Dick Allen

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 31, 2013 -> 08:07 AM) On the bolded, only half true. Brent Morel was never regarded as nearly the prospect Matt Davidson has been. Not even close. Fields was a T100 name at one time, that is true. I'd be surprised if Davidson wasn't the starting 3B on the Sox on Opening Day. Only was he isn't is if the Sox are unable to move an infielder before then, AND if he looks terrible in ST. Possible sure, but not likely. Pre-2011, Morel was the BA #85 prospect. Davidson has never been that high. Fields was #95 in 2005, and #45 in 2007. Borchard was top 20 at one time. Brian Anderson was top 50. Simon Castro was top 60. Prospects are still suspects until they actually succeed.

Davidson is far from a sure thing. Josh Fields and Brent Morel were both at one time ranked higher as prospects. Time in Charlotte is a definite possibility.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 02:25 PM) He's not the perfect 4th outfielder, particularly given his issues with "keeping focused" that we saw last year. We have a pretty darn ideal one in Jordan Danks. De Aza is a solid 3rd/corner OF on a team that needs one and has other guys who carry most of the load. In what world is De Aza not perfect, but Jordan Danks "pretty darn ideal"? I seem to recall Jordan having his own baserunning problems in the past, and he is not nearly the offensive player De Aza is. He is much better with the glove, I will give you that, but Danks is no kid. He is older than Beckham.

What it comes down to, even after what seemed like calls going against the Bears, is the Packers scored a TD on a fumble when the Bears stopped playing. It could have been a 14 point swing, but at least 7 right there.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 12:29 PM) Costanzo may have been on the goalline when he actually downed it. The initial part was fine, but it was Costanzo that caused the touchback I think. But the replays showed neither were on the line. There are calls where you know they probably should be reversed but they won't because the evidence isn't necessarily indisputable, like the Quarles non catch yesterday. But that one boggles my mind. They have angles showing neither Bear was on the line.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 12:26 PM) The worst was the blown call of the downed punt. It might have been tough to get in real time, but f***ing impossible to miss in slo-mo replay. The angle from the side was hard to tell, but when they had the upper end zone shot, it was clear he wasn't on the line. I couldn't understand that one. Maybe that had an effect on Trestman challenging the other play.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 12:21 PM) That's a pretty big exaggeration. It's hard to tell from the angle, but to me it looks like it was lateralled from the 39 1/2 and Shields caught it at the 39 1/2-40. If it was forward, it was a 1/2 yard at most. Not really. They had a different angle on the TV as well. The toss clearly was on one side of the 40 and it was clearly caught on the other side of the 40.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 12:12 PM) It didn't strike me as being a forward lateral at the time, but I haven't watched the replay. Do you have a link to it somewhere. That's pretty bad if it really was, and doubly bad by the Bears for not challenging. Here it is. Lateralled at the 41, caught at the 38. http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlig...-Jeffery-fumble

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 12:12 PM) It didn't strike me as being a forward lateral at the time, but I haven't watched the replay. Do you have a link to it somewhere. That's pretty bad if it really was, and doubly bad by the Bears for not challenging. I don't have a link, but when I watched it, it looked funny to me. So I went back on the DVR, and in real time it looks close, but when you stop it when he tossed it, and then stop it when it was caught, it wasn't anywhere near close. It was at least 3 yards.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 12:06 PM) Watching the replay of the TD to Cobb, what a great job by Kuhn to come over and block Peppers, season saving block. If he doesn't pick that up, Peppers probably kills Rodgers. That throw by Rodgers was also amazing, running to your left to drop a ball 50 yards down field like that is amazing. Yeah, but no one was close to Cobb so he had plenty of room for error. But he did get it there.

I still don't understand why the Bears burned a TO and didn't challenge the Jeffery near TD. The worst thing that happens is they are out of challenges. I think as long as you need a TO anyway, take a chance. If it goes your way, you get 6 and save the TO. One play no one is talking about was the lateral after the Jeffery fumble at the end of the first half. It was a forward lateral and wasn't even close. It was received 3 yards in front of where it was tossed. That gets called, it changes things up at the end of the first half.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 10:26 AM) Jeff Passan ‏@JeffPassan 1h Over the last 24,300 MLB starts, pitchers have gone 130+ pitches 23 times. Over his last 123, Masahiro Tanaka has 15: http://yhoo.it/1ePRRIB In 1989 as a 42 year old, Nolan Ryan went over 130 16 times. He was over 125 another 3. Don't they pitch once a week in Japan, like college ball?

On the play GB scored the TD on the fumble, even they had no idea the play was still live, although there may be some merit in the Bears perhaps scoring there if Lovie was still coaching. Anderson was the guy who could have picked it up and ran. He wasn't coached by Lovie and his group. I have bashed Cutler plenty, but I thought he played a really good game yesterday. There were a couple of throws a bit off, but conditions weren't ideal. He also had a couple of drops, and the final throw for an INT was nothing you could hold against him. I don't know if Mel Tucker is an answer, but if you have to play guys like Conte and Steltz, and don't have much of a pass rush, I think there are a lot of coaches considered defensive geniuses who would look like fools.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 05:56 PM) why do you not go for 2 there? the one point gives you nothing. Weird. I think it shows he thinks the Bears are going to do some more scoring. Zero confidence in his defense.

Cutty is coming up big.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 29, 2013 -> 04:45 PM) That lateral was clearly forward. Almost 3 yards

That clearly was a forward latteral.

Cutler can shut a lot of people up with a good game today. A bad one, and his Jeff George comparisons will continue. Up until now, Cutler is the Javy Vazquez of the NFL. He can make that all go away in a few hours.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 27, 2013 -> 10:47 AM) Garcia is a non prospect who the Sox apparently don't even trust to be on the bench of a rotten team. He likely never starts in the majors and certainly should not be counted on going forward. Let's call a spade a spade. He certainly hasn't hit much to this point, but to call a 22 year old who made it to the major leagues as a 22 year old a non prospect even though he has mulitple plus tools, is just being a Debbie Downer. It's easy to say a prospect sucks. You can say that about Eaton, Davidison and A. Garcia, and chances are you will be more right than wrong just on those 3. Garcia has to develop some offense. Given the Sox lack of success developing that particular aspect of the game, he probably will not be all that great, but some tools are there. He's fast. He has a gun for an arm. He is going to most likely be an excellent defender at mutiple positions. He definitely has value at least as a bench player moving forward.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 26, 2013 -> 03:36 PM) Man, you really like to argue just to argue. Fine, they bought out his arb years plus 1, so they locked themselves into 4 years for a whole 32 million, not 7 years for 120. The situations aren't even comparable, you're just trying to make a point for some reason. You argued with my post which was correct. So any arguing to argue was brought on by you.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 26, 2013 -> 03:23 PM) The contract extension added one more guaranteed year, so yes he was. No. He was year to year before that. If he blew out his arm in September, the Sox could have walked away. It bought out arb years, but there is no obligation to offer him a contract. Do the Sox owe Dylan Axelrod money for the next several years?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 26, 2013 -> 03:19 PM) He was under contract for most of those years already, much different story. No he wasn't. I don't think people realize Tanaka is only 5 months older than Sale.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 26, 2013 -> 03:16 PM) And as much as we all like Abreu we'd have a ton of money locked down on basically 2 prospects. I just honestly never want to give a pitcher a 6-7 year deal and that's what he's going to get. No thanks. Sale has a 6-7 year deal.

Bet the ranch on the Bears if they are getting 3.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Dec 26, 2013 -> 11:19 AM) There are big arms all around the league the Sox could take a shot on without giving up a key player, either making a deal around a lesser veteran like DeAza, a reliever, or a prospect. None of this costs huge payroll room. I agree with the poster who said we should wait until we are contenders to add big FA contracts, especially on the pitching side. Just think, what happens if Danks comes back to full health, and both Johnson and Beck/other RHSP turn into above-average MLB SP? By the time we're a real contender again, we could be 6 deep and dealing with a beautiful excess of SP for all we know. Let's spend our money elsewhere & not be stupid. I mean, if we were going to hand out that kind of money, why didn't we get in on Ellsbury or Cano? Why did we stay away from McCann? Hahn isn't spending Tanaka money anywhere, especially not on a pitcher. And it's unlikely to me that Jerry Reinsdorf would ever want to go along with that anyway, nor would I see Kenny Williams on board with that, and given all the options in his deals, I see no reason why we should expect Hahn to even ask any of those guys what they thought about a Tanaka type of deal. I bet Hahn has spent more time thinking about what he plans to offer DeAza in arb than why he'd offer Tanaka. No reason to even think about it at these rumored figures. If you have excess pitching, and no one ever really does, you can easily flip that excess for hitting.