Sun-Times pre-season take on new Sox

[JUGGERNAUT]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-sox13.html

 

They did a fairly good job outlining the pro's & con's of all the impact players.

It's obvious where I disagree with them.

- Pods - LF, Rowand - CF. They feel that LF is Rowand's natural position & CF is Pods.

- Dye is the best fielder amongst the 3.

 

I feel that Rowand knows the Cell more than Pods does which means he has better

instincts on where the ball will drop based on the sound a hit makes, the direction & intensity of the wind, & maybe even the directions the flags are blowing. Pods has zero experience at the Cell. If he becomes acclimated to it quickly I would say his speed allows the Sox to cheat to the right & reduce the area Dye needs to cover.

 

I would take Rowand & Pods before Dye for overall ability to make D plays.

 

- Pods & Iggy will share the 1-2 spots.

I disagree. I think Rowand has the speed, avg, & OBP to be more effective as a #2 man than Iggy. Especially when Iggy is still an unknown. I would rather have Iggy

at #7 betw Uribe & AJ so that he sees good pitches & helps put good speed aboard for AJ.

 

- Konerko just a yr removed from mediocrity.

I disagree. Koney was not 100% healthy in 03. In 04' he took his best strides yet to becoming a consistent monthly force.

'04: Apr 918, May 846, Jun 1010, Jul 883, Aug 778, Sep 974

compare that to his 3 yr avg:

3yr: Apr 857, May 728, Jun 937, Jul 837, Aug 864, Sep 784

His '04 year is a much more impressive pro than 03 is a con.

 

- No one really wanted AJ.

Maybe it's true but I can't think of a mgr more capable of getting the most out of him

than Oz. His 77RBI at SFG should translate to 90RBI at the Cell. Assuming he has over 450AB's. I think he's going to be a very good influence on Garland.

 

They were right on with assessing Garland. AJ should help Jon keep his focus more.

 

-Thomas' walk yr. 3.5M buyout vs 10M (Player option) or 12M (team option).

Thomas will need to produce MVP like #'s in the 2nd half to avoid having to re-negotiate a new contract with JR. I just don't see him walking .. ever. His market value seems to rise with each passing article of roids abuse by one of the other major prolific sluggers in the game.

 

I can't not emphasize more how Thomas may be worth to the Sox organization beyond what he does on the field. In the wake of Canseco's book the book Bond's Girl is far more damaging not just to Bonds but the sport. If you believe it's credible than Barry's own words seem to imply that roids usage to quickly recover from injuries was rampant. I do believe Barry did this & I do believe many other players incl pitchers have done this as well. She mentioned acne, bloating, & rage as signs

of his usage. Acne is probably the easiest to verify. There would certainly be medical records for treatments if it were that severe. If there is no prior history

of it being a problem in his family or his younger life that would stand out like a sore

thumb in the controversy.

 

Do we consider it moral for a player to use it to recover injuries but immoral for a

player to use it to just bulk up (like Giambi)? That's for you the fan to decide but I

will say this much. People in my own family who have suffered injuries in the past

few years were put on roids for a little while as treatment for recovery. It's not

uncommon for the medical profession to use roids (depending on the injury of course).

 

With respect to the Big Hurt he's always been a big man. He's no bigger today (except gut wise) than he was at Auburn. So there's no phyiscial sign of his using

roids. Likewise his best numbers were in the 90's & 00 which paints a typical

pattern for a traditional ML baseball slugger. As the roids & performance enhancers are weeded out of the game I think Thomas' natural production will begin to stand out over the league like it did in the 90's. Even at his late age. If I were the Sox I would start marketing him as The Big Hurt: The Natural.

 

- Crede has to rebound.

I agree.

 

- Shingo will struggle.

I agree. I don't buy into this theory that the league will have caught up with him

because there's no sign of that having happened in 04. What there is however are his splits vs CLE & MIN. MIN hit nearly 300 vs him, & CLE wasn't far behind. He's going to have to pitch his best games to date to improve against them. I don't know if there is any improvement left for him. What he does have going for him his a strong pitcher's mentality that can't be overvalued. He knows how to get guys out any way he can. Unlike Garland he's not infatuated with any one pitch in his arsenal.

 

- The other makeshift closers in the pen are not reliable.

I agree with respect to Politte, & Herm but not Marte. Maybe it's just me but I expect Marte to do better vs RH in 05. I have faith in Cooper that they will look at the film over this off-season & concentrate & what caused him to become less effective vs RH. Was he tipping off his pitches? I think again AJ will have a positive influence here.

 

For all you Nathan fans just remember the drop from Marte '03 to '04. There are no guarantees when it comes to the bullpen.

Edited February 13, 2005 by JUGGERNAUT

[hi8is]

good post jugg

[nitetrain8601]

All guys healthy, I would take Dye as the best OFer. Has a strong arm, former GG and makes good reads.

[SoxFanForever]

Just remember Juggs, there are different types of steroids. Anabolic and metabolic I believe. I took one kind of common medical steroid called Prednisone when I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease back in 1995. Just saying that the steroids you are talking about may not be exactly the same.

[WilliamTell]

This is the best I've felt about our outfielders defensively in a long time.

[AnthraxFan93]

This is the best I've felt about our outfielders defensively in a long time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Vladdy would have look even better in that OF..

[southsider2k5]

Vladdy would have look even better in that OF..

 

Thanks Mr Obvious, you're a lifesaver.

[ptatc]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-sox13.html

 

 

 

I can't not emphasize more how Thomas may be worth to the Sox organization beyond what he does on the field.  In the wake of Canseco's book the book Bond's Girl is far more damaging not just to Bonds but the sport.  If you believe it's credible than Barry's own words seem to imply that roids usage to quickly recover from injuries was rampant.  I do believe Barry did this & I do believe many other players incl pitchers have done this as well.  She mentioned acne, bloating, & rage as signs

of his usage.  Acne is probably the easiest to verify.  There would certainly be medical records for treatments if it were that severe.  If there is no prior history

of it being a problem in his family or his younger life that would stand out like a sore

thumb in the controversy.

 

Do we consider it moral for a player to use it to recover injuries but immoral for a

player to use it to just bulk up (like Giambi)?  That's for you the fan to decide but I

will say this much.  People in my own family who have suffered injuries in the past

few years were put on roids for a little while as treatment for recovery.  It's not

uncommon for the medical profession to use roids (depending on the injury of course).

 

 

 

Sorry about that last post. I still haven't quite figured this thing out.

 

What was the steroid that was taken? As another poster stated there are different types of steroids. It is very uncommon for physician's to prescribe anabolic steroids for injury rehabilitation. If the physician did I would highly question the physician's motives and ethics. The common steroid type prescribed is the prednisone for chronic inflammatory type diseases.

 

This is one point about steroids that most people miss THEY ARE ILLEGAL. It is classified as a federal offense similar (but not exactly) to cocaine and such. There should be no cicumstance where steroids are even considered ok to use by these athletes. They are produced illegally, obtained illegally and consumed illegally. The reason they are illegal is the documented prove as to what they will do to your body. Taking them will sign your death certificate years in advance after some mental and physical suffering.

[southsider17]

Sorry about that last post. I still haven't quite figured this thing out.

 

What was the steroid that was taken? As another poster stated there are different types of steroids. It is very uncommon for physician's to prescribe anabolic steroids for injury rehabilitation. If the physician did I would highly question the physician's motives and ethics. The common steroid type prescribed is the prednisone for chronic inflammatory type diseases.

 

This is one point about steroids that most people miss THEY ARE ILLEGAL. It is classified as a federal offense similar (but not exactly) to cocaine and such. There should be no cicumstance where steroids are even considered ok to use by these athletes. They are produced illegally, obtained illegally and consumed illegally. The reason they are illegal is the documented prove as to what they will do to your body. Taking them will sign your death certificate years in advance after some mental and physical suffering.

 

That is such an obvious statement that I can't believe how many times that is never brought up in the steroid discussions. I don't know what year they became illegal by law but all the talk about how they weren't banned by baseball is BS because they were ILLEGAL ANYWAYS!

[LosMediasBlancas]

I don't care about legal or illegal. Laws change ever day, if today they were legalized, would it then be OK?

I heard somewhere that the book doesn't accuse certain players that everyone seems to think are juiced, like Sammy. Canseco won't directly accuse anyone whom he didn't actually SEE using steroids. I found that very inetersting. Does that give his stories any more credibilty?

[southsider2k5]

I don't care about legal or illegal. Laws change ever day, if today they were legalized, would it then be OK?

I heard somewhere that the book doesn't accuse certain players that everyone seems to think are juiced, like Sammy. Canseco won't directly accuse anyone whom he didn't actually SEE using steroids. I found that very inetersting.  Does that give his stories any more credibilty?

 

He fingered a lot of people that he thinks were shooting up according to the exerpts being released. Roger Clemens was one of the ones I remember off of the top of my head.

[The Critic]

He fingered a lot of people that he thinks were shooting up according to the exerpts being released.  Roger Clemens was one of the ones I remember off of the top of my head.

Yeah, he'd say "I never saw him inject, BUT....." and then throw out some damning semi-accusation based on pure speculation.

Which paints them with the same brush that he's painting the ones with who he claims to have injected.

Canseco has zero credibility to me, just for the basic reason that he denied using until it can become profitable to admit using them.

[LosMediasBlancas]

Yeah, he'd say "I never saw him inject, BUT....." and then throw out some damning semi-accusation based on pure speculation.

Which paints them with the same brush that he's painting the ones with who he claims to have injected.

Canseco has zero credibility to me, just for the basic reason that he denied using until it can become profitable to admit using them.

 

See, to me there is a difference. For him to assume that Sammy did, is no different than what a lot of fans do. Saying that you WITNESSED it, is totally different. My point is that if Canseco was really trying to write a vengeful, money making, tabloid piece of crap, wouldn't it have been more likely for him to have accused the most obvious suspetcs?....since he doesn't do that, it makes me wonder.

Edited February 14, 2005 by LosMediasBlancas

[ptatc]

I don't care about legal or illegal. Laws change ever day, if today they were legalized, would it then be OK?

I heard somewhere that the book doesn't accuse certain players that everyone seems to think are juiced, like Sammy. Canseco won't directly accuse anyone whom he didn't actually SEE using steroids. I found that very inetersting.  Does that give his stories any more credibilty?

 

Some laws may change. The fact is these types of steroids are illegal and banned by all sporting bodies (now that baseball has finally caught up) because of what they due to the body in the long run. All of the substances currently in use (that we know of) tear apart the body from the inside out. They improve current ability and sacrifice logevity. Most of the NFL players apporve of them. The surveys they do each year ask "would you do steroids if I told you it will take 10 years off your life." Most of the players say "Yes, because where else can I make this kind of money." The sports need to police it because the players won't.

 

Hopefully, this is just the beginning. If the drug policy can catch the offenders the game can get back to being credible. The abuse is such a joke in the locker rooms because everyone knows who is doing it and who isn't. Borderline players use it to get the big payday.

 

The real problem will come when they begin "genetic doping." With the advances in genes and genome reasearch there is talk of altering the genetic structure of a person when they are young. The theory is to do it with genetic diseases such as Downes Syndrome, but you know people will evetually corrupt it when money is involved.

[ptatc]

After reading my previous post, I apologize for the rant.

 

I'm listening to the radio and all of the people who are deying all of the things about steroids is frustrating. The topic is finally out in the open and eveyone is denying everything. Even when anyone who has ever spent anytime in a MLB locker room knows that most of this is probably true.

 

With the quality of people and opinions on this site, it seems like a good place to vent.

[JUGGERNAUT]

I'm not sure which type. I imagine they were metabolic. Does Canseco make the distinction in his book? Can a player inject himself with metabolic steroids under a physicians approval?

 

Are there any cases of physicians using anabolic steroids for cancer patients?

[ptatc]

I'm not sure which type.  I imagine they were metabolic. Does Canseco make the distinction in his book?  Can a player inject himself with metabolic steroids under a physicians approval? 

 

Are there any cases of physicians using anabolic steroids for cancer patients?

 

Predinsone and such are not injected. Canseco is referring to anabolic steroids. I javen't got the book yet to see if he names the steroid but the only type that would benefit performance are the anabolics.

 

I don't know about steroids for oncology patients not my field but I would think they would too hard on the system of that type of patient.