Dick Allen

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 14, 2009 -> 04:59 PM) I think the best example would be a guy going from throwing 100 innings in the minors to trying to throw 200+ in the bigs with no step in-between. It's possible everything could work swimmingly. But it's also very possible, perhaps likely, that he'll reach the middle of the season and hit a dead-arm period because his arm hasn't been used like that before. Or, it's also possible that something that hasn't been worked out in the same way the last few years could go fine for a while and then suddenly snap. So, the answer is; all of the above. Some pitchers come up and can take a huge innings jump right away and never get hurt or really show a dead-arm stretch, but it's pretty darn rare. We can push him as hard as he can go...but if we don't have a backup plan, its a roll of the dice. I'm with you. Freddy is fine, but expecting big innings with his last 3 seasons plus his advancing age is unrealistic. Maybe he does it, but the odds are against it. To leave yourself with very little alternative after that would probably come back and get you.

They are 2 different type players. I haven't heard that Crawford refuses to play CF, he has played CF as recently as 2008, but I don't think there is a GM alive who would take Rios over Crawford.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 14, 2009 -> 03:46 PM) I seriously can't believe the Rays have the resources to commit to Crawford for a multi-year extension, esp. if they're still holding Burrell's contract the next couple years. They sold Kazmir this season already, for example. Burrell is signed only through 2010. If the White Sox don't have the money to consider guys like Figgins, I don't know how they would have the money to pay Crawford, maybe if they didn't owe Alex Rios $60 million, but they unfortunately do.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 13, 2009 -> 03:39 PM) Yeah, he does like to wait around til' June or so and see what's cooking around baseball. At that point, we are usually still competitive because our division leader is rarely running away with things, so he convinces Jerry that we can make the playoffs if we can just add that one additional piece to put us over the top... Last year was the first time I ever recall him adding significant payroll around June. In 2003 he added Alomar and Everett but the other teams paid most of the fare. I don't know about MacDougal, Horacio Ramirez and Blum being payroll busters. Usually around June he would talk to Thome and Konerko and determine what he had was fine IIRC.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Nov 14, 2009 -> 01:59 AM) Because we have a highly inept offensive coordinator who refuses to use our mobile QB and great TE's in the redzone. Everyone in the stadium knows what is coming when we get inside the 10: run up the middle, run up the middle or MAYBE to the outside/pitch, then let cutler use his arm and legs to make a play. That results in forcing it. God i hate every coach on this team Really? Both redzone INTs Thursday were ill advised attempts to get the ball to a TE. The first one needed to go through 3 or 4 49ers, the last one was innaccurate by about 5 yards. Jim Miller is pretty interesting to listen to. He probably knows more about offense than any of us. He had a point the other day about the Bears rarely, if ever, using motion, but then he thought about it and said it would only screw them up more. Many think the Bears offense is too vanilla, but apparently according to Miller, Turner had to scale back the playbook because the personnel cannot handle it. The players evidently do not have the capacity to remember assignments to a larger group of plays. He said look at anytime they try something different, like the reverse against AZ. They lost 10 yards. Apparently a lot of offensive players are lacking in intelligence.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 13, 2009 -> 02:40 PM) Lol, likewise. I guess "stats" and "history" don't mean much. Look, at the end of the day he's physically a better QB. He's taller, he's more agile, he's got a better arm, he's more accurate, blah blah. But I dunno how you can discount the similarities - both make awful decisions (generally at the worst possible times) and they have great games followed by horrible games. The view people have on this board that he's only playing this way because the offense (and team) is awful is just a fantasy. It's not based on fact. Even when he's had great weapons around him he still makes really bad decisions and turns the ball over a lot. He needs a good coach to rid him of those problems. There's no question Cutler is better than Rex, but all the excuses people use for Cutler throwing 5 picks in a must win game against a very mediocre opponent were never used for Rex. Cutler is always under pressure, he's getting murdered, the OL sucks. Grossman gets pummelled and fumbles, he gets no excuse other than his hands are the size of baby hands he can't hold on to the ball. Cutler has a lot of ability without a doubt, but if the OL is the problem how come when he was acquired no one said he would be worthless with the present OL, and if he needs all day shouldn't the money and draft picks used to acquire him be spent on offensive lineman? Wouldn't with a good defense, good running game and good offensive line a guy like Orton be able to QB the Bears to a SB? They made it when Rex was barking out signals. I personally think Cutler is far more Jeff George than John Elway, and I wish the excuse makers would stop. Do they realize that SF scored all their points off INTS? Do they realize even with those, the Bears could have won the game without scoring a TD and the 2 red zone INTs squashed what could have been 2 chipshot FGs? Its so obvious Cutler was awful on Thursday and awful against GB, but amazing how many go so far out of there way to say he has no chance. I do know one thing, if for some reason Cutler wasn't able to play against SF and Hanie played, if he played the exact same way, there wouldn't be all the excuses. It would be the Bears need a back up QB, this guy shouldn't be on an NFL roster, he needs to be cut immediately. I think maybe people put their dreams into Cutler and can't admit when he screws up. Eventually the blinders will be lifted.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Nov 14, 2009 -> 02:07 AM) If I'm Kenny I call up Jed Hoyer and offer Flowers/Hudson/Viciedo/Retherford/Link for AGon, as a base. Then I add to the trade by throwing in Torres/PTBNL (Mitchell, when we can) for Bell. Finally, I toss in Hynick for Poreda (think Gio Gonzalez, where we reacquire a prospect). Then I resign Pods for left field. Sign Olivo for backup catcher. Lineup: LF - Pods SS - Ramirez 2B - Beckham 1B - Gonzalez RF - Quentin DH - Konerko C - AJ CF - Rios 3B - Teahen That lineup has really good potential if people can just get over last years issues. Rotation stays the same (Buehrle, Peavy, Danks, Floyd, Garcia) Bullpen looks like: CL - Jenks SU - Bell SU - Thornton MR - Linebrink MR - Nunez LR/MR - Poreda LR - Carrasco Bench: 1B/OF - Kotsay OF - De Aza C - Olivo 2B/SS/3B - Nix Why would Carlos Torres have value? He is 27 years old, occassionally has a very hard time throwing strikes, doesn't throw very hard, and has a MLB ERA over 6.00. He could be used as filler in a trade, but no team would give you anything worthwhile, especially when it really isn't a salary dump with Mr. Torres being the main prize coming back.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 13, 2009 -> 05:29 PM) Things have changed. Veeck operated in a time when paying your player's salaries could be done fairly easily by filling up your ballpark. While obviously that still helps, simply filling up your ballpark doesn't make the biggest dent in paying your payroll anymore. Especially his first tour of duty with no FA. His second, he was a cheapskate who had so little money instead of releasing Ron Schueler he made him the pitching coach. At the beginning of the 90's, the Twins had baseball's highest paid player and KC had the highest payroll.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 01:57 PM) Thank you Kenny Williams http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,1141925.story KW's comments are nice and all, but calling Ramirez a "young player" as an excuse for his lack of focus is stretching it about as much as he was streching it when he said Marquez was Garland and Lillibridge would steal 40 bases in 2009. He's 28 years old. At least.

I would bet anything the Stones find Taco Bell vile. Stone is involved in restaurants. I'm sure its all sarcastic.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 8, 2009 -> 03:32 PM) So that means he doesn't know what major league ready is? That is an odd assertion, seeing as the field manager isn't the one who decides who is major league ready. That would be the general manager. Plus if you look at the teams he did manage, its not like he drove the 27 Yankees into the ground, he spent his years with some horrible Tigers and Royals teams, and meh Rockies teams. So you are saying the manager has no say in who plays and who is on the roster. Interesting.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Nov 8, 2009 -> 11:48 AM) You can't argue with results, DA. Buddy Bell has played a pretty fundamental part in this organization since his hiring, and his focus (the minor league system) has only gotten better since he's gotten here. Sometimes you got to call a spade a spade. Buddy Bell has only helped out system improve. I think he has had very little impact on the talent level improving. Until the Sox start calling up guys with a little consistency that have a clue as to what they are doing, I'm holding out buying something just because Buddy said its so.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 8, 2009 -> 11:43 AM) I don't get how being a manager of bad teams means he has no idea how to recognize talent. Even getting past this, his big thing is supposed to be teaching fundamentals to some of these kids coming through the system. I said if he thinks a player is major league ready, like he said of Jordan Danks, to take it with a grain of salt. He managed groups of guys that apparently were no where near major league ready for 9 years.

QUOTE (scenario @ Nov 8, 2009 -> 11:34 AM) I think you're way off base here. Bell has an outstanding reputation for identifying/developing talent. And he's completely revamped (and dramatically improved) our minor league system in the last 3 years. Who? The system improved because the draft improved. No Beckham no Viciedo who they spent money on, no Flowers who was with someone else, the system would be near the bottom. What did Buddy have to do with their acquisitions? With whom did Buddy earn his reputation? Jordan Danks leading off for the 2010 White Sox would be a disaster.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 8, 2009 -> 11:11 AM) Being able to recognize talent is much different than actually able to coax it out of players. Who has he recognized that no one else could? I think he has very little impact on draft selections. Isn't he supposed to be developing players? Being around those bad teams, he may have a warped sense of what major league ready is.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Nov 8, 2009 -> 09:57 AM) Starting each season knowing you have a very limted chance of competing has got to be tough and then when June rolls around and your season is over every year has got to be even harder unless you are Miek Sweeney then it is fine because your are on the IR anyway. On top of this Teahan was moved all over the place. I think Buddy Bell and Greg Walker are key in this. Buddy Bell managed 9 seasons in the major leagues for 3 different organizations. His teams came in last place 6 times, 4th twice (one of the 4th place finishes he was fired during the season and the team was in last place when he got the boot) and 3rd place once with a 79-83 record. I know he's highly respected but I would take his reccommendation about players being major league ready or contributing to winning with a grain of salt.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 12:41 PM) Yeah, I think it's kind of unfair to judge Swish's numbers here. We were jacking him around, putting him in defensive positions he wasn't accustomed to, asking him to bat leadoff, etc. Let's face it, we were asking him to do a lot of things and he didn't perform particularly well doing them, and then it got kind of ugly. Nothing to do but move on. I do miss the dirty 30 thing though... Yeah, really unfair. You have got to be kidding me. Except for June, when he was tremendous, he was horrible, a minor leaguer, and it was all his fault. Batting leadoff screwed him up? Check the facts: Split G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB ROE BAbip tOPS+ sOPS+ Batting 1st 29 29 130 105 20 22 3 0 3 8 1 2 23 27 .210 .354 .324 .678 34 6 1 0 1 2 0 .250 86 81 Batting 2nd 8 7 31 25 6 3 1 0 2 3 0 0 6 7 .120 .290 .400 .690 10 1 0 0 0 0 0 .063 85 85 Batting 3rd 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -100 -100 Batting 5th 11 7 33 28 2 7 1 1 0 2 0 0 3 8 .250 .313 .357 .670 10 0 0 1 1 1 0 .333 81 73 Batting 6th 17 16 68 57 9 13 5 0 3 11 0 0 9 19 .228 .324 .474 .797 27 2 0 0 2 0 0 .270 113 108 Batting 7th 56 56 215 187 35 44 6 0 11 33 2 1 25 48 .235 .335 .444 .779 83 2 3 0 0 0 0 .258 109 112 Batting 8th 27 27 104 90 14 19 4 0 5 9 0 0 14 23 .211 .317 .422 .740 38 3 0 0 0 3 2 .226 98 114 Batting 9th 4 1 6 4 0 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 2 2 .250 .500 .500 1.000 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 173 244 Looks like he couldn't bat just about everywhere, and the White Sox never asked him to play anywhere he had not played before. Boo hoo, poor Nick didn't perform. It can't possibly be his fault. GMAB.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 10:55 AM) I can't seem to find the position I've played my whole career," "When the offseason started, I was kind of locked into thinking I would play third," . "It seems like the weight was off me coming into the offseason knowing I had a full year at third base under my belt. So, now I kind of have to re-do learning how to play a new position. " I guess part of me was thinking at least I wouldn't I have to figure out something new because I felt comfortable at third. "Ultimately, it's not my decision," "It's hard for me because it's another new position " "I'm not sure the politics involved in it, and it's not for me to say anything about it. OK I took all the positive things out now and left in the somewhat perplexing or negative ones. According to the quotes it's basically hard on him, he has to figure out something new or re-do learning a new position, he'd rather be a SS and he sees politics involved in it. I don't think I'm out of line nor the only one who see's these quotes as a mixed bag of saying the all right things along with his personal feelings about it mixed in. I think he's more bummed out that his two best buddies are gone.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 08:05 AM) Cali the question you'd have to ask yourself is would Gordon Beckham give you better defense at SS than what Alexei Ramirez gave this season? That is debatable to say the least. As long as Ramirez is paying attention, he's pretty good. If Frank Thomas was the White Sox first baseman in 2009, Alexei would have had 40 errors. One article I read about the SS/2B debate with Beckham is the injury factor. It is easier to get hurt as a 2B especially on DPs.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 06:52 AM) I know Kenny is talking up Teahen at 3b. But his best fielding year was in 2007 in RF. He had 17 assists in 137 games, and had a UZR of 6.8. Personally, I would take Uribe over Teahen any day of the week.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 6, 2009 -> 12:29 PM) wow, looks like I am in the minority on this. I understand UCF might have told him he could wear the Nikes, but sorry it didnt work out with Adidas, sorry. You are still a scholarship student-athlete at a university, they are paying for your education. (I realize he could pay for it himself, but being a scholarship student-athlete is a privilege, not a right.) Adidas provides the university with athletic gear for every sport, and now they canceled the contract so you can wear your daddys shoes. Marcus told them upfront if he couldn't wear the Nikes he couldn't play at their school. He shouldn't be obligated at all to wear the Adidas and the university obviously agrees or they would have had him sit in street clothes rather than risk losing the contract. Obviously they are either sticking by their word and/or feel having a Jordan on their basketball team is more lucrative than the shoe contract. I do find it odd that a shoe company could possibly make money off contracts like the one in play here with this particular school. Do you think that if he agreed to wear the Adidas there was any chance that Adidas would not promote the fact that even MJ's kid is wearing Adidas? The school was wrong if they didn't get the proper OK, but Adidas is real slimy if a lower level person gave the OK and then upper management changed their mind.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 01:00 AM) When you say Royals fans are glad he's gone, should it really matter? I mean, they're Royals fans. There's not too many of them and I really doubt most of them care since they've been so bad for the past decade and a half. Saying they hate Mark Teahen doesn't validate anything. A lot of us here hate Alexei Ramirez, does that mean Alexei Ramirez is a bad player? Not necessarily. As far as Teahen's offensive abilities... Well, here's what Teahen is from a Sabermetric point of view: A very average hitter in terms of line drives. He's around the league average in that. However, the biggest problem with him is the amount of ground balls he hits, nearly 50% of his balls in play are hit on the ground throughout his career. Unless you're Juan Pierre, that's a very bad thing. Teahen also strikes out more than the average hitter, which doesn't make too much sense due to the fact that he's a contact hitter. Another thing to look at is Teahen's protection. Playing on the Royals definitely doesn't help you get better pitches to hit. That might be a reason why he doesn't drive in many runs. Not that RBI matters in player evaluation. Teahen's low walk rate is also incredibly uncharacteristic of a guy drafted by Billy Beane. Thus, Teahen is incredibly prone to cold streaks since he's a ground ball hitter that is prone to strikeouts and does not walk enough. Since Teahen hits the ball on the ground so much, his fly ball rate takes a huge tumble, suggesting why he's had such low home run totals even though he was projected as a good power hitter out of the draft. Part of the reason for this might be because of Kaufman Stadium, which has taken a lot of power away from guys like Jose Guillen, Mike Sweeney, and etc. over the years because of its large dimensions. This can also suggest that Teahen deliberately stopped swinging for the fences due to Kaufman, meaning more line drives instead of deep fly balls on the warning track. However, it should be noted that he had a high fly ball rate in 2006 (5% higher than his career norm), where he put up a .500 SLG%. His line drive rate that year was also extremely low while he posted his career high in average. In other words, 06 was pretty much a fluke in terms of the numbers he put up (although his BABIP wasn't that much higher than his career average). However, that does not invalidate the fact that when he hit more fly balls, the results were better. How does this benefit the White Sox and Teahen? For beginners, Teahen had a .500 SLG% at the Cell in around 150 plate appearances. Not a big enough sample size to gauge anything drastic, but it's definitely a start. Here's the kicker: he has 8 home runs in those 150 plate appearances. What's even better is that he only has 28 home runs at Kaufman Stadium in 1366 plate appearances. Talk about power sap! To simplify things, if we give Teahen 600 plate appearances this year, he'd hit somewhere near 25-30 home runs, 16 at U.S. Cellular Field alone. Of course, it is completely unrealistic to think that way, but the fact that Teahen has more than 1/4 the amount of home runs at the Cell in comparison to his home runs at Kaufman Stadium in a sample size ten times smaller is just mind boggling. We can pretty much say that Kaufman held Teahen back. Even if it didn't, the Cell is definitely a much better home for him. With Greg Walker telling him that he should try to hit more home runs, Teahen will definitely swing for fly balls more often this year. Two things can come out of this: more home runs and more strikeouts. Teahen's power numbers will go up by a lot, those doubles he hit at Kaufman might turn into home runs at U.S. Cellular Field. But since he's most likely going to change his approach to be more of a fly ball hitter, his average and OBP will most likely decrease while his K rate goes up. However, as mentioned before, when he did swing for the sky back in 2006, he had a career year where he posted an all-star caliber OPS. In my opinion, Teahen is slated for a mediocre year in terms of average and OBP. He will most likely hit anywhere from .250-.260 with a .310-.320 OBP. However, his SLG should be around .470-.480, giving him an OPS of about .780-.800, which translates to an OPS+ of around 105 and a wOBA of .340. In other words, he'd be a slightly above average hitter with good power. As a 3B, that's all you can really ask of him. In the end, Teahen should be around a 1.5-2 win player given his bad defense. Counting on USCF to be the savior and make this guy go from below average to anything close to a force, while its possible, is probably really reaching. It was only 2 years ago when the Sox got Nick Swisher out of Oakland into USCF. A lot of "experts" and I'm not digging at people here, I'm talking about guys who get paid a lot of money to talk about baseball, were predicting 40 homers, .400+ OBP, .900 + OPS. Teahen is really liked by a lot of scouts, and of course Hawk has been an admirer for a few years, although even he seemed to sour on him a little bit this past year. He could break out, and maybe playing one position will help him, but on the other hand he also was playing in total obscurity in KC and their meaningless games began rather early. How will he handle a little more scrutiny? I think there's a better chance he is what he is, but hold out the 2% hope he has a Ryan Ludwick breakout. The K's concern me, a lot. I know a lot of people think a strikeout is no different than any other out, but a strikeout doesn't get a guy at third home with one out. A strikeout doesn't make a SS boot a ball, a strikeout doesn't advance a runner especially considering the White Sox really don't have many basestealers on the roster. Obviously that can change, this isn't the big splash I was hoping for. I still think they better do something about the bullpen.

QUOTE (bobryansson @ Nov 6, 2009 -> 03:51 PM) Pods at $7,500,000.00 per year for 2 years? You must be kidding,... or... something. I'd guarantee him $1.5 million, like Kotsay, and throw in some incentives. Anything more would be silly, but I'm like most, I don't blame him for trying to cash in.

I'm hearing a lot of talk that this trade should it happen, opens up the doors to a Figgins signing. Don't Figgins and Teahen basically play all of the same positions? Wouldn't adding $4 million + to your payroll make it less likely you would be willing to give Figgins the money he would require? Polanco makes some sense but he's older and slipped a little this past year. Damon I would love, but Rios would probably weigh 140 lbs. by July with all the ground he would have to cover.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 5, 2009 -> 07:32 PM) Teahen starting at first? No thank you. That definitely wouldn't be progress.