GreatScott82

QUOTE(striker62704 @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 08:11 PM) Are there any other bad contracts out there besides Contreras's that we can swap? I know Burrell gets alot of hate in Philly and if they re-sign Rowand they will have a surplus of outfielders. Maybe Burrell for Contreras and we throw in $5 mil?? Would anyone here do a Garland for Frucal straight up? Both FAs after 2008. Unfortanately we are most likely stuck with Contreras and his contract. Maybe it will be a blessing in disguise, who knows? However, seeing the lack of quality relievers via free agency, im almost possitive KW will trade Garland for a solid reliever or 2. Now if we can aqcuire a decent reliever and Furcal for Garland im all for it!

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Oct 1, 2007 -> 04:50 PM) Oxymoron. A bullpen can blow up in your face no matter if you go about it like the Sox did (stockpiling hard-throwing young guys) or like the Orioles did (trying to sign every good veteran reliever in fa). Only the Sox aren't paying $10+ mil a year for their bad luck. I agree to a certain extent. However, you evaluate your talent based on performance from the year before as well. You can't just hope your bullpen turns it around. At the end of 2004 Cotts and Pollitte started to get a lot of guys out, that carried over to 2005. Based on this year the only guy who got alot of guys out was Jenks. Thorton started off good but started to walk alot of hitters, same as MacDougal and Bukvich and Aardsma and Massett and Sisco etc... You have to evaluate your talent from the previous year and go out and get guys to fill the remaining holes. I believe there is still two holes in the bullpen.

Pods, Erstad, Myers, Bukvich, Uribe, Cintron will all just go.. Either Garland or Contreras will be dealt. (Hopefully Contreras, but Garland will bring us back the most talent, probably bullpen help) I'm not sure why KW will keep Thorton and MacDougal but he has mentioned that he will. The Brian Anderson experiemnt didn't last long and his stay as a White Sox is over also. I think the team goes into this offseason as of right now with this: Starting Lineup: LF- Josh Fields CF- ???? (Free agent) RF- Jermaine Dye 3B- Joe Crede SS- ???? (free agent or trade) 2B- Danny Richar 1B- Paul Konerko C- A.J. Pierzynski DH- Jim Thome Starting Rotation: Mark Buerhle Javy Vazquez Contreras or Garland John Danks Floyd, Broadway, Gonzalez, or Edgbert Bench: Toby Hall C, Pablo Ozuna INF, Jerry Owens OF, ???, ??? Bullpen Bobby Jenks CL Righty Setup??? Lefty Setup??? Boone Logan middle relief MacDougal- middle relief Thorton- middle relief Wasserman- The new Wunsch So KW needs to go and get: 2 reliable relievers (NO MORE Aardsma, Sisco, Massett experiments) A new Shortstop (Tejada, Eckstein, Furcal, and Renteria have all been mentioned) A new center fielder (Looks like its going to be Rowand or Hunter) 2 more bench players (We need someone to help back PK at 1B, we also need another middle INF, what is Willie Harris up to?)

I'll keep it simple: Most improved- Javy Vazquez Most Consistent- Bobby Jenks Biggest dissappointment- Jose Contreras Biggest Disaster- Injuries to Pods, Erstad, Crede, Thome. The Worst -Bullpen Biggest Potential- Josh Fields The best part of 2007- Three way tie between Buerhle's no-no, Thome's 500th, and Jenks tieing the all time consecutive outs record. KW- F- Ozzie- C- Fans- A+++. I've never seen soo many fans go to a Sox game when they were in last place on a consistent bases like they have in 2007.. Its amazing what a world championship does for an organization, it provides hope for the future that maybe, just maybe we can do it again soon. KW should have some financial flexibility, that is if they still go by "If the fans come, we will spend" philosophy.

Wow this a memorable day in Sox history. Won 100 games back in 1917. Clinched division in '05, Final night game at Old comiskey in 1990, 8 players were suspended for fixing the 1919 world series (including shoeless joe). Wow September 29th is a historic day.

Yep the NL is horrible!! In comparison the American League is like the AFC to the NFC in the NFL. Or like the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference in the NBA. I guess we shouldn't talk though, since our Sox went 4-11 in Interleague in 2007. The playoffs will probably look like this: NL Cubs @ Dbacks Padres @ Phillies AL Yankees @ Indians Angels @ Red Sox Now any one of those 4 AL should be there as any one of those teams will likely win it all. Looking at those NL teams is pretty pathetic. Only one of those teams will probably scratch the 90 win platuea (Arizona).

White Sox '05- 99 Wins, 11-1 in the postseason, 2005 champions. Cubs '07- 85 wins, 0-3 in the post season, golfing

The offense during April, May and June. The bullpen from May-September (except for Jenks) Individual suckiness: -Cintron sucks, Gonzales sucks, Terraro sucks, Uribe has declined defensively and is still very bad offesively despite his 20 HRs. Contreras was just horrible for 3/4ths of the year. Injuries: KW took a chance on both Pods and Erstad being healthy and it was a risk that just completely failed. There were tooo many problems with this years team to overcome. KW failed and he will be the first person to tell you that. Some of the possitives from this year: Fields proving he can play every day. If he can reduce his strikeouts he'll be an offensive machine in 2008. Owens, his second time up was a good one. He got on base respectfully and when he did he wasn't afraid to steal (32/40 SBs). Now he probably won't make the starting OF in 2008, but he'll be a lethal threat off our bench. Vazquez- he is having his best year since Montreal and he is proving to be comfortable finally. I will no longer consider him a mental midget. It will be interesting to see who will go behind him and Buerhle in the rotation next year. Jenks- This guy is the real deal and for the 3rd straight year he has proven why... now he just needs more setup men to get to him. Buerhle- had another vintage Buerhle year despite the lack of wins (see Bullpen disaster) Konerko, Thome, Dye- they were okay but nothing special.

JR wants nothing to do with a guy who is closely tied to a very serious steroid scandal. No thanx.. he'll likely go to the Yankees, A's or Angels.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 08:19 PM) There are no #3 starters available in free agency. There's a bunch of 5's, a group of 30 somethings coming off serious injuries and a couple 40 somethings who are old or hurt. Colon is no where near a #3 anymore. He's started a total of 27 games the past 2 seasons with a combined ERA over 6. Rogers will be 43 and coming off a season where he made only 9 starts. It's probably time to call it quits. f*** Curt Schilling. Garcia just had surgery to repair a torn labrum and won't be back until August of next season. The Sox had better not be looking to free agency in order to fill major holes in the rotation, there's NOTHING out there this year. I think both Colon and Garcia would sign for a cheap 1 year deal w/ a club option for 2009 with major incentives. Garcia maybe smart because if we sign him a cheap one year deal and if Danks and/or Floyd are struggling down the road, you can plug in Garcia in August to help us in a stretch run. Colon has been an injured mess since the post season of 2005.. but he maybe a risk worth looking into as he can also come at a cheap price based on the last 2 seasons. I know Garland is almost good as gone this winter and we can get a decent package back for him, hopefully a reliable reliever or 2. I just don't think a rotation of Buerhle, Vaz, Contreras, Danks and Floyd is a playoff rotation. ...

Contreras will be back in 2008. Most GMs will be calling about Garland since he much younger. Im guessing it will be Buerhle, Vazquez, ?, Contreras, Floyd. I really think Danks will benefit after a season in triple-a. I expect KW to go after a decent #3 via free agency... maybe take a chance on Schilling, Rogers, Colon or even bring back Garcia to a 1 year deal w/ a club option. Danks will be our call-up starter just like McCarthy was in 2005 as El-duque was often injured. Its definitley encouraging to see Contreras pitch well these last 4 games.

I have made probably 10 2008 roster predictions since June. That tells you how long this god for saken season has been in 2007. Im not hear to bash your predictions but i think we all really don't have a clue to what KW will do this offseason. The only thing that we know is that KW will most likely sign Rowand or Hunter for CF. Okay thats one important possition but what about SS, the pen? Can we really win with 2 kids in the rotation, because even Garland knows he will likely be traded. Can we improve the bullpen by trading Garland? Do we go after a SS with him? Is Richar ready to be the every 2B for a full season? Will Reinsdorf open up his wallet and increase payroll to sign not only Rowand or Hunter but maybe even another SP or surprise the world by going after A-Rod? This team has waaaaaayyy too many holes. And to patch up some holes we are just likely going to open up a new one. (AKA trading Garland). So unless Reinsdorf opens up his wallet, maybe we should start to consider going into rebuilding mode...

The last 8 or 9 outings from the young lefty haven't been too good: Totals 1-7 7.11 ERA 49.1 IP 63 hits 39 ER 18 BB 41SO Should we be concerned about this? Or is it just a young pitcher learning how to pitch for a full season? With either Contreras or Garland or both almost sure as gone this offseason, we will need 2 young guys to come in right away and contribute. Danks showed a lot of promise during the first half of the year, but now is struggling pretty badly. Floyd struggled early on but now has figured it out. And now you have guys like Broadway who is showing promise and it will be interesting to see if a guy like Gio Gonzales suprises the coaching staff during spring training...

I wouldn't mind Eckstein for 2B actually... he just doesn't have much of an arm to be our everyday SS. I wonder if KW is still going to pursue Tejada this offseason? Get those 2 guys and add Rowand, we would be right back into the thick of things.. the problem is with that, is we wouldn't have barely any speed at all. Trade Contreras/Garland in a package for Tejada Sign Eck and A-Row Eckstein 2B Rowand CF Thome DH Konerko 1B Dye RF Tejada SS Crede 3B Pierzynski C Fields LF Thats a lot of POWER! Thats like a Yankee or Red Sox type lineup haha. I know, I know...it wont happen. I wonder what kind of names KW told Buerhle he is going after anyway?

Ozzie is still my fav manager of all time. ITs a shame the whole Mariotti thing last year got to him, because he isn't the same crazy, wild and wacky, risky manager he was from 2004-first half of 2006. And since then we've been losing A LOT of games. Lets hope he Ozzes up and we see that same Ozzie we all loved for his first 3 years of managing. Not that it will change anything this year, but hopefully KW will supply Ozzie with the talent he needs to get back to the fundamentals he loves to win by. No more 3-run homerun or we'll probably lose team.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Aug 28, 2007 -> 01:59 AM) Josh Fields will put up close to equal or better offensive numbers next year than both Hunter and Rowand and for less than 1/36 the price of Torii and 1/24 the price of Rowand. You can hold me to it. Owens is not doing a decent job at leadoff, he's doing an incredibly mediocre one. And under no circumstances should be be the leadoff man for the 2008 White Sox. Than who should be the leadoff man? ANd what possition will it come by? And whats the difference between mediocre and decent? So if someone is playing mediocre they are not decent?

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 28, 2007 -> 01:47 AM) But it's ok if he is our LF? if it means signing Rowand or Hunter (the 2 names we will likely be after) hell yea than its okay for him to play LF. By saying that, i wasn't dissing Owens, after all he is doing a decent job being a leadoff hitter and we do need a leadoff hitter going into next season don't we?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 28, 2007 -> 01:42 AM) Point 1. Jim Thome continues to have a full no-trade clause, and there have been no rumors that he's interested in changing that situation. Point 2. If the White Sox need a DH next year not named Thome somehow...his name is Jermaine Dye. So pretty much Thome has the White Sox handcuffed? Thats ridiculous.. Dye has another season or 2 left in RF easily. A year with Fields at DH makes a lot of sense to me... If Thome is the DH and Fields plays LF than who leads off? Owens will not be our starting CF next year, and if he is KW deserves to be fired.

I think its safe to say that Thome just isn't the same hitter he once was. Fields came up in June and has almost passed Thome in homeruns already. With that in mind, is there any way we can deal Thome this offseason? A healthy Crede and Fields surpasses any missing production we would recieve from Thome. You may say "what about left field"? Well there is where you put Jerry Owens.. Don't we need a leadoff hitter still? And if Fields plays LF and Rowand/Hunter plays center, who would leadoff? Richar doesn't have enough experience to leadoff yet. I know many would say that if we let Fields DH for a season, it would effect is game at 3b.. Well wouldn't putting him at LF effect his game at 3B anyway? I say its time to move on without Thome.. the first half of 2006 was damn exciting but he just hasn't been the same since. So you heard it here... im pushing for Fields to be our DH in 2008. Call me crazy, and i know most of you guys think so, but this just maybe a very, very smart move. Thoughts?

QUOTE(beck72 @ Aug 27, 2007 -> 10:38 AM) With Josh Fields in LF, I think you can rule out Hunter in CF. Rowand makes more sense, anyway even at 3 yrs, $30 mill than Hunter and his 4, 5 yr deal at $15 mill per. With Fields in LF, why would it make more sense for Rowand to be out there over Hunter?

QUOTE(BearSox @ Aug 26, 2007 -> 03:50 PM) If Fields move to LF is permanent, then I fully expect to see Owens in CF because he can "leadoff." And why should I believe that the team will upgrade at SS? Uribe is probably gonna stay. And as for Hunter, anything more then 4 years and 48 million would be to much, and he will get more then that. Plus, the team that signs him won't see any numbers close to the ones he's putting up this year. I think KW is pretty much left with no other options other than to make a big splash in free agency and Torri Hunter appears to be the #1 target... With Fields trying out the LF now, it appears as if Crede is for sure coming back for 2008. This doesn't garuntee that Owens will "need to be our leadoff hitter". I expect the Sox to go after Luis Castillo to be our next leadoff man.. we may just see Richar move to SS and bat 9th. I can definitley see this: Luis Castillo 2B Josh Fields LF Jermaine Dye RF Paul Konerko 1B Jim Thome DH Joe Crede 3B Torii Hunter CF AJ Pierzynski C Richar SS Payroll would be significantly higher.. but we also may see Garland and Contreras shipped in the offseason...

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Aug 21, 2007 -> 06:36 AM) Chone's batting average was .461 in June, .351 in July, and he's hitting .352 in August. Crede and Owens, you say? Do you have any other trade ideas? I'd love to hear them. I just know the Angels were very interested in Crede last offseason and a trade was close between the Angels and Sox. Remember the whole Crede and Garcia for Figgins and Santana deal? Granit Bruce Levine was the guy who reported it was 'close' so who knows... Im not sure if they still have the high interest for him. Im just speculating here ya damn hammerhead. I think its safe to say we all don't know what the hell KW is going to do this offseason. However, signing Torii Hunter would be a nice start. But as far as some posters just saying.. "yea thats not going to happen" or thats "ridiculous" please support your opinion by stating why its dumb. Im a baseball fan and a big Sox fan and i love to argue and debate and talk sophisticated baseball talk with most of you guys. But to get a response like "not going to happen and thats that" im not a big fan.

QUOTE(knightni @ Aug 20, 2007 -> 05:36 PM) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn41...27/ai_n11466904 People have long memories. Carl Crawford also said that the way the White Sox and fans pushed Podsednick to be the final all-star in 2005 was "Bush League" as he was also nominated for that final all-star spot. I really don't care what happened or what was said in the past with Hunter or Crawford, this team can definitley use a player like these 2.

Hunter seems to be the talk around town in most of the newspapers lately. I would love to get him at the right price and years.. Like a 4 year @ 12mil a season, maybe with a 5th year option. But we only do this if we trade Crede and Contreras. Hopefully the Angels do blow it in the first round and we can swing a deal. Crede and Owens for Figgins. And we still have until August 31st to dump Contreras, hopefully Milwaukee or St. Louis gets desperate and decides to take him and half of the remaining of his salary. An outfield of Figgins in LF, Hunter in CF, and Dye in RF, ME LIKEY!

Well KW supposedly told Buerhle he would be going after some big names.. I think if they can somehow get someone to take Contreras for half of the rest of his salary than he can make a decent splash... But who?