Transmogrified Tiger

Haha, Mizzou's defense is at it again. OSU knocking at the door trying to bring the game within one score.

Minnesota wins in Ann Arbor. The Big 10 is crazy deep this year. UM, MSU, OSU, Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue, Iowa, and Wisconsin could all be deserving of bowls. And Northwestern, IU, and U of I aren't terrible either.

Zona ties up USC with 7 secs left in the first quarter. They drove about 55 yards after a USC fumble.

Why 2B and not SS? I think Hall's going to regress quite a bit from this year's numbers, but he wouldn't be a terrible SS option if he could keep his walk rate from this year. You could put him at SS, that's a good point. I wasn't sure about his defense there, though I know he has a rocket arm. His walk rate will probably go down, but if he had a season like he did this year, which included 18 steals in 24 tries, I would be thrilled to have him on the Cubs, regardless of the position. If you put him at short, who would you go after for 2B? I'd keep Walker. My offseason wish list: 1)Brian Giles, if you can't get him, then you need to try and make a deal for a Manny or Dunn or the like. 2) Milton Bradley, I'd give up Walker if absolutely necessary, but I'd rather not. Brad Wilkerson is the alternative. 3) Shortstop. Nomar, Lugo, and Furcal is my order of preference 4) Second Base. If Walker is dealt, then it's obviously a need. If Marcus Giles is available jump at it. If Brian wants to play with Marcus, this moves up the list. 5) Relief pitching. Another 7th-8th inning arm is needed. Bob Howry, B.J. Ryan(moving Dempster to setup), Octavio Dotel, and possibly Tom Gordon are FA targets. Trade targets? Rafael Betancourt, David Riske, Scott Linebrink come to mind off the top of my head. 6) Starting pitching. Really not a need, but if you get one, go big with Millwood. Avoid Burnett. Bringing in someone like Brandon Webb in trade is also good.

Why 2B and not SS? I think Hall's going to regress quite a bit from this year's numbers, but he wouldn't be a terrible SS option if he could keep his walk rate from this year.

O$U There you go.

OSU so they're higher ranked for their matchup with MSU next week. That said, I won't shed a tear if PSU upsets.

Wow, what a punt. Wisconsin starting at their own 3.

woohoo, Mizzou goes up 21-9 on a WR Pass. About to be halftime at that score.

I do. Because if he had signed that contract and come to the Cubs, we likely would have won the 2003 World Series. Wildly untrue.

Yeah, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this Sutton guy is a pretty good player. Cleveland area represent!

That's a solid point, Tim. But sometimes teams have to be willing to have a bad contract for a year or two in order to have the services of a player before the team's window of opportunity closes. Take the Cubs this offseason. Many of us (including you) want the Cubs to sign Giles even if it means the Cubs give him 4 years. He's unlikely to earn his money the fourth year of that contract, but we'd be willing to give him the money anyway. We'd be willing to do so b/c we recognize that the Cubs time should be now. With Wood, Prior, Zambrano, Lee, Aramis, the Cubs have the pieces to contend for a World Series title in the next two years. We need Giles to do that. I think that Theo made a mistate by not resigning Pedro. He spent a lot of money on Clement, who just is nowhere nearly as good as Pedro. Yes, Pedro might not be worth the money by the 4th year of the contact. But the Red Sox would have won the division this year with Martinez and they may still be playing in the playoffs. This should have been the Red Sox time to win before players like Manny, Damon, etc move on... There's a difference in the Pedro-Giles comparison. Giles is producing at a very high level this year, especially outside of Petco. Pedro, while still effective, was coming off of his worst season since the mid-90s last year. There were legitimate doubts of whether he would return to form or continue to decline.

Amazing kickoff return by Northwestern.

Schilling, Clement, Wells, Wakefield, Arroyo isn't bad at all.

That's your standard, and you hold up the White Sox as a bastion of success? They've been hovering around .500 for 5 years. You just said "How many teams can just put out incredible contenders every season? There's really 4. Cards, Yanks, BoSox, and Braves. The rest of the teams struggle, and the goal is to build a winner who makes a run in a given season."

Yes, I consider Rowand's .905 OPS from last year is a career year compared with his .788 Career OPS. Likewise with Dye having his best season since 2001. But, you know what, Williams probably masterfully crafted his team together, creating a middle of the pack offense while unreal pitching performances staked them to a big lead that they barely held when they regressed to the mean. Like I said before, Murton and Patterson is basically equivalent to Rowand and Crede. Nevermind Cedeno and Pie. Who are the stud positional prospects that the Sox are pumping out?

That's not marvelous, that's mediocre. Walker > Iguchi, Barrett > Pierzynski, Burnitz > Podsednik. Uribe barely had a higher OBP than Neifi. It's no different than Hendry's moves, probably worse. I'll say it again, unreal pitching while they built that divisional lead is why the Sox are in the playoffs. Not because of Williams, Guillen, Podsednik, the way they play, or anything else. Take a look at Crede's numbers, remarkable how similar they are to Patterson's prior to this year, while Crede is two years older. Crede's embarrassing offensively for a 3B. The Sox were 24th in 3B OBP. Rowand is an average CF after a career year, while Murton(who's had more than a September callup of 160 PA's) will be an average LF when he comes down from his hot numbers of this season. Also, why should the failures of the organization pre-Hendry even matter when comparing the two as they currently are?

If it happens that the White Sox are the winners of the first World Series in Chicago in nearly a century, just be sure you place the blame squarely where it belongs. Don't blame the Sox, who hired a *GREAT* general manager who continually makes solid moves to bring in quality players every year. Don't blame the Sox, who have a minor league system that is actually producing a few players for their major league squad, INCLUDING position players. Blame our Cubs. The team that really doesn't care about winning anyway. The team that would rather put it's energy into creative ways of expanding Wrigley Field and opening up more "ticket agencies" so they can rape the Chicago public out of more cash than actually put a winning product on the field. Blame the Cubs. And then try to be happy for your city, who finally has a winner after nearly 100 years. Afterwards, be sure to DEMAND better from our organization by refusing to buy tickets & merchandise until a winner is placed on the field. I don't think I agree with a single word of this post. Yeah, most Cub fans can't bring themselves to accept how our organization has betrayed the trust the fans have placed in it. The truth is undeniable. The White Sox have made the moves, brought in & developed the players, and are now on solid ground for a World Series run. The Cubs have not, and are not close to the Series. You may not like it. God knows, I sure don't. I'm pretty mad about it. But it is true. And then, to watch them tear up Wrigley and probably raise ticket prices once again when they should be worried about putting together a winner. It makes me sick. It should make everyone here sick. Ken Williams is not a *GREAT* General Manager. The only reason the White Sox are in the playoffs is because they got ridiculous pitching performances for a portion of the season. The claim that they've somehow been more successful in developing players is absurd. Who's homegrown on their team? Buehrle, Garland, Crede, Rowand, McCarthy and some bullpen arms? How is that miles ahead of Wood, Prior, Zambrano, Patterson, Murton, Cedeno, and some bullpen arms? Both teams used their system to bring in players. Then of course there's the always enjoyable rhetoric that the Trib doesn't care about winning. They've put up the payroll necessary, and that's all they can be held accountable for.

If it happens that the White Sox are the winners of the first World Series in Chicago in nearly a century, just be sure you place the blame squarely where it belongs. Don't blame the Sox, who hired a *GREAT* general manager who continually makes solid moves to bring in quality players every year. Don't blame the Sox, who have a minor league system that is actually producing a few players for their major league squad, INCLUDING position players. Blame our Cubs. The team that really doesn't care about winning anyway. The team that would rather put it's energy into creative ways of expanding Wrigley Field and opening up more "ticket agencies" so they can rape the Chicago public out of more cash than actually put a winning product on the field. Blame the Cubs. And then try to be happy for your city, who finally has a winner after nearly 100 years. Afterwards, be sure to DEMAND better from our organization by refusing to buy tickets & merchandise until a winner is placed on the field. I don't think I agree with a single word of this post.

When was the last time Mays put up a sub 5.00 ERA? 2001 A WHIP under 1.44? 2001 A K/9 over 5? 2000 A K/BB over 2? Never Mays had a good 2001, and has been TERRIBLE since.

No, our first rounder is protected. what rule makes it protected? :? that puts a fuzzy feeling in my heart though. :D The top 15 picks are protected from being lost to FA compensation. Thanks. So if we acquire a type A FA, then the team we deal with only gets the sandwich pick? :) I'm not sure if it's just the sandwich pick or the sandwich pick + our 2nd rounder. Someone else knows for sure.

To be fair, Sutcliffe said he was pulling for Graffanino so that he could redeem himself for his Game 2 error. But the Northeast bias is ridiculous. I think Berman called the Red Sox THIS YEAR one of the greatest stories in all of sports at any time.

No, our first rounder is protected. what rule makes it protected? :? that puts a fuzzy feeling in my heart though. :D The top 15 picks are protected from being lost to FA compensation.

That was a good game to watch. Disappointing that Manny and Ortiz didn't get another shot. Great performance by Hernandez, he's the reason they won the game.

No, our first rounder is protected.