Dick Allen

American League all the way. Part of me would like to see the Yankees lose in the first round, but if they do, every good free agent will be signed by them this winter. Whatever team represents the AL in the World Series is who I am pulling for.

I think it will hurt attendance. Playing the Yankees in April fills the stands on nights when it would usually be a ghost town. If the Sox are in contention, they will draw 30,000 + no matter who they are playing on a weekend in August. Its really too bad the Sox only get 3 home dates against the Yankees each season. That was such a huge rivalry before divisional play. My grandma would never miss a White Sox/Yankees tilt at Comiskey Park.

Jeff Brantley is less accurate than Peter Gammons. He is a fool who should not be on television, let alone passed off as an "expert". Disregard anything he says.

Ok, he'll only be 35 1/2 on opening day.

Fair market value for 36 year old .215 hitters who strikeout once every three times up, and commits numerous blunders in the field is not as high as Jose thinks, I would guarantee you that.

Unless he signs with a team before arbitration has to be offered. If he did that, the Sox would offer arbitration as a formality, but I doubt that will happen.

The contract is key. Also, don't forget Chicago is the favorite road city of MLB.

Chet had a great show. He had all A list guests, this was back on 670 in the mid to late 80's. He went to NYC for a couple of years and came back. His show wasn't the same when he went to AM1000, although I did win a TIVO from him. BTW, I saw him at the Friday Sox/Cubs game at USCF this year. I believe he still has a show on sporting news radio. Swirsky was great when he had a Sunday night show on the LOOP. He used to have a segment called buffoon of the week. He was great, but really toned down his act when he went to WGN.

The White Sox were one of seven or eight teams that attended a workout wherever he is staying. The NY papers say he wants a lot of money and don't think the Yankees have much interest. He is apparently very slow, and probably a firstbaseman/DH kind of guy. He also is very rusty. He hasn't played in a couple of years. He basically was kicked off the team because of the fear of defection. Most scouts believe he is at least 2 or 3 years away from contributing on a major league team.

Vizquel would be perfect for a couple of years. Uribe gets a couple years as the super utlility man, then takes over at short.

Robbie's back and hip were bothering him last year. If KW and Ozzie are trying to find out NOW if Alomar can help them next year, I have really lost any confidence in them. His back has been bothering him since he came back here. Why play him with a sore back? They obviously wouldn't be able to evaluate him properly. Robbie may have something left in him if everything falls into place correctly, but I think the odds on that happening are quite long. Its amazing to me how far he has fallen in a relatively short period of time. 3 years ago he was a gold glover hitting .330 with 25 homers and 25 steals. He looks like he's 70 years old on the field now.

Keeping the same Jose Valentin, team leader, who has hit about .160 since the Sox have been without Frank and Magglio. Who has committed key errors in various losses, the biggest being a loss to the Twins, when he dropped a pop up, which eventually led to a basehit which scored the winning run. The team leader, who all he can do anymore, since he has decided to get picked off all the time on the basepaths, is hit homeruns, yet hasn't since August 9th. If this bum is willing to play for the minimum, and understands he is a part -time utility player, then maybe the Sox should bring him back. His backers love his power, yet he hasn't hit a homer in about a month, during which he has hit like a pitcher. He fielding has been erratic at best. He has been unsuccessful getting his last 10 or so bunts down. He used to be a great baserunner, but has been caught sleeping at least 3 times the last month and a half. Vizquel may not hit .300 next year. He may not hit .250. Valentin hasn't hit .250 in a long while, and probably won't hit .200 next year. Good riddance Jose. Congratulations on stealing $5 million this year.

Tightness in the forearm many times leads to problems with the elbow.

I don't think you need a strikeout pitcher as a closer if you bring him in to start an inning. You need a strikeout pitcher when you have guys on base and 0 or 1 out. I wouldn't have a problem with Shingo continuing as the closer, but only use him for 1 inning or less, and remember he is used to pitching about 40 to 50 innings a year. I brought up in another thread that Shingo to me is a prime candidate to implode next year. I would seriously consider trading him. His should have decent value, and he will be 36 years old.

You'll still be able to buy them. You may want to hit a scalper though. At that time, they will give you a real good deal.

In other news, Esteban got shelled again, this time in relief. 3 IP 6 ER.

There's was more than 5,000 there. That total didn't include season ticketholders who were given comps. I was sitting behind homeplate, right next to Mrs. Shingo and his 2 little ones. Borchard's ball was smoked.

Farmer mentioned today that Garcia's forearm tightened up some more on a side session today. Looks like the White Sox may have underestimated another injury.

You must think Dave Kingman belongs in the Hall of Fame. I think KW has finally tired of Jose's inconsistency. I doubt he'll be back at any price. Uribe is 24 or 25 years old, so improvement at the plate is not unheard of. Jose's average has declined each season he has been with the White Sox, that trend probably would continue. Vizquel on a 2 year deal sounds good to me. Maybe during that 2 years, Uribe becomes more consistent, he is potentially just as good of homerun guy as Jose, and a gifted fielder, opening up the job for him upon Vizquel's retirement. One thing to keep in mind if you are going to say Uribe is not good with the glove, is this guy has bounced around from 3B to SS to 2B all season. He hasn't played 1 position consistently. To expect him to really excel, would be unrealistic. Look at all the slack people were going to give ARod just for moving over 15 feet, and that was playing 1 position consistently everyday. Remember all the complaining Jose did when he was playing 3b and CF. Despite it all, Uribe has done a good job with the glove, and is a lot of fun, at least for me, to watch. I wouldn't put my eggs all in one basket for him, but potentially, he is an All Star, something Jose is not.

This is exactly the reason I think the Sox should seriously consider trading Shingo this offseason. He is a 1 inning pitcher. He is 35 years old. Its very possible the league catches up to him next year, maybe not, Doug Jones had a pretty good career throwing frisbees, but 40 innings per season is all Shingo has been used the last 6 or 7 years. If Shingo falters as a closer, using him for multiple innings doesn't appear to be an option. His salary goes up to $2.5 million next year, expecting him to be as good as this year would be unfair.

Just ignore my wanting Ozzie fired. I never wanted him hired, and its my little crusade right now. His velocity was way off, you're right we are not privy to conversations. But players get criticized if they say they can't or shouldn't play. Remember the outcry last season when Colon told Manuel he was done against the Cubs, and the Sox lost 2-1? The fact he was only throwing 91 or 92 and the warm up, had a couple people in the seats wondering if there wasn't something wrong, it just amazes me that no matter what Freddy would say to Ozzie, Ozzie wouldn't just take charge and say, " I don't like how your velocity has dropped, and I don't like how you're warming up, something is not right", and not take the chance. Just like when Ordonez came back, and didn't want to DH. Ozzie puts him in RF. Ozzie has to be in charge, he has to say no, its too much to risk. I know Magglio's current condition probably has nothing to do with him going back out in the field, but they wanted him to DH for a while when they thought his condition was far less serious than what it turned out to be. Ozzie is the manager, he is ultimately held responsible for these decisions.

So you are saying he injured it after the game? He was either injured before that last pitch, or he was injured that last pitch, its not stupid to speculate, it has to be the case. I don't know if you were at that game, I was. I don't know if you watched it or listened on the radio, and since I didn't see the TV I don't know if it was brought up, but one interesting thing happened that would make you wonder. When he was warming up in between innings, he was just lobbing the ball, like you would lob one to a child, he would let it go a little bit on his last warm up. My friend and I were wondering if there was a problem, but nothing was reported, so we thought nothing of it. I really haven't paid much attention to Freddy warming up before, maybe that's what he does all the time. In my first post about this subject, in which you ridiculed me, I did state that leaving him in probably didn't matter as far as the outcome of the game especially considering Marte was the only one warming up, and he seemed quite generous that evening. I was concerned about injury, and I know its only 1 more pitch, but when guys blow out their elbows, sometimes 1 pitch puts them over the top. You really don't know what kind of stress the previous pitches had on his arm, and if he had this forearm problem, how much he altered his delivery to ease pain. Hopefully this injury is as minor as the White Sox want everyone to believe. Ozzie must realize that this season is a lost cause, and ease up on his horses. He's going to need them next year.

That's exactly what you want to do, extend injured pitchers He probably was hurt before that, but maybe he did get hurt that batter, do you know for sure? Either way, it was stupid to leave him in. If he was hurt before that, are you saying that sending him out to the mound is a good idea? The man you just gave $27 million to? Its about time Ozzie starts taking care of his starters, so next year they won't have the excuse 2 or 3 or 4 starting pitchers got hurt, and who can overcome that?

Now I'm really happy Ozzie threw Garcia out there in the 8th inning last Sunday after throwing 117 pitches, to face Ramirez for the 4th time. Fire Ozzie, please.

The problem with the Orioles is Angelos is a stickler when it comes to passing physicals. Insurance would be real tough to get on Magglio, and if he got it ,pretty freaking expensive. Unless, of course, Mickey Segal is released from prison, and Near North Insurance wants to write him a policy. Aaron Sele was set to sign with the O's about 4 or 5 years ago, but they flunked him on the physical and he won 18 or something like that for Seattle. I don't think the Mets want to take too much of a chance, considering their luck with Mo Vaughn. I posted earlier, I talked to someone who said he was a friend of Magglio, and reading the papers today, made me certain he was telling me the truth. He mentioned to me the $8 million figure, and I posted it last Saturday. He also said it most likely wouldn't be the White Sox giving him that money.