Dick Allen

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 28, 2013 -> 10:35 AM) ROFL, If you don't know already, I can't help you. So no surprise, no answer. For a guy who asks for specifics, you certainly provide none. You asked me about free agent hitters. You were answered. I asked about the free agent pitcher you would sign to replace Peavy in your plan, you, no surprise, had no response. Now this. No answer. Trying to spin it like if anyone doesn't know they are dumb and you're the smart one. Nice try. People are finally seeing you for what you are. You must be just trolling.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ May 28, 2013 -> 09:38 AM) He's done more than shut down the Sox. Stats last year pretty good, stats this year pretty good. I consider him not "hot garbage." I guess it depends on your definition, but I don't really think it's an argument. I think the whole thing started when everyone was singing his praises last year, I mentioned I would trade him because up until last season, he pretty much was hot garbage. In fact, after I mentioned it, he did struggle a bit. Now some media is comparing him to Verlander. If other MLB teams think that, I still think the Cubs should trade him. Of course I may be a little biased as I hate the Cubs and hate ND.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 28, 2013 -> 10:15 AM) Guys like Flowers and Jones, aren't guys you wait on. Who currently do the Sox have that are worthy of "waiting on"? Provide some specifics.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ May 27, 2013 -> 10:31 PM) Dick Allen, I guess samardzija is back to being hot garbage again... We will see how it all turns out. He shut down the White Sox. He was great last night, but a lot of pitchers have shut down the White Sox. It takes a little longer to really be considered what you consider him.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ May 28, 2013 -> 09:06 AM) Well, I'm not going to be in a position to download/print tickets that close to gametime. About 5-6 hours before first pitch would be my deadline. IMO, you should check it occassionally. I doubt the prices will go up. Maybe focus on a couple of options, if one dissappears, get the other one, otherwise, wait until your deadline or when it has dropped into the range you like. Chances are the price will drop.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 28, 2013 -> 03:28 AM) Of course, the Cubs' beat writer for the Sun-Times (Gordon Wittenmeyer) would pronounced him "the city's ace." As if an All-America football career spent getting slammed by NFL-bound safeties wasn’t enough to prove his fearlessness and competitiveness, there was Samardzija on Monday night, pitching the best game of his professional career on what’s probably the biggest stage he’ll be on this season. His first complete game. A two-hit shutout. The tone-setter in the four-day Crosstown Showdown. The power. The swagger. The future. The ace. Forget Chris Sale. The Cubs right-hander is Chicago’s pitching ace, as he proved in Monday’s 7-0 victory at U.S. Cellular Field. “That football mentality helps,” said teammate James Russell, who’s been around big-league baseball since his dad, Jeff, made All-Star teams as a starter, then a reliever. “He instills that fear in the batter, which a lot of guys don’t do.” On Monday, Samardzija had a 98 mph fastball working in the first inning, threw 97 on his 100th pitch and until a one-out walk in the ninth had faced just one batter over the minimum. “He was as good as anyone we’ve seen,” said Sox manager Robin Ventura, who compared him to young power-pitching Mets phenom Matt Harvey — a guy Ventura compared to Tigers ace Justin Verlander just a few weeks ago. Harvey. Verlander. “Stuff-wise, he’s as good as it gets in my opinion,” said Sox third-baseman Conor Gillaspie — the only South Sider with a hit until the ninth — of Samardzija. What about Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg? Former MVP Joey Votto of the Reds drew that comparison when talking to a Cubs coach this season — and then said it was no comparison. He’d rather face Strasburg, he told the coach. Russell, one of Samardzija’s closer friends in the clubhouse, isn’t surprised by the comparisons. “He’s a little harder mentally and stronger physically than a lot of those guys out there,” Russell said. “Yeah, Strasburg’s got 98 [mph], but you’re not as timid getting in the box against him as you would be against somebody like Jeff.” That’s why Samardzija is the front office’s next priority. Why he’s the manager’s best hope for a turnaround anytime soon. Why he’s Chicago’s ace. No doubt Sale has the recent results and the stuff from all those knobby left-handed angles. But he also has the recent bouts of soreness, the toothpick frame and the hold-your-breath mechanics with that skinny body that doesn’t inspire nearly the long-term confidence as the power-throwing Cubs ace with the Notre Dame football frame. The Sox offense has been horrible. If they want to declare him the best pitcher after he shut down the Sox, I wonder when the campaign to put Guthrie in the HOF will begin.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ May 28, 2013 -> 09:01 AM) I don't know what people's beef with Gimenez is... in his limited at bats, he's driven in some big runs. Not to mention he saved runs from scoring and has throw out runners.. T-flo has won some games with his bat but he just seems clueless at the plate (he's probably also lost a lot of games 'K' ing with RISP not that he's the only culprit) Gimenez being a switch hitter helps as he'll always get the better look at pitchers. I don't have a beef, but he's not a starter and if you are getting rid of a catcher, I'd keep Flowers over him as a back up. He's younger and hits for more power. Losing Gimenez isn't going to cost the White Sox wins.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ May 28, 2013 -> 07:49 AM) Do Stubhub prices generally drop closer to the game date? I'm looking for 6 seats for Saturday 6/8 somewhere between Secs 128-145. Right now lowest price is $50 each. Would love to be able to get it for $40 or less. Yes. If you are willing to really roll the dice, the listings expire 2 hours before the first pitch. Those last couple of hours there are plenty of deals to be had, and if you look at it the last 15 minutes, it can get really cheap. Although 6 together might be tough, but on the other hand if the seller is selling 6 and not breaking them up, they could drop like a rock.

Personally, I would have called Phegley up a week or 2 ago and let Gimenez go. Flowers has shown he's a good back up, and when he gets on a roll, can hit some homers. I can understand the White Sox wanting to give Flowers more time. It's not what I would do. It's not like he's a 23 year old just up from AA. Cooper was really chewing him out yesterday. It had to be pitch selection and/or location, but location with Jones pitching is something I find hard to be screaming at the catcher about. I also think ultimately pitch selection is on the pitcher. Since then, Gimenez has done a decent job, although he does make the last out of an inning often and takes forever to put his gear on. Flowers is a streaky guy offensively. Even when he was struggling in he minors he would go on hitting binges. I suppose they want to give what they would think is a fair shot to Flowers. In the end, they do have a decent back up in him. He can be Peavy's personal catcher, and perhaps without the mental load of playing regularly, can get back to being decent defensively. Currently the White Sox line up is featuring too many guys who are hitting so poorly, that drawing a walk is like hitting a 3 run homer. Flowers is one of them.

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ May 27, 2013 -> 09:50 PM) Before someone spouts off about the possible disruption of the handling of the pitching staff, it should be known that the Sox are on pace to score less than 600 runs this year. Worrying about possible adverse affects to the pitching staff is the equivalent of yelling, "Fire, fire!" in Noah's flood. That's true. It's kind of hard to win when you don't score at all. You need a forfeit.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 27, 2013 -> 07:15 PM) Well, there's no reason Quintana shouldn't be throwing a shutout at this point in the game...after two misplays in the first inning (the ball that landed in the first row that Kepp/Konerko didn't get to is arguable). That would have been a tremendous play.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 27, 2013 -> 07:06 PM) Agree,that was 100% on Ventura. Yep. I have seen the light. Any shortcoming probably goes back to spring training, and even though I wasn't there, it is safe to assume they pretty mush spent their days swilling beers and not working on their games. Robin probably bought the beer.

QUOTE (hawksfan61 @ May 27, 2013 -> 07:02 PM) Why is Peavy criminally underrated on this site? I think people are underestimating how good Peavy was last year and how good he has been so far this year. Yes I know the Tigers lit him up last year but Danks stands as a very very poor man's Jake Peavy. The only year Danks has even come close to matching Peavy's numbers from last year is in 2008, which was 5 years and a shoulder surgery ago. Keep the rotation, buy/trade for bats. I don't understand it either.

Whatever spring training drill they have to avoid losing balls in the lights, Rios didn't take seriously. f*** off Ventura.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 27, 2013 -> 06:52 PM) I assume Dick Allen loves Keppinger thanks to the Rush at bat music. I do like the music. I just wish he was worthy.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 27, 2013 -> 06:54 PM) Everything that has been written, inferred/implied....going from the best defense in the AL to the worst with almost the exact same line-up except for AJ/Flowers and Beckham's injury. Many, many more fundamentals errors, missed cutoff men, base-running....it has been endemic, and a good explanation has never been provided, beyond the carryover effect from the last 6 weeks of 2012. How else can you explain it? Farmer saying more Cubs fans there than Sox fans by the sounds coming from the crowd on the DP. From the noise, you would have thought the throw got away or went into the stands, but it was Cubs' fans cheering.... For one thing, their best defensive player is out. For another Adam Dunn is playing a lot more first base. Everything that has been reported says the Sox did the same stuff this year during spring training. Making up they were complacent is silly. I don't know how spring training has anything to do with Ramirez forgetting to cover a base. It is something he has to do and has done just about every game.

Flowers should sswing hard in case he hits it

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 27, 2013 -> 06:44 PM) The nicest thing you could say about the White Sox is that they were "complacent" in spring training this year. Which really isn't understandable with how last season ended...with a very bitter taste in their mouths, with the 3-9 mark against the Royals in August/Sept, etc. Viciedo can't load his hands up as much there against guys throwing 96. Needs to be short and quick/er. Did you spend the spring at Camelback or just making things up?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 27, 2013 -> 03:15 PM) You know, right now...I'm not sure I agree with this. I think we have a good chance that next year, or even late this year, Johnny Danks can be the theoretical Peavy replacement. As others have noted, that still leaves the team with a 4 lefty starting rotation, which is definitely an oddity, but it does kinda make some sense. And we'd still be sitting there 6-deep in the rotation thanks to EJ. That said, if we're 2-3 games out at the deadline, screw it, I want Peavy in my rotation for the stretch. No one on this board is a bigger fan of Danks than me. He is, however, a work in progress. He is one bad start from several around here telling us his career is over. Floyd, Konerko, Thornton off the books and $25 million more a year in the bank account anyway. Keep Peavy and improve the offense. As the Dodgers have shown, you never have enough starters.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 27, 2013 -> 03:53 PM) The Tigers model also involved a long period of being one of the worst franchises in MLB history as well. That's the reason they have Verlander, they had one of the worst records in baseball. That's part of the reason why they were able to trade for Cabrera; they were able to draft people like Andrew Miller who fell in teh draft because of the messed up draft system (which has been fixed today) who they traded for Cabrera. Not to mention they have an owner willing to go into the red, even Forbes says they lose money, to keep adding players. It is an unrealistic model to copy, and I wonder how long it can or will be sustainable.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 27, 2013 -> 03:32 PM) That's the core of the argument here, why do we have to settle for this instead of the Cardinals/Giants/Tigers model? That in a big market, the White Sox as an organization should be capable of setting a higher standard, especially when you look at the relative weakness of the AL Central compared to the other divisions for most of the last 10-12 years (2006 being the exception). (Of course, this is where someone will argue we hadn't won a single playoff series since 1917/1919 going into 2005...and, that historically, going from there to 1959 to 1983 to 1993/94 and then following that up with 2000/2005/2008, the KW/Guillen Years were like manna from heaven, and they'll be 75% correct). A mixture of development/scouting, free agents and "value" acquisitions. Premium placed on pitching, and the benefit to the team outweighing individual superstars (letting Pujols go in favor of a balanced line-up and affordable payroll). The Tigers haven't won a WS since 1984. The Giants have won 2 out of the last 3 WS but over the past decade how much better have they been than the Whit Sox. The Cardinals have won a couple of WS recently. One by winning 83 games and another when they finished in 2nd place,. They have though, consistently win lots of games, and get contributions signing bats lile Beltran and Berkman , guys on Marty's wrong side of 30.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 27, 2013 -> 03:08 PM) The only redeeming quality of potentially dealing Peavy is that we would be trading from organizational strength, so we wouldn't be likely to be screwed without him. It would be very surprising to me if we couldn't have a good rotation without him. With that said, it will almost certainly be better with him. Peavy would be very hard to replace. Don't weaken your strength for question marks.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 27, 2013 -> 03:00 PM) General terms again, Dick Allen. Which "bats" this offseason? You prefer taking on contracts like the Jays, how's that working out?? ROFL! I think I mentioned Morales and Granderson a couple of weeks ago when you asked. Who is the free agent pitcher you are signing to take Peavy's spot, and what are the prospects you are acquiring for Peavy and Rios? Its funny, the guy who refuses to answer specifics asks them even though they have already been answered. The Red Sox won a couple of WS signing free agent bats. The Yankees did as well. Condolences on the Sox winning streak.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 27, 2013 -> 11:58 AM) ROFL, you're the one bringing up 2005 and wanting to re-build like the Blue Jays. You write in general terms because when you're asked for specifics all you come up with are things like being for changes IF they help the team. Gee, thanks for THAT opinion. Learn to read Marty. I specifically said keep Peavy get bats this offseason. Pretty simple. You said get rid of pitching, the team's strength and sign a free agent to replace Peavy. One of us said to sign a free agent starter, you know, a guy like Buehrle, and it wasn't me. Now go back to posting how the Sox should guarantee they will be awful for the forseeable future so you will have something to moan about every summer. You should also explain the logic to everyone about waiving Ramirez and putting Keppinger at SS. That right there is proof you want the White Sox to suck. Trading Peavy makes no sense unless it is ridiculously in your favor. It's even more ridiculous than in 2005 when Soxtalk wanted the Sox to trade Contreras for AJ Burnett.

Considering how Dunn, Paulie and Keppinger have hit. Missing Beckham's defense, and Viciedo for a while, and with Flowers yet to blossom, .500 4 games out is actually pretty positive right now.