Dick Allen

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Jan 8, 2006 -> 06:58 AM) When did KW ever start being honest about his trades...... He always says he never talked about something and than all of a sudden the next day the trade happens.... He would never say its never been discussed. He might say we discussed some things but don't have any interest, or we don't have a fit, or something like that.

According to KW in today's Sun-Times, the White Sox acquiring Willy Taveras "has never been discussed." He once again expressed his utmost confidence in Brian Anderson. Turns out mlbrumors.com got this one completely wrong again. If its never been discussed how did they come up with this rumor unless it was totally made up?

QUOTE(TLAK @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 09:49 AM) Joey Cora was a guest of Bryan Dolgin and Bruce Levine on BaseBall 365 this morning and boy, is he mad at Jerry Owens and Charles Haeger. He mentioned how great Owens played for him, he was leading the league, but then he said he quit on the team. Said he could only see him making the White Sox if somebody gets hurt. Then they asked about Charles Haeger and he says he was leading the league but quit on the team too. Said sometimes when a player gets on the 40-man roster and his agent gets involved they think they have it made. I don’t know if Joey was speaking for the White Sox or just as disappointed manager who’s team fell short of the playoffs after his two stars left. I can't remember Joey Cora saying anything negative about a player before, so he must be mighty upset. There is an article on them on Sox.Com that notes between the minors and winter ball Owens had 775 plate appearances last year, and Haeger pitched 210 combined innings, his previous high was 88 2/3. I’d be surprised if the White Sox development guys want any of their players to log more time than these two. The Owens situation could get interesting around cut down time. If Cora is mad enough to say what he said in public, and Owens plays well enough to make the team, can the two coexist? I highly doubt they will let a guy who played an entire minor league system and had 180 ab's in winter ball decision to call it a year before the winter ball season was over, affect their decision whether or not he makes the White Sox. If its in the White Sox best interests to have Jerry Owens on the roster, he will be there.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jan 6, 2006 -> 09:26 PM) Did you ever consider trying out for the Warren Commission? Why can't you guys accept that some people have more of an inside track, and that rumors get reported as just that, rumors, and rumors don't always come true? This site is almost as bad as WSI in terms of holding rumors' sites feet to the fire. For God's sake they are rumors sites, they report things as nothing more than rumors/discussions. I get a big kick out of people here keeping a scorecard of how many rumors come true. If you knew the baseball business you'd know there are tons of things talked about between GM's/agents every week. Oops I forgot ... the influential people on this board say this guy gets all his info from other message boards ... so he must be a BS'er. Sorry for my contribution to this thread. The fact is this guy had a rumor of Carl Crawford for Josh Fields earlier. Is that not BS? If it isn't KW should be shot for not accepting it. If he didn't get the Tejada rumor off this site, than he reported on this site. First he tells you his "rock-solid" source, his words, has details of players names being thrown out, and then KW has his comments, and all of a sudden his "rock solid" source is on the financial side of things and really won't know about players anymore. If that isn't BS, I've never seen BS. I agree things are talked about that would probably surprise everyone, but this guy is either AndytheClown1 or he got his info from his posts.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jan 6, 2006 -> 05:40 PM) Because this is SoxTalk. It is easier for the posting community to take pot shots at people vs. building relationships and finding out legit information for themselves. Rock, you are a nice guy but they haven't posted your three team charade. I wonder why he didn't? I think he smells BS better than anyone here. Or that he reads this board, and saw it was going to be done. If he didn't say he was going to do it, and there was an 18 page thread on it, it would eventually show up there.

QUOTE(Punch and Judy Garland @ Jan 6, 2006 -> 05:34 PM) Abreu will rake in Wrigley but I wouldn't trade Prior under pretty much any circumstances if I were a gm on a team with him Do you think they may be getting Abreu in order to move him for Tejada?

I thought the Cubs were out of their minds to trade Prior in a package to get Tejada. If this trade goes down, either Hendry is very very stupid, or Prior's elbow is a big problem.

Big Ben signed a minor league contract with the Yankees and gets a non-roster invite to spring training in Tampa.

QUOTE(That funky motion @ Jan 5, 2006 -> 07:06 PM) After reading that,I would say it has a better chance of happening then not! Its weird because I have the same feeling. I thought all this talk of Tejada playing for the Sox was mostly BS, then KW says what he says and I think there's a chance he does. Manny said on espn.com that he's staying in Boston, so if he's telling the truth, that rules out one Tejada destination.

QUOTE(robinventura23 @ Jan 5, 2006 -> 12:41 PM) I had a random thought while coming in today, it's probably way out there but hey it's just an idea. According the Sun-Times: So if there is any kind of Tejada deal, maybe the Sox would just as well trade Crede and move Uribe to third. As for the Orioles, Melvin Mora's played SS in the past, plus he's eligible for free agency after the season so who knows what the their plans our for him. Just an idea. Considering the concern with Crede's back and Baltimore's reluctance to sign or trade for players with the slightest health question, I would be shocked if they were interested in him.

QUOTE(Mplssoxfan @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 03:44 PM) I haven't eaten steak in Chicago for a looooong time, but is Gene and Georgetti's closed? I loved that place. So old school, and the guys on the grill really knew what they were doing. If you're ever in Mpls, eat at Manny's. It's fan-freaking-tastic. I went to Gene and Georgetti's a couple of years ago with my old boss. It was totally old school as we sucked back manhattans at the bar before hand. I ordered mine medium well that night and they burned the s*** out of it. I never send back food for fear of what might happen when I don't see it so I just ate it. I went to see the Sox in Minneapolis a few years ago with my father who spent a lot of time up there and knew his way around. We ate at Manny's and it was excellent.

QUOTE(Cknolls @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 02:35 PM) Would not go back. I do not know why they ask you how you would like your steak cooked, because it seems like they cook every steak to medium. I like Morton's Ruth's Chris and On the cheaper end costwise but not quality wise Golden Steer in Forest Park. I had the same experience at Gibson's. The quality of the top steakhouse meat is very similar, in fact a lot of it is the same. Preparation is the key, and I'm a little weird in that I don't always order my meat prepared the same. I go from medium to well done.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 04:36 PM) I agree that he may turn into a good pitcher, putting him in the same sentence with those guys is a little presumtuous. Mark, Garland, Freddy, all had more successful careers than Bedard by the time Bedard made his debut. In 2004 at age 25 Bedard was pedestrian at 6-10 4.59. I think by this point in his career claiming Cy Young awards in his future is stretching it a little. Imay be wrong, and he may develop with age, but at this point I would put him in the maybe category while we have 3 other pitchers who have already been there and done that before him. (keep in mind they are all pretty much the same age). Regardless, getting him as a throw in would be a nice move by KW. The Orioles aren't going to trade Bedard. mlbrumors "rock-solid" source for this was Soxtalk and more specifically the Can Tejada be a reality thread page 4 post #54 posted Dec 30 by Andytclown1 in this section of the site.

QUOTE(tonyho7476 @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 01:46 PM) No doubt...the Count is a rent-a-player...unless they sign him. But they could trade him for a slew of prospects and not get a lot of grief about it from their fanbase.

Everyone needs to look at post #54 from the Can Tejada be a reality thread to see where mlbrumors got its info from, except here it says the Sox offered it, and in mlbrumors it says the Orioles asked for it.

I think they got these rumors from Andytclown1 on this board. If you remember he said the Sox could go up to $105 million in team salary, mlbrumors had it on there the next day. I also believe he said the O's asking price was what is now reported on mlbrumors.com.

QUOTE(JoshPR @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 12:10 PM) Tony Graffanino was just resigned as a free agent I think. So they can't trade him untill June 15th. Nice try MLBtraderumors.com The site is a joke, but Graffinino accepted arbitration so I believe he can be traded.

QUOTE(thedoctor @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 12:14 PM) it must be difficult to eat a steak that way. That's pretty good

I like the Chop House, Sullivan's makes a nice steak. My brother sends me some steaks every year from the supplier of most of the steakhouses, Allen brothers I believe, so my favorite steak is one I make on my 20 year old basic Weber.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 09:07 AM) What does Vazquez have to do with the topic you brought up, which was Contreras' value? There is a big difference, Vazquez is signed, Contreras is not. Actually those 200+ innings for most seasons of Vazquez's career show me he's pretty consistent. His control has been consistent, no doubt about that. I wonder if his propensity to throw strikes caused him to give up HR's in that thin air of Arizona and Los Angeles. Contreras is signed for 2006. Vazquez is signed through 2007 with an arbitration year which I can't see the White Sox going through. If he pitches well they will probably have to pay him at least $16 million, if he pitches like he has the last 2 seasons they will be counting the hours until his contract expires.

JimH, Contreras might have been maddening inconsistent, but so has your boy who will be paid more than Contreras, Javier Vazquez. Vazquez had 9 games in the NL last season where he gave up 5 earned runs or more. If I and others are overvaluing Contreras, you are overvaluing Vazquez who has never pitched well for a team down the stretch in a pennant race or in the playoffs.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 08:53 AM) There sure seems to be a lot of excuses for him in the past. Even though I think he'll be a good contributor for the Sox, I don't know how anyone can say his last two seasons haven't been disappointing. I'm sure the Yankees and Diamondbacks weren't exactly thrilled with his performance. He was so screwed up the second half of 2004 the Yankees thought he had to be hurt.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 08:35 AM) Sorry, but I have to agree with Jim here. Vazquez is a durable workhorse who would be a decent #2 pitcher on a lot of teams. What you call "two underachieving years" (4.91 and 4.42 ERA) I call "one underachieving year with very solid career numbers outside of it and an excelltn #5 pitcher for any team." Weaver would also be a very good #5 on most teams, but Vazquez has better stuff and more upside. For a guy making $12.5 million, his ERA being higher than the league ERA the last 2 seasons is a little disconcerning. If those aren't considered underachieving years for Javier Vazquez, what would be? His ERA has been worse than league average, so you must be saying since he hasn't underachieved in your eyes he's a little bit below average starter.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jan 4, 2006 -> 08:19 AM) What's equal value? Although I wouldn't do it, I could understand Contreras going as part of a package for Tejada. Frankly, I don't see many matches. I wouldn't mind a top of the line closer. I don't know how Jenks will hold up frankly, and it would be a luxury to move him back to middle relief. Contreras is a #1 starter making $8 million this year, he should bring back a surefire impact player or 2. Trading Contreras for this Houston package presents other problems. What if a White Sox pitcher got hurt? What if BMac pitches like he did the first time he was called up? Pitching wins. I'll take Anderson and his growing pains in CF any day with Contreras playing out his contract. There's nothing to say that if Contreras plays this year out he wouldn't sign with the Sox anyway, or they could use that money bring in another player and sign Buerhle and/or Garcia for a few more years. For 2006 Contreras > Taveras, Qualls, and any Houston prospect.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 3, 2006 -> 10:56 PM) O please Dick, your smarter than that to compare the stuff on Javier Vazquez to Jon Adkins. The way I am looking at all this is sort of simple. Last season, im sure prior to the Lee-Podsednik deal, you would have said trading a young 30 HR guy for a .313 OBP was the dumbest move in Sox history. Kenny filled a need, and I think it worked out, well, ok. :rolly I love Contreras. He quickly became one of my favorite White Sox players in 2005. I told Greasy on AIM that I would take a big hit to the Sox heart if he leaves. HOWEVER, if we can fill 3 needs( getting a CF to give Anderson some competition, get a SOLID pen arm in Qualls, and also help get our farm system a little more help in a mid to high level prospect, I would certainly look at the deal. Sometimes the talent you give up doesnt always have to equate what you get back. Maybe you do, but this certainly isn't the time. To trade someone just because he doesn't have a contract for next year is silly. A year from now if Buerhle isn't signed, should the Sox trade him? To trade someone just because he can bring back muliple players is silly. The White Sox are defending their title and management appears to be sticking their financial necks out in order to repeat. You don't trade Contreras unless you are getting equal value for a guy who probably was the best pitcher in baseball from the middle of July thru October. The Sox have a few guys they could trade to fill multiple holes. They could have done it with Konerko last year. Good thing they didn't. I'm sure Buerhle could bring back players at several positions, but that would not be wise. My reference to Cooper is it appears many on this board think Cooper can turn dust to gold. He can't, no one can. He's a great pitching coach, but some people on here think its automatic he takes a guy who has been around or below a .500 pitcher even though he has great stuff, even though he walks few and strikes out many, his entire career, and suddenly make him a first ballot Hall of Famer.