Dick Allen

Crede is hitting .167 this spring and scouts say he isn't moving well, yet there is optimism. Rowand is hitting .190 and many scouts feel he is near done. (Maybe yet another bullet KW dodged when the Giants went to 5 years) Of course they said the same about him in the spring of 2007.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:51 PM) There's one other big variable you're leaving out...the economy. This year's liable to be rough, really really rough, on everyone outside of NYY. Next year's looking like another of those years when raising ticket prices isn't a good move, and this year we could see single game/walkup attendance really down, and next year we may see a decently large hit to the season ticket base as well. Either way, barring some shocking mid-season move by KW, I fully expect our payroll next year to be a few %age points lower than this year, given that we're dropping Contreras's salary and we appear to have at least 2-3 pitchers ready who can fill the 4/5 slots, and we'll be dropping Dotel and we probably have a young guy or two who can step in there. And Beckham's going to have to play somewhere. Ditto Viciedo. With Thome, Dye, Dotel and Contreras, thats $40 million coming off right there. They said after getting rid of Vazquez and Swisher, they were at their payroll limit. Seems to me, trading away a guy making $11 million and getting back prospects, then saying you are at your payroll limit is a salary dump. Personally, I think owners could be using collusion with the fans. Some cities will see drastic dropoffs in attendance. Some, like the White Sox , are expecting the same to higher attendance. I really think the White Sox next year, if they aren't going to raise payroll and continue to use the economy as a crutch, freeze prices or lower them, and come up with a dollar menu at the park like many teams are doing. The White Sox are using the economy as an excuse, yet not offering their paying customers any of the perks other businesses usually have to offer in times like these. I don't think things are as bad for them as they want you to believe.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:13 PM) Uh, yeah, it is. While people here justifiably rip Javy for his lack of testicular fortitude, the truth is that he's still a very good back-of-the-rotation starter who won the Sox quite a few games over the past three years. The last time I checked, a win in Baltimore on a Tuesday afternoon in May counts as much as a win against the Twins in late September. Javy's salary was pretty much the norm for a good-but-not-great veteran pitcher, in the same neighborhood as Jon Garland and Gil Meche. If money wasn't a factor in this decision, why would Kenny go with a perpetually-injured and washed-up Bartolo Colon or an inferior Clayton Richard? All other things being equal, I'd take Javy over either of those guys in a second. The COMBINATION of minor league talent that was given up for Griffey AND Swisher. Way to cherry-pick there. Griffey was never going to play 1B, RF, LF, or ride the pine as a backup last year. He was thrown into CF almost immediately, and stayed there even after Quentin broke his hand. And don't kid yourself: he was never brought to Chicago as a "backup plan." He didn't hit with power or play even average defense in CF, yet his lack of meaningful contribution still guaranteed him a spot in the lineup. Ozzie had no plans to bench a future HOFer like Griffey for Nick Swisher, and Kenny probably wouldn't have let him if he tried. A "salary dump" means just that: a dumping of salary. There is no qualifier attached for the reason. The rationale can range from trading a player not earning his paycheck (Swisher) to trading a solid starting pitcher and creating a massive hole at the back of your rotation simply because you want to cut payroll (Vazquez). When KW says he used the savings on Swisher to sign Viciedo (albeit one year of Swisher) you are correct, the purpose of that trade was to reduce payroll. If Swisher made $400k , he would still be here. Vazquez was a dump as well, although I think it was a smart move. If Vazquez made $4 million, he would still be here. Next offseason will be the interesting one with money with all that is coming off the books. Will they bring in higher salaried guys, or go cheap and young? I think only a disaster of a season in 2009 will force them to spend much next year. If they play .500, they can get away with saying Beckham and Viciedo are coming, we don't need to spend money. If they are brutal and their top prospects not very impressive, JR will be forced to break out the checkbook just like he was for Linebrink and Dotel.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 03:00 PM) Pat Burrell is worth $8M/year over 2 years on the open market. Milton Bradley is worth $9M/year over 2 years with a $12M option for a third on the open market. Dunn is worth an average of $10M/year over 2 years on the open market. So now JD is worth about $5.5M on the open market? What Hudson, OC, and Abreu signed for is NOT market value. Why can't people understand this? Those players priced THEMSELVES out of the market. Baseball lost a ton in sponsorships and teams were forced to lower payroll expectations. Agents didn't get the memo until it was too late. You cannot say Hudson, OC, and Abreu signed for market value when 90% of the market was already done spending by the time those players signed. There was virtually NO market at all by that point. Players signed for the salaries they did because they were asking crazy figures when the market opened and teams were unable or unwilling to meet those demands so they looked to meet their budgets in other ways. There is NO WAY that the Giants would have given $18.5M guaranteed over 2 years to Edgar Renteria if OC had been asking for something similar or even less. As scenario mentioned, the returns for both players were good. Actually, the return for Swisher was good, and the return for Vazquez was great. It was more than I thought we'd be able to get at the time. Also, Swisher makes $5.3M this year. The Sox are paying Dayan Viciedo $5M this year. Coincidence? Dotel is in the final year of his deal and makes $6M. You're crazy if you don't think the Sox could have dumped that if they wanted to. Linebrink is another story. And I disagree on KW overpaying at the time he acquired them. Both players were looking for closer gigs at the start of that offseason and KW paid the price of a premier setup man in Linebrink and a cheap closer in Dotel. Linebrink got too many guaranteed years, but the market was different then. Those were the days when players like Jamie Walker and Scott Schoenweis made bank. Luis Vizcaino as another example makes $3.5M, and Linebrink only makes $1M more than he does this year. When you can acquire a player like Josh Anderson for very little and pass, or when you can take a flyer on a guy like Edmonds and pass, or when you can turn your nose up at a reasonably solid complimentary player like Chris Denorfia who can also be had for very little, then it certainly sounds like you have quite a bit of confidence in what you have. If the Sox didn't like Wise or Owens as starters they wouldn't have been in camp in the first place. Simple as that. Dye at 35 market value is going to be less than $11 million and I think KW would have had a hard time dumping a middle reliever (although I am one of Dotel's biggest fans) making $6.5 million. According to you, I'm crazy. KW definitely overpaid in money for Dotel and years for Linebrink but that was because he was forced to after throwing garbage at the position (he obviously didn't learn his lesson as he is now doing the same thing with a leadoff hitter and CF) for a couple of years.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 02:11 PM) So it's a repeat of last year? Why wouldn't it be? Getz for Cabrera, Fields for Crede/Uribe, Wise for Swisher/Griffey. Probably just as inconsistent and although faster, the team is far from speedy, or savvy on the basepaths. They will explode some days and struggle others.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 01:29 PM) The stats actually kind of disagree with you, at least for the regular season, and yes I know it's a hell of a small sample size. Close and Late last year Anderson hit 8/27, good for a .296 average. If you go through his stats on B-R, he's actually quite a bit better when the game is close than when the game is wide open. In what B-R defines as "High leverage" situations, he hit .300 with a .797 OPS. Fascinatingly, he hit 5 home runs in the 5th inning last year, and had no more than 1 HR in any other inning. 1.640 OPS in the 5th inning. Don't pitch to Brian Anderson in the 5th inning. The toughest part of the game for Mickey Mantle was the bottom of the fifth.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 12:25 PM) I don't think this team will struggle to score runs in total. There's just too much power 2-8 for that to happen unless a lot of guys get hurt. I think this team could push 240+ home runs easily. I do think this team will be inconsistent in scoring runs, and we'll see a lot of games where we run up the score with 5 or so long balls and then other games where the only run(s) we put up are whatever Quentin knocks in on his home run in the 8th inning that day. I think inconsistency is correct. They will score 10 or 11 runs one day and get 1 or 2 the next few. Older guys, home run guys and a very inconsistent leadoff man with a rookie batting second will only add to that. Getz will be good, but he is a rookie and at times is going to struggle.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 09:55 AM) What makes you think they can't admit their mistake. I think Kenny has been trying to get somebody in here since the middle of camp, but they are strapped for cash and there aren't many options out there. I seriously doubt they want Wise leading off. There just aren't any real easy alternatives. I think he knwos he messed up by not trying ahrder for a Crisp or Taveras, but there isn't much we can do about it now. There were plenty of cheap options available this offseason. Ozzie laughed off Wise as a leadoff hitter last year. KW said nobody available was better than Owens, which includes Crisp. Do you really believe that? I think he's stuck on the "we do things differently from others and nobody understands us, but that's OK all we do is win" mentality. He is full of false modesty and strokes his own ego every chance he gets. Did he ever take responsibility for the trainwreck in 2007? Darin Erstad leading off? No. He cried no one could have seen everyone having a bad year. They aren't strapped for cash. They lost 2 sponsors. Motorola said their sponsorship would cost 10 people their jobs. Say that's 250k x 10. $2.5 million. They will make more than that back on the increase in ticket price. They also had 3 bonus gates last year. I don't know who is sponsoring the fundamentals area, but someone probably is. LG is now a club level sponsor. Season ticket sales are up. They actually are anticipating increased attendance this season. Of course they will have to play well. They have a ton of money coming off the books next year. Thome, Contreras, Dye, and Dotel to name a few, about $40 million. They sent Wise through waivers last summer, and he made it through just like Owens. Nobody else wants these guys and they make no money. That fact that they are sticking with Wise leading off and playing CF in game 1 shows me they can't admit their mistake. If anything, put Getz there.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 09:20 AM) IMO, Pods is not better than Wise at all. At least there's still hope of a competent defensive person playing the position right now. Wise is not competent defensively, that's the other rub on this whole situation.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 09:07 AM) This is such a ridiculously bad idea. He had a hard enough time playing LF. It is ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as the current situation. I've disliked Pods as much as anyone, and probably longer than everyone here, but Dewayne Wise? Look at his baseball card.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Apr 2, 2009 -> 07:46 AM) This organization is run by fools. It doesn't matter if Wise walked more often than Alexei, one is probably going to hit around .240-.250 this year and the other around .300. So even despite his awful walk rate Alexei will almost undoubtedly finish with a much higher OBP. Yes putting bad hitters at the top of your lineup maximizes your scoring opportunities, that makes a lot of f***ing sense. I wouldn't say fools. I think they are ego-maniacs not willing to admit error. Its absolutely ridiculous a $100 million payroll team has a 31 year old weak fielding leadoff hitter with a career .254 OBP, but the 2 "geniuses" can't admit their mistake.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 05:47 PM) If he could stay moderately healthy and hit like he has in the minors, sure. I have no idea if either of those would be possible. His 42 homers were impressive last season until you realize they were in Albuquerque and that he struck out 168 times in 127 games. Konerko hit 37 homers for the same team as a 21 year old and struck out over 100 times less.

Can't he refuse assignment and go play in AAA for someone else? It is ironic that both CF/leadoff guys were waived while making minimum or close and both cleared waivers. Probably more pathetic than ironic.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 11:34 AM) Rockies are releasing Scotty Pods. Eh? eh? eh? I loathed Pods, but he definitely is a better player than Wise, even as a CF. I think the Sox should go for it and give him a short leash. As soon as his first sports hernia injury occurs put him on the DL and then waive him when he comes off.

What a difference a few months make. Rosenbloom reminds us of Ozzie's quotes last season regarding the leadoff spot: Yeah, Wise and Anderson. Or, as manager Ozzie Guillen said sarcastically and mockingly last year when asked about his center-field-slash-leadoff options: “Wise? Hello? Brian?’’

I have been on alert for April Fool's jokes, so I knew right away, but Wise to Owens isn't necessarily a downgrade.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:40 PM) I think too many people are putting the White Sox defense under the microscope way too much. Chill out. I'm more than willing to cheer for Wise as the lead-off hitter, and I think he's the type of hitter we need. People need to stop expecting the Sox to get some Gold Glove caliber guy in Center Field. People may argue that Brian Anderson has a Gold Glove caliber glove, but I rather sacrifice defense for the offensive tools of Wise. Also, I think our lineup is more than capable of compensating for our defense. C'mon. We got God, Dye, Thome, Alexei, and we should have a bounce-back year from Konerko, a big year from Fields, and another speedster in Getz. That's 7 guys right there, throw in the consistent production from AJ and the extra speed element from Wise, then I think we have the makings of a fun team to watch. Be optimistic, everyone, and stop being a bunch of bellyaching wet blankets. Offensive tools of Wise. He's a career .214 hitter with a career .254 OBP. The Sox would have been better off re-signing Juan Uribe and had him lead off.

The Broncos are now saying they will try to trade Cutler. I'm sure the Bears are interested, but probably won't get him. I think others are better positioned to get him, and I'm sure if he goes somewhere in a deal Angelo can't match, Angelo will still get fired on by most of the faithful.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 06:19 PM) How good can the pitching be if the defense is bad ? ERA's and WHIPS increase from plays not made that aren't errors. Floyd's ERA was pretty good last year but he gave up a ton of unearned runs often once that 3rd out wasn't caught. Its not only the unearned runs, with Quentin, Wise and Dye in the OF, there will be a lot of balls that a lot of teams make plays on that will be hits against the White Sox. If they really aren't going to add payroll and are serious about Wise and guys like Corky Miller, we all have to hope Anderson hits. Putting him in CF helps this team in so many ways. Hopefully, Ozzie won't be so stubborn as to lead him off against the tough left handers.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 06:10 PM) That's fine. But the gist of what I said was basically you can't spit on every guy that's out there then in the end say anybody's grandmother would be a better choice than Wise. I wanted Willy Taveras. And I'm sure we all know how that went around here (kennyprospects and caufield can surely back me up here). I was totally against Willy Taveras, but had I known KW was serious about Wise in CF and leading off, Willy would have become one of my favorite players.

KW is on record saying no one who was available was better than what the Sox had in-house. That means since Jerry Owens is waived, no one available was better than Dewayne Wise. Dewayne will have ample opportunity to show everyone how much smarter KW is than everyone else.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 01:37 PM) Give me a break. The Sox were very nearly the worst team in the AL in terms of OBP in the #1 and #2 lineup spots last year (3rd to last), borderline wasting the very best full-time #3 hitter in the league. Not only did he fail to upgrade these two spots but as it stands right now it looks like he managed to downgrade. Get creative, find someone, anyone that can get on base at a decent clip and maybe run a little to hit in at the top of the lineup, no excuses. Hell, he removed 2 players from the 2007 ballclub in Orlando Cabrera and Nick Swisher that are better top of the order hitters than what we have now. It doesn't take much to upgrade from Dewayne Wise, believe it or not these players do exist. I think he envisioned Jerry Owens or even more so Brent Lillibridge as his 2009 opening day leadoff hitters, unfortunately for him both proved this March that they're not major league quality hitters. When you say things like this just 2 weeks ago then turn around and hand the job to a player who's nearly the complete opposite of what you've described you deserve as much criticism as the fans can muster. I love the pompous KW quote you have there. Pods brings a .350 OBP. That's funny he did it one year before KW acquired him (in 2003) and in 2005 it was .351, the only other time in his career he had a .350 or above OBP in the major leagues. His career minor league OBP was .344. KW loves to secretly pat himself on the back while trying to sound humble every chance he gets.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 11:35 AM) I don't understand why it is so difficult to believe that he can regain his form. Why is it assumed that he will stay awful now that he has been awful, but not that he can pitch well when he did in fact pitch well for a while a few years ago? The logic makes little sense to me... Its not a question of if he will fall apart, but when. He could hold up for most of the year, he has before. This guy has been very good before. At the All Star break in 2003 he had 24 saves and a low 2's ERA, and was a legit all star. He fell apart in the second half and had only 3 saves. He also was great with the White Sox in 2006. Maybe he's like Cliff Politte in 2005 this year. He has as much abilility as anyone, and as long as he can throw strikes, he is a big part of the bullpen.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:53 AM) Something must have happened behind the scenes or with Sheffield and Leyland. Either way, I think it shows that Detroit is almost basically committed to rebuilding. As for where Sheffield will end up, he'd actually make sense for a team like Seattle, but then they just signed Griffey Jr. I'm worried the Indians could sign him actually. They need power hitters, and their corner OF's aren't exactly top notch. He's off the clear and the cream, has a bum shoulder and is old. I would love for the Indians to sign him. He is subtraction by addition.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 09:31 AM) Interesting. I wonder what the whole story is there, because I don't see the Tigers in a postion to just eat $14,000,000. They had to pay it regardless. Maybe they want to keep the jerk from polluting their other players, and considering he isn't hitting this spring, he's always hurt and he's 40, he's probably done anyway. Some team will probably grab him, but stuck on 499 would be justice.