Dick Allen

QUOTE(DABearSoX @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 08:43 PM) Exactly, i bet a thread along these lines was started around this time last year. Though i believe he was still up 3-4 mph at this time last year. But then again the country wasnt engulfed in a cold spell. As soon as it warms up I have no doubt he'll be back up to 95-99mph If the White Sox hope to go to the playoffs this year and win in the playoffs, they are going to need a better Bobby Jenks than the 2006 version. He was fine the first half. He wasn't very good the second half. Pretty brutal in September. Even Ozzie is concerned about his velocity, and Jenks and Cooper disagree on why its down. If its going to take him a month or 2 into the season to regain his velocity, he's going to need a new offseason program. I also think the odds are he dissappears from the spotlight about as quickly as he entered it. I really don't think he'll have a very long career. IMO he is a prime candidate for a devastating arm injury, and his lack of velocity is something that may make that more likely. If he's only capable of throwing 93 or 94 and he's out there trying to throw 100, something bad will probably happen. The good news is he seems to be the one right now least worried about it, decreasing the likelihood of that happening. If his job suddenly is on the line though..............BTW according to the Sun-Times, he will be working on his mechanics using the towel drill.

QUOTE(rafacosta @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 08:56 PM) Well, when I meant that he acted like a star was not adapting to the country and missing the american cuisine, culture, etc and not willing to interact with the local culture. I strongly feel that Ozzie is mainly upset with him because of all this Venezuela stuff. I am pretty sure that BA was saying some bad stuff about the country behind Ozzie and Ozzie got to know that. Of course BA will not criticize in front of the media otherwise he would be in bad shape. If Ozzie is upset with Anderson about Venezuelan "stuff" he should really be pissed off at KW, who has said the White Sox won't be sending anyone down there to play anymore.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Apr 16, 2007 -> 10:03 AM) Anderson wants more at-bats and doesn't want to play winter ball, per the Suntimes. It's impressive that a guy with a something like a .600 career OPS doesn't think he needs to get some at-bats in the winter to get better. And he thinks his .143 batting average deserves some more major league at-bats this season. I think it would be best for all if Anderson found his way to a new organization as soon as possible. How can you possibly use 7 scattered ab this season as a reason he shouldn't be playing? He went to winter ball and got sick. The White Sox organization is not doing BA any favors by letting him rot on the bench. I hope they see what they are doing is totally wrong. I do agree it would be in his best interest that KW found him a new home, but its not entirely BA's fault. He didn't hit last year, no doubt about it. Neither did Pods, but KW found $3 million to give him.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 07:36 PM) The pitching is exactly what we need. If you would have told me we would go 3-3 on this road trip, without scoring any runs and with sub .250 BA for the season, I would have told you that you were f***ing nuts. I dont see how we cant go on a run here, it will come. And then all the sunshine and puppy dogs on Soxtalk will be pure comedy. Are you? Im not at this point. I think the offense has been hindered by the weather. I think the pitchers have benefitted from it. I really believe Danks would have an ERA of at least 9.00 if the weather was decent in his 2 starts. The thing is not having it 9.00 could build some confidence. Contreras goes from being pounded by the Indians when its 60 degrees to giving up 1 hit when its 35.

Well I suppose KW could have talked JR into opening the checkbook to sign Soriano to play LF, but he's hitting .233 with no homers. I also suppose KW could have made a deal to get Manny Ramirez, but he's hitting .194 with no homers. Maybe they even could have brought Frank Thomas back. He's hitting .200 with 1 homer, and that homer is the only at bat so far this season he has an rbi. Relax. Its early and its been very cold. The offense will get better. Worry about the pitching. Aardsma has looked unhittable. Jenks has been very average. Danks has had the weather help him tremendously. If the Sox pitch well they will win. If they don't they will not.

QUOTE(TheHolyBovine @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 03:14 PM) Honestly, KW deserves blame for this offense. Heading into the offseason, we had MAJOR offensive holes at LF, CF, and SS. Now, 2 weeks into the season, we still have major offensive holes at LF, CF, and SS. Firing Greg Walker will do nothing to change the fact that we start 2 OFs who hit like utility IFs on a CONSISTENT basis. I love KW, but he f'ed up this winter. Shocking statement: This offense will not get better until we get better hitters. Actually Uribe has been pretty decent. Pods numbers are about the same as they were for 2005 when he supposedly was a HOFer. Dye, Konerko, Thome, AJP, Crede, Iguchi, Erstad have all done squat. We will see what happens when they play in weather that's appropriate for this sport. I'm sorry, judging the offense in the conditions most of the games have been played in is like judging a QB strickly by his numbers when he's playing in a blizzard. Or judging a kicker when there's a 50 mph wind. I have a hard time believing the offense we have seen is the offense this team will have the remainder of the season. On the other side of the coin, the pitching staff has definitely benefitted from the weather. Its pretty hard to tell what you have when they pitch in below freezing windchill conditions. Hopefully it can at least build some confidence.

The Cubs and Sox pitching staffs combined today gave up 3 hits, and they both lost. That has to be rare.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 03:17 PM) I'm seeing them on September 8th, I can't wait and I AM a huge fan! I've seen them twice before and they were great both times! I'll be there on the 8th also in Milwaukee on the 6th and may go see them in Germany in October. I've seen them so many times and have never been dissappointed. Since they went with The Evening with Rush concept with no warm- up band and 3 hours of music, its been a Rush fan's dream.

This was the type of game the Sox always won in 2005.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 02:31 PM) Great job by Aardsma. He brings the most intensity to the team right now. In comes Borowski. Ozzie finally gets to use Pods. CC had a lay-up of a 9th inning set-up, or he would face some lefties. I think Wedge is making a big mistake.

QUOTE(beautox @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 02:30 PM) so i read they want to have him start apparently. i wonder what they'll have to give up, i think gomes +, i doubt their getting rocco or carl. I think Lidge would be awesome in the AL. Maybe the Astros would like some of the White Sox never will be's.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 02:29 PM) Yep, who would you rather face? Molina, Anderson, etc. or Thome, AJP, etc. I think Borowski will be in though. That would be totally insane.

Wedge wouldn't be stupid enough to use his closer would he? The Sox have guys with much better chances at getting runs sitting on the bench than are in the line-up right now.

Thats a shame. Must hold them.

Maybe Sabathia will get the gout before Mack has to hit.

I hope Borowski pitches the 9th. He's due to implode and the Sox have seen him a couple of times.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 02:20 PM) Isnt this tub of lard tired yet He's very warm.

Everything Erstad does gets so much more praise than anyone else. Wow, he laid one down. That's something everyone in the 2 hole can do.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 02:12 PM) Instead of having to listen to Ozzie post game can we just play some soundbites from Pineillas press conference last week about how its hard to hit in the cold. It is hard to hit in the cold. The Indians have a great offense. They aren't exactly hammering the ball. If the Sox could play defense early on, they could be winning this game.

There is no excuse for not using a PH here.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Apr 14, 2007 -> 11:24 PM) incorrect. It just means he left the job wide open. Had BA played well last season he would've locked up the position this season. I don't feel sorry for him either. Hell, they handed it to him once already. And in my opinion he didn't win it back in spring like he was told he needed to do. And that was made harder going up against a guy who's proven himself at this level and won multiple gold gloves, not to mention his ability to handle the bat better than Brian. First let me say I have no problem with Erstad being on the team. I liked the signing. But...........There's a reason why the replacement for Anderson was available for a 1 year $1 million guarantee. He hasn't done much recently. In fact, his 2006 was worse than Anderson's. Ozzie said at the beginning of last year that he did not care what Anderson hit. That turned out to be total BS. Obviously Anderson has to hit better than he did last season, but the guy was a rookie. Robin Ventura sucked when he was a rookie, why didn't they just replace him? Anderson was decent is spring training this year. I really don't think Erstad was much better. If its all about spring training performance, what is Boone Logan doing in Charlotte? There has to be something personal, and that's too bad. KW should send him to Charlotte or trade him away, but I'm sure he knows he'll never get fair value for him right now. Maybe the plan is to let him rot so he'll take even longer to develop and maybe not develop at all, then trade him away for nothing so the organization won't look as bad.

QUOTE(Dam8610 @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 02:17 AM) That makes more sense. Can Minnesota afford that though? Carl Pohlad is perhaps the richest owner in baseball. He has been cheap beyond definition. The Twins payroll used to be lower than their revenue sharing check from MLB. With a new stadium supposedly close now to being in place, if he signed Santana to that contract, I'm certain the checks wouldn't bounce. While Santana is going to get something like that if he doesn't get injured before he's a free agent, I still don't think Pohlad is going to be the one to change his stripes and give it to him.

The other crazy thing that Ozzie said at the beginning of last year was he didn't care what Anderson hit. Now he's basically ruining his career. A guy who is hitting worse than he did last year gets all the playing time.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Apr 14, 2007 -> 04:31 PM) Here is the breakdown. The Indians are hitting .318 against us this year, while we are hitting .240 against them maybe its the thermal underwear. Oakland one of the worst hitting teams this year, hit .174 against us, while we hit a robust .221. It was not cold in Oakland. And only one of their pitchers was good. Minny hit .148 against us, and we hit .200 against them. One good pitcher faced us, and one not so good. Toss out opening day and Cleveland is hitting .267 against the Sox. I'm not cherry picking either, opening day was in the 60s. I could cherry pick and toss out the first 2 games against Cleveland and they are hitting .245 against the Sox. The weather is playing a big part in the lack of offense. For the Sox and their opponents. It was pretty chilly in Oakland. Not like its been here, but not exactly balmy. It was in the upper 40s for the second game against Oakland, and they faced Harden in another. After tomorrow, they will have faced an ace every series and played at least 1 game other than the one against the ace in every series in temperatures below 50 degrees. That will keep the average low.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Apr 14, 2007 -> 03:48 PM) Opponents were hitting .241 against us coming into todays game, which it surely went up in. Make Contreras' opening day start look like CC Sabathia's and its probably .225 or lower. Its really hard to hit when the game is being played in the conditions the majority of the games have been played in.