Dick Allen

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 07:06 PM) Saw that, but I wonder how much longer they can ignore the obvious. Tank 2-2 tonight, HR & 2B, 2RBI. Every day he's not with the big club now is a wasted opportunity. Yeah, I don't understand Ozzie's quote. He's afraid putting guys who have shown they might perform better than the guys in the line up will lose the teams' confidence in the manager? Let's just forget how much confidence they have in him now and the team's record. I thought Brent Lillibridge should open up a Chik Fil A, but he's clearly outperforming Rios and Pierre. Viciedo has done nothing but hit for over a month. The only reason Pierre and Rios are playing is the amount of money they are being paid. Play the guys that give you the best chance to win Ozzie. The team will have confidence in you if that is done.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 11, 2011 -> 02:08 PM) And they're not giving up on Rios or Dunn. Especially now that Rios has overhauled his hand position and is suddenly hitting tons of balls up the middle. If someone would take the contract, they would dump Rios in a heartbeat.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Jun 11, 2011 -> 01:13 PM) There's a huge ramification to clubhouse and Santos' morale when you don't go out there and pull him: LOSING. If these guys' morale and ego are so fragile don't we want to spare them the shame and humility of blowing a game big time? While the White Sox are in pursuit of 1st place maybe doing WHATEVER it takes to win should take priority to the feelings of any particular players. Besides, doesn't winning do wonders for clubhouse morale? Look at the way Oakland reacted to breaking their losing streak. I'm sure their clubhouse morale is on a high today. Crain had pitched 3 out of the last 4 days, so he probably wasn't available. Thornton was spent. If Ozzie brings in Harrell or Ohman and they blow the game, people who think they should have pulled Santos would be complaining about the Sox pulling their closer. I have no trouble with Ozzie leaving him in there. He cruised threw the first 2 hitters easily. Sizemore had a big hit. Looking at the back of his baseball card, odds are usually against that.

MLB has thrown out the possibility of re-alignment. Both leagues would have 15 teams, so at least one interleague match up always. The one proposal that seems to have the most support is one with no divisions. Top 5 teams make the playoffs.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jun 11, 2011 -> 10:49 AM) The craziest thing was Pierzynski looking over to the dugout after ball 1 to Sizemore, basically imploring Guillen to immediately pull Santos for literally anyone (at least that's how I read it) and then trotting out to the mound hoping Ozzie would follow. 99% of people watching this game could see that Santos just didn't have it tonight, but Ozzie was going to let him lose this game anyway. Hell, I put in Buehrle on one day's rest to get this last out after watching everything. ANYONE. That's the kind of creative thinking that won a world series, not passively letting someone who had NOTHING bury your team all by himself. We needed one out. he walked three and hit one, and Ozzie didn't even move towards the mound. Your closer just doesn't have it tonight. PULL HIM. In instances where he's not had it in other nights, he gives up more than 1 run. Losing this game was the most ludicrous loss I've seen in a long time. The bench probably told AJ to go out to talk to him. There was no one warming up until the horses were out of the barn. One other thing I noticed yesterday, Coco Crisp cannot throw at all right now. He makes Juan Pierre look like Roberto Clemente. I know he's always had a weak arm, but something is wrong with him. On fly balls with no one on, he's basically rolling them back in to the cutoff man. I seriously believe any White Sox with at least average speed should try for a double on anything hit to him. Its that bad.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 11, 2011 -> 12:47 PM) It's not like Santos has been pitching his entire life...he's one of the five least experienced pitchers in baseball, if not #1 in that category. I think letting him absorb HUGE defeats and numbers of pitches thrown in the 3 bad outings that Sergio has had this year has been more deflating for his confidence than if Ozzie would have had the earlier hook. It's one thing if Santos had been the closer for 2-3 seasons, it's only been 4-5 weeks though, in this case. When you just have that feeling in the pit of your stomach that the guy's just has ZERO confidence out there...well, obviously the opposing batters sensed the momentum of that entire inning and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Especially when you're down to the last batter (in the LAD game) or strike, you have to sense the other team is going to start feeding on the blood in the water when any life is breathed into them. You have to cut off the arm or leg to save the body in that situation. We'll see what happens, but personally I feel even less confident now in Santos because of the way Ozzie has handled him since he became the closer. I think its his inexperience that got him last night. He was fine for 2 hitters and 2 strikes. These are growing pains most pitchers go through. The Sox really need a bonafide closer. Santos may be a good one someday, maybe even great, but right now he needs some experience. The success he's had with how little he has pitched is incredible.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 10, 2011 -> 10:58 PM) I don't have to do that. I KNOW you do that. The search function hasn't worked in years and I'm not googling whatever just to make a point. You always do that and you know it. If we get angry or upset about something we're on the verge of suicide and we should start reading the bible. You do that s*** all the time and you know it. Pitching wise, Santos is probably the least experienced full time pitcher in the major leagues. He has very little to fall back on, so when he falls apart, he's really going to fall apart. He probably will be a pretty good closer at some point, but if the Sox are "all in" he's really a crapshoot as opposed to an almost sure thing. Making him the closer is kind of like giving a 16 year old who just got his license a Ferari. It may work out fine, but probably not. Of course finding a closer isn't easy, and bringing back Jenks even with the struggles the Sox have had in the 9th inning, wasn't a good choice either. Supposedly Heath Bell is going to get traded fairly soon. The Sox need him, but so do a lot of teams. They would have to probably give up Viciedo at least to get him, and I don't think that's very smart. Maybe Santos learns something tonight. Learning on the job trying to win a divison is very tough. Blowing leads in the 9th inning has to stop. If the Sox won all the games they lead in the 9th, they would probably be in first place or very close right now.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 12:00 AM) It's also possible that Ozney is viewed as unsignable. Ozney said he would sign unless the offer was ridiculous. They turned down 50k last year. I can't see a 30 + round draft pick getting 50k this year. Ozzie and Oney believe Ozney will be a star and should get preferential treatment because of his last name.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 8, 2011 -> 12:21 AM) KW jr pick just burns my ass total bulls*** the 4th OF on his own team gets picked that high. It was the second time the Sox drafted KW Jr. He went very low out of HS and didn't sign. Ozney just isn't that good. No homers and he projects as a corner infielder.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 6, 2011 -> 09:03 PM) Nice catch, Adam. Not only can you not hit, but now this run that will score is on you, too! He's actually been far better defensively this year than his reputation. This play was pretty awful

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 6, 2011 -> 12:58 PM) Of course there is work to be done to get Dunn back to his career norms. Baseball isn't a game of random luck where you can just ride the storm out and a player will start producing. These plays have to constantly make mechanical adjustments to correct flaws in their games. 6400 plate appearances tells me that Dunn can make those adjustments and that it's a matter of time. We can hope its just a matter of time, but since the All Star break last season, Dunn has 424 ABs with 21 homers 67 RBI, 73 walks, 170 Ks and a .203 average. At some point its not just a slump anymore. Its pretty scary he's at the point he's at over 60 games into the season.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 30, 2011 -> 01:43 PM) Tell me which one of those involves the school and was covered up by the school. Everything you posted was a player who was clearly educated of the rules, breaking them. You are barking up the wrong tree with those awful articles. And if a homer means a fan, then yes I am an OSU fan. I also know what s*** is coming out in the next week or so and t's pretty damaging and embarrassing for such a great school and program. At the end of the day I will always be a fan of Ohio State, so I'll take my medicine as it comes. Tressel being called a "scumbag" is laughable to me mostly because the people calling him that haven't contributed one percent of what the guy did to his community and the men he worked with, but I guess we can all judge one person by a mistake they made in bad judgement instead of the rest of their lives. Haters can hate, but it won't take away the last 10 years of just unreal college football experiences that I had watching my team. When the sanctions come down and OSU is relegated to football purgatory like USC (one of the other dynasties of the last many years) it will be painful but warranted, and hopefully what comes out of this is a better NCAA governing body and defnately a stronger OSU. At least I can still watch Matta and company win titles on the hardwood. I agree with your earlier statement that his refusal to say anything when he had knowledge of wrongdoing was worse than some 20 year old with no money trading something for a tat, but Tressel in the end is a phony. He made himself out to be something he was not. He was willing to overlook rules in order to win games. Im not a hater but phonies bug me and I think he is a scumbag. I also think it would be naive to think he didnt blow off rules many times in the past. No program is totally clean, but when the leader looks the other way for the sole purpose of winning games, in the end he gets what he deserved and a sparkling reputation is changed to exactly what he deserves...................a cheat. A quote from his book ‘‘The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.’’

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 30, 2011 -> 02:13 PM) mcpherson is DFA Who could have seen that coming? Sometimes these moves just baffle me. Im pretty sure in the KW vs soxtalk battle, soxtalk would have won this move.

Brian Anderson was a better offensive player than the version of Alex Rios the last 125 games or so, and he made nowhere near the cabbage Rios does, nor did he ever hit 5th or 6th.

Its painful watching Dunn "hit" right now.

QUOTE (Real @ May 23, 2011 -> 09:02 PM) Why the f*** did we give AJ a 2 year extension, what a joke Who should they have brought in?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 23, 2011 -> 08:56 PM) Yeah, that was too harsh, but he's costing himself some serious money right now. I doubt it. He still has plenty of time to put it together. 3 of his 6 losses he gave up 3 runs or less. In 2 no decisions he gave up 2 earned runs or less.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 23, 2011 -> 08:52 PM) Do you see JR giving that long of a contract to a pitcher? After watching Dunn and Rios perform, I doubt JR is going to give out big money for a lot of years to someone he isn't very familiar with.

QUOTE (oldsox @ May 23, 2011 -> 08:43 PM) Anyone remember why Cincy let Hamilton go? Can't remember the details. The Cubs actually owned Hamilton for a couple of minutes. They selected him in the rule 5 and sold him to Cincinatti.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 19, 2011 -> 07:38 PM) These crowds have got to have KW nervous. The problem is, unless they get ridiiculously hot they aren't going to get much better and KW and JR know it.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ May 19, 2011 -> 07:33 PM) Man AJ is brutal He's not the hitter he used to be, but the average AL catcher is hitting .225 with a .650 OPS so far this year. Offensive catchers are becoming extinct.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) Unless the White Sox want to compete. That's the catch-22. If the Sox hang around the race, they're hanging around because Peavy's performing. Dumping that contract means throwing in the towel on this year. Plus he has a NTC. The catch 22 for KW is if the guys play well enough to earn their money, they will win, but if they don't he'll have to try to move them, and it will be tough to move high priced guys who aren't performing.

According to Stone's numbers, AJP is actually average to second.

QUOTE (Real @ May 17, 2011 -> 08:59 PM) anybody else think CQ has looked a little better in RF this year compared to last year? He has, but maybe its because Pierre has been so bad CQ looks better.

Jesse Crain has a toilet seat hairline and an mohawk. That's nice.