Dick Allen

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 11:42 AM) Avi has been on the clock for six months now. They had replaced him, but then LaRoche quit. There is no doubt in my mind the Sox are shopping hard for his replacement and have been for a while now. That's true, but it does seem like the benefit of the doubt is coming close to an end. Sitting for longer periods, batting 8th or 9th...these are things that didn't happen before. If Morneau can play, Avi is cooked vs. RHP at that point.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 11:42 AM) Would AAA do Avi any good or is he just cooked? I wouldn't see the harm if you can't get anything for him. You have to pay him anyway. But I would make sure he made some radical adjustments. I think he needs to keep his hands lower. To me it's just for show now, when the pitcher starts his wind up, the hands wind up as high as ever, and he has a hard time catching up to fastballs he can't lay off of. If he can't lay off, keep the hands lower and maybe that will give him a better chance to hit them.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 11:39 AM) Yeah I guess this could work. I didn't know Lawrie's glove got better, he was a bobbling buffoon not to long ago. One thing I do agree with Caulfield on is Avi Garcia is on the clock. I think he's next. If he isn't hitting, he's totally worthless. So a rotating DH makes sense before Morneau or another bat arrives.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 11:34 AM) Well you could DH Saladino. People don't want Avi in the line up anymore Wouldn't surprise me to see Saladino play 2B and 3B from time to time and Frazier and Lawrie DHing. And Anderson will get a day or two off a week at SS I would imagine. Can't throw him totally to the wolves.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 11:15 AM) Wonder how Latos took it He pretty much told everyone how much he sucked after the last start. I doubt he made a scene. I actually wouldn't be surprised if he accepted going to Charlotte if the Sox wanted to do that.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 11:05 AM) FIFY Because if there are two things that Sox fans are good at, its setting unrealistic expectations and blasting the players when they don't meet those expectations. Nah, it will be on Robin or Renteria or whoever is managing then for "not putting him in a position to succeed".

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 11:00 AM) I don't understand the front office's thinking here. They certainly have gone to extremes here. First they want the veteran leadership, so they bring in a guy who is clearly "washed up". Then they reverse course and bring up a kid who they admit is a little raw, and still learning. I wan't crazy about the Rollins acquisition and even less in agreement with this one. It's too soon to be calling up Anderson. He is not a "savior" for what ails this team, and they are risking damaging his confidence. If he becomes a really great player, it will very likely be in a couple of years. In the meantime, he should be getting much more experience in AAA. His skill set is not what this team needs. He has no plate patience, which means that his OBP is not likely to be anywhere near .300 in the Big Leagues. He is not an elite defensive SS, as I have stressed in prior posts. He isn't even a left handed bat, and certainly not a power hitter. So what exactly does he bring to the table, that suggests that he needs to be rushed to the Majors, in order to help right this "sinking ship"? Unfortunately left handed bat middle of the line up, gold glove SS with OBP of .450 aren't available at the present time.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:51 AM) Pretty exciting stuff, to say the least. I am very fearful that Anderson is not ready for this level, or at minimum we might have wasted the chance for him to develop into a more patience and higher contact hitter. If he has the talent and gets enough of an opportunity, he should be able to work through those things at this level. We'll find out. On a lesser note, I wonder whether veteran FAs will begin to look at the Sox differently after seeing us repeatedly cut guys like Rollins, Latos, and some others in the recent past. On one hand, they get their money regardless, but on the other getting released like that mid-season is a possible death knell to an aging guy's career. I wouldn't think it's a big deal. They were given opportunities, and they failed. If someone is afraid to sign a 1 year contract because they might suck and get cut, no biggie. The problem to me is, it seems just about every single guy the Sox sign to these types of contracts have the same fate. I do think the Sox did OK with Latos. They won most of the games he pitched. Rollins didn't put up numbers, but they still are in contention and perhaps his presence helped the young guys. Buehrle often spoke about how much David Wells helped him, so if these guys were paying attention, what they paid Rollins could have been well worth it in the long run.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:51 AM) Guess this is a move people like. If he struggles will people blame KW for bringing him up too soon as a typical KW move. Ding ding ding.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:45 AM) Playing time- does Saladino start more or does Anderson? Is Anderson being used more as a PH/pinch run? If Anderson isn't coming up to play almost every day, this move makes no sense.

QUOTE (Black_Jack29 @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:38 AM) It's difficult to tell at this point if rushing Anderson will have a permanent, negative impact on him. Given the current mediocre state of the Sox farm system, I'd error on the side of caution. I do agree with your last sentence, and that alone makes this a dumb move, IMO. Saladino is better defensively than Anderson and I don't see any evidence that Anderson would put up the .700 or so OPS that would merit his presence in the lineup. Hopefully he will pull a Trayce Thompson.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:33 AM) Anderson coming up a couple weeks before his 23rd birthday. Pretty great for him and the Sox organization. It starts his hero clock. If he is as good as we hope, we will be officially hero worshipping in no time, and he will be currency to get some prospects.

QUOTE (Black_Jack29 @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:29 AM) I'm all for DFAing Rollins, but nothing I've read about Anderson this year suggests that he's ready yet. And with Carlos Sanchez available as an option to fill Rollins' role, I think it's a dumb move. It's one thing to waste $30M on Shields, but rushing your only really good position player prospect in the last several years may be an even dumber move in the long-term. The main concern to me would be how would he handle it if he did come up and fail. So far he's had some failure on just about every level and overcame it. I think the big worry in rushing a prospect is if he does real poorly, you can lose him forever. I don't think Anderson is in that boat. I do question if he is currently capable of upgrading the position.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 10:05 AM) Sitting here balancing the usual excitement of seeing a top prospect called up with the certainty that they're rushing it. I dunno guys. I have the same feeling. There hasn't been many hitting prospects to really be excited about. Even Trayce was pretty much whatever. I think Beckham may have been the last one that made people excited and while he was great that year, initially he struggled.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 6, 2016 -> 01:17 PM) Its things like this that make you realize you really should just stay the hell away from big ticket free agency and focus your resources on cost-controlled players (via trade) and drafting and development and buying out known commodities good years. Missing on this type of deals can totally set a franchise back where as having a prospect bust doesn't necessarily financially jeopardize your team from contending, etc. You see far fewer teams win because of the game of FA then the other way around. If you are going to be a medium payroller and smaller franchise, you really can't intend on competing unless you really nail it on the draft, development and savy trade equation and than playing a little bit of lotto on shorter term / lower profile FA signings which fit defined needs. Especially guys whose performance is largely leg related.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 08:43 AM) So Giancarlo Stanton is currently worse than 2012-2014 Adam Dunn. At age 26. Uh oh, hope it's just a bad 2.5 months. So do the Marlins. They gave him that huge extension and were counting on him opting out.

Don't really care about Collins' 40 time or his vertical at this point. The White Sox drafted a baseball player, not some athlete they are hoping to turn into one.

If you expect his numbers to be similar to Rollins and Saladino, it really makes no sense to call him up. They must project him to be better. I hope so, but think if he is called up, and it sure seems like that is the case, it most likely is a bit premature. I think he will struggle offensively initially, hopefully not to the point to where he is called anothe Sox bust. I think another couple months in Charlotte would do him some good. But desperate times call for desperate measures. The one positive is IMO, this could help him be ready from the get go in 2017.

QUOTE (Saufley @ Jun 9, 2016 -> 07:38 PM) Not inconsistent. If I am not mistaken, Einhorn, when his group purchased the Sox, said the Sox were going to be run more professionally. This franchise now is more of a joke that at the time it was purchased from Bill Veeck. How so?

QUOTE (chisox802 @ Jun 9, 2016 -> 04:33 PM) For what it's worth once again (in the Mat Latos thread I stated aprox. 20 minutes before it was announced that my buddy who works for the sox & bulls said that this was being announced today or tomorrow), he also said this. This move is solely in case they are not able to land a big bat, which unless the wheels continue to completely fall off they will make every effort to. Good news, and nice scoop.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 9, 2016 -> 04:00 PM) Hahn is a gigantic fool if he took a job in this organization but wasn't on board for how the franchise operated. He had at least half a dozen different organizations chase after him. He could have wrote his own ticket to a myriad of different teams. He wants to be here, and be a part of this. In fact he dropped out consideration for the St. Louis job because the farm director had ownerships ear and he thought he could be undermined. All this made up speculation about him being a puppet is a joke. Besides if he is weak enough to be a puppet, why would you want him running things anyway?

Lillian has to be somewhat pleased. Left handed middle of the order bat.

So mid to late July. This must be their deadline acquisition. It reminds me of Gar basically calling Dunleavy's return their deadline acquisition. I hope Hahn comes up with something else a bit sooner.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jun 9, 2016 -> 03:11 PM) He's so perma-concussed at this point he doesn't know who he is. The best the Sox can hope for is some freak of medical science that basically loses all sentience from repeated blows to the head and becomes a mindless destroyed of all things round. Kind of like a superhero origin story. I'm not holding my breath. This cracked me up. But the Sox sign a free agent to a $1 million contract to be a middle of the order left handed bat. This is very wishful thinking. But he has to be better than the spring training people's champ left handed bat, Travis Ishikawa.

I wonder what the timetable is on Mourneau being in the line up, and then the timetable on when he will be out for a significant stretch.