Dick Allen

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 6, 2009 -> 10:35 AM) To be fair a lot of teams passed up on Ellsbury because people feared that his only true tool was his speed. The pick that people should really gripe about is the Donny Lucy and Kyle McCulloch selections. Those were absolutely horrendous picks, along with the Wes Whisler selection. Yet the Sox love Lillibridge and what's his only tool? The Sox have had a year or two with a lot of selections in the first 50, and really screwed up. I think Pedroia was available when Whisler and Lucy were drafted. Maybe another problem is the total inability to develop players at lower levels. Bucholtz, Kershaw a couple of pitchers still on the board when Broadway was taken. Maybe Boston is just a lot better in the lower levels of developing guys.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 6, 2009 -> 10:14 AM) Jon Gilmore is doing no better for Kanny so far than he did in the SAL last year in similar number of games. I'm still not convinced he's the real deal. Charlotte losing 8-4 in the 8th, delayed right now by rain, JVB and Ehren both got shelled, again. I haven't seen him pitch this year, but, I'm starting to worry about Wassermann now - I thought 2008 was something he could get past, but he's still struggling, now at the AAA level. B-Ham now up 12-4 in the 8th. Shelby and Beckham with 2 hits each, Cruz reaches base in all four at bats so far. Ely was good again. A win for B-Ham puts them in a tie for first in the division and league. Getting removed from the 40 man speaks volumes on what the White Sox are thinking about Wasserman I think.

Jacoby Ellsbury was available for the White Sox to draft, but they went "safe" and drafted Lance Broadway instead.

QUOTE (MO2005 @ May 6, 2009 -> 07:00 AM) Here are the Sox problems.. Alexei Ramirez - timing is wayyyyy off. Late on fastballs and early on breaking/curve balls. Hawk said it great last night that when this happens, usually it can last almost a whole season. If that's the case, we have problems. Brett Lillibridge - Just can't hit period or play defense. First of all this guy has no place in center field and his defense is horrific. It is almost like Ozzie and kenny are refusing to send him down because they don't want to feel like the Vasquez trade went for nothing. AJ - Cannot throw runners out, so everyone runs on us. Gavin Floyd - I said it before the season started. Had a career year last year and was going to be hard to duplicate. He is not in command up there on the mound right now. Mentally he is breaking down, losing confidence, and allowing the big hits. Jacobs 3 run homer last night. Josh Fields - Strike Out King Pods - Last Resort for now and using it. Jose Contreras - Shouldn't be starting or even playing. But how can you sit 10-15 million a year in salary? Bullpen - Relying on them too much right now to save games for us with our starting pitching/ inconsistent offense. We all remember what happened in the 2nd half last season when our bullpen was lights out in the beginning of the year, right? The problem is our bullpen is not even lights out right now. Is there anyone in this bullpen you feel 100% comfortable with to hold a lead? Situational Hitting - Still does not exist. I don't care what anyone says, but if you do not have a situational hitting ballclub, you will not win a championship. Yes we could still wina division title because our division is weak, but not a championship. I blame this entirely on Kenny Williams for STILL not getting the players that can do this well. Since the 2nd half of 2006 we have not been great at getting runners over and in. Hitting sac flies when we need them or like last night runners on third with less than 2 outs and failing to get them in. AJP has thrown out a higher pct. of runners than Corky Miller who is supposed to be a catch and throw guy. White Sox pitchers with a couple exceptions cannot hold a runner on to save their lives. I have never seen so many SB without a throw in my life. Now its getting to the point where the infielder doesn't bother running to the bag.

QUOTE (scenario @ May 6, 2009 -> 08:01 AM) And if you really believe that.... another purple unicorn for you. Yeah the Sox made some bad picks... as did every other organization in MLB. But the reason we have no MLB ready prospects in AAA this year is NOT the result of bad draft choices, it's the result of trades. Imagine how different the world would look if we hadn't traded Chris Young, Aaron Cunningham, and Ryan Sweeney for example. I don't think people would be sitting and asking why we can't find major league ready outfielders in our system. If the Sox still had Chris Young, they wouldn't have Tyler Flowers. Cunningham was a bad trade. Richar isn't even on Cincinatti's 40. If you trade a good prospect for a bust, that's on the Sox GM. No Sweeney, no Jon Garland Jr. in Marquez. I like Sweeney, but yesterday when I even mentioned him in the same sentence as Josh Fields, I was ripped. KW has traded some overhyped picks no doubt. He went for it with Carl Everett in 2003 so you can't fault him, but Frankie Francisco would look a lot better in the bullpen than Lance Broadway right now.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 6, 2009 -> 07:27 AM) I'm not saying Matt did well - I'm saying he did badly, but he does well more often than most relievers in baseball, so he is the least of my concerns. I think the bullpen will be alright, at least for the first 100 games or so.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ May 6, 2009 -> 07:23 AM) I would like to see how many teams have a system so stocked that it can replace, at the drop of the hat, 5-7 roster spots with major league quality replacements. To remind you... The Sox are down THREE CF. Even if two of those weren't any good...one was doing better and he's injured. The Sox are still rebuilding their system using the Buddy Bell method, and if you look at AA on down, doing a pretty good job of it. The Sox were trying to give some of their young talent a chance to succeed. Owens failed. Lilli is failing. Getz is succeeding. Fields is succeeding. Ramirez is having a Sophomore slump (hopefully). Danks is succeeding for the most part. Floyd is 50/50 right now. No team, other than the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs can just sign players willy-nilly for ridiculous contracts. Does it suck? Sure it does, but we are 26 games into the season. And if worse comes to worse, they start selling off players at the deadline to get more good, quality young players so some of you can shut the hell up about how the minors are barren or they aren't ready yet. This is what makes baseball fun...a player can rake in college and the minors and suck in the show. Or a player can be drafted in the 38th or 51st round and be hugely successful. And if anyone on this board thinks they can see what player is going to be better than another...your unicorn is waiting to take you back to Fantasyland. 3 CF Wise career BA .215 Career OPS .631 BA career BA .227 Career OPS .660 Owens I would guess is #3 Career BA .262 Career OPS .624 It shouldn't be too hard to replace. Why is it on year 9 of KW's rein we are just starting to see something that may be useful in year 10 of his rein from the minor leagues? If Duane Schaffer was so bad, how come it took KW 7 years to figure it out. The White Sox employ a lot of people and pay a few of them a lot of money to select players. Guys on this board could probably have drafted just as well over several years. There is no excuse. As for trading high priced players for good prospects at the deadline if the Sox aren't contending. Good luck. Its a new world. If teams won't sign players to one or two year contracts at steep discounts because they won't give up a draft pick, why would they take on a high salaried guy and give up a player they have already paid a bonus and spent a lot on developing, who has shown at the professional level he has potential ? There is no question the White Sox system is better today than it was a year ago and beyond. Unfortunately, years and years of neglect means that what gets called up now is pretty close to pure garbage. As long as guys like Lillibridge and Marquez are spoken of gushingly, the system needs tweaking.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 6, 2009 -> 07:11 AM) Thornton struck out 3 guys, but he did also walk 2 and give up a double. I'm not worred about him, he's still got very good numbers on the season. Dotel is scary though, he's awfully inconsisten. That's the Javy Vazquez syndrome, spinning his numbers so he looks good. He came in with the bases loaded the other day and gave up a GS. He only gets charged with 1 run. He comes in with 2 on last night, they both score. His numbers for those 2 games, both which could have been wins but were losses, look a lot better than his performance. He didn't do his job no matter how many strikeouts he had. The bullpen wasn't very sharp last night although Floyd had enough run support to make that a non-issue, but he was terrible. Just a badly pitched game by the White Sox. Broadway blows, but I don't know how you would expect anything but what happened to happen to him last night.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2009 -> 06:17 AM) Cupboard? I think you have have the Chicago Cubs on the brain, or Mike Cubbage, lol. Maybe the Cubs having a winning streak (until Lincecum) while we've been sucking hasn't helped so much! I'm an exsellant spellar.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 6, 2009 -> 06:13 AM) We just have to pray BA has no setbacks... if he comes back after Wise (I don't know when he's due for return), then we'll have to suffer through that some more. BA has gone from the guy responsible for the economic crash, swine flu, hurricanes, earthquakes, to White Sox savior almost overnight.

So if his threats last night were directed at Gavin Floyd, which they very well could be, how can they not be considered idle if this is how he feels about a replacement of another rotation member? The cupboard is bare, at least for immediate help. Its pretty obvious by who they have been calling up.

Its all the same as the past. They have no one to take the places of these people, see the junk they have called up so far. The offense scored 7 runs. I don't know how anyone can be upset with their performance. Considering how much Contreras gets ridden, maybe its time to take a look at Floyd and his 6.00 + ERA and league leading 18 walks. He's had 2 good starts, one very mediocre one that he did a good job minimalizing damage and 3 horrid starts. Not what you're looking for from the #3 guy who just signed a contract extension. He's the guy to blame for this game, although the bullpen did him no favors.

Getz 2b Fields 3b Quentin lf Thome dh Dye rf Konerko 1b Pierzynski c Ramirez ss Podsednik cf Again, Betemit is 3-5 with 2 homers against today's opposing starter. Does anyone else see something wrong here?

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 5, 2009 -> 12:38 PM) ESPN insider reporting that the Sox have talked to Pedro... It doesn't say anything of the sort. Its from the Daily Herald and Scott Gregor, the guy who said KW would put a waiver claim on Luis Vicianco and instead of just handing him over the Cubs would send over some money to pay him as well. It just says he will start looking at guys like Byrd, Pedro, Garcia and Odalis Perez.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 5, 2009 -> 10:39 AM) Are you really arguing that Ryan Sweeney is a better hitter then Josh Fields? You sure you wanna go that direction? I personally feel Sweeney will be a better hitter in the major leagues than Fields, but that wasn't the point in my post. They are obviously not similar in any way. The point I was making is most of the people who complain about the White Sox "approach" don't seem to mind that Fields will strikeout 200 times a year if he plays everyday, because he will hit homers, and a guy like Sweeney, who does have potential and is a pretty good defensive player was dismissed as garbage because he wasn't a guy who swings for the fences.

Betemit is 3 for 5 lifetime vs. Davies with 2 homers. I suppose like the last time the Sox faced him, it means Wilson will be regulated to pinch hitting duties after Davies has been lifted.

The Greg Walker stuff is crap. There is not and there has never been a "lift and pull" philosophy. He works with what he has. The White Sox have been constructed with guys who hit home runs for years. These types are very streaky. When they aren't going well, no runs will be scored. The balance management has tried to create has never really worked out. Hopefully guys like Getz and Beckham will correct that. Why is it when the Sox don't score, its all Greg Walker's fault? Why isn't it Don Cooper's fault when Contreras and Floyd fail to hold runners on base or when a pitcher gets lit up? When a Sox player swings for the fences and pops up, Walker must go. When MacDougal throws another one to the screen, no one is calling for Cooper's head. Why isn't it Joey Cora's fault when another rundown goes awry? The Walker stuff needs to stop. Its time to blame the guys walking up to the plate with a bat. These are major league players. They are supposed to have some sort of clue. So many around here hate the "all or nothing" approach a lot of White Sox hitters supposedly have, yet love Josh Fields and also said Ryan Sweeney was garbage because he didn't hit enough home runs.

QUOTE (RME JICO @ May 5, 2009 -> 06:10 AM) Would we be seeing any of these players if Getz, Anderson, Thome, Fields, and Dye didn't miss any time? Those 5 with Quentin, Konerko, AJ, and Ramirez make up a pretty decent lineup. Getz missed how much time? The manager doesn't want him to play against LHP because he's 4 for 8. Get Lillibridge in there against them. He's 1 for 12. Fields has missed 1 game because of injury. Dye two games. Thome and Anderson are a couple of the most useless players to wear White Sox uniforms according to the consensus of this site.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 5, 2009 -> 05:20 AM) This is beginning to feel like the late 80's and late 90's. We're in a transition year. It would have been much better if they kept season tickets at the same prices, admitted they were going to cut payroll (using the downturn or Tucson as excuses, lack of revenues from ST ticket sales, etc.) and been MORE honest with the fans about the realistic goal being to compete in 2010-12. Now there's the danger that we have a season somewhat like 2007, except not quite that bad, because nobody will run away with the division and we'll sort of be in the race for most of the season...but we'll lose a lot of the walk-up crowd that only comes out when we have good teams. Those casual Sox fans that don't show up until mid-to-late May won't come out and spend their hard-earned dollars on this. Having lived in KC for 10 years, it's nice to see the fans finally coming out to support their team on a Monday night and really getting into it. Of course, it helps to have the best pitcher in baseball, but I can't remember going into a Royals game in my lifetime (well, since the mid 80's) where you felt there was about a 5-10% to win the game, especially without Dye. Almost 22,000 sounds like a disappointment, but not when you look at their average Monday night attendance in April/May over the last decade. Royals fans are a lot like White Sox fans. They simply refuse to turn out for bad or average baseball, but they'll start filling that park in May and June if the Royals continue to be in or near first place. With Hochevar tearing up AAA now, they have a legit chance to compete when they add him to their rotation again. As far as checking the ego at the door with KW goes, I think it all depends on Flowers with that trade (and, of course, we never know how Gilmore and Rodriguez will turn out 3-5 years from now). If he can catch in the big leagues with that type of power and plate discipline (above the level of Victor Martinez at least), then the trade will be a huge success, but certainly not in 2009. It's hard to name more than a couple of catchers in baseball who give you that type of offense. I don't mind any of KW's trades this offseason. Not the Swisher trade. Not the Vazquez trade. I agree the prizes for those trades were salary relief with Swisher (and get back to me in a couple months to re-examine his numbers) and Tyler Flowers for Vazquez. What I do mind is playing a guy obviously in over his head hoping he shows something so you can say you saw something no one else did. KW has hit the jackpot a couple of times. He needs to realize it is the exception and not the rule. Then Ozzie talks to the kid and says he could make $15 million in his career or if he continues to play like he's playing, wind up in Korea? If he is playing so bad, why was he continuing to leadoff? How many times does Brent Lillibridge have to swing and miss a hit and run attempt before you pull the plug on that particular play? Isn't there the slightest chance that everyone else was right about Lillibridge and KW was wrong? This team still has a shot though. Thats the good news. No one has beaten Greinke this year so we shouldn't be shocked or upset at last night's defeat. But upgrading the roster, even if it means taking on payroll, should be a priority.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ May 4, 2009 -> 08:36 PM) I am not holding my breath on them spending money next off-season. As far as KW, I understand not having money to really improve the team, but some of these roster decisions were again made to stroke his ego and I'm sure the smug bastard is hoping for another "I told you so" opportunity at the end of the season. Whatever. I agree with this 100%. There's really no other explanation for a guy like Brent Lillibridge being on the major league roster. He talked him up when he acquired him saying he's been after him for a couple of years. He didn't hit in the majors last year. He didn't hit in the minors last year. He didn't hit in spring training, and he hasn't hit so far this season. Its not like he's a 20 or 21 year old kid. Then to make him even worse, you put him in CF where he is on a good day average defensively. Check the ego at the door and get baseball players. There is no reason this team should have been 2nd in all of baseball in slashing payroll after last season. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Too bad that hasn't held true for White Sox ticketholders, the people who pay more per game than fans of any team other than the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Cubs, yet this year.

There are traditions and there are White Sox traditions

QUOTE (fathom @ May 4, 2009 -> 06:13 PM) Nix missed that slider by a foot. Playing him against a RHP when you have Betemit on the bench is just so freaking dumb. Betemit is 1-2 against Greinke. Against Davis, he's 3-5 with 2 homers. He'll most likely ride pine tomorrow night. He didn't face him the first time.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 4, 2009 -> 06:04 PM) According to what I was told, he hasn't had a ball hit to him yet. Nix had a play, Paulie made a miraculous scoop to save him an error. It would have been an error last night.

QUOTE (chisox2334 @ May 4, 2009 -> 05:51 PM) hit and run with lilli hitting dear god I don't know how many times he has to swing and miss on a hit and run attempt for Ozzie to scrap asking him to do it. Try a bunt. He's a minor leaguer. Pods in RF is another bad idea. KW SPEND SOME MONEY

Is it me or does Hawk indeed start calling players by their last name more when they are struggling and by their first name or nickname when they are going well?