Dick Allen

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 24, 2017 -> 11:55 PM) I wonder if a scenario ever existed where there would be several news outlets writing the same story about President Obama choosing to travel with Malia Obama over Josh Earnest. I didn't know Malia was hired as an advisor to the President.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 24, 2017 -> 09:02 PM) You're talking about a HoF pitcher, perhaps the most dominant strikeout guy of his generation. It's a good point about a 4+ ERA, but you ask 100 casual fans to name the best 10 starting pitchers in baseball and Q's name might come up once or twice (SABES owners or White Sox fans). If you asked that question at the time of the Big Unit trade, he would have been on 100/100 fan lists. And even then, you're talking about a full 1/2 point of ERA. Below 4.5, the perception is you're closer to 4 and being in a decent band range. 4.82, you're closer to 5. Once again, perception is more important than reality in statistics. It is also 3 months vs. 3 years. And fans don't make the trades. Q was lousy for 2 innings yesterday. If he hadn't beeen his ERA would be a run or more lower. What was Samardzija's ERA in 2015 when he got $90 million?

People need to put things in perspective. This is a bad team. Despite numerous players playing way better than expected and highly unlikely to maintain that level, they are 1 game better than the worst record in the AL. They will be horrible. Q will be fine. Had a bad couple of innings today. His ERA won't be 4.90 at the deadline. Randy Johnson had a 4.33 at the deadline and got traded for 3 decent prospects including Freddy Garcia. He had a 1.28 ERA the rest of the way.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 24, 2017 -> 02:31 PM) During a budget conference today, Mulvaney slipped in a statement that tax revenues are coming in slower than expected and that we may hit the debt limit sooner than originally anticipated. Mnuchin is along Congress to raise the ceiling before they go on summer recess. Quick cut the taxes for the rich. One thing I don't get is if cutting taxes is just going to be passed on to the working class, why is the right so opposed to raising the minimum wage? Pass the tax savings on to your workers, no?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ May 24, 2017 -> 03:01 PM) Ive been thinking a lot about this because I go to a good number of concerts/festivals and its been on my mind for a while. I think what they would need to do is almost block off an area (that way no car bombs etc) and then stagger security at different points so that the bottlenecks arent as bad. The 2 worst I have seen are 1) GnR concert at Soldier Field and 2) Lollapalooza. For the GnR concert, I kept talking about how the security was almost counter productive, because it created a huge mass of people with no where to go and that a bomb would actually kill more people if it went off there. Lollapalooza there is some security before the huge bottleneck, but again a bomb vest would be hard to find because its not really what they are looking for. Another issue is (and this is my personal opinion) is that they need to stop focusing so much on trying to catch illegal drugs and just worry about safety. They arent going to catch a semi-intelligent person sneaking in drugs, it just wont happen. But by slowing down the line, creating the bottleneck they are making it less safe for everyone. Metal detectors and wands are pretty fast, its when they start digging through hats, etc that the line slows to a crawl. The crack security going through the bags is something. My wife likes to bring in contraband, which to her is extra bottles of water. She buries them at the bottom of her bag and puts a tampon on top of it. Once they get to the tampon, the search ends.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 24, 2017 -> 03:02 PM) How can the Bulls get Deaaron Fox. I would like him on our team. On an unrelated note, what are the odds that Bosh is a Bull? Considering the Bulls stance with Eddy Curry and his heart condition, I would be shocked if they went after Bosh and his clots. I understand the guy loves playing, but he needs to walk away. There is no reason to take the slightest risk. Even though he probably would improved the team if he signed, I hope the Bulls pass. That is a tragedy waiting to happen.

The Sox have their run for Q. That should do it for the offense until either Q gets pulled or Friday.

Every time I am in a long slow moving line going to an event I have to go through screening, I always wonder, if someone had a bomb, they could easily detonate it right by the gate and scores would be killed. The metal detectors might keep guns out of games and concerts, but if someone really wanted to hurt scores of people, doing it right outside would work almost as well. Security is so tight at Wrgiley, they can't stop Ronnie Woo Woo. We are, I guess protected inside the venues, but in the parking lots, in line at the ticket counter, in line to get in, there really is nothing they can do.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ May 24, 2017 -> 12:52 PM) Porcello was very good last year, but was also very overrated due to his 22 wins. Verlander and Kluber were probably better, but IMO Porcello took the Cy from them because of wins. Maybe. He still was really good. What I don't understand is all the Hawk haters who always slam him for his lack of sabermetric use, but love Stone, who seems to base how good any pitcher is by wins.

Wins may be overblown, but especially in today's game, it would be pretty hard for a pitcher to win 20 games and not be really good that particular season.

They never get Hawk to talk about how he almost traded for Andre Dawson when he was the GM. The rumors were so rampant, Dawson once took BP in Montreal wearing a White Sox cap. The next season he signed with the Cubs and was MVP.

We also have it both ways with him. When he rated Tatis so high, it was OMG that was the worst trade of all time. Now he is an idiot for not thinking Robert is a top 100 prospect. I just read where a few years ago he was talking to an Orioles beat writer about the pitchers and like a few of them but said Jake Arrietta had back of the rotation upside. He said he wouldn't be qualified to be a data analyst these days. Just take what he says with a grain of salt. He is sometimes right, other times wrong, just like everyone else. At the end of the day his opinion doesn't change things either for the good or bad, and He has no effect on anyone's career. I don't think he is anti White Sox anymore. I do think he was at one point, and back then they did have crap. He took forever to come to grips he was wrong about Sale, but eventually came around. But I do think he will tweak them occasionally, just for fun. He doesn't seem like a guy I would like to hang out with, and his undressing of Garfein was absurd, but if his opinion was the end all, I know, he wants to spend more time at home...., he would be running a team.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 23, 2017 -> 11:45 AM) I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. Huckabee copied me.

QUOTE (almagest @ May 23, 2017 -> 06:38 PM) I thought Garfien's question was in poor taste, but Law really went off on him for it, and was kind of a dick for the rest of the interview. I like hearing his opinion and his writing is interesting but man he is a prick sometimes. He didn't even get to the question. I think it would be human nature to look at at player a little more skeptically , even unconsciously if you had no chance of signing him. Law acted like Garfield was going to ask if they were outright lying. I don't think that was going to be the question.

Law's job is to not necessarily be right, just be right sometimes and bring traffic, I just find it odd that every single scout he has spoken to has major concerns about Robert"s swing, when everyone else covering the story found at least one or two who did not.

I wonder if Law is listening to the same scout that told him to draft David Purcey instead of Dustin Pedroia. Or told him Rickey Romero is better than Tulo, or Cutch, or Ellsbury.

I'd love to bet Keith Law something worthwhile. I take Robert, he's got Tatis Jr. player with the best career WAR wins.

QUOTE (BaseballNick @ May 23, 2017 -> 02:39 PM) That would be throwing a bone to a kid who supposedly took less money to sign with your team. He'd be paying 40% in federal income tax on that bonus in the US vs 25% in the DR. That's a $3,750,000 difference. If the bonus is worth $25,000,000 then he pays Uncle Sam $10,000,000 leaving him with $15,000,000. If he gets paid in the DR, then he keeps $18,750,000 of that money. I'm not an accountant, so I don't know if there's more that plays into this. If this was my money, I'd certainly want to explore all ways possible to preserve the largest payday of my life. I don't think they will pay him his entire bonus all upfront. I'm sure there is a payment schedule over several years. But every little bit probably helps him.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 23, 2017 -> 02:28 PM) Here's Keith Law's writeup on Luis Robert move: http://www.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=7110 Law isn't really a fan and mentions many of the deals that haven't worked out for Cuban hitters. He also said he hasn't seen Robert play but will once he goes to a team. He said he talked to scouts though and this is what he heard: Hit tool not better than Moncada which is concerning because still real questions about his swing and striking out 27% in AAA. Athletic, plus runner, above average bat speed and raw power. Every single scout Law spoke with had major concerns about Robert's swing and his ability to make contact against even average fastballs inside or up. Robert has a "dead hands" start that results in no load and his swing doesn't involve his lower half. Speed and range for CF with mixed reports on his arm. Contract is commensurate with what guys like him have gotten paid though. We heard the same things about Abreu. A Frank Thomas leaked scouting report said a lot of the same things. Guys usually don't hit up and in fastballs very hard anyway. Again, Keith Law was with Toronto from 2003-2006. Check out their drafts and some of the guys they passed on. You may start to wonder why so many people think he is some sort of guru. If Robert wasn't so hyped, I wouldn't be surprised if Law had a different opinion.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 23, 2017 -> 01:53 PM) Its awful that piece of crap tries to present himself as a journalist. I was watching John Oliver and he had a piece for the same point in Obama's term as Trump is now, and what was being discussed. They had a clip of Hannity ripping Obama for ordering spicy mustard on his burger. Tried to call him an elitist. It was hysterical.

Here's something interesting. If they are correct, it says moms make 71% of dads in the same position, black and latina moms make even less: http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/p...0522-story.html

One thing is for sure, if they thought something really bad was going on, he wouldn't be throwing. Of course that doesn't mean something really bad isn't going on.

QUOTE (ptatc @ May 23, 2017 -> 12:59 PM) This is a really long time. it's still just so odd. It's almost as if they wanted to keep him on ice a bit this year so they wouldn't win too many games. If he was what he was at the end of last season, sub him for Covey, and that's a pretty good rotation. Maybe they are buying a little time for Q to get traded, and keep some wear and tear off Rodon's arm, but even that may be crazy because I doubt Boras would be too keen on the Sox holding out his client for no reason.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 23, 2017 -> 12:55 PM) I am going to guess once the Robert deal becomes official, the teams desire to kick in salary is going to decrease for a while. Maybe, but even if they kick in money, they still are saving from what they owe.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 23, 2017 -> 09:33 AM) He would exceed what Robert just got by a lot It would depend which teams could bid, and if there was a matching penalty. If some of the big boys were able to bid, I don't think Robert is a White Sox. Just like with Abreu, the teams that bid high, had first base pretty much covered so they were out. Boston was actually thinking about putting Abreu at 3B if they had signed him.