Dick Allen

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 02:00 PM) So if they release him and another team signs him, what is the salary? The negotiated deal or some portion of the 4.4 million? The portion. Arb contracts don't become fully guaranteed until a week or two before the regular season begins.

I used to be an anti steroids guy myself and would have a hard time cheering for a known cheater. But I realized many of the people I did root for cheated in the same way but just didn't get caught. The sport has embraced cheating since the beginning. We don't call out a guy who traps a ball but makes it look like he caught it and getting the call (before replay) as a cheater. It's a smart play. Isn't pitch framing basically cheating?

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 09:35 AM) He's not talking about TOR he's talking about OAK including him with Samardjiza. Trade was happening at about same time. Yes, and it still may not have been possible. Beane may think the Toronto guys are awesome and the package I am proposing is awful. In any event, the team is much better now than it was the day the season ended.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 09:25 AM) He was traded to Toronto, wasn't he? Yes, but not for all that much. Lawrie is a nice player, but Donaldson currently is a star, if I were the GM, he is one guy I would give Anderson + for. Anderson, Gillaspie and whatever for an offensive and defensive huge upgrade. And he is controlled for a while.

Cervelli would have been a good target, and I wonder if What it would have taken to expand the Oakland trade to include Donaldson. This team would have really been stacked.

QUOTE (sammy esposito @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 08:48 AM) Don't forget that we will have Jennings and hopefully a fully healed Nate Jones who was gone most of last year. Maybe we'll have even more action to come. Jones will be a while. Another reliever, and work on the bench. Who knows, maybe Hahn will get Castro to catch. BTW, Leuri is hitting .338 in the Dominican League.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Dec 14, 2014 -> 02:44 AM) If the Sox got a new stadium, what kind of stadium would you want it to be? A stadium more geared towards hitters or pitchers? Or what stadium would you want it to be like? I think the goal is neutral. It doesn't always work out that way.

I would go, but until they make the video board bigger, I am afraid I am going to have to stay home.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 11:52 PM) He was a train wreck in 13. I don't have a problem with him getting caught, I have a problem with how getting caught has affected him as a player. Look, I gotta accept it and root for the guy starting now. The way it is, I'm along for the ride. #teammelky. He did have a tumor on his spine IIRC in 2013. He probably is still on the juice. I just hope since he got paid he doesn't get off it until he is playing for a contract again.

I predict Viciedo gets traded to the Marlins and beomes a 1B.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 10:29 AM) I know, I just hate the Cell compared to Comiskey. It's funny that the guy who designed The Cell went on to design Camden Yards. We know who got the better end of that. JR was offered the Camden design. He turned it down. He is a smart man but made a huge mistake there. If you want a tasted of Camden, sit in the Club Level. After the renovation, that level in both parks is nearly identical.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 10:20 AM) Even if it means, broadening the fanbase? Getting more people to go in the stadium. Hell, do a multi-purpose venue so you can also hold concerts there. So JR should build a concert venue that competes with his other building? Besides, he isn't getting out of that lease, and why would he want to? And if he found some way to break it, why would the entity he just screwed, help him with his new project? There is more to building a stadium than just the stadium. It isn't going to happen. There is a better chance Scherzer and Kershaw are added to the rotation, and Puig is in LF for the 2015 White Sox. Stadiums cost $1 billion or more these days. If they can't afford a $120 million payroll, how do you afford financing that?

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Dec 13, 2014 -> 10:15 AM) I definitely want to see a new stadium some time within the next decade. It won't be for the White Sox. Their lease runs another 15 seasons. It is a sweetheart lease. They make money just about every year. No reason to spend probably billions now.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 11:34 PM) The equivalent of Kotsay and A.Jones five years later. Andruw Jones was pretty productive for the White Sox. The 19 homers he hit is more than Melky Cabrera has ever hit in a season. His OPS in 2010 Cabrera has bested once, the year he got busted.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 01:19 PM) The fact that he didnt address the player directly until he was outed is absolutely a problem. Phil will talk s*** to your face and to the media. I know you hate Cutler and this is great for your narrative, but it isnt the same. Phil will do both. Don't be naive enough to think Phil has never been a source without being named. We all love these sources.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 12:33 PM) Mannelly thinks he was outed, someone saw him talking to Rapaport. Mannelly is acting like it is speculation on his part, but if anyone knows what is going on in that locker room that isnt still wearing a jersey, it is Mannelly That's pretty funny if you think about it. Who was the person who said the tears were fake to Mannelly, who now happens to be a media member? Wouldn't he need to be cut immediately? Someone outed Kromer. Players as "sauces" is fine. If it is a coach. How dare he. Somehow Cutler is going to come out of this a sympathetic figure, even though he was called out by a Super Bowl QB saying the same thing during the game, and 95% of Bears fans agree that Cutler's contract is beyond stupid. Look at all the anonymous (sp) quotes from players today. If it is such a bad thing, why is it OK for them to do it? It is a mess. If this helps getting everyone to go, then Kromer did us all a favor.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 12:19 PM) Upon hearing this news I thought (1) Why the f*** apologize for telling the truth? (2) Why out yourself when no one would have found out. (3) He's looking to get fired and out of Dodge as fast as possible. I do find fan outrage,and there is some, but not a lot, a little silly. Isn't this what they want, throwing players under the bus? How many times has someone said Lovie lacks the fire and put up with BS. Even Ventura, although non NFL. Maybe he shouldn't be off the record telling a reporter some of this, but if he does get canned, it is a guarantee one of the people who makes the decision to let him go has done the same thing. It's out there now. Hey Jay, your coach thinks you suck. Instead of making a stupid face, and getting the rest of the organization to stick up for your BS, why don't you show him he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Even after the WAR is accumulated, not even just estimated, it could mean anything. I read a thing where the Orioles won 16 games more than they should have in 2012 and the Red Sox lost 10 more games than they should have based on their WAR in 2012.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 08:20 AM) So Kromer called out Cutler for refusing to check out of bad run plays? So he thinks they should have been running the ball even less? Phil Simms said exactly the same thing during the broadcast. I think one of them Forte went for -6. During the replay he said "you have to check out of that."

John Smoltz on MLBN yesterday: "The White Sox have to get Chris Sale in the playoffs." As much as teams are trying to "copy" the Royals with their bullpen, he thinks Sale in the playoffs would be Bumgarner.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 08:48 AM) See, thats the thing, doesnt Comcast pretty much have the Chicago version of YES? How would the Cubs be able to entice any of the other sports to jump, you would think Comcast would be able to squash that pretty quick The whole thing is fascinating. I have read where the networks paying these teams all this money are taking a bath and by 2019, these multi-billion type deals won't be there, but who knows how people will be watching games then. Did anyone really think they could watch games on their phone 10 years ago? Did they know what a tablet even was? A la carte programming may even mean bigger deals. I have DirectTV. There are hundreds of channels I don't even look at. It wouldn't bother me if my fee went entirely to pay CSN rather than half to them and half to the Oprah Network, and I didn't have the Oprah Network.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 08:20 AM) I guess the question is which iteration of the YES Network are the Cubs actually shooting for? The original YES was a parternship between the Yankees and Nets and was a premium subscription channel like HBO or Playboy. Since then, YES has really morphed into a regular regional sports network. If the Cubs shoot for the original version of YES, it will be a disaster. If they are going for a more modern version of YES, it could work, but they still need to either get the rights to Hawks games (I'm assuming that the Bulls are a non-starter for obvious reasons) or get an affiliation with FOX Sports that gets them access to college basketball and other programming to fill the winter. Rocky and JR are joined at the hip. Ricketts would have to be one of the greatest salesman of all time to get him to walk away from JR.From how he has handled this rehab, it doesn't look like he is. Of course that is 4 years from now, but the Blackhawks are probably always going to be tied in with the Bulls for obvious reasons, and even if JR is out of the picture, there is a decent chance many of the people who own White Sox shares own a piece of the Bulls, so unless the White Sox are sold, the Bulls and White Sox will always be tied together.

QUOTE (bear_brian @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 08:34 AM) Melky Cabrera resolves the issue of RH, but it appears doubtful we have the cash to get him. Aoki and prying away Daniel Nava from Boston is another solution. Aoki does hit lefties well, Nava could spell LaRoche or Aoki, plus he is a switch hitter. They have the cash to get him. Being good with paying him what he wants for as long as he wants it is probably a huge issue.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 08:22 AM) He says it unartfully but I think he has a point. If we bring in a LH hitting OF whose platoon splits are normal, we're setting ourselves up to be extremely vulnerable to LH pitching all year. LaRoche is terrible against lefties, Gillaspie is terrible against them, our main backup OF right now is a lefty, we don't seemingly have a reliable righty on the bench other than Sanchez, if Sanchez is on the bench that means Johnson, a lefty, is starting at 2b, and Eaton's a little worse (but not terrible) against lefties. Maybe you can live with a few of those guys in a lineup against ordinary lefties, Eaton's fine, maybe Johnson will be ok, but if you run out a lineup with Gillaspie, LaRoche, and a LH hitting right fielder against an average lefty pitcher, this lineup will look like swiss cheese. They won't pitch to Abreu and that'll be about the only real worry they'd have. Good thing the Sox didn't trade for Heyward. He is Adam Dunn bad vs. lefties.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 11, 2014 -> 05:37 PM) Giants? Tigers? Yankees (with Tanaka and Sabathia already onboard, would be a bit of a shocker)? Orioles? Mariners (if they could trade Iwakuma)? Rangers? Padres (all-in crazy spending)? If you take them at their word, the Giants, Yankees and Tigers are out. No way Angelos signs off on a 7 or 8 year deal for a pitcher, especially at that price. I can't see Seattle adding that payroll. Theo said no more $100 million players. Rangers may make some sense. The Dodgers are always there, maybe the Nats but they have that greivance with Boras over Bryce Harper. Maybe the Angels. And a few of those may be a reach. If it drags out, teams fill out their rosters. Very few will have the $25-30 million available to add him. I think if he waits too lomg, Boras is mking an error, but for the most part, he has been a master at this. On MLB Network, Heyman, (who O'Dowd said should receive a 1099 from Boras) mentioned the Cardinals.