Dick Allen

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 01:14 PM) I know you hate Rios, but are you seriously writing off Peavy, right now? Not to mention hiring Buddy Bell to dramatically improve our minor league system? I'll believe the Buddy Bell impact when I see it at the major league level.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 01:07 PM) As much crap as Ozzie is getting, Kenny Williams has done a HORRIBLE job as our GM since the Quentin trade. Both Ozzie and KW like Ditka, living off 2005. If the ball doesn't go through Tony G's legs and El Duque actually gives up a couple of runs that year, the two baseball geniuses that people actually shed tears thanking, are nothing more than failures. I just want that "how many championships" has whoever won argument gone. That's in the past. It doesn't take much baseball IQ to figure out the line ups last year and this were lacking. Ozzie can pop off about fans all he wants. The proof is in the pudding. He's losing.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 01:03 PM) Just like with Teahen, we just have to hope they turn it around. I really have a problem with a team always concerned about budget giving Teahen that ridiculous extension. If the Sox didn't trade for him, there was an excellent chance he would have been non tendered.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 12:52 PM) The thing about the 0-8 record when scoring 3 or less is more an indictment on the pitching staff than anything else. I mean, we all knew the offense would suck and low scoring games would be common place. But I think that most of us would think that with our pitching staff, we can pull some of these games out, at least some of the time. Even if we won 2 of those 8, we'd be 6-6 right now. Basically, the pitching was supposed to carry this team. I don't think it has. I don't care how good your pitching staff is, if they can only give up 2 runs to win, with the Sox defense, that's asking for way too much.

When does the statute of limitations expire on the KW and OG are geniuses because of 2005?

We've been told its nearly impossible to sweep a MLB team. The Sox are still sitting pretty today. Stone said something interesting, the Sox just don't bore White Sox fans, they drew the smallest crowds EVER at each of the two destinations on this road trip.

QUOTE (S_R_N83 @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 09:38 AM) new guy here from Pittsburgh, PA Kotsay is really batting in the 3 hole? How can this team become consistent offensively when its a different lineup everyday?! Jerry Manuel used to get blasted for being a "tinkerer". Ozzie usually gets a pass from those same people, but in his defense, if the line up isn't working, changes are in order. If he keeps it the same he'll be criticized, if he changes it, he'll get the same thing. They just need to start scoring runs and winning. They weren't helped by a weak offseason from management, but they can overcome that because of the division they play in. Is the goal to be the best team you can be or be a team that is considered a contender in its division? It seems to be the White Sox higher ups have settled on the latter. If they were actually in the AL East, would they have the line up they have now and consider themselves a contender for anything but a high draft pick?

QUOTE (chimpy2121 @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 09:27 AM) I dont even want to post this lineup... Pierre lf, Beckham 2b, Kotsay rf, Konerko 1b, A.J. c, Rios cf, Teahen dh, Vizquel 3b, Ramirez ss, Floyd p Who knows how it will turn out, but I think even the guys who think KW and Ozzie can do no wrong would say that isn't a very impressive-looking line-up. At least Vizquel isn't leading off.

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 09:04 AM) How about not blacking out the WCIU games for people that aren't blessed with the Tyler Perry channel? MLB Extra Innings: Blacked Out MLB.TV: Blacked Out MLB Iphone App: Blacked Out My options are to watch the game on 1/20th of a screen on the MLB Extra Innings channel that shows all the games or listen to Ed and DJ. This sucks Brooks! I am a season ticket holder, when I give my tickets away I would like to watch the damn game on tv. I hate the games on WCIU because for some reason DirectTv doesn't have HD on that channel. I've become very spoiled. Its hard for me to watch anything that isn't HD.

The key today is to score at least 4 runs.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 05:41 PM) They're skipping Garcia's next start in favor of Buehrle. This is pretty good news for Hudson fans. If you have your starts being skipped 3 turns into the season, it doesn't bode well for being around much longer. Freddy actually looked good his first start, but then was pounded just like spring training. Chances are he doesn't pitch much more for the Sox than he did last season.

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.