Let's talk next year

[SoxFan1]

EXACTLY. But because people loves Pods so much, you need to have 2 good run producers in the other OF spots. You can't have both Pods and Rowand if Rowand's offense stays on a 2005 level. If he can hit like he did in 2004, he'll be here for a long, long time.

Sure didn't hurt having the 05 Pods and the 05 ARow this year did it. And you better eat some mad crow for dissing Pods before the playoffs started with your yadda yadda he's a LF'er with no power bs. 2 HR's in 12 postseason games, 0 in 162 regular season games. Dont tell me how many you hit, tell me when you hit them. God damn I am pumped!!!!!!!

[SoxFan1]

Don't you dare suggest trading Pods 

 

Lisa Dergan 

::Google Search::

[Rowand44]

The Frank scenario is a sticky situation. I think he can still swing the bat when healthy like he did in 04 but the problem is, is he going to remain healthy throughout the season. You can't let Paul walk and bank your middle of the order on Frank, not a very smart move. Now, if we can resign Paul then ya give Frank an incentive ladin deal and see what he can do. Trust me, I want Frank back as much as anyone but the team is bigger then him and you have to do what is best for this team. Anyways, if Paul goes to the angels we could always *gulp* trade aaron and maybe a marte for Gary Sheffield, *ducks for cover*.

[DBAHO]

If we go with Anderson at RF, then we MUST get Frank back AND extend Garland + Count. If we are lettign Paulie walk and saving ~14M a year, there is no excuse to not consolidate our pitching for more than just next year and simply focus on hitting from our prospects + some trade deadline help if needed.

 

Also, I disagree about Frank not doing well the year after his injury. Yes, his avg was down but he was on pace for 50 HRs this year if he had played all through to the series. So I have faith in Frank. The guy takes his off season very seriously.

We're not going to use that $14M for the sake of using $14M if Konerko leaves. Most of that will go into the raises for Contreras, A.J, Garland and Crede anyway. If you look out there into the F.A market, there's no one, besides Brian Giles who really stands out at you offensively, like a Paul Konerko.

 

As for Thomas, in 2002 when he came back from his injury, he went .252/.362/472. Now he'll be 4 years older since then remember, and yeah he was on pace for 50HR's, but he also only hit .219.

[SSH2005]

Count is the ultimate trade bait.

 

He can't possibly repeat his '05 success.

 

Sell high, buy low.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why not? He has great stuff and he has finally learned to trust it and throw strikes. His problem before was not throwing strikes. Now he has confidence and is challenging batters. I could honestly see him being our best pitcher next season.

[Rowand44]

EXACTLY. But because people loves Pods so much, you need to have 2 good run producers in the other OF spots. You can't have both Pods and Rowand if Rowand's offense stays on a 2005 level. If he can hit like he did in 2004, he'll be here for a long, long time.

DBAHO, why do we NEED to have two good run producers in the outfield, last time I checked we're world champions without having two good run producers roaming the outfield.

[sox-r-us]

Count is the ultimate trade bait.

 

He can't possibly repeat his '05 success.

 

Sell high, buy low.

 

I disagree. Did you read David Ortiz's quote this past season? After facing Count in regular season + post season he said (and I am paraphrasing): - He is definitely NOT the pitcher he used to be with the Yankees and he has changed drastically for the better

 

I will go with the Big Papi's assessment here instead of yours. Now add to that the fact that Ozzie has made all Latino players so much more comfortable and with El Duque, Uribe, Ozuna etc they are all playing for each other, WHY THE FOCK would you take that away? Anyone who talks about trading our pitchers should be freaking shot

 

If you still have not learned that you cannot have enough pitching after seeing what happened to the other teams in our division or in the playoffs, you will never learn.

[Rowand44]

Count is the ultimate trade bait.

 

He can't possibly repeat his '05 success.

 

Sell high, buy low.

There's no doubt in my mind that Jose has a better overall season in 06. I think Garland is the one who regresses a bit but will still be a damn solid starter. You don't mess with this starting rotation, it will be better overall in 06 then it was in 05 imo.

[DBAHO]

Sure didn't hurt having the 05 Pods and the 05 ARow this year did it.  And you better eat some mad crow for dissing Pods before the playoffs started with your yadda yadda he's a LF'er with no power bs. 2 HR's in 12 postseason games, 0 in 162 regular season games. Dont tell me how many you hit, tell me when you hit them. God damn I am pumped!!!!!!!

Haha, don't try telling me he's a power hitting OF now because he hit 2HR's in the playoffs. I was shocked as anyone he did that, because c'mon it's Scott Podsednik. But yeah he had a great post-season, doing what he needed to do.

 

As for having the 05 Pods and the 05 Row, it sure didn't hurt having the Buerhle-Garcia-Garland-Contreras-El Duque/B-Mac rotation either did it.

[Kalapse]

Well if Pods hits all of next year like he did this postseason he'll hit 27 HRs, also if we resign Pauly and he does the same as Pods, he'll end up with 68 HRs next season. Not to mention Crede will hit 54 and AJ will go yard 41 times next season.

 

That's 190 HRs from 4 hitters in the Sox lineup.

[SSH2005]

DBAHO, why do we NEED to have two good run producers in the outfield, last time I checked we're world champions without having two good run producers roaming the outfield.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Because we won a ton of games just barely squeeking out enough runs, often times with clutch hits. Do you honestly think we are going to get all of those clutch hits next year? I don't. That's why it would be a good idea to improve the offense.

[DBAHO]

DBAHO, why do we NEED to have two good run producers in the outfield, last time I checked we're world champions without having two good run producers roaming the outfield.

From an excellent pitching staff. But if Konerko leaves, your offense goes way down, and you may need to trade away from a strength to fill that hole, but probably not.

[sox-r-us]

Haha, don't try telling me he's a power hitting OF now because he hit 2HR's in the playoffs. I was shocked as anyone he did that, because c'mon it's Scott Podsednik. But yeah he had a great post-season, doing what he needed to do.

 

As for having the 05 Pods and the 05 Row, it sure didn't hurt having the Buerhle-Garcia-Garland-Contreras-El Duque/B-Mac rotation either did it.

 

And we will have the same rotation next year which has a potential to pitchbetter than this year (Count for the whole year with his improved stuff; BMac for whole year instead of El Duque)

 

So what is your point?

[DBAHO]

There's no doubt in my mind that Jose has a better overall season in 06.  I think Garland is the one who regresses a bit but will still be a damn solid starter.  You don't mess with this starting rotation, it will be better overall in 06 then it was in 05 imo.

That's the thing, can we right now, say our pitching staff next year is definitely going to put up as good numbers as they did this season? What if Don Cooper leaves? Then if Paul Konerko leaves, and you don't replace him with someone equally as good, how is this team going to be as good as they were in 2005?

[knightni]

Why not?  He has great stuff and he has finally learned to trust it and throw strikes.  His problem before was not throwing strikes.  Now he has confidence and is challenging batters.  I could honestly see him being our best pitcher next season.

Because The Count is "33".

 

There's NO WAY that he is only one year older than me.

 

He's gotta be near 40 like El Duque.

[Rowand44]

That's the thing, can we right now, say our pitching staff next year is definitely going to put up as good numbers as they did this season? What if Don Cooper leaves? Then if Paul Konerko leaves, and you don't replace him with someone equally as good, how is this team going to be as good as they were in 2005?

If Paul leaves we're going to have to trade Aaron imo cause he's replaceable and can bring us good value in return and that's something you've been saying. But I do not want to trade any of our pitchers away. The pitching can definitely be better, full year of bmac in the 5 hole, full year of bobby closing, hopefully a healthy dustin hermanson, no more damaso, the duke in the pen for a full year, etc. IMO the pitching definitely has the potential to be even better. If paul's gone aaron's the trade bait imo.

[Kalapse]

Because The Count is "33".

 

There's NO WAY that he is only one year older than me.

 

He's gotta be near 40 like El Duque.

El Duque is atleast 45 years old. No way in hell is that dude only 36. I'd say Contreras is around where they say El Duque is, 36yo.

[Rowand44]

Because we won a ton of games just barely squeeking out enough runs, often times with clutch hits.  Do you honestly think we are going to get all of those clutch hits next year?  I don't.  That's why it would be a good idea to improve the offense.

I don't see why not. I'll say what I said all of this season, I'd love to add a bit more offense but I dont think it's a necessity and especially if it's coming at the expense of our pitching.

[DBAHO]

If Paul leaves we're going to have to trade Aaron imo cause he's replaceable and can bring us good value in return and that's something you've been saying.  But I do not want to trade any of our pitchers away.  The pitching can definitely be better, full year of bmac in the 5 hole, full year of bobby closing, hopefully a healthy dustin hermanson, no more damaso, the duke in the pen for a full year, etc.  IMO the pitching definitely has the potential to be even better.  If paul's gone aaron's the trade bait imo.

If Coop sticks around, and everything falls into plan regarding the pitching, yeah it can definitely be better. But there's still a couple of if's there, like will we see the Mark Buehrle from the 1st half or 2nd half of 2005, or can Jon do what he did last season.

 

Getting a good lefty to replace Marte is very important in my mind. Someone like Scott Eyre fits the bill.

 

And as you said, Rowand would definitely be a trade option if Konerko left. Best case scenario, we only have to trade some prospects to fill the holes in our offense. And I think that's what everybody's hoping for in that scenario.

[SSH2005]

Because The Count is "33".

 

There's NO WAY that he is only one year older than me.

 

He's gotta be near 40 like El Duque.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you think Contreras is all of a sudden going to stop being able to throw 95 MPH with a great forkball next season?

[knightni]

Do you think Contreras is all of a sudden going to stop being able to throw 95 MPH with a great forkball next season? 

Nolan Ryan lost it all of a sudden.

 

They all do.

[CWSGuy406]

Anyways, if Paul goes to the angels we could always *gulp* trade aaron and maybe a marte for Gary Sheffield, *ducks for cover*.

 

Holy s***, the planets are aligning.

 

If Cashman offered Sheff + $$$ for Aaron + Marte -- wow... where do I sign?

 

I believe this is the last year of Sheffield's deal, meaning if it doesn't go well, we can either trade him at the deadline, or let him go. But, he's going to mash the crap out of the ball in the time he is here.

[DBAHO]

Nolan Ryan lost it all of a sudden.

 

They all do.

I don't think that's the main issue with Contreras. In 2006 I'd expect him to perform like he did in the 2nd half of 2005. The issue is whether we should move him while his value is at an all time high, because he's only got 1 more year left on his deal, plus he may be hard to re-sign financially.

[SSH2005]

I don't see why not.  I'll say what I said all of this season, I'd love to add a bit more offense but I dont think it's a necessity and especially if it's coming at the expense of our pitching.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Banking on clutch hitting is unwise. Just like Timo Perez was a money clutch hitter in 2004, he was far from the same hitter off the bench in key situations this season. Just add good hitters and you won't have to worry about getting clutch hits.

Edited October 29, 2005 by SSH2005

[Rowand44]

Banking on clutch hitting is unwise.  Just like Timo Perez was a money clutch hitter in 2004, he was far from the same hitter off the bench this season.  Just add good hitters and you won't have to worry about getting clutch hits.

We didn't bank on clutch hitting, we banked on good pitching and good defense. When you have a great bullpen and a team that doesn't make to many mistakes in the field you are going to win a lot of 1 run ball games. And.......ugh, am I going to have to list the clutch hits that Timo had this season, Timo was the same clutch hitter this year as last, some people like him for that and most people here hate him.