Dick Allen

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 18, 2007 -> 05:50 PM) For the comedy value? Considering he is 28-11 the past 2 seasons in the minors, and was not too bad in the majors after his initial start (I'm sure nobody ever is nervous their first major league game) its unbelievable to me he's not the frontrunner for this job. It really should be his to lose.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Mar 18, 2007 -> 05:31 PM) As long as we are debating the 5th starter, let's throw Charlie Haeger out there again since nobody is running away with the spot. If Charlie had the exact same results last season but he did it with a reportiore (sp) that featured a 92-96 mph fastball, there would even be a competition for this spot.

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 18, 2007 -> 05:20 PM) It just boggles my mind how KW put us in a position where we didn't have a sure-fire candidate for the 5th starter spot coming into this season. It's as if he learned nothing at all from the 2004 season. I really hope he wasn't expecting Floyd or Danks to be a bonafide starter in the majors this year. He was boasting a couple weeks ago how everyone would see why he did what he did by March 15th. Well, we're waiting............................... The thing is, the Sox need a guy that can give them at least 5 innings in the 5th slot, or you'll kill your bullpen especially if Buerhle doesn't snap all the way back. You could get away with a little less when Buerhle was a lock to give you at least 6 and usually more. Now, with Contreras the #1, he gets into high pitch counts and doesn't go as long as Buerhle did, and theoretically he should be up next after the #5 guy most of the time. Plus Buerhle may not be the bullpen savior he was before in his slot.

I just went through this gamethread. Its interesting that Wells gets hammered and he sucks and needs to retire, and Danks gets hammered and the wind is blowing out and the umpires have a small strike zone. Danks is young. He's going to struggle if he makes the team. He's struggled initially on just about every level and then became good. That's a good sign, but remember the jump to the major leagues is the biggest leap you can take. If the White Sox are relying on good results from him in the major leagues in 2007, the offense better be the best in team history. I really hope KW is looking for a 5th starter outside the organization. I think Lieber would be perfect. He struggled last year, but he was hurt.

The custom t-shirt shop sounds like it will be big.

For a team that supposedly came into camp "hungry", with Cooper getting pissed and now KW, it seems peculiar. At least none of this counts yet. It appears the poor pitching is starting to grate on the organization though. Hopefully some of KW's acquisitions can help in 2007 or we may see a firesale at the trade deadline.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 05:21 PM) And better defensively (at least according to Tango's 2006 Scouting Report). And younger. If Iguchi's agent asked for three years at $5 million per, I'm fairly certain that David Hahn or Kenny Williams would walk out of the room laughing. 3/$4 seems more reasonable, but even that might be a little high. Its Rick Hahn, and these same guys gave a LF who has no power, doesn't get on base much, gets caught stealing a bunch, and should have his mitt confiscated $3 million this year. If Iguchi has a good solid year, $5 million in not unreasonable.

This has the makings of a 13-9 game.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 01:04 PM) I was projecting my thoughts on the fact that people overreacted to KW being in love with a player, when in fact I think it was Daniels overpaying for a less than spectacular McCarthy. So no, I don't think its a little too early. The White Sox could wind up "winning" the trade, but it still could be bad. If the Sox have trouble with the 5th starter spot and McCarthy pitches well and the Sox narrowly miss the playoffs, even if Danks and or Masset have a better career than McCarthy, depending on how the team does during their time here could make the trade very bad. I noticed the search engine is turned off. I wanted to see if I could look up what people were saying about McCarthy in the spring of 2005. It has to be at least as good as what Danks supposedly is after 3 outings in spring training against minor leaguers. I'm very worried about the fifth starter, not to mention the other four.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 06:08 PM) How so? Just because it would be their first full year in the majors doesn't mean automatic-faliure. What if Danks becomes the ROY? It is entirely possible. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see them both make it, Danks as the 5th starter and Floyd as a reliever. When is the last time a White Sox rookie starting pitcher made it an entire season on the major league roster? Danks is thought to be a little green by most baseball people. Floyd has just been a disaster.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 06:05 PM) Many people thought Joe Borchard for Matt Thornton was a stupid trade. COnsidering none of the pitchers involved have thrown a pitch for their new teams, you might be jumping the gun. Who? Joe Borchard was one of the most hated players in Soxtalk history in terms of playing ability. That was a trade of 2 guys with no options who weren't going to make their teams.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 06:03 PM) Did you see some of hte 05 numbers that were posted the other day? ST numbers or performance have absolutely ZERO correlation with the regular season. Just ask Boone Logan, Brian Anderson, Tadahito Iguchi, Bobby Jenks, Jermaine Dye, among many many others, whether good or bad. Right. All their ERAs were over 10.00 in 2005? That's like the argument people were having with me last year when Politte was getting lit up in spring training. Oh he was bad in spring training in 2005. So what. There is going to be a time when guys are bad in spring training and then are bad in the regular season. These guys are getting crushed. Its time to pick up the pace. Hopefully they can.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 06:01 PM) Looks like John Danks has pushed was up to first place in the race. I'd like to see Danks start and go 5 innings, with Floyd getting a different start and going 5 innings. Looks like Danks also picked up the strikeout pace w/ 3 K's today. They both have to face guys that will be on major league rosters, but thats easier said than done. I think they should both be in Charlotte, if either makes it to Chicago on April 2, its almost a lock they will be a Charlotte resident at some point in 2007.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 05:58 PM) LOL. You are quoting Spring Training numbers. As I said, its time to pick up the pace. With the exception of Contreras the 4 others in the supposed White Sox rotation are getting hammered. If they go through another 2 weeks of this, it should be cause for concern. It certainly has gotten Don Cooper worked up a bit.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 05:53 PM) I don't care what he says. How do you know that KW didn't ask for the moon earlier in the offseason, and then came back and got Floyd and Gonzalez, two guys he wanted, for Freddy when he saw that Freddy's value sucked. Rosenthal doesn't know that. You don't know that. I don't know that we received the best package available, I don't have a clue whether KW did or didn't. My point is you dont' have a clue either. Philadelphia seems to admit they would have been willing to give up more for him. I think that's proof enough. . J Contreras CWS 0 2 5.06 3 3 0 0 0 0 10.2 13 6 6 0 1 6 11 2. M Buehrle CWS 0 1 11.00 3 3 0 0 0 0 9.0 15 11 11 3 1 3 7 3. J Garland CWS 1 1 11.25 3 2 0 0 0 0 8.0 18 11 10 3 0 2 4 4. J Vazquez CWS 0 2 15.19 2 2 0 0 0 0 5.1 12 9 9 0 0 2 3 These 4 plus Gavin Floyd makes for a lot of WS DVD viewing in 2007. Its time to pick up the pace.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 05:45 PM) It could mean that, or it could mean that KW asked everywhere and Freddy's value sucked. We have ZERO idea whether KW asked for more and Philly said no or whether Philly would have even bothered to give him up. KW knows what he is doing though. It's not like he didn't know what Freddy's value was You dont' know that he didn't ask for the moon for Freddy. He might have, but he settle for something reasonable. Personally, I think Garcia will suck in 2007. He's only pitched 3 innings in ST. I am glad they traded him and got something for him. Gio is one of my favorites. For 2007 this isn't a good trade unless the White Sox used the money on an average starter or kept the one guy capable of being average, the guy that 70 guys Peter Gammons polled claimed was the top candidate for a breakout season. The Garcia trade was fine while they had McCarthy.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 13, 2007 -> 05:41 PM) I wasn't speaking to that though. Whether it was a good move or not. You never know what KW could or couldn't get at the deadline. I just wanted to know how Flash knew that wasn't the best package. He sure was speaking with a lot of conviction, so I figured maybe he had bugged KW's phone and heard all the proposals for Freddy. It very well could have been the best deal at the time, but teams always need pitching and KW was holding all of the cards. He could have waited them out. He could have asked for the moon like he did with Garland.

I can't possibly see where the White Sox could come up with the conclusion that Floyd is capable of having any success in the major leagues at this point judging his past performance and his performance so far in camp. If he's the fifth starter, its because they think they would be rushing Danks, and they can't acquire anybody else.

QUOTE(scenario @ Mar 11, 2007 -> 06:32 PM) So... our defense would suffer if they kept Perez and moved Mackowiak before the season?? I'm not sure we're talking about the same player then. Mack is a DISASTER in the outfield. Not just center. He gets bad jumps on the ball and he can't judge routes. He's looked as brutal in the corners this spring as he did in center last year. He makes Alphonso Soriano look like a Gold Glover and that's saying something. In the infield? He's not the first backup option at ANY position. Ozuna will be the backup at third. Cintron will be at SS and 2nd. Erstad will be at 1st. So what is Mack's role? A backup for the backups? I like Mac but... Mack is not bad in LF. He's much better than Pods, in fact he's a better baseball player than Pods. If anyone should be traded it should be Pods, but you won't get anything for him unless he's a throw in. I think Erstad is eventually going to get hurt, and Pods is going to struggle. I think if the Sox rid themselves of Mack they would be pining for him around June15th. Its not Mack's fault Ozzie kept throwing him somewhere he should not have been. He had about as much business playing CF as Thome or Konerko.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 11, 2007 -> 03:56 PM) I believe I heard Jenks struck out 3 in 1 1/3 innings; Sisco 4 in 2 innings. That's good. Hopefully Arizona didn't have its A ball roster in the game at that point.

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 11, 2007 -> 03:47 PM) Every time these teams play, it's a great game. Durant's an amazing player, but I would draft Oden over him for the reason you're seeing right now: Durant's body might make it hard for him to keep his legs for the entire 82 game season. I'd take Oden too, but whoever gets Durant will get him in the weight room. They both will be stars.

Jenks pitched well in the B game. Vazquez got lit up, but they have the spin going saying he retired 8 out of the last 9.

Its pretty incredible to me how Danks is now the chosen one on this board after 6 innings of spring training pitching. I realize that Floyd probably isn't any good and apparently the White Sox have some sort of reluctance with Haeger. I think if you threw any of the 3 into the 5th spot, Haeger at the end of the year would have the best numbers, but I'm not sure if they would be good enough. Hopefully KW is working the phones for a stop gap.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2007 -> 04:06 PM) If he gets back to that speed, he'll be in much better shape than he is now. BUT...just from my memory, he had a long time last year off, then came up to pitch after getting into shape, and I don't recall his fastball being able to hit 90 then either. I think its very doubtful Prior will ever be what they thought he would be, but I think he still could be useful. I don't think he's as bad as the spring training performances make him out to be. Like fathom said, it couldn't happen to a bigger asshole.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2007 -> 03:55 PM) A drop of 8-10 mph from your fastball and like 4 straight injury-plagued seasons is, to my eyes, slightly more severe than a drop of 1 mph from your fastball and 6 straight 200+ inning seasons. When Jenks dropped off 8-10 on his fastball last spring, they said he needed time to get ready. I would imagine Prior, if he makes it without hurting himself to opening day, would be at about 90-93.