Dick Allen

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 03:46 PM) 2009 April .760 May .750 June .733 July .748 Aug .769 Sept. .741 Once again...April in 2009, 2nd worst month for pitching. Only month worse was August. If 2007 and 2008 show the same thing I will apologize and call that ample proof April is the month you want to hit in. By the way have you ever played baseball? I don't know of anyone that would rather hit when its 40 degrees vs. 80 degrees.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 03:36 PM) The fact that April had the highest average OPS out of any month last season (despite the usual complaints about April weather), and the OPS's went down at the end of the season? That was 2010. I suppose you didn't look at other seasons like 2007 and 2008 when the league OPS in April was 20 points lower than the overall. How do you explain that? If Phil Humber has to start a game or games for the White Sox, I think most people would rather he start them in April than in September assuming the Sox are in contention and hope its a 38 degree night.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 03:25 PM) Of course, rather than stating anecdotes, some might want to apply data to the question. League OPS by month. April: .736 May: .731 June: .733 July: .736 August: .723 Sept: .714 Regardless of what they might say...there's zero evidence of "pitchers being ahead of hitters" in April/May last year, and reasonable evidence that the claim is wrong. Exactly where is the evidence the majority of pitchers have dead arms?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 12:31 PM) Pitchers feel strong in April? I've heard lots more complaints about how they're just getting over their late-spring dead-arm periods in april. They are over their dead arm period. Spring training is 6 weeks for fans and pitchers. They wouldn't start the season with dead arms. If the majority of pitchers had dead arms or were still fighting them, the length of spring training and the pitcher's workouts would be altered. Ask anyone associated with MLB and they will tell you at the beginning of the season, pitchers are ahead of hitters, especially if the weather isn't ideal.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 02:16 PM) Come on man, you know better than this. It's not that they're going up, it's that they're going to go dramatically down this year, before going dramatically back up next year. That's a much different beast from the fact that his innings have been going up the last few years. Not really. He's preparing as he's going to be a starter. He'll be doing a lot of throwing this year. It will just be for 6 months that his routine will be altered. It was altered 3 or 4 months last year. Guys take seasons off often and come back fine. If Sale gets injured, while some on message boards will find it convenient to blame his becoming a reliever, its his mechanics that will concern the professionals. Its not like he'll suddenly stop throwing. 60 IP relieving doesn't equal 60 IP as a starter.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 12, 2011 -> 03:40 PM) I buy into the Sox theory of putting the team before the fans. It might lead to unpopular decisions, like letting Frank Thomas walk away, but in the long run if you want to be a viable (non-Yankees) franchise, you have to make them. As Bobby Knight once said, "If you listen to the fans, you wind up sitting next to them."

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 12:38 PM) Mark Teahen is more than capable of playing LF and RF off the bench. I've pointed this out to you. Lillibridge is more than capable in CF, which I think is a well understood point. Wasn't the big argument against anyone who said Teahen wasn't very good coming into last season, "yes, but that's because they had him playing all over the field. Here, he'll be in one place, 3b." He is a horrible defensive player, no matter where you put him. Lillibridge has looked decent in the OF, but he has only 100 innings under his belt in the major leagues at that position. He also hits like a pitcher, so I don't know if capable is the proper term.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 01:33 PM) You gotta worry about it...because going from 70 innings this year to 150 next year could be murder on his arm. His innings have been going up for the last 3 years. If its a problem, he's already screwed.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 12:30 PM) The other side of it though...if Vizquel ever retires, he's a solid, cheap, 2-3 year option as a backup utility infielder who can cover all 3 positions and backup CF as well...and his competition is De Aza and Milledge, which means there's not exactly anything likely to look amazing that he's blocking. The other side of it is Lillibridge is soon to be 27 and finding someone who can do what he does, only better, shouldn't be a hard task. He's brutal.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 10:31 AM) Your choices pretty much are throw away a few games on a bad AAA pitcher, burn up the pen, or burn up the starters in April. I go with throwing a Marquez/Harrell, or someone like that and wasting just a few games instead off burning up vital pitchers at the start of the season. I agree. Plus in April, the pitchers are feeling strong, the weather might not be condusive to hitting, hitters might lose a little mental sharpness because of the name. If a mediocre minor leaguer is ever going to slide by other than meaningless September games, its then.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 12:17 PM) I think it will take an awful lot for the Sox to let Lillibridge walk. I think you are wrong. They know he sucks and is a back up at best for his career. His star has lost a lot of shine. He fans way too much. I believe the only way Lillibridge makes the team is with a big spring and/or an injury to Vizquel, or Morel showing he needs to go back to AAA. That is barring any trades. He's basically fighting for his baseball life IMO. Guys like him are a dime a dozen and they really don't have to keep him to hope to show something fromt the Vazquez trade now that Javy has moved on to yet another team.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 11:37 AM) This actually kinda makes sense. Lilliputian is out of options, so he has to make the team. The bench with 4 looks like this: Castro Vizquel Teahen Lilliputian If you can add an extra guy, you get: Castro Vizquel Teahen Lilliputian De Aza/Milledge In the 2nd case, you have a legit backup OF. Just because a guy is out of options doesn't mean he has to make the team. Lillibridge better have a good spring training, or he'll most likely be searching for another form of income very soon. With Omar and Teahen around, Lillibridge is on the outside looking in.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 13, 2011 -> 11:28 AM) That would be an assumption for any deal. I was using the idea of a Teahen + half of Youngs remaining salary as a basis for a deal. I do that deal in a heartbeat, but it really makes no sense for Texas. If they have to deal Young, they could do better than $3 million a year in salary relief, if you take the $8 million savings plus the $5 million owed to Teahen and Teahen services. Texas really botched this up.

Young is 34 and getting close to the danger zone. Verducci had an article the other day which showed only 3 guys 36 and over played at least 100 games in the field in 2010 and had a league average OPS. Young is not a guy you want to owe $50 million to the next 3 years especially since his game is mostly offense. Even if Texas ate a ton of money, I really don't think he'd be much of an upgrade.

For 2011 and beyond........................Beckham.

RIP Lefty Tanner. He was another manager who was traded for a player. He was traded from Oakland to Pittsburgh for Manny Sanguillen.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Feb 11, 2011 -> 07:01 PM) Man this is great news. This can't help morale at all. What a message to the younger Twins players: play your ass off and we'll probably trade you since you're just a commodity after all, not a member of the family. This is the first chink in the armor, IMO, simply because players are gonna be thinking about their own stats more instead of winning. Just a hunch, but i don't see this being anything but bad news for them. And Kyle Gibson, Shmyle Gibson. If they trade Liriano they still have to trot out the Mustache, Baker, Slowey, Blackburn, Duensing, Perkins...blah blah...I think we smoke the Twins this year. There was a mass exodus with Minnesota's bullpen. I believe if the White Sox can get over the mental block they have had with the Twins, and no one will ever convince me this has been nothing but a mental block, which may be easier due to the losses the Twins have suffered, and counting on a guy like Pavano to produce again, the Sox could have a cakewalk in the division. Detroit picked up a couple of nice players, but Maggs is a year older and going to be slower.........they just seem to be missing something to me.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Feb 8, 2011 -> 07:46 PM) He did collect quite a few hits while posting a +.300 BA. Played for 3 teams last year in a brand new country for the first time. I have no problem sticking him in our minor leagues, but this dude really has no future as a regular in our outfield. Better than JoDanks with the bat at this point if that means anything. I bet when Jordan Danks is 28 he'll be able to hit .300 at Durham.

Like in the SLAM section with Celebrity (insert name) is dead, we should have a permanent thread Player (insert name) was DFA'd. A lot of people aim low on this board. When a White Sox player has a bad week, the inevitable he needs to be DFA'd post pop up, yet when other teams DFA or release someone, they become one of the most popular players on Soxtalk. Anderson is at least 28. What he's shown is most likely what he'll be, and it isn't very impressive.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 6, 2011 -> 10:48 AM) I never said they would lose that much money, and honestly no one on this site will know how much they will lose if attendance stays stagnant (atleast none that I know of). I do believe they are stretching their resources and margin of error thin this year, they probably will lose some money if attendance doesn't pick up. That said, I do believe they made money almost every year recently, how much is in debate. But that is a cushion that they have decided to get rid of this year in hopes of spiking attendance with a winner instead of cutting payroll in favor of rebuilding. And for the team to say that they can't afford certain players is just basic PR/business tactics. Of course they aren't going to come out to fans and say all their plans, those types of statements are a distraction from topics of talent evaluation, negotiations, etc, while also telling fans that if they show up the team can spend more (which is obvious but I guarantee some fans don't understand that). And the game costs so much to go to because of economics, there are enough people still willing to pay that much to see a game. The less serious fans will be coming out to more games if they win more. I'm not saying you or anyone has come up with a figure as to what is a lot of money to lose for JR. I would suspect losing $50 is a lot of money for JR to lose, and making $10 million is probably making a little as he is not accustomed to losing cash. I guess my thing is they have been talking about how they have basically spent every last dime they have taken in for so long and cried poor for so long, how come now its different.? He spent in 1997 for Belle and Navarro, the team was mediocre and fans didn't show up. JR has always operated fairly conservatively and many years ago was quoted as saying he will not lose money to win games. I just don't see how JR suddenly is going to stick his neck out on the line in a poor economy and expect fans to come out win or lose. Its very strange to me. I will buy he and many of his partners are getting older and realize time may not be on their side and this may be their shot. But no one will be holding any tag days for these people if the Sox tank and attendance if off again.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 6, 2011 -> 10:28 AM) According to you Dick, the Sox had a few options present: 1) Stay at the payroll of about $100 million and makes lots of money. 2) Spend all the money to make more money, as in a $120ish million payroll. The upside is that with option 1 if they believe their team is good enough to win then they saved that much money while increasing attendance (obviously that didnt happen) while in option 2 they run a huge risk in losing money if they don't win. Do you seriously believe JR is risking losing a ton of money say $20-30 million? Not a chance in hell. For the record, I like JR, but he's cried poor for years, and until now has always said, and has had his underlings say, every dime that comes in is spent on the team. Now he says over the years, they make a little here, make a little there. Attendance has dropped 4 consecutive years. If you recall KW was saying the were out of money before they picked up Peavy. Then they somehow not only found the money for Peavy but Rios as well. Attendance did not spike. Then they added payroll last season and with attendance down again, were somehow able to find $4 million for 1 month of Manny. They had the money all along. Now JR brings back AJ and Konerko and Dunn. Gives Crain 3 years. Gives Ramirez an extension, and is saying if the fans don't show up, he'll lose a lot of money. Apparently, when the fans were showing up before or not showing up, he was making a lot of money. Why should anyone feel bad about not spending money they may have a bigger need to spend elsewhere so JR and his partners don't have to eat into some of their previous profits? There's nothing wrong with JR making a profit, but there's nothing wrong with a family of 5 living on $70k in salary a year, waiting to see how the weather is or how entertaining the team is before committing $200-300 on a White Sox outing.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Feb 6, 2011 -> 09:38 AM) My hypothesis is that the Sox come close to spending what they make every year, but probably aim to profit a few million to keep the ownership happy. This means that they will have a lower payroll than the max they can afford going into the season, and they usually can readjust their estimates of profit midseason and can pick up extra money at the deadline. And JR put it bluntly, if the fans support the team in attendance they can afford to put a $115-120 million team out there every year, but it's a big risk for the team to do so with no guarantee that the team is going to contend and thus having a big risk of losing money. Just like last year was Ozzie's gamble on the team he wanted, this year will be JR/KW's gamble that the team presently built will draw loads of fans to the stadium. JR shouldn't be pleading for fans who probably 99.999% would rather be in his financial situation than their own, to buy tickets so he might not lose money., which he admits he could handle if it happened. He needs to plead to his staff and his players to perform and make people come out. What JR knows is the team sells itself. The ad campaigns help a little bit, but if he wants attendance to jump, the White Sox have to play well, and start playing well relatively early in the season. April home games except for opening day aren't going to be too crowded, although the Frank Thomas bobblehead will bring some people in and bring them in early which is good for extra concession sales. But the bottom line is no ad campaign, no pleading from the Chairman is going to put butts in the seats if the Sox don't win. The White Sox are a business. Not all business make money every year. Not all businesses deserve to make money every year. I truly believe this will be a banner year with attendance if the Sox win. Last year was a fluke. The team was less than mediocre outside of a 30 game stretch around the All Star break. If they can play consistenly well, the team won't lose money.

JR from ESPN: "We've really taken a chance," Reinsdorf said on ESPN 1000's "Talking Baseball." "The term all-in I think really makes some sense here. If we draw what we drew last year, we will lose a lot of money. We decided to make a bet that if we put this team together the way we have, that it'll contend and that people will come out and support it. Otherwise, we are definitely going to lose money. Fortunately over the years we've made a little here, we've made a little there and we can cover it if we lose. We won't be able to lose money two years in a row." Considering how they were beyond extended picking up Peavy and Rios and Manny, I think JR just blew a hole in any theory the White Sox had spent every dime they brought in.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 5, 2011 -> 10:40 PM) All I can find on google is the original 4 year, $15.5M deal that Gavin got. I assume they have offered him something else recently, but I don't know. If they lose him cause him & his agent want more money, thats fine. But they better at least offer him a market value deal, like the ones offered to Lester/Gallardo, etc. Danks said they haven't really had negotiations in 2 years. It doesn't mean the Sox haven't offered or aren't trying to sign him. I would doubt they go to his agent every couple weeks with an offer, but probably an understanding that if they want to talk an extension, the White Sox are very interested, perhaps with a reminder every now and then. As long as he performs, the closer he takes this to free agency, the more money John Danks makes. That's probably his camp's strategy.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Feb 5, 2011 -> 03:51 PM) And none of those guys were going to command 5-6 year, $100+ million dollar contract on the open market. This is really a first during the KW era. A young, premium talent in his prime that could very well hit FA. We haven't had to worry about this because we don't do young talent here. What's to worry about? You get the services of a pitcher supposedly worth 100 million for 2 season while trying to win a championship. Why worry about having the talent? Its here. Trading him for prospects and finishing in second or third place again would be ridiculous. If he does leave, you spend the money you would have spent signing him on someone else, and there is your trade, ala the Lee/Pods trade. Throw in the longshot draft picks and its a no brainer what the better option is considering the Sox current situation. BTW,Trading him now for prospects now will never happen. KW loves Danks too much, and is trying to win. Dumping him are how the Rays and Marlins and Indians operate.