Dick Allen

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 22, 2011 -> 05:12 PM) Wonder what the weather's like for Cleveland at Minnesota? Somehow, it's in the 70's or low 80's in southern Illinois/Kentucky. Who designs these schedules? Its getting close to May. I really don't know if you can blame the schedule makers now. If you're going to play 162 with several rounds of playoffs, and an additional round coming in 2012 when they add a wild card and the wild cards will battle in a play in round, length to be determined, unless you order teams to build retractable roofs, you're going to have plenty of weather issues. Its really been a brutal April in Chicago.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 22, 2011 -> 05:02 PM) It would be more of a story if the players went on to succeed somewhere else in #4. Being able to not fix bad baseball players when no one else can, isn't a big negative in my book. That's been my argument for Greg Walker for years.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 22, 2011 -> 05:26 PM) I blame it all on not keeping Rey Sanchez and Jose Rosado going down with injuries!!! Long live Dos Carlos (Febles and Beltran)!!! In actuality, White Sox and Royals fans are very similar. They pretty much refuse to support below average baseball...with the fact that KC probably still gets more "casual" fans even with atrocious teams for weekend games than the White Sox because of the difference in pricing points. With the White Sox having the fourth most expensive ticket price/parking, they simply HAVE to put a good product on the field. Too many Royals fans started to believe (that was the motto, if I remember, from Tony Pena) in that team and then it quickly fell apart after the All Star break and yet more hearts that had been suffering for 15 years were torn out. The other thing that really hurt was Buck and Teahen not panning out with the Royals. Of course, Buck's gone on to a huge contract since and luckily our GM took Mark Teahen off your hands. For that, you have Chris Getz's consistent .636/.637 OPS, Podsednik, Josh Fields and Brian Anderson. And we'll even throw in Wilson Betemit, who managed to kill the White Sox last year, of course. Him and that darned Callaspo. And Aviles. KC used to have the highest payroll in baseball back around 1990. They have been bad for so long after really being a model franchise.

QUOTE (High Mileage @ Apr 22, 2011 -> 05:12 PM) All very valid points. I think with most casual fans, they look at it as another Jermaine Dye-for-Neifi Perez or Johnny Damon-for-Angel Berroa. Trading a star player for somebody they've never heard of. With diehard fans, I think most of them feel the way that I do, that it sucks to lose a guy like Zack, but at the same time it had to be done because of his words and actions, obviously the jury is still out on that deal and will be for years. They knew they weren't going to be able to keep (afford) Sweeney, Dye, and Damon. Keeping all three was going to be a huge risk, as the farm system and the rest of the big league roster was pretty bare anyways. We also didn't have an actual owner at the time either. As far as Sweeney, the Royals were just bit by bad luck. The man had just made 3 consecutive All-Star Games and had hit .340/.417/.563, and it's hard to fault a guy for injuries. And I also hadn't thought about the weather, it's been cold, raining a lot (and very, very windy) here... Do you know the White Sox almost acquired Sweeney from KC as a catcher before he became the prolific hitter he became? They traded for Fordyce instead.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 22, 2011 -> 05:04 PM) http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/sort/allAvg For the sake of JR's "All In", this trend can't continue simply because the White Sox are last in all of MLB in terms of "average" attendance, counting home and road games. Of course, a big factor in that is our playing in Cleveland for 3 games and TB for 4, but it's still a bit surprising that we're dead last. OVERALL MLB Attendance, average of home and road games 2005 13th 2006 10th (year after World Series win) 2007 13th 2008 18th 2009 15th (after playoff appearance) 2010 21st 2011 30th (VERY SMALL SAMPLE SIZE) Also, the "holdover" effects of a World Series victory are generally predicted by sports marketing experts to extend out to five years. Yes, I always noticed they have been an average or below average draw on the road for years. Its really impossible to say why. I do believe the visiting team does get a small percentage of the gate.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 22, 2011 -> 11:06 AM) The greatest concern for baseball should be in Cleveland and Kansas City, where teams have done well but the city doesn’t seem to care. The Indians are 12-5, but the crowds are down 5.3 percent, thanks to four games where less than 10,000 fans showed up. Kansas City is 11-6 and has seen its crowds decline by a whopping 16.8 percent, including last Thursday against Seattle where 8,811 people were counted. And what in the world is going on in Chicago, where the loveable losers can’t even fill up Wrigley? The 16 percent drop through the Chicago Cubs’ first seven home games is hard to believe. For the record, so far, with the unbearable weather and 4 game road losing streak...the White Sox are off 1.5% so far. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AlIA..._problem_042111 The weather is killing the Cubs as well.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 11:17 PM) lol. He started it. So I have to offer a rebuttal. If this thread goes 15 pages it's not my fault. First of all, why do you (not you lost) wait until he has a terrible start against an elite offense to make this thread? Hudson's ERA was 4.26 coming into today. Is that great? No. But we're still in the early stages of the season where one good game or bad game can drastically alter a pitcher's ERA. And for the love of the devil...Who has ever said that Hudson was great? Or that he's a HOF? Or that he's the next Greg Maddux? s*** is so annoying. My beef has always been giving up on a cheap/controllable starter for a guy that's a bigger name but not a better pitcher, whom there's a good chance of losing at the end of this year. Why is this so hard to comprehend? If we were the Braves and had 3-4 ready or damn near ready starting pitchers on the brink of the big leagues this wouldn't be a big deal. But the Braves we are not. Yet if it were any pitcher you didn't like, Hudson's current stats would be proof he is garbage. The way Hudson was written about since the Jackson trade, you would think he couldn't lose 4 games in his career.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 20, 2011 -> 10:09 PM) You kinda proved my point. Those first four were from 2006/2007. And Jenks wasn't a trade. KW has been awful since '08. I've been a big Masterson fan for a few years. He's been dynamite so far this year and reminds me of Brandon Webb. When your GB% is 60%+, you're going to be just fine. Martinez was expendable due to the Santana ripoff. I proved your point? You basically said no one comes close to Shapiro since mid 2006. I don't mind your overall pissed-offness (if thats a word) about the Sox, but your statement is just wrong, and waiver claims don't count but trades do?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 20, 2011 -> 09:21 PM) You're obviously being condescending. But no GM in the central had come close to pulling off as many shrewd (and in most cases straight ripoff) trades as Shapiro since mid-2006. 1: Asdrubal Cabrera for Eduardo Perez 2: Shin-Soo Choo for Ben Broussard 3: Carlos Santana for Casey Blake 4: Justin Masterson for Victor Martinez 5: Chris Perez for Mark Derosa Sure, the Sabathia trade isn't lookin' so hot. And it's still too early to truly judge the Lee trade from their side. But those are 5 terrific trades in a short amount of time. If he had the freedom to spend $100+ million, no telling what he could do. KW got Quentin for Carter Floyd for a broken down Garcia Danks for McCarthy Thornton for Borchard Jenks for nothing and he has the freedom to spend $100 million plus. Call Shipiro a genius but the Indians still suck, and I'm certainly not a KW fan.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 08:43 PM) I wouldn't say a heartbeat. But I'd definitely think about it. I'm not making excuses for Alex. But I feel he was mishandled prior to this year. On a team as bad as the Royals, he should've been given the chance to f*** up over and over and over again until he got it right. Sorta like Matt Wieters. So they should be able to f*** up over and over again and Beckham is a failure if he isn't a top 20 player as a 24 year old like you mentioned the other day? You have to realize players with little experience tend to struggle from time to time.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 08:41 PM) It would have taken something special to screw up their performance in the post season. There were 2 situations that may have saved the 2005 Sox. The ball going through Tony G's legs and Iguchi homering next gave the Sox a win, and El Duque which was Ozzie's call escaping the mess Marte created. If either or both of those don't happen, maybe they don't make it past Boston and Ozzie and KW are both probably doing something different right now, and the Sox probably have a $65 million payroll tops.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 08:39 PM) What team wins because of brilliant managerial moves and strategy? A great manager gets you a few extra wins a year. Not the 20-30 a lot of people think.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 08:33 PM) KW has been worse than Ozzie over the last 3+ years. I've been pointing out for years KW plans C D and E have been much better historically than plans A and B. Just look at 2005. Plan A was Jared Wright pitching and Ben Davis catching. When he has some money to burn, he gets plan A and B.

QUOTE (C_LEE45 @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 08:31 PM) just think of the people that call ozzie a moron,but there is nobody on this board that know a fraction of what that man knows about baseball like him or not he still is a good manager the same manager that won in 2005 when everybody was all over his hog,,,,,,hey why dont we talk about KW dont he have some blame ? BS. Baseball isn't that complicated of a game. If you've been watching baseball your whole life and have a decent mind, you don't need a major league pension to have an idea what you are talking about. Listen to Ozzie and Oney talk about how much more about baseball they know than anyone else. If its so true how come the Sox don't win more?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 08:30 PM) Gordon Beckham for Alex Gordon is on the table? What do you do? Let's keep in mind Alex Gordon is a whole two years older than Beckham. never. A week ago Beckham was hitting .333 with an OPS over .900.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 08:21 PM) So he's responsible for every mistake a player makes during the game? Absolutely not, but he is in charge of putting his team in postion to win. The White Sox give up more outs than any team in the majors, and it fails more often than it works. Ozzie did the safe thing pulling Buehrle and bringing in his closer last week, because managers aren't going to get crap giving their closer the ball in the 9th. The safe thing used to be anti-Ozzie. Maybe he's starting to feel vulnerable. Buerhle was cruising. It was a crushing loss. More often than not Ozzie's moves are blowing up in his face. On the other side of the coin, maybe if Beckham doesn't bunt toight he hits into a DP, then Dunn strikes out the game is over and we all assume he should have bunted because Paulie was a lock to get a hit. Maybe Buehrle gets shelled if he goes in for the 9th against Oakland, after all it was only a few days before that when Ozzie was getting slammed for not using Thornton in extra innings.

Ozzie won't get fired unless he gets into a fight with KW and one of them has to go.

QUOTE (C_LEE45 @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 08:08 PM) and replace him with who,ill take my chances with OZZIE That's the huge problem. I'm not an Ozzie guy, but if my choices are Ozzie, Cora or Buddy Bell, I'm Ozzie's biggest backer. The Sox thought they were geniuses for firing Gene LaMont in 1995 less than 30 games into a season after he led the Sox to back to back division titles. They replaced him with Terry Bevington.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 08:00 PM) FIRE GUILLEN! I don't think Ozzie is going to go, and I don't think he's actually deserved it to this point, but it will be interesting when the Sox someday have a less arrogant, better spoken skipper, who doesn't talk out of both sides of his mouth. I really do think a lot of players have had their fill of him and probably agree with Jenks even though he wasn't very popular in the clubhouse. I guess even baseball players don't think its cool to blow your nose on your sleeve when you are being interviewed.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 07:57 PM) Pierre caught stealing, Konerko picked off, and Beckham's bunt. Played with 24 outs tonight. Has Pierre been CS 6 times in a row now?

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 07:51 PM) did u not see beckhams god awful ab last time up? then he hits into a dp and why wasnt he bunting Why is it always assumed a DP when a bunt is called? How often does Beckham hit into DPs? A lot less than he reaches base. Why not try a hit and run or have Beckham try to hit the ball to the right side. If Dunn gets a hit, there's a decent chance its for extra bases or maybe he coaxes a walk and even if Beckham doesn't advance him Pierre is on second.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 07:49 PM) damn you It was obvious he had no chance. There will be a time when pitchers have no chance against him. Hopefully soon.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 19, 2011 -> 07:49 PM) Yes...Dunn is the easiest out in baseball right now probably. Our manager seriously needs to be fired. Considering it seems like the Sox have about 20 hits total their last 4 games, giving up outs is something I do not understand.

Dunn's going to K.

Don't you play for the tie at home and play for the win on the road?