Dick Allen

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 6, 2011 -> 11:22 PM) Gio's a good pitcher and Sweeney's OK and so is Chris Young. I really liked Sweeney as well, but he turned out to be no big loss.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2011 -> 11:19 PM) Gio Gonzalez was at 97 tonight in KC. I always loved Gio

QUOTE (fathom @ May 6, 2011 -> 11:17 PM) Wow, thanks Miggy! Always loved you. When you don't have to throw someone strikes, the league eventually figures it out.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 6, 2011 -> 11:15 PM) Thornton appears to be throwing moderately hard. The other night he was hitting 99 on the USCF gun.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ May 6, 2011 -> 11:05 PM) What is the difference in he and Daniel Hudson? Hudson's ERA is about 2.00 higher.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2011 -> 11:04 PM) Beckham giveth, Beckham taketh away. Of course. Contact play, it wasn't his fault, its the chance you take.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ May 6, 2011 -> 11:01 PM) Bet he bunts I don't mind Pierre bunting. Now the infield is in and a flyball scores a run.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 6, 2011 -> 10:58 PM) STOP MOVING DV TO NEW SPOTS!!!! New spot? Its his old spot. If they don't want to bench Pierre, its a good place to perhaps get some offense in the line up. Its a shame Morel can't hit.

Humber has been impressive yet again.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 6, 2011 -> 10:53 PM) Yeah, his "hot" stretch lasted like 3 games. Why not have Viciedo play 3B? I know he's awful defensively, but is he any more awful there than Teahen?

QUOTE (fathom @ May 6, 2011 -> 10:46 PM) Hawk is so pissed at Ozzie right now. It must be nice to have a job and not worry about getting fired, even if you're doing a worse job than Osama Bin Laden's courier. Hawk has question White Sox outfielders playing everyone the same way and not giving select hitters green lights on 3-0 counts as well. I think if you gave him some truth syrum, he would say Ozzie is not managing well.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2011 -> 10:45 PM) What did I say? Jesus, Ozzie. Cust doesn't have a homer all season long yet. Smoak's only hitting .362 with a 1.146 OPS the last 17 games. Scouting, White Sox??? I bet Greg Walker told him to pitch to him. I think Ozzie is being exposed as a fraud.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 6, 2011 -> 03:09 PM) No one has thought of Torrealba as a full time player since his career started, most he's ever caught is 105 games and he has a career .705 OPS. AJ regularly catches 130+ games, has a .744 career OPS, and his .688 OPS in a terrible year last year was only .017 points worse than Torrealba. Russell Martin's OPS the last 2 years was .680 and .679, worse than last year's AJ, and he only caught 97 games in 2010 due to health issues. He's also being paid $4 million this year (AJ is getting $2 million this year and $6 million next year, averaging to $4 million). People would have laughed had we signed either of those guys and declared them to be our starting C. I agree here. Martin got off to a good start, but lets see what happens. Odd are he's crashing.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 6, 2011 -> 04:04 PM) Considering that teams were offering him more than that in the offseason...yeah. THE team offering that, apparently will not be able to meet payroll at the end of the month. I would venture they are no longer interested.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 6, 2011 -> 03:14 PM) Ugh, $6 million for next year? He's going to be impossible to move. Not only that, he's a 5 and 10 guy. They can only move him to a place he's willing to go.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 6, 2011 -> 07:29 AM) How often does a May callup actually wind up affecting a pennant race? Probably at least as often as a team that opened with the Sox current record actually makes the playoffs. Its happened twice. In history.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 5, 2011 -> 10:02 PM) One of those two was that 05 Houston team, who started 15-30. No, they were 12-20 through 32, then went real bad. Hawk mentions the 1983 Sox who were 14-26, but the point is, while all is not lost, the Sox have already dug themselves a hole in which very few have dug themselves out. The odds are already stacked against them.

There have been 91 teams in major league history to start the season 11-21. Five have finished over .500 and 2 have made the playoffs. The Sox have their work cut out for them. A bad roadtrip and it really might be over.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 4, 2011 -> 08:58 PM) Well, I'm all in favor of bringing in Dave Martinez. And I think doing that now could pay dividends this season. I do worry about losing Cooper, although I don't want to argue this because I know you don't feel the same way. I'm really not anti Cooper, I just like to point out that when hitters don't perform Walker needs to go, but when pitchers don't perform Cooper gets zero blame. I'd like it to be more consistent.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 4, 2011 -> 08:48 PM) Oh, so 38 games in would be a suitable sample size for whether a 4-year contract was wise? DA, I admit you make some valid points and I admit that just because a signing or acquisition seemed wise at the time doesn't negate results. And I am in agreement that the responsibility ultimately falls on the GM, regardless of what a player's history might have suggested at the time of the deal. As the old adage goes, better to trade a player a year early than a year late. Perhaps we have been acquiring some of these players a year late. But hindsight is 20/20, and the complete collapse of several players who have track records which would never suggest the performance we have seen is certainly not something that can just be completely ignored. The bigger concern to me is not who is to blame right now but rather why has this happened in the past and why does it continue to happen to us? Why have we had so many talented rosters not perform up to their potential, over a span of different managers, different clubhouses, against different competition, etc? What can be done to prevent this from happening again? I still believe there is too much talent on this team to not put together a prolonged stretch of very good baseball, but I am ultimately in agreement that some changes have to be made at the top. I just don't subscribe to the notion of criticism that implies that any of us could have seen this coming. That's why I said give it the season. Changing GMs or managers or coaches really isn't going to make a difference right now. At the end of the year, if the team was crap JR shouldn't decide which of KW or Ozzie to keep, he should get rid of them both, and take all the coaches with them. I would also imagine the KW/Ozzie relationship has a good chance of going sour if the losing continues, because fingers will be pointed, things will be said. I hope this works and still think there's a chance, but if it doesn't, I hope JR decides to try something else. These seasons are starting to seem like re-runs.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 4, 2011 -> 05:27 PM) The last front office-type figure that I can recall being fired for subpar performance was fired because he got f***ing indicted, so that doesn't really count. Larry Himes got fired after he built a team that won 94 games with the lowest payroll in baseball.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 4, 2011 -> 08:22 PM) You think 30 games is enough to declare the Dunn signing a mistake. That's really all I have to say. NIce try. You really need to read a little better. I wrote if he doesn't pick it up soon. If he doesn't this season is in jeapordy and the White Sox window may be closed. $14 million a year DH's on non contenders usually isn't a good idea.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 4, 2011 -> 08:09 PM) I'm as disappointed as the next person, if not more, but I think it's a bit disingenuous for any of us to pretend as though we saw anything like this coming. Sure, some of us had our concerns, but this is defying all explanation. I think criticisms like this are unfair and invalid. Why? There were plenty of publications that had the Sox an average at best team. I liked the roster, but I don't get paid millions to construct it. If the team is bad, its on the White Sox organization. If they are all in and the team falls flat on its face, its time for someone different to make decisions. If you can't recognize or admit mistakes, you keep making them. KW has been real good with off the radar acquisitions the past several years. His big ticket moves have mostly blown up in his face so far. I loved the Peavy trade, but there's no denying just because I liked it, it was a mistake. I liked the Dunn signing, but if he doesn't pick it up soon, it was a mistake. I liked the Jackson trade, but if the Sox don't win and he leaves, it was a mistake. Alex Rios is still owed $50 million. Picking him up was a mistake. A lot of people loved the Swisher trade. It was a mistake. Results are what matters. Not the backs of baseball cards from previous seasons. I don't know where the "criticism is unfair". If this is the best he could do, its not good enough and there has been a pattern developing here. They are below .500 vs. the AL since winning the World Series. Interleague can't come soon enough for this team. As I posted, I'd give them all the season to turn it around. If this crap continues, everyone needs to go.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ May 4, 2011 -> 07:55 PM) I try to remain positive, and for some reason I still watch the games. However, I'm starting to think that watching a Kids Can Play II team would be much more enjoyable than watching what's going on now. Until the Sox actually have Kids who can play, Kids Can Play II is going to be brutal.

They said they are all in. They probably all deserve to get canned now, but I think they should play it out and if they fall short this year, clean house. New GM, new manager, new coaching staff, new era. All in IMO means your bes shot. If this is their best shot, major changes need to be made.