"Voices of the Game" Baseball Special

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It came on at 10:00 (I think). George Ofman had on various announcers previewing the divisions. He had Chip Caray on for the Cubs and he gushed about Prior/Maddux/Sammy yada, yada, yada. And then all the Cub fans called with high optimism.

 

 

30 minutes later, Ofman had Hawk on to preview the Sox and AL Central. Couple of notes from the show:

 

* He re-iterated that Guillen was the best hire for this team and might even get into a couple of fights by the time this year is over. He mentioned that there are alot of good Latin American managers, though I'm not sure why he put Piniella on that list.

 

* He praised Colon as a good guy in the clubhouse (as he also did with Graffy) and said while he would be a big loss, other guys should help pick up the slack. He said Garland has been the whipping boy the past couple of years, and really thinks he can win 15-18 games this year. He also feels the 5th spot is Danny Wright's to lose, and also mentioned other players such as Grilli & Rauch. I was concerned when he also mentioned Person, 'cause Ofman had to tell him he was done for the year (BTW, they were calling Hawk from Orlando).

 

* He also re-iterated that Harris and Rowand have more range and can pick up the slack.

 

* As for division rivals, Hawk felt the Sox would get the most competition from the Royals, and again he praised Tony Pena, who he feels will get the most out of Juan Gonzalez. He feels Minnesota lost quite a bit with Pierzienski (who he said was a Sox-killer), & the pen with Guardado & Hawkins exiting. He said unless Detroit makes alot of trades that they're not in the hunt, though he did like the IRod signing, and as for Cleveland, he said they're not quite there yet.

 

Ofman pressed him on KW possibly swinging a deal, and Hawk said it was possible. After Ofman hung up with Hawk, and got Sox fans on the line, all of 'em were pretty much pissed and felt that all of Hawk's talk was BS. One caller wanted to know why Hawk didn't raise the issue of Maggs when he said at SoxFest that Maggs was probably leaving, while others said that losing Colon/Alomar was huge and Rowand/Harris can't pick up the slack.

 

Ofman also talked to Charley Steiner, and he mentioned an ARod for Soriano deal is possible and that Cashman is looking into it. Didn't get much news on the other divisions, but ESPN 1000 is having their Talking Baseball segment, so if any news comes out of it, I'll post it for you guys.