Dick Allen

I hope I'm wrong, but I think its Atlanta or Detroit for Damon. The Braves offer him something pretty small. Then it gets out they supposedly have $6 million to spend. Where did that come from? I think its the Boras camp saying that is the price you can have Johnny Damon . Whether this $14 million offer is true or not, it probably is all part of the game. Boras can justify Damon to Atlanta for $6 million with that offer on the table, saying living at home for spring training, the short flight for his wife to ATL, etc. are worth the smaller wage. For the White Sox, if he signed for $6 million, what excuse is he going to use to take less? They train in AZ so that's not as convenient. He can say he liked the White Sox situation better. The team, the city, etc., but if he did that, he probably has used the Tigers owner for the last time especially with all the gushing about how Johnny loves a lot of things about the Detroit area. I really don't think Boras wants to burn that bridge.

Rickey had the best line I have ever heard in an interview over 20 years ago about playing hurt. I'll never forgot it. "When I'm injury, I'm totally concentrated of my mind." The guy interviewing him just moved on like it made perfect sense.

Frank's 35 is retired Aug 29. The Twins fall apart, the Sox need another bat, they trade for Thome Aug 31 making him eligible for the postseason. His number 25 is taken by Andruw Jones, so Thome sports 35 as a tribute to Frank. Perfect.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Feb 13, 2010 -> 10:36 AM) Granted, your DH might not be able to play defense, but does it kill you that much to have one guy who can hit and not play the field? Not at all. I don't understand why anyone is against a guy who can only hit even if he is a beast at the plate. In the AL there is a position for guys who hit but don't play the field. Look at all the Frank Thomas love on this board. I don't mind the rotating DH as long as the guys DHing can hit like a guy who deserves every day playing time. I don't see where it matters that particular day if they can field or not.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Feb 13, 2010 -> 10:08 AM) If Thome is part of your DH rotation along with someone who kills LHP I doubt you have a lot of people complaining about that. That's different. I agree. There is nothing wrong with the concept of rotating DHs. What's wrong is having second-rate hitters rotating in that role.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 13, 2010 -> 09:48 AM) That would indeed point to the Sox being Damon's team. Or Atlanta. Six weeks of being able to stay home has to be attractive. Boras had his puppet Heyman say the Sox and Tigers were bidding far more than Atlanta, but that could have been and probably was BS too. One thing it does make clear, Johnny doesn't seem too enthusiastic about Detroit. I would think in a perfect world, to end the silliness, the Tigers would pull their offer off the table, who knows, maybe they have, but they need Johnny more than he needs them so Boras can play his game. I think Johnny is probably certain if he had a decent year this year, the Yankees would welcome him back in 2011.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 12, 2010 -> 07:21 AM) Except when it was said that they could add payroll if the right player came along. I've read quotes from JR that he won't lose money to win games, but he will bust the budget if said player(s) guarantee a championship. If the White Sox spend money, it means it was available.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Feb 12, 2010 -> 07:05 AM) FWIW, Merkin says the Sox have about 4M to throw at him. I'd love to know how he came up with that figure. I seem to recall that had zero to work with, in fact might have been over budget last year then got Peavy and Rios. The White Sox aren't going to tell anyone how much they have to spend. At this point, I think we could probably come to the conclusion Boras is playing with at least one team regarding finances. I just wonder which one it is.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 11, 2010 -> 08:25 PM) I'm just worried that a lot of that better-ness may be related to the Yankee stadium. Like it or not, he's actually quite a bit older than Kotsay. Damon is 2 years older than Kotsay, but has had 2 less back surgeries. I think its pretty unfair to give the stadium all the credit for Damon's performance. He's almost at 2500 hits for his career. He's been an exceptional player who has been on winners, and more importantly, played a key role for the winners. You do bring up a good point though, and there was an article on this board about it yesterday I believe, 36 seems like a magic number age-wise these days. I am of the opinion Damon still will be a good player for a couple more years at least. I think the Sox need him. It seemed like a no brainer when his price seemed to be $5-6 million for one year, but the Tigers may have bailed Boras out again. If they have, I doubt Illich will be very popular at the owners meetings.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Feb 11, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) Anytime I have the opportunity to watch world class athletes, I take it. Even if it's curling. Or biathlon. I like watching events you really only watch every 4 years. Breaks the monotony of the other sports. Plus, there is pure excitement when they win since this is the pinnacle of their sport...usually. They had a segment on Real Sports about the US Curling team. I wouldn't exactly call them world class athletes, although they seemed like fun guys. If you really need a curling fix, you should go down to the bars on Division Street on Saturday or Sunday early in the morning. They have guys sweeping all the cigarette butts.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Feb 11, 2010 -> 07:20 PM) Community Cards: Johnny Damon Pot Size: 14 Million Tigers to win the pot: 86% Sox to win the pot: 14% It just seems to me kind of odd, the best Damon could do yesterday was a one year contract for $4 million with half of it deferred, and now today he's at over $14 million for 2 years. Something, somewhere doesn't add up. Either he doesn't have that particular offer on the table or Boras scammed someone into believing that another team had made a similar offer. I can't see 2 teams all of a sudden going that high. For one year and $7 million, maybe $8 million, yes, but not 2 years. Maybe the Sox are offering him 1 year at $5-6 million with some incentives. At least then if he gets paid, he's put up some numbers.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Feb 11, 2010 -> 07:00 PM) KW is just teasing us on this one, I think there is no chance. Don't you just wish this could be like poker on TV and you could see everyone's offers?

QUOTE (b-Rye @ Feb 11, 2010 -> 06:56 PM) I'm sure if KW wanted him he would of signed him by now... unless he was under the radar trying to get a good deal, Boras is just driving up the price. Maybe not. Remember JR talking about dealing with Boras. His main complaint was how he drew everything out. It was too difficult to negotiate. Maybe that's whats going on. He's decided its time to make a decision, so the Sox decide to jump in and see how they stack up.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Feb 11, 2010 -> 06:57 PM) Yeah. If they could have only kept Konerko a few seasons back... Yeah, and if you're comprehension skills were any better, you would have taken note of the word "usually", besides, if it was a bidding war for Konerko, the Sox wouldn't have won.

If this is a bidding war, the Sox usually come in second or third. From what I've gathered on the internet, Heyman seems to be a pseudo spokesman for Boras, so this entire bidding war could be totally made up. On the other hand Illich seems to bust budgets before and I don't think he's going bankrupt any time soon, so perhaps Detroit is going to $14 million. I do think the Sox interest is genuine. I don't think like Cowley suggests that KW would be in it to drive up Detroits final price. If its a couple of million, its not going to bother Illich. At the very least we now know, if JR's comments and BB's comments earlier didn't drive it home, the Sox have some money to play with. I will say this, if Matsui is worth $6 million a year, and I think plenty of people would have been thrilled if the Sox got him for that price, Damon at $7 million isn't exactly overpaying, at least from a production point of view.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 10, 2010 -> 05:42 PM) If you really believe your line of thinking, you probably should find a new user name then. ? As far as I know Dick Allen has nothing retired. I really don't use it as a "tribute" he's just the player I have always thought of first since I was a little kid when it comes to the White Sox. But if it wasn't available I wouldn't have tried to track Dick down to see if it would be OK I can pay him a tribute to use it. If Vizquel is so attached to Aparicio, how come he didn't "honor" him before, and how come he only decided to "honor" him, when another number wasn't available? Its a number, its silly to argue this, but I think the White Sox should have told him that 11 wasn't available either, no matter what Aparicio says. Again, if it is a bigger honor to have someone wear your number than to have it retired , teams are doing their greatest stars a disservice taking the numbers out of circulation. The Yankees should have let David Wells wear 3. It was a tribute. He even tried to train like him. Why do they retire numbers in the first place?

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 10, 2010 -> 01:02 PM) Do you mean like dozens of players wearing his number? http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=sea Its a little different. How come no one takes it out of the mothballs for a full season as a "tribute"? Unretire all the numbers, then every player who ever had a number retired can have someone wear "his" number as a tribute. It will be great, after all, its apparently more of an honor to have someone wear your number instead of having it in mothballs. My point is its silly to retire numbers if you are going to unretire them. Does anyone really think a back-up 43 year old infielder is really going to raise the awareness of Luis Aparicio a guy who, its getting at least close to the point that the majority of people in the USCF stands never saw play in a White Sox uniform? Even if it does, will it be long lasting and will JimH's buddies in their board shorts and hats on backwards even care?

QUOTE (scenario @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 09:03 PM) And you said you didn't want to argue. Working pretty damn hard to prove me wrong for a guy who isn't arguing. Again you're the one arguing. A post like what you made shows that. I'm just stating facts, besides even if it was 30 below it would be that way for both teams.

QUOTE (JoeBatterz @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) This is one of those headline grabbing stories that seems like a big deal until you see that Aparicio himself was personally asked by Vizquel and that he endorsed it warmly. That is the only person who's view matters in this and I fully support Aparicio's decision. The fact that Vizquel asked him first and that it is meant to honor the #11, makes me fully endorse it even more. I know in the end its probably no big deal. I just think a retired number is a retired number, and the ultimate respect anyone could show Aparicio was to keep it retired, not "I've been honoring Dave Concepcion for over 20 years, but his number is not available. I know yours technically isn't either, but do you mind if I wear it?" Maybe Aparicio endorses it wholeheartedly, maybe he doesn't. He really wasn't in a postion to say anything but what he said without catching grief. He shouldn't be put in that situation. If there are exceptions to be made, don't retire any numbers, just honor the names.

QUOTE (scenario @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 10:47 AM) That's because they're comparing average high (daytime) temperatures... not average low (nighttime) temperatures. The low is consistently lower in Minneapolis. And when they play night games outside, that's what they're going to be dealing with. For example... this week the high temperature in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis is projected to be pretty similar... all in the mid-20's. The lows? Much different. The low in Milwaukee tonight... 18. The low in Chicago tonight... 20 The low in Minneapolis tonight... 3. So... no, the facts are not lies. But this is a great example of how facts (like using data on average temperatures) can be misleading. The low temperature on Feb 8 isn't relevant. Minneapolis does have colder winters, but games aren't played then. Here are the average low temps city apr may june july aug sep oct Min 36 48 58 63 61 51 39 Cle 38 48 58 62 61 54 44 Mil 37 47 57 63 63 54 43 Chi 40 51 61 66 65 57 45 Add in Minnesota will only play 3 home night games in April and won't start their home schedule until April 12, the chances are they won't even have the lowest gametime average temperatures in their division.

QUOTE (scenario @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 10:17 PM) I'm from Chicago. I went to college in Milwaukee. Minneapolis in April is colder. Hands down. If you want to argue this point, are you doing it from personal experience... or do you just feel like arguing? I'm not arguing. Just stating facts. You are arguing, telling me the facts are lies because you say so. Go to weather.com and get the average temperatures in April. Of the 3, Chicago is the warmest on average by 2 degrees over Minneapolis, and Minneapolis is warmer by 2 degrees over Milwaukee. In fact, Minneapolis is virtually the same with Cleveland. I've lived in Chicago most of my life although I went to school in a place that was colder, Iowa. Have been to Milwaukee and Minneapolis quite a bit. Personally, I don't think they should be playing many home games in these cities in April, except Milwaukee with its dome. Someone did a study on these cities over 50 years to determine miserable baseball days in April. Cleveland was at 6.5%. Chicago 4.1%. They said Minneapolis was 7.1%. The study determined if they didn't play at home before April 10, the miserable baseball days index goes down 80% in Cleveland and Chicago. 70% in Minneapolis. The Twins home opener is April 12, so that would take it down to approx. 2%.

QUOTE (scenario @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 09:50 PM) I don't know what their average temperatures are. But I do alot of work in Minneapolis and I know I freeze my a** off up there in April. And you freeze your ass off in Chicago in April, and in Detroit and Cleveland and Boston, and New York.

Cleveland and Minneapolis have the same average temperatures in April. Chicago and Detroit average about 2 degrees warmer. Milwaukee actually averages 2 degrees colder, but they have a dome. I think though, that may surprise people. I'm sure there will be some weather related problems in Minnesota in at least some Aprils, but to think they will be shoveling out 2 feet of snow until June is wrong.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 06:51 PM) Who is he going to get his money back from? Did a political consulting firm guarantee that he wasn't an unelectable jerk? He's hoping for some party fundraisers so he can re coup at least part of his "loan". I would think he's got some deal for something for dropping out. He could have held the entire Dem party in IL hostage.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Feb 8, 2010 -> 07:47 PM) The Sox will play Kotsay/Jones interchangeably one a time. The Twins are counting on Hudson as a starting 2B and Pavano as a starting pitcher. Big difference. Hudson made the All Star team last year. You make him out to be a bum. He's not as good as Andruw Jones, a guy who strikes out all the time and has hit .207 the last 3 years or Mark Kotsay a guy who was DFA'd by Boston last year, but is loved because he had several meaningless hits for the White Sox last September? I agree, the Twins are crazy if they are counting on Pavano, but you could probably say the same thing about Freddy Garcia. I think it will be a tight race, I just hope the Sox get some more offense. They only won 8 times last year scoring less than 4 runs.