Dick Allen

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 17, 2009 -> 03:10 PM) He's a wild and crazy guy. He has a ton of talent. If he ever learned how to throw strikes, he would be amazing. At this point, its probably not going to happen.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 17, 2009 -> 10:49 AM) I'd put more faith in the potential of Nix than that, he may actually turn out to be of some value. But I agree on Raines 2, he's AAA filler. Just remember, Nix compiled his numbers in Colorado Springs in his 3rd year of AAA. I think the team batting average was higher than his. I wouldn't expect much.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 17, 2009 -> 09:03 AM) He's also been putting up ok numbers in the PCL. He's prob just AAA fodder for life. Like Jayson Nix. These are guys that will help the win totals in Charlotte, but if they are playing in Chicago, its garbage time.

I really don't know what everyone was expecting from Lillibridge this spring. He hit .220 in AAA and .200 in the NL last year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 10:07 PM) This data is from 2005 so slightly out of date but it's illustrative. It does not take in to account cost of living or the amount paid by the federal government (i.e. you kind of expect CA to have a higher tax burden than some other states because simply running a school out here costs more, and places like MI get more tax dollars back from the Feds than us) but it is illustrative. The %age given is an attempt to average out over everything, not just income taxes but income, sales, property, hotel, fuel, etc. Ah, here's the new data. In 2008 Illinois was still 30th. Instead of the state average, I wonder where Chicago ranks. It seems everytime you buy from a store, its like Ticketmaster is being used at the register.

Signs for 1 year $1.5 million. Toby Hall 2008 money.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 16, 2009 -> 10:38 AM) I suppose this is a very good point, but there isn't much alternative for our leadoff/#2 spot. If it's not Alexei batting #2, then I'd have to say stick AJ in there. The issue is we don't have great personal for traditional #1 and #2 hitters, so we have to deal with what we have. The other problem is if you have Alexei bat second he will most likely try to be the best #2 hitter in the world and may try hitting behind guys, taking more pitches, etc.......and that really isn't his game. It could really screw him up. For some guys its a good thing, for a hacker, I'm not so sure. Its similar to when Frank Thomas was young except exact opposite adjustments. There were a lot of baseball people who thought Frank should swing at more pitches, they thought he would hit even more homers and drive in more runs, but the White Sox, and I believe they were correct, didn't want to mess with a good thing, and didn't mind him taking a pitch a half an inch out of the zone.

I don't think Ramirez should hit second. His OBP is fairly low. He really doesn't work counts, and since the White Sox probably won't have a guy ahead of him who will get into scoring position by himself very often, he would be forced to give himself up too much. Keep him lower in the line-up and let him rip.

QUOTE (Soxpranos @ Mar 15, 2009 -> 02:49 PM) Ok his defense is good, but again people don't realize he gives those outs back when he cant execute a simple bunt or move runners over with less than 1 out. If he is so spectacular there should not be 3 guys fighting for the job . Wise and Owens each have a lot of flaws offensively. The other problem is if one of them is in the line-up they are almost guaranteed to hit first. Having one of your weaker offensive players batting first makes zero sense. No chance Ozzie would lead off Anderson. I hope BA can put it together and become the player KW envisioned when he sent Rowand away. The White Sox thought he would be a far superior player to Rowand. He still may be, but he cannot if he's not given an opportunity. I think if the Sox sent him elsewhere to a place he would play everyday, he would be a very nice player.

I don't know how anyone could say BA cannot hit major league pitching. He's been given one chance to do it, really. In 2006, playing on a defending World Champion he was thrown into the role. He didn't hit, but a lot of guys don't hit initially. He started to hit a little bit that year. He hit about .300 in July/August, and then KW made one of his worst moves in stunting his growth in bringing in a washed up Erstad. Since then, BA hasn't been given consistent time. 2007, with the team as bad as it was, would have been a great opportunity to get him consistent major league ABs, but for some reason Erstad had to play as did Owens and Pods, who was certainly on the way out. BA has a ton of talent. With the other options being Wise and Owens, giving him a legitimate shot at playing everyday, now that he has adjusted his attitude a bit should be a no brainer IMO. Unless KW goes outside the organization for a CF or moves Ramirez to CF and plays Beckham at SS, BA behind Wise and/or Owens is just dumb.

QUOTE (Cubano @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 06:33 PM) The only thing pushing Contreras this season is $$$$$$ free agency. That is silly. He's never been one to give anything but max effort.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 05:47 PM) The Sox havent sounded all that interested in leading off Getz or Lillibridge. So BA has always been kind of cemented in 4th OF to me. And of course late innings replacement, they liked the way he handled that role last year. Lillibridge hasn't shown the last 18 months that he could be anything close to a good leadoff man. I'm still hoping KW makes some sort of trade.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 05:42 PM) And somewhere in Glendale, a lone tear slowly rolls down Jerry Owens' cheek. He's been given opportunities most would not have. If he blows it, he can only blame himself. If he doesn't make the team, I wonder if a team would claim him. I can't imagine him having better opportunities than he was presented with the White Sox.

BA sucks. It appears reports of his demise was premature. I still think he should play CF everyday.

Edmonds could be a nice stopgap. Wise isn't a lead off hitter and really Owens isn't either. Edmonds isn't the CF he used to be, but he is still better defensively than Wise, and throws much better than Owens, and is an upgrade of the Ken Griffey Jr. statue they set up in CF the second half of 2008. As far as rejecting coming to the White Sox before, he said he was given just a little window to make up his mind and didn't want to rush so he had to say no. I really think if KW was going to sign him, he would have been signed by now. He supposedly is high maintenence. KW and I agree the best of the 3 is BA, but either Ozzie doesn't agree or he believes the CF must be a guy batting first.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 05:12 PM) How many times do we hear that BA hit two homers off Felix Hernandez...as if they means he has a lifetime get of jail free card??? Probably about 1/10th of the time you hear BA's 2006 performance means he cannot play well at the major league level. These games mean nothing. I don't know how many guys tell management, " I hit .400 in spring training, I need a raise" I would imagine its zero. Right now, even the good pitchers don't want to be peaking. With Beckham, its just a matter of time. Who really knows if he's ready right now? But if his mechanics are good, and he appears ready, they probably will give him a shot. He's going to be at 2B or SS real soon anyway. What's interesting about Beckham is he changed his swing a little bit in the Fall League and changed the opinion of the scouts who thought he wouldn't amount to much. He may turn out to be one of the top 2 or 3 players from that draft.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Mar 12, 2009 -> 01:13 PM) I coached travel baseball teams from my hometown in the summers and one year we went to a tournament in Cooperstown. We were a really good team, I mean we lost two games the entire summer. We had some big kids, too. One was 6-feet, but lanky. So we thought we would be competitive there and we were, but we got blown out by one team from Texas who had a kid 6-2, built with facial hair. Seriously, these kids were 12 and 13 and this kid was enormous. He won the HR derby and set a record for most HRs and hit moon shots. Funniest thing is that kid has nothing on this kid. I still can't imagine how big kids are getting at such a young age. Why is this kid catching? If his future is hitting, why hurt his knees. It's already stunted Mauer's growth. I was at a Bears game a few years ago and the were holding some sort of Punt, Pass and Kick competition. The 12 year old had a beard just like Joaquin Phoenix. He won.

Any Jerry Owens love comes from his spectacular Sept 07 performance. Other than that, the guy has been a dog in the major leagues. If he leads off the majority of the time for the White Sox, I say they don't play .500. I really thought KW would make acquiring a lead off hitter a priority seeing how its been a problem now for several years. Wise, Owens....those guys are lead off guys for minor league teams or teams that plan on losing 100 games. Having them lead off with this team is like giving a 16 year old a Ferrari. Ridiculous.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 10:08 AM) i dunno. all im trying to say is that wise is what he is. he is nothing more than a aa/aaa player(i guess a back up). and he showed last year that he cant play every day. he is not the answer. like you said, for the most part, ST numbers mean nothing. and no one deserves to win a job bcuz of 20-40 good ST ab's. I think the ironic thing is Ozzie said in 2007 "don't believe what you see in September when you are out of contention and spring training", yet it seems the White Sox are moving more towards spring training competition to earn jobs. I suppose you almost have to with younger guys, but to base things almost entirely on spring training results doesn't seem like a good plan.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 09:49 AM) i dont get whats so hard about getting a cfer. even willy t seems great compared to those 3! but i agree with kalapse, how can u say wise deserves it and has put his 12 minor league seasons behind him, ITS BEEN 17 AB'S! It happens every spring, but it is what makes the game so great. This spring is even more deceiving as it is longer and a lot of guys are at WBC, so you are playing against guys who will never make it or are pretty far away, and I think the good pitchers are pulling back the reigns a little bit and the guys fighting for their major league lives who have been working all winter, tend to look better. I think OBP is very important for a leadoff guy. Maybe they should change it to "out percentage", instead of a .310 OBP they would have a .690 out percentage. Its hard to imagine a team could be successful when the guys coming to bat most make a higher percentage of outs than the guys who bat far lower.

Compared to Wise and Owens, Coco Crisp sounds like Rickey Henderson. I wish KW had Coco. The last guy the Sox developed who could lead off was Ray Durham. Drafted by Larry Himes, a draft genius, although he was very lucky too. Before Ray, I can't think of anyone halfway decent the White Sox brought up.

Does anyone remember what Carlos Quentin hit last spring? .227 Joe Crede hit .135 and was a big reason for the White Sox early wins. Nick Swisher hit .294. Brian Anderson hit .365 and led the team in homers last spring. He hardly got to play. If he were Cuban, Cubano would have been up in arms. Tomo Okha's ERA was 0.90. He couldn't get batters out in AAA. Floyd's ERA last spring was over 6.00. Spring stats mean nothing. All the Josh Kroeger excitement will be forgotten a year from now. Any worry about Quentin will be forgotten as well. You just have to hope your better players are healthy.

It all depends on how everyone does in a couple weeks. At the end of March, or the first few days of April, nobody is going to care if you hit .500 or .000 the first couple weeks of March.

The scout Olney talked to said he was the best pitching prospect he had ever seen. He had 45 ks in 21 innings, throws 99-102 with movement. The scout said batters look like they are attempting to play a video game they had never seen before when he pitches. They have no idea how to handle him. The scout said he's better than AJ Burnett right now. He said he would be a #1 or #2 starter right now. Of course I also read back when Gavin Floyd was drafted out of HS, that he was ready to step into a major league rotation. His agent is Boras so he may not be signable except for a couple of teams.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Mar 9, 2009 -> 08:23 AM) I can't argue with the negatives about Rodriguez. However, catcher is the one position that if the Sox suffered a major injury, there would not be someone in the organization that would be able to adequately fill the void of losing AJ. Flowers is clearly a defensive liability until he gets some minor league experience. Having Rodriguez catch and DH could win the Sox a few more games which could be the difference even if AJ stays healthy. If AJ gets hurt, Rodriguez could save the season. I know the free agent market is down, but the Sox paid 2.25 million for Toby Hall. If they sign IRod cheap enough and some steroid story comes out or he is a clubhouse cancer, then just release him. I agree 100% about the Sox catching situation. I don't think Rodriquez is the answer though. I think he's cooked. If AJP goes down, the White Sox are screwed. Big time. Flowers is the only guy who may be able to handle the job offensively everyday, and even then we are talking about a guy who hasn't played above A ball, and a guy, who if he caught everyday would be on a first name basis with the M&Ms guy within a week what with all the time he would be back by him to pick up a ball. I have always liked Lucy, but he's a back-up at best and I don't know about his injury. Stewart hit lefties well last year. Can he do it again? Very questionable. AJP going down for 2 or 3 weeks could be enough to knock this team down several pegs in the standings. Of course, they have gotten away with it for a few years now, but AJ is getting older and at the age catchers start to decline rapidly. If you could actually downgrade from Toby Hall, the White Sox have done it.