexico, and that says alot. Tulane vs Hawaii- Hawii has June Jones, Tulane has... Therefore Hawaii Boston College vs Toledo- Dont know much about either of these teams, but I have an inkling that Toledo plays a much more open offense. Therefore I take Toledo. Pitt vs OSU- Pitt. They played Miami close, they have a talented QB and WR. But then again OSU is an enigma, some times they play amazing, other times they are a flop. Ill take Pitt. So. Miss vs Oklahoma St.- OSU, I really have a problem for the most part giving small conferences love over a big conference. OSU's losses have come to only good programs, therefore they beat So. Miss. Nebraska vs Ole Miss- I despise Nebraska, and they will not win. Look for Eli Manning to come up big, and for Ole Miss to win. K State vs Arizona- K State is going to murder them. Thats that West Virginia vs Virginia- This one is a very questionable one. West has beaten Virginia Tech but lost to Maryland, Virginia has beat Maryland but lost to V. Tech. Im gonna take West Virginia based on their run game beating Virginia's pass game. Colorado vs Wisconsin- Hmm, being that I go to Wisconsin its hard not to pick with my heart. That being said, I think that Wisconsin will win. Take away their one horrific loss to Indiana, blew a huge lead, they lost to PSU, OSU, Michigan, by a combined 15 pts. Wisconsin will pull the upset because they have seen much better running backs, even if Brown is able to play. Minnesota vs Arkansas- Fluke Arkansas is even here, give it to Minnesota. Oregon vs Wake Forest- Oregon, not really a question. Iowa State vs Boise State- Had this been earlier in the year I would of said Iowa State with ease. Since Wallace has fallen from his pedestal, Ill give it to Boise State. Atleast they intrigue me. Washington vs Purdue- Prudue, and why the hell not. They have not lost by more than a touchdown all season, thats remarkable considering theyve lost 6 times. No matter what the competition they always keep it close, and I have to give them the nod here. Close games with both Iowa and OSU says something. Colorado State vs TCU- C- State. Dont know that much, dont really care to know that much. G-Tech vs Fresno State- Fresno, San Jose is practically their back yard, I say this one goes to home field advantage. Tennesse vs Maryland- Hmm the question is whether or not the Terps can score on Marlyand. If its a high scoring game the edge is with the Terps, low scoring Tennesse. I pick Maryland as I believe the SEC is not the strong conference it has been in years past. V- Tech vs Air Force- Itll be a cold day in hell before V-Tech loses this one. LSU vs Texas- Texas is just to talented, and LSU has not done that much for themselves this year to build off of their great year last year. Florida vs Michigan- Any other year Id say that Florida would make this a laugher, just to fast, just to good. But not this year, Florida loses to Michigan, showing just how far the sec has fallen from grace. NC State vs Notre Dame- Not sure how you call this one an upset special as the current line is a pick em. I pick NC State, I think they are the better team and that their offense can propel them to victory. It took all of the luck of the Irish for them to finish this high, but eventually your luck runs out. This one has a chance to not even be close if NC State opens up a lead. Auburn vs Penn State- Penn State, its going to be to much Larry Johnson left, to much Larry Johnson right, and to much Larry Johnson up the middle. Penn State is just going to pound Auburn until they break, and I have a feeling they will. Ok vs WSU- OK wins this one against a hurt Gesser who clearly is not at the top of his game. I expect OK to put a huge amount of pressure on him constantly and just wear down WSU with their defense. Ok's offense behind Griffin should score just enough points to win, like they always do. FSU vs Georgia- Some say FSU does not deserve to be here, to that I say check the scoreboard at the end of this game. Sans the Lousiville game their 3 losses came to NC State, ND, and Miami. They almost beat Miami, they team that is going to be the National Champions, and should of beat them. Its true the loss of Jones will hurt them, and the fact Rix is gone. But FSU are fighters, they are winners, and even though Georgia is the higher ranked team, they are going to be intimidated. FSU wins, FSU wins. Iowa vs USC- A 6 point line in favor of USC, are you f***ing kidding me? Iowa is perhaps the best team in the nation, besides for one slip up against the at the time ungodly Seneca Wallace, Iowa has beaten everyone. To bet against Iowa is to not know College Football. Regardless of the results, the smart money is on Iowa, and I would say that they should win. Miami vs OSU- Barring an act of god, this one should go to Miami. They are faster, stronger, and more offensively sound then OSU. OSU has Clarrett, Miami has a bigger and faster man by the name of McGahee. Gamble would not even start on either side of the ball for Miami, yet he plays on both sides for OSU. The rift in talent between the 2 teams is something that will not be over come. Miami, and perhaps Miami in a worse blow out then Nebraska. ~Sb

Long time reader, first time poster. Anyways, since the end of last season, I have almost religiously followed the trade movements in hope that the White Sox would do something. Eventually this following became an obsession every day looking, every day trying to find that we did something, anything to just provide me with some sort of justification that the White Sox were trying. But in my madness I finally realized that perhaps my obsession with the White Sox doing something was bordering on ridiculous. On the few message boards that I have checked, most people seem to be very upset with the fact that the White Sox have seemingly lost out on a variety of different pitchers, Oritz and Byrd being the last. But when looking at the rumors of what we would have had to give up for Ortiz, Konerko in particular, I think that the White Sox made a good decision to not trade for Ortiz. I have always been suspect of National League pitchers coming to the American League, the trade for Todd Ritchie even furthered this suspicion. Unlike in the National League, there is no free out that gets many pitchers out of trouble. I can not even recall how many times Todd Ritchie would be on the brink of getting himself out of trouble, only to be pounded by the bottom half of the order. I do not see Ortiz as being able to be as successful as he was in the National League, and with the price that was given up for him, he clearly was demanding far more then he would be worth in the American League. So that brings me to what the White Sox should do, I will assume that we are working with about $57 million in salary: 1) Sign a free agent such as Roger Clemens or Greg Maddux. Sure they both are out of our price range now, but if we were willing to trade Lee, Liefer, and others, why would we not be willing to trade them for prospects? If we were to trade Lee, Valentine, and not resign Ritchie, that would free up 5mil from Valentine, 2.7mil from Lee, and 3.5mil from Ritchie. That is a total of 11.2 million for next year. Most likely we would have to eat some of Valentine's contract, perhaps even half, lowering our savings to 8.7 million. We also have considerably less cap tied to players that we had last year. Thomas is 4million cheaper, Durham's 6million is gone, Clayton's 4.5million is gone, so is Alomars 2.5mil and Foulke's 4million has been replaced by Koch's 2.35mil, but eventually will be increased. This leaves us saving 17 million from last years starting cap alone, even if we do not include Koch. 17 + 8.7= 25 million less salary then last year. Even if we resign Burhle to a long term contract, we are still a significantly cheaper team then we were last year. We can then use that money to sign a Roger Clemens or a Greg Maddux, two pitchers that will give us not only a number 2, but pitchers that could be number 1s. We can replace Lee with either Liefer, or Brochard, or perhaps try and get a center field prospect through our trades and put Rowand in Left Field for the time being. With Valentine gone we can put Jiminez at short and Harris at 2nd. In essence we would be trading Valentine and Lee for Maddux or Clemens, both trades I would make in a heart beat. Option 2: If Maddux accepts arbitration it is unlikely that the Braves will be able to keep their entire starting staff. What this means is that Milwood may be on the block, but will come at a very high price tag. I think that Milwood would make a far better pitcher for the White Sox then Ortiz would have, and will make the transition to the American League much smoother then Ortiz might of. The reason for this is Milwood's extremly low whip, and the fact that he has an outstanding Walks to K's ratio. Both of these factors make Milwood a much better risk to take for the White Sox if we are going to give up a considerable package. If we were thinking about giving up Konerko for Ortiz, I would much rather think about having Milwood for Konerko. Eventhough I will admit, it would be a cold day in hell before I ever traded Konerko, but if he is on the market, I want a starter who is going to be a stud for years to come. If we traded Konerko we could try and get David Ortiz, which would give us a power hitting first baseman. Anyhow, this is all just what my sick and twisted mind has come up with. I doubt that any of it happens, and most likely the White Sox will either trade with the Expos or stand pat. But I can dream, I can dream of a White Sox team that will win the World Series. Because thats all ive got right now. ~B