Dick Allen

How much longer until the first fire Greg Walker post?

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 11:38 AM) I don't know how a .625 OPS can ever be considered "better than people think." That's all in all quite terrible. He has his uses, but it involves either catching a lot of balls in the hole at SS in a lineup that absolutely mashes - ala 2006 - or on the bench as a super sub/home run threat off the bench. It's not as a starting 2Bman, because any value he has to a club is ruined there. He's going to shock the world this season.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 11:36 AM) He also scored 29 fewer runs than Swisher too with Piazza, Chavez and Cust hitting behind him (of whom only Cust had a good year); taking out the 2 homer difference, that's 37 more runs that Swisher created either by scoring or driving someone in than Uribe. I also can't believe you seriously compared Juan Uribe to Nick Swisher. I only compared their RBI totals. I think Uribe, while frustrating at times, is a lot better than most think. Every game he gets ripped. Every time he does well, its ignored. If he has a bad game, everyone has to mention it. He's supposed to be so horrible, it reminds me of Contreras in 2004 and April and May of 2005.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 3, 2008 -> 10:22 AM) The Cardinals won a terribly weak division and got hot in the playoffs, and they won with (surprise) superb pitching throughout that postseason. Comparing the 2005 White Sox and 2006 Cardinals is an insult to the Sox and all good World Series winning teams everywhere. To go along with defense for a moment here, if what people have reported are true, Crede is not that good defensively right now. Again, you are comparing 2005 and 2006 Joe Crede with a moderately healthy back to Joe Crede coming off back surgery. So, he's got a mediocre stick and he's mediocre defensively. That sounds like a pretty mediocre player. Josh Fields offers upside, something Crede really doesn't offer much of anymore, and the potential to improve defensively. And if you feel that OBP is an asinine stat, I'll simply say that you are wrong. OBP is arguably the most important stat in the game (though it's not far superior to slugging, which some people seem to think it is...slugging is quite important too). And Juan Uribe hits .230-.240 to go along with not ever walking. That means he's never on base which in turn means he's never in a position to be driven in and more or less just drives himself in, and even that's sporadically. Juan Uribe is not a good player, and was among the worst hitters in the league last year. The fact that he is now starting at a position that hurts his one major quality - defense - hurts the team even more. You also seem to be ruling out the possibility that Anderson himself could put up 20 homers and 70 RBI as well, or that Quentin could put up 20 and 70, while also getting on base quite a bit more frequently. Or Alexei could do it while also getting acclimated to major league pitching. Juan Uribe and Joe Crede are not good players, and, as I said, I don't think the Sox can contend with them starting. Nor Jerry Owens for that matter, but he atleast offers a bit of upside (though I'd prefer Anderson or Quentin starting over him). Uribe bats ninth. For a guy who is so bad, he drove in 10 less runs than the almighty run machine, Nick Swisher last year, while batting ninth on a team with perhaps the worst offense in the league.

MacDougal pitched 2 innings, so he will probably be unavailable tomorrow. BA and/or Quentin should get in the line-up tomorrow. 2 positives, and I'm supposed to be so negative.

QUOTE(Jordan4life @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 09:32 PM) Mayble will score 2-3 more runs and lose 7-5? Then we can hear once again about how this was a "positive" loss? Yeah, I've never understood the "positive loss" crap. It certainly didn't carry over to anything special tonight. They tried that reasoning last year a few times and the team stunk up the joint the next night.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 09:28 PM) Marlins, but that was a different situation. The Cardinals are looking pretty crappy now. The White Sox and Marlins are the only teams to finish below .500 the second year after winning it all. St. Louis should join them this year.

AJ is in a lot better shape this year.

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 09:20 PM) haha only time will tell... not too impressed with our SP early on. And they are our 1-2 punch. I really am nervous to see what Contreras, Danks and Floyd do next... if our offense cant get it going in April we are in big trouble. I think Contreras will be OK. Maybe not the mid 2005 to mid 2006 Contreras, but who is? I think he can put up decent numbers. If Danks can go 6 or 7 tomorrow and there aren't extra innings, the bullpen should be in good shape for Detroit.

Thornton, MacDougal and Masset need to throw strikes. If they can't, they need to leave the roster.

Pitching won't be a problem in 2008. KW promised.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 09:10 PM) I could imagine a scenario where a team would do it if they were desperate. Something similar to the situation the Brewers were in when they traded for Linebrink last year. Your SS goes down and you're in a playoff hunt, you don't have a rookie ready, etc. I mean, say Jose Reyes went down for the Mets. Other than giving up that #1 guy they wouldn't give up for Johan, would you sacrifice a shot at the playoffs with Johan in your rotation in exchange for 3 decent prospects? When he was traded at the deadline in 2004 when he made a lot less money he netted Brendan Harris, Alex Gonzalez and Francis Beltran as part of a 4 team trade. Garbage. Now it would just be a salary dump. You might lose the draft picks but save half his salary. Hopefully its not even an issue.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 09:03 PM) People from Cleveland just wish they could get the hell out of Cleveland, and are jealous Thome did. That's really the only reasoning I have. I don't know how you could boo such a great person and player. They boo him because he followed the money. Whatever. When he gets finished counting his money at night, I'm sure he sleeps just fine.

QUOTE(Wanne @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 09:00 PM) Looking forward to tomorrow's lineup....and it better include BA, CQ and Pablo..... I think it would include at least 2 of them.

QUOTE(Soxfest @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 08:58 PM) Another DP JT? Thome is a guy who surprisingly has not bounced into a lot of DPs in his career. Only 4 years did he do it in double figures. 10 two times, 11 one time and his career high is 13.

Swisher for a selective hitter has gone after some awful pitches tonight.

People can hate Uribe all they want and he did fan 3 times in the opener, but he's been seeing as many pitches per at bat as anyone else. I think he will have a good year.

QUOTE(DonnyDevito @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 08:46 PM) is anyone else tired of that cubbie blue all over the screen? If this was a bulls game, it would be red. instead of blue, it should be a light gray color. That thought crossed my mind as well. Maybe they could at least change the blue to green. At least they could change half of it this year, and the other half next season.

Don't worry about the umpires. Mike Port is looking into it.

QUOTE(almagest @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 10:26 AM) Hate to keep getting dragged into this, but why is it ok to smash into a player with your legs or body, but not okay to grab his leg? The point was made earlier in this thread that if Cabrera had been turned around, and ran into Peralta with his legs, nothing would've been called. And I'm still not sure how grabbing someone's leg(s) is going to hinder a throw. I also don't think anyone is arguing about Cabrera. I think the argument is that Thome had first base no matter what happened at second, and you can't hinder a non-existent play. This isn't the NFL. If interference is called, it has nothing to do with whether Thome would have been safe or not. Its not like the ball had to be catchable deal in football. If you smash him with your leg, there is still a little doubt whether it was intentional or not, even though umpires and everyone know its the runner's job to take the guy out. Grabbing him or flailing your arms give no doubt. If he didn't call it, Wedge would have been out arguing, just like if it was the other way around, Ozzie would have been out there arguing it should have been interference, Hawk too.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Apr 2, 2008 -> 09:00 AM) Yes. The 'phantom tag' at second base is an accepted part of the game. Everybody knows about it, is familiar with it and everyone does it. A 'phantom tag' at the other bases is not considered the same way. You can argue about what should be or shouldn't be, but we are talking about what actually 'is'. It was also "accepted in MLB for many years that if the ball beat the runner, the runner was out, pretty much no matter where the tag was. That has changed. The only problem I have with the 3 calls that went against the White Sox on Monday was the play at the plate, because the umpire made up his mind that Crede was out before the play occurred. It is not acceptable to grab an infielder when they are turning a DP. That's going to get called every time. Even Ozzie said it was the correct call. The play at first was tough for the umpire to see. It was hard to see with a better angle in slow motion. The argument that is used that Cabrera had the base, therefore no interference should be called is a weak one. If there was a pop up right over second and a runner was standing on second, he wouldn't be allowed to shove the fielder out of the way or grab him so he couldn't make the play.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Apr 1, 2008 -> 11:17 PM) I think second base is the force play that the most leeway is given on a regular basis. But saying that because those other plays were force-out situations, and thus, close is good enough, is ridiculous. I'm not saying close should be good enough. I personally get pissed when umpires give the leeway at 2B. What I'm saying is if you have no problem with it at second, you should have no problem with it at any other base.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 1, 2008 -> 04:37 PM) Just out of curiosity, when is the last time this board, or really any board, got up in arms about a no call on an interference play at 2nd base? A similar one is the "Tagging 2nd on a double play turn" call. Probably could call that on half or more of double plays, but no one ever gets pissed when it's not called. There's been a lot of complaining everywhere about the non call yesterday. Anyone who has ever played above little league has had it beaten into their heads what their job is going into second on a potential DP ball. If you want to go by the rule book, just about every game there could be an interference call or 2, but the runner does have a right to slide or dive into the base. Cabrera grabbed the guy. That's going to get called every time. On the DPs, I've been in a couple of game threads were people were pretty pissed when it was blatantly obvious there was a phantom force out. If everyone just accepts that close is good enough, the play at first with AJ shouldn't have raised anyone's ire, because that was close, and the play with Crede shouldn't have pissed anyone off because it was close to a force, in fact, the umpire initially appeared to indicate Crede was out by a force out, and he did come within inches of tagging him.

While both ways it is intentional and subject to an interference call, if he goes in with his legs and feet, there still can be at least a little doubt about "intention". When you reach and grab a leg, there is no doubt. The umpire made the correct call. If it were the other way around and an Indian sliding and grabbing Cabrera and interference wasn't called, this board would have been as up in arms as Hawk would have been yesterday.

Cabrera appeared to try to grab the guy's leg. That was an easy call. I'm sorry if it was a Cleveland player doing it to Cabrera, Hawk and the rest of this board would say it was clearly interference. The shame of it was if Cabrera had done nothing, Thome would have beat it out anyway. The call at first was hard. I really have no problem with it. It wasn't like he was blatantly off the bag and the umpire really couldn't be in a great position to see it. The call at home was absolutely horrible. The umpire anticipated it. If you look, he first looked like he called the out on a force, then said it was the tag. Wrong on both accounts. That was totally inexcusable and was made before the play occurred. While I don't blame the umpires for the first 2, it would be nice to get a break and get at least one of them.