Dick Allen

From the si.com article: Ramirez ranks 17th on the all-time home-run list with 533. Eight of those top 17 home run hitters played in what is commonly referred to as the Steroid Era. And six of those eight modern-day sluggers have been associated with performance-enhancing drugs: Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Rodriguez and Ramirez. The only modern sluggers to have escaped such a connection are Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas and Jim Thome. Nothing we don't know but does go out of its way to mention the 3 White Sox related guys as being considered clean. I would love to have a webcam on Boras' office right now. All his lackeys must be working their asses off for angles to spin this.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:14 AM) here's an old pic of thome http://badwax.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/...l-jim-thome.jpg I think you can look at the parents as well. Thome's dad is huge. Griffey's body has spread just like his father's. Frank Thomas is supposed to have a couple of 300 lbs. sisters.

Kirstie Alley put on 83 lbs. the last year. She wasn't juicing, he was grazing.

What will be interesting is how the Dodgers handle the option for next year. I believe its a player option. What if Manny comes back and hits .280? I wonder if they will try to fight it.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:03 AM) So are you saying that Frank Thomas has paid off Canseco not to talk? Not at all, but Jose has "forgotten" a few things about steroid users who have backed some of his projects. Roger Clemens is one.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:00 AM) Nice to see you speak for all of us. But i'm going to wait to hear a bit more about it. I'm sorry your hero has been exposed, I'm sure its tough for you, but name one person who has been suspended for 50 games that hasn't lost in the court of public opinion. There have been several who never had a positive test that have lost. Manny is cooked.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 7, 2009 -> 07:58 AM) He seems to know the cleanliness of a lot of players he didn't play with. Canseco can forget a lot of things if you give him some money.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 7, 2009 -> 07:58 AM) I'm not sure that MLB Players still have the right to an appeal for a PED suspension, I think that was a key part of getting Congress off their backs, anyone know more? The espn.com article said he waived his right to appeal. The less info that gets out the better. Boras is orchestrating.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 7, 2009 -> 07:55 AM) Statements like this at this point are just laughable to me. Could Manny be lying? Absolutely. But it is an entirely different situation than an A-Rod who admitted to steroid use. All we have on Manny, is that after all this time he finally failed a test. We don't know what the drug is yet, so it is very possible it could have been in a medication that was presecribed to him. I understand the culture of baseball and what the stigma surrounding this past generation of players is, but accusatory statements like this tainting his entire career accomplishments up until this point are way out of whack, IMO. What Manny should do, is release the name of the medication he was prescribed. That way, when the drug that caused the failed test is released, people can cross check it with what Manny said he took. Wouldn't prove anything, but it could certainly help him out in the court of public opinion. Cry for Manny all you want. He's busted. Sorry, he's already lost in the court of public opinion.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 7, 2009 -> 07:46 AM) As strange as this may sound, I actually might buy into the doctor excuse. The reason is because Manny has no reason to cheat at this point. He has a $45M contract, he is almost done, he is a sure fire HoF'er, he has a ring, he is already regarded as one of the best right handed hitters of the generation...so whats the point? I can't believe Manny actually cares enough about his performance and how he's perceived to try and get an edge. Especially since up until now he has been "clean". I just feel if he was juicing, he would have been caught before, or at the very least would have stopped. Why wasnt he caught 2 years ago? Or last year? Why all of a sudden just right now? It just doesnt make sense to me, which is why I will wait to hear his official excuse in detail. The docor excuse was authored by Scott Boras. Read Manny's apology and then listen to Manny speak and tell me they are from the same person. Its spin city. Why wouldn't Manny appeal which is his right? He has every reason to cheat. A big year can make him a ton of money as he is on a 1 year contract with an option. He also has been known not to have the greatest work ethic in the world. PED's provide a shortcut.

LMAO. The thing is there are a ton of guys who have never tested positive who cheated. Most likely several names that would shock us. Manny is a fraud of the highest proportions, it shouldn't shock anyone he took shortcuts.

I'll take Mike. LeBron is awesome, bigger and stronger than MJ, but there is only one MJ.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxfan1986 @ May 6, 2009 -> 08:49 PM) This sucks. Yea, let's give up my number to a s***ty player who should be our 4th outfielder soon. I would be extremely pissed if I bought a Fields jersey. They had to do something to help KW's prediction that Josh Fields would have the most jerseys sold this year. Changing his number helps. The Fields family has to go back to the store.

Fields is changing to 7 giving Pods 22.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 6, 2009 -> 01:11 PM) If there's one thing Ozzie preaches it's good ABs and Alexei hasn't had more than a handful to start the year. He can get away with it when he's on fire and raking but he's gonna have to learn how to work a count, lay off breaking pitches out of the zone and wait for his pitch when he's slumping otherwise he's gonna start losing ABs. While I agree with Ozzie, its ironic because Ozzie never worked a count when he played. There has to be something more to this than just results and Ramirez making a lot of outs. The roster is full of guys who have been almost rewarded for not playing well. Maybe last year's success went to his head, maybe the league caught up and he has no answers, maybe he's just on a bad streak.

QUOTE (WinningUgly85 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:45 PM) Yeah well Guillen should cover his while hes at it. Depending on the barometric pressure we will hear how Ozzie will be managing far longer than an new rival will be playing or how close he came to walking away after some loss. He covers it himself very nicely.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:38 PM) Great idea to put Nix at SS. It's always well-informed to put career 2B who have played 40 games their entire career at the position (and of course, when they were 18, eight years ago) at the most difficult position on the diamond. Wait, he played a few games then on his rehab assignment. That makes it a sure bit to work out, since he didn't make an error in RF the other night, and he ONLY made two questionable plays at 3B the other night (one was saved by a miraculous Konerko snag of a throw that wasn't even close to the bag, the the other a muffed ball that led to the missing on an easy DP). It will be interesting. He certainly was a little shaky with his throws at 3rd. If he can make the throws, and he does have a pretty strong arm, he should be OK.

QUOTE (scenario @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:15 PM) I know the Broadway-Ellsbury thing will keep coming up... as well as another other prospects we missed on. But come on... hindsight... In Broadway's last year of college, he was one of 3 finalists for the Roger Clemens Award. Threw 5 complete games in 16 starts, including 2 of his last 3 games... one over the #1 team in the country at the time. Had a 1.69 ERA on the season. Gave up only 2 homeruns in 117 innings. Yada yada... And regarding the Clemens Award... here's how the voting works... the three finalists were selected in a second round of voting by all Division I head baseball coaches, a selection of national college baseball media, the 16 winners of the R. E. Bob Smith Award (college player of the year) and the three finalists from the first Clemens Award. In other words, it wasn't like he some bum off the street. There was a fairly large group of knowledgeable people who thought he was one of the top 3 pitchers in the country. One of the top 3 pitchers in college doesn't make you one of the top 3 or 10 or 100 pitching prospects for the pros. There have been Heisman trophy winners that don't get drafted. It was a bad pick and it was supposed to be a "safe" pick. He didn't have a big upside. It was safe because it was assumed he would most likely and fairly quickly become a mediocre 4th or 5th starter.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:09 PM) Where is KW Jr. anyway? I can't find him on B-R. Last I saw he was hitting around .250 with no power and a lot of strikeouts for Kannapolis.

I knew about this when he played for the Sox. I always wondered if the fans that harassed him all the time would give him a break if they knew his story.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 6, 2009 -> 11:41 AM) Thome has four home runs. John Buck has three. Didn't Jimmy also have a horrible at bat last night late with a runner on third. I was a little surprised the veteran didn't come through there or at least make contact. I'm a little surprised people get pissed off at length of posts or starting new threads. Isn't that why you are on here, to check out people's opinions? I thought that's what this was for. Weird. Big Papi is still looking for #1 this season.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 6, 2009 -> 11:49 AM) I would add Milwaukee to that list. They draft all of the hitters. Tampa and Florida seem to do alright as well. Atlanta was good for years turning over their roster adding a couple of homegrowns.

It looks like Ozzie may have been talking about Anorexei last night. Nix at SS tonight. Getz 2B Fields 3B Quentin LF Thome DH Dye RF Konerko 1B Pierzynski C Nix SS Podsednik CF

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ May 6, 2009 -> 11:17 AM) You really can't go back to past drafts and compare who is successful or not...and who was on the board when Team A picked Player A. There are too many factors/rounds/levels to go through to do that. I mean, how many players are there, on average, in every organization? Let's say there are 5 teams in the minors? AAA, AA, 2 A's and a rookie. That's what...roughly 120 players in a minor league organization? Multiply that by 32 MLB teams and include colleges, independent leagues and high school. C'mon. This isn't a science. In fact, I would guess those organizations mentioned above that have the best scouting still hits on only 3/10 AT IT'S BEST. Maybe someone who has time would want to research it...or already has. But, what is the percentage of draft picks that make it to the big club. Then, to another team's big club. Or not at all. Then why spend any money on draft picks at all? KW Jr. got $150k in the 6th round, a pick most experts politely called a reach. Why give Broadway and McCullough over $1 million? Why refuse to sign deeply discounted type A free agents because you don't want to give up a draft pick? Why risk having Orlando Cabrera accept arbitration and $10 million all for getting an extra pick? Criticism of the White Sox draft over the years is warranted. It has been poor at best. Hopefully they have turned a corner, but there's a reason some teams, no matter where they are drafting always seem to be developing good players, and it isn't luck.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 6, 2009 -> 10:52 AM) Boston, Oakland and LA Dodgers are probably the best scouting/development organizations in the league. I wonder if Joe Borchard would have turned out to be a real good player had he been drafted by a different team. Maybe the White Sox drafted talented guys but had no clue what to do with them when they got them.