Things are looking up in Metville. A closer, a starter, and a 2nd baseman and it will be 1986 all over again.

ginandtacos.com wrote:Crede, he is a wonder for October and nothing more.

maddeningly inconsistent, flashes of greatness

he could go either way. but he's getting a bit old to go the 'really good' way

But with Konerko, Steve, I beg you stop with the taking of drugs.

Adrian Beltre, he is the overrated.

Richie Sexton, he is the overrated.

Carlos Beltran, Adam Dunn (180 of the strike-outs every season! Dios mio!), Darin Erstad.....these men, they are the overrated.

Paul Konerko is not the overrated. Overhyped because of the playoffs, this she may be true. Great, no he is not. Very good he is, and much better with the consistency than so many other alleged "stars".

konerko is not in jeff bagwell's league, but they are similar in their approach to the game. very hardworking, studious guys who spend a lot of time analyzing their hitting.

konerko may have peaked this october. but i doubt it. he's got another five or six seasons in him, if he stays healthy. and it's guys like him--thinkers--who can get better as they age. he might earn what he gets this offseason.

The White Sox are headed for a repeat until they prove otherwise by having one or more of their starters crap out. This could happen tomorrow, or it could happen 5 years from now. Who knows. Especially with Contreras - he's what, 80? But if their starters pitch at a similar level next year without a huge decrease in offensive production (and there's no reason to anticipate that yet) then not many teams can match them. Who has 5 legit starters anymore? No one, that's who.

agreed

the intact pitching staff is the biggest plus for the sox next year

I agree about Jenks. I've never liked him and I don't forsee a long career for him. He may already have hit his high point.

totally disagree

ya never know w/closers, but he didn't even have to have his curve this october. and he has a great curve when it's working. if he doesn't get hurt and gets into his breaking stuff more consistently....watch out.

I am hopeful the Sox can get a guy to fill that role better. Maybe an older guy like Piazza or Conine could be an effective DH at this point.

i would love to see piazza dh for the white sox. i think this is a good idea. let's start a petition.

Well the best solution is a healthy Frank Thomas. But we all know how much that can be relied upon.

Whatever happens, they need someone who isn't going to hit .244 in that hole like Carl Everett did. Maybe if Brian Anderson is ready to go they could rotate him and Dye. I don't know. Just anything but Everett. The only way they can live with a DH hitting below .250 is if the guy hits about 45 homers.

Hi Walter. When I was four, my dad went to Toronto on business and brought me back a four-inch tall CN Tower statuette. I then became a Jays fan, and a Leafs fan as soon as I learned about hockey. I've been a Spurs fan and a Dolphins fan since I was five or six for similarly arbitrary reasons, and I've yet to visit either of these three cities.

Separately, I think the (non-Florida) South probably has more stratified baseball fandom than anywhere else in the country. There's a plurality of Braves fans, but other than that, people are just all over the place, so Jays fandom is not so weird, in a way. Not that other regions lack a center of sports gravity (say, Idaho to the Dakotas), but the South has North Carolina and/or Tennessee teams in the other sports, even in hockey, but nothing in baseball, other than the Durham Bulls.

Hillenbrand and Catalonotto are good hitters, but they can't carry a team. I think the home run offense mindset that prevailed into the 00s has yet to fully leave the team, even though Green, Delgado, Phelps, and Cruz Jr. are long gone, and Hinske and Wells homer less these days. Then sometimes they try to do the get-on-base thing, but the Jays are not that fast anymore. I guess the team needs to focus on manufacturing runs even early in the game--I'm not sure what else you can do without great power or great speed and the possibility that no one in the lineup will hit .300.

Robin

oucheh wrote:Cubs fans will still use attendance a serious argument for why they are better than the Sox.

And that Cubs fans are not thuggish brutes.

giallobelly wrote:

oucheh wrote:Cubs fans will still use attendance a serious argument for why they are better than the Sox.

And that Cubs fans are not thuggish brutes.

Yeah, don't Cub's fans shoot people outside their "stadium" - possibly in defense of severe beating? Whoops! Is it too soon to talk about this?

electrons wrote: Is it too soon to talk about this?

Never too early. Our November discusssions, with proper care and nurturing will eventually blossom into the the beautiful flower that is Brad using the search button to point out how stupid I am.

AlBStern wrote: NL MVP: Barry Bonds

Damn you vengeful search button! Damn you!!!!!

NL West:San Diego
NL Central:Chicago
NL East:Washington
NL Wild Card:Pittsburgh

AL West:Oakland
AL Central:Cleveland
AL East:New York
AL Wild Card:Anaheim

NLCS:Chicago over Washington
ALCS:Cleveland over New York

World Series:Chicago over Cleveland

NL MVP:Jason Bay(PIT)
AL MVP:Alex Rodriguez(NYY)
NL Cy Young:Dontrelle Willis(FLA)
AL Cy Young:Cliff Lee(CLE)
NL Comeback Player:Nomar Garciaparra(CHC)
AL Comeback Player:Jay Payton(OAK)

Free Agents

-P. Konerko stays with Sox
-J. Damon stays with other Sox. (Manny is traded to save money)
-A. Burnett signs with Toronto
-R. Furcal signs with Washington

ginandtacos.com wrote:
Adrian Beltre, he is the overrated.

Richie Sexton, he is the overrated.

Carlos Beltran, Adam Dunn (180 of the strike-outs every season! Dios mio!), Darin Erstad.....these men, they are the overrated.

Of the dudes you called out, I consider only Beltre and Erstad to really be overrated.

I'm not ready to call Carlos Beltran overrated because he is just hitting what should be his peak years. And he can do so many more things on a baseball field than almost anyone else in the game. The Yankees really could have benefited even from his disappointing 2005 season, because he can actually run around and catch the ball in center.

Not getting Beltran when they had the chance was a Yankee fuckup of massive proportions.

And I will take Richie Sexson and Adam Dunn and all their strikeouts in a heartbeat.

ginandtacos.com wrote: The White Sox are headed for a repeat until they prove otherwise by having one or more of their starters crap out.

There are a few statistical indicators that point toward a very high degree of luck for the 2005 White Sox.

One of these was their record in one-run games. I think the White Sox's record was 36-22 in 2005. This record is extraordinary, and it is lucky.

If you think that winning one-run games is a matter of grit, chemistry, and other intangibles, consider what happened to Steve's Washington Nationals in 2005. They won almost every one-run game they were involved in during the first half of the year, spent many weeks in first place, and the national media were convinced that they were legit- they were doing it for Frank Robinson, they were doing it for their new fans in DC, blah, blah, blah.

But in the second half, they began losing those same one-run games, and fell quickly out of the race. The team didn't change. It's just that their luck, and their total inability to score runs, caught up with them.

The White Sox really need to improve their team OBP (many have rightly called out Carl Everett and his .300 OBP from the DH spot). I don't see them getting the same breaks again in 2006, and I like Cleveland in the division. I would not be terribly surprised if the Sox missed the playoffs in 2006.

But I also want to make clear that I think the Sox earned everything they got in 2005. They pitched and played defense very, very well. No luck involved there. And they always seemed to make the absolute most of the opportunities their luck gave them. And they have a flag that will fly forever.

I don't think we can seriously predict anything until we see what the winter meetings yield, not to mention the pre-season dealing.

It would be nice to see the Tigers have a winning season for once, and also the Royals (though they did have one a couple of years back). It would be even nicer to see one of these much-maligned franchises make the playoffs. That goes for the Pirates and Brewers, too.

There was a time (before the strike, really) when any team had a reasonable chance of winning the World Series, provided management did not have their heads up their arses. And almost every year, there was a team that came out of nowhere to win their division, or at least seriously contend. I know I am not speaking alone when I say that I am tired of the Braves winning the NL East every year. (C'mon Phillies, already...not even a wild card yet.) I am tired of the Cardinals and Astros. And I were not a native New Yorker, I would be tired of the damn Yankees too.