Dick Allen

From Levine: Shortstop Alexei Ramirez was one player to report to camp underweight. He said he lost five pounds during the winter. How does Alexei lose weight? I was really hoping the Sox put him on a strength program. If he's not getting stronger physically, I would guess he is what he will be offensively.

QUOTE (Mattchoo @ Feb 28, 2010 -> 07:03 AM) I totally agree with this. I think KW will trade any prospect at this point, but doesn't want to part with Hudson if he can avoid it. I doubt KW really wants to give up any of his top prospects, but he's not going to miss out on Adrian Gonzalez because he doesn't want to part with Jordan Danks, or Tyler Flowers or Dan Hudson. Gordon Beckham, I hope that's a deal breaker, but everyone else.............enjoy SD.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 27, 2010 -> 09:57 AM) If I was the GM of the Padres, I also wouldnt have traded Peavy for the crap he got. There's a new sheriff in town, and they aren't so desperate to unload money. If they do eventually get Ellsbury in a Gonzalez deal, there's a good chance they will have to pay Ellsbury more than Gonzalez will make in 2011. Its all about the prospects. It may be a reason the White Sox are more likely to keep a guy like Flowers in AAA. If he shows he's adequate defensively and is raking the ball down there, there is a far better chance of him being attractive to SD than a guy that catches once a week and may struggle initially offensively like most hitters do. Call me crazy, but I believe Flowers has a far better chance to stick on the MLB roster if Gonzalez is not available.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Feb 26, 2010 -> 07:17 PM) Sure, which makes something like this the player's call. But we're also talking about a different situation here. It's one thing to be negotiating a contract for an upcoming season and the team lays out plans to you and tells you that they want you, they want to pay you a little less than what you may be able to get elsewhere, but they want to take that money and sign some other players. They may also tell you specifically what it is they want to do and who else they want to sign. That's one thing, and it's not all that uncommon. It's a completely different thing, however, to ask a player with an already existing contract to restructure. In that case, you're getting into some murky player-relations territory. Like I said before, part of that problem is the decision of who would get approached first. You have to think that if you come to a current player on your roster and tell him what you want to do, his reaction will probably be, "Why are you asking me to do that? Why not anyone else?" I would also imagine that, for future puproses, you don't want to be known as the team that signs its players to long term deals, then comes to them 2 years in to ask to restructure. Part of the benefit of getting a long-term contract is the security of knowing exactly what you'll be paid and for how long. Rolen deferred $5 million of his 2010 salary with no interest. He did have an existing contract. His payoff was an extension, but he did defer money. Iamshack was suggesting guys like Peavy who supposedly want Damon badly defer a million or two to get it done. I don't know what the payoff for Peavy could be. Maybe later on if the White Sox are absolutely sure of his health, they can guarantee picking up his option or something.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 22, 2010 -> 09:38 PM) Well, I often hear about GMs not being able to find Latin American players in the offseason. Why do I hear that but not the same about American players? I swear, sometimes you think I get all my information from Entourage or something. Believe it or not, Mr. Rongey, I also took Negotiations as well as Mediations. I also worked for the Mayor's Office as well as a very successful law firm, where I did take part in negotiations and mediations. I am very well aware that sometimes it is difficult to get parties to come to agreements. And if that would have been the case, then perhaps you are correct in saying that it would have been unrealistic. I tend to think that for a guy who already has made millions, has a guaranteed contract for another $75 million or so, that he would probably not have a huge problem with deferring $2-3 million over the course of a few years. But hey, that is just my opinion. As for your side note, I don't really see where I have admitted that it would have been nearly impossible to do. And if you go back and read the original post I made, you'll see I didn't come out and say "LET'S GET ONE OF OUR VETERANS TO RENEGOTIATE!" I said I never said it was a simple process. I never said it was something that Kenny should pressured someone to do. I never said it was commonplace. My implication was that if it really was about the availability of the money, and I truly don't believe it was, then I would hope we would get creative enough to make it happen. What do you guys care more about, winning? Or doing something "awkward"? What do you think Kenny cares more about? Your suggestion has occurred before. I never heard of it, but from cincinatti.com: I’m writing about Scott Rolen for tomorrow’s paper. He’s an interesting guy to talk to. Here’s a little preview: The restructuring of his contract was in the works since the last day of the season. Walt Jocketty approached him and told him that the Reds wanted him here long-term. Rolen got extended for two years — but his 2010 salary was reduced from $11 million to $6 million with other $5 million, deferred with no interest. “You’ve got to be careful talking about money with an organization,” he said. “But they were looking to free up some money to go out and be more competitive, to become a better ballclub. I was certainly more than willing to do that, so pushed some money back. It’s a negotiation. They said, ‘we’ll extend you if you do this.’ It worked well for both of us.” That $5 million allowed the Reds to add to Orlando Cabrera ($2.27 million), Jonny Gomes ($800,000) and Aroldis Chapman ($1 million) to this year’s payroll. Of course he received an extension for his efforts, but if winning is the main thing and you have more money than you'll ever need..................................

As long as they are going to keep interleague play, and its been a big success no matter how much some don't like it, they really should make it 6 divisions of 5 teams. There will always be an interleague series being played, but so what? IMO its better than an AL team having to play 9 games in a row without a DH. Another change they could make because the interleague series are always 3 games, play the middle game by the road teams' league rules. For all the AL fans who are purists and like the pitchers to bat, you'd get to see it at your home park a few games a year, and the NL fans will be exposed to DHs a few games a year.

So Ozzie isn't going to be putting anything White Sox related out there, just stuff like he's going to have a barbeque. That's riveting.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 23, 2010 -> 02:47 PM) In my simplistic mind, places like the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates (oh what a DUMB idea it was to build that!) and the Rosemont Horizon (excuse me, AllState Arean) are more direct competition to the UC than a domed football stadium. If they could take the Sears Center and dump it over by that industrial area that is for sale near the Clybourn Metra stop, it would be the perfect venue for DePaul basketball. Where it is, makes no sense. Its actually a real nice small arena.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Feb 23, 2010 -> 12:57 PM) I'm the opposite. I don't want anything to do with going to a bears game past october. I don't like sitting in the cold. They should have a dome. This, plus putting a permanant roof or retractable roof on it would make it very likely you would see Final Fours and a Super Bowl or 2 in Chicago. The Bears threatened to move to Arlington Heights many many years ago near Arlington Park. I believe the first mayor Daley was in office then and he told them they couldn't use Chicago in their name if they didn't play in the city limits. I am totally against publicly financed stadiums anymore. People are hurt. The McCaskeys aren't. Why should anyone pay so they can make more money? If the Bears don't like their $40 million a year profit, leave. I'm sure another NFL team wouldn't mind taking their place.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 23, 2010 -> 07:07 PM) Everyone who doesn't kiss a-- with the moderators or defer to their every judgment about the world (or White Sox) is quickly eviscerated or labelled a "dark cloud." I always like to do an advanced google search on that board for threads a year old or so. They are funny because it seems half the posts are by people who have banned next to their status. Being a moderator there must be a full time job just banning people .

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 23, 2010 -> 06:45 PM) I sincerely doubt that 97 number has any current meaning. I would be really shocked if he was throwing that hard so early in ST, let alone at any point in the season...after all those injuries. I think 89-93 ends up being much more likely. I think the past 10 years the only White Sox pitcher who was considered to be a flamethrower I ever saw that actually threw as hard as advertised was Jenks, although Clayton Richard may qualify as he threw pretty hard but it really wasn't advertised all that much.

Cabrera has a slightly better chance of helping the White Sox this year than I do.

I love the DH. I really don't care to see people who can't hit go up to the plate. I know all the managers love the "strategy" of pinch hitting, but I think the DH provides more offense obviously, and keeps some good hitters around who would be out of baseball. Seriously, when would Frank Thomas have had to call it quits if he had to play the field? He certainly would have killed the Sox playig 1B regularly after about 1998. I really doubt he would even be a consideration until his eligiblity was up for the HOF even with his tremendous start to his career. There are several others like Edgar Martinez. Thome, Baines. Guys extend their careers and are productive. Its a win win if you ask me. I say the less the manager has to decide, the better we all are.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 22, 2010 -> 08:20 PM) Am I an expert because I once hung up on The Coach, Tom Landry, lol? It's hit or miss during the offseason, I'll agree with that. Some players consider themselves full-time members of the organization and will bend over backwards to take a phone call, go to the hospital to visit a kid with a terminal illness or fulfill a personal request. Just look at the example of some of the squad (like Beckham) showing up early for ST. I do think it's kind of akward to ask players to do this, especially when the players and agents always argue the owners are making so much profit, the mentality is that why should I sacrifice if my owner isn't willing to do so? I'm sure none of the players or agents will ever be privy to the actual, up to the minute financial position of the White Sox organization. It's fluid. One week we're hearing $4 million is available, the next that we're giving Damon more than that (plus money deferred), it's pretty hard to know who is telling the truth. Then you have the argument that Damon wasn't/isn't an "impact" player and that's the reason they pulled out of the negotiations, etc. If this happened quietly, behind the scenes...during the heat of the pennant race, I would be surprised if JR went to one of the players like Konerko or Buehrle that they wouldn't at least think about trying to restructure their contract (deferring money) to bring in someone who could help the team in the present. A lot of the players like Paulie, Mark, Thome (last year, when he was making $12-13 million) and AJ have been around long enough that they know JR would take care of them down the line if he promised to do so. Now, asking someone like Rios, I wouldn't go near that with a 10 foot pole, he's already sensitive/touchy about his contract and performance last year. Same thing with Jenks. The fact remains that maybe some of those guys don't really like Damon that much, and wouldn't care whether he got an extra $1-2 million or not, coming off the contract he had in NY, and also the way he handled negotiations, overestimating his market value. If they were bringing back Juan Uribe, there's definitely a group of players who all would have figured out a way to get it done financially if JR approached them and said the team was at the breaking point in terms of payroll. (Although I doubt that will ever happen). Yeah, I think asking them would be akward. Now if they volunteered.............................................

While I don't know anything about players deferring money for Damon, don't know if anyone would be up for it, or if its even allowed, and imagine it may be a can of worms that both sides might want to avoid for several reasons, because in essence, its a re-negotiation, and what will stop the player who sacrificed if he has a good year and the payroll is lower the next year for not asking for a raise, if the big problem was it was tough to contact a player, its not like KW would have to get any of the players on the first try in order for it to happen. These negotiations dragged on forever. I would imagine KW would call the agent.

QUOTE (gatnom @ Feb 22, 2010 -> 07:37 PM) I doubt that he makes any moves until well after the season starts. You have to stop doing this to yourself... Really? Maybe you should think about it for a second. $15.75 million for 2010. He wouldn't take a cut in an extension. At minimum and a bargain would have been 3 years $50 million, so if they were serious they had to be ready for at least that. The $60 million they owe Rios would have come in handy.

So how much does Halladay make? And at a minimum, how much would it have cost to extend him even if he gave you an unbelievable bargain? Next time KW tells you he doesn't have any money, you know what he's full of, and if it was ultimately the size of the extension that caused the trade not to go through, how does that Rios waiver claim look now?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 22, 2010 -> 02:41 PM) Wouldn't Nix have hit 40 home runs if he had 500 at bats? That's all fine and dandy but doesn't mean too much. If it all was against LHP, maybe.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 22, 2010 -> 06:26 AM) If he gives us similar power numbers, and a little bit better of an average this year, I will consider him a good signing. Im not expecting 1990s Braves Andruw Jones. Im expecting guy running out of options on the bench. I have no problem with that. I just think some are not being realistic. There's a reason Boras had him sign for $500k relatively quickly. There's not much interest. He now weighs 221. Will he return to CF? Considering the Sox have used Everett and a 300 year old Griffey in CF, I would say its likely. Its not a bad signing for what it is. For anyone to expect he can turn into a $8 million or more ballplayer is setting the bar a little too high IMO. Frankly, I think the Sox would take what he did last year for what they are paying him.

Is there anyone here who expects Andruw Jones to produce at levels similar to his heyday in Atlanta that would expect the same thing had the Cubs or Twins signed him? You would be laughing at other message boards suggesting what you are suggesting.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Feb 21, 2010 -> 05:49 PM) Well he was out of shape and/or had knee problems those 3 years, reports are he looks like he did his rookie year (not just from people in the white sox org so its not smoke and mirrors) and he said his knee was better at the beginning of last season so it looks like the problems hes had the previous 3 years where he was no good are done for. Unless he was juicing the whole time he was in ATL, guys that good just dont forget how to hit when theyre healthy and are hungry.....i dont know if my previous post made any sense but to me it does and i think if hes in shape the next convo we'll be having is will Ozzie have the guts to move PK to the 6 hole because Andruw is out performing him and will be moved to the 4 hole. I'm glad he's in shape, but guys have and can lose their baseball hitting ability quickly. I think you have to wait for Jones to outperform Konerko before you should worry about how Ozzie handles it. It really is a longshot it will come to that. If guys are hurt for 3 years straight, there's a good chance they won't make it through season 4 without getting hurt. Jones is going to be eating different food and exercise and eat on a different schedule than he did during the offseason. I believe we are creatures of habit, and if he falls back into the habits he had before he got in shape, he probably will require a bigger uniform rather quickly. I'm sure Allen Thomas probably hangs out with him.

So KW was willing to play Boras' games for a while, come up with some money, now he won't admit Damon would have helped the White Sox?

QUOTE (Lillian @ Feb 21, 2010 -> 04:26 PM) Very funny. However, we are talking about a former perrenial All Star, and genuine super star, who got injured, became overweight and out of shape. His performance then fell off dramatically, right at a time in his career when he should have been in his prime. That suggests the possibility that his getting healthy and in shape could make a significant difference. Here is a link to his injury history: http://www.baseballinjurytool.com/injury-tool.php I understand that he has been linked to PEDS, however he was always a very good player until the last few years. Moreover, steroids don't help a hitter to make contact, nor to win Gold Gloves. Perhaps they made him stronger, and maybe he wouldn't have hit 51 homers in 2005 without them, but this guy was an elite player. He has really only struggled for the first time in his career, during the last 3 seasons, the time that he was hurt, and out of shape. Even then his numbers from last year project to 36 doubles, 34 homers and 86 RBI's. Wouldn't you take that at DH? The previous season, his first with the Dodgers he was injured and missed more than half the season. The year before that, his last year in Atlanta, he did have his first really bad batting average year, but even then he was productive, with 94 RBI's. I just think that while your point is well taken, in that they don't award wins or championships for being healthy and in shape, the improved physical condition can definitely enable a gifted athlete to perform up to his potential, while being injured and out of shape is a tremendous handicap. I'm optimistic, and am looking forward to seeing what he can do, especially with his apparent improved attitude. And remember that he's playing for a contract. Wasn't he playing for a contract his last year in Atlanta? Wasn't he playing for a contract last season? How many guys his age, and there has always been debate whether his listed age is accurate , come back to his previous levels after 3 bad years? I'll have fun watching him. Not many guys chemically enhanced or not have ever hit 50 homers in a season. I just think his ship has sailed as an every day player.

If Andruw Jones does have a nice comeback year, does that mean Greg Walker is finer than Rudy Jaramillo, especially considering Rudy's current employer?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 21, 2010 -> 03:22 PM) It appears that he meant Dye in lieu of Damon... yeah, it looks like he will save his cash for a LH hitter, unless someone gets hurt early.