Dick Allen

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:54 PM) Escobar f***ing blows. This move should enable Morel to rest his back, and when Morel gets back Hudson should take over Escobar's utility role. Didn't Escobar initially bring attention to himself with a sweet performance in the AFL? He hit in spring training this year to make the team. It seems to me Arizona is the only place he can hit. Maybe the Diamondbacks would be interested.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:51 PM) If they had the money, which they obviously did, it was worth the risk. There was a decent chance one of the best hitters in the history of the game might have another couple months left in him. His OPS was still over .900 for an extended period that same year. Its money that could have been spent more wisely on something that could actually help the Sox win. For a team that is always saying they are at their limit or their budget is stretched beyond their limit, it was curious spending $4 million on a guy with Manny's character and recent history. A really poor choice.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:44 PM) Yeah, it's time to DL him and let him get right. I agree, especially if the cortisone shot didn't work. He dove for a ball the other day and got up and walked around like an old man. I've hurt my back and know that feeling.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:38 PM) I hope so. Up until Thursday I would have been happy with this move but Gordon Beckham won back my heart the way he stepped up and played yesterday. But I guess Hudson would be good to have in reserve if Beckham reverts back to the way he has been for about the past year. The Padres would rather pay the O Dog NOT to play for them than play for them. The PADRES. The O Dog probably can outperform the current version of Morel and he's probably slightly better than Escobar at this point, but he's no savior. I really wonder about Morel's back.

The O dog has lost a lot of his range. If they move Beckham to 3B, that would be ridiculous. He's a GG quality 2B. I hope KW has the sense to remember his playing days. He was a highly thought of CF who put up decent numbers, but the Sox needed a 3B so he moved there and it seemed like it derailed his once promising career.

Rogers had an article yesterday which basically said the 2 things Ventura changed right away was the free steals they used to give opponents and the enormous discrepancy in HBP. One thing he didn't mention was the Sox now actually do some 3-0 hitting now. You don't have to hit the opponent to get them to stop hitting your guys. They just have to know that if they do hit your guys, someone is going to pay.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:12 PM) This is so true. It's borderline insane how many members of the Chicago sports media have said Smarja's pitch wasn't intentional. Were they watching the same game? Anyway, it was funny to read LaHair being upset about the pitch behind him. Stuff like you should never throw at somebody's head. (the pitch was at his back, btw) Really? Yes. They have no problem with the star taking one in the face, but have a problem with a pitch that didn't hit anyone. Bizarre. I know it sounds crazy, but Smarj did throw at Heyward and one way he can still hit guys but get away with the "it was an accident" is to throw an 85 MPH "split" and say it got away from him. He throws it harder than some guys throw their fastballs, When was the last time anyone has seen a MLB pitcher throw a splitter that the catcher caught eye high to the hitter? And this one just happened to be at the eye of the hitter. And this is a pitcher that has been pretty locked in all season.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:04 PM) Earn your f***ing paycheck Danks.... Yeah, its time Johnny shows us Jordan isn't the good Danks. I think he's going to be on tonigh. Of course, I've thought that every start.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 19, 2012 -> 03:59 PM) I still can't believe that Kaplan and Hollandsworth were so pissed off on CTL about the Humber throwing a pitch behind LaHair. You hit the unquestioned leader of the team in the face with a pitch in the AB after he homered....I don't care if it's a 15 mph pitch thrown by Gary Sinise, you have to stick up for your captain there. Konerko's injury is a lot more serious than a bruise on the back, etc. This is exactly how I feel. I'm sure it was traumatic for the team that it was the face, and I'm sure Hawk got a little more pissed about it because he knew Tony C pretty well, and I think Smarjdldfld popping off after Humber dusted a Cub with no contact really set him off. It still was 85 MPH. It, even if it wasn't on purpose, still got away from him, and it was extremely dangerous. Kaplan the Cubbie apologist I can understand, but Hollandsworth played the game and knows no matter what when the opposing pitcher hits a guy, unless its a 65 MPH curveball on the butt, there's going to be some bench jockeying. A guy taking one to the eye isn't supposed to cause a peep, but a pitch that doesn't even hit a Cubs player is just plain wrong. He knows better, and he knows who is signing his checks.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ May 19, 2012 -> 03:47 PM) So what? He's still Manny Ramirez. They had the money. They spent the money. It was a low risk/high upside move that didn't work out. When KW gets fired/retires/or whatever, you think people are going to look back and say, "Yeah, that guy was a clown. He took a shot at Manny Ramirez in a pennant race." *disclaimer* I'm pretty cynical about PED's, like cynical enough that I think most ball players still cheat. I'm cynical like thinking Josh Hamilton's great year is the result of him finding a better coke guy, with the Peruvian s***. It clearly wasn't the same Manny Ramirez, and clearly wasn't going to be the same Manny Ramirez.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 19, 2012 -> 10:42 AM) This is horses*** and you know it. You don't get to choose to utilize your knowledge of how the organization works when it benefits you but conveniently ignore it when it doesn't. JR told KW that they were going to give Ozzie a chance to put together his type of team, because he shouldn't be responsible if they handed him a team he didn't choose...so they allowed him to jettison Thome. So JR changed his mind in September? So then they let KW compound the mistake and spend $4 million for one month of a guy who just served a steroid suspension? Was that not a ridiculous waiver claim? You seem to choose how to utilize your knowledge of how the organization works. Why is it you constantly criticize others while doing exactly what your criticize others for doing? I know you love KW and would never say anything bad about him, but whether you want to admit it or not, he's really screwed up the past few years.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2012 -> 09:00 AM) H. Christ. Someone wrote a book about this? I just wonder how depressed Cowley is that Morrissey was the author and not him. BTW, does Cowley still work for the Sun Times? Talk about someone/something becoming irrelavant.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2012 -> 09:30 AM) The one thing from that 2009 list you can't hold against him is letting Thome walk, because that clearly wasn't his idea. It was Ozzie's idea, but he supposedly was Ozzie's boss. He eventually overrode him in September when he claimed a fresh off steroid suspension Manny, in what was perhaps the biggest waste of $4 million in his reign, and he's blown some money.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 19, 2012 -> 08:50 AM) 1 post-season win in 6 seasons, Dick. KW's record is what it is. You have no bigger ally in the KW must go movement than me, while it is unfair to start judging from right after his team won the WS, his overall body of work still falls short. I believe its KW's job to put a team together that makes the playoffs. If he has bad coaches or a bad manager, that's his responsibility. Making the playoffs to me is his job. Once there, its a crapshoot, no matter what anyone argues. One play here or there can determine who moves on, and the GM has nothing to do with that at that particular point. It wasn't KW that made the ball go through Tony G's legs and Ichuchi homers for a White Sox win. It wasn't KW getting El Duque to somehow get out of that jam in Boston. If those don't happen, the Sox maybe don't get out of the first round, maybe in 2008, they catch a couple of breaks and win it all. I'm anticipating no playoffs this year, so that would be 2 times he's made it in 12 years. Once every 6. 5 teams in the division plus wild card, its not even average. Considering the advantages he's had in the AL Central most of his reign, its even worse. He inherited a team with Thomas, Konerko, Ordonez, Lee, Valentin, Crede, Durham, Buerhle, Garland, Foulke and supposedly the #1 farm system in baseball,as they say in elections are they better today than the day KW took over? But he's not going anywhere, so you and I just have to live with it, and hope he does things better than he's been doing them. If they didn't fire him after last year, with the horrible year and the Ozzie feud, a year after he blew off Thome for $1 million and gave Manny $4 million for 2 RBI, a year after he stuck the ownership with Peavy and Rios' contracts, they aren't going to fire him for not winning when they cut the payroll $25 million, although change is coming fairly soon. Rick Hahn, another who I question, wouldn't be waiting around for nothing.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 19, 2012 -> 08:39 AM) How am I "wired", Dick? Do tell. Its simple. If KW acquired them, they suck. That, and probably most of your posts are BS just to try to aggrevate people.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 19, 2012 -> 08:11 AM) What are you out to prove or disprove about me based on my answers to the ridiculous line of questioning on whether or not I would want person A gone because I want KW gone? Don't you think the Sox should change GMs before they get rid of their better young players? The way you're wired, you will have the same issues with whatever they get back as you do with the current guys.

Sveum said everything turned out great today for the Cubs even though they didn't win. I hope they keep this attitude another 100 years.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ May 18, 2012 -> 09:42 PM) Tomorrow, go outside and stare right into the sun. Let me know what you see. BTW, his head went down, his glove didn't, he tried to catch it, he just closed the glove early. It never went down. His mitt didn't go down, his head did. He tried to make the catch, he closed the glove a fraction early. You make it seem like he had 5 minutes to figure out his plan of attack when in about .2 seconds the ball went into the sun and he tried to make the catch and protect himself at the same time. It's what's expected in that situation. He was trying to do both. His head and mitt went down. The ball landed on top of his closed mitt. He obviously knew where the ball was, but because he didn't shade his eyes correctly, he wasn't able to stay with it. Many high school OFs would have made that catch.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ May 18, 2012 -> 09:02 PM) You obviously turn your head away in that situation so you don't take it off your eye. His mitt was going to where he thought it was going to land, and his timing was off on when it was getting there. His head and his glove went down together. It was Alex saying uncle to the sun, he was camped. He knew where it was going to land.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ May 18, 2012 -> 08:51 PM) Gordon Beckham has struck out just 4 times in his last 10 games... He hasnt looked geat all year but at least hes making contact and doesnt look lost (see Brent Morel)....Has Dan Johnson still been playing 3rd down on the farm?? Keep in mind Dan Johnson hasn't hit over .200 in the major leagues since 2007, and is probably a Viciedo-like liability defensively at 3rd base.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 18, 2012 -> 07:48 PM) Everyone seems to be conveniently ignoring Viciedo's minor league stats when they throw out Kemp or Konerko as examples. Those guys hit better than Viciedo at every level. He had better numbers than Magglio Ordonez, so he must be better than him.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 18, 2012 -> 07:30 PM) Maybe yours too. Absolutely not. That catch has to be made.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 18, 2012 -> 07:11 PM) There was nothing Rios could do with that ball. He had it all the way until the last second, it's do or die at that point. If the same thing happened to De Aza, your answer would be different.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ May 18, 2012 -> 06:58 PM) You need to go out and take some fly balls. "Turning a little bit" doesn't change the fact that you are looking back up directly into the sun. Turning doesn't put the ball or the sun in a different place, and you're still standing in the same spot - where the ball is landing. Again, ball into sun = doesn't matter what you are shielding or trying to shield. You can't shield the sun and suddenly only have the ball appear. It's not a magic show. Wrong. Everyone there who saw the ball saw it from a different angle and some people without sunglasses didn't have to squint,and unless you are in cement, you can change the angle and use your glove as a sheild. He just stared into the sun.When I was in HS we were actually taught how to deal with the sun.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 18, 2012 -> 06:36 PM) Right. If Rios was stationary underneath it maybe he could have changed the angle by playing it of the side, but he was running in to catch the ball. Bad luck. He was camped under the ball. There is no excuse. He could have looked from an angle, he could have used the webbing of his glove as a blind. If Adam Dunn were out there, I could see where it could be a problem, but an everyday OF, no way.