Dick Allen

QUOTE(winninguglyin83 @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 03:38 PM) 35 walks in 62 innings for Tracey. don't get too excited. Walked 76 in 154 innings last year and 69 in 148 the year before. big league hitters will make him throw it over the plate. Walk totals tend to go up when a guy gets recalled. MLB hitters have better batting eyes, the strike zone is more consistent, umpires tend not to give rookies the benefit of the doubt on borderline pitches, and Tracey probably won't have the same confidence until he has a little success at the major league level. He really struggled in spring training when he had a great opportunity to make the team. He struggled initially when used in relief at Charlotte, but turned it around as a starter. Now he's going back to relief, where you would think he would shine, but hasn't yet. Its a crapshoot. He has great stuff, and could be a solid reliever. Its also possible if not probable he s***s the bed, but he can't be any worse than Politte, and if he fails, KW will know its time to get some help, and Tracey becomes trade bait, or a little more seasoning and he becomes a solid member of the White Sox bullpen.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 01:18 PM) He made an awful dive for a ball last night where he had no chance. Luckily the ball bounced into the seats to prevent a run scoring triple. A run would have scored if the ball had stayed in the park and he didn't dive. It was very fortunate it was a ground rule double. It saved an easy run.

QUOTE(POPPY_HIDALGO @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 01:00 PM) A man is injured here. I understand that fun is fun and baseball is all about fun and winning is fun, but let's not forget the big picture here. Some fans were injured because of the velocity of balls hit from his pitching. Good riddance. I think this is another example of a "convenient" injury. They don't want to release him, but they don't want to send him to the mound.

Wasn't Grimsley also a teammate of a certain pitcher who is very large, in his mid 40's, who recently signed a contract, and is still bringing gas ? If you look at Grimsley, you probably would have never guessed he was juicing from looking at his body or his performance. I think this goes to show there are or at least were a ton of guys juicing you wouldn't have suspected, including White Sox players.

Speaking of Pods, his average is definitely on the downswing right now. QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 11:06 AM) I still think Mack is better than Pods for CF. I agree. Ozzie also thinks Mack is a better LF than Pods.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 11:00 AM) I'm going to make the prediction that on Wednesday, Pods and Ozuna will be in LF/CF. Book this. fathom is Batman. He predicted an odd line-up the other day that nobody thought could happen. It happened.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 10:55 AM) What is your reason for not bringing up Sweeney? At this point in his career, it seems likely he'd come up in the fall on the 40-man callup anyway. So the clock may not be too big an issue (maybe by a year, if you think he isn't up until 2007). If the guy can play reasonably good D in CF (at least on par with Mack, hopefully a bit better), then I think its a good idea. First off, he's left-handed. I think the Sox will face at least 7 more lefties the next 2 weeks. Plus, the Sox are probably a little too left handed now. Secondly, he just started playing CF this season, and is coming off a leg injury which has moved him back to RF. The chances of Sweeney at this point in time being any better than Mackowiak offensively or defensive, are pretty slim IMO.

The Sox aren't going to bring Sweeney up to play CF. Jerry Owens is hitting .220. He's not coming. Last I checked, the Sox don't have locks on the entire contents of their stalls in the clubhouse, so Rivera isn't coming, and they aren't going to bring a guy from AA who will be just as bad as Anderson offensively, while giving you less defense. Like someone said before, its either Mack, Ozuna, or Pods in CF or a trade, and I don't think anyone's looking to do KW any favors.

QUOTE(Sox1422 @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 10:36 AM) I don't think you realize how much BA's offense hurts this team. And it's a shame that you don't. He's hitting .083 with runners in scoring position and .095 with RISP and 2 out. With the bases loaded? He's .000 (0 for 6). I don't think Anderson's lack of offense has hurt the White Sox yet, at least not that much. Mackowiak in CF has hurt the White Sox more. I do think though, that if BA keeps getting the same offensive results, it will hurt. Thome, Dye and Konerko most likely will not combine to hit 130 homers. AJ probably won't hit .330. Crede probably won't hit.300 with 30 homers. These guys most likely will slow down at least a little offensively, and Anderson and Uribe's struggles will really start to hurt.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 10:25 AM) I just hope you guys are still happy when Mack, Pods, Gload, and Ozuna are playing CF. Obviously, KW has a lot of phone calls to make. Those 4 will not cut it. The other problem is Ozuna is the only one right handed, and I don't even want to imagine what he would be like in CF.

Showing emotion isn't wrong. Not showing emotion can sometimes be characterized as "corpseball". A term we were far too familiar with here.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 09:27 AM) So Pauly should do the Macarena at homeplate the next time he gets a HR on Zumaya? The kid did nothing wrong. After he got Konerko out he pumped his fist. Watch the pre game video at USCF, and you will see Bobby Jenks pump his fist over and over. There's nothing wrong with showing a little emotion. Jenks doesn't show up anyone with his fist pumping, and Zumaya didn't show Paulie up at all. Dennis Eckersley used to point and "shoot" guys when he struck them out and would tell them to go sit down.

QUOTE(NYSox35 @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 09:27 AM) "In an April meeting with Zumaya, Konerko took him out of the park for his first homer of the year. After that game, Zumaya said Konerko wouldn't get another one off him this season." There was my problem, not his action after this particular game. To each his own, but I just think it was sort of uncalled for. Whatever, Paulie will keep being an All Star caliber player...fine by me. Is he supposed to say Konerko is going to hit several more homers off of him?

QUOTE(NYSox35 @ Jun 7, 2006 -> 08:35 AM) Zumaya = Douche Zumaya would look pretty good in the White Sox bullpen. I like his attitude.

I am an Anderson fan. But he almost seems resigned to the fact that he's going to have a very poor at bat every time he steps to the plate. I don't know what Ozzie was thinking yesterday having Cintron bunt early in the game with guys on first and second and nobody out. Normally its the right move, but with Anderson coming up next, taking the bat out of Cintron's hands was not wise. I don't know if sending BA down to AAA will help or hurt him, but at this point, finding someone who can play CF and hit, at least a little bit, will help the White Sox. The Sox face a ton of lefties the next couple of weeks. It would probably be best they make a mover sooner rather than later.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jun 6, 2006 -> 09:25 AM) You take Uribe out of the equation and you put in a allstar top 5 offensive guy like Tejada and our offense doesnt just get better, it becomes sick. It would be better than anything we have ever had. Look at how improved it is after just adding Thome. You add Tejada yikes. Our pitching has been medicore, so taking one of the SPs out and putting in McCarthy into the rotation isnt going to queer the deal. So what do you think is going to happen, all of a sudden our SP is just going to flip a switch and boom they are 2005 allstar pitchers, or that they will be good to decent all year long. If we can replace Uribe with Tejada, we could live with Anderson and if he hits even .091 at the 8 or 9 hole with his awsome defense. That's all fine and dandy. The problem would be getting Baltimore to think they are getting market value for Tejada. Garland or Garcia, plus Uribe plus a minor leaguer or 2 isn't going to do it. Other teams would and will offer much more if Tejada were to become available and was playing at his earlier lofty standards.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jun 6, 2006 -> 08:38 AM) Very few similarities, other than the obvious (i.e. they both breathe oxygen). An insult to AJ. It would be interesting to see the thread when the Sox first showed a little interest in AJ. IIRC, many on the board weren't very kind in their assessment of him. While their actions may be and are different, the similarity between AJ and CZ is fans of the team he is playing for have a totally different view of his "antics", real or perceived, than do others.

Zambrano would be the best pitcher on the White Sox, IMO. I would take him in a heartbeat. The Cubs are dumb, but not dumb enough to ever let him go. He's probably nuts and a guy you hate as an opponent. Sort of like AJ.

Guys like Everett and Smoltz really should be taken to the woodshed if they made comments about playing with gay players. Its no different than saying you wouldn't play with a latin, black, or white player. Its ignorant.

I really don't think the Orioles would trade Tejada for a bunch of young players. It wouldn't fly with the fans of Baltimore and Angelos knows it. The Sox need pitching. Tejada would be great, but its not going to happen. They won the WS with Uribe as SS.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jun 5, 2006 -> 07:13 AM) And now the Philly Inquirer is reportin on it; It would seem a pipedream to send Garland away, and free up tons of money. I do think people should keep in mind Garland may very well be receptive to a trade to a team that is good. It won't be long before the Sox will be able to trade him anywhere, and he might chose a trade to a good team rather than refuse and risk going to an even less desirable place for him in the future.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 07:14 PM) It didn't help that the pen also gave up 4 runs today. 3 were by Politte, and 1 given up by Montero. You can pretty much bank on each of them giving up runs when they enter the game. I don't think Ozzie wants to put either in a game that is not decided, and I doubt either will be with the team much longer.

I would say the biggest positive is we are complaining and concerned about a team 12 games over .500 the first week of June. Things could be a lot worse.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 03:48 PM) I'm calling the vatican to have Rowand nominated for sainthood. Why not? He's taken on epic proportions on this board. This team is simply playing poor baseball right now. Period. We saw them do the same thing last year at various times and they're doing it again right now. Grab an airsickness bag and hang on. Maybe they'll turn it around; maybe they won't. But it won't be for lack of effort, heart, leadership, or the presence of Aaron f***ing Rowand. I agree. If Rowand makes such a difference between winning and losing, how come the Phillies aren't running away with their division? The reason the Sox are struggling is because their pitching has been horrible.

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 03:44 PM) AAA success doesn't seem to translate into ML success when it comes to our prospects. I am not sure who we have at the Charlotte or Birmingham clubs that can get out major league hitters on a regular basis. Of course sometimes I wonder who on the ML roster can get hitters out sometimes. I really don't think there's any pitcher at Charlotte who could really contribute right now. Unfortunately, there are pitchers in Chicago who can't contribute right now. If Politte wants to be useful, maybe he can throw to Thome in home run derby.