ZoomSlowik

QUOTE(3E8 @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 12:55 PM) ruh roh. Seriously not cool. If that were the alternative, I'd much rather see him stay in San Diego. Another issue is this seems to suggest that the Indians will have quite a bit of money to throw around. If that's the case, I'd be more worried about them adding A.J. Burnett to bolster what I consider to be an overrated rotation.

QUOTE(J-MAN @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 11:55 AM) Can you say NU!!!!!!! Seriously, NU has 500 more yards of total offense even though they've played 8 games to Wisconsin's 9. Wisconsin has more points per game, but a chunk of that can be attributed to better special teams and defense. Plus NU has played better teams. Outside of Ohio everyone NU has played is at least decent. Wisconsin got to roll up the yards and points against Bowling Green and Temple, plus they've already played Indiana and Illinois. Wisconsin is playing better, but no way they have the better offense. Also, Michigan State's might be better than both of them, although the head-to-head results against NU would suggest otherwise. You could also throw Minnesota and Penn State in the mix, as both average more yards per game than Wisconsin and score similar point totals. Between Wisconsin and Penn State, I'd take the under. Both rely heavily on the running game, which probably will be slowed for both offenses.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 2, 2005 -> 08:11 AM) Now this can only be good for our negotiations with Paulie if this goes down; I think the whole Manny Ramirez trade thing will seriously hamper the Angels and Red Sox chances of signing Paulie. Working that deal out will probably take a ton of time, and neither team will have much flexibility (Red Sox need to lose some cash to make a serious run at Paulie, Angels can't take on both players). What stuns me a bit is that the Angels are even considering it. How can you take on a $20 mil contract when you've already got Vlad making over $12 mil, Colon at $12 mil and going up, Cabrera at $6.5 mil and rising, and Anderson at $10 mil and rising? They're going to have like no money to acqure pitchers or resign their own guys in a couple years if they acquire Manny or Paulie. Edit= How the hell is Glaus going be more productive than Paulie at 1B, if he even plays there?

I don't like the idea of giving up Contreras or Garland for Dunn. Yes, he's got serious power and walks a lot. But the batting average and strikeouts are just brutal. If he were on the Sox, he would frustrate me so much. I'd rather have someone that could hit .280-.300 with 30-35 homers than someone like Dunn who'll probably hit around .250. If I were going to give up one of our starters, I'd much rather have Teixeira. If Dunn were a FA, I'd say go nuts, but trading one of those starters would really hurt our pitching. Batting in front of Konerko would probably help him a little, but I still doubt he's ever going to hit .270. Another thing to consider is if he gets more strikes because he has Konerko behind him he'll swing and miss even more. I'd rather see someone that actually might cut down on his swing a bit with a man on second to put it in play, as opposed to someone that's usually going to strikeout or walk.

I'm really trying not to be upset with these picks, but it looks like they virtually just took the guys that won last year and didn't watch any games this season. Chavez has the reputation, but I don't think he was as good as Blalock or Crede this year. He looked downright human at 3B this year, unlike last year. Jeter is just a joke. He isn't even the best SS on his team. I thought Cabrera was a virtual lock after his stint in Boston, and obviously I like Uribe's season. I'm not sure who I would have taken as the last OF. Ichiro and Wells I have no problem with, but when Hunter got hurt, I thought he was out for sure. Oh well. Maybe we can get them all next year en route to getting another ring.

I missed the draft, so I need to make some moves. I need some big guys. Anyone on my roster is available.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Oct 31, 2005 -> 03:05 PM) You take your pick. I know you've already formed a rigid opinion about him and the expectations of him (especially since you claim he can't approach Rowand's performance, even though you say you expected a .100 point OPS drop, putting him almost EXACTLY even with Rowand)... Basically, you chose to use horses*** useless statistical blind guesses about a player you've almost never seen play the game of baseball. I'd rather use my 2 eyes. Thanks for playing this week's version of "I'm a moron because I like to blindly use statistics to gauge a prospect's ability" Do the words "at least" or "best case" mean anything to you? In the "best case scenario" he matches Rowand's performance. This means that he probably falls well short, as I've said before. So basically you're arguing that biased qualitative data is better than quantitative data? That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in quite some time. Professional scouts can't reliably guage what a prospect will do in the majors, so what makes you think you can? So here's a question: did you watch Rowand play in AAA so you could accurately guage where the two players were at the same point in their career? He had very similar numbers to Anderson in his last year at AAA. Granted Anderson was better at the lower levels, but A-ball stats are even more worthless. I'm sorry, but I'll take the guy who hit .270 in the majors over a guy that hit .295 at AAA every time if the power numbers are relatively equal. Why can't you see that a K/BB ratio as bad as Anderson's is a really bad sign for his immediate chances in the majors? It's gives you a much better picture that whatever you think you can see in a game against guys that will mostly be bagging groceries in a couple of years. When trying to predict what a player will do at the MAJOR LEAGUE LEVEL, actual major league performance is considerably more reliable than minor league statistics or "what you've seen" in a prospect. I'd much rather have a quality defensive player that I'm confident isn't going to hit .240 than a giant question mark in center. Get back to me in a year when Anderson has some more experience under his belt. I'm done.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Oct 31, 2005 -> 03:34 PM) So you're tellin' me that Angels fans are asking, "YEAH, BUT WHERE WOULD WE PLAY HIM?" What I'm saying is the team has other options at the position which will be cheaper, allowing them to do other things. Morales is a guy they are very high on, they're stuck with Erstad, and Kotchman still has some potential. They might be better served trying to acquire a legit CF or 3B. That still doesn't change the fact that they have a ton of money committed and probably can't afford Paulie. They have over $65 mil committed to 8 players and two major holes in the rotation.

Okay, let's seriously analyze some of the teams that we think are going to be making serious offers here... Angels- As someone already said, they have a lot of money committed to very few plays, like Vlad, Colon, Cabrera, and Finley. Konerko is a guy that they could use, but there are some problems. First off, something will have to be done with their rotation if they are going to be serious contenders. Colon, Lackey, and Santana should be in there, but that leaves 2 spots open, and at least one of them has to be a legit middle of the rotation starter, probably both. Escobar could be moved back into the rotation, but it's questionable as to whether or not they do it. That looks like the best move to me, but then their pen has a little less depth and they might need to acquire a lefty. They'll still need someone else either way, because Santana can't be your 4th starter at this point in his career. They could also probably use another OF, unless they really think that Finley would still work in CF. Another issue is Kendry Morales will probably get a good shot at the 1B/DH job, meaning there'll be more players they could use at that spot. They'd then have Morales, Erstad (I guess he could go back to the outfield, but IIRC they were worried about him getting hurt), and Kotchman all fighting for 2 spots, plus potentially adding Konerko. All in all, I just don't see how they could offer Konerko a 5/70 type deal. Red Sox- Their payroll is already pretty high, with about $75 mil due to 7 players, and about another $15-$20 mil already committed. They've got way too many other holes to worry about trying to add a major 1B. First, they have to either sign or replace Damon. Second, their bullpen needs some serious help, like the costly Wagner or Ryan. Plus they'll still have to worry about 3B, 2B, and possibly one of their OF spots. 3rd, they may also need to add a starting pitcher, with Wade Miller a major question mark, Wells' health possibly going down the tubes, and Arroyo just plain sucking. I don't see how they can afford to sign Paulie to a huge deal with their monstrous committments to guys like Manny, Schilling, Varitek, Renteria, and Clement. Granted they could try to deal Manny to free up some money, but that would probably hurt the team more than it helps, and it would take a considerable amount of time to work out a deal. Spending $14 mil on a 1B seems to be a luxury they can't really afford, although I guess you never know what they'll do. I doubt they beat us by that much though. Yankees- George is unpredictable, but I can't see it. Obviously the payroll is already massive. They lose some contracts, but they'll need to resign Matsui, find a CF, and upgrade the bullpen. Plus you know they always love to acquire starting pitchers (can they really depend on Small and Wang?). If the Boss decided that he couldn't afford Beltran last year, I doubt he can afford Paulie this year. Orioles- They probably have the money to make an offer, but they have other issues to deal with that will be costly. They need to either resign or replace B.J. Ryan and they desperately need some starting pitching. I think they probably make an offer, but not a ridiculous one. They probably also lose points because their chances of contending are somewhat low. Blue Jays- This is another team that could make an offer, but again I doubt it's a huge one. Their payroll is supposedly going up a lot, but They're going to be serious players for A.J. Burnett, which would put a major damper on their chances of getting Paulie. They also are going to be searching for a closer, which won't come cheap. Again, this is a team Paulie might avoid because it will be difficult for them to contend. Dodgers- I can't see them making a significant offer. They have a lot of money committed to a lot of less than stellar players. I don't see how they could afford to do it. They also have issues with being competitive, although their division is bad enough that it would be possible. Sox- Just won the series, so there is some added revenue. Season ticket base and single game ticket sales also probably increase. Already have every other key player signed, and have few glaring weaknesses to resolve (except DH). We are probably more likely to overpay for Paulie than any other team because he is one of our own and is one of the team leaders. Plus, we have very few committments past the 2006 season (Buehrle and Garcia will both be about $10 mil, Dye has a $6.5 mil option IIRC, everyone else affordable or FA), meaning we can afford to absorb a large deal. We also have several players who can be wildly effective for low prices, such as Jenks, McCarthy, Cotts, and the outfield trio of Anderson/Young/Owens. We should have a lot of financial flexibility. Plus, all indications are that he'd like to stay with the Sox. All in all, I think it adds up to 3 offers at $12 mil or above including us, tops.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Oct 31, 2005 -> 02:40 PM) Isn't Michigan under some NCAA investigation? 3 words: The Fab Five.

I seriously doubt Konerko gets $14 mil, as I've said in virtually every thread it has come up in. As a player, he compares much more favorably with the $10-$12 mil players like Richie Sexson, Troy Glaus, and Adrian Beltre than the likes of Vladimir Guerrero and Carlos Beltran. I think he'll probably get a longer term or higher deal than the first group, but still be less than the more superstar quality players. Because Konerko has low (relatively when compared to other $14 mil+guys) name recognition and wouldn't put as many butts in the seats as someone like Vlad, is starting to get closer to years where his effectiveness has been in question (ie last couple of years of the contract), has some questions concerning past inconsistencies and a favorable park, and plays a fairly easy to fill position, I don't see him getting considerably more than $12 mil, making it more reasonable that he comes back. I have yet to see any indication that a team is going to offer Beltranesque money to acquire Paulie. All of the speculation about him getting more than $12 mil/year is merely conjecture, largely coming from panicky Sox fans like us. All of the information and comments out there seem to indicate that there is a much higher chance that he comes back to the Sox than Magglio or Colon. I'm personally not going to start worrying about it until we hear about significant contract offers from other teams that are on the table. I personally doubt that he gets more than 3 offers over $12 mil, including us.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Oct 31, 2005 -> 12:52 PM) So, you expect a .100 point dropoff in average between 2005 AAA and 2006 major leagues? Yeah, ok. Kid has adjusted and adjusted quickly at every level, was a top 10 prospect in the International League, yet he's not considered a good prospect, ok... Your reasoning is utter horses***, pure and simple. Top to bottom. Yeah, let's go after Johnny Damon when we have 4 top OF prosepcts within 1-2 years of the majors... This is like arguing with a brick wall You're putting words in my mouth again. I didn't say his average would drop 100 points. I was clearly talking about his OPS in the section I mentioned that. A 100 point drop in OPS would put him in roughly the same region as Rowand, although I consider that a best case scenario. Also, I did not say sign Johnny Damon. I said he's the only CF I see as a signifcant upgrade. Learning to read is fun! I also didn't say he was a horses*** prospect, I said he wasn't a great one. I have yet to see one set of rankings that puts him in anywhere near the top 25 (generally below 50), which tells me he generally isn't regarded as an elite option that will make an instant impact at the major league level. You rip on my logic, but how is it logical to conclude that his numbers will stay the same when the quality of competition drastically increases? How does having a year of experience in the majors guarantee that he's going to be a better player because of it the following year? How often does a rookie come in and become more than a bottom of the lineup hitter? There's only a handful every year, and Anderson isn't going to be one of them. He's going to be a 7-9 hitter the whole year, even if he hits the top end of my projections. I'm done with this argument, because you simply can't understand that Anderson is almost certainly not going to exceed or even come close to matching Rowand's numbers from this past year, and that a year in the majors doesn't necessarily mean he's going to become a competent major league starter the following year. You also seem to think that keeping him at AAA will certainly stiffle his development. How has Ryan Howard done with all of his time in the minors? How's Scott Podsednik doing? Pat Burrell? All of them are above average major league players that spent a lot of time in the minors. It's more likely that throwing him in the majors before he's ready will stiffle his development. Minor league performance is simply not a good indicator of major league performance, especially when you only have on full year at any level to base projections on. It's better than guessing, but not by a whole lot. I'd be willing to bet that if Anderson gets the starting job and keeps it, he hits under .250, walks less than 50 times, and if he gets 500 at bats will strike out 120 times. I simply don't see how starting him in CF to start the year helps our organization. Rowand simply isn't making enough money to be considered an issue. How does a $3.25 million player really hurt a team with an $80 mil payroll? Virtually any player that's on the open market that has shown he can perform at the major league level will make that. This is the last you hear from me on the topic, unless I'm forced to respond to some more words you put in my mouth.

QUOTE(White Sox Josh @ Oct 31, 2005 -> 12:25 PM) he is saying and rightfully so that Greg Maddux is their best pitcher. He really is the only sure thing in that rotation. There's a big difference between being their most consistent starter and their best starter. Yes, Maddux is their most consistent starter, but at this point in his career he is consistently mediocre. Zambrano is considerably more talented and has still been fairly consistent the last two years. He hasn't had the injury problems that the other guys have had and has put up pretty good numbers. Plus, for all the crap he's taken, Prior was still a pretty good pitcher when he was on the mound this year. He went 11-7, had an ERA of 3.67, and struck out a ton of guys. If he stays healthy, I think he could get back to the 2003 form. However, that doesn't change or negate their other issues. Even with a healthy Prior and Zambrano at the front of the rotation, Maddux looks like a passable #4 at this point in his career, generally keeping you in the game but typically won't win unless he gets decent run support. Kerry Wood is a mess right now. Even if he's healthy, he's not dependable at all. Even a healthy and effective Prior can't take them from 4th to the wildcard. They need to fill at least some of the holes that we've all mentioned.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Oct 31, 2005 -> 12:01 PM) So, we shouldn't develop our home-grown players because: 1) People have failed in the past 2) replacing a .736 OPS with a 32/116 BB:K ratio player in the bottom of the order is a bad idea? 3) because a player with a year in AAA, half a year in AA, and spending what will be 2 or 3 spring trainings and most of August/September with the major league club "isn't ready to contribute to the big league club"... When the Hell is a player ready for the big league club if a guy with a full year in AAA where he showed improvement over the season and contributed to the club when called-upon down the stretch run heading to a World Series victory doesn't qualify as "ready to contribute to the big league club?" It's just absolute bull-honkey reasoning. There's a big difference between developing a player and throwing them in as a full-time starter before they're ready to contribute. If Anderson were hitting over .300 with 30 homers with an OBP around .400 and near the team lead in runs and RBI, I'd call him up. But he's not (and only close on BA). There's a reason he isn't generally considered one of the absolute prime prospects in baseball, and it's because he's not an elite hitter. The guy has an .831 OPS in AAA for christ's sake, and he's supposed to come in and hit? IF he actually starts full-time next year, I'd expect at least a .100 point dropoff, maybe more. The guy simply hasn't shown that he's ready to consistenly hit good pitching yet. How exactly did he "contribute the major league club" when he was called up? He hit .179 with no walks! He had 6 hits and 3 RBI, and 3 of those hits and all of the RBI came in one game! He struck out 12 times in 34 at bats! Raul Cassanova and Joe Borchard were called up down the stretch too. Are we going to start them on Opening Day too? I don't really care if the guy has "shown improvement" or not when considering whether or not to call someone up. I want to know whether or not he can hit major league pitching or not. I'd say that answer is no. He's exactly the kind of hitter we need to avoid in our lineup, someone who's going to strike out a ton and not walk that much. The difference between AAA and the majors is massive, so I'd really like to see more from one of our top prospects before we throw him into the fire. I don't have a problem with replacing Rowand with someone that can hit. However, Anderson is not the answer, and Damon would be the only significant improvement I see in FA. I'd really like to see more from Anderson considering that there's only one decent season at AAA that tells us he's even close to ready. I believe I said the same thing when people were trying to put Jeremy Reed in our starting lineup before we traded him. Ask the Mariners how that worked out for them. I'm sure they're thrilled with the .254 batting average, .322 OBP, and .675 OPS. Also remember that Reed's a better contact hitter and took more walks than Anderson. As I've said before, I'd much rather have us deal him, put him in AAA, or make him the 4th outfielder than start him in CF. I just can't see that going well.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Oct 31, 2005 -> 11:23 AM) How many times have you seen Anderson play in his career? How many at-bats? The handful of major-league at-bats? Nobody has said anywhere that he's anything close to Pujols or Cabrera, and even saying that kind of stuff just furthers your lunatic apologist stance with regard to Rowand. His ceiling is far greater than Rowand's. He has never repeated a level. Hell, this summer was the first one he even spent entirely at a single level (and he didn't technically do that bouncing to Chicago)... He has hit everywhere he has been. He has taken walks, wherever he has been. He has risen quickly, without set-back, while playing CF and battling 2 injuries along the way. Anderson is a far superior baseball player to Aaron Rowand and the method you use to argue the point is beyond ridiculous. Please tell me what about Aaron Rowand makes him irreplaceable by a higher-ceiling prospect who plays Equivalent-at-worst defensive CF. Rowand is a freaking #7/8/9 hitter! This is how you develop the organization. Thank God Kenny has balls, because some of you are just afraid to make changes just for the sake of being afraid. This has nothing to do anymore about what would Zoom or Rock do if they were GM. 1) Kenny loves Brian Anderson 2) Kenny has Brian Anderson on big board 3) Rowand has disappointing year. 4) Kenny has several OF'ers who could be ready to break in for 2007, meaning you'd prefer to have Anderson established and knowing what you'll be able to get from him for 2007 instead of breaking in multiple OF'ers. 5) Rowand makes 3.25 million and Anderson makes 350k. It's simple deductive reasoning. Anderson could be included in a trade if KW has to do so to get a #3 or #4 hitter, but aside from that, Anderson will be your starting CF'er in 2006. It's time for some people to come to grips with reality. At no point did I ever say that Rowand was going to be Pujols or Cabrera. I didn't intimate that at any point. Please stop putting words in my mouth. I'm saying you make it sound like Anderson is going to be the next coming of Babe Ruth when that can't be further from the truth. If Anderson had the ability of someone like Pujols or Cabrera, I'd be more inclined to call him up and give him the job. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. He's simply not an elite hitter and probably never will be. How exactly do you suppose he has a ceiling so much higher than Rowand? What about him tells you that he's going to come in here and hit for a high average with serious pop? I'm really curious, since he's never shown that type of ability at any level. And how do you figure that he's taken walks wherever he's been? The most he's taken in any one year was 48. In 248 career minor league games, he has 101 walks. Even if he kept that rate constant in the majors, which is highly unlikely, that comes out to about 66 walks in a 162 game season. That's decent, but not exactly stellar, and it means a lot less if you're not going to hit. I haven't seen him a lot, but from what I have seen his swing is so brutally long that I seriously wonder if he'll be able to hit major league pitching. As of right now he strikes me as a better fielding Joe Borchard. Unless he gets better plate discipline, I don't know if that'll change. I try to read what the experts think on as many prospects as possible, and the comparison they came up with is Mike Cameron, a superb fielder with a typically low BA and OBP that flashes decent pop. Most have said that the ceiling for Anderson is about a .280 average with 25 homers and 20 steals, the speed being something he hasn't even used to this point in the minors. What is so great about those numbers that we have to suffer through a year or two of a sub-.250 batting average with an OBP in the neighborhood of .300? Where exactly do you think he's going to hit for the next 3 years or so in the order? How long has Crede, a guy with significantly more experience who was almost certainly a better prospect, been hitting that low in the order? When are you going to learn that it doesn't matter how fast you move through an organization or what kind of numbers you put up in the minors? A guy hits when a guy hits, Anderson's early major league returns are not good. You rip on me for being afraid to make changes, but you're the one that wants to make a change basically for the sake of making a change. The chances are slim that Anderson is going to be an upgrade over Rowand next year, and you still want to make him the Opening Day starter. I don't see the point in trading a bottom-of-the-order hitter with major league experience who was passable at the plate even in an off year for another bottom-of-the-order hitter that's got a year and a half of experience over A-ball. Getting another a year of experience under his belt at the majors simply isn't that big a deal. There's no magical formula that says a year in the big leagues will automatically make him a good hitter. Even if he plays full-time in center next year, there's nothing that says he's suddenly going to be an "established" player in 2007. He could make the same kind of improvement at AAA without becoming an offense-drain on the Sox, something I'd much rather see. I will say that Kenny is enamored with Anderson, but I think/hope he has better sense than to start him in center. He has never said he'll be the Opening Day starter, he's said they need to find a place for him on the major league roster, which I take to mean that he'll be our 4th outfielder. I really don't think he wants to rush Anderson more than they already have. Making someone with as little experience as Anderson your full-time starter on a contender is not a good move unless the guy is just a natural born hitting machine, which is not the case. Frankly unless he tears the cover off the ball in Spring Training I'd rather see him stay at AAA, be be dealt for a real hitter before that.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Oct 31, 2005 -> 11:15 AM) We're afraid to take a chance now? We're afraid to trust our scouting and player development people? We're afraid to replace a disappointing offensive player with one who has a higher ceiling but may struggle initially? We're not replacing our heart of the order. We're replacing perhaps our weakest offensive player, here. This has nothing to do with trusting our scouting people. The fact is that no matter how good a scouting/development group is, they're going to be wrong on occasion. I really don't think I need to start listing people who've failed to meet expectations as a player, that list is quite long. It's debatable whether or not Rowand is our weakest offensive player, but Anderson probably would be if we call him up. He's not going to come in and hit .300 or blast 30 plus homers, he's almost certainly going to be another offensive liability, and the chances are good that he'll be a bigger one than Juan, Aaron, or Carl. I don't see any reason to take that kind of risk this season. Why would we want to make an already suspect offensive team even weaker? I don't see any way he's a real asset to our offense this season. You can say all you want about Aaron being a major problem spot for our offense, but I'll take a .270 average with a .329 OBP over a serious question mark that will probably do significantly worse anytime. We don't have a need to break him in yet, and he could probably use some more seasoning anyways, as shown by his 44/115 walk/strikeout ratio at AAA this year. I'd rather wait until he shows more in plate discipline. We have the luxury to be able to wait until our prospects are actually ready to contribute at the major league level right now, unlike some other teams, so I think we should take advantage of that.

I'm kind of torn on the whole "who's our DH?" question. Part of me says I'd like to see a serious upgrade at the position, giving us a real #3 hitter to pair with Paulie (I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but so far I feel good about it). On the other hand, I'm not as concerned about it as I would have been if we had lost, and I really want to see Frank back and get a real shot at 500 homeruns. Obviously we'd have to get a cheap, preferrably left-handed alternative for any time when he's hurt, which would also give us a bat off the bench if Frank is healthy. I know Frank's ankle is a serious issue, but there is a side benefit: less financial committment, making it easier to keep some of our guys or improve through FA.

Three things: 1) Gammons never seems to be right about anything. 2) It's highly possible that the "starting pitcher" is Orlando Hernandez, who probably doesn't have a place in the rotation and will cost about $5 mil this year. 3) We don't have a whole lot of financial committments past next season, which should allow us some leeway in long term deals.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Oct 30, 2005 -> 09:38 PM) If we sign Paul, then no, I would not think any top tier FA would be on his way. The history of KW just says trade. However, this was also a historic season. Things can change... I just don't see us signing any major FA outside of Paulie, or maybe an outside chance on Giles if we don't resign Paulie (probably more of a pipedream). It simply isn't that strong a class, especially when it comes to position players. If Paulie were to walk, I think it'd be a lot more likely that we add a big bat in a trade (ie Overbay, Thome, Delgado, Dunn, Huff, Helton, Sweeney, ect).

Thankfully I'm probably not going to have to worry getting tickets, since we put in our season ticket order last Monday. We still haven't heard from them, but I'm not overly concerned. We put in an order for lower deck reserved, but we want to upgrade it to premium lower deck box. We plan on calling in at 9:00 on Tuesday to get our tickets, hopefully we'll still get some decent seats.

Those deadline trades were just brutal. LoDuca, Mota, and Encarnacion were all valuable parts that were given up for an overrated, inconsistent, injury prone starter in Brad Penny. The whole Randy Johnson fiasco was just as brutal (not sure what all of the parts were, but I remember thinking that they were getting screwed). They now have a team with little quality talent and a very high payroll. That seems like a good way to get fired to me.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Oct 30, 2005 -> 09:03 PM) How the color of a teams sox on there uniforms would have any effect on how the team performs on the field is beyond me. I hate these stupid articles. These are Cubs' fans we're talking about. They've never been known to believe in logic. Come on, they believe that turning away a guy with a goat in 1945 is the cause of all of their problems.

The 1908 chant is pretty good. Obviously so is the 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox response. A couple of others: Ask him what country Carlos Zambrano, Aramis Ramirez, Sammy Sosa, Sergio Mitre, Angel Guzman, Neifi Perez, Julio Zuleta, Henry Rodriguez, Hee Sop Choi, that Korean guy that beaned the condor (something like Jun- Seung Pak) and any other foreigners I forgot are from. In my opinion the more obscure the player reference the better, because you could also show that you know more about his team than he does. Laugh at whatever response he comes up with. Another possible response is, "Well, your manager did say that Latin players are conditioned to play better in heat." Another of my personal favorites is to ask him how many current Cubs' players he can name. I find that about half of them stall around 5, roughly 80 percent can't get to ten. Ask him how many beers he'd had when he posted. Follow this by saying, "Judging by your spelling and grammer, I'd guess you were about to kill the 12 pack." Another one would be something like ,"I don't know anyone named Roberto Colon, so we'd probably have beat him anyways if he pitched." Or you could go with the logical approach (usually doesn't work with Cubs' fans, but worth a shot) and say, "Colon wouldn't have pitched until game 4 anyways, when we were already up 2-1. Even if he wins that start, the series is tied at 2 with mediocre pitchers going in the next two games." Another response would be,"We had Colon before, and he wasn't exactly Cy Young. Frankly, we decided he wasn't worth paying $12 million a year, which the Angels should have done as well."

I'm sorry, but there's no way I see anyone offerring Paulie more than $14 mil. Just think for a minute before we all panick about teams with other major issues making major finanacial committments to a guy that in most years would not be considered an elite FA. That kind of money is reserved for franchise centerpieces that carry the team. Think Vladimir Guerrero and Carlos Beltran. Paulie just isn't that good. The better comparisions are Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre, guys that have been pretty good for stretches but have their flaws. The only teams I see making major offers are the Sox, the Angels, the Blue Jays, and the Orioles. I doubt Paulie goes to the latter two because they are fringe contenders at best. While the Angels may make a major offer, I doubt they blow us out of the water. They've already got a lot of money committed to Vlad, Bartolo, and Cabrera among others, and they're going to need to do something with their pitching staff with Washburn and Byrd becoming FA. If we're even close to the same type of money, he'll probably stay. Everyone who has commented on where he will go has stated that he will probably stay with the Sox, while all the stuff saying he'll go elsewhere is merely speculation. This stuff happens with every major FA, that doesn't mean it's true. Let's just relax and see what happens before we start assuming the worst.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Oct 30, 2005 -> 02:48 PM) Anderson's numbers improved as the season went on, his K:BB numbers improved steadily over the course of the season, his first in AAA. In addition, while he strikes out a bunch (as does Rowand), he also walks considerably more often than Rowand. You're expecting .260 with 15-20 HR's and 80 RBI? Anderson is simply a better baseball player than Aaron Rowand, and no excuse-making for Rowand or denigrating of Anderson to make your point is going to change that. Since when did Uribe hit .260, 20 homers, and have 80 RBI this year? I was referring more to his style of play anyways. He's not going to hit for a high average or get on base a lot, but he'll flash the occasional pop and play decent to good defense. At this point in their respective careers, I seriously disagree. Offensively they're similar players (except Rowand probably makes slightly better contact), while defensively Anderson probably has better speed and a better arm. Aaron probably gets slightly better reads at this point. Rowand was pretty effective once he got to AAA, but he's nowhere near those numbers this year. Minor league performance is simply not a reliable predictor for major league success. There are a lot of guys that kick ass at AA or AAA that never do anything of import in the majors. Even when they make it, many take a couple of years to get there. Very few make an impact in their first year. Anderson's K to BB ratios in the minors don't mean squat. In his brief time in the majors, he had a 0/12 K/BB ratio in 34 at bats. Needless to say that needs to improve drastically. I really don't see how you could look at Anderson's swing and say that he's going to be a reliable hitter next year. I could definitely see him hitting like .230 with an OBP well under .300. That's not going to help our lineup. If everything goes well, I could see him hitting about .260 with 15-18 homers, and an OBP of about .320, with the homer numbers only being accurate if he is a full time starter. That's not exactly stellar. Anderson is not another Pujols or Cabrera. He is not the kind of guy that is going to come in here and hit the crap out of the ball right away. He's not a supremely good contact hitter and doesn't have elite power. At his peak his probably a .280-25 homerun guy that plays very good defense. If he pans out, he's more of a Torii Hunter or pre-2005 Andruw Jones than a Ken Griffey Jr. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that, but his peak probably isn't this year. With the current team setup and the probabilty that we'll be a competitive team, I'd rather not see us breaking in a rookie. I'd personally like to see Anderson, Young, and Owens start the year in Charlotte. Then if one of them starts to kick ass or one of our major leaguers get hurt or start sucking we can call them up. However, it sounds like KW is enamored with Anderson and is going to at a minimum keep him at the major league level.