Dick Allen

I loved reading Cowley's article where JR debunks all of his stories. " A source told the Sun-Times" he uses a lot when JR says a report isn't true. Its the same Cowley who hoped Soxnet would get new sources for Christmas. Funny how that works out. Joe also failed to mention his "exclusive" report that JR banned KW from roadtrips this year, was also deemed false by JR.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 05:12 PM) And Mike Mordecai, he of the amazing at bat against Kyle Fansworth in Game 6. Has there ever been a bigger sight for sore eyes more than seeing the opposition send Kyle Farnsworth to the mound in a crucial situation the past 7 or 8 years?

The offense today is pudrid, but that should be no surprise given the line up. At least Peavy has come up huge and is starting to get on a roll.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 05:04 PM) It would be nice to have a normal american league offense instead of having to hope that our pitchers outpitch the 2005 Sox. Even on this little run, we have had to pitch our asses off to get some wins. Even if you could pick anybody in the world to be the White Sox hitting coach, how many runs would you realistically expect the line up Ozzie threw out there today to score?

Maybe Viciedo is sick or something, but if he isn't it makes zero sense to have him on the roster if you have to so carefully pick his spots. I hope Stone blasts into Ozzie like he did Lou, 21 year olds need to play. That said, the defense has helped the Sox win. But if Konerko isn't playing then why not Viciedo at 1B? If he is so unprepared to play,again assuming he isn't sick or something, he needs to go back to Charlotte today.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ May 22, 2010 -> 10:52 AM) I'm heading up to Chicago for the first time in 6 years or so for July 4th weekend. We'll get in Thursday morning and leave on Sunday the 4th. I need some suggestions on things to do. Time will be somewhat limited. We'll have all day Thursday, but are going to Cubs-Reds games (yes I know its a Sox board, but the Sox weren't in town!) My questions are: 1. Tell me about Taste of Chicago. Is it worth spending time there? Worth catching after one of the afternoon games? What kind of entertainment will there be? 2. Does anyone know of any other events going on that weekend? Has anyone ever done any of the boat tours? There is an architecture tour and a skyline tour? Any input? Are there dinner cruises at night? 3. Will there be a big fireworks show downtown on Saturday the 3rd or will we miss out having to fly back on the 4th? 4. Suggestions for places to eat? We'll be doing pizza one night for sure. Mostly likely Giordano's or Lou Malnati's. We like dive type places, but wouldn't mind a nice dinner one night either. Definitely not looking for chain or corporate places. Want something unique to Chicago. We're staying at the Sutton Place Hotel which is a few blocks north of the Hancock Tower and west of Oak St. Beach. Is Oak St. Beach going to be packed that weekend. I figured on walking to it at least one morning, but not staying long. Thoughts? Any input on the above or any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. We're using public transportation and time would be limited, so unless something would just blow us away, it needs to be pretty convenient to downtown. Thanks! 1. I hate Taste of Chicago. Too crowded and its actually cheaper to go to the restaurant and be served. 2. Check out the seadog on Navy Pier. They do an architectural tour with a speed boat ride which is really nice if its hot. It will cool you off instantly. They also have coupons on line sometimes for a discount. 3. There will be fireworks at Navy Pier on July 4th. The 3rd used to be the big one, but has been a victim of the budget. You will miss them. 4. Frontera Grill if you like Mexican. Margueritas are awesome. Its Rick Bayless's place, and has won a lot of awards including best restaurant in the US a couple of years ago.It will be crowded but its my favorite restaurant in the world, also is reasonably priced and casual attire. Sutton Place Hotel is across the street from Gibson's and across the street from Tavern on Rush right in the Viagra Triangle. Good people watching and the Original Pancake House which is right next to Tavern on Rush and across the street from your hotel serves up a nice breakfast. Oak St. beach will be packed, but in the morning it should be OK.

QUOTE (The Beast @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 02:36 AM) He is not the "revolution" that will save this team, but he might be a pleasant surprise at 1B/DH. You can't really put him at 3B, he's had some rough times over there (15 errors in AA as a 3B). I have no faith in the White Sox farm system. As far as I'm concerned, it isn't up to par with other teams in the league, and I will be surprised if he does something extraordinary. Welcome to the bigs Dayan Viciedo, your table is ready. (Don't follow your counterparts and be told to swing, swing, swing.) White Sox baseball, deal with it. Just kidding, if this kid can bring some pop with his bat then I'm all for him, and I'll awaken again once someone else is DFA'd. From what I read this morning, he's going to be seeing time at 3B.

Hawk basically admitted it last night, the injury to Teahen was a blessing. I wasn't big on Omar Vizquel, but if his playing 3B has this effect on the pitching, you had to figure it would have some effect but not this large, then play him as much as a 43 year old can play.

I think Iwamura and Nix both suck. People get mad at KW for getting ex Royals, now some guy the Pirates will pay off to play somewhere else becomes wanted. If either gets extended playing time, it means the team is terrible. Who cares about them?

Ahhmmm. Peavy has a shoulder. He'll be fine.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2010 -> 08:29 PM) Wow, where did you hear that Beckham stuff? The Hawkeroo was talking about it a few weeks ago.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2010 -> 06:54 PM) I want a new hitting coach to see if we can salvage the career of Quentin, and also prevent Beckham from becoming another Sox bust. I think you're being a little dramatic. Who was the hitting coach when Quentin had the success everyone now expects him to have yearly? Who was the hitting coach when Beckham had success last year and led many, me included, to believe he would be a White Sox all time great? Unless you can guarantee the offense will be better without Walker, its at best a lateral move. In their last 31 games they are hitting .271 as a team and that is without these 2 doing anything. The Beckham problems surfaced supposedly because he decided on his own to focus on hitting breaking balls better and it has screwed him up with fastballs, and he still is having problems with offspeed stuff.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 15, 2010 -> 06:03 PM) Agreed. Regardless of what he preaches (and I think he's a good hitting coach), the results haven't been there and no matter how good you are, eventually you need results. Since it is easier to switch coaches than players, the coach should have gone a long-time ago. So you're saying they should be more like the Cubs. In the past year, they fired Gerald Perry, then Von Joshua, now have a guru Rudy Jaramillo as the hitting coach and what has changed? If the White Sox don't change players a new hitting coach is going to hated on this board pretty quickly.

I would suspect if this is totally true, JR would not let KW fire Ozzie until all avenues of reconciliation were attempted and they failed. He'll be very deliberate and maybe will never let KW fire Ozzie or may reluctantly let him if he figures they cannot work together. I wonder if KW is hoping Ozzie says something so crazy, something most of us feel will eventually lead to Ozzie's demise, so he has to fire him. I still think my theory that Ozzie's voice became heard a lot more by the 2009 failure even with adding significant payroll during the season, may be valid. I know for a fact JR was pissed off at the end of last season with the team's performance. Maybe he started listening to Ozzie more and more. The quote JR had this past winter when he said about Ozzie, "he should get the team he wants", makes me think he was willing to try Ozzie's way at least this season. Barry Rozner had a column the other day saying it was time JR stepped in and likened Ozzie to a seven year old brat who will do whatever he pleases because he knows he'll never be held accountable. Both these guys have huge egos and both really believe they are the reason there is a WS trophy at USCF.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jun 13, 2010 -> 10:40 PM) another thing, last year we got Rios for nothing. A similar situation can occur with Fielder if we eat up the rest of the contract. So instead of Hudson and Danks with them eating some of the contract, it would be just Hudson with us taking ALL of it. Not a chance.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Jun 13, 2010 -> 03:10 PM) So, in other words, we should not be blaming Greg Walker for Flowers problems in May, correct? I'm not trying to place blame on anyone, just trying to avoid blaming someone if it isn't their fault. Anyone on any team in any league that isn't hitting can be and should be blamed on Greg Walker.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jun 13, 2010 -> 12:01 PM) Every once in a while you do get lucky with these trades. I hear the Indians got a nice little catching prospect for a 34 year old, soon to be free agent third baseman around the deadline in 2008. They also got 4 what appear to be stiffs for a Cy Young type that same year.

QUOTE (Felix @ Jun 12, 2010 -> 06:15 PM) There is no correlation between market size and playoff appearances. Really, there isn't any proof that adding a salary cap would do anything to improve the competitive balance of baseball. Exactly. How has the cap worked in the NBA? If you aren't the Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Pistons, Rockets or Spurs or Heat, you haven't won a title in a very long time.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 13, 2010 -> 01:49 AM) This might sound dumb because baseball is a long grind, but doesn't it seem like the Sox are playing playoff intensity baseball against the Cub? And guess what? We play well and win. Do the Sox play "hard" every night, especially against the lowlife Indians and Royals? I'm just wondering if the nights we sleepwalk and suck has something to do with mental frame of mind. Or is it just that we are a mediocre team? I hate to use the "playing hard" analogy but to me it seems these Cub games have been intense and we've played well as a result. Is playing hard a misnomer or only appropriate to football and basketball? When you are winning, everything looks and appears better,even the effort. If the Sox lost yesterday 3-2 instead of won 2-1, some more heads would have been called for.

QUOTE (T R U @ Jun 12, 2010 -> 09:56 PM) I have a very bad feeling were gonna get screwed for the future with this easy stretch in the schedule.. Screwed for the future? I've read this several times on this board, and I don't understand. Sure there are some who have a fantasy that the White Sox be in a perpetual state of rebuilding, but if they can get hot, why is that bad? Do you really think they have a lot of moveable parts that command top prospects right now? I'm pretty sure they are an average at best team, but dumping guys for what probably would be Jon Adkins-like prospects isn't exactly destroying the future. In fact, if players perform closer to their career totals, the bounty trading them later may be bigger. Jake Peavy, Mark Buehrle, AJP anybody, they go on a hot streak how does it hurt their value? Its not like its now or never to trade guys. Even AJ. He's talking the talk, but he'll go if the Sox are out of it and the new team is in it, especially if they throw in an extension, which is very negotiable.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:09 PM) Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell's contract for Hanley Ramirez. So far you mentioned Beckett and Santana. I love John Danks, but he's not it their league at the time they were traded. The biggest reason Florida was able to get Ramirez is because they took Lowell's contract, something no other team would have done at the time. It was considered a huge albatross, although it didn't turn out that way. At the time of the trade, many in baseball, if not most, thought Lowell was done.

There are so many ways to look at it. You can probably make a case for just about every choice. Fewer franchises have won an NBA title the past 20 years. How many NBA champions have there been or how many NBA teams have played in the finals that really no one gave much of a thought to before the season started? MLB has 162 games, and the playoffs are a crapshoot. The NHL's season is grueling. The NFL is tough. Each team is an injury or 2 away from being fairly insiginificant. Golf has more competors per winner than the others. Maybe one is harder than the rest, but if it is, its a very slight difference. They all are tough and huge accomplishments.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:56 PM) Ozzie needs to go. He's done a lot for this organization, but his antics have just gone way too far now. If KW leaves because Reinsdorf won't let him fire Ozzie, there's a f***ing problem. Reinsdorf needs to realize if KW goes because of this then Ozzie is not going to get any better no matter who the GM is. This whole soap opera is f***ing ridiculous. JR wants both of them to stay. I really think its a longshot he ever would fire either, but he realizes they have to get along somewhat in order to both be effective. They don't have to be close, but they have to able to work together. If KW decided to walk away, IMO that's the lesser of two evils for JR. He'd try to talk him out of it, but if he couldn't, there would be a new GM and Ozzie would be making out the line up card. I think if it happened that way, Ozzie's ego would get even bigger, and he would probably become even more difficult if he didn't get his way with whoever they chose to succeed KW, although you'd have to think Hahn would be a lock. If they both stay, one thing anyone could do if they want to have some fun with them is to go to a soxfest seminar where they both are appearing. When the Q and A starts go up to the microphone and just profusely thank one of them for the WS title. Watch the other one skwirm.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 09:01 PM) You don't think that they're capable to do it if need be? Cooper tells AJ what he wants ahead of time, I'm sure. Flowers can and will learn to be a MLB catcher eventually, if that's what the coaches want. You gotta let the babies fly on their own sooner or later. I sat and listened to Ozzie at a Soxfest deal a couple of years ago. He claimed the bench will never call one pitch. Its between the catcher and the pitcher. I'm all for giving Flowers a chance, but its premature right now. He would be overmatched at the plate. Wait until he has himself straighted out. There's no rush.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:13 PM) Cowley said Garcia and Konerko confirmed the blow-up. Also, both Stone and Cowley suggested Hahn will be replacing KW sooner rather than later, and Ozzie's going nowhere. Wasn't Hahn one of Oney's targets in the original twittergate? Oney is not so bright, I'm sure he's being fed info by Ozzie. I always considered Hahn a viable GM, but a GM should have his own manager. Ozzie apparently looks at the back of your baseball card to determine who knows what. Since Hahn doesn't have one, that will be a huge problem especially considering how proud Ozzie and the rest of the Guillens will be if they are successful in removing his boss. Ozzie has been insubordinate even during spring training. I think JR needs to sit down with him and re-explain the chain of command. This whole thing seems like it would be a disaster for the Sox, but they have played their best the past 3 games.