Frank the Tank 35

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 15, 2006 -> 09:53 PM) Well, the Sox play the Jays the 31st of May. On the 31st of May last year, Frank hit his 11th of the season. Things could get interesting...... Depends... will Garland be pitching?

As long as it isn't a team in the AL Central... Free-agent designated hitter Frank Thomas is close to agreeing to a two-year contract with the Blue Jays, FOXSports.com has confirmed. The deal, first reported by ESPN.com, would be worth at least $20 million. It also would include a club option for a third season, according to major-league sources. So it's for at least $20 mil/ 2 years. I read 2 years, $23 mil over at mlbtraderumors. Weird that this will amount to the biggest $-per-year salary that he's ever had.

Here's Rotoworld's take: The Cubs and Mark DeRosa have agreed to terms on a three-year deal worth about $13 million, ESPN's Buster Olney reports. It's way too much of a commitment to someone who only figures to be an asset against left-handers. A platoon of Jacque Jones and DeRosa in right field would be very productive, but the Cubs are probably going to give DeRosa a chance to be their primary second baseman. DeRosa turns 32 in February and is a career .260/.316/.366 hitter against righties (to put that in perspective, Neifi Perez is a career .268/.298/.376 hitter). Versus lefties, he has an impressive .306/.367/.497 line. Didn't the Cubs play the secondbaseman game last year?

IF the Sox signed Speier and Walker, they would be the middle men. Matt and Mike would retain their setup duties. BTW, does anyone know what happened to Urbina? I can't find anything regarding the outcome of his trial, if he's still in jail, etc. Being a close friend of Ozzie, I'd think he'd be amicable to signing with the Sox (assuming he's been liberated), perhaps to a cheap one-year incentive-laden deal to re-establish himself as a major-leaguer after a long layoff.

So sit Jim against the sucky lefties? JT 2006 OPS vs. lefties: .715 That's in 229 PA vs. 381 PA against righties. On a side note, I refuse to aknowledge Robertson as a "tough lefty," and I fully expect his era to take a big hit next year.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 4, 2006 -> 12:22 PM) I see Figgins has played a few games at SS. Does anyone think he could succeed there defensively? Since we have a fair amount of OF talent in the system already, and it seems like finding a shortstop on the market would be tough, that would be pretty handy. Figgins at short and all sorts of options for LF. Your idea intrigues me. I'd like to subscribe to your weekly newsletter. We know he's fast, and he's got a great arm. Seemingly all he would need to play SS is the instinct... A little irrelevant but I read an article about him in Muscle and Fitness. That little man squats like a champ!

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 03:57 PM) So what exactly has Jerry Owens done to make you think he can put up a .260 BA/.330 OBP in the majors? Because he just did in AAA? .262/.330/.346 40/52 in SB = 77% success rate Duh!

Damn! He should have pointed to the bleachers with his bat.

You know, the Mariners have been pretty much playing for nothing all season, yet they seem to still be at least giving an effort.

I think for the pure novelty of it, opposing batters should start calling their shots against Cotts.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 21, 2006 -> 09:10 PM) Any thoughts on the Sox trying to trade for ARod this offseason, and make him a SS? Give the Yanks Garcia and Fields, and hope they throw some money into the deal? If he craps the bed during the playoffs again, I think we'd try. We were close to signing him before. I don't think those two would get it done though.

Vaz gets the shaft again. 12 K's

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 21, 2006 -> 08:58 PM) Scott Boras is probably begging Crede to sit out the rest of the season. He's on the verge of going from a .300 hitter to a .275 hitter if he keeps struggling the rest of the year. His last hit was a double on the 13th.

Woods has actually been a pretty equal groundball/flyball pitcher in his short time in the majors. Hmm, I wonder why he has so many groundball outs tonight...

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Sep 21, 2006 -> 06:12 PM) Fields should be playing, but whatever ^^^ Crede just looks so tired/hurt at the plate.

I'd rather we (Sox) didn't make excuses. We lost. We came up short. We did not produce in the clutch. The banning of certain stimulants should have little bearing on this. There are dozens of perfectly legal stimulants that will get you going during the dog days of the season.

Joe needs some rest.

If Garcia can keep this up for the remainder of his starts, I like the way his trade value looks. Jimmy Rollins just hit his 22nd HR and stole his 36th base. Crazy to think you can have speed AND power at the same time.

The thing that concerns me most is the injury. He's kept the back thing at bay so far, but how long will he be able to avoid serious DL time? Maybe it's just me, but it looks like his back has really been affecting his swing lately. Even with that accounted for, I wouldn't want to just hand the third base job to Fields. I'd have to be seriously overwhelmed to trade him. Something along the lines of Crede and Garcia for Peavy+ or something equally ridiculous including names like Brandon Wood, Jered Weaver, Matt Cain, Chad Billingsley, etc.

At this point, we probably stand a better chance of winning if we play the callups.

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 09:52 PM) I know it is early to start planning but who is going to Philly? Garcia?

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 17, 2006 -> 10:01 PM) I think that the Sox organization still believes we have one more year in our "window". I agree. Despite my knee-jerk reaction to wanna tear this team apart, we're definitely going to be retooling for next year. JR reinvests the money made from the previous year into the next year's team. We'll have one of the biggest payrolls again next year.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 17, 2006 -> 05:31 PM) It's quite comical that he made the all-star team, and then has sucked to high hell since then. Remind you of a certain left-fielder?

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 17, 2006 -> 05:26 PM) Time for the Sox to make the 6 remaining outs in less than 25 pitches. Esp. if Duchscherer comes in...

I hope I'm wrong, but David Riske strikes me as the type of pitcher that was born to pitch batting practice to Frank.