Dick Allen

So Danks still hasn't given up a hit, yet we have several posts saying he has nothing and one poster saying he can hit him.

Just one of these gets us the Cup. Does anybody know the parade route?

Mike Olt just doesn't look like a good player to me. He has trouble with contact and getting on base, and his work at 3B looks like what you see at a Pony League game. Considering how highly he was thought of at one time, it's hard to believe he can be that bad.

Robin did mention Keppinger's rehab assignment would be a long one. I really wonder if he will be back at all.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 7, 2014 -> 01:12 PM) I am trying to get out to this game. However, it does look gloomy downtown and tickets are expensive... The disadvantage of a very small season ticket base is the lack of cheap stubhub tickets for the marquee games. We had 1st row upper deck infield boxes at Wrigley for $21 with stubhub fees included. Might have even got them cheaper at the park with all the sellers. It isn't that way for tonight's game.

Bernstein gets what he wants. People read his "column". He gets to tell everyone they have to look at things more intelligently(like he does). And people talk about him. He's not as bad, but his style is very Marriotti-esque.

1 week ago, Rizzo had 3 homers 10 rbi and a .797 OPS. Abreu had 10 homers 32 rbi and a .960 OPS. That could be the reason there hasn't been this much deserved Rizzo-mania for which Bernstein is apparently campaigning all season long.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 7, 2014 -> 12:05 PM) I don't think Bernstein watches many games and uses his knowledge of SABRmetrics to make up for it. It makes for dumb opinions. I think this is very accurate.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ May 7, 2014 -> 11:39 AM) Doofus Bernstein just trying to stir the pot, which is his job. His complete ignorance of baseball has been obvious in previous articles. He actually mentioned White Sox and salary cap in an article last year when he was saying they would be doing things the new way in baseball. Having teams give up bad contracts, and giving the Sox prospects to take on the contracts.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ May 6, 2014 -> 07:57 PM) It's a long term, risky play. There's zero guarantee this turns into more revenue. When the rubber meets the road, this plan may or may not work, outside of the nice concepts of building the brand/expanding the footprint. Not sure how much excitement you will draw up in the DC area for the BT at this point. It would also be pretty embarrassing from a media angle if you have the 3rd and 4th days with lackluster crowds due to venue. Not going to build the brand there. And outside of PSU/Rutgers/Maryland? Yeah, fans are upset because it made it a lot harder/impossible to get to this tournament. 1.25K aren't showing up to every game, it's getting the other fanbases to have 5/6/7 as the weekend goes on. Not really possible in this scenario. If it was permanent, I might agree. Right now, it is just for one year. They will have no problem atrracting just as many fans. I'm sure a lot will be very interested in traveling to DC rather than Indianapolis. I'm sure there will be focus on empty seats during the preliminary rounds, but those seats are empty as it is. If it's half full on Saturday and Sunday, the experiment probably failed, but I don't think that is going to happen. I don't know how it's impossible to get to DC with an almost 3 year notice. Driving distance between Columbus OH and Washington DC-402 miles. Driving distance between Columbus OH and Chicago, IL 356 miles. Their fanbase shows up in Chicago. I think they will be able to handle the extra 46 miles.

Downs in.

Gordon Beckham is so bad. Just an awful job of managing by Ventura. He really is horrible. Figured I would get a jump on it.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 5, 2014 -> 07:04 PM) ugh, I knew this was going to happen. Nobody is going to talk me down from the ledge on this. We are going to keep getting "good reports" but a delayed time table and then suddenly we'll see "Sale out for season, getting surgery" I agree. This is far from the "he could have just skipped a start and then pitched, the DL was just extraordinary precausion" it started out as.

QUOTE (Dunt @ May 6, 2014 -> 09:38 AM) Not a chance there was 25K there last night. Place was empty. 25k is only a little more than 60% filled. I think in the middle innings it was close to that. It did look like a typical Sox game in the stands the first couple of innings and after the 7th.

I went to Wrigley last night. They said 33k but closer to 25k IMO if that, where actually there. It was so cold. One thing about USCF, those boards in the OF block some wind. Nothing to block the wind at Wrigley. My hands were frozen. I didn't anticipate needing gloves in May. One thing they don't do at Wrigley that they do at USCF now is the pat down and wand check of your being. I wonder why the Cubs don't have to do it.

QUOTE (Baron @ May 5, 2014 -> 03:14 PM) Dunn will be fine for a couple games in the OF. Its not like its the first time he's been out there. There was a reason he was moved to 1B. Unfortunately, the ball is going to find at least one of these OFs tonight. Hopefully, they are up to the task.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ May 5, 2014 -> 02:19 PM) Probably not with no DH. There will be a DH Wednesday.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 5, 2014 -> 01:58 PM) I really disagree with this. It's just how the White Sox have operated with Alexei, they play him non-stop. If Semien goes down to AAA and keeps playing 2b and 3b, when those positions already have Sanchez and Davidson on them, that will tell a lot more IMO. The last time the Sox had a legitimate future regular SS on their roster who wasn't the regular SS was 2008. Orlando Cabrera was the Sox SS. He made 160 starts and finished 144 games. Alexei started the other 2 at SS and finished up 16. I would think moving forward, if the Sox really think Semien is a long term option at SS, you will see him there from time to time.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2014 -> 01:51 PM) He hasn't played an inning at SS either. NO one else has played any SS besides Alexei. I don't think there is a doubt in my mind that if Alexei wasn't playing, and Conor was healthy, Gordon would play 2B, Marcus SS, and Conor 3B, with Garcia as the primary back up to the IF. You might be right, but that would be temporary. If they traded Ramirez, it wouldn't be temporary. It's kind of like having Frank Thomas play 1B during interleague. It's fine for a short stretch, you just don't want it forever. What I am saying is if the White Sox felt like they had the SS of the future on their current roster, I don't think Alexei would play every inning of every game to this point, although he has been on fire.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2014 -> 01:47 PM) There is no doubt in my mind that Marcus Semien is the White Sox SS if anything happens to Alexei Ramirez. Who else would it be? Leury Garcia. But Semien could be their temporary answer if Ramirez was hurt. But trades aren't temporary.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 5, 2014 -> 01:33 PM) He's also a righty and the 3b is a lefty who has trouble hitting lefties. The current SS is a righty so it is difficult to use a platoon there with another player who also bats righty. The ideal setup this year would have been Semien starting at SS in Charlotte working to see if he could really handle the position. Alas injuries have delayed that, but it is still what should happen in a couple days when DL guys start returning. If he can't handle the position then that makes trading Alexei much tougher. It would however certainly be nice to see how he does if given that position to focus on for several months before it even becomes a reasonable option. I would agree with this. As I stated and you stated, you have to make sure he can play the position before you trade Alexei. So far, the Sox haven't tried doing that at all which to me means they either aren't going to trade Alexei or if they are, Semien doesn't appear to be their first option replacing him.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2014 -> 01:36 PM) Ramirez also hasn't played less than 156 games since 2009. I think it would be dumb to trade Alexei without a solid plan to fill the SS position. I don't think Semien is the answer there. And I believe if the Sox were thinking about trading him and putting Semien there, they would at least see what they had there before trading him, instead of trading him and hoping Semien could fill the roll.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2014 -> 01:27 PM) They worked him in at 3B because their starting 3B is on the DL. He also played 3B before Gillaspie went down.

QUOTE (Hawkfan @ May 5, 2014 -> 01:20 PM) Good fact drop! is he playing tonight? If they need a pinch hitter. No way he starts at 1B. Abreu and Dunn both would have to be out.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 5, 2014 -> 01:18 PM) The alternative, as it stands now, would be Marcus Semien. Defensively, the Sox haven't even bothered. That probably tells you something right there. Although Alexei has been on fire this year, so maybe there is a slight chance they just didn't have the opportunity to put him there yet. I would think if there was any reason to think Semien was the SS of the future, the White Sox would work him in there occassionally, like they do 3B and 2B.