Dick Allen

The Yankees hit a lot too, without much production from Giambi, and Yankee Stadium is supposedly a graveyard for right handed power hitters. I think the players are more responsible for the high homerun totals, than the park. Even with Thomas and Ordonez out, the White Sox had a power hitter at every position, (exceot when Harris was in the line-up) except catcher.

Why do I have a sick feeling that KW is going to overpay for a washed up Dan Wilson?

It may have, but it certainly didn't effect the number of balls hit into the seats. My point was if you took the Braves the last five years, and had them play their home games at USCF, and had the same White Sox teams play their home games at Turner Field, opinions on whether the parks are pitcher or hitter friendly would probably be a lot different than they are now.

One reason USCF is considered a launching pad is that the White Sox, for the past several years, have been built to hit the homerun. One reason Turner Field is considered a pitcher's park is the Braves were built around a strong pitching staff. If the White Sox concentrate on building a deeper pitching staff, and go for on base guys who play small ball instead of the Jose Valentin's of the world, homerun totals will go down, and USCF will not be considered the launching pad it is now. When it opened, Comiskey Park II was considered a pitcher's park. Wind direction didn't and still doesn't seem to matter much, except when balls are hit at the direction of the CF scoreboard. Fences are in slightly from when it opened, but very few balls land in the area from where the fences are now to where they used to be. In fact, I read that the first year the fences were moved in, there were zero that did this. I wondered what kind of effect the new roof would have on carry, and apparently it had none. I wonder if removing the giant billboard where the FUNdamentals is going to be will have any effect.

When healthy he has been a great pitcher. He could blow out again. His career looks a lot like Jason Bere's. Starts off great, gets hurt, is horrible, has a good season, gets a decent payday. Bere's career countinued with gets hurt again, and is done.

If Wright's healthy, he's a great pick up. The problem is he is rarely healthy. He throws hard. He started the 7th game of the 1997 World Series I believe, and I think he was a rookie. He was a stud prospect who is back off the garbage heap. 3 years sounds like a bit much, but probably no more than they were willing to give Vizquel which may may the Sox a player for one of the top SS. Also, he may be a replacement for Garland if Jon goes to Arizona for the Big Unit.

George is making the minimum, and its worth it to see if he can play. IMO, this is more a tryout for next year. If George can still play, and that is a HUGE if, he's a much better option as a back up than Quinn, Krenzel, and Hutchinson. Hutchinson must really suck if they are still afraid to put him in the game, after the performance of the first 2 clowns. Sometimes you appreciate things a little more after they are taken away from you, and maybe George appreciates football now, and won't be the cancer he has been in the past.

8 years ago they were $22. Baseball better be careful. I think the day is coming where people finally say enough, and find something else to spend their money on.

Jerry West would never hire Phil Jackson again. He feels Pheel backstabbed him in LA.

Even though I live on the Near North Side, I'm getting sick and tired to Gammon's railing (he did the same thing with the ill-fated Nomar/Maggs trade last year) on the South Side of Chicago. Its one thing to rail on the White Sox, another a city, and another a section of the city where Gammons had never stepped foot outside of USCF.

Its 1000

If the "Scout Seats" are green, I'm sure green is coming to the rest of the park, but probably not until 2006 or 2007. Don't worry, blue is just as comfortable as green.

Ortiz would be a big mistake. I think his ERA was over 6 the last 2 months of the season, and his velocity dropped 5-7 mph. I think you would be looking at a major waste of money if you signed him, a perfomance that would remind you of Todd Ritchie or Billy Koch. Clement will finish at about .500 when the season is done, barring his shoulder exploding. He is one of those guys who pitches well enough to think you have something more than you really do with him,he is not a big winner. Johnson, while he'd only be around a year or two, is dominating and intimidating. He pitches inside. Contreras and Garland may learn something from him. Konerko could be replaced, and its very unlikely he would reach the numbers he had in 2004 again in 2005, plus he's a free agent at the end of this year anyway. If it comes down to the Sox not getting RJ because he doesn't want to come here, that would be one thing. If it comes down to the White Sox not willing to extend him a season, let's just say I would find it very disheartening.

2nd place in the RJ sweepstakes might has well been 1,000,000th place. Don't tell me what you tried to do, tell me what you've done.

I'd rather have Leiber as well. Clement's shoulder is a time bomb, and while he has exceptional stuff, his overall performance always seems to come up mediocre at the end of the season. When the Sox made that ill-advised trade with Pittsburgh for Ritchie, they had thought Ritchie was th next Lieber. Why not get the real thing?

Walker is a horrible secondbaseman. Its no coincidence that every team he's been on doesn't have much interest in bringing him back. He is better than Harris offensively by far, however. The only way I see the Sox signing him is if, indeed, they are moving Konerko and need more offense. They may even think of using him at first.

You are right about the farm system. But who was there taking all the credit when the Sox farm system was erroneously ranked #1? Farm director Kenny Williams. I'm sure that ranking has at least a little to do with the job title he now holds. I applaude KW's effort, but results count. The results haven't been there and his mouth continues to run causing this team pr headaches.

But yet they were going to trade a healthy Magglio Ordonez for an injured Nomar last year, and Nomars' road stats were horrible. That said, I'm glad they did not sign Guzman at the price he received. I think Uribe is better than him anyway. I have always been an strong supporter of JR, but I will tell you, this offseason will make or break that support. If KW fails again this year, the front office IMO needs to be overhauled and a new experienced GM needs to be hired. The White Sox GM position has been a training ground ever since Roland Hemond was canned at the end of the 1985 season. Hawk, Larry Himes, Schueler , KW. The best of the bunch was the one who was fired, go figure. Remember, the season doesn't start until April, theres no reason to panic in November.

Juan Gonzalez, Esteban Loiasa, Bob Wickman, Pokey Reese.

You are exactly right. KW needs to be quiet, either that or come up with a couple more million deferred if Vizquel was "the top of the mountain" he claimed. Any agent worth his salt is going to be working his butt off to get the best offer. KW talking about flying below the radar, then who in the organization is spreading all this information around? A couple of articles say the Sox would have approximately the same budget as last season, and they give KW as the source of that information. How come the White Sox are the only professional sports organization whose budget is known to the public before the offseason player movement begins? And his quote about Boras' thought on his client's worth..........as dumb as can be. What's Boras supposed to claim his clients are worth, especially at the start of the signing period? All KW's quote does is turns fans off, and gets all White Sox talk beginning with budget and money again. This guy needs to be replaced by someone a bit more professional, and a bit more composed.

I don't understand why Arizona would make this trade, unless the Sox prospect is Sweeney, Anderson or BMac. Garland is arbitration eligible and will get $4-5 million. Konerko will make $9 million with his trade bonus. Both are free agents after next season. Johnson costs the DBacks $10 million now, $6 million later. It probably comes out to slightly more money, but certainly not enough to make up for the PR hit if they made the trade. The age factor doesn't bother me. In fact, the edge goes to the White Sox with this. Garland and Konerko are going to command multi year contracts. Johnson you could get with a one year extension, and go year to year with him. This trade makes no sense to Arizona unless the White Sox pick up a lot of $.

What if Cabrera plays like he did with Montreal this year? It was a lot worse than Vizquel? Uribe will be able to play SS full time eventually, even if he is not ready now. I think he is ready, its just that at third and second there have been a lot of problems, and he is need there. I like Vizquel, he is relatively cheap, and a short contract.

He'd trade Hudson. He wouldn't trade him for Konerko, though.

That might be true, but Beane could get a heck of a lot more for Hudson than he could for Konerko.

Konerko had a great year, no question about it, but in today's game he is overpaid at $8.5 million + and extra $500,000 if he is traded. Tim Hudson, if traded, will be traded for young, cheap top of the line prospects, who Beane can hold on to for several seasons, not overpaid players in the final year of their contracts. Oakland has won with pitching, they aren't going to trade one of their aces for a 1b/DH. It ain't happening.