WCSox

Given that Sunday is the day that pitchers and catchers report, it seems likely that the press conference was scheduled some time ago and has little or nothing to do with Damon. That seems to suggest that either Kenny expects nothing to happen by then, or that he's given up on Damon.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) Because, due to inflation, deferred money is worth less than money paid up front. If you're talking about the current economic situation where the dollar is losing value (and projected to lose more over the next few years), I understand what you're saying. My bad.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) Because, due to inflation, deferred money is worth less than money paid up front. Technically, it's not really "worth less," it just that you don't get it for a few years. And if it's subject to interest, it's worth more in 2010 market dollars.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 02:29 PM) If the present day value is $4.5M then that means there's probably another ~$2.5M differed. $7M makes an awful lot of sense even if 36% is differed. I don't understand the big hang-up on deferred money, especially if you're already mega-rich like Damon. If they're legally-obligated to pay you, you'll still get it.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 02:28 PM) I bet both Damon and Boras are LOL-ing about the 2 year 14 mil they turned down from NYY Yeah, no kidding. Misinformation is Boras' greatest weapon.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 02:24 PM) I'm gonna say it. I think we're going to get him, and i couldn't be happier. It was worth all this rotating DH s***, all my pontificating and all the b****ing, if we wind up with Damon. Come spring training, i might just give KW a hug. I think that you're right. If he's willing to go down that far in value, Detroit must be a major turn-off for one or both of them. Damon wouldn't single-handedly propel us to the Central title, but he'd make the lineup look much more complete and competitive.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 12:37 PM) I bet that they'll platoon Damon and Pierre between LF and DH. Agreed that Damon would play a decent amount of LF. Being able to occasionally use Pierre off the bench as a pinch runner late in games is a plus.

I'd like Rowand back, just so we wouldn't have had to roll the dice on Rios. That said, still would've tried to trade for JT.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 12:24 PM) Damon's wife is smart. You'd listen to her, too.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 12:22 PM) I'm really trying hard not to get my hopes up. This is about money, and Damon is only holding out for more money from Detroit. They will offer it to him eventually. It's been reported that Damon's wife is against the idea of living in the Detroit area. If that's true, it's probably not just about money.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 11:39 AM) Three lefties in a row? Oops, forgot that Teahen bats left. Could flip-flop him with Alexei. That said, my guess is that you're right about Ozzie penciling Pierre into the leadoff spot. He'll probably hit Damon 2nd and drop Beckham down in the lineup as well.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 11:25 AM) Pierre Beckham Damon Quentin Konerko Pierzynski Rios Teahen Ramirez Makes the most sense. I would put Damon and his nice OBP at the top of the order. Pierre is more of a #9 hitter and his speed would compliment Damon's ability to hit for decent average with some power. Damon Beckham Quentin Konerko AJ Rios Alexei Teahen Pierre If Q could stay healthy for an entire season, that would be a pretty respectable lineup.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 09:53 AM) I can't see this team going with Damon and Kotsay as its only backup OF's. Not if they care about defense at all. Not with how Ozzie likes using righty/lefty matchups, not with Quentin's injury history and Rios's struggles. Given the people that Ozzie has played in CF over the past few years, I can definitely see him not caring about defense. Quentin's injury history is probably the best argument for keeping Jones on the roster. Even if Rios continues to struggle, his defensive skills and contract pretty much mandate that he'll play regularly. With the current rotation and the veteran bullpen, the Sox could probably get away with 11 pitchers on the 25-man roster. On, say, the 2007 squad, there would be no way.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 09:45 AM) I think the fact that Jones is a RF hitter and Damon and Pierre are LH hitters makes a strong case for keeping Jones. If you sign another LH OF to mainly fill the DH spot, and you also want to keep Kotsay because it's somewhat useful to have a backup 1b so that Konerko can rest or DH once a week as well, then really, the answer is 11 pitchers. If Kenny feels comfortable going that route, it's a possibility. Then again, it's also possible that Jones gets DFA'd in June and we got back to a 12-man pitching staff by default (unless Q goes down again, in which case we'll need another RF).

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 09:41 AM) Um...? From everything I've read and seen, it's Jones that can still play a bit of defense and Kotsay is rather terrible defensively now a days. Kotsay can play a good 1B and that's about it. It's more of a question of durability than ability. Jones can't stay healthy, so he's not going to play OF more than part-time. If Kenny had any faith in Jones' ability, he never would've taken on Pierre's salary. Kotsay could play one of the corner OF positions well enough to occasionally spell Pierre or Quentin. Ability-wise, Jones is better but, again, he can't stay healthy. Dude hasn't posted a respectable OBP since 2006, either.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 03:13 PM) i disagree. Damon goes to LF, Pierre goes to the bench Pierre is superior defensively to Damon. I'm sure that Damon would get some time in LF, but he'd be relegated to DH for most of the time. QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 10:26 PM) I highly doubt the sox would whine about releasing 500K of Andruw Jones if it comes to that. Agreed with this. If the Sox sign Damon, they could only realistically carry 11 pitchers on the 25-man roster. Jones is probably the odd man out in that case (I'd keep Kotsay, since he can actually still play defense somewhat).

Wow, this is getting interesting.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 05:07 PM) From Boston to NYC to detroit burbs. Looks like a step down to me. Maybe he really likes the suburban pace, but there is also zero metropolis to venture into which is a huge minus. That depends on what one's priorities in life are. I suppose that a young, single guy like Gordon Beckham would really love the NYC lifestyle. But a guy like Damon, who's in his mid-30's, is married, and has 4 kids, may not be into eating at the swankiest steakhouse on the East Coast and goin' to da club multiple times a week. Agreed that metro Detroit has relatively little to offer compared to other major cities, but that isn't exactly his home. Damon and his family reside in a small town outside of Orlando, which is a far cry from Boston and New York. I imagine that his decision to sign with the Red Sox and the Yankees had more to do with money and the realistic chance of winning a championship than anything lifestyle-related. QUOTE (Sockin @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 05:34 PM) Sox have made a second offer, Damon to Sox gaining momentum! http://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/9212195015 I'm not expecting Kenny to win a bidding war over Damon, but it would be awesome if he did. EDIT: Doh!

QUOTE (joeynach @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 05:20 PM) Yea but you are speaking to our generation, we utilize these things and in fact depond on them at this point. Do you really think your parents would prefer to use streaming media on phones, blackberry's, PDA's, and computers vs just turning on the radio. NO WAY!! My 60-something parents know how to order a sports package from their cable company and how to operate a satellite radio receiver. And they're just as technologically-illiterate as their peers. I'm not advocating dumping the AM broadcast, but pointing out that its time is limited.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) I would venture to say that a multimillionaire, media whore, prima donna isn't a country fella. You mean like Brett Favre? Damon may very well be a suburban fella who enjoys living in a 10,000 square foot house on a 10-acre lot, and didn't particularly like living in the overcrowded mess of NYC.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 03:21 PM) I remember went I went to Purdue I couldn't get AM-1000 down there, as soon as they switched to 670 it came in fine. Driving around the Midwest 670 is much much stronger of a signal and thats not just for people living out of town, its for Chicagoans that find themselves in and around the regional area quite frequently. Lots of us find ourselves driving to places like South Bend, New Buffalo, Lafayette, Madison, Milwaukee, Lake Geneva, Quad Cities, Champaign, Peoria etc and only with 670 can we receive white sox broadcasts. There are even locations where atmospheric bounce can rely the signal to hundreds of miles away such as the example of finding the station in Nashville, TN. And a lot of that long-range signal is dependent on the time of day and the weather, which makes it incredibly unreliable at times. Not to mention that much of Illinois, Northern Indiana, and Eastern Iowa have their own local Sox affiliates. I suppose that they could simulcast the signals on AM and FM (like the ESPN affiliate in my city). But, especially now in the age of internet streaming and out-of-market cable/satellite sports packages, AM radio in general is on its way out. It's an inferior format with inferior sound quality, and I'm not surprised that the Sox are considering a switch.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 03:48 PM) Yeah, but those are suburbs. They've been living in NYC, going from that to Birmingham or Grosse Point is quite a step down, almost like moving to the country. This may surprise you, but many people don't consider moving out into the suburbs (or "the country") to be a "step down." Some people aren't into concrete and congestion.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 02:14 PM) If he stays healthy this year and puts up good numbers he should be able to land a multi-year deal next offseason, there's a big difference between 37 and 38 in major league baseball. If he takes that 2 year deal it'll be the last of his career, a 1 year pact worth equal annual salary sets him up for an opportunity for one last multi-year deal after proving his worth away from Yankee Stadium in 2010. And if he has a down year in 2010 or suffers an injury, he can say goodbye to that lucrative two-year deal that will be offered in 2011. Coming off of a career-high in OPS+, I take the two-year deal now while I'm healthy and my value is the highest that it's been over the past three years. But that's just me. QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 02:15 PM) You're seriously comparing NY to Detroit? That's a first. Oh, the area around downtown Detroit is definitely worse than the Bronx/Harlem/Yonkers. Then again, there are nice suburbs within a short drive of the Detroit city limits. There's no such thing as a reasonable drive in NYC.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 01:36 PM) Given that Johnny's already made ~$100M in his career, I'm thinking $5M-$7M and spending 1 year in Chicago/Atlanta then finding a new home for the 2011 season and another ~$5M is FAR more attractive than $14M and living in that s*** hole that is Detroit for 2 years. Except for the fact that it's probably his last chance to land a semi-lucrative multi-year deal (he'll be 36 in June) and it's a guaranteed $14M. If Damon were to suffer a major injury this summer (like a torn ACL), he might not be able to play again until he's 38. I don't see why he didn't take the (alleged) 2/14 offer from the Yankees. QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 01:41 PM) If you go 20-30 minutes outside of Detroit there are extremely nice neighborhoods, you just wont have a nice city nearby. Locations like Grosse Pointe Park are right next to the city and have a lot of wealth, and places like Ann Arbor are under an hour away to Comerica Park. There just isnt really a good place in the city, atleast not for a multimillionaire. ^^^ If Damon could stand taking a trip to the Bronx every day, driving into Detroit for two years isn't the worst thing in the world.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Feb 16, 2010 -> 12:57 PM) NO WAY!! Im all for the creation of this sports talk station on FM, but FM for sports sucks. There is a reason the sox draw 122,000 people to their radio station and its becuase they are on a powerful 50,000 Watt AM station that can be heard hundreds of miles away. Why on earth would the team limit its broadcasts to the immediate 75 miles of the city, they would be reducing their listening audience. You make a good point here, but there are other factors as well. The first is the inherently superior FM signal (as long as it's within range). The second is that the AM signal is there, but is often spotty hundreds of miles away. You can get the game down in Lafayette, IN, but the signal sounds like crap. And for this reason, there are often local AM affiliates that carry the game (hence, the White Sox Radio Network). Thirdly, anybody anywhere in the country can get a season's worth of internet/iPhone radio casts for $15 via MLB.com. Because of these factors, I imagine that the powers-that-be are more interested in improving local signal quality, as the out-of-area people are already taken care of. The Sox have only been on The Score since 2006. They were on AM 1000 (WMVP) for much longer than that and it's not like they didn't promote the Sox at all. IIRC, one of the rumored reasons that Rooney left was because The Score couldn't (or wouldn't) pay him what he wanted.