Dick Allen

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 22, 2015 -> 12:13 PM) You seem to be a reigning authority on these "reasons" or "excuses" you think explain why Sox fans don't show up in droves to the ballpark. You also take the liberty in painting in broad strokes to suggest that the majority of the fan base employs these excuses. How then, pray tell, do you know this to be true. How do you reach your conclusion that the reason for low attendance is a result of an excuse-making fan base? What body of evidence can you point to back up your claim? I say the reason for low attendance is the cumulative effect of a franchise that simply hasn't won enough to generate and sustain enough interest to encourage people to buy more tickets. I can point to 30 of 35 years of non-winning by this current ownership group to support my theory. What about you? Where is your definitive evidence that our fan base is a bunch of excuse makers? Hours and hours of listening to sports radio? Where is it! Explain why fans did not come out in 2012 if winning solves everything and they were in first place almost all summer long? I love this 30-35 years of not winning anything crap. Apparently you forgot the White Sox won the WS in 2005. The first and last WS title by an AL Central team since 1991.

QUOTE (shysocks @ May 22, 2015 -> 11:54 AM) The people here aren't the problem, all of us either live out of town or likely go to games far more frequently than the average fan. Casual fans are who don't attend Sox games, and there is a variety of reasons they've decided not to that are up to them, but the most important one is the team's performance. If the Sox won more, those people would show up more, and I don't really know how that can be disputed. People want to see and associate with a winner, as I illustrated by citing Blackhawks attendance in the other thread but people seemed to either not understand or retort in a smartass manner "SO THE SOX NEED TO BE A DYNASTY FOR PEOPLE TO GO TO GAMES, GOT IT." The people here are the problem though. Read a gamethread, they are beyond ridiculous, and the people here are making excuses for others not showing up. Again, no one has an obligation to attend games, but if your in first place all summer long and can't draw, and going back to 2005, when the White Sox were never not in first place, draw about 50,000 total during a 3 game series in September, a little over a month before you win a WS, there is a problem. On other boards they blame crap like size of video screens, parking lot attendants not smiling, and say Brooks Boyer is bad at his job. I think he's great at his job. He listens, comes up with the ideas the fans supposedly want. Green seats, cheaper tickets, lower deck access, etc. IMO no team tries harder than the White Sox to sell tickets. I will ultimately have tickets to about 40 games this year with a ton of perks, at a price the Schaumburg Boomers couldn't match.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 22, 2015 -> 11:23 AM) I was never criticizing Adam LaRoche. I was blaming Robin and/or Rick for starting the guy against LHP and/or not having better RH options available when you know how much he struggles against LHP. Somehow you spun that into blaming the entire putrid offense on Adam LaRoche but whatever. Read the rest of the thread. It was pile on Adam LaRoche hour.

The obvious question would be if the team had to go on these multi year playoff runs to bring in fans, how the hell did anyone here ever become a White Sox fan?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 22, 2015 -> 08:50 AM) It was a general comment/discussion about the LaRoche signing. Nobody ever said it had anything to do with the past 3 games against RHP. Adam LaRoche is not a significant offensive "problem". I realize some have honed in on him, so now he will become a punching bag, and those who wanted to jack Rick Hahn off for his offseason are now saying they knew all along some of these signings were just bad, but a thread on the Sox putrid offense focusing on Adam LaRoche, is pretty lame.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ May 22, 2015 -> 08:27 AM) You keep dismissing this like it's some unobtainable feat. Yet every other team in the division has done it at least once. The Royals last good run was in the late 70's to the early 80's but it did happen. The Indians in the 90's, the Twins in the 2000's and the Tigers just recently. I don't think anyone expects them to be the Yankees, Braves or Cardinals who seemed to be there every single year. Just get there two years in a row or even 2 out of 4 years. These once in a decade appearances just aren't working. 2 out of 4 years? Check. 2005 and 2008. Attendance went down in 2008 from 2007. They were in first place most of 2012, yet attendance was down from 2011 which was down from 2010. I don't agree with ss2k5 all that often, but he couldn't be more right. No one is obligated to go to games, but quit complaining about not making the playoffs 3 or 4 years in a row when you don't show up and support successful teams.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 22, 2015 -> 08:14 AM) Because he shouldn't be starting against LH pitching. Nobody ever blamed that for this 3 game losing streak though. The offense was putrid against RHP, so I don't understand how this morphed into LaRoche can't hit lefties. There was some bad luck, as several balls were hit pretty hard, but its hard to win if you score 1 or 2 runs.

Supposedly Coop loved Aiken last year, but that could have been a lot of misdirection. Picking 8th without a pick for a while after that, you would really have to be sure either of these guys will be fine in the long run. Of course the guy you draft might have the same thing happen a week after he signs. If the Sox were drafting lower, I think taking one of these guys would be a no brainer, but right now there seems to be a good shot at a quality healthy player. I hope they get Fulmer myself.

Why are people complaining about LaRoche vs. LH pitching when the 3 games in a row lost and lack of offense was against RH pitching?

It has been a long time but Crede and Rowand were pretty good. Crede realy had just blossomed. He was hitting over .300 with 30 homer gold glove defense when his back gave out in September of 2006. As far as rushed, I don't know if guys are really all that rushed. If the Sox send guys down like Josh Fields in 2008, Saladino and Sanchez this spring, many here complain. But something is wrong. But hitters leaving the organization going on to others and being really successful also is very rare, so it seems to be talent evaluation. IMO, they draft guys who have a difficult time making contact and can't seem to improve that. We will see what happens with guys like Sanchez and Micah.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 21, 2015 -> 09:30 PM) Nor am I impressed with your backwards reasoning on all of this. You are the one talking about "lists" and these alleged excuses fans make for not going to the ballpark, not me, as if you've actually surveyed the entire Sox fan base to come up with these conclusions. Meanwhile, I continue to make the very logical point that if you give our fans a compelling reason to come out, they will. Case in point, this Saturday. A good reason to come out, and the fans are eagerly responding. They will respond the same to a team that wins on a more consistent basis than the garbage that has been served up recently by the Sox and for 30 of the 35 years under the current ownership. I mean, what freaking fan base doesn't react well to winning! Do you think our fans don't care about winning? Of course they do, just like every other fan base on this planet. That's common sense, but unfortunately it's a little hard at the moment to prove to your doubting mind because we are in a 35 year franchise slump under Mr. Reinsdorf's leadership, where during that timeframe there's only really been one year of real winning worth talking about. 2012 there was a very compelling reason to come out, but fewer came out than in 2011. Funny people want to pack the park to see him now but didn't really care when he was hitting almost.400.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 21, 2015 -> 02:47 PM) He drove down their value's first by taking away potential revenue streams with his signs. Yes, but Crane Kennedy said they lost over $60 million by not having the boards up, and who knows what they are paying lawyers.

Ricketts bought 3 more rooftops. They now own 6 and operate one they do not own. I have always wondered why they didn't do this earlier. You can argue price, but the money they spent on litigation and the supposedly lost revenue of the video board delay probably more than offsets it.

I blame Robin. He doesn't get into Abreu's face after a bad AB. Show some fire. Show some passion.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 21, 2015 -> 10:33 AM) You would think the ability to have exclusive access to him would be worth more, instead of having to compete with everyone else in a bidding war. If you could trade him like a player, this would be true, but it's not like they could trade him anywhere and that is where he must coach. It really isn't a trade. It's compensation.

QUOTE (shipps @ May 21, 2015 -> 10:15 AM) Wow what a market out there for him. No leverage hurts. Everyone knows he's gone. I wonder if Thibs will mess with them and take a year off while the Bulls are paying him.

According to KC Johnson, about the best the Bulls could do in a trade for Thibs is a 2nd round pick.

QUOTE (WBWSF @ May 20, 2015 -> 02:57 PM) The White Sox should be ashamed of themselves for selling SRO tickets for $75. I'm in a season ticket package so it doesn't affect me. But still to charge that much for SRO tickets is shameful. I think it's another PR mistake for the White Sox. Yeah, they should sell them for $20 to brokers who will sell them for $75.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 20, 2015 -> 02:22 PM) It's also not like Phil has any connection to Derek Fisher or anything like that, that was a random and completely unexpected hire. It's not like Fisher was his first choice, and it's not like Fisher is guaranteed a job for life. Speaking of Phil, how come he was never criticized for running his players into the ground?

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 20, 2015 -> 02:14 PM) Why would the Knicks want Tom Thibodeau? Thibs sucks. Sure he coached more than half the games without Rose, but his winning percentage is only like 5th or 6th best all time. Why any team would covet this guy is beyond me.

QUOTE (Lillian @ May 20, 2015 -> 12:39 PM) Ok. For all of you Smart Alecks, I would be satisfied if Adam La Roche could hit .260, with an OBP of close to .375. If he hits 20 homers and 25 doubles, and doesn't strike out 35% of the time, which is what he is doing now, I'll stop complaining. Oh, and Robin has to find a way to be sure that he doesn't start against any lefties. Does anyone disagree that the Sox would have been better off with K. Morales, Adam Lind or Andre Ethier? As of now, those choices look a little better, but it's a long season. Robin was slammed in game threads for putting Morales on base. Ethier was going to be given away. Lind basically was given away and has back issues. When the season is over, I think when you look back objectively, LaRoche won't be such a bad decision.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 20, 2015 -> 09:41 AM) Unfortunately it's supposed to be 47/48 degrees all game. It was cold yesterday. It is colder today. I wouldn't be surprised if your forecast is a little optimistic.

QUOTE (Lillian @ May 20, 2015 -> 09:47 AM) The data does not support your assertion that he is a "notoriously slow starter". Last year, he hit .312 .413 .495 in his first 109 plate appearances and followed it up with an even better May. 2013 is the only year, in recent years, where he started very poorly. He's now 35 and I don't expect him to get much better. I really fear that we will be stuck with years 5 and 6 of the "Adam Bust" era. I hope I'm wrong, but this is just too eerily similar to Dunn's performance with the Sox. This would not be such a big problem, if he were not the only left handed power bat, and were not counted on to bat clean up. To me, this is indeed the most serious problem with this offense. I'm much more confident that Eaton, Melky, Abreu and Garcia will produce, than I am that Adam La Roche will have a respectable year. I'm not even worried about Gillaspie. I've always liked his approach. He puts the bat on the ball, and barrels up a lot of pitches. .279/.466/.861 in May. Huge, huge problem. He is killing the offense. Considering how much you pined for Grady Sizemore, and couldn't have been more wrong, why don't you give this a little time? I think you are wrong yet again.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ May 20, 2015 -> 09:02 AM) I'd never play him at SS. If you play him at 3B, he's just as bad if you take last season into account. Maybe he's better at 2B, but that can't be confirmed.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ May 20, 2015 -> 08:54 AM) Can we just get Semien back? He's hitting well, but everyone complaining about defense would have a hard time with him and his 15 errors at SS.