GreatScott82

With all this contract negativity talk the last few days, I wouldn't be surprised if KW and Buerhle agree to a nice 4 year deal with a club option for a 5th year worth 12.5 mill/ year. This stuff happened last year with Garland, all the trade talks tuned into a 3 year extension. IMO Buerhle is just as important to this franchise as Pauly is and we all know KW rewarded Pauly. Attendance is always up when Buerhle pitches, he's fan friendly, he grew up with this organization, he helped lead the Sox to their first World Series in 88 years. Yeah he had a below average year last year... but i garuntee you all he win 16+ games this year with an ERA of around 3.5. Solid lefty starters are hard to come by, lets hope KW and JR realize just how important Buerhle is to this organization before the season starts. Because once the season starts it just may be too late to offer a deal. I just don't want to have that sick feeling of him going to another team and dominating for years just like Maddux did when he left the Cubs for Atlanta. That s*** still haunts sCrub fans to this very day. But if he does go, at least we can say we won a world championship with him.

Erstad won't be our every day CF. I don't care what any reporter says at this point... Erstad will start LF until Pods returns..which IMO will not be until early May. When Pods does return, look for Erstad to pinch hit for BA late in games the rest of the year for the old lefty-righty matchups. He will also be the new Ross Gload of the team..giving Pauly some rest every now and then. This was a great pick up and it will not 'stunt' BA's growing process at all. My only concern is who can leadoff? Do we really want a guy leading off who is coming off ankle issues? I guess Gooch would be my best bet..he can definitley get on base.

Some of the things i liked about that interview was he said "If someting was missing last year, Erstad definitley brings it" I agree with that. This team was missing that grinder mentality that we had with guys like Everett and Rowand. I think having a guy like Erstad on the bench can light a fire under Brian Anderson's ass as well as the rest of the team. I also liked the fact that he said it will not be a revolving door to that 5th starting spot like in 2004. Everyone has said that its Gavin Floyd's spot to lose, but i would LOVE it if Danks or Gio have a spectacular spring training and wins that 5th spot. Imagine having 2 solid lefties in Buerhle and Danks/Gio?!? That could give the AL central some headaches.

I think Bill Melton is wrong... or maybe he meant that Erstad will be Anderson's back up once Pods returns. There is no way KW and OG would invest 2006 to help develope BA for nothing. He will be our starting CF in 2007. Erstad will be our starting LF until May when Pods comes back. The big questions is... who will bat leadoff until Pods returns?

QUOTE(soxpride77 @ Jan 24, 2007 -> 04:18 PM) I'm a really big fan of our 25 man roster. Assuming some things work out the right way we should be a contender with this roster. Also, everytime I see the names in the bullpen I get real giddy. I don't think they could have done a better job putting the bullpen together. I really like our bench. And yes Kenny improved the pen this offseason. We have many hard throwers in there now with Sisco, Aardsma, Thorton and Jenks. Macdougal can also bring the heat as well.

According to Scot Merkin, the 25 man roster is set: How do you guys feel about our 25 man roster on paper right now? Not as sexy as last year, but we should still be in the running to compete for the AL Central title. Starting Rotation Mark Buerhle Jose Contreras Jon Garland Javy Vazquez Gavin Floyd *he must win the job at spring training, will compete with guys like Gio, Danks, Haegar, Logan, Broadway. Bullpen Jenks CL Thorton L SU Macdougal R SU Aardsma MR Sisco MR/LR Massett * he must win the job at spring training Starting lineup Podsednick LF Iguchi 2B Thome DH Konerko 1B Dye RF Crede 3B Pierzynski C Anderson CF Uribe SS Bench Hall C (AJ relief) Ozuna SS, 3b, 2b , LF (Mr. Pinch runner) Mackowiack 3b, LF, RF (Mr. Pinch hitter) Erstad CF, 1B (Defense replacement) Cintron SS, 2B ( can spell Uribe during the long season)

So Pods is out 6 weeks starting when? Starting today, spring training, or the regular season? Im guessing the regular season.. so we won't get Pods back until Mid-May which makes this signing much more valuable. I'm guessing he'll be the fulltime LF until Pods comes back. I also expect Gooch to play temporary leadoff man. Good move KW, low risk may result with high reward.

great news!! not so great on pods having surgery. hopefully he heals up fast and when he returns, he'll return to old form.

I know Buerhle was invited to pitch but declined. So i guess that counts the U.S. Garcia represented Venezuala Vazquez represented Puerto Rico Carlos Lee's lil brother represented Panama?!? Iguchi declined to play for Japan but he was invited so Japan. So 5 countries?!? Japan, U.S., Venezuala, Puerto Rico and Panama?

so did anyone hear that we officially signed Erstad yet? Wuts the deal?!?

ding ding ding!!!! good job Beltin Bill! Yep there are the 5: Dominican, Venezuala, United States, Cuba, Japan 1) Dominican- Perez, Vizcaino, Marte, Uribe, Ozuna 2) US- Pauly, Harris, Crede, Blum, AJ, Widger, Dye, Rowand, Pods, Buerhle, Garland, Cotts, Jenks, Pollitte, Hermanson 3) Venezuala- Garcia 4) Cuba- Conteras and El-duque 5) Japan- Iguchi

How many countries did the white sox represent on the 2005 world series championship team?!?! (The 25 man roster)

Woohooo dingdingding! i loved Olivo! haha

QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 07:33 PM) Fisk, Karkovice, Alomar, Pierzynski no, since the year 2000? Two of them are right..can you guess the other 2? QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 07:33 PM) Mark Johnson, Fordyce, Alomar, Pierzynski CLOSE! 3/4 right...your missing one more

Since the year 2000, the White Sox have had 4 different starting opening day catchers. Can you name them all?

QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 07:21 PM) Since 1980, how many WS managers have won Manager of the Year, who were they? 1983- Tony LaRussa 1990- Jeff Torborg 1993- Gene Lamont 2000- Jerry Manual 2005- Ozzie Guillen I'm guessing 5? I may be wrong on the Torborg one.

QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 07:17 PM) 1) Don Drysdale, Tom Paciorek, Darrin Jackson 2) Harry Caray, Jimmy Piersall...? just to think, when Hawk retires....we are not going to be seeing "You can put in on the board.... YESSS!" T-shirts anymore, we will start seeing.. "Uhhh Ohhhh... BYE BYE!" Tshirts. QUOTE(soxpride77 @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 07:19 PM) Someone on the White Sox Official website message board is reporting that we just signed Erstad. The guy said he has a close source, so who knows. Just thought I would mention this. If this is true..its definitley great news! OUr bench is solid!

DINGDINGDING!!!! Sweeeet!

i love white sox trivia 1) I have one for you all. Name the 3 partners Hawk Harrelson has had in the booth since he started for the Sox in 1982. 2) Before Hawk started in 1982, who were the 2 announcers for the White Sox?

well it has to be before 1978 which was waaay before my time. Hmm Luis Aparicio? Or how about Bill Melton? Im probably way off on both lol

im pretty sure he won 3 with the Sox and 1 with the Mets right? i may be wrong on that.

Robin Ventura and Ozzie Guillen?

Some interesting Erstad facts: Won the 2000 and 2002 gold glove award in CF. Then in 2004 he moved to 1B to be the full time 1B there and he won the gold glove award there as well. He is the first player in MLB history to win a gold glove award for the Outfield and the Infield. So even if his offense numbers have been on the decline, im guessing he can still play a solid defense at both 1B AND in CF. This would give Ozzie some flexibility when they go to the NL for those interleague games, pinch hitting Thome/Konerko/Mackowiack than replacing them defensivley with Erstad. If he's healthy and i were KW i would pull the trigger on this deal. Its a minor risk worth taking.

Well we were all wondering who would replace Gload as the backup 1B..i think Erstad would fit the bill nicely. He can also be the back up CF because we all know Mackowiack can't play out there. This deal makes alot of sense for the Sox. A bench that consists of Erstad, Hall, Mackowiack, Cintron and Ozuna looks really good to me.

I went in 2004 and in 2005 and it was a blast!! I didn't go last year because i knew it would be chaotic since they just came off a world series title, not to mention they sold out in record time where i didn't even get a chance to buy some tickets. To those who went in 2006 did you have any fun? Or was it indeed all crazy with no room to walk and such? I think this year's Soxfest will be good, they raised the prices and put it in a smaller facility which means there will be less fans and more oppurtunity to meet the players and have some room to walk. For those who are going let us know how it is. I'm guessing they are still doing the Q & A with the fans in regards to KW, Ozzie and Hawk?!? That is by far my favorite part of the event. It will be interesting to see what kind of questions the fans will raise in regards to keeping Pods, and trading away both Garcia AND McCarthy. I wish i could go! Have fun Sox fans! Soxfest this week, and the Superbowl next week, couldn't be any better time to be a Chicago Sports fan.