ISF

Already on pace to top the 2 million mark this season for the first time since 1993, the Sox have sold more than 30,000 tickets for five of the six games on their upcoming homestand, which opens tonight against the Tigers. Looks like the orders keep pouring in.

Rowand compares favorably to most CFs in the AL both offensively and defensively. He also is reasonably priced given his comparison to league CFs. Exactly what was the valid argument for shifting/trading him? I'd much rather trade Anderson. If we're looking at the future in CF, that will likely be Chris Young if Rowand gets too expensive.

Well, I know I'm not spending any money on the White Sox this year. We didn't get Pavano!

I'm pissed a guy that is suspended gave up the AL's shutout.

I would personally have A-Row batting 7th or 8 th right now, and that's being nice. He was doing well early in the 3 spot, but Thomas, Kong, and Dye/Everett should be our 3-4-5. Nobody on this team can approach Thomas' OPS potential.

In the immortal words of William Munny in the movie "Unforgiven"... Deservin's got nothin' to do with it.

Villone is a good pitcher. Find it hard to believe he's on the block. He's inexpensive and effective. I would assume that is the type of player Seattle would like to keep at this point.

QUOTE(whitesoxin' @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 06:57 PM) Say no to Eddie! He has lost velocity and is playing with a partially torn rotator cuff. He is a trainwreck waiting to happen. Forgot about that, he does have a partially torn cuff. Also, one of the reasons he has Boston on his no-trade list is because he wants to close and they have (had) Foulke. He really doesn't make sense for us in that light because he wouldn't be doing much closing here.

QUOTE(chi-guy2 @ Jul 7, 2005 -> 06:45 PM) sounds like from what im hearing were looking at the following pitchers: aj burnett ted lilly jason schmidt billy wagner eddie guardado If that's the case, Lilly makes the most sense. Guardado would be next on my list. We have no need for Wagner.

I don't see the problem with that quote. S-Pod got 3.9mil+ votes. People on this board were excited about people from the Red Sox board voting for Pods in their "Anybody but Jeter" campaign. Now it's an issue that Kong says other people may have voted for Pods than just Sox fans? It might be time to try decaf.

My problem with trading for another starter at this point is that we have our 4 man rotation set for the playoffs. Buerhle, Garland, Garcia, Hernandez. Hernandez was acquired specifically for his results in the postseason. I would not trade Marte because LHRP have been important in the playoffs. We only have 2 reliable ones now, and you'd like to have 3 going into the playoffs. IMO, we should be looking for a LH 5th starter/long reliever. Somebody who can fill in for Hernandez now and can keep Walker off the roster when he returns. Casey Fossum fared poorly last night, but he'd be one guy I'd have interest in. If Kirk Rueter is released by SF, I'd kick the tires on him too.

Kerry Wood is Darren Dreifort in a Cub uniform. Tantalizing power. Electric curve. You can just envision him being a perennial 20 game winner. Then you realize he doesn't know how to pitch, has little command, and is as fragile as El Duque. No thanks. Certainly not at what he makes.

Just added another 15 votes.

Well, I got my first 25 votes in for Pods today.

If McCarthy is up with the big club, then he needs to start every fifth day. Period. Otherwise get somebody who can take the 5th starter's spot and send him down. McCarthy gains nothing from sitting on the bench most of July, except for the occasional spot start. Now, if we're allowing him to take a long relief role, then somebody else can be sent down....

Well, tying this in with the Schmidt thread, Larry Monroe was supposedly at the game the other night watching him work. As for Lilly, I'd actually be more interested in Casey Fossum. Riccardi is likely to want no small sum of prospects for Lilly. Seems to me Fossum would come to us a little cheaper, although one never knows what Chuck Lamar will ask for.

Rogers is 9-2 with a 1.98 ERA. Halladay has slightly better stats across the board on Buerhle. That could still change in the next round of starts, but right now we have 2 out of the top 4 pitchers in the league. Why does it matter if Halladay starts the All-Star game? He's earned it right now.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 21, 2005 -> 11:08 PM) Speed doesn't = batting average. Speed = 70 stolen bases. Well then I guess Alex Sanchez should be getting offered a top dollar contract any day now.

Then send him down. We're not doing him any favors by having him on the bench. He did well for 4 innings and then made a mental error in a bad situation. He'll learn. Get him out there now while we can afford for him to take his lumps.

Deal with San Fran. get another SP and a LHRP in one shot. Jason Schmidt and Scott Eyre. Hell, Eyre came up through our organization.

"Speed never slumps" Speed hit .244 last year. I'd call that a year long slump. I like what Pods has brought this year, and I was skeptical for a long time. But anyone bashing Lee as abad fielder needs to pay attention, because the past 2 years he was a better fielder than Pods will ever be. Lee can throw you out. Pods cannot. I throw harder than Pods. Pods has had several plays this year where he didn't even move on a hit ball until it was way too late to make a play. Pods has brought a new dynamic to this team. A very important one. I'm glad we have it. But to suggest he's an improvement defensively, or to insinuate we lost in previous years because we had Lee is ludicrous. We lost in previous years because our bullpen sucked, our 5th starter sucked, and we played poor fundamental baseball. Nobody could bunt worth a s***. Carlos Lee is contending for NL MVP right now, and I for one am happy for him. I wish we still had him, he's a hell of a ballplayer. I wish we could have traded someone else. I wish we didn't have the dumb ass budget constraints that forced KW to jettison him in order to dump salary.

Randa is not better defensively than Crede. He's good, the difference is negligible IMO, but better? No way. Likewise, any suggestion that Joe Crede is better than Randa offensively is a joke. We have large sample sizes on both that are pretty indicative of what production you can expect from each. Randa wins going away.

No to Zito. Would rather go after Schmidt, who will probably cost us less at this point in terms of prospects.

This thread makes me ponder where all the Chavez threads went...

Speaking of blown calls, I think we should put together a nice thank you email to the 1B umpire that blew the call on Pods bunt, and which led to our comeback last night in the 8th.