Dick Allen

QUOTE(ptatc @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 09:17 PM) Look at all of the past world series winning teams and 9 out of 10 will have this type of batting order for the top four hitters. 1. Fast or pesky hitter 2. good bat handler 3. Good ave and power 4. best power guy. I shouldn't have started this again. Every spring I go on this rant because every body has their own ideas on how to build a team. People keep commenting on how Ozzie wants to bring the "Marlins" here but it's the same philosophy most teams use. Being around the game so long you see many things come and go but the typical lineup has remained constant for the most part. I think pesky is more important that fast in the leadoff spot. I know the White Sox are talking up Jerry Owens but lets face it, they were willing to go way over budget to replace him with Torii Hunter and gave up a lot to get Swisher to apparently play CF. KW went with the dramatics to say they specifically targeted Quentin, so he must be who they see eventually most of the time in LF. I really doubt another GM would try to get the fans of his team excited by saying they specifically targeted Jerry Owens, unless its mental care professionals seeing potential new business. I hope if the roster stays as is, that Swisher leads off.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 03:16 PM) It must be that winning attitude and love of the organization Whatever, I want a guy who to stay and you want to get rid of him at any cost and I'm the one with the bad attitude. I actually do love the White Sox, but I just don't agree with everything they do.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 02:36 PM) Good for Kenny. Deal from a position of strength. We don't have to deal Crede, nearly as bad as San Fransico needs him. Why do you rip me then when I say don't trade Crede for garbage?

I'm not a guy who thinks the farm system has to be ranked #1. It was at one time and probably helped KW get his current job. But I do think there has to be sufficient talent in the minors. There has to be guys who can step up in case of injury or poor performance. Everyone goes back and compares things to 2005. The White Sox used 6 starting pitchers in 2005. Its very rare that happens. There has to be someone on the farm you can call up and they can get people out, or call up and get a hit, and or catch and throw the ball, and know which base to throw to etc. Jenks was that guy in 2005. That really hasn't been the case most of KW's tenure and when injuries or poor performance call for a minor league call up, it doesn't look very promising this year either. Middle of the pack or slightly below with a couple of major league ready medicrity would be fine. I just don't see that right now.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 08:09 PM) Ah, Mr. Cowley. Not surprised. It is ridiculous to speculate on guys and take their ERA as gospel on March 5th. Its Joe's speciality. Even MacDougal. While obviously everyone would rather he come in and shut guys down, his horrid start still means nothing.

Its hard to feel sorry for them when they will be vastly overpaid in the future. The average raise for arb eligible guys is over 100%, so screw them if they don't like it.

Its only taken Charlie Haeger 10 pitches to get through his last 3 innings. That's my guy.

QUOTE(Pants Rowland @ Mar 4, 2008 -> 03:52 PM) A neighbor of mine had a chance to speak to Stone off the record recently. The subject of the whole fiasco with Dusty came up and Stone's general opinion was that between Dusty, McPhail and Hendry, there weren't two testicles to go around. There is definitely not a lot of respect for Hendry there. People around baseball seem to love him. I suppose it helps that he has a ton of cash to work with and pay every free agent above list price. Maybe they made up. According to the Sun Times, Stone was having lunch with Hendry when Boyer called him about the job opening.

If anyone saw Eric Young on BBTN the other day, Singleton is desperately needed there warts and all.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Mar 3, 2008 -> 05:22 PM) I thought so as well, but Kalapse said no even though EJ, who is usually good at the options stuff said he does have one left, and I believe I read an article saying the same thing.. Who knows. Gonzalez wrote something in the Tribune a month or so ago that said MacDougal still had an option. Something about his minor league stay last year being short and it didn't count. Here it is: Pitchers Gavin Floyd and Nick Masset are out of minor-league options and face waivers if they don't make the White Sox's Opening Day roster. But the same status doesn't apply to veteran reliever Mike MacDougal even though he was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte last June. MacDougal still has one option remaining as a result of a longstanding rule in the Basic Agreement. MacDougal was optioned on June 4, only to be recalled on June 15 when reliever Bret Prinz was designated for assignment. Because MacDougal was optioned for less than 20 days, his stint in the minors doesn't count as an option. Therefore, the Sox still can send MacDougal to the minors without exposing him to waivers if he doesn't earn a spot on the Opening Day roster. The Sox view the 30-year-old middle reliever as a serviceable pitcher despite his 6.80 ERA in 54 appearances last year. MacDougal had a 1.80 ERA in 25 games for the Sox in 2006 after coming in a trade from Kansas City.

The concern about Ramirez is his ability to adapt to major league pitching. He's not seeing major league quality pitching yet. Of course, he's still ripping the ball, but I'll wait before getting too excited.

Javy getting lit up, no big deal. Wes Whistler getting lit up, he's not good.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 2, 2008 -> 03:23 PM) Sure. Let Crede play, pay him the $5 million a year, block Fields, and get nothing at all for Crede. It makes sense to me. Sign Crede to a $5 million contract instead of nontendering him. See if he can play during spring training. If he can, trade him for garbage maybe even throw in some money, or just pay him the $5 million to sit down. Yeah that makes sense. The White Sox refuse to pay over slot in the draft. Would they risk $5.1 million in order to acquire a couple of C prospects?

I'm not a Javy guy, but I don't even think twice about a veteran guy getting lit up right now. It doesn't mean anything. If it is continuing 3 weeks from now, I probably would change my mind.

QUOTE(SEALgep @ Mar 2, 2008 -> 01:37 PM) As of now, Owens has proved himself the superior hitter. I wish Anderson proves himself better, but to this point he has not. I don't agree. Neither has proved anything. It would probably shock most that Anderson hit over .300 with and OPS over .800 for July and August 2006 combined. He put together 2 consecutive months of hitting. Owens hasn't.

QUOTE(almagest @ Mar 2, 2008 -> 12:59 PM) Yeah, but that line of thought completely neglects that Fields is younger, cheaper, not represented by Scott Boras, doesn't have potential health issues, and only has 2/3 of a season of ML experience, compared to Crede's 4 full years and 2 partial years. So even if Fields is mediocre, he's still a better choice. And I'd like to find the method by which you predict the stats of a player who doesn't even have one full year at the ML level. Seems kind of silly to say that someone with that little experience has as much of a proven history of mediocrity as someone who's been in the league full time since 2003. I'm of the belief Joe Crede will be better than Josh Fields in 2008. I am one of the few that hasn't annointed Josh Fields an All Star yet. Home runs are all he's proven thus far. If Crede plays 2008 anywhere like he did the first 5 months of 2006 before his back gave out again, he would ridiculous to move unless the Sox get something useful for him, which when Noah Lowry and his swollen elbow draws excitement, appears doubtful.

QUOTE(almagest @ Feb 26, 2008 -> 09:30 PM) I disagree. Good and putrid essentially cancel out. Mediocre != good, and mediocre != decent. Mediocre == "well, at least he's not Timo Perez." According to your standards Josh Fields has had exactly 2/3 of a mediocre season in his career and really nothing else. So you move out Crede for garbage to make room for "well, at least he's not Timo Perez."

QUOTE(YASNY @ Mar 1, 2008 -> 07:39 AM) Then again, maybe he's trying to teach him to cut down on his swing with two strikes and used the hit and run as a mechanism for doing so. You have no idea what was on his mind or what he was trying to accomplish. To criticize a manager in the first week of ST for an in game move is bordering on asisinine. I really doubt it was a hit and run with an 0-2 count, but if it was, it doesn't matter if it was little league, pony league the WS or spring training, it is asasnine. Committting Josh Fields to swing at a pitch almost certainly not to be a strike isn't going to teach him anything. I wasn't watching or listening to the game, but if there were 2 out, they might have sent the runner to either get in scoring position or if he was thrown out, give Fields a new slate.

Supposedly they are taking pictures of his shoulder so they can take more in a couple of months to compare them to. I heard Freddy won't be back until August at the earliest. Ozzie thinks he won't pitch this year.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 28, 2008 -> 07:50 AM) I was thinking the same thing. You would think some of the scheduling would cross at some point and things would have to be moved around. Basically the entire MLB schedule would have to be shuffled to accomodate the Chicago teams. It really wouldn't be that big of a deal, they usually both aren't home on the same dates very often.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 28, 2008 -> 07:44 AM) Well, the Sox don't own the stadium. Are you thinking maybe their lease has some sort of first-refusal stipulation in it or something? Or maybe that JR would just use his sway with the owners to not approve such a move? I believe its in their lease.

I don't even know if this idea is even true, but I do know the White Sox have some sort of power that could block it from happening and if you remember when the concrete started falling at Wrigley, Reinsdorf made it clear the Cubs wouldn't be at USCF.

The White Sox have been notorious for jogging to first base on routine grounders. I read an article in 2004 where a scout was quoted as saying they could never get correct times of White Sox players because none of them went all out on routine balls. As far as last year, Andy Gonzalez led off occassionally. That's really all you need to know about the offense, and the bullpen was pitiful. Maybe they could have won a few more games if everyone had a Pete Rose attitude, but they were just a bad team.

After Nick Swisher led off with a single, Williams yelled down to his new player, ''We run hard to first base in Chicago!'' Williams then paused, turned to the coaching staff and said, ''Make sure he [bleeping] hears what I said.'' It appears they aren't screwing around this year. Not even in intrasquad games.

QUOTE(Felix @ Feb 25, 2008 -> 02:30 PM) But could he beat up Fields' dad? Thats the real question. I didn't see the mean streak. He probably would get hurt.