Dick Allen

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 10:00 PM) I believe we'll see big performance drops from Buehrle and Konerko next year. My biggest concern is I don't see the top of the Sox rotation being able to compensate for Buehrle and the 5th spot. Even with that drop off if it happens, the Sox are still sitting pretty. Cleveland and KC suck. Detroit has more holes than Ron Karkovice's face and Minnesota has about 12 spots to fill, and do you really think even if they bring Carl Pavano back he will perform anywhere near how he did in 2010?

QUOTE (Pale Sox @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 10:00 PM) To clear things up a little bit, Putz signed for 2Y/$11.5MM. The first two years are worth $10MM, and he has a $1.5MM buyout for the 3rd year option. So he's guaranteed $11.5MM. This is what I got: Per Ken Rosenthal, it's $4 million in 2011 and $4.5M in 12, with a $6.5 million club option for 2013, or a $1.5 million buyout. So, either $10 million for two years or $15 million for three. Apparently Putz lives either in Phoenix or close. That's probably the reason he's there right now.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:55 PM) It's still not the same thing. Not even close. As a GM, you're performance is soley based on what's available to you and what you have to offer/spend. If you make the effort to get the best free agents available and spend the money, there's no reason for fans to complain about that. Especially when fans will complain when you DON'T spend money and DON'T effor to make the big moves. Then, after you acquire those players, you're still dependant on them to perform to their capbilities. You're missing the point anyway when I use the word "effort". I'm not talking about how many hours per day he works, I'm talking about him making the decision to land the aboslute best available and directing all the resources toward doing that. Yes, I think there should be plenty of cushion given to the GM that operates the way he does, and in particular this offseason. Because regardless of the outcome, there is only so much over which he has absolute control. The actual performance of Dunn, PK, Peavy, Danks, Floyd, Rios, Crain, Thornton, etc. is not really in his control. What I'm saying is, if a GM puts together a good team on paper, that's all that can be realistically asked of him. If his choices are Player A or Player B or Player C vs. Player D, if he picks A and C and B and D outperform them, he didn't do his job. His job isn't just to pick the players with the best track records. His job is also to project. How does any GM lose their job? Their success is all contigent on players' performances they have no control over, but they do have control over the roster, and if JR isn't getting bang for his buck, someone has to be responsible for the players' who arenot performing being there. It absolutely was KW's fault he blew $4 million on Manny Ramirez in 2010.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:45 PM) Because Putz was coming off of an injury plagued year and had bone spurs removed from his elbow. He signed a 1-year "prove it" type contract to cash in, and lo and behold he got a 2 year deal this year with an option for a 3rd that is more expensive per year than the deal the Sox just gave Crain. Yes, but barely. He basically got a $10 million 2 year contract with a team option to make it a $15 million over 3 years contract. I don't think money was the reason Putz isn't a White Sox.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:49 PM) Prior was the towel throw king though. Wood was the master of the simulated games. They both are in the simulated game and towel drill Halls of Fame.

QUOTE (Rooftop Shots @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:45 PM) One thing that I like about it, is that he not going to be with Minny. I'm not sure what type of stats our line up had against him, but the times that I saw him, we didn't do very well at all. I kind of remember him making us look silly at the plate. That is a good thing. I believe his career ERA against the Sox is 1.45, but what does that make his ERA against everyone else?

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:45 PM) Why would he do that? He may think Garcia, Crain and Wood and prospects is better than Crain and Jackson for one season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:38 PM) I'd be equally surprised if KW traded any of those guys without getting his replacement in the trade. If he trades a SP, he's getting a SP who can step in back (a-la the Garcia for Floyd and Gio trade, or the McCarthy for Danks trade). There's no way he opens the season with a rotation of Buehrle, Danks, Jackson, Sale, Harrell, and there's no way that say, Jordan Danks or Mark Teahen are your opening day RF's next year. Or he can trade a guy like Jackson for prospects get his money off the books and re-sign Garcia for a fraction of Jackson's cost. Its a downgrade, and it always seems like Freddy is going to fall apart, but he keeps you in games most of the time.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:35 PM) Agreed, I think KW would be motivated to deal someone like Floyd for a few good prospects. If they do sign Wood to close, then maybe Sale goes into the rotation? I think it would be Jackson. He makes the most money and is only signed for a year. The way money is being thrown around this offseason, he's still a bargain.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:30 PM) Dunn also didn't say he wouldn't play for the Sox repeatedly either. Maybe Wood talked to KW or JR or Ozzie or all three and maybe Cooper or a few players and had a change of heart, especially if they were offering him the most cash. This guy signed with Cleveland 2 years ago. Its not like he really has standards.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:11 PM) With all due respect, this isn't a very good analogy. In the sales world, you are responsible for your own sales. In baseball, you are at the mercy of the performance of others. All a GM can do is bring in the best available parts and hope they do their jobs. Sales is totally, totally different. If you don't sell, there is nobody else to blame but you. Rarely are "business world" analogies strong enough to help explain baseball. Its performance related. All GMs try. Just to say this is great even if it doesn't work out because KW needs a reliever and Crain was a very good reliever in 2010 is silly. There are a lot of GMs who need relievers that did not offer Crain what KW did. Time will tell who is correct. Duane Schaffer tried real hard drafting guys. They all tried really hard. They didn't perform Duane Schaffer is out of a job. KW didn't can him because he didn't try hard. He canned him because he picked the wrong players. If Crain doesn't perform and cost the Sox 10 times what Lance Broadway cost the Sox, why shouldn't KW's neck be on the line? KW's effort really doesn't matter too much to me. I know he's going to give his total effort, but if the choice was to have him work 18 hour days study scouting reports and tape and sign busts, or be out picking up women every night, spending 10 minutes a day at his job but making great trades and free agent signings in retrospect, I'll take the latter.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 08:44 PM) Because they are above the number they want to be at and season ticket renewals were s*** this year. If a trade doesnt come soon I would be extremely surprised. Considering the had Dunn and AJ defer money to supposedly get Konerko signed, it wouldn't look so good if they kept throwing money around after that, so you have to be right. Maybe its something like trading Jackson for prospects or cheaper guys and re-signing Garcia.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 08:45 PM) You should be glad they're trying to address a need. You can't criticize a GM for doing everything they can to try and get some certainty (even if it fails). It may work, it may not, but effort is all you can ask for. Effort is for kids. Results is what matters in the real world. If you owned a company had 2 salesman and one worked his ass off was a great guy etc.but couldn't sell a thing and another was a total ass, put in 5 hours a week but sold a ton, and one of them had to go, which one is it going to be? There isn't a GM in the game that doesn't put in the effort.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 08:29 PM) 3 year deal for a middle reliever that has been "meh" except for last season? Whatever, we're all-in, but I'm very interested to know what the $$ amount is. I agree. Jesse Crain was a whipping boy in Minneapolis most of his career. He'll probably be the same in Chicago. He seems to alternate horrible and decent years, and horrible is up. This was one guy I was hoping KW stayed away from. But if he pitches like he did in 2010, he'll be a great addition.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 06:41 PM) PTBNL. That's not going to work. They aren't going to let him pitch for the White Sox for 2 months and then pick him up.

QUOTE (tonyho7476 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 11:30 AM) Its half hers You must not be married. Its all hers. If they get divorced, Mark will get half.

QUOTE (Big Daddy Kool @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 05:18 PM) If he does hopefully get another ring, some people will still b**** that he sucks, lol I think its KW's job to put together a team that makes the playoffs. Twice in ten years in the AL Central doesn't exactly make him crafty to me. It makes him about average.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 05:44 PM) I think Brian Cashman knows that everyone thinks he's desperate, and that he won't make any dumb deals. I agree. The're still the Yankees. Imagine how excited we all would be if the current Yankees roster was the White Sox roster. Its a good thing the Sox aren't in the AL East.

I think people are putting way too much on Sale. The guy has 23 innings pitched in his major league career and 33 innings pitched as a professional. Chances are he is going to struggle at some point, and probably for a while. He's talented no doubt, but even talented pitchers suffer growing pains. I don't see why he's going to be different.

Crain had a good year in 2010 but when I was in Minneapolis, Twins fans held him in the same regard Scott Linebrink was held during his time in Chicago.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 14, 2010 -> 06:06 PM) I'm really curious to learn more about the details of the vesting option and what would Lee get if he met the criteria. I'm hearing $20+ million? I'm getting sick of all the praise Lee's getting for "taking less" money. If the numbers are anywhere close to said $20 million, then he's not really taking less money at all. Apparently he left some money on the table, but you are right, what really is he giving up by only making about $24 million a year the next 5 years? If he signed for $10 million a year, I'd give him props, money wasn't important. Money obviously was important.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 14, 2010 -> 06:57 AM) 1. Wow. Halladay/Oswalt/Lee/Hamels. It doesn't get much better than that. 2. The Yankees are in dire need of a starter now and they sure as hell can't sign Carl Pavano. It should be interesting to see what move they can conjure up. 3. The rich keep getting richer in the MLB, the Phillies are right up there now with BOS & NYY. As a Sox fan, I can't really say much either cause the Sox are spending more than most other teams too. They won't sign Pavano, Greinke in NY is probably a horrible idea. I doubt Tampa wants to trade Garza to them. It will be interesting to see how they fill out their rotation.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Dec 14, 2010 -> 06:30 AM) agreed....and its a decent possibility. Oswalt was trending in the wrong direction before his rebound year last year (ERAs of 3.18, 3.54, 4.12). Disclaimer: By no means am I about to say that cliff Lee is bad or anything like that. I do think cliff lee is overrated though. He's being paid top 5 starter money, for a guy who is 26-22 with roughly a 3.20 ERA over the last two seasons. Still very good numbers, but given the fact that he is on the wrong side of 30, and is just 3 years removed from being a 29 year old with a 6.29 ERA who got sent back to the minors, I think there is considerably more risk in these deal than most people realize. Chances are the contract eventually becomes an albatross, however, Jaime Moyer is always out there as an example of someone who struggled while they were young and turned it on as an older pitcher and really aged well. He's a one in a million probably and is probably a bad example, but he is an example. Personally, unless I was the Yankees and can make $100 million mistakes without it really harming me, I don't think I would have offered Lee the money.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Dec 13, 2010 -> 05:05 PM) It's unfair to place the success of a newspaper on one sports writer. That's staff-wide issue up to the highest ranks of the newspaper. Because of the history of his interaction with this website, I think very few people here would give him credit for anything. Usually that's what happens when things get adversarial. But I can assure you that he's been on top of things this offseason. KW has denied plenty before, as is his job. He tries to do things a little bit differently than a lot of executives would do and he absolutely hates it when rumors get out. Probably more so than anyone else. That's why he's so secretive. You don't have to be the first to report it in order for you to be doing your job. Breaking stories is great, but because of the easy access to information these days, the game is a little bit different than it used to be. You may not like his style or the shots he takes, that's understandable. But I don't think it's fair to say he's been horrible at gathering information this offseason. I haven't been around for a while. I'll try to get back more often. The bottom line is if you measure Joe's performance the same way he measures his competitions', he's had a brutal offseason. He was the one taunting the Tribune when the Sun Times broke the details of the potential Ozzie trade, (Although they had the trade including an incorrect player). Maybe he isn't the totatl d-bag Marriotti is away from the Sun Times or twitter. I read his twitter for the same reason I read Oney's, just to see the crazy crap they were trying to stir. I would prefer his twitter to actually contain some accurate White Sox news I can't get anywhere else, but it seems he tries to follow the Marriotti pattern, maybe in order to hit a nice payday. I guess being obnoxious pays for some, or at least they think it pays.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Dec 13, 2010 -> 12:41 PM) You'll have to take that up with Cooper, but he has some sort of personal issue with Cowley. I love Coop, but he just doesn't like the media at all. I would not discount AJ/Toronto just because Rosenthal reported AJ was not going there. There may have been a time (even if it was only for an hour or two) that AJ was strongly considering, if not close to accepting a deal there. Joe knows AJ very well. And, I would not put a whole lot of stock in KW saying that shopping CQ is a lie. He's just not going to publicly admit that he's looking to trade Quentin. Actually, AJ himself was on MLB Network and said he was a minute away from going to the Dodgers. Cowley had it Toronto, and then it suddenly dissappeared from his story. Maybe not him editing it, but someone who obviously figured out the information was incorrect. Again. I don't think KW would use a term as strong as lie if he were indeed shopping Quentin, anther thing Cowley put his legs on both sides of the fence. First saying they were asking for a lot, then saying they were looking for a Carlos Lee like deal, which IIRC was initially panned for the talent being returned but praised for freeing up payroll. What about his The Kids Can Play Part II, the the Sox were going young and maybe the Sox will sign Johnny Damon to throw the fans a bone stuff? Some more Cowley fiction. If Phil Rogers came up with all this stuff, Cowley would be tweeting how big a fool "Phillip" is, and probably going on and on about how the sports editor or "Little Dictator" at the Tribune has ruined the paper. You can make excuses for him all you want, but this offseason, he has been horrible. You would have learned nothing from his stories. He's broken nothing. He thinks he's superior to those that are outworking and outscooping him. I know you have Joe on your show and maybe in real life he is a nice guy, but his "stage" persona is ridiculous.