Dick Allen

Why would you trade him? Isn't Greg Walker the reason he hasn't hit? Walker is gone. Beckham should be an All Star now.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 3, 2011 -> 07:31 PM) How did Theo not make that trade? That's one of his better ones other than the ones where his former employees helped him out. Because he wasn't employed by the Red Sox when that trade was made. He resigned in Oct 2005. The trade was made in Nov 2005. Theo came back in Jan 2006.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Nov 3, 2011 -> 02:22 PM) Theo traded Hanley Ramirez for Beckett. Even taking on a boatload of contracts (Beckett and Lowell) he still gave up a premier SS talent. Ive never been a big Epstein fan, so I think the Cubs and him are a good match. Actually, Theo didn't make that trade, but it did get them a championship.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Nov 3, 2011 -> 02:33 AM) So who becomes 3B coach? Chances are McEwing is the 3rd base coach. If he gets the STL job, how about Sandburg. Its time to poke the lion.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 1, 2011 -> 08:50 PM) That's always been one of the criticisms of the big OBP guys like Dunn or Thome, that in those situations where they needed to drive in a runner, they might "prefer" (that's the implicit criticism) to take a walk and leave the responsibility to the next hitter in the order. Especially with the Pirates' line-up at that time, Bay WAS the run production on that team. So of course what Manto said makes crystal clear sense. In all likelihood, the next hitter might hit into a DP or feel even more stressed knowing a slow, lumbering OBP guy is on base in front of him. Hitters have to know the situations and what's expected of them, what's their role on the team...that's basically it. I'll give one example, Alexei Ramirez should be a consistent run producer and he REALLY struggled to get quality at-bats when there were runners in scoring position. When Frank Thomas was in his heyday, there were several articles that called for him to walk less and swing at close pitches more often. The White Sox didn't mess with him, which I think was the correct thing to do. No sense messing up a good thing. He starts swinging at pitches 2 inches off the plate, he may start swinging at pitches 6 inches off the plate.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 31, 2011 -> 05:08 PM) 3B coaches are only do-nothing if you treat them that way. They are still on the coaching staff and interact with the players on a day to day basis. It was a HUGE upgrade to bring in McEwing over Cox. Being a base coach is how alot of "experienced managers" get their first time gig, like Alan Trammel who is a first time manager's bench coach (Kirk Gibson) and started out as the 1B coach for the Padres before being hired by the Tigers. If Robin goes against most experts opinions and unquestionably fails, I would bet McEwing would be 1st in line for the managers chair. Yeah, I agree with you, its baseball and Ventura is probably an expert at baseball, besides half the people who think he needs experience want Frank Thomas and his zero experience to be the hitting coach.

I don't what the news is on this subject. The White Sox pay rent, they don't own anything there, they aren't going to be paying for a new restaurant or gift shop. IIRC, there was something in the original agreement that sets aside money for upgrades and improvements every year. Sometimes its spent on new scoreboards. Why should JR give them any of the profits? He's a tenant, and they wouldn't make any money on the restaurant anyway if the Sox aren't there. JR has a sweetheart lease. We all knew that. We also have known for years he has near, if not total control of the property. Remember all the the Cubs stuff about JR would never let them play there? The only real news I get from this is just how much of a sweetheart deal this is compared to others. I always figured they all were pretty similar.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 07:02 AM) Player V - .243/.322/.312/.634, 5 HR, 26 XBH, 623 PAs Player F - .197/.317/.365/.682, 5 HR, 11 XBH, 164 PAs Player dA - .329/.400/.520/.920, 4 HR, 18 XBH, 171 PAs one of these players is managing the White Sox and had a fantastic career, one of these players is going to be a 26 year old catcher who will likely start full-time as a 27 year old unless AJ Pierzynski is traded in the offseason, and one of these players is going to be 28 years old and has, for the most part, spent his entire career in the minors. I don't think I need to explain who is who. Moral of the story: Don't cite a statistic when the player hasn't had a statistically sustainable amount of plate appearances to suggest a trend. You are old enough to remember Ventura coming up - did you foresee another 289 homers and being one of the greatest 3B of his generation after 623 PAs? Do you think Alejandro de Aza is a .330 hitter? Because you should IF YOU ARE CITING FLOWERS' CAREER AVERAGE. C'MON MAN /Keyshawn'd Actually I remember Ventura quite well. He was after all one of the greatest players in college baseball history. Also Flowers has a long history of strikeouts, and hasn't shown he can hit .215 yet in the major leagues and as you pointed out, isn't exactly 21 years old. If you don't think there is a "trend" with Flowers and lack of ability to make contact......................

QUOTE (iamshack @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 10:06 PM) He was actually brazen enough to come out and say it on his weekly radio appearance at the time. Kind of amazing how fast that guy's career went down the tubes. How fast his career went down the tubes? He won 50 games the 3 seasons after he left the Sox and pitched until he was 44 years old.

Tyler Flowers has a .197 career batting average and strikes out about as much as Adam Dunn. Its amazing how many people are even slightly excited about his future.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 24, 2011 -> 06:07 PM) "I try to send my support to other general managers in the league to tell them I see what happened, you're not alone in this and (your team) is lucky to have you," Williams said. "That is the message I sent, that I hear the criticism. This is not an easy job to do." Lovely, KW. How about worrying more about your team's future and less about playing MLB psychoanalyst/therapist/GM support group mentor guy? Or maybe you can delegate some of your responsibilities to Hahn.... How many other GMs talk about how hard the job is as much as KW? If its so hard, he should quit.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 24, 2011 -> 05:43 PM) Small thing, but I'm bothered that the Score is carrying the Epstein press conference when they did not carry Ventura's. Its bad enough the Score is a sports talk station doing that, but being the White Sox flagship makes it ridiculous.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 23, 2011 -> 08:25 PM) Oh, I see, so someone else's players won 95 games his first year. He did pick up Big Papi and the 2003 AL batting champ off the scrap heap, and also Kevin Millar, a guy who got a lot of credit for good things his first couple years in Boston. But carry on. Theo had nothing to do with Boston's success. The Cubs f***ed up again.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 23, 2011 -> 07:38 PM) And it also guaranteed them an extra $5 million in costs just to pay his and Hoyer's salaries. 2 World Series titles. His teams won 95,98,95,86,96,95,95,89,90 games. You're right, he's a trainwreck. The Cubs f***ed up again.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 23, 2011 -> 07:32 PM) But there's no obvious reason why that team must have the highest payroll in that division...they can sell the average seats in their ballpark at a high price, but compared to St. Louis or Houston...they have a 2nd team to compete with, and they have no advantage like luxury boxes or a modern stadium. At best, he goes from a case where he's the #2 spending team in the league to a case where he's the #3 spending team in the league, except with a 35% lower total salary and very little room for revenue expansion, along with the likelihood of revenue contraction having happened this year. $150-175 million buys you a lot more mistakes than $100-$120 million. He' won 2 WS. The Cubs payroll is not going to be an issue. And as I pointed out after you listed all his mistakes, his teams for the most part still won, so how does that happen? His coming on board probably just guaranteed the Cubs more revenue in 2012.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 23, 2011 -> 07:15 PM) For $140 million? I'd have been angrier than I was when the Hudson deal went down. Maybe I'd have done cartwheels of anger. Otherwise, no one would have been happy with that deal. And he's also lost his biggest advantage...the money. For 8 years...he's had everyone he talked to in trades knowing that if they didn't trade with Boston, they were a year away from losing their player to Boston as a free agent anyway. And if he blew $15 milion on a failure, he could just spend $30 million the next year to fix it. He has none of those advantages any more. And he also no longer has Hoyer to help him out by sending him all-stars for below market value. You're talking about his biggest advantage, the money, without thinking about it. He still will have the highest payroll in his division, something he has NEVER had before, I think you have totally forgotten about the Yankees, and also if all his high priced signings were busts, he other moves must be golden. He never used the excuse drafting late was a good reason to have a s***ty farm system. That division is not a bad place to be. The Cardinals got real lucky squeaking into the playoffs and if they re-sign Pujols, which I would presume, that's going to take a huge chunk of their payroll for the forseeable future. The Brewers will probably lose Fielder. Theo's in a nice spot. I don't think a Cubs re-build would take very long as long as people come to the park, and I think this move pretty much guarantees it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 22, 2011 -> 01:33 PM) ANibal Sanchez, signed by the Red Sox in 2001. Hanley Ramirez, signed by the Red Sox in 2000. Jon Lester, drafted by the Red Sox in summer 2002. Know what they all have in common? They were all in the Red Sox organization before Theo. And it's impressive that you left the Carl Crawford deal off there. And hell, Buchholz and Lester and Papelbon sure didn't play up to their contracts this year. And then Jenks. A lot of White Sox fans are funny. Ventura is a bad hire because he has no experience. Dave Martinez would have been great because he stands next to Joe Maddon during games. The Cubs hire Theo, a guy with "experience", 2 WS rings averaging around 93 wins a year, and its a bad hire, or at best a neutral one that won't make any difference. Theo is overrated, he had a high payroll. He signed Carl Crawford. I bet if KW signed Carl Crawford last winter most here would have been doing cartwheels. For all of Theo's mistakes, his teams still won. This is the Cubs best hire probably in our lifetimes. He will have advantages in the NL Central he didn't have in the AL East.

Its just KW talking BS right now. I'm sure he's going to be dangling guys like Danks, Quentin and Floyd, but he's not locked in to moving them unless he gets in his opinion is an appropriate return. This will be an interesting offseason.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Oct 22, 2011 -> 11:15 AM) I'm not sure how one can argue that the Sox aren't in bad shape right now. Overextended payroll, bad contracts, and a barren farm system. Things are pretty s***ty right now. On the other hand, if Dunn hits like he hit before 2011, which is probably doubtful, and Rios plays like he played the first half of 2010, again, doubtful, Peavy comes back to be a solid #3 or #4, Beckham hits .275-280, the Sox right now would be as good as any team in their division.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 21, 2011 -> 06:51 PM) I've always disliked the word "horrid", mostly because I think it's too much like "horrible" and it just sounds unfinished. I think an English teacher would gag at the way I used it. I will change it to say he was a horrid hitter.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 21, 2011 -> 06:35 PM) He's gonna ruin Freddy Freeman and Jason Heyward. Heyward was a horrid hitter in 2011. If he's a horrid hitter in 2012 most here will say Walker ruined him. If he snaps back, most will say Walker had nothing to do with it.

I guess this proves Walker has a lot more respect around baseball than most on this board thought.

It would be interesting to know just what Hahn is thought about by other teams. The White Sox obviously have a bloated payroll for the amount of wins. The young players that came up you, guys like Beckham and Sale and even Viciedo you can't say were "developed" by the Sox. I wonder if other teams question his evaluation skills. He does have a reputation for being a good contract guy, maybe the Angels are perfect for him. He can be a fake GM for a few years until Sciosca retires or his gout flare ups become too much and they hand over the keys.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 18, 2011 -> 08:11 AM) Except that Boston could sit on him for a year. Anyone who comes into Chicago is obviously their second choice. Hell the Red Sox could reassign Theo to something else in their organization just to get rid of him. They can sit on him, but would have to pay him $7.5 million with what his contract reads with a bonus. That's some money that could be spent paying over slot.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 18, 2011 -> 01:16 PM) So to recap the questions that the truthsayer didn't ask... -If Cooper is a backstabber for being back with the Sox, what does that make Harold Baines? -If loyalty is so important, why didn't Ozzie take Greg Walker and Jeff Cox with him? -If Cooper is Kenny Williams' b**** for telling Kenny what is going on in the locker room, what does that make Joe for telling the general public Ozzie's version of what is going on in the locker room? -What happened to the promise about not writing about Guillen for three weeks? -The Sox had Guillen under contract for 2012 because he asked for, and received, the exercise of his option last year. When you factor in that guys like Joe Torre and Tony LaRussa have managed on to the last year of their deal multiple times, what makes Ozzie think he is more deserving of a deal than guys who will be Hall of Fame managers? -If Kenny Williams is "Hollywood" for a very short cameo on a Chicago themed tv show, what does it make Ozzie Guillen for going on to things like Fox and ESPN for TV coverage, not to mention the facebook account, the twitter account, and the webpages? Why doesn't Joe call out someone like AJ for going on TV and even on wrestling shows? -If Don Cooper is wrong for going over Ozzie's head to go to Kenny for an extension when he doesn't have a contract for 2012, why isn't it wrong for Ozzie to go over Kenny's head to Jerry Reinsdorf, when he already has a deal for 2012? Am I missing anything that any objective columnist would have asked Ozzie at some point? The only thing you may be missing is Cooper actually worked this year on the last year of his contract. Something Ozzie wouldn't do. Why didn't Ozzie make sure his coaches were signed as long as he has been? I can't see how its wrong or backstabbing for Cooper to be concerned about his future. Ozzie can't live on $2 million a year and Cooper makes nowhere near that, and he had no contract. He signed his extension after Ozzie left. Greg, I know it hurts, but your boy Ozzie really is dumb. His basically Oney with some gray hairs.