Now with Johnny Damon signing with the Tigers the roster is pretty much set for the 2010 team. I love the rotation and the bullpen should be pretty good. The two areas of concern are the defense and lack of power. The pitching will keep the team in contention until Kenny can add the big bat this team needs. He should have the payroll flexibility and prospects to get something done and has shown numerous times that he's not afraid to pull the trigger when something needs to be done. This is what I think the team will look like when they break camp:

Starters: Buehrle, Peavy, Danks, Floyd, Garcia

Bullpen: Jenks,Thornton, Putz, Pena, Linebrink, Williams, Santos

Position players: AJ, Castro, Konerko, Kotsay, Beckham, Ramirez, Teahen, Vizquel, Nix, Pierre, Rios, Quentin, Jones

If the scouts are paying attention, and I think they most certainly are, Bobby Wilson LAA will be a last minute add when he doesn't make their team. That is if someone doesn't snag him first. He is an excellent catcher who can flat out hit and has at every level. He is out of options and there just isn't any room for him there, but he is major league talent that is major league ready.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

IMO the pen is a concern. Thornton is the man, but can Jenks keep playing at a high level? And Putz, Pena, and Linebrink scare me.

But overall, if the starting pitching stays healthy this team should be in contention all year

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Great to hear the Andruw Jones showed up in Glendale early and in shape. I had not really been expecting the Sox to get much out of the guy based upon how much he has sucked the past few seasons. However, he is only 32 years old. If he is in shape, there is no reason he cannot return to being a productive player.

Sure Linebrinks on the team

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Yes. There is only one GM in this town that is ok with paying a player $5million to pitch elsewhere.

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Franklin, why must it always come back to Cub ineptness? Isn't it about time for you to rub one out to the 2005 Sox DVD?

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

The bullpen as a whole is going to be better because the rotation is better. Peavy and Garcia is a MASSIVE upgrade over Contreras and Colon. If the staff does their job and goes 6-7 innings in the majority of their starts it will greatly reduce the rolls of Linestink and Pena and that alone will make the bullpen better.

Two obvious needs:

A lefthander in the bullpen. Williams will return to his bad form this year.

A lefthanded power bat. They will be chasing Ozzie's/KW off season mistake until the trading deadline.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Here's a list of available LOOGY's. Any of these guys float your boat, GD?

Left-handed relievers:
Joe Beimel (32)
Alan Embree (40)
Ron Mahay (39)
Glendon Rusch (35)
Jamie Walker (38)

Wow, that is a huge pile of bad right there.

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Ron Mahay can get it done if you keep his stints very short. His problem is that he gets on teams like the Royals and they give him 60 innings.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Didn't think this was worth a separate thread, and it's from MLBTR so it's probably worthless, but would have been interesting to see what Kenny was going to offer.

From MLBTR:

Chuck Garfien of CSNChicago.com spoke to White Sox GM Ken Williams, who said that he nearly pulled off a deal that would have possibly given the club the best rotation in the history of the game. Williams wouldn't name names, but Garfien believes that he was referring to Roy Halladay

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Team Cutler.

Mahay would be fine. Last year was not very good, but he was above average in 2007 for the Royals. He did fine for the Twins after they picked him up late. Walker has been horrendous the last two years. same for Rusch. Beimel is adequate.

This why I think Kenny is going to add a bat during the season. He has payroll flexibilty as evidenced by the $6M offer to Damon and isn't afraid to move his suspects (Rosenthal is reporting they discussed Hudson and Flowers for Doc) . There could be some interesting names available during the season. Adam Dunn, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Carlos Lee, Derek Lee....

He's lusted after Carl Crawford for sometime. I'd rather then have a bonafide power thread like Lee, Lee, or Dunn.

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