Dick Allen

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 03:04 PM) Lackey and Crawford (especially Lackey) contracts look terrible at the moment. But Theo's overall body of work is staggering. He's one of the best GMs in team sports and if the Cubs get him they'll be damn lucky. If Theo went to the Cubs and they won, he would have killed 2 curses, and probably would go down as one of the top GMs ever. If he's miserable working for the Red Sox, its a no brainer he takes the Cubs job if the Red Sox let him.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 12:39 PM) And that was the first you heard of it? Come on now. It is my opinion that the dislike of Cowley stems from the fact that he slapped down SoxTalk. Not really. He's just an unprofessional goof. Cowley laughs at Phil Rogers for getting scolded for calling out KW, then calls him out himself. Also remember Rogers had Ozzie going to the Marlins 15 months ago. I think that was before Cowley became BFF with Oney and started his campaign. But we will see. Joe did say several months ago, the Sox would hire a puppet. I believe Daryl Boston is who he mentioned. Looks like Joe will be wrong yet again. I may think less of KW than Cowley does. But Cowley calls KW a liar and finds excuses every time Ozzie contridicts himself. Ozzie goes on a rant about money, then the next day says his leaving is nothing about money. He mentions loyalty. The Sox gave him an extension after 2007. Picked up his extension he cried about last year, then Ozzie says he can't work under the extension. Perhaps Ozzie at one time was a good manager, but now much the same as Ditka, Ozzie is about Ozzie. I'm glad he and his doofus son are gone, now JR needs a new GM and we are back in business, although I do think getting rid of one of the two will make a huge difference. I really believe their dynamic was pulling the organization down.

Frasor does have a team option, and another thing to keep in mind, he was one of only a couple that accepted arbitration last year.

QUOTE (BamaDoc @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 08:05 AM) Per the MLB trade rumors site link, Buehrle, Pierre, and Frasor rank as type B free agents meaning if arbitration is offered and rejected by the player, if the player signs elsewhere the Sox receive a supplemental pick between the first and second round. The good news is the pick is not from a signing team so it does not keep anyone from signing them. The picks could be quite useful to restock the minor league system. The down side is if the player accepts you are stuck with them and at a arbitration price ie maybe not the price you want. Buehrle no brainer you offer so if he doesn't resign you get the pick. He will have multi year offers. Frasor tougher call. May decline in search of a multiyear (two) year deal and I think someone would do that so I say offer. Pierre toughest call. You don't want him back, unlikely to get multi year offer so highest chance of accepting, so I think despite wanting the pick you have to pass. I would however, try to get him to agree to refuse arbitration thus getting the pick. I would have a wink wink agreement that he could be a minor league instructor when his playing days are thru. Thoughts? If the Sox offered Pierre arbitration, and he accepted, the reality is without the LA money, they are looking at paying him double what they have been paying him. I don't think they offer. Frasor is a tough call., as far as picking up his option but I don't see them offering him arb if they reject his option. Buerhle obviously you offer. Another thing to consider, the Sox don't like spending a lot of money on the draft. I don't know if JR would really appreciate a bunch of supplemental picks considering their rate of panning out and the bonuses they are paid.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 09:19 PM) I bet most managers would prefer to manage a young club than the big market clubs. How many consequences can be handed out to veterans for not wanting to play? Apparently none. See Rios, Alex.

QUOTE (toasty @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 07:16 PM) He admitted he could no longer reach the players in THAT clubhouse... there is a difference there. If he admits he can't get reach the players he knows inside and out, how would he convince JR and KW that he could reach players he doesn't know very well? Believe me, I like Francona, but I think he just gave JR an out if he has cold feet about paying managers decent cash, and I can't say I could blame him.

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 06:18 PM) Where was Ozzie not going to honor the contract? Did we really want him to? Ozzie quit. He said he couldn't and wouldn't work with one year left on his deal.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 05:55 PM) If the Sox are interested in changing the organizational culture, Francona doesn't sound like the right fit. I agree. He's had some huge success and he is a classy guy, but his team just had one of the biggest collapses in history. If they go 9-18 in September they make the playoffs. What's he going to do with a team with the talent level of the White Sox? I won't cry if JR hires him. I just think he'd probably be great someplace else.

"We met this morning to look back on the 2011 season and to consider the future of the Boston Red Sox, including my involvement with the club," Francona said in a statement released by the club. "I passed along my frustrations at my inability to effectively reach the players. After many conversations and much consideration, I ultimately felt that, out of respect to this team, it was time for me to move on." He admits he can't reach the players. The Sox have a couple of very pricey veterans who need to be "reached". You can cross Francona off the list.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 09:29 AM) Loyalty like getting a contract extension during a losing season in 2007, or getting an option exercised after a failed 2010 season? Funny how Ozzie had to have that option exercised, it gets exercised and he doesn't honor it, and HE pops off about loyalty. Maybe he should re think that. If JR doesn't let him out of his contract, its very debatable whether he ever gets offered what he signed for ever again.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 29, 2011 -> 09:48 PM) Not to use a college basketball analogy but Roy Williams at Kansas had a winning "culture" to the tune of about an .820 win percentage. Virtually all of his assistant coaches were huge flops when they became head coaches including Matt Doherty who just about killed Carolina's program he was so bad. Coach K's guys haven't done all that well either, but who knows? If the Sox have good players, no matter who they hire, will be considered a good manager. If they have bad players, they will wind up getting waxed. Joe Torre was an idiot when he had bad players and a HOF manager when he had great ones. There are probably a lot of guys like him.

Hawk pisses me off sometimes, but I do love him. I love that I know what he's going to say before he says it. My buddy and I have the game on and we say what he's going to say seconds before he says it and our wives freak out. His umpire criticism bothers me, his looking the other way bothers me. He was quite critical when he was a Red Sox announcer, but he loves the Sox. Would anyone really prefer a guy like Len Kasper? I'm glad he's going to be here, but it really wasn't news. He'll announce the Sox as long as he's physically capable doing it. He's stated it many times and they aren't going to fire him.

How come Daryl Boston isn't getting mentioned? I thought Cowley said he'd be KW's puppet. I did get a laugh when Ozzie told the Miami media his situation wasn't about money. I guess he forgot what he said a couple days before.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 29, 2011 -> 08:48 PM) I never said anything of the sort. Evan Longoria is a monster player, and most-likely would be regardless of who had the pleasure of drafting him. What I said was that Martinez has been part of a culture that has handled several young players extraordinarily well. This probably occurred as a matter of necessity more than anything, but the fact is that Tampa managed to make the playoffs in a division where the two biggest superpowers in baseball reside with an abundance of young players coming through their system. Maybe JR should have his eye on some of their development people. One White Sox problem is it seems a lot of the guys called up in recent years looked like they started playing baseball 2 weeks before they came up. Throwing to wrong bases, missing cutoff men, getting picked off, horrid baserunning............Maybe that's why De Aza looked good, he was developed by someone else. It may be reason to be at least slightly excited about the 2 they received for Ozzie. As for the teacher/mentor thing, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Maddon is a very unique guy. I doubt Martinez has his intellect, and while he can learn from Maddon, when he gets a manager gig, he's got to be himself, not try to be Joe Maddon, but as I said, if the Sox hired him I wouldn't be upset. I think the end of the KW/Ozzie daily garbage just made this team better, and I think they will hire a good guy.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Sep 29, 2011 -> 08:33 PM) If it didn't happen every single time I get involved in a discussion on here it wouldn't piss me off but it's constant and it serves no one, just kills good dialogue. How does being signifcanlty more experienced not make Dave Martinez better qualified? That's pretty huge. There's a ton of responsibility that comes along with being a manager, Dave Martinez has basically lived it for the past 4 years while Sandy has merely viewed it, I imagine there's going to be a lot more growing pains with Alomar. What were Martinez's responsibilities?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 29, 2011 -> 08:22 PM) Well, the whole point is not who has worked with more young players. It's who has managed to actually be successful with more young players... There is more evidence of that in TB than in Cleveland. At least with the Sox everyone blamed the hitting coach or praised the pitching coach. Now you're saying the reason Evan Longoria is a great player is because of the bench coach? We have no idea the effect Martinez or Alomar has had on young players. None.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 29, 2011 -> 08:19 PM) So which is it, DA? Is it just baseball, or is it "just because you stand next to Maddon doesn't mean you are the next Joe Maddon..."? You seem to be contradicting yourself a bit. The "it's just baseball" line might sit with me better if we didn't just go through a few years of some head-scratchers. I agree that Dave Martinez is probably not going to be Joe Maddon cloned, as the guy's brilliance extends well-beyond just the statistics (I think he's a freaking master motivator), but Maddon also strikes me as someone who would take the responsibility of mentoring a younger coach very seriously (just as he learned from Scoscia). I think the model of mentor/student seems to work pretty well as far as coaching goes and we've seen it work across all sports. Signing Martinez up would probably be a pretty safe bet. I didn't contradict myself at all. A few posts mentioned bench coach vs. first base coach. I said I'd be fine with either, but I guess you missed that. My point was Sandy Alomar Jr. has plenty of experience and background to run a team. Toronto interviewed both last year and like Alomar a little more, but obviously not enough to hire him. Since KW seemingly knows Sandy a little better, I think if Sandy wants the job, unless Martinez blows them away in the interview, its his .

Harold Baines and Joey Cora were bench coaches. This is baseball not splitting atoms. I'm pretty sure Sandy Alomar Jr. has seen just about every situation imaginable. The he was a first base coach thing means nothing to me. He's been around baseball all his life and he's a bright guy.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Sep 29, 2011 -> 07:35 PM) There's a huge difference in experience, neither has been a manager obviously but one of them was a bench coach for 4 years on a team that won 2 division titles, a Wild Card and a Pennant. The other has 2 years experience as a first base coach in the city of Cleveland and 2 years as a catching instructor with the Mets before that. I have nothing against Sandy, I don't think he'd be reserved at all, he could be a fine manager and if he gets the job I won't be upset but the prospects of Dave Martinez just excite me significantly more. It mostely has to do with my love of Joe Maddon, that guy is all kinds of special. I just don't understand how standing next to Joe Maddon is going to make you the next Joe Maddon. Obviously, I don't know Martinez but I'm sure he'll get an interview. If its Martinez, Francona (although if he's available, I think he'll be a little too pricey for JR's taste) or Sandy, I'll be happy, but happiest if its Sandy. I like his background. He was very respected as a player, Thome called him the leader of those great Cleveland teams. According to Stone, he's very respected in the Cleveland clubhouse. Maddon is great, but that doesn't guarantee Martinez will great. Sometimes playing second fiddle is a better gig for people. Sandy could suck too, but the White Sox mentioned Sandy as a future manager 8 years ago. I think KW and JR will be most comfortable with him. Toronto liked him a little more than Martinez last year, although that doesn't necessarily mean anything. But if its close, familiarity usually wins. Who knows maybe one or both take a different job.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 09:49 PM) Interesting. Cowley is known for bashing Kenny but his latest article does make a good point. Looking at all the homer runs on Adam Dunn’s baseball card, rather than doing some homework on a guy who never had to play with expectations, is career suicide. That is just about Dunn but you look at the Teahen acquisition as well. Rosenbloom had an article about the bigger the game the smaller the Sox. I always question the mental makeup of this team. If something like this doesn't change with a new staff you have to wonder there is something the scouts and KW seem to miss. Adam Dunn has had to play with expectations.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 09:32 PM) Second baseman Gordon Beckham, whose struggles sparked a spat between Walker and general manager Ken Williams last month, also was sad to see Walker depart. "We’re good friends, you know, away from baseball," Beckham said. "He lives in Georgia and we spend some time together in the off-season, so it’s sad to see him go. "But I think it’s his decision and his time in terms of what he thinks and what he wants to do. I respect it 120 percent." GB it was not his decision, no matter how many players say it in the paper. Nice editing to try to make a false point. Here's AJP's quote, and I know, what is he going to say, but Walker is gone and AJP is supposedly the world's biggest asshole: I think sometimes - not sometimes, all the time - he doesn't get the credit he deserves," said Pierzynski. "I've know him for seven years. He's taught me more than I ever knew about hitting. I think because certain guys haven't done what people expected out of them I think he's got a bum rap and he deserves to credited with a lot of really good people and lot of success. "And it 's a shame. I hope people remember what he did and what he taught people. And moving forward whoever is the next hitting guy here is going to have big shoes to fill because Greg Walker did a lot of really good things here and he deserves a ton of credit. And hopefully now that he decided to step away, he'll get that."

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 09:23 PM) Ditka wanted to stay with the Bears, and even though McCaskey wanted to fire him for years (since '84 actually), Ditka never publicly said anything against McCaskey either himself or through a proxy. JR wanted Ozzie to stay but Ozzie quit on the organization. He said today he and his family discussed doing this for years. There obviously was a difference in their departures, but everything else was almost exactly the same. As far as what Ozzie says, he's like the weather in Chicago. Wait 10 minutes and you'll get a different story.

I read something today comparing Ozzie to Ditka, and it was eerily similar. They also said they wouldn't be surprised if Ozzie's tenure in Miami goes a lot like Ditka's in New Orleans. What's also peculiar is the Marlins obviously tampered. The fact that the Sox don't call them out on this just shows how much they really care Ozzie is gone. Also read where Ozzie's contract is 4 years $10 million. Not bad, but not the $4 million a year many reported. Still its a $700k raise from 2011. If I got a $700k raise, I'd be pretty happy about it.

I want Sandy to come back. Martinez can grow a sweet beard, but I don't know why being Maddon's bench coach automatically makes you a great candidate. He was kind of quiet as a player. I do like the fact Sandy was a catcher and a real big guy. I think he's a no BS guy who players would still find cool. I think he has most, if not all of Ozzie's good traits, without all the garbage that comes with it. He's a classy guy. I don't think he believes in having guys bunt who can't bunt, and if a guy isn't hitting, I don't think he'd be against hurting their feelings by either moving them down in the order or let them sit on the bench.

QUOTE (onedude @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 07:33 PM) Further evidence, I believe, looking at Nick Swisher can tell you right away. Good offensive player was brought in by KW(his job). Swisher proceeded to have a bad year...on/off the field. Kenny then trades Swisher(being a liability offensively after the bad year), who then goes back to career norms. I would say coaching has more to do with how a player succeeds or fails far more than the GM. Swisher didn't work with the Sox hitting coach. At all. He's pretty much the only player since Walker has been around that went put up better numbers elsewhere. A couple of guys had big seasons after they were moved on, Rowand in 2007, but the numbers pretty much matched his 2004 numbers and he did consult with Walker in the winter of 2006/7. Uribe had a nice year in SF, but that matched his first year with the Sox. Thome had a nice year in Minnesota, but he had nice numbers with the Sox and Minnesota picked his spots. So really, you can blame the hitting coach, but the real problem is the hitters. If the Sox went with the same line up next year they have gone with this year, it wouldn't be long before the new hitting coach would be considered a buffoon by most.