Dick Allen

This rumor was actually about Delmon Young. Somehow it became Quentin. Neither trade will happen.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 06:07 PM) Since when does having speed mean you have to steal bases? Stolen bases are not an indicator of speed on a team, there are plenty of players with speed that dont steal any bases. Why don't you look at that roster and tell me who can run?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 05:16 PM) Of course it has more to do with it, but name me one World Series winner since its inception that hasnt had speed on its roster. Our lineup as currently constructed is not as balanced as it could be. The 1961 Yankees had Mantle who could fly, but he was a home run guy. He stole 12 bases, the rest of the team, 16. Bobby Richardson was 9-16 in stolen base attempts, no other Yankee had more than 1 steal. Of course they had 2 guys who combined for 115 homers and a bunch more with 20+. A little more talent than the current White Sox.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 03:38 PM) God the score if awful. Murph is so biased and ignorant its ridiculous. Despite being the biggest ignoramous on radio, he's supposed to be the biggest asshole to the people working for him. They all hate him.

QUOTE (MO2005 @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 03:36 PM) If the sox made him an offer, then I think they may have something in place with Jermaine Dye or Paul Konerko. Why would they make an offer for a guy who cannot play centerfield and is a right fielder??? The problem still is that this doesn't solve the leadoff issue that we have. If Kenny has something up his sleeve, then by all means please make this team better. I just don't know if this makes us a playoff team or us better? Now if Kenny trades Dye and gets maybe a Figgins, then signs Abreu. Then we are a better team. I mean look at the difference in these lineups.. Figgins Abreu Quentin Thome Konerko Pierzynski Ramirez Fields Getz or Owens Getz Quentin Thome Konerko Dye Pierzynski Ramirez Fields According to this, they really didn't make an offer, they wanted to see if it was something he would be interested in and if he was, then they trade Dye if they can. I think they will have to eat some money to trade Dye, something they normally do not do.

It doesn't appear as if he actually was offered the $8 million according to this report. It was just floated to see if there was interest. Even if Abreu would agree to the $8 million, and I think that will look pretty attractive to him in a week or so, the Sox still would have to move payroll. I think that is the hold up. There seems to be a lot of dialog between teams and agents with no offers occurring. I remember reading something earlier this offseason about a team and player in serious negotiations without an offer extended. I really don't see how anything can be serious unless there is an offer or proposal. I wish I had that kind of time to waste.

Per Jerry Crasnick espn.com: Negotiations between the Chicago White Sox and free-agent outfielder Bobby Abreu stalled early this week after the team floated the possibility of a one-year, $8 million contract, said a baseball source. The source disputed a New York Daily News report that said the White Sox had made Abreu an $8 million offer but confirmed that the team has been in contact with Abreu's agent, Peter Greenberg, in an effort to gauge the outfielder's asking price. In an e-mail to ESPN.com, Chicago general manager Kenny Williams said Abreu is "a great player and will certainly help any club." But Williams declined to address whether the White Sox have any interest. According to the source, the White Sox have some interest in acquiring Abreu and adding a pitcher, but Williams can't make those moves unless he trades right fielder Jermaine Dye and his $11.5 million salary. And the team has made little or no headway in trade talks involving Dye. It's also uncertain whether the White Sox would save much money by signing Abreu and trading Dye. Abreu was initially looking for a three-year, $48 million deal this winter but then gradually downsized his expectations to $10 million to $11 million annually over three years. Last week, Greenberg told the Seattle Times that Abreu is now open to the idea of signing a one-year contract. But it's believed Abreu is still looking for a base salary of at least $10 million.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 02:31 PM) Abreu is no doubt trying to negotiate a 2nd year in any deal. If he's shocked at the discount he would have to sign for, I wonder why he would want to lock himself into another year of being underpaid. I wouldn't doubt the Sox made an offer, but I wonder if it was recently. There are a couple things that would have to happen for Abreu to play with the White Sox and while they probably would love to have him for $8 million, the other parts are probably a no go.

QUOTE (chisox2334 @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 02:17 PM) rumor is bs and ozzie already laughed this one off I was told it was BS from someone who knows someone, but there are Ozzie quotes?

I heard this rumor is BS.

I don't understand why Abreu is considered a perfect #2 hitter. He's a guy who takes a lot of pitches, yes, but if the White Sox don't have a protypical leadoff man who steals bases, so what? He also strikes out a lot. Why put a guy who hits 20 homers with a .300 avg, drives in 100 and gets on base at a .400 clip in a position where he undoubtedly would have to give himself up a lot? Maybe he could leadoff.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 12:30 PM) Makes me think that KW would be sending ~$3M along with JD (or $6M if it's Paulie - I can dream, and JD can play 1B, right? ), in any trade to make it more market friendly. Payroll remains the same. That sounds about right. IIRC the Reds supposedly had $7-8 million they were saving to acquire a bat. Abreu probably doesn't want to play there, he can play for the same money with the Sox and Dye goes to Cincinatti with cash for prospects and/ or the train wreck named Homer Bailey. The White Sox payroll remains the same, and in essence they trade Dye for Abreu and prospects. That's if this all is true. Levine said nothing is immenent, which probably means a press conference is about to be scheduled.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 11:53 AM) Random thought.... we all assume a Abreu signing means Dye is gone. Any chance Abreu plays center? I know he's not a wiz defensively... just throwing that out there as a crazy idea. Doubt it's even an option. He would make us pine for the days Carl Everett was patrolling CF.

QUOTE (Want2Repeat @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 11:48 AM) First off, I suspect that this is just another garbage rumor that has no merit. Also, you would have to question if Abreu would even sign such a deal. If we read "Sox sign Abreu to a 1 Year Deal", then we can get carried away. With that said, this has been such a boring offseason, that I too welcome any opportunity to speculate on Sox moves. In regards to Figgins for Dye or whoever, remember that KW would not necessarily see that as a one for one trade. At Soxfest, he preached about how he always looks at the money saved in a deal and what it leads to next. For example, he claims that they were able to sign the Cuban 3rd baseman, with money saved from trading Swisher. I don' t know how all of the salaries would net out, but he may see trading Dye for a minor leaguer, and then signing Abreu, would net $3MM to $4MM on the plus side, which would then allow us to sign the next Cuban star, or whoever else. I think adding Figgins and Abreu, then subtracting Dye, would leave the Sox with more net salary, however. So, if they were to sign Abreu, I see Dye being moved for a minor leaguer, allowing them to net a plus on the salary side. I also have this vision/fear of them thinking Abreu could play CF as well. He couldn't be much worse than Swisher out there. This certainly would be counter-intuitive to everything KW has preached over the last three months, however. IF all of this is true, and KW listens to Mully and Hanley and is able to trade Dye for Figgins, the White Sox would be picking up about $1.3 million for 2009. Figgins gets $5.8 million, Abreu at $8.0 million, Dye at $11.5 million with a $1.0 million buyout.

QUOTE (longshot7 @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 11:42 AM) Does this slugger have crazy dreadlocks? No.

QUOTE (scenario @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 11:07 AM) Imagine if whoever we have play CF this year put up these type of numbers... 450 at-bats 14 doubles 1 triple 1 homerun .276 BA .367 OBP .318 SLG .685 OPS 34 stolen bases Is that what we're looking for in terms of production from CF? Those are Figgins' stats from 2008. Take away his one big year in 2007 and I don't see much that excites me. Take away his one big year in 2007 and his career (offensively) isn't much different than Juan Pierre's. Scott Podsednik in 2005 when he was considered all world by many: 507AB 28 doubles 1 triple 0 home runs .290 batting average .351 on base pct. .349 slugging 700 OPS 59 SB Pretty similar to Figgins injury plaqued 2008 and the production the Sox get out of Quentin compared to what it got out of Rowand is way more than the difference here. Figgins would be a good leadoff man as long as he remained healthy. The question I have is he has had problems 2 years in a row. You would have to figure he'd get hurt again

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 10:34 AM) Honestly, it does, but so did Carlos Lee for Scott Podsednik. Sometimes you downgrade in value to upgrade your lineup. CF Figgins RF Abreu LF Quentin DH Thome 1B Konerko SS Ramirez 3B Fields C Pierzynski 2B Whomever wins the job That's a very good lineup. They also got Vizcaino in the Lee deal and a horrible minor leaguer.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 10:15 AM) I'd personally like to see a 2 year, $16 mill deal. When Thome's gone next year, you have DH flexibility. Next year the economy probably will be worse. You might as well go year to year with Abreu if this report is even true. I don't know why a team would trade for Dye when they could pick one of these other guys up for a lot less unless the White Sox have decided they will pay some of Dye's contract.

Either this report is BS or somebody is getting moved.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 01:38 PM) I'd just like to see evidence that Anderson is maturing as a player (I won't get into off-field antics or attitude/cockiness for now). Sometimes, I think BA's evil twin William Katt (Greatest American Hero) would have a better chance of scoring with Shannon Tweed in a Skinemax Friday night movie than BA does with the curveball or offspeed stuff off the plate. Maybe you can blame Greg Walker (whatever), but I would like to see some baseball smarts....at least occasionally. The ability to hit to the opposite side and not get pull happy (Rowand fell into this, too). Being able to bunt and give yourself up. Considering he'd probably be the 9th place hitter, the ability to really bear down (like Uribe) and get RBI's when they are most needed. Hitting the cut-off man and throwing to the right bases. While he's a gifted defender, he makes lots of mistakes mentally in terms of fundamentals, and that just drives me crazy. His baserunning could also be better, although he's getting better in that area, and he's one of our few runners that you can count on with his long strides to get the extra base (1B to home on double, 1st to 3rd on single, 2nd to home on single, etc.) How many times have you seen Lillibridge play? You seem to have a positive opinion about him, and if its based on KW's comments, KW apparently thinks the world of BA.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 10:57 AM) He gives you more of the little things (I hate to say scrappy/grindy) that you won't get from an Anderson...maybe like Iguchi with more ability but less refined at this stage of his career. I don't buy KW's comment about BA hitting .275 with 25 homers. If he played everyday, he'd be hard-pressed to hit .240, going against the best righthanders in the game, day in and day out. Of course, his defenders will argue that consistent playing time would fix all the holes in his swing...that his approach would improve and he wouldn't miss every single slider or curveball low and away. Well...the reverse argument is true too, getting the most favorable match-ups available in most games, he didn't even challenge hitting .250 for the season. Anderson's a very good defensive player, sure, but the holes in his offensive game can be more than overcompensated for by Lillibridge repeating anything close to his minor league norms prior to 2008. Of course, someone will cite BA's norms in the minors and say why would we expect Getz/Nix/Lillibridge to hit as well as they did in the minors at the major league level? What's funny is BA hits .225 playing over his head for a defending champion and now you say he'll never hit .240. Lillibridge hits .220 in AAA hits .200 in for the Braves with a bunch of K's,and you say he'll give you more than BA? Please. Keep in mind BA is only 1 year older than him. Why do you drink KW's kool aid about Lillibridge but not BA? BA hit .257 the second half of 2006 and was promptly replaced by Erstad. His attitude is improved. With consistent AB he should be pretty good. It probably will be with another team.

QUOTE (G&T @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 07:53 AM) At the very least, his sponsors will see it that way. The only reason this is a story is because he probably just threw away millions of dollars by smoking weed. I'm sure plenty of his sponsors see this as a way to get out of bad deals. Let's face it, Michael Phelps isn't making companies much money especially in this economy. So he was a dope for doing what he did when everyone has a camera on their cellphone giving his sponsors a chance at an out. As far as the actual act of doing bongs, who cares.

QUOTE (scenario @ Feb 1, 2009 -> 05:06 PM) So... in other words, KW is counting on other teams' GMs reading the Daily Herald, eh? That's what Scott Gregor and his blog want you to believe.

According to KW per the Daily Herald: Two days before SoxFest started, Williams pointed out Anderson’s skills. Maybe he’s hoping other teams read this quote: “If Brian Anderson would have played every day last year, he would have hit about .275 and would have hit 25 home runs,” Williams said. “I don't think you can disagree with that.”

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Feb 1, 2009 -> 12:46 AM) A fast guy, using a track specialist to teach him how to run to be healthy. Thats all fine and dandy, except for the fact that this is baseball and not a track meet. Perfect form goes out the window the minute your cleat hits the dirt and you realize that you are not running a relay. Stealing a base is a different type of movement than a track meet. Yes. If he's thinking about proper form when a ball is hit in the air, he will get even a worse jump than he normally gets. This reminds me of when the Bears drafted Willie Gault and he saw Walter Payton run. He said he was going to show him a better form to make him faster. It didn't go very far.