BaseballNick

MLB Network had a Top 50 Prospects of 2010 special tonight. Zero White Sox prospects made the cut. Not Flowers, not Mitchell, not even Hudson. The Royals, Rangers, and Rays led the way with four each.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 03:26 PM) When is the "Moneyball" movie supposed to come out? I think they canned it. I heard something about concern over how marketable the movie would be.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 22, 2010 -> 07:51 PM) Which is code for "We are not going to make another move." I don't believe that. There are so many pieces in place with this team, yet a gaping hole at the #3 spot in the order. I still think Kenny has an ace up his sleeve.

QUOTE (Rooftop Shots @ Jan 17, 2010 -> 10:38 PM) Is there a Fuddruckers still around anywhere? I remember in Downers Grove that there used to be one. There were 2 restaurants right across from one another. Fuddruckers, and Mother Tuckers. Try saying those together real fast in mixed company without slipping up. As far as I know, there's still one in Downers off Butterfield and Finley. If it's closed, I'm not going to be too happy.

If I'm playing for one year, I'll take Ichiro to hit in front of Beckham and play RF. Discard Lillibridge, or Pierre if we need to dump someone from the active roster. If I'm playing for the long-term future, then I'm a little torn between Evan Longoria, Justin Upton, Pablo Sandoval, Grady Sizemore, Prince Fielder, David Wright, Hanley Ramirez, and that guy in STL.

Jon Heyman says Johnny Damon could be headed to Detroit.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jan 13, 2010 -> 03:01 PM) Blalock would bring the most versatility and a left handed bat that still has pop. Plus, he's only 29. It looks like he's missed a lot of time over the past three seasons. How healthy is he? Edit: I see he played only one game at 3B last season. It doesn't appear he'd be able to give us much as a backup infielder. We could do worse at DH though.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 02:22 PM) I don't think the organization is inclined to put the future of the catching position in Josh Phegley's hands just yet. I don't buy the impending trade thought, and would have preferred Flowers on the bench in sort of a Backup QB-type deal. To me, it doesn't look like AJ's days are done by any means. Who's to say AJ isn't resigned? If the Sox go that route, Flowers can most definitely me traded if the right deal comes along.

The whole, "I wish I didn't play in the steroid era" and "I wish there was testing because then we wouldn't be having this conversation" thing really ruined the apology for me. Mark, you still had the opportunity to say no. You had a chance to take a stand and do the right thing when apparently there were a whole lot of people were doing the wrong thing. I respect him for coming clean, but I don't respect him for not manning up when the time was right. He has no one to blame but himself.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 07:57 AM) Branyan basically put up the same numbers Thome put up last year and it was considered a breakout season for him at 33. Who knows about his back. Thome is older between the 2 but has a far superior track record and probably is the better bet matching the 2009 numbers or at least being close to them of the two. I'd pass on Branyan. I don't think we can count on Big Jim to be the hitter the Sox need at this point in his career. Branyan's health (back) and career numbers give me reservations about signing him as well. I don't see the answer to the White Sox DH vacancy anywhere on the free agent market. Matsui would have been an ideal fit, but with him gone, there's no great or even good LH option still out there.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 8, 2010 -> 08:07 AM) Plus they have Ross Gload. The Gloader is in Philly now so the Marlins won't be nearly as good this coming season. For me, I have always liked the A's and the Giants. The A's won me over with that 20+ game win streak several years back. They were a fun team to watch with great pitching, great defense with Miggy and Chavez on the left side and a thumper in Giambi. I don't think any of those guys were clean, but ignorance was bliss at the time. Moneyball was also a great read and got me excited to watch those guys grow and develop. As for the Giants, I have no clue why I liked them, but that park sure looks like it'd be a nice place to catch a game. I'm going to have to check it out some time.

Rangers offer Vlad a 1 year $7mil deal. I doubt there are many/any teams willing to match that offer.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 6, 2010 -> 02:46 PM) I'm not convinced former players would do a good job voting for the HOF. I'm certainly not convinced the writers are doing a good job.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 6, 2010 -> 02:00 PM) So for all of the columns you see from baseball writers about how bad the fans are at the all-star ballot, this Hall of Fame vote shows they are just as dumb. That's a great point. Some of these guys just don't get it. How a writer does not vote for a 12X All-Star, and 10X Gold Glove Award winner is beyond me. I'm ready to see the voting go to the players (peers of the nominees) and let the writers stick to writing.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 6, 2010 -> 08:22 AM) Do you think they will be willing to spend about $400 million or so do it? I'm no expert on the finances and revenue streams of the St. Louis Cardinals, but I don't think they could send a worse message to their incredibly loyal fans than to not keep a homegrown talent that has become the best hitter in the entire game.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2010 -> 06:05 PM) I'm guessing this means they know they won't be able to, and are trying to "replace" him. I think they only way he doesn't stay a Cardinal is if he really wants to play elsewhere. The Cards draw a ton of fans (about 3.5 million in each of the last six seasons) and have a beautiful new park. Those 3.5 million people come to see Albert Pujols hit baseballs. I think they can afford to pay two superstar players and will likely do so.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 5, 2010 -> 03:29 PM) Christ, we're on the Swisher nonsense again? He was a player with no position on the Sox. No one in 2009 would have benched Dye or Quentin for him, and he can't play CF. Not to mention he obviously was hated by many of his teammates and coaches. He's gone, he had to be gone, and who gives a crap what he did later with the Yankees. Let it die. Swisher will forever live on through the successes of Wilson Betemit...oops, I mean Jeff Marquez...oops, I mean Jhonny Nunez.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 12:54 PM) Sounds like you're arguing with yourself. Nobody implied David Wright was Corky Miller last year. And who cares how many categories he would've led a s***ty Sox offense in. David Wright consistently sported OPS's of well over .900 (topping out at .963 in 2007). An .837 OPS is a significant drop-off. No, I'm not arguing with anyone. I think there's a false perception out there that David Wright was "bad" last year. I heard some talk on the radio this morning about his poor season, and then a poster on here said something about his problems last year, so I just decided to look up his numbers and I saw that it really wasn't a bad season at all. For his standards it wasn't great, but I wouldn't say it was bad by any means. I know the Sox weren't world beaters last season, but that's the team we all watch, so I compared Wright's numbers to theirs.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 11:25 AM) He also hit 10 HR and drove in 72. In a "poor" year, he'd have led the White Sox in average, OBP, and (without adjusting for the ballpark) been third in OPS, second in total bases, and second in steals. The guy is brutal. Edit: I just checked, and he actually would have led the White Sox in OPS+ too.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Dec 30, 2009 -> 03:26 AM) So with all of the problems David Wright had in 2009, Minaya goes and gets him some protection. Wright put up a line of .307/.390/.447/.837 last season, and he stole 27 bases. I wish White Sox players had those kinds of problems.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 25, 2009 -> 03:37 PM) Rios a PED-head... huh. Typically I don't pick out slender sub-25 HR hitting players as PED-heads. Neifi Perez and Pablo Ozuna both PED'd. Nobody should surprise you anymore.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 21, 2009 -> 11:12 PM) I still want to know where you get the idea that the Sox aren't taking the profits them make annually and applying them towards the next years team, because there is nothing to indicate that money goes back to the shareholders/investors. I want to preface by stating that I don't think the White Sox are cheap. I think Kenny and Rick do a terrific job year in and year out with the numbers they are given to work with, and that the people in charge have been fiscally responsible. They do good job of keeping the team competitive, and keeping the "business" profitable at the same time. However, Forbes singled out the White Sox as being one of the more profitable franchises in baseball in 2008, yet the 2009 opening day payroll took the largest percentage drop of any team in the league. Couple that with increased ticket prices (11%?) in the midst of a recession, and you're going to have an upset fanbase. I thought that was a poor move and it got a lot of people questioning whether profits really are reinvested into the team.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 20, 2009 -> 08:49 AM) I had a thought in the Lowell bust of a trade thread. The Rangers are in need of a power threat who can play 1b and is right-handed. They're willing to give up a good catching prospect in Max Ramirez, and absorb a percentage of the salary. So, make it Konerko for Ramirez. This opens up the option of trading Flowers guilt free. Which opens up more options. Deal or no Deal? Boston was going to pick up $9mil of the $12mil owed to Lowell, so Texas really isn't picking up significant money. Also, PK has no trade rights, and there's no indication he'd want to play in Texas.

QUOTE (Mattchoo @ Dec 19, 2009 -> 09:22 AM) I kind of like it, but I think I'd prefer an IF for the last piece of the offseason. I feel like we have 6 OFs on the current 25 roster... Pierre, Rios, Quentin, Jones, Kotsay, Teahen (yes, i know he is our 3B, but he could play OF). Kotsay probably isn't viewed as an OF although he can still play there and do a decent job when asked. His primary role is LH hitter off the bench and backup 1B. He's not even listed as an OF on the White Sox website any longer (not that it means anything). It's not likely that Teahen sees any time in the OF for the Sox, so really they'd be carrying four OF (Pierre, Jones, Rios, and Q).

QUOTE (League @ Dec 18, 2009 -> 11:44 AM) It doesn't seem that crazy, the Mariners just got Bradley and the Yankees don't seem to be interested in him anymore. The only suitor he seems to have left is San Francisco. If he dropped to 2/18 on his asking price, I could see us inquiring. Supposedly, his asking price is 2 years at $10mil per season, so he wouldn't have to come down very far at all.