caulfield12

In Bruges=3.0/4 Vicky Cristina Barcelona=3.25/4 Burn After Reading=2.75/4

Which is ironic, because we won the World Series in 2005 with a $65 million payroll. Some other things to consider....Jenks will be bumping up to $6-8 million at that time (2010), unless he's traded too. We're only paying Thome $9 million (the rest is still coming from the Phillies, yes, the infamous "handshake" on the option year?) Has that been verified ANYWHERE? Or maybe we'll never know. So that's about $10 million that isn't available. Let's just call it $70 million, ballpark. However, next year's Free Agent market isn't very impressive at all. That's the other problem. Although I'm sure KW will be able to find SOME bargains (if he has any money left, if attendance doesn't dwindle to 1.5 million or less), next year is not the time to be spending money freely, it was this offseason (like the Yankees and Braves).

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 14, 2009 -> 03:41 PM) Dye is a big boy. It takes him a while to get going when motoring in for shallow flies and toward the line. But he's no disaster out there. If we make no moves I'd rather see BA in center than Owens. And CQ in left. Fields at third, Young at ss (trade them prospects), Lexi at second and Paul at first. AJ catcher with no decent backup (that could haunt us if durable AJ goes down). Thome DH. Trust our bullpen as is to bounce back. Mark, Floyd, Danks and pray for rain on the hill. p.s. Please sign Garland and Dunn. We'll be fine with Armstrong, Flowers, Stewart and Miller as back-up options for AJ. Flowers might very easily be the best hitter on the White Sox (after Quentin) in 2-3 years. There's no way we can afford to pay Michael Young that kind of money. It will never happen. We now have the young prospects (and logically they would want Josh Fields, as they were planning to put Young at 3B, Blalock at DH, Andrus at SS and Davis at 1B) we need to make some deals happen, but not this one. (see the mlb.com article in the Dye/Angels thread...it gives plenty of reasons why Dye and Young aren't likely to go anywhere) Dunn still is holding out for $56 million for four years. We might have Dunn already. Except for a much cheaper price. His name is either Fields, Viciedo or Flowers. Garland will get a minimum of $7-8 million, Dunn at least $10 million. That means our payroll is back up to $115 million in this economy. Not possible...especially to make longer term commitments (2-3 years down the line) in an uncertain economy. Things will get worse in 2009 and 10 before they finally get better in 2011.

Linebrink, Contreras, Crede (while never healthy, he was very productive the first 6 weeks) and Quentin. Take the equivalent of those four from any team in the league...put them on the road in a domed stadium, and they would be in trouble, too. Then you had the 4 man rotation forcing Vazquez into Game 1, that series was doomed from the beginning, seemingly.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 14, 2009 -> 02:02 PM) You might want to check your baseball encyclopedia before telling people you are the only one who remembers correctly. Aardsma, Erstad, Sisco, Prinz were all brought in for the 2007 season with KW saying a lot of the same things he is now saying about these other players he brought in. What ensued was a disaster. BTW Brett Prinz transaction:February 22, 2007: Signed as a Free Agent with the Chicago White Sox. I wouldn't characterize Prinz as someone anyone besides KW had especially high hopes for. Aardsma and Sisco many had high hopes for, especially Sisco. The irony is that one of the few lefties we brought in one of those spring trainings (Javier Lopez) ended up being serviceable, and we never offered Riske arbitration for some mysterious reason. I think the biggest questions right now surround Marquez, Owens and leadoff. If both of those problems were dealt with, most Sox fans would feel at least 5-75% better than now (yes, not a full dollar's or 100% worth of optimism yet).

Not really...we were VERY lucky to miss out on Fukudome, Hunter and Rowand (especially). All of those signings would have incapacitated the Sox. The only loss we suffered was not being able to get Cabrera, but Maybin/Miller was too much for us to beat. And we might have a reasonable facsimile of Cabrera in Viciedo when all is said and done. Right now, this offseason hasn't been very helpful for 2009, but it's been very productive for 2010-2012 at least.

If that means the likes of Saito, Smoltz (not so quiet), Kotsay, Baldelli and Penny...not such a bad plan, IF you have the ability to absorb $15-20 million in "losses" spread out over 5-7 players. Let's hope the White Sox find someone between Mark Prior, Chris Burke and the Red Sox group....apparently, the Red Sox are looking to sign a couple of more "low price/high reward" veterans in the next 6 weeks.

Have been out of the country for almost a year (Philippines and Thailand). So I'm trying to catch up really fast, lol. Will watch Vicky Cristina Barcelona, In Bruges, The Duchess, Son of Rambow and Burn After Reading in the next 24 hours. By the way, I really like/d Pineapple Express...not sure where I would rank that overall, I wasn't as impressed with The 40 Year Old Virgin as some, nor did I think Superbad was anything close to Juno, but that's just me. I actually enjoyed Knocked Up, but then I really like Paul Rudd and will definitely enjoy Role Models when I get around to seeing it. Also looking forward to Forgetting Sarah Marshall...not to be confused with the movie about the college football team/plane crash, which wasn't a bad little sports movie at all for the sentimental types (The Rookie with D. Quaid would be another one). Here in Thailand, we're forced to watch movies like Transporter 3 and Death Race, lol...the last decent movie I saw wasn't even English. Still waiting for Marley & Me (I had a LAB, please don't jump on that movie!!!), Valkryie, Doubt, Milk, Benjamin Button, Slumdog, Rachel Getting Married, Gran Torino, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Frost/Nixon and The Wrestler. Still on the "to view" list and would like to hear whether worth viewing: W. Defiance Zack & Miri Make a Porno (I like Eliz. Banks, sue me!) Boy A Religulous American Teen Planet B-Boy The Counterfeiters (not to be confused with The Grifters) Man on Wire Dear Zachary (Taylor) Let the Right One In The Wackness 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days Happy-Go-Lucky Taxi to the Darkside Shine a Light JCVD Surfwise The Visitor By the way, what was the name of that documentary about the rebuilding of New Orleans and life after Hurricane Katrina? Wanted to see that. Hopefully I won't have to sit through watching John Edwards pontificating in front of Habitat houses, or Brad Pitt in the 9th Ward. :-)

Let's see, we had Garland for Erstad (thankfully squashed by Walt Disney, Co.) and then Garland for Cabrera....what other deals have taken place between KW and the Angels? http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...rtnerId=rss_ana Reasons why any team would think THRICE before trying to trade for Dye or Michael Young.

http://baseballprospectus.com/fantasy/dc/ They say projected 2009 records...but this has to be last year's. A little bit more optimistic on the White Sox than many were, but stay well off the mark. They really missed the boat on Minnesota, though. Just wow!

WEDNESDAY: Bill Shaikin talked to Angels GM Tony Reagins, who shot down Cowley's Dye rumor. Reagins said, "No truth to that rumor." Reagins apparently hasn't talked to the White Sox for a while, though Shaikin's source indicated the Angels did express interest in Dye before they re-signed Juan Rivera. mlbtraderumors.com

You can excuse KW for trying to re-establish the value of Fields at 3B...even trying Lillibridge/Getz/Nix at 2B. However, going into the season with the CF/leadoff issue and not adding at least one more veteran starting pitcher, those are kind of inexcusable IMO...IF IF IF the team as currently constituted goes into Opening Day exactly as is, as of January 14th, 2009. KW still has 2 1/2 months to make improvements, and there are still around 125 free agents and many non-tenders out there as well. All we can do is think positively, that the bottom of the market will continue to fall out. UNFORTUNATELY, that doesn't leave many options for solving those aforementioned CF and pitching problems. With the competition for Wolf, Garland, Pettitte, Sheets and Perez expected to now heat up again with Lowe receiving $60 million for 4 years (where the heck did the Liberty Media Group get that money to spend...you'd think they had changed places with the White Sox...hopefully the results over the last three years for the Braves don't mirror/echo our future as well!) That still leaves the BEST possible option as trading Dye or Konerko for younger/youngish pitching (as well as a leadoff hitter) and signing an Abreu/Dunn/Anderson/Griffey, Jr. for LF and moving CQ to RF. Or we give up our Type A compensation and bring in Orlando Hudson for one year...Hudson's market value and number of years/total value has shrunk from $48 million/4 years to now in the vicinity of a one year deal for $6-8 million, Dunn's demands for $56 million and four years notwithstanding. At least Hudson solves the 2B/leadoff issue and gives Lillibridge/Getz/Nix some time to get their games together...with Lillibridge at SS in Charlotte, Nix at 2B and maybe Getz as the utility player with the Sox unless they pick Eider Torres instead. Beckham plays SS at Birmingham or in the Carolina League to start the year.

http://nymag.com/news/features/39593/ Fascinating story (the 1971 case)...his real name was Dan Cooper, fwiw.

QUOTE (scenario @ Jan 13, 2009 -> 11:13 PM) Here are last years' projections (2008 preseason) from the same site... ALCntrl W L RF RA DIV WC Cle07 91.0 71.1 852 739 54.5 3.5 Det07 90.4 71.6 901 792 42.5 13.8 KC07 75.0 87.0 779 862 2.0 0.0 Min07 73.7 88.3 727 816 1.0 1.0 ChA07 67.6 94.4 753 894 0.0 0.0 Was that pretty similar to where Baseball Prospectus had us heading into 2008? I guess these kinds of things are fun to talk about at SoxFest and in the media and probably don't help convince the casual fan to go out and buy season tickets, but attendance is virtually always driven by where the Sox are at the beginning of late May anyway, not preseason projections.

Well, if all those 10 implausible things I listed of the top of my head actually happened to the White Sox, and they ran the simulation 100 times as the claimed, well, the Sox theoretically COULD lose 70 games. But it would still be pretty difficult to do in our division, or the AL West.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jan 13, 2009 -> 11:35 PM) Even though the Taveras signing was a bit pukeable, the Reds will surprise alot of people this season, assuming Dusty doesn't f*** the kids' arms off. If they get Abreu, their young hitters play as well as they are capable/projected and the starting pitching holds up, they could definitely threaten for the Wild Card. But lots of things have to fall into place and break the right way for this to transpire.

Nobody really has a clue who will win the AL Central at this point. Cleveland has improved on paper the most, but Hafner and their bullpen (overall) are still question marks, as well as the defense of Peralta and DeRosa on that infield. Minnesota, as usual, has basically stood still, after making some interesting moves last offseason (the Young for Garza/Bartlett trade). Detroit, seemingly, MIGHT improve with that offense and if the pitching (both starting and bullpen) comes around. The Edwin Jackson move could turn out great, but going with Everett at SS on the cheap? Then there's Sheffield and Willis, Ordonez/Guillen/Polanco possibly aging a bit...whether Bonderman will come back at something close to his "prime" and whether Robertson will be out of baseball at the rate he's going. KC has made some really, really strange signings and wasted $10-12 million in the eyes of most, but if someone like Hochevar or Cortes really picks it up at the back of the rotation, to go with Meche, Greinke, Bannister and Davies/Duckworth, they might be at least an 85 win team. It's still very hard for me to believe they will be a high 80 win team.

I think you mean DEFECTS, lol. Although both Marti and Perez ALSO signing with the White Sox at this point in the offseason would certainly DEFLECT a little attention from KW's impending season of "truth or dare" with the fans. The thing with Perez is he's very raw and "toolsy," which could mean Julio Ramirez or a solid big leaguer, hard to tell at this point. But I don't think very many scouts would project him as making an immediate contribution to the White Sox. A better comparison would be with Jordan Danks...in terms of timetable, and upside. It's hard to compare the two at this point, and Danks certainly projects to have more power. I just think that Torres was asking for too much, or maybe teams were scared off by investing $2-3 million in a player, developing him (like the Sox MIGHT do with Viciedo), then see his prime production years take place with another team. Just a theory. Cubano said that it was also likely a visa/immigration issue...could be a combination of both. But we do know that Perez didn't sign at the time of the Viciedo tryout camp when supposedly 5-10 teams were pretty interested in him.

The latest rumor was Mike Cameron for Swisher. Does that sound better than what we got in return? He's a CFer, but would anyone really be happy with Mike Cameron as a return? I'm sure a few would, plus there's the sentimental idea of bringing him back 10 years later, but...he's not an option for leadoff hitter either, which is one of the biggest "issues" hanging over the team at this point.

http://www.replacementlevel.com/index.php/...ected_standings Things to keep in mind... 1) It's from a Yankees' blog, so there's lots of NYC/Boston bias built in...although the numbers supposedly come from Hardball Times. 2) Almost 3 90 win teams in the AL East...although this has happened a couple of times recently (06 Central, 02 AL West) 3) The White Sox are far from finished...we hope...in setting their roster 4) Projections for young Sox players are very difficult to make (well, just being optimistic!) 5) The A's over the Angels, and nobody finishing over .500 in the AL West? 6) SF Giants to go on a tear, well, maybe...with Manny Ramirez and dumping Zito/Rowand somehow From what I've read, the Vegas line for the White Sox is somewhere around 80-82 wins. I wonder where BP will come in this year? If they predict 72 wins again, everyone will freak out, because that was the exact correct prediction in 2007. Of course, they were very wrong last year and in 2005...as well as 2004, for example. This is kind of like the Sox "doomsday" scenario...but pretty unlikely: 1) 2/4 (Konerko/AJ/Thome/Dye) get injured and miss significant portions of the season 2) One of Jenks/Dotel/Linebrink breaks down 3) Quentin is just an "average" major league LFer statistically and doesn't display MVP power or RBI numbers, or gets injured 4) Owens, Anderson, Fields and Getz/Lillibridge all prove not to be ready for full prime-time play 5) The back end of the rotation turns out to be the CR/AP pile that everyone's afraid of 6) KW decides to hold off on rushing Beckham, Viciedo, Flowers and Poreda into the mix...waiting for 2010. 7) The middle infield defense falls apart...and Fields commits 25+ errors...all bad signs for a team without many strikeout pitchers 8) Danks and/or Floyd regress or have to be sidelined 9) Alexei Ramirez has a sophomore slump offensively and ends up with a 290 OBP and 675 OPS. 10) Getz, Lillibridge and Ramirez are all tried at leadoff, with each of them ending up freaking out like Swisher trying to deal with it...after Owens gets hurt in ST

Or we can have a nice promotional tie-in with the rapper 50 Cent, aka Curtis Jackson. Or maybe we can convince him to change his name to "75 Cents on the Dollar" for this season...plus, as an added bonus, he's usually sporting a White Sox hat anyway.

Well, You Guys Didn't Believe in Carlos, Alexei, Danksy and Gavin...Look What They Did!!!! Great...lovely. To hear KW talk, with Marquez' arsenal replete with multiple "plus" pitches, you wonder how he ever possibly put up that 4.69 ERA last year...yet nobody addressed what happened with his career trajectory last year and why he regressed so far as a prospect with the Yankees in one season (from a Top Ten...8-10 guy...to 21, or something like that, before the trade). Well, the other marketing idea... These Guys Looked REALLY REALLY Good in the Arizona Fall League (KW was so impressed, he traded for them...cue 80's music, like the commercials about electric shavers from the past, he even bought the company)!!! They could put Floyd, Marquez, Cole Armstrong, Flowers, Beckham and Jon/Jordan Danks on the cover, lol.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jan 13, 2009 -> 11:26 AM) The Mets'll need to sign Wolf or Perez to play a decent form of catch-up. Phillies still have the top staff in the division, but there's a decent disparity between Lowe Vasquez Jurrjens Kawakami Hanson/Reyes/Morton/ETC And Santana Maine Pelfrey Redding Whomever From what I've read Jorge Campillo is the current favorite for 5th starter, with all those prospects in their system as insurance in case they have a breakthrough in ST. There's the possibility, like with Contreras or Jake Westbrook, that Hudson comes back in July/Aug/September to give them further depth.

We signed Greg A Harris or Greg W Harris? Which one was the ambidextrous dude?

Eider Torres played extremely well in Winter Ball and has a very, very outside chance (5-10%) to make the team as the final bench player (if they decide that Lillibridge should be playing SS or Getz 2B everyday at Charlotte)... German used to be a top prospect and have a devastating fastball, but those days are long gone. Corky Miller and Chris Stewart will fight it out to be the back-up catcher, unless Cole Armstrong is incredibly impressive and they decide he wouldn't be better off playing everyday in the minors (see above). Van Benschoten everyone in baseball is very familiar with his career trajectory...