Harry Chappas

Could the steroid thing finally void Giambi's contract. Something would have to give there as they would have 4 OF's and 2 1B's then for 5 spots in the order.

Soto and Marmol could be one hit wonders although I have not researched their minor league numbers all that much, I thought neither was all that highly thought of prior to last year. Pie did nothing when callled up and his body does not transalate into a major league 5 tool player in my mind he is to whispy. I think Hill and Marshall are both below average pitchers that will get lit up in the AL East. All you need to do is look at Ted Lilly and Hill and Marshall are not that good. Playing in the worst division in baseball history really helped them look better than they are I beleive. I think the Sox could get a third team involved and make a better package up.

Nobody will know how the bullpen will do until next October, to say it is a strength or weakness is a crap shoot for all but a hand full of major league teams. The stress you put on a pen day in and day out can make it crumble. The White Sox bullpen right now could be the best in the league right now or it could be the worst. The problem is, there is no way to fix it for sure. This is the case with every team in baseball. The starting pitching, defense and offense play as big a role in the success of the bullpen as anyhting else. If every game is close late in the game who can only go to couple of guys.

Sign Jones and Rowand and hope one of Sweeney/Anderson/Owens proves they are ready the following year.......

QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 13, 2007 -> 10:35 AM) Ugh, please don't happen. That would be a pretty dominant 1-2-3-4 if that happened. I assume they'd have to give up Hill, E. Patterson, and someone like Marmol and Hart. Once again, our lack of minor league development is just killing us when it comes time to make trades. I don't think this gets it done. Hill is not that good (the AL East would murder him) nor is Patterson, Marmol is the starting point as would Danks be with the Sox. Hart is nothing special either. I really do not think that either team as the minor league depth to get it done without really hurting their long term chances. If Dempster moves to the roation as they have stated and they trade Marmol that bullpen becomes very weak. I think Crawford is moved after all of the CF stuff washes out.

Simply put, last night was awesome. I got the feeling that the Hawks really made it hard on the Red Wings and forced them to try and be a little too perfect. The Red Wings did not look as crisp nor did things look as easy for them as it had in the past. I give the Haws credit for this more than the Wings being sloppy. Nikoli stood on his head for two periods. The third was good although I thought the second goal was cheap. This was the first live game I saw and I thought one of the knocks on Kane was he was smallish. I was thinking Steve Smith small. This he is not. The music was differnet and I am not sure which way to go. The Mister Mister Broken Wings song was cheesie and the the rock music a bit odd and I can go either way. Great time all the way around. This team appears very different from the previous years.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Nov 10, 2007 -> 10:55 PM) Anyone going to the game tomorrow night? It's arguably the biggest game of this decade for the Hawks -- I really hope people tune in to watch them along with a packed UC. I can't wait -- the Bears game is an afterthought compared to the 6:00 puck-drop. I'll be there wearing my JR jersey in honor of goal number 500. Hockeytown......my ass Go Hawks!

QUOTE(rockren @ Nov 9, 2007 -> 08:16 AM) That's just KW trying to drive up the asking price for Joe Crede IMO. "We're so confident in Joe that we'll send Fields down to AAA next year, so if you want to make a deal for him- we're not just going to give him away." Someone should tell KW nobody is buying it. Everyone knows he'll essentially give Crede away. No he won't. If Crede plays the year and walks as a FA the Sox could get 2 high picks. If he is healthy and it appears he is, he is a better option than Fields. Fields working on his defense and a back-up to Thome and Konerko should something happen is not a bad thing. He is not going to give him away.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 10:47 AM) Matt Guerrier was traded for Damaso Marte who then F'd up against Boston forcing El Duque to perform a magic trick which then led to Arizona loving him and in turn trading us Javier Vazquez. Vazquez was gotten because of CY (prospect) and Vizcaino (gotten becasue of a prospect) Uribe for a prospect Cotts for a player gotten as a prospect traded for home grown players

He mentions Shoenweis but fails to mention that Jerry Hariston Jr and Gary Matthews Jr both played for the cubs. I find it funny that the poster boy for steroids is part of cublore. Sorry for bringing in my anti-cub hatred.

Bruce Levine reported Monday on ESPN 1000 that it is Adam Everett. I forgot about this due to the fact he thought Crawford was 30 and that there is a big trade market for Jason Marquis.

Bruce Levine stated that the SS trade will be made by Wednesday in order to make a decision on Uirbe. We also have been lead to believe that the Josh Fields position will be settled........could the SS come via a trade for Fields or Crede (ie Crede/Furcal or Fields/Hu)? Levine also said that there is a market for Jason Marquis and the cubs and Sox were going after Crawford. He also said Crawford is 30. I hate Bruce Levine he is a dope. Marquis has essentially been left off the playoff roster two consecutive years.

Could the Sox trade for Abreu?

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Oct 30, 2007 -> 07:25 AM) In this situation, I think Kenny's big mouth is a good thing. Its one less GM that Borass can use to try to drive his price up against other people. If more GMs did this, it would make it much harder for this guy to get his big money. Drive the price up really high and hurt a team financially for being stupid. The owners and GM's are the fools for tripping over themselves to pony up the cash. Keep your hat in the ring and cost the Angels another $50M that they can not spend next offseason. The sad thing about his quote is losing 90 games at he current price will drive away the common fan much quicker than the price of winning.

I think it is the Angels as they have sustainable youth to control the payroll and I think Arte and Boras already have discussed this and ownership. By opting out, A-Rod cost the Yanks $30M that they were getting from Texas. I guess maybe A-Rod really wants out and it is not all about money. That is a huge gamble on Boras part. What is the tampering penalty as opoossed to securing a deal of that magnitude?

QUOTE(Steff @ Oct 26, 2007 -> 04:34 PM) I'm looking to change the dogs food (the terrier is getting snobish, and the lab mix has developed allergies). I've gotten several referrals to try Natural Balance. I've looked it up on line and it seems like a great line (no grains which is super important for Abby and ironically an allergy formula for Ginger), but I don't know anyone who's used or is using it. Anyone got any opinions on this line or any others that they've had good luck with. TIA.. Steff Great success with the Iams green bag but the 12 year old 120 Pound (not fat at all although he is becoming hampered by fat deposits) lab will eat anything. He has always eaten this and has made it two years past the time the vet thought he would based on his natural hugeness. Great dog too, could not ask for anything more. The vet recommended this when we got him 6 years ago.

Boston has become the Yankees in regard to salary. They can give money away without any repurcussions to it being a bad contract. They suffered with Manny's contract for years. Lugo and Drew are bad deals. Dice-K can be average for the rest of the contract and it will not matter to them. There is no such thing as a bad contract to the Yankees or Red Sox for the most part. I wish the NL had a team other than the cubs that were run like that. The Mets are close but they do have some restraint.

QUOTE(29andPoplar @ Oct 25, 2007 -> 09:45 AM) Well, they have all taken the blame for the disaster which was 2007, every one of them, from Reinsdorf on down, including Hahn. Actually the farm system does fall under his umbrella. Quoted from his bio on the White Sox site: "Hahn’s primary responsibilities include assisting Senior Vice President/General Manager Ken Williams with all player acquisitions, evaluations and contract negotiations, as well as with overseeing all elements of the club’s baseball operations, including the scouting and player development departments. Williams credits Hahn with negotiating multiyear contracts with several current White Sox players, including 2006 All-Stars Mark Buehrle, Jose Contreras, Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski." What is fair to note though is he was promoted to Vice President and Asst. GM from just the Asst. GM title before the 2007 season. I'm not certain but I believe the oversee responsibility of the scouting and player development departments were added last winter. If my memory is correct, he's only had that responsibility for one year. I do know he's been a strong voice to make changes to scouting and player development, many of which are being implemented now, plus we all know about Duane Shaffer and some other changes. So, not to quibble at all, but because he's been a big part of what's going on down there, he does IMO get his share of the blame. I do agree though, he has done a fantastic job on the contract side and if he is in fact a motivating force behind changes in scouting/player development, more power to him. Not to mention, his Harvard Law degree and other things on his resume are extremely impressive. Anyone who I've talked to that's met Rick is very impressed. I have been lucky enough to meet him several times and in addition to being impressive (what he knows and how he expresses himself), he is a genuinely nice guy, for what that's worth. I can see why other teams would be interested. Doesn't LaRussa have a Harvard law degree? As far as contract negotiations, the guys wanting to stay and come here is the first thing which I think is more Williams and Guillen than Hahn. The extensions worked for both teams and all appear to be fair.

There is a part of me that hopes if the Blue Jays and White Sox are out if it come September of next year some sort of trade could be worked out to get his final at bat in a White Sox uniform if he intends on retiring. I think a decent year next year and he returns for the money. A career .300 hitter is much better than a career .295, not by much but for HOF voters it could be.

I have an innocent yet what I feel is valid question. Why doesn't Hahn get any of the blame for the failing of the team. Was he not the Asst GM of a terrible $100M payroll...... BTW, I like Hahn and think he did/does a great job. For those 80's/90's Bears fans, Hahn seems to be the Ted Phillips of this organization more than the Jerry Vanisi (sp?) but I could be very wrong.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 24, 2007 -> 04:09 PM) Jacob Rasner. AAP Page. Went 7-11 with a 6.83 ERA at Kannapolis this year. Wasn't he part of hte Chris Stewart deal or was there another terrible single A pitcher in that deal. To skew things even more compare who they had to pitch against. I think Danks really ran out gas or he really benefitted from the cold weather. Funny how bad April was and beautiful October was/is.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Oct 24, 2007 -> 08:09 AM) Is it fair to judge Matsuzaka after one year though? Maybe the estimates of revenue are grossly overestimated, but I think Dice-K should be given the benefit of the doubt in terms of learning the league and what it takes to get through an entire MLB season. We can all see he has hit some sort of a wall similar to rookies coming up from the minors. IMO, next year will be much better in determining Dice-K's actual worth as a pitcher in the MLB. At $20M a year there is no learning curve. The rookie wall is explained by increased workload. I thought he threw a greater workload in Japan then he would here. I see your point though and it could go either way.

You're f***ing kidding me. Jenks Heat

I wasn't that big of a fan of last year's set up and now to get in Friday I need to pay $250 if I am reading right. I think I may have to pass this year. Oh well, I guess.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Oct 22, 2007 -> 05:43 PM) BACK TO THE TOPIC ALEX RODRIGUEZ, BORAS, MONEY AND THE WHITE SOX ... From Baseball-Fever Et tu, A-Rah-rah-rah? That is because Dice-K was not the second coming of what they thought he was. The Japanese hype is tappering off as these players are not all Ichiro, they are showing themselves as solid major leaguers that have some success and some failure. Remember in April when ESPN grossly over-hyped him. Ichiro is a superstar. Dice-K cost $105M, that is a a-lot of money, and he is not a superstar. I do not think he will be the be all end all that Boston expected and they were stupid to buy into the Scott Boras hype machine. Scott Boras hype for A-Rod is entrenched in the home run chase to overthrough Bonds and soolidify the record as "clean" that is assuming A-Rod is clean. A-Rod catching Bonds could be more important to the record book and more watched and rooted for than if A-Rod was chasing Aaron.