kwolf68

Will Boone Logan make the trip to Chicago? He's been lights out in the spring.

Damn...I could have given up having beers at TGFridays.

This is superb news. I like it when the Sox are under the radar. Didn't think they'd be THAT far under, but whatever...too many champions and too much pride on this team to lose 90 games. It will take a meltdown of epic proportions and an uncontrollable rash of injuries to see 90 losses on the southside this year.

QUOTE(ScottyDo @ Feb 28, 2007 -> 04:27 PM) no but he does have a GIDP! any acronym with that many letters MUST be good! LMMFAO. Good stuff.

Does Brian anderson have 2 hits in this game?

QUOTE(ScottyDo @ Feb 28, 2007 -> 04:18 PM) hahah i wasnt a bears fan back in those days but if i was i'm sure i'd still be whining about it. can't blame ditka though, he's infallible. i have that picture of him wearing a Bears NFC Champions hat before the superbowl on my cell phone I don't blame Ditka for the 1986 loss...we have Darrell Green to thank for that debacle. 1987 was going to be the Bears year I am convinced, but the strike did that team in, and Ditka handled it very poorly...that is even before we talk about the Flutie/Tomzcak/McMahon freakshow. 87 coulda, shoulda, woulda, but just wasn't meant to be...

QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Feb 28, 2007 -> 04:17 PM) anyone know the lines on Garland and Buehrle? Not many IPs, plenty of runs, even more hits.

QUOTE(ScottyDo @ Feb 28, 2007 -> 04:15 PM) you're right, apparently rex grossman is worse than a serial killer. sick of hearing that so let's wait till september for football to come back Yea really. I'm STILL debating with friends/family about that friggin Super Bowl. Then again, I'm still complaining about the Bears not beating the Redskins in 86 AND 87 either to get another Super Bowl trip back then.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Feb 28, 2007 -> 04:11 PM) i miss football Ordinarily I would too, but I'm ready to give that sport a rest too after the grueling season the Bears just had.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Feb 28, 2007 -> 04:09 PM) So, am I allowed to suggest Garland and Buehrle have pitched poorly yet without people believing, somehow, it translates to "the season is over"? Yes go for it. Relax, I meant nothing by the comment. I don't like losing big even in a crappy pre-season game either. But let it go, I have.

What inning and who is on the mound for the Sox?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Feb 28, 2007 -> 04:03 PM) A car bomb opened up a traffic jam on the I-666 to Iraq. hmmmm.

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Feb 28, 2007 -> 03:59 PM) I think most are being tongue in cheek...i hope Haha...yea, I think I got that sense, but then there are some who probably need to hit a prozac. Right now, I'm just happy that baseball is coming back. My college alma mater won't be in the NCAAs this year, the Blackhawks are well you know, the Bears are finished, I'm not a huge NBA fan...so I'm ready to light this candle, but must remain patient, because come opening day I'm going to be right here chewing my nails off with the rest of the bunch.

Please...someone send a memo to some of these posters that it IS FEBRUARY. If you are going to be this intense when the seasons starts lawd help ya. I'd like to see Mark get it going early in spring, but no reason to jump the ledge right now.

Baseball is back....(well kinda)...YES , Ill take it.

Erstad is a grinder, a warrior on the ball field...his trouble is simple: Injuries...although the last time the Sox gambeled on a guy who seemed to always be injured (Dye), that worked out pretty well.

Great move. this is the contingency plan we need for Anderson. I realize many of us here (including myself) like Brian Anderson and believe he will develop into an outstanding part of our team, HOWEVER, that is certainly no gurantee. Erstad gives us a capable alternative in CF should Anderson still manage to barely hit over .200 ... we'll see very early in the season which way this goes I think. If Anderson comes out the box like he did last year, Erstad will be given every opportunity to play and play a lot.

I honestly think Brian has to come out at least decent this year. if he plays the first month or more around .200 or worse they will definately make a move on him. I never once considered Brian the source of our problems last year because when he was horrible the other guys were getting off and we were winning anyway. When Brian seemed to get his feet up under him that's about the time a couple of our pitchers in both the rotation and pen starting trying to throw strikes with their eyes closed. Brian was totally NOT responsible for our season...In fact, the situation was PERFECT for us (and him) where the big boys carried him while he struggled and finally he started to hit a little more. All that said, he has to become more of a hitting force and will need to do so very early in the year. Brian has 20-25 homer potential I believe, could probably steal you 15-20 bases a year and play great defense...he's a kid we have to be patient with.

George Stanley Halas basically started the NFL...the Bears are the pioneering/charter franchise of the NFL with arguably the most colorful history in the sport. The Bears of the 1940s were probably the greatest franchise prior to the 1960s Packers and could have done more had the war not broken that amazing team up. The Bears have what many consider the greatest single season team in history (1985)...Chicago is a Bears town.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 02:44 PM) Throw in the fact that Garland isn't that good, too. And throw in the fact Vazquez isn't that good either. I'd rather have Jon Garland any day of the week and twice on Sundays over that headcase Vazquez.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Dec 24, 2006 -> 01:55 AM) That could be. The natural spot for him would be the pen, but we've been surprised lately, so who knows. Masset has multiple pitches (4) that he just hasn't developed complete control over them all on a consistent level yet. Switching to the pen meant he could ease off on a couple pitches and wratchet up his fastball (high 90s), which is good enough to do BP work. However, with 4 quality pitches he is a great rotation candidate once he matures and learns to command them all. Thus, he moves to the rotation once he fills them out. If he never gets the command down, he is still going to be a outstanding relief pitcher in my view.

If the White Sox will not resign Buehrle, I would vastly have preferred Buehrle be traded and BMac be kept Keep in mind, everyone in the majors knows Mark Buehrle is destined for St.Louis, thus he has no value. And St.Louis would be silly to trade for him, because they figure he'll be available for them next year anyway. Trading Buerhle was never an option unless it was just to unload him. Our best value appeared to be Brandon McCarthy. Wanted Arias in this deal, but oh well.

I also think our 5th starter will come from the Jimmy Johnson mentality...remember the Hershal Walker deal? Dallas got all bunches of picks and Johnson just tossed crap on the wall and some of it sticks. This will happen with the sox...going into Spring, these guys will faceoff to take our 5th spot -Danks -Gio -Haeger (my sleeper to take it) -Floyd -Masset -Sisco -Broadway That is 7 pitchers...all with great credentials...I bet one of them will stick and do quite well. And if the guy flames, then we just make a callup. In the end, our fortunes rest with the 4 pitchers above the #5. If our 1-4 do well, we'll be fine.

I've done a lot of looking today on this. While it's still a bit of a mystery, Danks looks like a #2 to me and Masset could also be a #2 as he has multiple good pitches and can be overpowering. However, he moved to the pen last year and really seemed to "take off" in a big way. Masset basically takes McCarthys spot in the ben and Sisco will take Cotts place. Everything else remains the same, except we will now have an open competition for the 5th spot between Danks, Gio, Floyd, maybe Masset gets into that, and Haeger. One would think of those 5 young talented arms, ONE will emerge in Spring, the others can be sent down and we can get behind our team in 2007. I'd also like to mention Jacob Rasner. He sucked at A ball and his composite numbers are terrible for that level...a top prospect should not be averaging about 6ks per 9 at that level. However, the guy is fresh out of high school and is considered a prospect, he has a long, lanky frame, and a very live arm. In other words, he could develop into something. I'm not blown away by him, but I don't think his record has been wrtiten either.

Well for starters I do hate trading Brandon. He's been a young guy we've all been expectedly waiting in baited anticipation to finally get his turn. To deal him is tough, because I like him a lot. Hell, I liked Rowand and Garcia, but the deal is made and now it’s time to think logically. Here is my general viewpoint -Even WITH McCarthy our rotation is not as good as Detroit or Minnesotas. We don’t have anything near the electricity of Santana, Liriano, Verlander, Bonderman, etc. We had/have quality pitchers who mostly top out in the high 80s with solid, but unspectacular supporting pitches. I think in Gio, Masset, Sisco, and Danks we have “upped the ante’” on the raw talent. True, they are not experienced mostly, but there are some electric arms in this list. -Bullpen. You could see the progression last year. Detroit and Minnehaha are throwing guys at us tossing near 100 mph and the MacDougal deal was the first move to “get nastier” in the pen. “Punch and Judy throwers” like Cotts, Riske, just weren’t going to cut it anymore. Masset is a mid 90s arm who can start or relieve. -While Danks overall AAA numbers won’t blow you away, please note that he starts slowly when making a new jump, but quickly figures it out. Danks was not in the Rangers rotation, because they were very patient with him, making him make the jumps when he met the challenge. This is what the Phillies did NOT do with Floyd and it’s what the Royals did not do with Sisco. Both Floyd and Sisco were rushed. -Our three best pitching prospects are recently acquired. The bottom line is the Sox farm system is bare, is bone dry and these deals replenish…not just pontificate about them, but for leverage…a couple of these guys may become studs or not, but we have talent we can trade from if needed. -My biggest complaint is we did not get Joaquin Arias in this deal. I would have done McCarthy for Danks and Arias alone. I wished we could have gotten that stud SS (Arias is the real deal, especially with the glove) that had some speed, because I don’t think Lopez or Valido will pan out as they have both stagnated. -OK, what did we lose? Garcia and McCarthy are gone, that is a HUGE thing for all of us. And as someone who can’t stand Vazquez I am very sad to see multiple major moves within our rotation not purge us of him, but he is back. Our top 4 are Jose, Buehrle, Garland, and Vazquez. Even WITHOUT the deals we have made, the bottom line is those guys would have HAD TO pitch lights out for us next year. NOTHING CHANGES. We still need Count to be solid and healthy, we still need Mark Buehrle to rebound from his disaster 2006, we still need Garland to keep winning 17, 18 a year, and we still need Javy to figure out baseball games are longer than 5 innings. NONE OF THAT CHANGES. Freddy Garcia NOR Brandon McCarthy … NEITHER ONE of those guys were going to be the major reasons we win next year, but the status of our top-end rotation guys. In the end, I am struggling with it, because I like Brandon, and while I don’t have a lot of faith in White Sox scouting when it comes to the draft, when it comes to trading away or trading for pitchers on the cusp of falling away or blossoming, our people do have amazing track records. This spring training will be one of the most interesting in quite some time. But just chill out and see where things go.