Dick Allen

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 05:28 PM) Yeah, it seemed like a show when he was with Sox to parlay it into a bigger gig and to be Marriotti. But, honestly, I kind of admire it too. It's annoying. I can't read it. But he is the only beat writer in Chicago who beats out national reporters. He got Marriottis job didn't he? Then he popped off about the female pilot, got suspended, and became a beat writer again. His final couple of years with the White Sox, there was nothing more he seemed to want than Ozzie and Oney's approval.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 03:46 PM) Samardzija? Liriano? Paulino? Let's not be too optimistic until we see where he's at physically. Fwiw, pretty sad we're arguing about guys like Shuck, Sands and Raburn after all the excitement beginning in December. Why did you suggest giving Latos $10-12 million in your new market inefficiency thread? You mentioned him several times in that thread, only ranking guys who got $80 million, one rumored to be on the verge of 40-45 million, and $70 million ahead of him. Considering it was a market inefficiency thread you yourself started, I would think the $3 million the Sox paid out would be something you would consider a good deal. But what was I thinking. Caulfield: sign Mat Latos for $10-12 million. Maybe sign Parra for $8 million, and sign Desmond in June. It will be better than signing Cespedes.White Sox sign Latos for $3 million. Caulfield: don't be too optimistic until we see where he is at physically. True colors (royal blue) shown.

According to KC Johnson, the Bulls want a first round pick plus a rotation player for Pau, or Taj, or Snell. Good luck.

I've been chanting patience as much as anyone, but if Fowler signs for 2 years $20 million with Baltimore, and Hahn doesn't have something else up his sleeve, I will be more than a little perplexed.

I wonder if the NIU student body is upset Wrigley will be undergoing renovations and is unavailable.

I just think it's weird they made a decision years ago to get away from multi-purpose outdoor arenas, and now it's a craze to play football games in baseball stadiums.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 12:55 PM) Which is why it's unrealistic when fanbases (like Chicago) get upset when they don't win a title. Getting to the ECF or Finals is a legit accomplishment in the NBA. Only a few teams really have enough talent to win it all, and that's proven true year after year. Superstars win titles. If you don't have one, you aren't winning one. But the Bulls have only make the conference finals 1 time since 1998. That's pretty weak. I think the fanbase has a right to be upset. They have reached a certain level, but haven't been able to take the next step. Now it looks like they will probably be retreating for a season or two. Expecting the return of the Jordan era when it was 8 conference finals in 10 years, and one Hugh Hollins call from being 9 out of 10, and one MJ retirement from being 10 years in a row, is crazy. But this team leads the league in attendance. The fans deserve better than the totally conservative route this team has taken in regards to player moves, and reluctance to pay luxury tax. Reinsdorf has said he all he wants his baseball team to do is break even. If that was the same with the Bulls, I think they would have been far more aggressive over the years.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 12:21 PM) Doesn't have a full no-trade? I wonder what teams he'd be willing to go to. Not many make much sense. Would the Bulls really trade him to a playoff rival? Or anyone in the East? He's too slow for the Warriors. Clips don't need him. San Antonio doesn't need him. Thunder maybe? Durant really wanted him during his last FA. Im' with you. How many teams are a Pau Gasol away from perhaps winning a title who really have a spot for him? Not too many. Maybe OKC. But the Bulls need to trade him. They aren't going anywhere. I don't know why a team would give up a 1st rounder for a couple of months of him. If the Bulls really are willing to pay him $20 million a year, he can always come back. If they trade him, and even just get some athletic tape for him, I will applaud GarPax for at least being realistic. That's the problem with the NBA. There are maybe 4 teams with a legit shot of winning, and if GS stays healthy, probably fewer than that.

If Fowler would have taken the QO, would the Cubs still have signed Heyward?

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 09:33 AM) I kind of hate that deal. Everytime I see Rudy Gay's name, I think of Rick Majerus on ESPN discussing the draft. When he said "I am not a big Gay guy", he cracked up the entire set. Watching them try not to laugh was hysterical.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 07:24 AM) Jackson would be my preferred pickup. Upgrades the bad OF defense immensely. If Jackson became a White Sox, I would be happy. Yet another guy with hardly any chatter, and he has no QO offer. Boras is a magician with contracts, but sometimes his players get burned. Jackson seems to be heading that way.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 08:13 AM) They used to offer more Mexican food (from 2006ish-2013) at the general food stands, but they don't anymore. I used to get that stuff all the time. The new Mexican food just isn't as good IMO, so I have to "settle" for hot dogs, burgers, and pizza. At the old park, they had a taco stand under the LF seats. It was hard to beat. It was authentic. It wasn't a Sportservice type of thing. If the game sucked, at least there was tacos.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ Feb 17, 2016 -> 07:30 AM) It used to always be a hot dog with grilled onions and mustard, but since I've been diagnosed celiac I've been swearing by the Tex-Mex nachos. I feel bad for you gluten free guys. I had a gluten free chocolate cake donut the other day. It looked tremendous, but tasted like dust. I enjoy that newer spicy sausage they have at the stands these day. If you're on the club level, Levy makes a tasty burger.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 01:33 PM) Pretty sure it was 3 of the 5 starters wanted Thibs gone with Jimmy and Pau in the Thibs gone camp, Rose in the keep Thibs camp and don't know where Dunleavy/Noah fell. It was something like that. But good job Bulls. Poll your players about the coach and let the public know how they "voted". They need to pay Pau the $20 million a year because apparently he is also the GM and Gar/Pax are election judges.

There are guys that should be platooned without a doubt, but in today's game with 12 pitchers on a roster and 7 relievers, actually thinking you are going to get great match ups all the time is a reach. Say the Sox are down 1 with the bases loaded and Melky up in the 5th or 6th. They bring in a lefty. Pinch hit for him, say Avi. He better get a hit and give the Sox the lead for good, or Avi is going to be seeing RHP his next AB. So there is that, and you don't have an endless supply of possible pinch hitters.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 12:41 PM) Where did this "Butler" turned on Thibs notion come from? I had it on pretty good record last year (not necessarily the end of the season so maybe something happened in the playoffs that set him off) that Butler absolutely loved Thibs. On the other hand, Bernstein is coming out and indicating Butler does not respect Hoiberg. Taj also had some comments last week, which made it sound like he didn't respect Hoiberg. This is the Taj who has always been perceived as nothing but class (and I know that Taj loved Thibs...knew a guy that coached Taj during summers and Taj would rave about Thibs). It sounded like Butler was pretty anti Hoiberg at the deadline. Is this a Butler issue (if he turned on two coaches, I'd say maybe, but like I said, I had never heard about Jimmy not liking Thibs and it was widely reported that the two had dinner on a few different occasions after Thibs had already been fired (which to me made it pretty clear he respected Thibs). Oh and when Jimmy threw Hoiberg under the bus to coach harder, one of the items he was directly quoted saying was Thibs mantra. http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2016/02/16/ber...m_content=10093 I think the Bulls leaked something that indicated Butler wanted Thibs gone at the end of last year. I do know they had dinner together after he was waxed. I don't know if Hoiberg will be a good coach or not, but his hiring is an exact replica of the Tim Floyd hiring. Both Iowa State. Both known to get the job months in advance. Both GMs making it seem like there will be an exhaustive search to find the right guy, and in the end the GM hires their buddy, and in reality really screws him over. Floyd had no chance with the garbage he had. Despite Gar calling his roster a championship roster, it's not close, making Hoiberg look incompetent. They will spin injuries, but those apparently were on the coach in previous seasons. I would have respected Gar at least a little bit if he would have just said, Thibs is a great coach, I just don't like the guy so I am firing him. Not all the high school type garbage they did. Maybe they should do the same with Gar.

The other thing about Guerrero is he cannot be sent to the minor leagues without his permission. So if he sucks and he doesn't feel like going to Charlotte, you can release him or burn a roster spot.

Sometimes you don't appreciate things until they are gone. If Butler turned on Thibs, I bet he is having second thoughts. The guy actually said GarPax's guy needs to coach harder.

QUOTE (Tannerfan @ Feb 16, 2016 -> 11:59 AM) I think it's hard to take these predictions seriously because they're done now before spring training begins, as opposed to right before the actual season starts. BP bases its predictions on "the numbers" but wouldn't they have a better chance of accuracy after rosters are set? Not to mention there's no way WARP or ERA+ can take into account a teams best pitcher jumping from the back of a pickup truck, injuring his foot, and missing his first three or four starts. Just saying. Of course they are ridiculous. But it gets people talking. Most predictions for entire league records turn out to be laughable at the end of the season. I am not sure if it was BP or Fangraphs who had every team that finished in last place in the AL last season actually making the playoffs in their preseason end of spring training predictions.

Thibs could easily get hired right now. He is going to pick his spot. Considering the Bulls owe him $9 million, he probably has that luxury. One question, if he was so terrible, and so mean, why did the geniuses who run the Bulls hire him in the first place, and give him an extension?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 09:27 PM) Sure, but the White Sox were also 20% higher...and that was 20-25 years ago, before baseball attendance really exploded. Are you going to argue Twins' fans are better? Well, considering I keep hearing how White Sox fans are at best 1/3rd of Chicago, the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan market of 3.4-3.8 million fans is still much bigger. Plus they have the ability to draw regionally from outside the city and surrounding states. The White Sox largely do not because of the Cubs, Twins, Brewers, Royals, Cardinals and Tigers, to name six neighboring competitors. Again you are wrong. There are plenty of out of town fans at White Sox games. Most games vs. Detroit sound like road games. It is getting that way vs. KC. It was that way vs. Cleveland for years, but now they don't watch the Indians anywhere. The White Sox draw a fairly decent amount of opposing team fans throughout the summer months. People like to come to Chicago. I wonder if they are going to start to get scared they might get shot.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 09:12 PM) That's as hypothetical as asking what would the Sox be drawing now with a second World Series appearance in 2006 and at least a competitive season in 2007... Even if they got down to the 1.3 million mark, subsidies would kick in to protect the franchise, although taxpayer sentiment wouldn't be very friendly with all the various budget shortfalls in the state and city in critical areas of social/public need. But you are comparing attendance with 4 consecutive 90 plus loss seasons vs. the White Sox new park which season 1 coming off of a 94 win season, and in 93 winning the division, and leading the division in 94 at the time of the strike.of,course attendance was dropping. 93 was lowere than 91, and 94 was lower than 93 on average, so the strike probably saved the "they need to make the playoffs in consecutive year for attendance to really climb" excuse alive.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 09:07 PM) But the $1 hot dogs on July 4th weekend is a great promotion, given that their normal price is what, $5.50 now? I think it is the cheaper dog they sell for $1. I was at a stand and a husband and wife got 6 each. That was the limit per purchase. You can't feel very well after eating 6 of those.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 08:59 PM) That's exactly why the Sox ownership sucks. They charge so much for burgers, it drives the fans away, and then they don't have money to spend on players. If they lowered the price of burgers, they'd instantly become a 100 win team. Burgers are priced high. I always wondered why they weren't a bigger part of baseball eating. Probably not as big of profit margin.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 08:53 PM) And that would be relevant if the White Sox had also opened a beautiful new stadium in 2010. Minnesota averaged 27,408 last year when they had a playoff competitive, winning team for the entire season. In 2014, when they were terrible and had no young stars like Sano and Buxton coming up, 27,785. Horrible fans, right? They finally have a winning team after 4 years of rebuilding and attendance actually declined. The White Sox averaged roughly 33,000 per game the first five years of their new stadium, despite all the issues with the new facility. In year four, they were still averaging over 32000 per game. Year Five....1995....22,358 despite being one of the best teams in baseball. Now why did that happen? What would the Sox draw after 99, 96, 96, and 92 loss seasons?