fathom

I watched Vizcaino pitch a ton of games against the Cubs last year. He has a solid fastball and a dynamite slider/splitter, but he struggles with leaving pitches over the plate to be hit a far way. However, he's a very solid reliever who I will be confident in when he comes in. The question I have now is why do we need Cliff P. in the pen? I hope we're not planning on Hermanson going into the starting rotation.

Under no circumstance should KW trade Konerko now. Besides for being our most reliable offensive threat, it would be a massive public relations blow to lose Maggs, Carlos, and PK in one offseason. Also, can we start a new thread that lists the latest Sox rumors in regards to the completion of the trade, and rumors about any new moves?

The way I think about it is that Podsednik had a poor year last year, but so did everyone else on the Brewers. The entire team had a terrible approach, and facing power pitchers like guys from Cubs and Astros in 20 pct of your game won't help out your stats much. If this deal was Pierre instead of Podsednik, people would be thrilled. Yes, Pierre is better than Podsednik, but two years ago, Scott Pod was better. If we can get a solid player to be named later, and then sign a pitcher with the money, I will be a huge fan of this trade. No offense to Carlos, but we weren't going anywhere with who we had before this trade.

I don't know, but since when did we win anything with Carlos Lee as the focal point of the offense? I would say that in the last 24 hours, Carlos has gone from an above average outfielder into the next Barry Bonds.

I'm telling you, this deal could be great for the Sox. If we can turn Carlos Lee into Podsenik, Ginter, Vizcaino, and a solid starter, that's a great deal.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought "f*** you Harry" when he switched to Cubs talk so quick. He did the same thing last week when he said how bad Dye and Dustin were, but said how great the Blanco signing was.

Let's wait to judge this trade until we see if KW uses the money to sign a starting pitcher also. Plus, if we get Ginter, he'd make a great platoon player against lhp at 2nd base.

I totally agree, the offense has been extremely inconsistent. But one of the main reasons for that was our reliance on the long ball. If you add someone like Podsednik to your team, you put yourself in a better position to manufacture runs. Also, Podsednik is a very good bunter, which fits well with Ozzie's system. Maybe one of the reasons I'm in favor of this trade is that, unlike some on this board, realize that we're not going to get a marquee pitcher like Ben Sheets, etc., in a trade for Konerko or Lee, and if we can turn Carlos Lee into Pod, Vizcaino, minor leaguer, and a pitcher like Odalis or Lowe, I think it's a great tradeoff.

If this trade results in freed up money to obtain a solid starting pitcher, then honestly, I'm all for it. Offense has not been the reason for the Sox demise over the last few years, the lack of depth in the starting rotation has been. Not only that, but we would be bolstering our relief core also. Personally, if we got Pod, Ginter, and Vizcaino for Lee and a low level minor leaguer, I would be pretty content.

All I know is that Hawk compliments A.J. every time he gets a chance. He always says how A.J. calls a great game, and he was one of the main reasons that the Sox always lost to the Twins. I would love to have A.J. on this team instead of Ben Davis. An A.J./Burke combination would be a massive improvement over anything this team has had in a long time.

Just say no KW! Nakamura would not be an upgrade all around over KW, and would probably cost us a few million.

With the signing of Matheny imminent by the Giants, old Sox enemy A.J. Pierzynski will likely become a free agent. Personally, I would not mind A.J. on the sox, as he would great improve our catching position, and add a lefty hitter to our lineup. I know we've had issues with him in the past, but I thought it was mostly Maggs and Valentin that didn't get along with him. A question: what other teams need a catcher? It seems like almost every other team has a catcher already to start.

Not exactly impressive numbers in what is a hitters league. Personally, 3b is not a big need for me right now. We should be concentrating on finding a catcher, righty utility player, and of course, another starting pitcher.

I honestly wouldnt be shocked to see the Cubs try and work out a trade of Sosa for Kevin Brown, and then would make Brown their closer. Just a pure guess though on my part, no source.

One thing that really concerns me about trading Konerko is what would we do about first base against real tough lefty pitchers? I know Gload hit well against lefties last year, but that was only in limited at bats and wasnt against tough division foes like C.C., Santana, Maroth, and Lee. It seems highly unlikely that Frank will be healthy enough again to play in the field, which might be a good thing. And no, Everett or Dye is not an option at first.

No, this article was written within the last hour. It makes it sounds like Arizona is trying to sign RJ to an extension. The article made it seem like no trades were imminent, and the RJ trade was not going to happen with the Sox.

Well, according to the latest article on chicagosports.com, the RJ deal is basically off the table involving the Sox. Also, there's a mention that Grilli will be in the starting rotation if KW can't make a move. If this holds true, I hope KW enjoys his last year on the South Side.

Jacque Jones is way, way better than Carl Everett. Jones is much better defensively than Everett (who isnt?), has better power than Everett, and is also a hell of a lot less injury prone than Carl is. However, Jones is not a good fit in the AL central with all the good lefty pitchers in the division.

I agree, I would love for this team to make the World Series. However, even if we got RJ for Konerko, Garland, and a prospect, we'd need to still fill in gapping holes at catcher, 2nd base, number 5 pitcher, and we'd still have question marks at 1b, 3b, and the bullpen. I'm all for improving this team, but not just for next year, but for the next 3 or 4 years. Tim Hudson would have been a great fit for this team.

How's it crap when tons of different sources state the same exact thing? And no, I don't mean the Score or other tabloid sports stations. Jayson Stark said Randy didnt want to go to the Sox like a month ago, and since then, there have been nothing but reports that said he didnt want to play in Chicago.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I really don't want the Sox to trade for RJ, which would cost the Sox a ton of money for 2 years likely, if it's going to cost them Lee or Konerko, Garland, and likely a top prospect like Anderson. Even if we get RJ, we have a ton of holes to fill on this team. Adding RJ to the Sox don't make them on par with the Angels, Yanks, or Red Sox right now. Having RJ doesn't guarantee victory...just ask Arizona last year.

KW went out of his way to mention that he didn't think he'd hear back from Arizona about this deal again.

I honestly don't think that if there was something even possible going on with Randy Johnson that KW would have said he had heard he didnt want to come to the White Sox. There have been so many different sources that have said RJ doesn't want to come to the Sox, so I have a very hard time believing that if it only boiled down to the Sox or staying in Arizona that he would pick us.

The fact that the Arizona GM told KW that Randy Johnson didnt want to play for the Sox, and that he highly doubted he would hear back from Arizona. He wasn't laughing about this, but then you could tell something was up when he was making a joke about trading Lee or Konerko. It's the same type of laughing he did on the Score last week when they brought up Dye's name the day before he was signed.

After watching this interview with KW, there's not a chance in hell that RJ is coming to Chicago. However, it seems very obvious that either Konerko or Lee will be traded.