fathom

Hell yeah, this is great. It gives us a much more respectable lineup. A.J. is one of those guys you hate against you, but love on your team. Great job KW (wow, did I just say that?)

I think that KW's comments that we would have our final team decided by the end of this week has made a lot of people think that the moves would have been completed already.

How do we exactly know what the Sox budget is? Since when did we get into the 75 million range like a lot of people on this board seem to think? I've always thought we were more in the 66-70 range.

Anyone that doesn't think that the million dollars given to Timo wouldnt be helpful for the Sox right now is naive. We all know that the Sox are concerned with every little penny they spend. If we miss out on a starting catcher or a starting 2b because we spent too much on a reserve outfielder that we didn't even need, then I will lose even more respect for KW and JR.

With absolutely no other catching prospects in the system that will be able to be a contributor in the majors for a few years, there's no reason not to give A.J. a 2 yr deal.

Jolbert Cabrera was released by the Mariners today. I think he would be a great fit for the Sox, as he can play a ton of different positions and is a very capable hitter.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 10:05 PM) This is encouraging. I agree, better than Jon Miller saying that another team like the Dodgers were the team to beat.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 08:30 PM) To be fair, we resigned Ben Davis before AJP was even available on the market as a FA. That is incorrect. The Sox knew that A.J. had cleared waivers a few days before we resigned Ben Davis. Anyways, if it's true that we're not offering enough money, then I can confidently say we won't be getting A.J. KW said we weren't going to get into a bidding war for him, and Pierzynski will definitely get 3 million from some other team (Dodgers, Pirates, etc.) Would anyone argue with me that we have the worst catching core in the majors now?

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 08:12 PM) How do you know that Davis could receive the same kind of money from another team but Timo couldn't? It's obvious looking at the market for reserve outfielders that Timo wasn't going to get more money from any other team than he was the Sox. Please don't argue that he's better than Hollandsworth or Mohr. I do agree with you that if KW really wanted A.J., he shouldn't have signed Ben Davis. However, in my opinion, it reverts back to his inability to admit that players he has "had an eye on" didn't pan out like he had hoped. We all know how long it took him to get rid of Royce.

I can't see Beltran signing with the Cubs if he doesn't sign with the Astros. He's a classy guy, and by joining the Astros biggest divisional rival, he'd be turning his back on the team that he helped make such a great run in the playoffs.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 07:59 PM) That's why we brought back Timo, and there's no need to rush Sweeney or Anderson either. Secondly, why b**** about Timo's contract when Ben Davis is making the same amount and get this, is playing the same position as AJ? Shouldn't these pessimists worried about giving out $1 million to a bench player in a large market be more concerned with Davis' contract rather than Timo's? Difference between signing someone like Davis to $1 mil and Timo to the same amount is that you know that Davis, being one of the top 2 catchers on the team with or without A.J., is going to start around 20 to 25 pct of the games behind the plate. Not only that, but there would have likely been more teams willing to give Davis around that same amount of money to come to the team as a BACK-UP catcher and see if he can fulfill some of his potential. That's the thing though, he's no better than a back-up catcher. That's why we need A.J. The difference between Victor Martinez, Mauer, and I-Rod is ridiculous when compared to Ben Davis. A.J. makes the Sox a lot more respectable.

QUOTE(Sanjay2000 @ Jan 4, 2005 -> 07:50 PM) Maybe he is slightly overpriced...but Neifi Perez of the Chicago Cubs is also making a million dollars so there are other similarly priced contracts out there. The Timo and Neifi signings were two of the most ridiculed by different baseball experts because both players are well below average at their positions for the cost. Mark Sweeney just signed for 550k with the Padres. Last year, he had an OPS of .885 and was the most dangerous bat off the bench in baseball. If we had spent a million on him, then I wouldn't have had a problem with him. Don't forget that Dye isn't exactly good at avoiding injury. When Timo had to start in the outfield last year, he was awful.

I find it interesting how so many people like Timo, and one of the reasons for that in my opinion is how Hawk always has great things to say about him. However, Hawk also had tremendous things to say about Pierzynski, as he always said how he caught the best games against the Sox out of all the catchers that had been in the AL.

Another thing is that we already have our lefty off the bench in R. Gload. We didn't really need a designated lefty hitter off the bench besides him. I would have actually liked to see a right handed reserve outfielder that could play for Podsednik against the real tough lefties in our division. Pierzynski and Borchard/Escobar is better than Davis and Timo

Reserve outfielders are a dime a dozen. Hell, the week after we signed Timo for one million, two other reserves in D. Mohr and Hollandsworth, who are a lot better than Timo, signed for base contracts which were cheaper. Another thing about a reserve outfielder is that you want them to be good enough on defense where they can be brought in as a defensive replacement if needed. Timo has a good arm, but his range in the outfield is pathetic.

If it's true that we're about 500k or a million dollars short of what A.J. wants, the Timo contract will piss me off even more. We would be basically sacrificing a catcher who would play 120 games at least for a below average backup outfielder who would start about 30 games, barring injuries.

Not to rain on everyone's parade, but what evidence do we have to know that A.J. is even considering the White Sox? It's been rumored that approximately 6 teams have offered him a contract. With Varitek signing with the Red Sox, I would have thought that A.J. would have decided on a team by now. I hope we get him, but I can't say I'm optimistic about our chances right now.

One thing that worries me about Burke is that he sure seemed to be finding all the holes last year. He was swinging Hawk's mythical "magic wand" last year. I wouldn't be shocked if he hit .225 last year as opposed to .325.

Yeah, I'm sure some Independent League team is looking for a long reliever. No, Grilli has absolutely no trade bait.

Willie Harris is not a number 2 hitter. He doesn't know how to handle the bat at all. He's a terrible sacrifice bunter. A couple of things that Willie really needs to improve on are not rolling over on his wrists, which causes him to hit weak grounders to 2b and to also improve his eye at the plate in regards to taking pitches with 2 strikes. Way too many times last year did he strikeout looking.

No way we were going to give him a 3 year deal, and St. Louis can offer him a guaranteed starting spot. At least he'll hopefully torment the Cubs now.

Remember though, Eckstein and Cora can play SS, while I don't think Cairo has played SS in a long time, if ever, in the majors.

Anyone that has seen Eckstein play would be nuts to want Willie Harris over Eckstein. Eckstein isn't dynamic or explosive, but he truly plays the game right, and he's not the type of player you'd have to worry about not being able to get a key sac bunt down or be concerned about him not making contact in a crucial situation. Miguel Cairo is another veteran that I would have no problem with on this team. Personally, I thought one of the main reasons that the Sox slumped so much last year was because of the prolonged slumps that Willie would get in where he was absolutely no threat at the plate or on the bases.

There's a big difference between reporting we offered someone a deal, and saying that someone is flying in for a physical. The physical report is much more legit ot me, cause that's the type of information that usually means a deal is officially on the table.

I wonder if Contreras and El Duque get along well? Maybe that's a reason that El Duque would consider the White Sox.