Dick Allen

I received a season ticketholder extension package today. My invoice is for the same price as last season, however, the chart shows a significant increase, probably for new accounts. I think it means they plan on spending money and being good.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Oct 25, 2014 -> 09:49 AM) If Maddon is the new manager, we can also bring back Adam Dunn and bat him lead off. If Maddon was the manager, you could have Matt Davidson leading off and it is World Serie time.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Oct 25, 2014 -> 09:37 AM) Ah yes. The typical DA cherry picking. We're going to ignore the years which he had Crawford, Upton, Fuld, Jennings, Longoria (the latter pre injuries) Zobrist, Damon etc. When they were swiping bases left and right? He had the personal and the health of his players over the years and was well regarded as an aggressive manager. I was exaggerating the number for Micah obviously but I could still see him in the Podsednik range if he actually hits/gets on base. You are saying a rookie will steal 100+ bases in one season if a certain guy is managing, and I am the one cherry picking? You think Maddon is the onky manager whi swipes bases with a fast team? What about Ned Yost? The White Sox run the guys who can run. What is so unique about Joe Maddon that would make a rookie steal 100 bases in a season for him and not anyone else? Carl Crawford ran just as much under Lou Piniella. As I stated personnel matters.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 11:29 PM) Is it time to start asking the question yet? Worst World Series champion, 2006 Cardinals or 2014 Royals? The 1987 Twins weren't exactly a juggernaut. Team ERA 4.63. They also had few postseason games to win. To me, they are the all time worst.

A year from know, we will probably forget Moises Sierra exists.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 10:15 PM) If Mc Ewing gets the Rays job, bring one of those guys here to be bench coach. Why? What makes them better than Parent?

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 11:42 PM) Would be nice to have a team who is aggressive on the base paths. Hell Micah would probably steal 100+ under Maddon if he's the starter. With that said I think he'll be a Cub if anything. Supposedly there's rumors about him saying he can help bring them a title by 2017. (although I doubt it's true) I don't know how you come up with these assumptions. Personnel matters. Maddon attempted 90 steals total in 2014, now if he was managing, Johnson would have over 100 steals himself? In a way, I kind of feel sorry for Maddon. He will never be able to live up to his hype unless he goes to a team already able to dominate.

One thing I didn't know was Maddon lives in LA. Of course you could live in LA but still not want to commute to Dodgers Stadium.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 05:40 PM) Because Maddon has had multiple playoff teams and a world series appearance, with an organization light on spending. That is why. Williams hired 2 house horses as manager. Doesn't seem like anything Williams would do. And Williams has a ring and a trophy. Maddon has neither. Players matter. If Maddon goes to a team with a bad roster his genius will be erased. It has happened so many times, yet continues to be ignored.

Dodgers say they have a manager. Mets say they have a manager. Crickets from Wrigley. I am pretty sure David Kaplan would make porn with Maddon.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 02:44 PM) Scot Gregor ‏@scotgregor 1h1 hour ago Ozzie Guillen still wants to manage, and Tampa Bay is as good of a fit as any. He played for Rays in 2000 before retiring You would have to think Dave Martinez gets that job. If not, he might as well stop interviewing.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 01:37 PM) Ehh. I hate these arguments. Just because it's the way it has always been doesn't mean that it's destined to remain that way. Would be a tremendous hire. Jeff Torborg won 94 games in 1990 with a team with the lowest payroll in baseball. After the next season, the GM himted he should take another job. The reason TB won 90+ games several years in a row wasn' because Maddon was making out the line up card. If the Cubs have the players to be good, they will win whether it is Renteria or Maddon calling the shots. Managers don't make 20 game differences in the record. If they did, Tampa Bay would have given him whatever he wanted.

Why is it when Maddon lost 101 and 96 games his first 2 years, that is considered solid, but when Robin had a couple of years like that, he is a dope?

Maybe he winds up in Atlanta.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 12:57 PM) Why? Still have the young pitching staff intact for a few more seasons. Never got the feel that Maddon was going to be here for more than a couple of seasons and that was before departure a couple of weeks ago. Just glad Martinez hasn't been scooped up yet as a manager. People overrate managers anyways. The very best managers might only win your team a handful of games at most versus the worst managers. Just look at who has led their teams to the World Series past few years. Ned Yost this year and Farrell last year. They can be decent, but playoff material seems to be a longshot. Meyers should be a lot better, but guys like Zobrist are trendiing down, and that division is tough. They really haven't drafted anyone decent since David Price. One thing Freidman did there better than anyone, was pick guys off the scrap heap. He almost always picked up comtributors for peanuts. Now that he is gone, if the next guy is just average at that, the Rays are going to be drafting high.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 12:49 PM) Royals win the World Series and the Cubs hire Joe Maddon? I think I'm done with you baseball. I was petrified when the Cubs hired Larry Himes. Then was petrified when the brought in Andy McFail, Dusty Baker, and Lou Piniella. Always remember, it is the Cubs. If Maddon does end up there, chances are when it is all said and done, he will be known for his work in Tampa, not Chicago.

There has to be something up. Why would he opt out and not just play it out? IMO, he knows where he is going. If the Dodgers say not to them, it has to be the Cubs or Tigers IMO, and You have to think in 2 or 3 years, if not sooner, Detroit is going to be a trainwreck. The Cubs are a little ahead of where the Rays were when he took over, so that seems almost too perfect.

Freidman hasn't drafted a decent player in 7 years. With their finances, the writing was on the wall for the Rays.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 02:46 PM) I think this all started at Michigan back in the late 80s. I believe they had an easy major for basketball and football players, other coaches noticed, got jealous and the ones on solid ground at their own schools pushed for the same. Schools finally started beefing up "academic support" departments. Those schools with "huge" academic support departments are probably the ones who the NCAA should red flag the most. Big time football and basketball ... cmon, many of the stars either don't want to do any coursework or frankly aren't able to pass coursework. The fact colleges allow "one and done" students at all shows what a sham the notion of "student-athlete" can be in the major sports. You are not going to make any real progress toward a degree in one year and you are majoring in being eligible for one season. Listen to some of these dopes who have been in college for 4 or 5 years try to put a sentence together. That is blatant proof they have been getting by with some BS classes or someone else doing the work. It is amazing how rare it is for a star player who really needed strings pulled to get out of high school has no problem staying eligible in college, and more specifically a real good academic college. I have always felt letting these guys actually graduate without really earning it cheapens the degree for all graduates. And as long as there have been boosters, your better players haven't had to worry about spending money during their eligibility.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 10:54 AM) I also heard he was the patient 0 for Ebola. You are confusing him with Robin.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 09:25 AM) I'm not fighing the fight, all I've ever said is that the intention was good and I'd have no problem with Hahn making a similar sort of move going forward. Please tell me, because I'm genuinely interested...what decisions do people make that have good intentions, good merits, and good logic that get people fired? About the only thing I can think of is whistleblowing, and if someone is fired for doing so they have the ability to sue their former employers. (Also, there was no "some THOUGHT Davidson was a top 100 prospect." Davidson WAS a top 100 prospect. Prospects flame out. It has not worked out the way the Sox wanted but that does not mean the Sox should avoid similar trades in the future.) People get fired or laid off every day because higher ups didn't meet their expectations. Public company CEO get replaced even if the company is making billions . Top 100 prospects lists are opinions or they all would be exactly the same. Reality is seeing how they perform and then ranking them.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 09:04 AM) Didn't know you could just buy a rooftop without buying the rest of the building. I meant the businesses which include the buildings. People don't actually live in most of those anymore. It is actually kind of funny, the Cubs being so bad, and the team erecting new signs and scoreboards are putting the rooftop owners in such a bind financially where the Cubs will get a better deal from them, than had they actually been fielding a good team and people were willing to pay the price of watching from 600 feet away. Crane Kenny said last year, the lack of tose signs cost the Cubs $60 million. I am pretty sure they could have all the rooftop buildings for less than that. Another thing I read was this renovation is only going to pay down the debt they took out buying the team.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 08:13 AM) I don't see this situations as even comparable to the Reed/Davidson trade. Say a doctor has a 62 year old patient who is having heart problems. He knows that a patient of that age can have trouble rebounding or perhaps dying on the table if he performs surgery, but that the quality of life will increase tenfold if surgery is performed. He tells the patient this, the patient agrees to the surgery, and then the patient dies on the operating table. It's a move done with good intentions that backfires. This is an exaggerated example to prove the point, and the doctor could still see a malpractice lawsuit, but do you understand how that is a move with good intentions and good merit that backfired on him? People get fired every day for making decisions that seem correct at the time that were not correct. In this instance, some THOUGHT Davidson was a top 100 prospect. The reality is, he wasn't. To say the White Sox are blameless is ludicrous. What they acquired did not match the description of what they acquired when the move appeared to make sense. That is on someone. Most people make decisions based on good intentions. Often they backfire. A reason for that is some of the logic they used eventually proves to be a bit off, like the Davidson rankings. I am a little shocked you still fight this when even fangraphs says this guy wasn't all that great before 2014. Hahn, KW, the scouts...whoever made the decision, picked the wrong guy. It will happen again, but if it happens too often, even if every move he makes seems logical, if they don't work, someone else will need to make the decisions.

As I wondered why they just didn't do this a while ago, the Cubs are in the process of buying several rooftops.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 10:18 AM) The problem with Morales being part of an "all in" campaign is...what happens if he continues being terrible next year? We spent $40 million on other guys and wound up with a .615 OPS from our DH spot and that costs us a playoff birth. Everyone can be terrible next year. No reason to ever spend money in an effort to improve. As Stacey says, if you are scared, buy a dog. Morales with Boras being his agent, probably would opt for a one year deal instead of going really cheap for 2 or 3.