Dick Allen

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 06:48 PM) The Konerko move was the right one at the time. Maybe KW went one year too long with Contreras AND Paulie, but nobody was disagreeing at the time, not after all the pride we had when JR welled up and Konerko handed him the baseball. If you want to make any argument, it's not that we built around Konerko. He has always been merely an above average, but not great, 1B. The problem is that the offensive firepower provided by Thome and Dye has been replaced incorrectly and ineffectively. It wasn't necessarily wrong to let them go, it's the moves that KW made that were horrible. Our offense would look a lot nicer with Nick Swisher in the line-up, of course, that ship sailed when the relationship deteriorated with Ozzie and the FO...but losing Swisher and giving up all that talent really was a set-back. That said, Ryan Sweeney, Chris Carter, Chris Getz or even Chris Young the way he's playing now for ARIZ wouldn't make or break this Sox team. But our lack of minor league development has forced moves like Pierre, Rios and Teahen that have hamstrung our payroll to the point where we were basically helpless to sign Matsui, Damon or Vlad. Or O-Dog. BTW, AJ is not doing as expected, he's been pretty close to horrendous. His offensive output was always the most predictable, along with Juan Uribe. The Konerko thing I agree with completely. If he would have walked away after the WS, it would have been a huge PR hit, and even if he is slightly above average to average, what is the probability the Sox could have filled his spot with someone more productive? Doubtful if you ask me. This team is just currently finding ways to lose. They will start winning some games eventually. How many they win is a good question, but I don't think we are looking at a 2007 situation here. Like was stated before, boring baseball and especially losing boring baseball isn't going to work at the box office. I think KW relaxed way too much this offseason. Its time to do something.

Gene Lamont won 86 games his first year managing the White Sox then had 2 first place finishes. He was canned 31 games into his 4th season with a career winning pct. a lot higher than Ozzie's and replaced with Terry Bevington, perhaps the biggest joke of a manager in MLB history. I guess what I'm saying is, even though I wouldn't do it, its not unprecedented for a guy like Ozzie to get canned fairly early if things don't turn around, even if there really isn't a better alternative around. Its one thing to be 4-8, but with 8 of those games against Cleveland and KC and the others against Toronto, there has to be a little concern.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 05:45 PM) Now 0-8 when scoring 3 or less. Ozzie ball! The White Sox won about 12% of the games last season when they scored less than 4 runs. It shouldn't be a surprise they lose when they score 2 runs. Ozzie might have made a mistake keeping Peavy out there too long, I didn't see the game, but you score 2 runs against the Indians again and you should lose. The scary thing is Andruw Jones is actually hitting pretty well and this team is a bat short. Pierre looks done. He seems like he's lost a couple of steps. There is no margin of error for the pitching staff or the defense. One let down and the game is over. NL offenses don't work in the AL.

The Sox had 5 pitchers with 3 strikeouts in 8 innings. I wonder if that has ever happened before.

I don't think he would ever get fired, and I'm not his hugest fan, but I agree with him, he'd get another job easily. Some teams right now would crave the attention Ozzie would bring their team.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 14, 2010 -> 09:47 PM) Jermaine Dye is apparently too insulted to even bother to play for the Mariners for that exact $3 million price tag. Pride goeth before the fall (see Cabrera, Orlando). If Dye doesn't sign with someone soon, I predict he comes back next year with a minor league contract and an invite to spring training with some team, maybe even the White Sox and if he makes the team will make less than half of what he's turning down. Then he will say it wasn't about the money, when it was all about the money.

So Ozzie wouldn't have a problem if Hahn or Fabian or someone else smacked Oney around? I think Ozzie says stuff just to get a reaction and maybe he's trying to stick up for Rios. I'm sure Ozzie has been given a hard time before and I haven't read where he's beaten anyone up. What some players and apparently coaches and managers have to realize is while dealing with the public can be a real pain in the ass, if there wasn't this fascination with athletes they wouldn't be paid the kind of money they get paid. They wouldn't have the women in every city hanging all over them. They wouldn't have a car for every day of the weak or most of the other things they have. Its probably not the most apealing part of the job dealing with it, but it is part of the job, and when you are making an average of over $3 million a year, you should be able to put up with it.

So far it looks like this could be an interesting year because you never know what team is going to take the field. Sometimes its one that could contend for a title, and sometimes its one that would struggle in the International League. I think once Peavy gets going, and I don't see any reason he won't, this team can roll, although I'm still not buying Jones and think the Sox could use another bat, even though he's been outstanding lately. He already has hit as many homers for the White Sox as he did for the Dodgers. How much did they ultimately pay him?

Isn't it amazing how many White Sox runs still score as a result of the home run?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 14, 2010 -> 12:20 AM) I was just thinking about the topic of hitters who have gone on to success after leaving Chicago...besides the obvious ones like Ordonez and Carlos Lee. Besides Ryan Sweeney and Swisher, another batter that never reached his potential (certainly not after the 2004 season) was Juan Uribe. Aaron Rowand also comes to mind...but Uribe, we more or less gave up on, at least to my thinking. He also was a big reason for our success in holding off the Twins the final six weeks of 2008 after Crede went down for good. I don't know how much we can ascribe the National League as the primary reason for their success (Rowand/Uribe)...and I don't even think it would matter much if we had Fields and Getz back (instead of Teahen, or had we kept Uribe), because they wouldn't have roles NOW unless Fields could actually hit a FB and play LF competently. Maybe if Andruw Jones has a complete season, Walker can take credit...or if Alex Rios returns to the All-Star form of 2005-2008. Juan Uribe was a lot better ballplayer than Soxtalk ever gave him credit for. Rowand had a big year in 2004, was mediocre in 2005, and had one big year since leaving the Sox and has been pretty mediocre, so much so, the Giants were thinking about trading him for Milton Bradley this winter.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 08:12 PM) For all the people that booed Wise last year for leading off on Opening Day not even a peep about Vizquel doing it today. Wise had no business being booed. It wasn't his idea to lead off, but Ozzie mentioned Vizquel leading off when he was signed, and I think most of us thought he was just talking. Evidently not. You can't blame him for the team having one hit in 8 innings, but a almost automatic out leading off is another of Ozzie's very questionable decisions that if you disagree with you should go watch the Cubs.

I'm sure glad Omar Vizquel is leading off and getting his ABs.

Nice result.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 09:47 PM) He's going to strike him out. Maybe not.

He's going to strike him out.

Bobby has turned into one of those guys that always makes it interesting.

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 09:40 PM) Agreed. I also think A. Jones has put on a few lbs since the spring. They can both weigh 400 as long as they get the job done. I like the wind up.

Teahen, Jones and Rios all hitting in the same game? The Sox have to win this. I'm looking at Jenks and don't see someone who looks 25 lbs lighter than last year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 03:40 PM) There are 2 things that I want a hitting coach to do that I worry about Walker on. I want a hitting coach to be able to overhaul a guy's swing when it needs it. Some guys, Walker has totally failed to do this with (fields, Anderson). On the other hand, he seems to have done so successfully with Rios, at least so far for this season. Teahen is another one who really needs it, he's terrible right now, but that can change. I'm iffy on this one right now, but getting Teahen going is really important. And not just going; he needs to have a good year overalll. The other thing I want a hitting coach to do is making sure guys have a clear plan when they go up against a pitcher. Take yesterday, with Liriano, for example. He was very, very wild for most of the game, but for at least half of his innings, guys like Jones, Vizquel...etc., were jumping on the first pitch and hitting it weakly or falling behind because the ball was so far out of the zone. You need to prep guys better than this...if you have a guy who isn't attacking the strike zone, you need to be more patient than that. The other thing that you want a hitting coach to do is correct a guy when he has an issue with his swing crop up during a year, but with that one, you never know how much the hitting coach can do, because that one, the player has to listen m id-season. You are just assuming guys like Fields and Anderson and Teahen are fixable. Not everyone is. Like I've stated before, who has ever left the White Sox after working with Walker and had a ton more success elsewhere under a different hitting coach? The only guy I can remotely think of is Swisher, and the big reason they dumped Swisher was he wouldn't listen to Walker. The list of players who struggle before they came to the White Sox and picked it up after working with Walker is a list that is more than just a little longer. The blame he gets when older broken down one trick pony hitters hit a certain way is beyond ridiculous. If Teahen doesn't hit, how in the world could that be because of Walker? Maybe its just Teahen isn't very good.

Ozzie is a little thin-skinned for an MLB manager. He ate up all the genius talk in 2005 and now even Oney yaps about how the White Sox knew nothing about winning until the Guillens came to town. Of course Ozzie's .525 winning pct. looks pretty good against Jerry Manuel's .515, even though that's only 1.5 extra wins a year, but pales in comparison to Gene Lamont's .551. There are very few managers/coaches/GMs that aren't eventually going to be called an idiot by a lot of people. Ozzie is no exception. He shouldn't be popping off, and he also shouldn't resign. Its 5 games. See how you feel a month from now. I still feel if they don't hit soon, KW's trigger is going to be a lot quicker than normal considering he wasn't entirely sold on the current plan in the first place.

Harold Reynolds had a thought before the season started that makes a little sense. He said Pierre is a 2 hole hitter, and that Beckham should lead off.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 03:01 PM) It's KW's job to work with Ozzie to form the team. That means compromise. KW gave Ozzie way to much leeway this offseason. That's his biggest mistake. KW is Ozzie's boss. If he just does what Ozzie says, JR could save some money and eliminate the middle man. If the roster is the problem, that's on KW.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 02:54 PM) Reality set in? Its been 5 games, Im sorry but thats an abysmal sample. To put in perspective: It would be 2.5 games of a basketball or hockey season. It would be half a game of a football season. You just cant jump to conclusions this quickly, especially in baseball. This is true. A week from now its almost a lock that some of the things we are fretting about we will be quite happy with and some of the encouraging things we see we will be fretting about.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 02:51 PM) I love our pitching staff. . . but this offense makes me sick. . . So far this rotating DH thing has been an absolute failure. How long before KW makes a deal? Maybe its too early to panic but we can easily be 5-0 right now. I believe they have held the lead in every game. Even with their horrible hitting, they are still right there. They'll be alright once they pick up another bat.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 02:45 PM) KW is all knowing Mr.Smugass NEVER question him! I actually heard a story last night from a pretty reliable source that Jim Thome doesn't have KW on his Christmas card list.