ZoomSlowik

Can someone please tell me how a team over .500 and in 2nd can be the worst Sox team ever? Anyone? With Frank and Maggs this is a division winner, possibly more. Can we drop it now? s*** happens.

St. Louis has a great lineup, but once you get to the Mike Matheny Sao Taguchi(if they let him play that day) and the pitcher area, it makes it a lot easier. Life's a lot easier when you only have 6 guys to worry about. Chicago's O is okay but it's all righty and Sosa and Ramirez have been out at times. Even when they are all healthy they struggle at times. Houston has really struggled. Cincinnati and Miluakee both have massive holes in their lineup, especially with the injuries to Kearns and Griffey. Plus they also see scrub offenses like Montreal, Marlins(sucks once you get past #4), Mets, and Dodgers(at least most of the time). Look at the numbers, 4 teams in the AL have scored more runs than Colorado, who have the most, and 7 of the top 10 are in the AL. The weak bottom of the order on every NL team has a major effect on runs scored.

I do that a lot, because I usually post when I see something that pisses me off, so then I do it whenever I see it. If you see me doing that, just ignore me. I'm used to it.

Yes, I added the PS when I found a couple of guys I forgot. You're right about Anderson, I forgot him. The others are either sucking horribly or not exactly power hitters Green has done it in the past but doesn't do it consistently, and Matsui doesn't have me convinced, and Finley seems a little old to even worry about. There are only about one per team, and I wouldn't really want about 10 of them. We aren't going to find a ton of those guys in trades. Even if we trade Lee AND Konerko, we'll get like 5 prospects, 3 of them probably being pitchers. Cleveland traded a ton of guys with a lot of talent, like Alomar, Colon, Thome, Ramirez, and Mesa. We aren't trading all of those guys and don't have anyone to match Thome and Ramirez. Even then it is a crap shoot. I think we might eventually have 1 in Sweeney, but that's going to be 3 years from now. I'd rather hang on to those guys than scrap the team for 3 years anyways. It looks like we should have a solid team for next year if we just resign Maggs. Besides, the lefty-righty crap is often bulls***(like when Ozzie pinch hit lefties to face Rivera, god that was dumb), quality players are quality players.

You really think adding a walking DL trip hitting .278 with 2 years and $13 mil remaining on his deal is a good idea? Floyd doesn't instantly make us a playoff team. The only thing that will is our guys playing better and our sluggers getting healthy. It's EXTREMELY difficult to find players like Frank and Maggs on the block, and Floyd doesn't qualify. I don't buy this "go for it now, this is our year" thinking because once Maggs went back on the DL it stopped being our year. If we get Floyd, we're basically losing Maggs, which is a problem. And we are stuck with the Cliff Floyd DL extravaganza while we let a .300 BA and 30 HR guy go, because we decided to go for it with a team that clearly is struggling without it's two big sticks. PS Qwerty, I know you called me on reposting my thoughts, but I feel I have to when the same things come up.

I don't think anyone is content with the way they are playing right now, but it is going to be very difficult to get anything that will make a difference on this particular team, other than Maggs and Frank coming back. Pretty much every available player will cost more prospects than we have, and several of them have a no trade clause anyways, and pretty much every player other than RJ and Beltran just isn't worth it. I'd rather see him stand pat than give up what little prospects we have left to get someone like Cliff Floyd that won't improve us that much and hurt our future teams.

I think I changed the wording a little. He basically said the same thing in that thread too, so I thought it made sense.

Reed is hitting .268 at Tacoma. Yeah, that sounds like someone that would help our team. He's younger, but another year or two like this and he is going to be Borchard without the power potential. I'm always going to consider last year a career year from a guy without the pure talent of other prospects until he proves me wrong.

Reed isn't exactly tearing it up. He's hitting .268 since the deal. That sounds like a no win situation to me. I know he is younger but if he does this for another year or two he is in the same situation as Borchard, only without the power potential. Until he proves me wrong, I'm going to consider last year a career year from a guy that doesn't have the pure talent of some other prospects.

I'll agree that there are few if any players that can make a major difference on this team. Most of them either will cost us too much in talent, have a no trade clause, or both. I don't think we are done yet, but we obviously need to start playing better. I think Detroit's park is a bad place to play at this time. Their park is very deep in the power alleys and in center, and the ball doesn't seem to carry. This means we have to put several hits together to get runs, which is not happening in this lineup right now. It can happen, but the way Valentin, Jose, Crede, and our catchers are currently hitting, it's going to be hard. We still have two more games with Detroit with our two best starters pitching, followed by 3 games with KC. Even if we fall short in the playoffs, I'm not with some of these people in giving up season tickets(sorry, don't have them, although before this recent streak my Dad was talking about getting some) or switching loyalties or whatever. It stopped being our year when Maggs went back on the DL. I think if we resign Maggs this team will have a good shot, especially if we add someone in FA. Stay with us man!

Cleveland has exactly 3 in Hafner, Lawton(who isn't a power hitter by any stretch of the imagination, and Gerut, who's not exactly killing the ball.(Martinez is a switch hitter). Even then, none of them are likely to hit 30 homers, the most any of them has right now is 17. Look at your major power hitters. Thome, Helton, Ortiz and Bonds are studs and aren't going anywhere. Giambi(steriods cough cough) and Delgado are sucking. One available after the year, one not. Burnitz, Dunn and Edmonds and have power but little average(at least through most of their careers), all not going anywhere. Drew has power but always gets hurt, and is a Boras client so will cost a ton. Beltran is a switch hitter and will cost a ton. Blalock isn't going anywhere, and Texiera is a switch hitter and isn't going anywhere. Griffey is always hurt and costs a ton. Chavez is locked up. Huff is a little off that pace and isn't going anywhere, Berkman is also a little off and is probably going to resign. Abreu doesn't always hit this many and is staying, Lou Go is hurt and overpaid, and might not get there again, and Chipper is in a funk, making a ton, and staying.That adds up to 20 guys that fit your criterion(almost none being available), which is a less than one for every team, and few of those also have the defense to fit one of you criterion. I wouldn't even want some of these guys that bad. Notice only 4 teams have two of these guys(Abreu and Thome, Dunn and Griffey, Texiera and Blalock, Helton and Burnitz), and one of them is in Colorado. And you expect us to find two in a couple of years? Also I highly doubt that Roberts or Figgins are going anywhere(I think Figgins is a bit of a fluke anyways, but I digress). The Orioles are much more likely to trade Hairston than Roberts. When a team finds these guys they keep them, so you basically have to develop one. And there still are very few catchers that will hit 15 homers. I'd love to have Inge but he's not moving. PS, sorry for anyone trying to quote this, I keep finding guys that are either hurt or having an off year that I missed. There still aren't a lot.

Because there isn't really a move that they can actually do and makes sense unless they horribly overpay, and even then the talent out there isn't that great. Besides, look at the prospects that they have given up, most of them are doing poorly. About the only guys left that have any value are Anderson and Sweeney, and those guys seem to have some talent.

My 2 cents on this thing. I'm not blaming Kenny if we don't make a trade. There really isn't much there, and what is there costs a ton. Besides, has anyone seen this team play recently? Unless we can magically put Bonds or Pujols on this team I'm not sure there is a single move that puts us deep into the playoffs. RJ is the only potential move of this type(maybe Beltran, but he didn't do much for Houston), and that will cost us a ton of talent and a ton of money, and he might not even come here. I'm normally optomistic, but I'm starting to have my doubts. I'm not for trading whatever we got to make a blockbuster move, because unless our current guys play better it won't help. Unless we do something cheap like getting Cattlanato, I don't see the point. I'm not saying we should give up or that the season is over. If we can fight it out and be close when/if Thomas/Maggs come back then fine. But getting some rent a player to help this team doesn't seem to make much sense to me(again, unless it's RJ). Without Frank and Maggs our lack of consistency from most of our hitters and the 3-4-5 in the rotation is much more apparent and crushing. My vote would be to add Cattalanato for now, and then resign Maggs and take a shot next season.

I think the real curse is outlined in your sig.

Forever. Everyone is looking for lefties with pop and second basemen that can steal 30 bases, there aren't a ton of them out there. A solid defensive cather that can hit is pretty tough too. Plus why would Maggs want to stay if we get rid of Lee and Konerko.

Cattalanato would be great, Zaun is okay. His career numbers are weak but he is having a good year and plays a position we need help at. Wilson blows, K's too much and too big a contract. I like the first two because they are more affordable and won't hurt our future plans too much. If we get someone like Wilson, Walker, Beltran, or Floyd, we probably end up letting Maggs go, which I don't want to do.

I like the idea of offering Maggs a one year deal, but I don't like the idea of trading him when he gets healthy. We're not going to get fair value for him. My vote is offer him 1 year somewhere between 6 and 10 mil or giving him arbitration. I also wouldn't mind offering him a reasonable long term deal, something like 4 years for $40 mil.

Berkman is almost a lock to stay in Houston from all acounts. Pavano would be nice though.

The list sounds about right, but I want to put Thomas in the keepers. Ideally I'd like to replace Lee or Konerko with a lefty of similar skills, but I'm not sure that's possible. I'm also tempted to keep Crede unless we get someone like Glaus or Koskie to replace him.

I know what you mean. Maggs is my favorite player, and I hate seeing him get hurt, but I'd rather see him hurt and resign with the Sox than stay healthy and leave. Of course the ideal would be stay healthy, lead the Sox to a ring, and resign but...

I don't think so. Freddy is a pitcher. Yeah, we commited money to him, but we've done that with a lot of guys. Everett is clearly meant to be a fill in for Thomas because we haven't seen him in the field yet. Neither of them are an indication that we are preparing for a major gap in RF, Floyd is. We offered Maggs a good sized deal, and his asking price is gonna go down with the most recent injury. I highly doubt anyone will even offer him a 5 year deal now. I think there is a very good chance that he comes back on a one year deal and takes a shot at free agency next year, or signs something in the 5 years $50 mil range with the Sox.

I agree with most of what you said. I'm not so sure about Konerko or Lee getting dealt though. Both of them have pretty sizeable contracts. Konerko would make more sense to me, but we don't really have another option(unless we get Sexon or Delgado in FA, which I doubt). The only way I could see Lee going is if we pick up someone in a trade before the end of the year, but I don't really want to see him go.

That kind of thing doesn't happen very often. Starting pitchers in their late 20's don't often go from being medicore at best to being unhittable like Schmidt did. To think Benson is going to do that is a stretch, especially in an AL team acquires him. Getting Floyd would blow. Too many issues. He's injury prone, he was talking about retirement, and he's signed for another two years and $13 mil after this season. :puke If we do this we can basically admit Maggs is gone, and I don't believe that. With his injury he's fallen into our price range, and he's much better hitter than Floyd when he gets healthy. Floyd is a long term solution to a short term problem. I'd rather get Cattalanato at a lower price than Floyd any day.

Sorry if someone else said this(I can't sit through 10 pages), I just gotta voice my opinion. WHAT!!!!!!! I gotta say, giving up Sweeney for this guy blows. He's a walking DL trip. Yeah, he's a decent player when he's healthy, but he's never going to play 150 games. Plus he's owed another $13 mil through 05 and 06. :puke That would pretty much mean Maggs is gone. I'd rather not give up one of our best prospects for a long term solution to a short term problem.

I agree with you, just stating my opinion on who's gone and who's back. By the way, love the sig!