Dick Allen

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Apr 20, 2009 -> 02:39 PM) I'm not sure if he has any options left to be sent to AAA unless it's still considered a rehab assignment. If not we have to send him up to the big club or put him on waivers and with the way he played in spring he prolly won't make it through. I'm thinking he would make it through. Everyone could have signed him this past offseason. His spring training numbers were stellar but it was the first couple of weeks of games where pitchers were far from 100% in terms of effectiveness.

If the reason Anderson shouldn't play is a lack of offense, what would replacing him with Lillibridge accomplish?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 20, 2009 -> 01:57 PM) How could you state that you trust KW in determining who's a good fit for us when he traded for Swisher in the first place? It's not like Swisher had a Thome-like personality in Oakland. Swisher was probably more annoying than a cancer. Obviously KW brought in Cabrera and Swisher with one of his goals being change the attitude of the team. Obviously something worked because they won the division, but maybe it wasn't that KW felt those 2 had much to do with it because he obviously wanted no part in a return engagement for either.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 20, 2009 -> 10:14 AM) Well, people are already starting to get on Fields for not hitting any homers (although one or maybe both of his triples so far would have been out of Comiskey on any summer day without a gale force wind blowing in or across). The thing is, everyone was "hopefully optimistic" Anderson could get up to a 300 OBP. Now we're talking 350? The biggest problem with this approach is that he will start to get a reputation for NOT swinging early in counts...he will get down 0-1 and 0-2, and then his K rate will dramatically escalate. Anderson has been making decent contact...Fields is the one whose swing is getting bigger and he's looking more like a slugger in terms of his K numbers without any homers to back it up. As long as Josh has his share of doubles and triples, it would be okay if he only hit 15-18 homers...but I think many were expecting 25-30-35 homers, a .230-.240 average and 300 OBP. I think May will be a good test for Anderson, Ramirez and Fields. To see what kind of hitters they're really going to evolve into...April is too difficult, with the inconsistent weather, domes, rain, sleet....Chicago and Detroit weather. I fail to see how not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone will increase your strikeout rate. BA is working on shortening his stroke. Supposedly in batting practice its short but when gametime comes along, its back to long. Adjustments are easier said than done. I think he'll be able to do it, especially with regular playing time. His heart and mind are probably racing when he gets to the plate. He'll be much better when he can put his mind to rest that an 0 for 4 doesn't mean the end of his playing time.

QUOTE (Scwible @ Apr 20, 2009 -> 11:44 AM) David Kaplan had an shot for Swisher around the time when he got traded. He basically called him a fraud. All an act. He said early on he was really easy to get to come onto comcast and do his crazy interviews where he said everyone was the best. Once things slowly rolled downhill he said he was the hardest person to try and talk to and hard to get him on tv. Things are good, he's everywhere. Things go south and he's no where to be found apparently. There's no doubt he's at least a partial fraud but there is nothing wrong with what he said. I never was a Swisher guy, but I don't find it wrong for a guy to be upset when he doesn't play. Obviously the person who asked Ozzie about it knew it would bother Ozzie at least a little bit and Ozzie would have something to say. I know some will say it doesn't bother Ozzie, but if it didn't he wouldn't talk about having more friends than enemies and how he will be managing long after Swisher is done playing, etc. The media knows what buttons to push to get Ozzie going. Hopefully it won't cost him his job some day.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 20, 2009 -> 10:01 AM) I'm not sure it's a good idea to have Ozzie at the White House. Ozzie won't be there. Obama might not even be there. They are getting a tour of the White House.

You don't extend anyone, unless they came to you and said they were willing to sign way below market .Contracts most likely will be just as suppressed as this past offseason. Of all the White Sox free agents, with age included, none of the White Sox free agents is a premium type of guy where teams will pay up to get them.

Ozzie apparently gets very sensitive when players who are or have played for him say someone else is the best manager they ever played for. Per the Tribune: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen fired back in amusement over comments made by former Sox Nick Swisher, who called the New York Yankees' Joe Girardi the best manager he's played for. "He's got to say what he's got to say," Guillen said Sunday. "He was talking about people he's only known for two weeks. That's hard to make that statement when you only know people for two weeks, but that's Nick. "I'm not pretending to be the best manager. I never will. But I guarantee that I will manage a lot longer than he will play. That's all I can say. And I've got more friends in baseball than I have enemies. "Some people can't handle the way I manage. It's not easy. When you manage you have to deal with 25 to 50 people every year to make people happy. You can't. But it's easy when you hit .350 or .390, everybody is a good manager." In Sunday's New York Post, Swisher, who's hitting .333, said of Girardi: "Never want to play for anybody else. There's just something about him, man. He brings everybody together. Best manager I ever played for." Swisher spent only one season with the Sox after batting .219 and seeing his playing time diminish late in the season. Swisher also said of beleaguered Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, who has spent little time with the club because of a hip injury: "Greatest ever. Just an awesome guy. Very misunderstood." Said Guillen: "All of a sudden, [swisher] knows everyone on the ballclub. I was reading the article, and I just laughed. You only got one week, two weeks on the team, and everyone is nice? "That's the way Swisher is. Things work out for him good, everyone is great. That [stuff] doesn't work out for him, it's someone's fault." There's no doubt in my mind Swisher's personality is at least partially an act, but since there was about 6 or 7 weeks of spring training and the season is a couple weeks old, I don't think its outside the realm of possibility Swisher has met most if not all of his new teammates. This could get interesting, and entertaining.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 19, 2009 -> 01:55 PM) Nick Swisher falling back to earth...hitting .325 and 2 k's today against Carl Pavano, but Yankees threatening. Evidently the new Yankee Stadium has some sort of wind tunnel out to RF. There are a lot of people really concerned about it. Swisher may benefit.

Maybe its his beard but Garza reminds me of a young Freddy Garcia.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 18, 2009 -> 10:45 PM) So you must really hate Wang... I'm a White Sox fan, I couldn't care less about the Yankees problems, but Johnny Damon doesn't apper to like Wang much: We have six losses on the year right now and he's got three of them," Damon said. "And in all three of those games, we've been blown out and we've had to go to our bullpen. So maybe our bullpen's not sharp the following days. So I don't know what more to say, but hopefully he can figure it out because it'd be tough to keep on going like this."

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Apr 19, 2009 -> 11:53 AM) I understand the 7:11 starts for the Sox, but whats going on with the 6:08, 6:38 starts for the Rays? Their television probably comes on the air at 6:00, and they probably want 8 minutes before the first pitch. I think the start time is just a little more accurate. It used to be for many teams 7:00 which actually meant 7:05 or so, now 7:11 or 6:08 is the scheduled time to start playing, not maybe for the national anthem or the time the team takes the field. I think Sox games really used to start at about 7:07 so the 4 extra minutes probably gets them a couple more commercials in addition to what 7-11 is paying for the starting time.

The player the White Sox really could use, as probably so could everyone else, is the 1990-1996 version of Tony Phillips. He could play just about every position equally as mediocre. Good enough where he wouldn't embarrass himself. Led off. Walked a ton. Drove in runs. Hit homers, and drove the opposition nuts.

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ Apr 19, 2009 -> 11:37 AM) Delmon Young is a defensive liability. http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/11/1...-defense-by-pmr Juan Pierre, Carlos Lee, Alfonso Soriano all much better than Carlos Quentin. One of those defensive stats wizards has Soriano as one of the best LF in baseball. Young can throw, as far as the rest of his defensive prowess, I really don't know, but I take a lot of defensive rankings with a grain of salt. There's probably some merit to them, but sometimes they seem beyond stretching it.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 19, 2009 -> 11:26 AM) Doubtful Birmingham will play today. I have to go see the Barons at home. They have a Razor Shines Party Room.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Apr 19, 2009 -> 10:59 AM) It's not looking like that will happen with the Twins. Young might need a new start with another team. He didn't fit the Twins youngster mold and now he is off his game. Delmon Young is still an infant baseball-wise. If the Twins want to give him up for nothing, I suggest KW get on the cell phone. He's only 4 months older than Tyler Flowers and only 1 year older than Gordon Beckham. It might not ever click for him, but there is still plenty of time. He swings at everything, but he has a ton of talent.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Apr 19, 2009 -> 06:32 AM) Alexei should stay at SS [unless of course, he doesn't rebound to hit like he did last year]. He's in a bad funk now, but has shown he can adjust. If Alexei hits like he did last year, his glove is too valuable to move to CF. Getz should stick at 2b, as his lefty bat, patience, glove, speed and approach to the game such as situational hitting, baseball smarts, is what the sox need more of. Beckham may best help the sox at 3b. Depending on how well Fields does over the course of the year, he may be moved for pitching in the offseason. Say he winds up hitting .250, with a .330 OBP with his power, does he project to be a hitter like Beckham, who can hit near .300 with power, and have an above avg. OBP? Or can even Viciedo replace Fields numbers? Now if Fields hits close to .300, with an above avg. OBP, and plays solid defense, he'd be a building block like Quentin. The jury is still out on Fields, but I don't see him as a guy the sox will build around, like Quentin or Beckham. If he has a decent year, other teams may view him as a cornerstone and his value via trade may be too good to pass up. Most likely, the sox won't have to make a move with Beckham unless an injury occurs that forces the sox to move the IF around. The sox won't put Alexei in CF mid year. Once the year ends, the sox can make a deal to clear a space for Beckham. If the sox don't have anyone playing CF at a decent level come late June, the sox should be able to make a move to add someone. Teams will be looking to cut costs, and the sox should be able to make an upgrade without sacrificing key talent. Its too soon to really see, athough concern about Alexei should start pretty soon if he doesn't start hitting. I'm thinking he starts slow as he did last year, but since Aug 25 of last year he is 29 for 154 which is a .188 average. Maybe the league has figured something out. It was probably the cold weather, which he's certainly not used to playing in. I think we all are assuming Alexei will start hitting soon, but if he doesn't and Beckham continues to tear up AA pitching, do you make a change and when?

QUOTE (Wanne @ Apr 18, 2009 -> 08:32 PM) Toby who?!?.... btw...is he even playing this year? He had Presidential seats at the game yesterday. He was with a lackey. How would you like to be Toby Hall's lackey? I wonder if he has to take shaving cream pies to the face.

I wonder when the last time the Sox had 10 walks in a game.

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 18, 2009 -> 08:21 PM) I do not like this Dotel-Pena matchup. I really hope Dotel proves me wrong. He won't

You can blame AJ all you want, obviously this steal is with Miller behind the plate, but for the most part, unless Buerhle is on the mound, Johnny Bench in his prime wouldn't throw out too many opposing baserunners with this White Sox staff.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Apr 18, 2009 -> 08:11 PM) He actually hit the ball on the button his second at bat and would have had extra bases if not for a nice catch by Kapler.... He'll be ok. Better than friggin Betemit... Betimet is a much better left handed hitter. Unfortunately they have him playing against left handers most of the time right now.

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 18, 2009 -> 08:04 PM) How is that? There's probably no other player on the roster, other than MacDougal and Owens, who has been trashed more than Lillibridge. BA, and as bad as he's hit, his career BA has been better, his OBP this year is better. Lillibridge gets more love for a guy who is hitting .067 and has a career major league average under .200 than just about anyone. He is fast, I'll give him that. I wonder how mad some are Joey Gathright didn't sign with the Sox. Anderson throwing a guy out at third tonight saved Buehrle some pitches and maybe some runs.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 18, 2009 -> 07:43 AM) But Blanco would be more expensive than Josh Anderson, for sure. Maybe Poreda, Allen, someone like that...the Braves won't just give him away for free to us, they have no incentive to do so...and he's their primary "insurance" behind Schafer. Not to mention the fact that Blanco has a major league track record of relative success that Josh Anderson didn't. The way Poreda has looked, I'm not sure they would take him for Blanco. Probably...but he hasn't even been throwing 93-94-95-96 yet. He's in the low 90's. And Matt Thornton can get crushed at 96-97 as a one pitch pitcher, as we saw last night. If KW even considered sending Poreda or Allen away for Blanco, he should be sent to a rubber room immediately. Willits in no better than what is already here. He's a switch hiitting Jerry Owens.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 17, 2009 -> 11:27 PM) that played a part in it too. And in regards to Sirotka, he was also a rookie GM at that point and it was his first big trade. I also seem to recall that the Sox did have to send someone back to Toronto as part of that deal, so that was brought upon by MLB. No. Bud ruled in favor of the White Sox.