SoxHawk1980

While this would be a bad trade for the Sox, no one should be upset about this rumor. I love to be critical of KW as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to criticize KW over a rumor. I'm sure the Phills made this trade offer, and KW may be negotiating with them, but given the nature of the market, KW is smart enough to know that he can get considerably more for Garcia. This is just a rumor of a trade that KW will not make. That doesn't mean that he won't necessarily re-acquire Rowand, but if he does so, it will be in a better package than this one.

No problem. No, I don't think he'd root for the Cards over the Sox in a head-to-head match up. But I think it is incumbent on any player on any team to show that all of his loyalty is to that team for as long as he is in the organization. Unfortunately, Mark has shown time and again that his heart is still with the Cards. He'd really love to play for them (he's said it time and again). That is a slap in the face to the team and to its fans. While you are a Sox, don't root for another team. Don't fawn over another team. Don't talk about how much you'd like to be playing for another team.

I think it is pretty ridiculous to be on one major league team and root for another major league team. Once you actually become a player on a team, THAT should become your favorite team. Mark has made it clear all along that the Cardinals are his first love. It is time for him to grow up and recognize the jersey he wears and that it should be the only jersey he wears. He's not some 25 year old fan watching games on TV in his basement. He's a major league baseball player. It is long past the time he should be putting away the rooting interests of his childhood.

I agree. I just wonder what my fellow Sox fans would be willing to give up for him. I'm all for exploring the chances of acquiring Pujols, Howard and Mauer too, but I don't think we'd be willing to give what it takes to get any of those players.

This is KW posturing for potential trade partners. He wants to make it look like he's not eager to trade any of his pitchers and that he's trying to extend their contracts. My fearless forecast is that neither will get a contract extension until one of them is traded. Then an extension for the remaining one is possible, but not likely. Given the hyper-inflation of the current market, this is not the time for a team to create new contracts when they don't have to.

I agree, but what would you be willing to give up for him? Would you trade Garcia, Anderson and Haeger for him? I know he is a one-year player (with exclusive negotiating rights to him for the season), but I doubt Toronto would be willing to trade him for less than equal value.

I pretty much fall into the "he'd be a bit of an upgrade, so maybe but I'm not a fan of this overhyped player" camp. For those of you in love with Rowand, I hope you expect these kinds of numbers from him: .270/.330/.420/.750. Yawn. Those numbers are very mediocre, even for a CFer. For a corner OFer, they are just plain bad. I think a performance in that vicinity is the real Rowand. I strongly suspect that his anomalous 2004 season was fueled by andro, creatin and/or HGH, or worse. I don't think this is being reported as "the White Sox are showing interest in reacquiring Rowand." (unless I missed something like this, which is possible). I believe it is the standard speculation that journalists share at this time of year regarding players that they think might be a good fit and reasonable trading opportunity.

Great point. I don't like Boras, but you can't blame or hate him without blaming or hating his clients. Agents don't own their clients. Agents don't make their clients do anything. Boras plays hardball to get the most money/years for his clients because his clients' #1 priority is maximizing money/years in their contracts.

How good? He's had some good starts and some bad starts, and a bad last season. No one should be surprised if BMac is worse than league average next season. And 1.000 OPS players are hard to find too. I'll take Manny's guaranteed offensive greatness over BMac's inexpensive potential any day of the week. Pods didn't ruin the 2006 season. I don't give him credit for that. I give him credit for being an awful baeball player and he certainly earned that. What does he do well? Nothing. Bad offense, bad defense, and he can't even steal bases for a good %age anymore. He flat out stinks. And, with regard to trading him, why would any team trade anything for the privilege of wasting $2.9 million on Pods? He is a liability.

With below average hitting and pitching, it kind of makes one wonder how we won 90 games. It also makes me wonder if we should expect better from the 2007 team if we essentially stand pat. Well, the offseason is far from over...

Agreed. I just don't think anyone is going to be interested in trading for Pods when he costs $2.9 million. That kind of non-production is barely worth league minimum. Someone mentioned that signing him allows him to be used as a trade throw-in. How does "throwing in" Pods and his $2.9 million salary make a trade look any better to another team? Pods and his salary is a liability, not an asset.

Fair enough. And I expect nothing more than "hey guys, everything's going to be just fine" from the homer/apologist crowd. Personally, I'm not writing off this offseason or the 2007 season. I'm just commenting on what I've seen so far, and the Cotts trade wasn't good and this signing stinks to high heaven. KW has a lot of room for improvement this offseason. This signing sucks now. Whether he is the starting LF or not, giving a horrible player $2.9 million is a waste. Spending that on a decent player or even pocketing it and spending it on the draft makes a hell of a lot more sense.

YOU really shouldn't hope for that kind of machine. Physician, heal thy self. Why? Teenage fat girls are the only people who got anything out of this signing (other than Pods).

Apparently you're not going to make a judgment on anything that HAS happened either.

It could be even worse than that. With Iguchi moving down in the lineup, it could be Uribe in the 2 spot, getting more AB's in the season and putting even fewer men on base in front of our genuinely good hitters, leading to significantly fewer runs scored.

With Podsednik, we have NO LEADOFF MAN. By that I mean, we have a horrible leadoff man. I'm sure Ozzie and many of you want a speedster to leadoff, but getting on base is much more important than speed. With our middle of the lineup, you need to get guys on base in front of them. Pods can't do that. If KW were to let Pods go and not bring in some light hitting speedster, then Ozzie would be forced to put someone else in the leadoff spot and that would make this lineup better. Instead, KW is giving Ozzie the no-hitting semi-speedster that Ozzie wants.

Maybe a little worse defensively = MUCH, MUCH better offensively = a significant upgrade in LF Yes, he needs more seasoning and he's STILL better than Podsednik. Are you saying that he isn't good enough to be an everyday player? Well, he's better than Podsednik, both defensively and offensively. What does that say about Pods? The bottom line is that Mackowiak > Podsednik The same has been said over and over about AJ and Everett. And the Sox handled those negatives just fine. And even as a cancer, Guillen is much better than Podsednik. With respect, I don't think you could be more wrong and you haven't even made a decent case for why any of those players isn't better than Pods overall.

I'm sure Ozzie would find someone to lead off. Anyone but Uribe would be an improvement over Pods. Iguchi would be fine. Hell, I wouldn't even mind Guillen leading off. I just want an upgrade.

For $3 million, I don't think Pods even makes for a good trade throw-in. Even with salary inflation, I don't think teams are lining up to waste $3 million on a no-talent player.

You act like these were the only options. It wouldn't have cost ridiculous amounts of money to dump Pods and let one of Gload/Mack/Sweeney play LF. Also, Jose Guillen is an available option who is much better than Pods.

Some people will alibi Podsednik's horrible performance forever. I don't know if it is because he was part of a big trade or just because he was on the 2005 team, but some fans will always refuse to recognize how bad he is. Podsednik apologists: Exhibit A

Wow. A zero-tool player who was one of the very worst players in MLB last year. This is an indefensible signing. It is a complete waste of $2.9 million. Podsednik isn't even a decent 5th OFer. There are many AAA players who are better than Podsednik, including some in the Sox organization. In my opinion Ryan Sweeney is not yet ready for the majors and he's still better than Podsednik.

Quick comment. I've read several posts in this thread talking about how Crede had a "moster year" "career year" etc. Have you actually looked at the stats? It was a good year, but not a great year. There were times where he was great. And there were extended stretches where he was bad. Overall it made for a good season. That's all. I hate it when fans remember a player's good play and conveniently forget when he was horrible. Let's look at the overall numbers. .323 OBP - not impressive .506 SLG - good .828 OPS - pretty good. Certainly not great. Let us not pretend that Crede has EVER had a great season. He hasn't. Will he get better? If so, how much? The answers to these questions is not obvious.

Yes, the #1 need is improving the pitching. But that doesn't mean the team wouldn't be improved by upgrading a dead spot in the lineup. Podsednik is indefensible. He is one of, if not THE worst regulars in baseball. Do I need to point out to anybody that he is a zero-tool player? He does NOTHING well. Many AAA players would be an improvement over this waste of space. Ryan Sweeney is not yet ready for the majors and he's still better than Podsednik. He's had one good half season for the Sox and that's it. He's on the downside of his unimpressive career. Simply put, he's awful and taking him off of this team in any manner would make us better.

I don't think we should trade Crede for Figgins, but let us not overestimate how good Crede is. I feel like most Sox fans were so impressed by Crede when he was playing well in 2006 that they ignore the times when he played poorly. If all else fails, look at how he did overall. He had an .828 OPS. That's pretty good. Not great. Not even very good. But let's not act like he's a great player. He isn't. He's a pretty good hitting, good fielding 3B with a back problem. He shouldn't be untouchable. I don't have time for all of the details, but the short version is trade any one of the SP's for an OFer who can actually hit. That is the centerpiece of what needs to be done. Oh, and I would look into ways to upgrade SS. Personally, I think Uribe is an easily relplaceable embarassment.