Dick Allen

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 30, 2007 -> 01:52 PM) Good stuff. With the recent rumors about Fuk and Bay, I am excited for the meetings. I want Fukudome in LF and Crisp in CF.

Stats like average with a runner on can be misleading too. What was the score of the game when Riske pitched? What was the inning? Guys like Aardsma have a tough time when its the 9th inning vs. when its the 8th. The Cleveland Indians wanted no part of David Riske on the mound late in close games. People can rip people coming to the conclusion Riske doesn't seem to handle pressure very well all they want, the fact is in an era where the bullpen is very important, 3 contending teams desperately in need of bullpen help at the time, dumped this guy without a second thought, and then he flourishes on a last place team. That's the fact. Its not only this site that questions Riske's stones. Its common knowledge. Maybe he's over it, but I think the Brewers may found out he's not the hard way.

If the offer of Fields, Owens, Gio and Danks for Cabrera is true, and it was turned down, it just goes to show that the rest of baseball doesn't seem to be as high on White Sox prospects as KW. He's already called Fields a future all star. Last spring he said Danks and Gio were the 2 best left handed pitching prospects in baseball, and Owens is a serviceable extra outfielder who could get time on a bad team, like the Marlins. I don't know how this offer could be true. I doubt KW would trade Gio and Danks and not get some pitching back, unless he offered this before he traded Garland.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 30, 2007 -> 07:33 AM) I think you are also forgetting that all of those organizations get a HUGE revenue sharing check courtesy of the Yankees and Red Sox every year that goes straight into ownerships pockets. The Twins don't spend nearly what they take in. Forbes estimated the Marlins made $53 million last year. Their revenue sharing check was higher than their payroll. Considering the Yankees foot a lot of that money, if Florida had a plan to go after ARod, the Yankees basically still would have been paying him to play with another team. The Twins used to have a lower payroll than their revenue sharing check. Maybe next year they will. The irony is their owner is one of the richest in sports.

MacDougal might have some value. Percival just signed a 2 year $8 million deal with Tampa, and get this, no physical.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 29, 2007 -> 03:37 PM) I think it's 95% right now that at least one of them will be. I don't think there would be anyone more ticked off than KW if Owens or Anderson was the starting CF for the 2008 White Sox. As far as Rowand, if the story Cowley wrote was true, maybe Plan 1 was Rowand at a certain price, plan 1-A was Hunter, and since they couldn't get Hunter, maybe 1-B is to pay Rowand more than what they wanted to pay him in plan 1. Who knows, but Anderson is a smoke screen. He's been injured since July when he was playing in Charlotte. KW is supposedly trying to win a championship. Using him as a fallback doesn't jive with trying to win it all, and I am a BA fan. Ozzie said don't believe what you see in September with non contenders. Before that Owens was hitting .239 with a weak OBP and even weaker Slg. pct. KW isn't going to pencil him into the everyday line-up either, no matter how much he talks him up. A fourth or fifth OF is what he is and KW and Ozzie know it. If he's still with the organization, he's a good guy to have on the bench because of his speed.

QUOTE(Colorado Sox Fan @ Nov 29, 2007 -> 03:57 PM) I'm feeling they're a mess. Too cheap. Small market thinking. Two shortstops. Two third basemen. No LF. No CF. No leadoff hitter. Shortage of starters. Shortage of relievers. Lots of corpse ball for your viewing pleasure. They are a team that lost 90 games and it could have been worse if not for some huge September wins. (That is sarcastic) They were bad the second half of 2006. They seem to be near or at their limit payroll-wise. The season ticket base is a lock to go down a bit. Right now, they are a mess, but at least KW has 5 months to fix it.

Riske has had the reputation of being a guy who gets very tight in pressure situations. In 2005 in over 55 appearances in middle relief for the Indians, he had zero holds. They insisted the Red Sox take him in the Crisp/Marte deal. The Red Sox had no problem discarding him and the White Sox didn't offer him arbitration because his numbers have looked a lot better than his work for the couple years leading up to that point, and it was way too risky to have him accept arbitration, and wind up having to pay him for those numbers. He's a guy a bad team should sign to a reasonable deal. He would probably do well in a situation with no pressure, and then deal him for prospects at the deadline to a desperate team that is willing to roll the dice.

Before Hunter signed with the Angels, KW promised a dynamic offense. He promised that all his moves would come together like a jigsaw puzzle. His comments in today's article have to be a bluff. This is a team that has been terrible for a year and a half. Swapping out Garland for Cabrera and Linebrink doesn't definitively make them better.

QUOTE(South Side Fireworks Man @ Nov 28, 2007 -> 04:06 PM) Crisp is only "cheaper" money-wise. He's more costly than Rowand in that the Sox would have to trade away talent to get him. The Sox are short on talent as it is. Rowand would cost a draft choice that may or not be any better than what you have to give up to get Crisp. Its not like the White Sox minor league system is loaded with sure things.

QUOTE(rockren @ Nov 28, 2007 -> 07:52 AM) The point was IF he sheds pounds this next year or two......he'll get the 10 year deal. You can't tell me there isn't a team in the Majors that wouldn't lock him up for 10 years. No way. I'm telling you no way IMO. ARod is the only guy who has a 10 year contract. He's a little different from Cabrera and there probably was only 1 team willing to go 10 years with him. I love Cabrera. I want the White Sox to get him. But giving him a 10 year contract, even if he got himself in shape is just asking for trouble. Its not a question of getting in shape. Its a question of staying in shape. While you can get away with being out of shape when you 22 or 25, when you are over 30 the years of the extra stress to your body start showing.

QUOTE(rockren @ Nov 28, 2007 -> 12:31 AM) If Cabrera sheds a few pounds and continues to hit around .330 and his other usual numbers (which I think he will) Miggy will get a 10 yr/300 mil contract two years from now. He'd be worth it to us. I think Cabrera has already eaten too many bridges to get a 10 year deal. With his weight issues and reports of a deteriorating attitude, there can't be many teams if any, that would want to be locked into him for 10 years. Way too risky. Cabrera with a 10 year deal, they might have to knock out a wall in his house to get him to spring training in year 7.

Its not out of the realm of possibility that Rowand's price will come down from what he wanted earlier, but I'd prefer Crisp myself. Besides being a lot cheaper, if he regains his Cleveland offensive form, the guy is only 1 year older than Owens, he could be a .300 hitter with a .340 OBP with 15 homers and 25 steals while playing solid defense. Is Torii Hunter a real good bet to put up similar numbers the next 5 years ? The White Sox apparently were willing to pay him $15 million a year. Crisp has been banged up in Boston, and some people aren't comfortable there either. See Edgar Renteria. For the money they were going to give Hunter, they can pay Crisp and Fukodome should he decide to come over. Seems to me it would be a much better plan.

KW wants to work quickly. Rowand is taking his time. I believe it means he's not coming back.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Nov 27, 2007 -> 07:04 PM) Whats your point? I thought September stats didn't count? That's why I also threw out some August stats. My point is Contreras can come back next year and be a pretty good pitcher. I am one who doesn't think he's done.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 27, 2007 -> 06:50 PM) The Padres aren't the best example, and I shouldn't have used them, but I only did because I remembered that they were a team that were interested in trading for him, but the Yanks didn't want to make the deal. Some SP's just do better out of New York and that environment. Jose Contreras for example before he started getting too old and injury prone. Everyone can't wait to unload Contreras and are doing cartwheels about Vazquez's extension. It might shock everyone that in August and September 2007 combined, Vazquez had a 3.94 ERA. Not bad. Contreras, 3.72.

At least it shows the White Sox interest wasn't all for show. They really wanted the guy and almost had him. I hope not signing him will work out as well as not signing Vizquel and Wright in 2005.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Nov 25, 2007 -> 01:27 PM) Like Sisco, Massett, or Aardsma? I was going to say KW probably said the same thing a year ago, but whether it works out or not, he did what he had to do.

QUOTE(beck72 @ Nov 25, 2007 -> 07:23 AM) With SP at such a premium, a low budget team would likely take a flyer on Masset to be their 5th SP. Masset may have too many question marks for the sox to keep, with little time for Masset to answer them, as he is out of options. He didn't do that well in the relief role [which would likely be his spot on the sox], and has done better in his career as a SP. It might be better to trade him too early than too late. As far as who might like him, I'd check teams he pitched against in AAA. He threw a few decent games vs Durham [TB], Toldeo, Buffalo and one vs. Ric [Richmond?]. http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/st...&pid=434665 He hasn't been too impressive as a starter. Its probably why he was converted into a reliever. I doubt he has any value right now, and would doubt any team would consider him a serious candidate to be in their 2008 rotation at this time. The White Sox wanted him based on his work as a closer in the Mexican League last winter. They may use him as a throw in with a bigger trade, or just wait to see how he looks in spring training. Maybe he shocks the world and suddenly will be able to throw strikes.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 24, 2007 -> 09:03 AM) Yes he could actually . If the Sox formula is pitching defense and speed and we fill those needs. I'm always optimistic on young players. I can see Owens OBP around .340, BA around .300 and 70 SB. I know that sounds foolish to many of you. I know its much easier to be right by saying he'll never put up those kind of numbers if all you're into is being right. All I do is hope things always work out in the White Sox favor which means I have to believe in the upside of their young players. I have no control over who they pick up in free agency or trades. To me being a Sox fan is rooting for all their players to do good. If that blind faith ? Yea it is but if I always wanted to be right I guess I could just be a fan of whatever team wins every year. I really don't know how not thinking Jerry Owens is going to put up the numbers you may believe would make me any less of a White Sox fan than you. Its not about being right. If Owens is starting I hope he puts up numbers that dwarf the numbers you are suggesting. To me its just being realistic. I want the White Sox to win. You can be optimistic about young players, I have a couple of favorites myself that a lot of people have issues with, but the fact is, hanging your hopes on White Sox farmhands the past several years would get you institutionalized. KW did a good job in trading some before any value they had ran out. I really don't think there are any posters here that have more than 100 posts that really don't want all the White Sox to do well, whether they think they are good players or not. I'm pretty sure, except for a few trolls or other team's fans visiting this site, everyone always wants the White Sox to win the WS, whether it makes the majority of their posts right or wrong.

QUOTE(BaseballNick @ Nov 23, 2007 -> 02:31 PM) Marriotti complains when KW and JR don't overspend for a guy like Hunter, but in 3 years when you realize just how bad the contract is, and it handcuffs the team from making other significant moves, he'd be the first one to say it was a bad signing. I think he's a talented writer, but more often than not, he's writing something that will get your blood boiling in order to sell papers and be controversial. It's his job to be a conversation piece so I don't put a whole lot of stock into what he writes...plus it's no secret that he dislikes the White Sox and will bash them every chance he gets. He was crying before the Bears drafted McNown that he had to be the one they drafted. A couple years later he's wondering how anyone could be stupid enough to have drafted him. You are right, he constantly plays both ends and is never held accountable. Sort of like in 2005 when he proclaimed the White Sox season over after 2 games. After they had won them both. Hawk makes a mistake IMO everytime he mentions him, but he is correct about one thing. Marriotti has it out for JR, and probably has columns already written complaining about him to use when he has nothing else. The other day he was b****ing about JR being in a photo with the 6 championship trophies in the Bulls media guide, trying to make him out to be an egomaniac. I'm pretty sure it wasn't JR's idea to have that photo taken, but Marriotti has never let truth get in the way of his garbage.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Nov 23, 2007 -> 12:31 PM) I don't recall where, but I read where Jones actually lost a bunch of weight this past offseason and his range in center improved. However, that loss in weight also had a big impact on his struggles at the plate as well. I think in prior years he had been pretty bad defensively, but this past season he was very good again, perhaps to the gold glove standards he deserved. There are still concerns about his body, and would you want to give a guy a boatful of money when the only time he gets in shape is during the year his contract is up?

The only source for this signing is Levine right now. Even on the various websites where it is posted they say according to ESPN1000.

QUOTE(gosox41 @ Nov 22, 2007 -> 09:59 AM) I've read that scouts think his body will breakdown faster and he is more susceptible to injury afte abusing his body like he did for all those years. Bob Baseball ability alone, anyone would take this guy in a heartbeat. But with the abuse, I read the same thing you did, there are concerns how his body will hold up, plus, not to be cruel, because I give him all the credit in the world for getting his life back in order, but the success rates for recovering addicts aren't in his favor. A relapse is always possible, maybe even probable. He's someone you'd like on your team, but probably someone you don't want to invest too much into.

QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 22, 2007 -> 10:07 AM) The only thing that will upset me about this is if KW acts surprised that Hunter received money elsewhere. That or they wind up in a bidding war for Rowand and pay him $15 million a year.