Dick Allen

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 07:47 PM) Just for what it is worth, this isn't officially dead until Damon signs or Sox pitchers and catchers report. I don't think its officially dead until Damon signs. While KW may say it would be a distraction, do you really think a week from now if Damon told him he'd take the deal he'd say "too late"? Besides, he has taken the distraction out of the equation. Chances are, Damon will sign with someone in the next week. I don't know why you would walk away just because your pitchers and catchers have reported.

I just hope on the first day of spring training if Damon doesn't accept, we don't hear a rather well-known line used by KW concerning finances.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 06:19 PM) Reminiscent of how things stayed cordial with Peavy and eventually it all worked out in the end. KW perhaps has learned after his series of blowups (pre-2007 for the most part) He obviously feels Damon is still a pretty big contributor and not signing him probably means a division rival signs him, so I'm sure he's doing everything he can to keep the door open as long as he can without risking hurting the team, and getting the message across to Damon, because for all we know he might not have known that time was of the essence here, that the decision has to be made sooner rather than later. I think the big decision is 6 weeks longer to stay at home and having to spend the summer in Detroit, vs. 6 weeks away from the family and. summering in Chicago at probably a little lesser wage. You could make cases for either team being better than the other with the addition of Damon. I think the White Sox are better with Damon than Detroit would be, but I could understand it would be a tough decision even if being in downtown Detroit makes you wonder if you're in the US. Its really only a 6 month committment, and 3 of those months you're on the road anyway.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 05:49 PM) Does this organization have any clue on how the fans feel? Don't they have social networking people? I assume they do since they have a facebook and twitter account. There's been a TON of buzz from fans about potentially signing Damon and that's it? I'm sure they are quite aware the buzz signing Damon would create, as well as the dissappointment that will be felt if he goes elsewhere. Its probably one reason for KW to come out today, basically saying they have done all they can do, if he goes to Detroit or anywhere else, its not because they didn't step up. Has anyone mentioned the additional time Damon could live at home if he signed with the Tigers? I'm sure that has to be worth something to him. Its more important that he can help them win, and they believe he would.

The amazing thing about this is KW is actually complimenting Boras. He's probably biting his tongue doing it hoping it will help Damon decide to be a White Sox, but its wierd nonetheless. I suppose he can't rip Boras when he himself is obviously playing a little game here. People have to remember negotiating is a game. My dad who is about as honest of a person as I have ever met and he's a lawyer to boot told me the only time it was ok to stretch the truth a bit was in negotiations. I'm sure Boras leads the league in BS, but it does come from both sides of the table.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 03:15 PM) This is pretty cool. I wish it was on HBO instead of the MLB Network because I believe editing would be quite different, but this should be a cool show.

QUOTE (striker @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 05:24 PM) Maybe he wanted to leak his offer to get a decision made. When KW said he would talk about it Sunday yesterday, he had the deadline in place. I don't know if Boras and Damon knew about it, but KW obviously did.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 05:18 PM) Anyone else find it i interesting that KW threw out a timetable of 24 hours for Damon to change his mind? Yes. Johnny has until Sunday to accept the offer that has been pulled off the table. What? I understand pulling the offer to give yourself at least a little leverage if he really wants to sign with you, but why give him a Sunday deadline if the same offer should be available in a week or two? I suppose they are just sick of the game. Can't say I blame them, but they probably need Damon more than Damon needs the Sox $6 million.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 05:00 PM) After actually reading Levine's article (I have to go wash my hands), this was nothing more than a negotiating ploy by KW. Exactly. What this does is takes Boras' negotiating one contract off the other one, in other words,all his leverage away. He has to pick a team and negotiate.

Damon wiill still be a White Sox if he is wiiling to play for the contract pulled. This is the agent runaround that worked for the Yankees with ARod who, coincientally shares the same agent as Damon.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 07:01 PM) My guess is that is the day that the Sox withdraw their offer if Damon has not decided or Boras is still playing games. Boras is the master at drawing things out and he usually has top of the line big money clients, so by dragging it out he maximizes contracts because teams bidding wind up not being able to do other deals while they negotiate with him so they wind up needing to sign his player and usually paying a little more for them. Damon right now isn't in that boat but he's still dragging things out even though its probably making him no money but keeping his name in the news. When I first read Gregors blog, I thought it meant, like he thinks it meant, that Damon was a Tiger. The more I think about it, I think you may be correct. The Sox probably gave them a deadline to accept the offer. It probably is Sunday. The way Boras drags things out, KW can be pretty confident he won't hear anything positive before then in which he would pretty much be required to comment. I hope they get him. I don't think they will, but, and usually I couldn't care less about this because at this level its results not effort that matters, I am pleased with the effort. If he chooses Detroit, the Sox gave it a whirl. I hope they continue to try to get some offense. They shouldn't wait for the inevitable to occur like with Wise and Fields last year. They need every win they can get.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 03:27 PM) It could be that Boras leaked that Damon's wife was against the idea of living in the Detroit area. There's just too much smoke at this point. As usual, it seems as though the only facts we can suss are that Detroit is offering more money than we are. We can't we just match the g___damned offer for f**king once? The problem facing Boras if he did sign with the Sox is he would probably lose a pigeon in the Tigers. They have saved him many times.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 01:22 PM) People will buy tickets now to see Damon they will not to see Peavy you know why don't you? I think that is DA's point. My point is Damon plays everyday. Peavy once every 5 days. Peavy made 2 home starts for the Sox, both on fireworks night. One had about 28k in attendance, the second had 30k in attendance. The next Saturday night game had 35k attendance. The previous Saturday there was 33k in the house. There is no evidence to support what he said about Peavy. I still think Peavy is KW's greatest move but box office-wise, Damon is bigger even though Peavy is probably the more valuable performer.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 01:07 PM) Rios Nix Damon Konerko Jones AJ Pierre Vizquez Teahan It must be Sunday.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 01:06 PM) Damon having a greater name recognition would apply more to a national baseball fan contingent. The Sox fanbase is discriminating. That is the context in which I'm working here. If Damon signs, I think the Sox fanbase would accept him but they aren't going to embrace him like Buehrle or Peavy, IMO. Maybe not Buerhle, but Peavy for sure.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 01:00 PM) With Damon it would probably mean goodbye to Nix and thus Vizquel would be our only backup at 3 IF positions. For that reason alone he would probably never DH. It would probably be good bye to the 12th pitcher, unless the Sox make a trade, which is extremely possible.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 12:59 PM) There is no chance Damon could or would ever be more popular as a Sox player than Buehrle. As I said, he won't even be as popular as Peavy. Jake and Beckham are the future for Sox fans. Damon is seen as a mercenary Yankees cast-off. Everyone knows he wanted to stay in NY. Whatever you say. I'm sure you're right. No one will have a Damon jersey. No one will have any excitement over adding this guy. Its probably why the thread for a guy the Sox don't even have yet is almost 40 pages long on a diehard board, let alone casual fans. Its funny you mention Damon and how he wanted to stay in NY yet point to Peavy. Didn't he initially reject a trade to the White Sox. He wanted to stay with a loser.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 12:34 PM) That would be Peavy not Damon. You'll see #44 jerseys everywhere this summer. Jake is a much more appealing, intense leader than Caveman Jim Morrison would ever be here. Guys that hit the field once every 5 days aren't as appealing to the casual fan as guys who have been in the spotlight the past 7 or 8 years. Damon has box office appeal.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 12:43 PM) Im so sick of this crap, no player in mlb is going to draw fans solely on their name with the exception of Ichiro because he brings in the Japanese population. The only thing that will bring in fans otherwise is winning. Believe what you will, but casual fans count and there will be a bump in ticket sales if Damon signs. Much more than a Juan Pierre trade or Alex Rios pick up....... FWIW, Hawk has confirmed the golf story. He apparently would love the Sox to add Damon.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 12:13 PM) I agree, especially for a one year deal. Damon's actually the rare player that will generate merchandise sales. Also, it's a pretty sound risk. If the team does well, he'll likely earn whatever money you give him. If we struggle, you know there will be teams out there willing to trade for him. Except for maybe Beckham, Damon would sell as many tickets as any White Sox player.

Guys like Mauer in Minnesota probably help the White Sox attendance-wise.

Did anyone see the baseball special on ESPN last night. They let a very uncomfortable looking Mark Gonzalez on the panel with Eduardo Perez, Bobby V (I love Bobby V), Kurtjian, Olney, Gomez and some host. They each had to name the top team in baseball that wasn't the Yankees, Boston, Philadelphia or St. Louis. The writers named TB, Perez and Gonzalez named the Angels. Bobby V named Minnesota and the host and Pedro Gomez each went with Detroit. I was pretty shocked, although Bobby V seemed to indicate he believed the White Sox were far better than Detroit.

Over the past 4 years, the Twins have had a better road record than the Sox except for 2008, when it was 1/2 game worse because of the Black Out game. So if their homefield advantage is as compromised as some here seem to believe, the White Sox changing from a power team to one without a lot of power and still seemingly a fairly low OBP may compromise their homefield advantage. The Twins didn't win many games last year against the White Sox in Minneapolis in which you could pin the stadium as the reason. As someone who has played several games in the Metrodome in college I can tell you offensively its a little adjustment (obviously I wasn't facing major league pitching) playing there, but something I'm sure major leaguers are over, especially if they have played there in the past, after their first BP when they come to town. Defensively, it was a little tough at first, you just have to always watch the ball, but when you're in college and play in a big league park, even if it may be the biggest dump, its pretty much heaven, especially when its indoors in Minneapolis in March. The alternative is brutal. One way the move might help the White Sox is mentally. The past several seasons, they lost series there before they ever started. I do agree with the post above, it seems the Twins are stacking themselves with LH power hitters, perhaps a sign of how they feel the park will play. Ironically, its one thing the Sox definitely lack.

Considering they have already given Teahan 23, not only with JD not be back, they really have no plans to put in mothballs.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 14, 2010 -> 02:25 PM) The issue we're having is...a lot of people are holding it against him that he wasn't immediately as advanced as some people had assumed, and ignoring what he actually is. But................part of what he is, or rather what he has been, is an unmotivated guy who tends to get by on ability alone. It may work for a while in Cuba, where the talent pool isn't as big, but it won't work here. It appears he's been working hard this offseason, so maybe he's grown up. There was a Cuba scouting guru who was really down on Viciedo due to his work ethic.