Dick Allen

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 19, 2007 -> 10:50 PM) Seriously, I'm not surprised at Grilli's success, the White Sox were so desperate for starters for like 5 years that they tossed aside bullpen talent because that wasn't what they needed. But anyway, I think KW has realized that flaw this year. And if you lined up Grilli versus anyone that pencils into the Sox bullpen this year, including Logan/Sisco, for the first time in several years, I take the inexperienced guy in the Sox bullpen bases on sheer talent alone My God can this bullpen bring the heat. I hope it works for a full season, because on paper, Minny will wish they had the stuff we do I would hardly call a 4.21 ERA with 31 strikeouts and 25 walks in 62 innings in the park he pitches in all that successful.

One of the dumbest moments is Sox history was the day the White Sox signed Jaime Navarro.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 16, 2007 -> 11:54 AM) This is really bad news. If all they are announcing is a one year deal, that means we couldn't get a multi-year deal done. Bye-bye Joe. His agent is Boras. It would be a stunning development in the baseball world if Crede signed a contract before testing free agency.

If Pippen was underpaid, it was his own fault. He signed a contract for some security. You, at least at the time Pippen played for the Bulls, could not renegotiate contracts in the NBA, not that the Bulls would have anyway. The Bulls did Pippen a favor when he left by doing a sign and trade with Houston which gave him millions of dollars more than he could have gotten had he just left. The Bulls got crap back.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 11:19 PM) Hmmm, you're not much of a basketball guy, are you Dick? Chandler is at what, 11.5 rebounds per game? He's a potential rebounding champion at the age of 24. His help defense is also bordering on elite. Worst trade in the history of sports? Good God, man. When Brand was 22 he averaged 11.6 rebounds a game. He also can score. The trade made no sense. Chandler is so elite, Paxson couldn't wait to dump him.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 07:52 PM) Jerry Krause said before the last championship season that there's no way in hell Phil Jackson would be the coach after that year. He wanted Tim Floyd. And, if IIRC, Tim Floyd was hired as President of Basketball Operations before Phil had even made his decision. You don't think that would piss a normal person off? Let alone a guy that coached 6 titles? JR offering Phil to come back after that was basically damage control. That way they can say "well, we tried to bring him back, but he declined." It should've never came to that anyway. A gm with a brain would've locked Phil up a long time ago. If Phil's back, more than likely Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, ect are all back. Yes, Jordan did cut his hand or whatever. But I don't think he would've missed an entire season. But that point is moot since MJ wasn't gonna play without Phil. Pippen had been underpaid for years, and he was gonna get his money regardless. A smart gm, or atleast a gm that didn't have an agenda, would've done ANYTHING and EVERYTHING possible to keep that team together. Period. I believe we had another two championships left with that group. And he did a lot more than just make some mistakes after everyone left. The mistakes he made were the kinda that set franchises back years. 1: Traded Elton Brand for Tyson Chandler. 2: Traded Ron Artest, Brad Miller and Ron Mercer for Jalen Rose 3: Wasted precious lottery picks on bums like Marcus Fizer and Jamal Crawford. 4: Failed miserably to sign even halfway decent free agents to keep the team competitive. Bulls record from '99 through '03 (Krause's last year): 96-282 That's some historic losing. That overrides anything positive he did, IMO. I'm glad the bum is gone. It's no concidence that we're back to being respectable with him out of the way. Does he even have a job now? There's no defending the Brand trade. That may have been the most stupid trade in the history of sports. The Bulls wouldn't have been much better with Artest and Miller, at least not enough to win much, and it would have hurt them in the draft. Fizer and Crawford both were drafted in 2000. Take a look at that draft. The entire first round is all bums. He couldn't get people to sign with him because Jordan and his buddies made him bad news. He got played there. He also got burned when Jay Williams wrecked his career. If 4 or 5 years of losing overrides 6 championships, how can you say anything positive about KW who has 1 championship and 5 dissappointments in 6 seasons as a GM? He used to be a scout with the Yankees, he's with someone else now.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 07:19 PM) And there's not many gm's who had Michael. I mean it wasn't all MJ, obviously. But that sure did help. And, yes, he deserves credit for putting the pieces around Jordan. I've always given him that much. But he deserves just as much, if not more, of the blame, for one, the dynasty being prematurely broken up, and two, the utter crap the franchise became from '99-'2004. Phil Jackson was leaving. JR basically offered Phil a blank check to come back and he refused. Jordan said he wouldn't play for anyone but Jackson. So he retired, and cut a finger on a cigar cutter which would have cost him at least most if not all of the next season. Rodman would never have fit in with anyone but Jackson, and Pippen was given a huge gift by Krause, which he didn't have to do, a sign and trade which netted him millions more than he could have signed for. Blaming Krause for the break-up was the trendy thing to do, but not accurate. The year Jordan retired for the first time, Krause put together a team that was one horrible Hue Hollins call away from making the NBA finals, and that's with the heart and soul of your team walking away a few days before training camp. He obviously made some mistakes later after everyone left, and part of the problem may have been some arrogance on his part, which ironically more than one writer has accused KW of having now that he has won the ultimate prize.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 05:17 PM) And he deserves every ounce of that hate. Don't get me started on that fool. Jerry Krause had a hand in KW becoming a member of the White Sox organization. It also was his recommondation that got the Hoyt/Guillen trade done. Without Jerry Krause, Guillen most likely would never have been the White Sox manager, and KW most likely would never had been the White Sox GM. So if you look at that, and think KW and Ozzie are the biggest reasons the White Sox won the World Series in 2005, Krause has had a hand in 7 championships. There is no doubt he is not a very social man, and far from good-looking. He handled the media poorly, but no one can take away what he accomplished, and that was a heck of a lot more than any GM in Chicago sports history.

QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 05:00 PM) I love how there is so much hate for KW yet he is the only GM in baseball that has brought a Championship to Chicago....Go figure a Cub fan ripping on the Sox anyway. No GM anywhere was hated more than Jerry Krause in Chicago, and he has 6 rings.

I haven't seen her lately, but about 10-15 years ago I had a thing for Annie Lennox.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 02:03 PM) Or they reserved a certian percentage of capacity for partial plans, just like they did last year. Weren't the splits sold out last season as well as the fulls? I'm pretty sure there was a waiting list for the splits,and if there was and they are hawking them now, that list must be gone. QUOTE(chiguy79 @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 02:06 PM) I am guessing most people on the waiting list don't want the 17th row of the upper deck which were the best available that came up. Also split packages don't include playoff options now which really reduces any motivation to purchase season tix. There were some lower levels available on the weekday plan.

Evidently the 97% renewal rate and/or the very long waiting list for season tickets wasn't entirely true, or everyone that was on the waiting list jumped off the bandwagon as split packages are now available on the White Sox website.

The White Sox came pretty close to acquiring Bernie back when the Yankees used to trade all of their prospects. At this point he would be Carl Everett-esque in CF. He's been pretty bad there a few years now, but its probably better defense than Mackowiak gave you there.

If we buy the extra playoff games as the reason the pitching staff sort of sucked last season, shouldn't we also assume if the White Sox make the playoffs in 2007, not turning over pretty much the entire pitching staff will make 2008 a dissappointment? FWIW, Buerhle claimed in the interview that he wasn't injured or tired in 2006.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 6, 2007 -> 12:41 PM) That's not necessarily true. The Rangers may well have thought that Danks will actually be better than McCarthy, but if you look at things from the Rangers perspective, their "Window" closes in 2008. I know for a fact that Mark Teixeira hits Free Agency after 2008, and as he's a Boras client, he won't be signing any extensions before hitting the open market. On top of that, Michael Young hits Free Agency at the end of 2008 as well, and Hank Blalock hits at the end of 2009. With this roster, their window basically closes at the end of 2008, maybe at the end of 07 if they want to get something by trading Tex and Young. They need pitchers for 2007. Danks probably shouldn't see the big leagues until mid-07 at the very earliest, maybe 08 even better, and who knows how long it would take him to adapt to that level given that it has taken him a little while to adapt at each level he's stopped at. The Rangers wanted someone who could pitch for them right now, and they got that. Didn't KW say Danks along with Floyd would be competing for the White Sox 5th starter role? Isn't Dye a free agent and Buerhle after 2007 for the White Sox. Isn't Garland and Crede gone after 2008? Doesn't Texas sign Boras clients? I'm all for extending windows, and acquiring young pitchers is probably the best way to do it. I just don't understand why you trade a guy the organization built up to be some can't miss star, a guy KW said had to have a spot in the rotation even as he was struggling in the bullpen, and then discard him and call him serviceable. For all we know KW will think Danks and Masset and Floyd are all "serviceable" at this time next year. At least hopefully they will all be "serviceable." I really think McCarthy struggles last year are overrated. A lot of great pitchers struggled early in their career. I think he's a better pitcher than Danks.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 6, 2007 -> 12:31 PM) I'm plenty ready for it, I just don't like the idea of going young by losing Mark Buehrle for draft pick compensation alone when he should be worth significantly more than that in a trade. I'm sure he's been shopped. His second half and contract status must hurt his value. If the Sox keep him and he returns to form and they win a WS, having him 1 season would more than make up for the difference between a couple of draft picks, and some attractive trade package.

QUOTE(KevHead0881 @ Jan 6, 2007 -> 11:47 AM) Thats what I was thinking. This actually made me feel a little better about the deal. And even if Danks is merely the left handed equal of McCarthy, he'd still be better for us if his stuff is better suited for the Cell, as Kenny has said. Not to mention that left handers generally have higher value. If Massett can turn into anything, this trade could look pretty good in the long run. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a little bit to find all this out. Whether Danks is as good as McCarthy is anyone's guess. The Rangers apparently didn't think so.

What would you expect him to say, especially on a Chicago radio station? It would be interesting if he truely felt that way when the Cardinals were actually permitted to give him an offer, ie he's not under contract with the White Sox. This is a non story. Did they mention any off season conditioning? Supposedly he and Ozzie believed he wasn't in very good shape last season. I still wonder why at times he wears that sleeve thing on his elbow.

QUOTE(heirdog @ Jan 5, 2007 -> 11:27 PM) Floyd, for all his faults, keeps the ball down better than McCarthy and has some movement (sink) on his fastball. FWIW, all those bashing McCarthy for giving up the longball, 17 in 84 innings, Floyd gave up 14 in 54 innings in the NL and hitters hit .315 against him.

QUOTE(Princess Dye @ Jan 3, 2007 -> 10:41 PM) understood that some people do this "spin"... but it is very possible to like this deal and not be a Kenny apologist. some people just dont think McCarthy was all that great, some people are not convinced he was going to be anything more than a 4.00 ERA starter. no one here has closely followed the careers of Danks and Masset from game to game, but we can still like this trade and appreciate having some life breathed back into the farm system. I just find it odd that people buy everything KW says about his trades. Its like everything he says is gospel. What do you expect him to say on the radio? Of course he's going to praise his acquisitions. I liked the Garcia trade, as I said before if Gio or Floyd develop into a good pitcher, it was a great trade. If both do, it was a steal. I can't understand the McCarthy trade. KW using Floyd's "movement" as something you need at USCF, and saying McCarthy throws straight. Well, Floyd's "movement" hasn't allowed him to throw many strikes yet in his career, and when he has, they seem to get hit pretty hard. Danks may be good, but really is he as ready to help the White Sox in 2007 or 2008 as McCarthy would be? The bottom line is if these pitchers are really as good as KW says they are, then he is a genius and the Sox will be set for a long while, barring injury. But, he basically is calling Gio and Danks the best LH pitching prospects in baseball and Floyd a stud, with Masset and Sisco future All Stars as well. That is probably a pipe dream.

Every season, the White Sox have a guy in the bullpen who totally dissappoints. 2003 and 2004 it was Billy Koch. 2005 it was Shingo. Last year it was Politte and Cotts. Chances are someone in the bullpen is going to be awfully bad in 2007. Thornton may revert back to his Seattle form. Jenks' hip may still be bothering him. 2005 the Sox had Hermanson, and then Jenks to step in when trouble appeared. Hopefully a guy like Sisco or MacDougal or Aardsma, if they don't falter themselves can pick it up if someone fails. Masset may be alright, but I still don't understand how KW uses rest as the cure-all to the White Sox 2006 pitching woes, when guys like Garland and Garcia and even Vazquez got better as the year went on, and then raves about Masset while he piles up appearances this winter. I hope the White Sox pick up another reliever. I do like the approach of actually acquiring guys who at least some teams consider 40 man roster-worthy as opposed to last offseason's approach.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Jan 3, 2007 -> 04:40 PM) More for me, but sports related: 1) Was at the Bears game when Walter Payton broke Jim Brown's record, at the Fog Bowl, and at the game where Ted Washington ran a fumble back for a TD. Man, that was one long, slow run coming right towards the end zone I was sitting in. 2) I played in a 2 on 2 sand volleyball game against karch karai, or however you spell his name, and didn't know it until we were done (losing 15-2). Got an autograph aferwards. Didn't make up for the broken finger from trying to block one of his spikes. 3) Played tennis in college. Took the 4th ranked division 3 player to 5 sets (losing), then lost the next week in straight sets to someone from Joliet Junior College who had only been playing for about a year. 4) Was in a skybox at old Comisky (my one and only skybox trip) when Robin ventura got pummeled by old-man Ryan 5) I managed to bowl 18 strikes in a row without getting a 300 game. Game 2 was spare, then 11, game 3 was 7 then 3 splits. But at least I got a 700 series. Ventura got pummeled at the mound in Arlington Stadium, deep in the heart of Texas. Were you watching TV in the skybox that day?

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 3, 2007 -> 08:48 AM) He definitely didn't give a glowing review of Pods and Anderson. When you start saying things like "we know they can handle playing in Chicago"....that's like saying "she has a nice personality". I like Anderson, but he is going to still struggle at least another season or so. Pods is truely one of the worst regular players in baseball. I don't understand the logic of letting a guy who doesn't get on base that much, who gets himself out a lot on the basepaths, and a guy with really horrible baserunning instincts, I have seen him not get an extra base numerous times, while guys with half his "speed" take an extra base easily, not to mention his defensive shortcomings, lead off, let alone play regularly. If Pods is leading off for the White Sox in 2007, 2007 will be dissapointing for White Sox fans.

I think the White Sox offer to Dye was the best one on the table at the time he decided to pull the trigger. It wasn't as if he had been coming off a few stellar seasons, there were a lot of questions, and it wasn't like the White Sox were thought of as title contenders either. After he accepted the offer, a better one came around, and thankfully for the White Sox, Dye apparently is a man of his word and still signed with the White Sox.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 31, 2006 -> 02:40 PM) Which is of course the ultimate proof of how little the "win" stat can mean for some players. #1 offense in baseball, pitcher with an ERA of 5.00. ANY other team in baseball and he looks 5x worse. So he's basically Garland, Vazquez, Garcia and Buerhle at this point in his career. If that's washed up, KW shouldn't be faulted for rebuilding.