Dick Allen

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 10, 2014 -> 08:11 AM) I would want that competitive balance B pick. I would consider moving Viciedo for Saunders, a good young pitching prospect (Gohara), and their competitive balance pick. Viciedo could go there and end up thriving but maybe the Sox don't see him as part of their future. Interesting. Has there been anything saying the Sox don't want him? It seems to me everything I have read is the opposite.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 03:06 PM) And in May when they bow out in 5 games again this little cute win today won't mean anything. Berstein said something the other day that made sense. Chicago probably has the dumbest fanbase in the NBA that shouldn't be dumb. We know what a champion looks like. We saw it 6 times. Forget about the Heat. Look at OKC. Look at what the Rockets have put together in like 28 seconds. That's what a champion looks like. This try-hard, adorable, cute thing the Bulls got goin' on is fine in the regular season. It was just as cute last year. But I'm about titles. I don't care about being cute and adorable. And it's sad that being cute and adorable is enough for a lot of Bulls fans. You are about titles. How many does OKC have? Hasn't it been longer than the Bulls for Houston? That is what champions look like?

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 04:06 PM) Get off the beer cans and find yourself a therapist. If you after watching a game of basketball in which your team won can turn into a moment you want to cut yourself, something's wrong with your outlook in life. Funny, I never stated I wanted to cut myself.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 03:57 PM) I just said the other day the Bulls could take the Pacers. They can beat any team in the east outside of one when it matters. And I, for one, am getting tired of that fact and don't care about these nothing regular season wins. Then I get accused of not being a basketball fan. When the Heat were hoisting their trophy last year was anybody thinking about the 27-game winning streak being snapped? I will LMAO if the Heat lose in 7 in the finals and miss home court by one meaningless win. I think LeBron is the best in the game right now,but it is days like today where it is quite obvious he is no Jordan. Way too passive. Michael played every game like he had to win to save his life. For the people paying big money to watch him play, I am sure it was quite appreciated. I am sure there is someone out there that shelled out $500 or more to take their kid to see LeBron today, and they get an indifferent performance.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 03:40 PM) And here come the homer reinforcements. For the Heat? They don't mean anything other than whether game 1 of the conference finals/finals is home or away. They can go into any building and win. They've proven that and then some. For games that mean absolutely nothing, you sure do pay a lot of attention, and always point out how every team is better than the Bulls in these meaningless games. Everyone here knows the Bulls are short on talent, but they still win games like this. One difference between LeBron and MJ, MJ wouldn't let that happen. These players and teams are so great when the win, and when they are bad and lose, you just say it doesn't mean anything.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 03:24 PM) The Bulls can beat the Heat in the regular season. I get it! They've proven that and then some for three years now. They snapped the 27-game winning streak. They've won without Rose, Noah and Deng one time I think. Great. Is that enough for you? I get sick of seeing s*** like "f*** yeah, f*** off heat, we can't win a series, but f*** yeah we won today." It makes me want to cut myself. Wasn't only about a week ago you were praising the Heat for hitting the switch and starting to turn it on? Now they lost 3 in a row, and the losses don't matter. Or maybe they do and that is the real reason you want to cut yourself.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 02:54 PM) I believe the story was the Mariners offered Ackley for Viciedo, Hahn countered with Franklin for Viciedo, and then talks stopped. I would rather have Ackley than Franklin.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 9, 2014 -> 02:17 PM) Reading some of the rumor reports and what might be Mariner expendables is not very exciting. You trade to improve your team and not just to move someone IMO. Viciedo and/or De Aza are certainly on the block, but they have somewhat of a decent track record so trading one of them for some failed Mariner's prospect makes no sense at all If they were just looking to dump one or both, someone would have been gone already.Power is at a premium in today's game. Giving up on Viciedo without getting anything of significance back would be something the Sox aren't going to do.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 7, 2014 -> 01:42 PM) Serious Q in reply...why should we expect the defense and baserunning to be "cleaned up"? In many cases we have either the same guys in those positions who were bad last year, or potential downgrades (Rios down to Garcia, Davidson supposed to be pretty rough at 3b, Eaton was below average in CF last year although maybe injury and short time to blame). They're younger and that could very well raise the risk of silly mistakes even higher. But you didn't blame players for the mistakes last year. You blamed spring training. I earlier linked an article on how the Sox were working on focus and fundamentals this spring, so using your own formula, everything should be fine in that department. There will he mistakes all year, but especially the first week of spring training games. These are all still basically practices. No one plays 9 innings or usually gets more than 3 AB. To expect someone to be perfect from the get go in practice, isn't realistic. Anyone taking a few months off from whatever they do, usually are a little rusty right when they get back.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 06:28 PM) It's not about homers or Chris Sale. It's about playing the game right. They haven't done that as a franchise since August 15, 2012. Nobody's expecting Paulino to have a 0.00 ERA, Abreu to hit 13 homers (like Betemit) or Davidson to hit 449. But to see a continuation of the same exact things we saw last year...it was enough to draw a CSNChicago article from Dan Hayes. Brennaman mentioned it during the Reds' broadcast, how many 11 a.m. workouts and practice sessions Ventura called when the team was on the road, to no avail. He said he'd never seen a worse team in terms of fundamentals and baseball IQ, and that the 99 losses weren't nearly as bad as what the reality was all season long. Balta has been harping on it as well. You can say it's just spring all you want, but the tone and tenor are set from the very first day of spring. Hanging on every pitch during the first week of spring training games is ridiculous. If Ventura is green lighting everyone, which I doubt, wouldn't it make sense to see in spring training, WHEN THE GAMES DO NOT COUNT, who can and cannot be given that option? Plus young players make plenty of mistakes. The good thing is when these mistakes are made, there is plenty of time to work on them now. You can be assured if Alexei and Beckham failed to cover the base, they were coering bases for more than a little while the next morning. People want young players playing. A couple of places where the fundamentals were worse than at USCF last year were Birmingham and Charlotte. Young players screw up, especially the first couple of weeks of spring training when it has been months since they have played in a game.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 05:22 PM) Unless he puts up another 5.00 era type season, then they paid $14 million to lose a pick and slot space. They have 2 first round picks and a veteran roster in need of another starter. Maybe he has a bad season, and they are out the 50th pick. Maybe he has a good season, helps them win and turns that 50th pick into one in the 30s next year. I am still trying to figure out when these picks are sure things. IMO, there is a far better chance Santana helps the Blue Jays win than that pick, and Rogers Communications probably won't have to file for bankruptcy because of this contract.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 05:51 PM) I was listening to one of the Dodgers' games last weekend and Tommy Lasorda was adamant about spring training being crucial in setting the tone for the regular season. It's popular these days to say there's no correlation (or the Royals would have won 2-3 World Series titles), but for a franchise trying to turn things around and teach players the right way to play the game, it's probably a lot more important than for a veteran club. It shouldn't feel like last season never ended and it's just one long continuation with a different cast of characters (Eaton/Davidson/Abreu/Garcias, etc.) And why would Tommy say the first couple of weeks of spring training or the entire thing is not important? It is the time to iron out the kinks. Guys aren't going to be in midseason form. If there are going to be mistakes, now is a good time for them to happen. Chris Sale got lit up the other day. Should we all panic? Pinning too much on performance both good and bad, is a mistake. There was a stretch a few years ago that for about 4 or 5 years straight, the player that led the majors in spring homers failed to hit 10 in the regular season.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 04:50 PM) Not exactly jumping for joy in Toronto over the signing. http://www.thestar.com/sports/bluejays/201...ana_report.html By the way, he fired his agent last week (the one originally projecting a $100 million contract). Santana is representing himself. The other team in it is Baltimore, with Santana supposedly waiting until a 5 p.m. deadline for another team to swoop in and take him away from Rogers Centre. But Santana is not without his own question marks. Though he has pitched more than 200 innings five times in his career, his medicals reportedly suggest potential for an elbow injury. He threw more sliders last season — a pitch that is believed to strain the elbow if overused — than any other pitcher in the majors. He is also a fly-ball pitcher, which could be dangerous inside the homer-happy Rogers Centre, which averaged the most home runs per game of any American League ballpark. Santana has also been inconsistent throughout his career. Though he enjoyed a bounce-back season with the Royals last year, in 2012, he was among the worst pitchers in the majors, posting the fifth-highest ERA at 5.16 and giving up the most home runs (nearly two for every nine innings pitched). He didn't fire his agent.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 8, 2014 -> 09:11 AM) They give up a draft pick for that contract? Stupid, stupid. Do they give up a first or 2nd rounder? If he has a good year, the give him a qualifying offer, and they get a pick after the original first round. If they are giving up a second rounder, if he performs, they get his services for a season and basically trade a second round pick for a comp pick. Next year the FA pitching market is going to be a lot thinner when many of the pitchers on the board ink extensions. If he pitches well, this will be a win/win for Santana and Toronto.

Keep in mind Keppinger was hitting about .450 the first few weeks of spring training last year.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Mar 6, 2014 -> 09:44 AM) Like others have implied, hope its De Aza that gets traded. I would need a pretty good haul for Viciedo or use him as something bigger. Trading De Aza for peanuts makes zero sense as well. I don't think he will get thrown out on the bases 11 times and picked off 6 times again, and defensively, he has to be better than he was, because he has been. I have never seen an OF have a tougher time picking up a base hit cleanly at any level including Little League than De Aza last season. Offensively, he's a pretty good player. Dumping him for next to nothing is beyond selling low. When he has his head together, he is a good player.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 4, 2014 -> 12:27 PM) If teams haven't targeted kickers already, 42 yard extra points wouldn't suddenly put kickers at risk. If your kicker is hurt, then you go for two from the 2-yard line, big deal. In fact, I think if this rule were enacted, some coaches might forgoe PATs and go for two most of the time. Maybe, but the thing is, teams have very few goal line or 2 yard line plays. Going for 2 becomes advantage defense pretty quickly. I am not in favor of any rule making kickers more significant. Just make it automatic unless you want to go for 2.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Mar 4, 2014 -> 12:12 PM) I don't know how that possibly correlates. If you have to make a 42 yard FG as an extra point, kickers are going to be targets.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Mar 4, 2014 -> 10:43 AM) Those are awful ideas. Kickoffs are great and extra points need to be more difficult. I think they are great ideas, at least the extra points. Making extra points 42 yards just makes a kicker's role bigger, which is exactly the opposite of what I think everyone would want. It also would mean a lot of cheap shots into kickers because if your kicker got hurt during the game, you would be screwed.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 3, 2014 -> 12:24 PM) Well, the thought that the Bulls will trade Thibs is moronic, but he dosen't have a lifetime contract. He does have 3 or 4 years. Maybe then he goes to the Knicks. If Gar/Pax let him leave before then, unless things totally fall apart and the Knicks are offering a boatload for him, they are insane.

Noah and Anthony probably are friendly from All Star teams. This "meeting" means nothing.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Mar 2, 2014 -> 02:57 PM) 4 earned runs so far. He's responsible for the 2 on base so his line isn't complete yet. While I think the people who think this guy is going to be really good have ignored a lot of things, I really don't think anyone should take much out of a first spring training start.

The Boggs signing was fine, but I wouldn't put much stock in a performance the first game of spring training, either good or bad. As for Goldberg, there is one spring training fluff piece written by Merkin . I wouldn't call him a potential closer next year just yet.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 27, 2014 -> 10:22 AM) Thornton for Borchard has to be one of the greatest trades in Sox history. Valentin and Eldred for Jaime Navarro and John Snyder to me is one of the greatest trades of all time. Not only did someone take Navaro, they gave up 2 guys that helped the team win a division the next season.

I wonder if a player has ever been waived and/or DFA'd in one offseason by 2 teams with more losses the previous season than Elmore.