Dick Allen

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ May 2, 2012 -> 10:52 AM) I think you're right that some people thought Walker was bad, but I would hazard to say that more people thought Walker was not right for the Sox or vice versa. So far it seems like he's a great fit for Atlanta. Good for him and the Braves. So far, Manto seems like a good fit with the Sox. But, whether we're talking about Manto or Walker, we have to remember that we're one month into their first seasons with these teams. A year from now, Braves fans could be calling for Walker's head or we could be screaming and crying about Manto. That's why I'm saying it's premature to start gloating and say "I told you Walker was a good hitting coach!" Maybe he is, but one thing was certain, he was not the right hitting coach for the Sox. No one is really gloating, just trying to get Walker the same acknowledgement Manto would get if the Sox were 4th in MLB in runs scored. There are more than several posters who will never admit Greg Walker wasn't the problem with the White Sox offense, it was the hitters. This isn't little league where the coach teaches players how to hit. Many mention how the offense has improved this year, yet its virtually the same statistically with more strikeouts. The Sox actually scored more runs the first 23 games last season than they have this season. If the record was the same, people wouldn't be saying the offense looks better this year.

Gordon Beckham and Albert Pujols have the same OPS.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ May 2, 2012 -> 08:59 AM) Greg, this is why you sometimes get picked on. A blurb comes out about the Braves hitters doing well and you write a post basically saying all of the hate directed towards Walker was misguided and anyone who thought Walker wasn't doing a good job with the Sox is dumb. If you'll go back and look at quite a few of the posts after the blubr about the Braves, you'll see that the consensus was that Walker just wasn't cutting it with the Sox, not that he sucks at being a hitting coach. Maybe he is making a difference in Atlanta, or maybe it's just a change that's making the difference. The change from Walker to Manto seems to be positive with the Sox, but that's not necessarily saying Manto is so much better than Walker. Considering the posts when the news broke ATL named Walker their hitting coach, you would have thought it was impossible their offense be anywhere near what it has been. People thought Walker was bad. They were wrong. They don't want to admit it. That's all it is.

QUOTE (onedude @ May 2, 2012 -> 08:45 AM) Duncan hit one last night didn't he? Did he? I fell asleep when it was 6-1. If he did it was their first as a team in 2 weeks.

Cleveland hasn't hit a homer since April 17. Don't start now boys.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ May 1, 2012 -> 07:31 PM) Woah, go out of town for a weekend and come back to this! I had to do a lot of digging to find the original story, but it's not at all surprising. The 19 year old male has always been his persona for some reason. I hope it's not genuine -- you'd think having a job at a newspaper would force him to grow up a little bit, or at least stumble upon some professionalism -- but I see no evidence to that effect. So he HASN'T been suspended? That's stupid. Those were some very clearly offensive statements made using the CST moniker. There really is no debate there. I don't care if you were personally offended or not, that sort of commentary was simply inappropriate by any standard. Oh well, it's only a matter of time before his besmirched reputation catches up with him and costs him his job permanently. On the whole, Chicago won't put up with his bulls*** long enough for his antics to generate a net gain for the CST. His days are numbered. That's the thing. He'll do it again. He can't help himself.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 1, 2012 -> 07:18 PM) Nope...it doesn't work that way... If a black employee did the same thing or a woman or any of the protected classes, and they fired them, wouldn't disparate treatment come into play?

He probably has to do something, maybe go for some training or something, but he's very lucky. I guess this means all racists and sexists working at the ST can probably not worry about losing their job if they slip and say something at work, or if they just get pissed off and start popping off. If the ST fired them for the same thing they let Cowley get away with, they most likely will be required to pay their fired employees in full, and maybe even more.

From the Tribune: By Monday, Cowley's Twitter account @cst_cowley had been deleted, but the dialogue was not so easily expunged from the Internet. Cowley's regular work appeared in the paper Tuesday, but his extracurricular writing did not go unnoticed by new Sun-Times editor-in-chief Jim Kirk. "Recently, a reporter in our newsroom, Joe Cowley, made offensive comments on his Twitter account," Kirk said Tuesday. "The Chicago Sun-Times is an institution with important social responsibilities, and we expect those who represent our paper to act with the respect and sensitivity that our readers deserve. Mr. Cowley's remarks were offensive and he has been reprimanded appropriately."

QUOTE (Soxfest @ May 1, 2012 -> 12:15 PM) I like 6 games against the Cubs, I could care less to see Houston come in twice a yr and the 10,000 a night for those games agree with me! I agree.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 1, 2012 -> 12:58 PM) The point that no one would be criticizing the hitting coach if a few people were hitting badly is insane. The only reason Manto isn't getting heat now is because he has been here for months,not the years that Walker was. Besides, you are already starting in on Manto so I guess that said it all. As I mentioned, I was messing with caulfield when I called for Manto's head, just like I do with Cooper. I'm not into firing coaches as the solution to every problem. I just mock the posters who called for Walker's head after anyone ever made an out, by calling for Cooper's head when any pitcher got lit up. If the Sox were leading the league in runs scored, like ATL is leading the NL Manto would be praised, correct? So why shouldn't Walker? Caulfield refuses to give him any credit. BTW aren't a few people hitting badly?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 1, 2012 -> 12:53 PM) I was hitting the scenario you put forth as totally false. No its not. As much as caulfield doesn't want to give Walker any credit, he would be praising Manto if the Sox offense was currently on pace with Atlanta's. That's the point I was making. And for the record, I don't think Manto needs to be fired, I was playing with caulfield the other day. The offense is just as brutal as its been in years past. People just don't want to admit they were most likely wrong when they pinned Walker as the problem.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 1, 2012 -> 12:46 PM) Wait, you think people wouldn't be picking at the hitting coach if only a few players weren't hitting? You have been around Soxtalk waaaaaay too long to believe that. 2011 Sox .252 avg .319 OBP .706 OPS 2012 Sox .241 avg .305 OBP .703 OPS I have read on this thread the offense is better. The numbers look pretty similar to me. And the team is striking out at an enormous rate. Remember lift and pull? I haven't read many Jeff Manto needs to go posts.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 1, 2012 -> 12:15 PM) I'm surprised Dick isn't using those last 6 weeks to blame Manto for what happened to Brent Morel. Beckham, we all pretty much expected or perhaps feared, was lost for good, at least with the Sox. Then again, with that Braves' team you have the best hitting catcher in baseball (McCann), Chipper Jones (Hall of Famer), Uggla, Freeman, Heyward...except for Michael Bourne, there's a lot of thunder in that line-up. But Heyward is below .200 right now. You also have Prado, Pastornicky and Juan Francisco. If Jack Wilson, Bourne, Prado and Pastornicky start putting up 800+ OPS numbers, then I'll be duly impressed. And it didn't really matter what Rios or Morel did the last month of the season, it was already over then. If the Sox were leading the AL in runs, you would say Manto is doing a great job, saying it was obvious the problem was the hitting coach........You wouldn't say, they have a lot of thunder, Konerko, Dunn, Rios, Ramirez, lets wait until AJP gets his OPS to .800 or Beckham and Morel get theirs to .700 before praising him. You're just being unfair.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 1, 2012 -> 09:55 AM) You gotta remember though that for every good series, you also get a stinker. You get a down Padres team or a Pirates team or something like that. Which you would also get if they played only AL teams

Its still the toughest Sox ticket to get even at jacked up prices. Its in the Sox best interest to keep the home and home.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 11:59 PM) I honestly never thought that Greg Walker was a bad hitting coach, but by the end of his tenure, his methodology and sermons were obviously not getting through to the hitters. I was tired of him and I did want him gone, and so did others within the organization. The team looks a lot better this year, and I think Greg Walker being gone is part of the reason. A lot of times, players just need to hear it from someone new to have it click for them again. Stats would indicate the offense hasn't improved. Even Rios had a better Sept 2011 than Apr 2012.

What they are doing is psuedo hiding him on their website. He's not listed where they show today's columns but obviously continues to write. I would think this means he isn't being disciplined.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 1, 2012 -> 08:15 AM) It's going to be extremely tough to keep this thread in the PHT section. Probably at some point, it might need to be bifurcated from the point at which the Twitter scandal/suspension started and that half broken off and lodged at SLAM. Simply a feeling these "free speech vs. workplace harassment/discrimination" discussions are going to get pretty heated. Cowley's boss could use his/her free speech,wouldn't be funny if his boss was a female, and say you're fired. Even if they wound up paying him every last dime he has on a contract if he has a contract I doubt its a huge amount of money.

Hopefully we won't have a gameday boredom thread this year.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 06:24 PM) I don't feel bad for that Mickey guy either. He even admits he did stupid s*** as a 22 year old. He insulted Cowley from a ST computer even. He should have used the "satire" defense.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 06:06 PM) The guy got himself fired for stupidly trashing a columnist at the newspaper he works for. I'll agree the kid went way over the line and deserved what he got, just like Joe did yesterday. He deserves the same fate. The ST is on life support. Any advertisers pulling out is a big deal. I'm starting to think this is the major subject regarding Joe's future employment. If enough advertising dollars won't do business with the ST with Cowley.............he gone. They have grounds. My wife is a labor/employment lawyer who represents management. Maybe I'll ask her about it tonight.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 04:54 PM) It's too bad that you can get fired for writing what Cowley wrote. He didn't do anything illegal and people with his views have the right to a job they are qualified for. The workplace would be insane if you could just say whatever came to your mind. He's smart enough to know where the line is, Ozzie just got in trouble a baseball player just got fined for a tweet, he just has such an inflated opinion of himself and his (lack of ) talent, he crossed it. Did he even apologize? And if its satire, are his columns satire as well?

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 04:36 PM) I'm half hispanic. Shall I just assume 1) my relatives are sexists 2) culturally they were never told not to be? Either you're assuming Latin America is unenlightened, and that everyone mistreats women, or you're making some more subtle point that I'm missing. I'll tell you what, my relatives in Beverly (on the other side of my family) are definitely the ones I catch saying drunk racist/sexist things at parties. Not the hispanic half of my family. If they said it in the workplace, they would have consequences. You can go over to a girl at a bar and say something offensive to her. She may slap you or throw a drink on you or walk away. You say the same thing to a colleague at work, you could wind up unemployed. Sex, age, religion....these are some of the things you can't pop off about in the workplace. If someone is offended, you're in trouble. Sure, Cowley's done it before and the Sun Times, at least from what we can tell, didn't act, but maybe no one complained. Once there is a compliant, they are obligated to investigate. I'm sure they have a policy in place, and I would guess termination is one of the possible consequences.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 30, 2012 -> 03:28 PM) And the company wants him to tweet apparently, which he does. All this should accomplish is some HR person now having to write out a 20 page unreadable edict on what a person can and can't say on twitter when representing the company. Seriously, attorneys out there, will Joe have a case if he sues the Sun Times after his firing? He can say he was doing his job. A columnist by nature has OPINIONS and humor. Some people get it; some don't but he was just doing his job (he can say). I'm asking all of your to go into each tweet and tell me what was so bad about any of them but the final one. And the final one gets u fired?? Cmon. It wasn't that bad to cost him a high paying job. Legally the issue may be if they do nothing and fire someone else for saying or doing something similar in the future or maybe even in the past, they are probably looking at a lawsuit, not to mention the lawsuits they may be looking at from co workers who were offended by his words and aren't comforable working there anymore.