[LA Dodgers sign Andruw Jones]

What do they do with Juan Pierre?

 

Not trade him to us.

[Miguel Cabrera to the Tigers]

It is all going to come down to pitching for Detroit, and to be honest, I'd be a little worried if I was a Tigers supporter.

 

I agree. They have high hopes and aspirations of winning it all next year and rightfully so.

 

But while their ceiling is ridiculously high...their floor could be just as low.

 

Your post hit it right on the head with having a potentially weak bullpen and a thin starting staff. I still admire what the Tigers have done...but one could argue and Tiger fans would probably admit that they're rolling the dice going into next season.

[The Price of Outfielders]

Maggs contract at the time for the Tigers was a gamble to say the least. Take into account of Magg's ACL tear that year and the WSox were right to move to another direction.

 

Hell we only spent Maggs money on a core of players that helped us win the '05 World Series. I think we made out ok.

[Do we need a philosophical change?]

I basically agree, but I really think that he jumped the gun with Garland. Unless Jon completely sucks from April-June, he certainly would've gotten a lot more in return for him next summer. And while it's nice to have Cabrera and all, it SS wasn't really a glaring need, especially AFTER he picked up Uribe's option.

 

Eh I'm getting tired of people saying KW jumped the gun on dealing Garland. OC was the best impact player we could've gotten for Garland and filled a major hole. He picked up Uribe's option so he actually had enough leverage to pull off a deal like that for Garland.

 

People are being unfair in critiquing that deal IMO.

[Miguel Cabrera to the Tigers]

Alright, those keys in your pocket? Walk to the nearest river bank, look upstream, and throw them as far as you can. Get some new ones made in the morning after you get rid of that nasty hangover.

On a more serious note, did anyone take notice to the fact that Dontrelle sucked when the Marlins sucked? He really seems to be the type of pitcher who lives for competition and when he knows his team is going to suck, he just doesn't give a s***. For him, going to Detroit could be a career saver.

 

 

Regarding salary differences...I don't think it's HORRIBLE to take Floyd over Willis.

 

I watched Willis pitch an over/under of 10 times last year. He's never looked that bad in his career. He threw 85 or 86 every time I saw him and his off-speed (slider) looked like nothing.

 

D-Train will get hammered as the year goes on in the AL and will be a Long Reliever before too long.

[Do we need a philosophical change?]

Kenny resigned A.J., Buehrle, Dye, and Vaquez to extensions in the past nine months and Contreras and Paully were already signed to long term deals so missing out on a couple more veterans wouldn't have made turning the entire team over into rebuilding an easy, logical next step, especially with all the no trade clauses and 5/10 rights floating around.

 

I agree. People saying that KW should rebuild now need to get their heads checked.

 

I do believe people can rip KW for not starting the rebuilding process back in July...that would've been the perfect time to have done it.

 

But now KW is going for it and we are at best the 3rd best team in our division as of right now heading into '08.

 

I don't think we're as bad off as people here say we are....but we'll see what happens.

[Does anyone have any doubt now ?]

I'm prepared to see Owens in CF and leading off, at least through Spring Training.

 

As we all should be.

[You knew it was coming]

It's called confidence. He truely believes this team has what it takes to contend. And really, is he so wrong?

 

Yes.

 

[You knew it was coming]

I hope various people ask him the following questions at soxfest this year...

 

-How exactly do you expect this team to compete next year or in future years?

-Did you honestly think we were are a good team that just "preformed" bad last year?

-Why in hell did you just not blow up this team and restart the rebuilding process when we had the chance to do so back in May and July?

-Where exactly would you rank our farm system compared to other team's farm systems?

-Why were you too f***ing cheap to pick Poreda instead of Porcello?

-Do you not know we have a pitiful farm system?

-Can you explain to me how Andruw Jones strikes out a ton and hits for a low OBP but Rowand and Hunter don't?

-Why do you suck?

-In how long do you think we could finally see Rick Hahn take over as GM?

-Are you retarded?

-We all know Boras is a b****, but why do you refuse to deal with him? Ozzie said himself that Boras represents the best players in the league, so you will never go after the best players in the league?

-I think you are a sad excuse for a GM.

-Why do you suck?

-Why are you a conceded jackass who acts all smug as if he is better then all of us, talking down to all the fans as if we don't know what the f*** baseball is?

 

hahaahha

 

[You knew it was coming]

It is pretty sad he is blaming the media and other executives in baseball.

 

It's KW, what did you expect? This is the same guy that called out the best player in WSox history after KW decided to move on without him.

 

KW is a jerk.

[Rowand offered 4 yrs/55 million from Sox]

At least someone caught my point.

 

It makes a lot more sense to cry poor right now, take this season and see what we have, and maybe even hope that a smart trade comes around for someone like JT than it does to blow a lot of money on a marginal player for CF or SP or to trade all of the young guys we have for 1 other SP. I'd probably say the same thing even about Johan.

 

I actually think Bedard could be our answer. If we were going to throw 75 mil at Hunter...I don't see why we wouldn't throw 75 mil at Bedard.

 

The additions of Bedard and Linebrink to our pitching staff would make us 12-15 games better alone. Just think of all the games we blew in the 7th and 8th inning last year! Linebrink SHOULD cut down on a lot of those. Just think of the 68 games where we started the inexperienced guys like Floyd/Danks/Masset and the struggling Contreras. Give 25-30 of those starts to a guy like Bedard to help take the edge off and how many games better will we be?

 

If we could add Bedard to what we've already added, I could see this team compete for 90 wins next year. Does that get us into the playoffs? It'd be close, which is all we could ask for at this point.

[Crede close to going to Brewers]

Absolutely. Which is why he is one of the few pieces we have that has significant value.

 

I am specifically thinking of the Angels...I imagine we could fill a few positions of need for the forseeable future at the league minimum for the next few years.

 

That could be a team that could "bowl us over".

[Crede close to going to Brewers]

You could clear $12 million by dealing Konerko, and Crede's $ will come off the books either at the deadline, or after this season, whenever he is traded or walks.

 

Konerko isn't coming off of back surgery and is signed long term. I wouldn't be surprised that P-Ko is being shopped right now, however it'd have to take a lot to deal Pauly right now. I'm in the keep Konerko camp unless as KW would say- "We would be bowled over"

[Crede close to going to Brewers]

It isn't worth what? You aren't going to get anything for him now, so what are you losing?

 

We could clear around 7 million and let Fields know the job is his. We may actually get something ok considering a number of teams want Crede.

 

I would MUCH rather deal Fields in a package for Bedard but we all know that won't happen.

[Crede close to going to Brewers]

I'm not arguing we keep Crede longterm. I'm saying we play him this year at third base, shift Fields to first permanently, and move one of the few valuable trade pieces we have (Konerko). Then address the third base position either at the deadline or next offseason, whenever it is that Crede is dealt or walks.

 

Keeping Crede would've been like keeping Garland. It isn't worth it. As much as it pains me to say Crede should be dealt, it's just too obvious of a move.

[Crede close to going to Brewers]

Crede is gone at year's end. He's a Boras client and he's coming off of back surgery.

 

Fields showed great potential at the plate last season and could be our mainstay at 3rd for the next decade.

 

If you all want to hold onto Crede- I'm fine with that as well, but then deal Fields. We don't have the room to play them both. I hate the idea of giving Crede away, but it'll probably have to be done.

[Miguel Cabrera to the Tigers]

It may have been a bit excessive, I'll give you that.

 

And JD may like it here, but I wouldn't think he has a desire to be here over any other place. For starters I am fairly certain he lives in Zona. A trade to them is out of the question but neighboring places like Cali may be something that would intrigue him

 

The main reason I made the comment was how the phone call was portrayed yesterday. "The whole JD called 2 minutes after to KW because KW had promised both of those guys to him."

 

So that is where that came from. On top of that, the Hahn thing is more of a joke but the whispers have to start somewhere.

 

JD has taken less money to stay with us twice.

 

This is where he wants to be and most likely finish his career. As far as KW promising both guys to him...who the hell would believe that. "We're going to get Miggy Cabrera!" Picture that being said back in August when he wasn't even on the market.

 

I'm sure JD called to see what Plan B was, but I'd bet the farm he didn't call to dog his good friend, KW.

[Miguel Cabrera to the Tigers]

I'm betting that Dye phone call consisted of...Something happens this week or tell Hahn I'd like to be dealt before New Years.

 

While I normally agree with you- I totally disagree with this.

 

Dye wants to be on the South Side. He wouldn't have taken a home town discount if he didn't. My guess is he called KW to hang in there. Dye is too cool of a guy to dog management like that.

[Rowand offered 4 yrs/55 million from Sox]

Let me ask you folks this.

 

Everyone here seemed to throw up in despair yesterday and declare the season horribly, horribly lost.

 

Let's imagine this, we do a Fields and Gio for Bedard swap (just accept the principle for a second). We also sign Rowand, blowing $30 million a year on keeping those 2.

 

Does that make us an AL Central contender to your eyes? How much better does that make us that what we have right now, and is it worth that kind of money for those upgrades?

 

If people are so insistent on believing that KW fouled up and we're screwed no matter what this year because the Tigers and Indians are so good, then wasting money locking ourselves in to long term, piecemeal upgrades is not going to solve that problem.

 

I didn't say anything about Rowand. If we'd land Bedard I'm assuming that Jerry Owens is our lead-off man in Center to start the year.

 

[Rowand offered 4 yrs/55 million from Sox]

Vernon Wells is not better than Hunter. He put up a .706 OPS last year. That is Pods territory. And he didn't steal 40 bases.

 

Wells is better than Hunter. At least he has a higher ceiling. He had a bad shoulder last year- look at his '05 stats at least.

 

Vernon turns 29 in a couple of days. I'd take Vernon over Hunter any day of the week.

[Rowand offered 4 yrs/55 million from Sox]

Konerko has the same contract as Jose Guillen right now.

 

The Royals don't count. We know this.

 

(Watch them throw this in my face and finish ahead of us next year)

[Rowand offered 4 yrs/55 million from Sox]

Why? Millard is no great shakes there. They seemed interested before too. Do they have some 1B prospect stud I am unaware of?

 

I think the O's would do a Fields/Gio or Danks/Broadway/Anderson or Sweeney

 

Make the deal- give us 72 hours to extend Bedard to the cool tune of 5yrs/75 million and we're good.

 

15 mil a year for Bedard? Ummmmmm yeah. Especially if we're even considering 13.5 for Rowand.

[Rowand offered 4 yrs/55 million from Sox]

Tomorrow, someone will say how we're so desperate for a starting pitcher, and I'll respond that the clear solution is 6/$70 for Livan Hernandez.

 

These just won't stop being funny to me.

 

Maybe we'll steal Freddy back at 3 yrs/36 mil. It'd be fun watching ALL base runners take 2nd on him and watch Fred not give a frig about it.

[Crede close to going to Brewers]

Except that Crede is far better than Fields defensively at 3B. Best move for the team, if you keep both players AND Crede shows up at ST healthy, is to have your best defensive 3B at 3B, and move Fields to 1B.

 

Keep one or the other....not both.

[Rowand offered 4 yrs/55 million from Sox]

There continues to be fewer than zero starting pitchers on this FA market I'd actually be interested in seeing on the White Sox next year.

 

Kyle Lohse at 3/$30, that'll save us!

 

Is he the flavor of the day? The Silva 5/$60 gave me a chuckle yesterday.

 

This just sounds like you blowing off steam this morning.