Dick Allen

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 09:09 PM) Ozzie won't protect his boys. According to Hawk and Stone, we've been hit the most and hit others the least. Maybe its just my imagination, but it seems we hear this just about every year. Perhaps teams take liberty knowing the Sox won't retaliate, just like they throw 85 mph fastballs down the middle on 3-0 because they know the Sox aren't swinging.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:28 PM) What manager would rather manage the 2012 White Sox on a one-year contract rather than the 2012 Marlins on a multi-year contract? The Sox are in a downward spiral, Guillen knows that and wants out. Can't blame him. I don't think anyone is going to hold him back. Who wouldn't want to work for Loria and all his meddling. Maybe Joe Girardi has some thoughts.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:49 PM) Dick, curious what your thoughts are on this article from a couple weeks ago. I quoted a big chunk of it in one of our threads. Pay particular attention to section "no. 3". I did read that, and its funny how that works. Depending on the argument BABIP, if its low someone will say it shows unluckiness. Now they use it as a reason to fire the hitting coach. I don't know what that would have to do with Walker. Did you read what Carlton Fisk said in that article. It was up top you have to click on it. He played major league baseball, I'd think he would have a better idea of hitting coaches than Dan Bernstein no matter what SS2K5 says.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:44 PM) Look at that list. Hudson had no chance to get better here. Vazquez had a great 2007 and was decent in 2 other years. Richard was made by Cooper out of a non prospect. MMac was great in 06 and never matched that again. Hora io Freaking Ramirez? Gmab, that's like blaming walker for Kotsay. Excuses all around. Look at Vazquez the year after he left the Sox. His two "decent years were 4.84 and 4.67. There's obviously a little difference in decent pitching seasons vs. decent offensive seasons in your mind. If a hitter was hitting like Hudson was pitching when he was traded and started hitting like Hudson started pitching afterwards, you can't tell me Walker wouldn't have been blasted. The bottom line is you could only remember one. I mentioned 8 or 9 off the top of my head. There are plenty of pitching failures. It happens. Even Floyd and Danks are above the league average ERA this year. No one blames Cooper, and its most likely not is fault, just like its most likely not Walker's fault Dunn has been as bad as he's been, or Rios is sleepwalking through 2011 or Beckham has been struggling. Are they blaming Boston's hitting coach for Carl Crawford?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:28 PM) How often do pitchers come to Chicago and get worse? How often do we call a left guy up, give him time to develop, and wind up with nothing? I literally can't think of a case since the 2007 bullpen with aardsma. Javy Vazquez, Daniel Hudson, Mike MacDougal, Scott Linebrink, Clayton Richard, Jake Peavy, Nick Massett, Andy Sisco, David Riske, Horatio Ramirez, Tony Pena, Ehren Wasserman to name a few. Some not so dramatic but still not exactly pitching coach genius. Players fail. White Sox fans have it out for Walker which is a shame because he is probably as proud to be a White Sox as anyone.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:25 PM) I'm guessing it's mostly due to Cooper's reputation of taking a guy that formerly underachieved and turning him into a legitimate pitcher. With Walker, the reverse seems to happen or there is little improvement, if any at all. That's the perception, its not the reality. Thome and Dye hit pretty well with Sox. Swisher was a bust, but its well documented he didn't work with Walker. Dunn has sucked. Rios has sucked except for the first half last year. Beckham has had his moments, but has been a dissappointment. Everyone else seems to me to pretty much have hit what you would have expected if not better over the years.

I think Paulie was hit on purpose. I'd like a Sox pitcher to respond with some chin music next inning.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:18 PM) But Cooper failed as much, if not more...apparently. If just once someone blamed Cooper and was actually serious about it, when a pitcher sucked like they blame Walker when a hitter sucked, I'd stop my crusade.

The Bust with 3 doubles. These games are meaningless, but hopefully he's on to something.

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:07 PM) So pretty much you just summed up what Pierre did at age 28... Thank you agreeing, at best he is Pierre. He has more power than Pierre and defensively is head and shoulders better. You have several screws loose, better get those tightened up. And even if he was just like Pierre when Pierre was 28, its when Juan was with the Cubs, he'd be being paid about 7% of what Juan was being paid.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:04 PM) At this point why wouldn't you change the hitting coach? This obviously isn't working, for whatever reason. But you go on picking on Don Cooper to prove your point. Answer the question, is Greg Walker the awful hitting coach talk radio and Sox message boards make him out to be? Quit dancing around it. Should he be fired because he's bad at his job? And I'm joking when I say Cooper deserves to be fired, but if he were held to the same standards Walker is, and Walker has 3 underperformers, Dunn, Rios and Beckham, how much of that is Walker's fault,Cooper wouldn't be this pitching coach God he's made out to be.

They are making a big deal out of the 10k the Sox get if they finish second. Why doesn't Ozzie just give each coach 10k? He can give it as a gift, and he's always popping off how rich he is.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 07:58 PM) More meaning than the beat writers. They are pretty much spineless in this town. Guys in the studio aren't spineless? Do they ever even go to the games? So it is your opinion that Greg Walker is a bad hitting coach, correct? Is it also your opinion that a replacement will improve the Sox offense automatically? Instead of just trying to pick a fight with me, show me where you stand.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 07:50 PM) He has been ripped plenty in the media. If he was as good as you think he is, someone in baseball outside of the Sox organization would have come to his defense by now. When does that happen? And if you get ripped by the media, not even the beat writers, but the talk show hosts, there's meaning to that? OMG. On second thought, you are correct. If Dan McNeil or Terry Boers or Dan Bernstein say you are awful, they are experts. They would know.

QUOTE (SoIL @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 07:37 PM) I could live with this outfield and with De Aza leading off. It 's most likely fantasy, but I'd like it better if Rios was traded, De Aza was in center and Quentin was in left. De Aza has been a heck of a lot more interesting to watch play than most of the Sox roster the past few years.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 07:41 PM) How often do people in baseball rip each other? So the opinions on this board and talk radio is what guys like KW should be checking out so he'll know his next move? Believe me, if Walker was 1% as bad as apparently you and a lot of others feel, he would have been ripped by now. I even believe you know that.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 19, 2011 -> 08:08 AM) Talk radio hasn't talked about Greg Walker? Are you serious? That's not what I said. Talk radio and message boards are where he gets ripped. You don't see anyone in baseball ripping him.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 07:31 PM) Flowers has got to learn how to hit big league pitching. Maybe he and Dunn can work out together this winter. Otherwise that bat is going to keep him as a back up catcher He's going to have to somehow make more contact, without sacrificing power. I'd like to take a few cuts off Axelrod.

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 07:24 PM) So hitting at or around .300, stealing 40+ bags, and having around .350 OBP... sound good to you? I will admit guys his age generally aren't something to get excited about, but this guy has been solid and looks like he knows what he's doing on the baseball field. He's a cheap upgrade for Pierre at the very least, and maybe he blossoms into a player that can put up real good numbers for an entire season.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 07:23 PM) Good point. I seem to have read that Mr Rogers thinks Escobar gives the team more flexibility, but I woud really prefer the veteran presence of Omar on the team for at least one more year anyway. He is still pretty darn good with the leather I've like Omar, but its time for him to hit the road.

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 07:22 PM) Outside of Fans... Has any player stated that Walker didn't help him, after they left.. ANd for the record, I think Hitting coaches are overrated... So I am not a fan nor hater of walker. Aaron Rowand, and has any hitter ever bashed him for ruining them and costing them millions of dollars?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 09:28 AM) Konerko is one hitter. And, he's the one hitter who in 2011 hit comparably to his norms/expectations (average-wise he was actually higher, though power-wise he was down a bit). This is both an indictment of Walker, and something to give hope for 2012 with a different hitting coach, but think about this for a second... of the Sox starting lineup hitters on Opening Day: Pierre, Rios, Quentin, Morel*, Ramirez, Beckham, Konerko, AJP, Dunn... which of them actually performed at the level of their career norms or base expectations at a minimum? Konerko, maybe Quentin. Six bombed out, and not just a little below averages in most cases, but a lot worse. Morel we can leave out of the discussion - a rookie who took 5 months to develop, but then did, as per his usual pattern. When your offense underperforms that badly (and most of them did in 2010 too, BTW) for that long, it is time to make a change. One hitter cannot be used to sacrifice 8 others. Morel is a rookie, Pierre is doing what he always does, Ramirez, AJP what they always do. There are 3 White Sox underperforming offensively, Dunn, Rios and Beckham. Even though the AL league ERA is 4.06, no Cooper bashing for Floyd and Danks being below average.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 18, 2011 -> 09:39 PM) Show me one statement by someone other than a fan outside of the Sox organization that Walker IS highly respected. As I said earlier Aaron Rowand said Walker was the best hitting coach he has ever worked with and that was after he left Philadelphia. All the Cooper buzz you ever read is media or message board generated. Just because John Kruk thinks you're great doesn't mean much. Does anyone remember Leo Mazzone? He's been looking for a job for years. Don't you think if Walker was as awful and made such a difference in players sucking as much as this board and talk radio believes, at least one would pop off about it? If he has done this, he's cost them millions of dollars.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 18, 2011 -> 06:22 PM) Can I be at least the random moron fan that runs onto the field (I'd be the first black male that I know of) to get attention? I might do it if I'm drunk enough. One of these days, Soxtalk. And you'll know it's me. Make sure you go to that game without a shirt on. It enhances the running onto the field experience.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 18, 2011 -> 03:50 PM) Well, until you come up with a non-Sox homer that can vouch for him, you can't keep comparing him to Cooper. I wouldn't mind a clean sweep of the coaching staff. But if only one can go, you best believe I'm hoping it's Walker. It's the no-brainer of no-brainers. I can compare him to Cooper all I want. Is Danks and Floyd's matching 4.42 ERA's what you were looking for this year? Peavy is almost 5.00. Buehrle is starting to get jacked around. You know when hitters do this who you blame. Just be consistent or start using some logic. There's 3 underachieving hitters on the Sox this year. Dunn, Rios and Beckham. If you really think that's, because of Greg Walker, I will be dissappointed in your baseball acumen.