The Dodgers just fired their hitting coach, Eddie Murray.

Given what happened the last time a team fired Eddie Murray as their hitting coach...it's highly likely that the Dodgers batters will now start mashing like crazy.

There's no reason the Sox can't take advantage of the Eddie Murray effect by following these steps ASAP:

1. Fire Greg Walker
   
2. Hire Eddie Murray
   
3. Fire Eddie Murray the following day
   
4. Hire anyone other than Walker
   
5. Mash like crazy towards 95 wins and the Central crown

It's a foolproof plan.

I'm commish for a couple leagues amongst friends...they're all non-keeper.  I went with Commish Veto this year, because in seemed like with League Votes, no one ever bothered to vote.  I've already vetoed a trade this year, and one has just been accepted that I really feel like vetoing as well.  

But I'm starting to question if I'm making the right decisions here...am I going overboard in trying to keep trades fair?  Was my own trade fair?  Should I just leave people to their own stupidity unless it's a really unbalanced trade?  But then what constitutes really unbalanced?

Trades that have occurred in this league:

1. Dan Wheeler for Scott Shields (4/25)
2. VETOED- Ramon Hernandez & Ted Lilly for Bengie Molina, Adam Dunn, & Jim Thome (5/10)
3. Juan Pierre, John Lackey, Greg Maddux for Ty Wigginton, Andruw Jones, & Jim Thome (5/15)
4. MY TRADE- Carl Crawford & Nick Swisher for JJ Hardy, Brian Roberts, & Kevin Youkilis (5/24)

Currently Pending) David Wright for Kelly Johnson (6/1)

I can't make the rescheduled game, but if someone here can, you can have the tix for free.

Section 520, Row 13 good for Game 1 of the doubleheader tomorrow (1:05 PM)

300 character minimum -- 300 character minimum -- 300 character minimum -- 300 character minimum -- 300 character minimum -- 300 character minimum

Josh Hamilton was added to the yahoo db today.  I've got second waiver priority in a keeper league (12 teams, 8x8, 6 keepers per year)...think it's worth using on Hamilton or should I keep it and wait for something better down the road?

I'd be dropping Melvin Mora...not exactly a big loss, though it would hurt my infield depth a bit.

I need to choose two starting pitchers from this group:
Roto, 9x9, these are the pitching categories:
W, SV, TBF, K, GIDP, HLD, ERA, WHIP, K/BB

Brett Myers
Danny Haren
Aaron Harang
Jonathon Papelbon

I also have Liriano, and as much as I'd love to keep him for 2008 and beyond, I don't think I can justify using one out of only 6 keeper slots on a guy who won't do anything at all this year AND will have to take up a roster space all year.

I have 2 upper deck tickets for next Friday's game against the Twins that I need to sell (at face value).  I can meet in the loop or around lakeview.

White Sox vs Twins
Friday 8/25
7:35 PM

Section 514
Row 4
Seats 6-7

$22/ticket, $44 total

I think it's a fireworks night...

---300 character minimum, blah, blah, blah----

14 team roto keeper league, 8x8

I've been in first place the vast majority of the year, but have recently been overtaken even though my total points have remained steady.  I've concluded that I have too much good pitching (projected to go over the Max innings by 45 IP right now, and thats with Myers on leave and Prior doing what he does best) and I'm losing ground in offense (specifically AVG & OBP...the only other categories I stand to improve are CS, W, and HLD.)

Current standings:

R    HR    RBI    SB    CS  AVG  OBP  SLG   W  SV    K  GIDP  HLD  ERA  WHIP  K/BB
12    13    14    10.5    6    7.5    8.5    13    7    14    14    11    4    14    14    14

I want to package one offensive player and one pitcher for a monster such as Ortiz or Hafner, and then pick up yet another middle reliever to help me with holds.

My roster:

C     R. Martin (LAD - C)
1B     A. Pujols (StL - 1B)
2B     D. Uggla (Fla - 2B)
3B     B. Hall (Mil - 2B,3B,SS)
SS     Jh. Peralta (Cle - SS)
IF     C. Figgins (LAA - 2B,3B,LF,CF,RF)
LF     J. Bay (Pit - LF,CF)
CF     R. Baldelli (TB - CF)
RF     M. Ordóñez (Det - RF)
OF     J. Willingham (Fla - C,LF)
Util     C. Granderson (Det - LF,CF)
BN     C. Delgado (NYM - 1B)
BN     C. Tracy (Ari - 1B,3B,RF)
DL     Á. Ríos (Tor - RF)
DL     M. Bradley (Oak - CF,RF)

SP     A. Harang (Cin - SP)
SP     F. Liriano (Min - SP,RP)
SP     E. Bedard (Bal - SP)
SP     D. Haren (Oak - SP)
RP     B. Ryan (Tor - RP)
RP     J. Putz (Sea - RP)
RP     J. Papelbon (Bos - SP,RP)
RP     B. Shouse (Mil - RP)
P     F. Carmona (Cle - SP,RP)
BN     R. Clemens (Hou - SP)
BN     M. Prior (ChC - SP)
BN     B. Myers (Phi - SP)

So what combo of offensive player & pitcher can I put together to convince another team to send me their single best player?  Delgado & Clemens?  Ordonez & Bedard?  Tracy & Haren?

Liriano, Pujols, Papelbon are untouchable.  Thanks in advance.

...and sends him to sensitivity training.

This seems like the proper response.  I'd prefer the White Sox organization to have done it themselves, but this certainly works.  The press release at mlb.com gives no real details as to the size of the fine or exactly how much sensitivity training Ozzie's gonna need...

I'm sure most of us have the Sox talking bottle opener with Hawk calling a Valentin HR...

Well I was at Bed Bath & Beyond today picking up gifts for a friend's wedding, and saw they had a World Series version...it's got Rooney's call of the final out, and, well...that's a pretty damn cool thing to hear when you're opening a beer.  Just thought I'd share.

I'm hearing secondhand that Bruce Levine reported this on ESPN 1000 a little bit ago...

He came off the DL recently, should be a more solid arm in the pen, and will probably contribute more than Lopez would have this year.  Maybe the real reason Tracey was sent down yesterday?

I suppose he takes over what we thought was Politte's role going into the season?

[editor's note, by thewizardsofoz] as hiphopnerd pointed, it's now official:

The Chicago White Sox have acquired veteran right-handed pitcher David Riske from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for left-handed pitcher Javier Lopez and optioned right-handed pitcher Sean Tracey to Class AAA Charlotte.

Thanks to discussion over here, I started a bizarro midseason league...bizarro meaning you get positive points for players doing negative things, and vice versa.

Everything is still open for discussion...the current settings are:

AB (1)
R (-1)
H (-2)
HR (-2)
RBI (-1)
CS (1)
K (1)
GIDP (2)
E (2)

L (3)
SV (-4)
R (1)
HR (2)
BB (1)
HBP (1)
WP (1)
BLK (3)
SB (.5)
SVOP (2)

Draft type has not been determined yet, as I wanted to get people into the league first.

http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1
League ID#: 371955
Password: badplayers

FYI...currently the most valuable players in this league are:

Adrian Beltre
Angel Berroa
Richie Sexson
Marcus Giles
Preston Wilson

Rodrigo Lopez
Josh Towers
Jeff Weaver
Tim Wakefield
Brad Radke

"How's that feel...to kill a rally?" on Yahoo...via Sporting News

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen calls the play Tadahito Iguchi made on Bengie Molina "one of the best plays I've ever seen by any infielder." A longtime scout says it's the best play he has ever seen by a second baseman. If you haven't seen it, turn on the TV whenever defensive highlights for 2006 are shown. It'll be replayed for sure.

The situation: White Sox lead the Blue Jays, 4-2. Ninth inning, one out. There's a runner on first base and Molina, the Blue Jays' catcher, is at the plate. He hits a high chopper that bounces over closer Bobby Jenks. After another bounce, Iguchi reaches the ball in a headlong fall. Instead of being satisfied with keeping the ball in the infield, he pushes off the ground with his glove and throws out the slow-footed Molina.

Perhaps the only person not overly impressed with the play was the guy who made it. Iguchi explains why:

I could use a little SP help in one of my H2H leagues (actually, it's a recurring theme...i didn't draft SP well this year).

My likely trade partner is looking for offense and has Felix Hernandez, Jamey Wright, Washburn, Verlander, Robertson, Lidle, and Patterson.  And even though he's on the DL right now, I'm keying in on Patterson.

Thinking of giving up either Alex Rios (first week FA pickup) or Matt Holliday (10th round selection) for Patterson, and then dropping Matt Cain (obviously not a keeper league) in favor of Geoff Jenkins to replace my lost OF production.

I'm not sure why this other manager hasn't picked Jenkins up himself, but hey, I won't question it.

Any thoughts on which player you'd rather give up, Rios or Holliday?  The transactions altogether?

I give up: Delgado & Bedard
I get: Sweeney & Colon

I'm not that big a fan of Colon, but my pitching staff is quite poor at the moment, and i think my offense can absorb the step down from Delgado to Sweeney.  But let's hear some opinions!

14 team 8x8 roto keeper league, so I'm just going to post a screencap of my roster:

Continue reading this post »

In a keeper league that drafted in January...took everyone's favorite perennially injured Cubs pitcher rather high.  Also took Roger Clemens fairly high as well because I fully believe he'll be pitching.  At any rate, that leaves me down a few top-tier starters for the first few months.

Briefly explored the idea of trading Prior, but the proposals didn't inspire much confidence- Mike Mussina straight up, Matt Morris straight up.  I declined those and picked up Rodrigo Lopez from the waivers this week after Prior was officially placed on the DL.

So I was just wondering what people thought Prior's value was...who would they be willing to trade in order to get him right now?

Has anybody bought the A&E 2005 World Series DVD box set yet?  Any thoughts or full-fledged reviews?  How's the picture & sound quality?

I'm sure I'll end up getting it, although it's disappointing that Games 1-2 of the ALDS and 1-4 of the ALCS aren't included.  

Side note: I'd be infinitely less upset about this if my Windows Media Center DVR hadn't tricked me into recording HD feeds of Comcast's replays in December- I ended up with good versions of half the games, and then black screens for ALDS Game 1 and ALCS 1 & 2 since I don't subscribe to HD.  Not cool.  But if anyone has those 3 games I'm missing in any sort of video format on their computer, please let me know...

From Amazon's specs, it also looks like they didn't include an audio track of the radio team...man, I was really hoping they'd do that, especially since Red Sox DVD had it.  Oh well...Buck, McCarver, & Scooter it is!

via Verducci on Yahoo (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=cnnsi-whosno1&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns)

* The White Sox nearly wound up with Carlos Delgado instead of Jim Thome. When Cashman inquired about Chicago center fielder Aaron Rowand soon after the World Series, White Sox GM Kenny Williams told him he didn't think the Yankees were a good fit for a trade -- unless they obtained Delgado from Florida. Cashman worked out the parameters of a deal with the Marlins, but the three-way deal fell through when the White Sox then insisted the Yankees pick up a large chunk of Delgado's contract.

Since I haven't seen Cheat or anyone else post about this, I thought I would.

Baseball Prospectus & Diamond Mind are doing a simulation of what a series (as suggested by Bobby Valentine) between the World Series Champions and Japanese Nippon Series Champions would look like.

Here are the links...right now, the Sox are up 2-1, thanks to a few late inning comebacks.

Intro/Setup:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4687

Game 1:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4690

Game 2:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4691

Game 3:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4695