Dick Allen

QUOTE (Saufley @ Feb 10, 2016 -> 08:02 AM) If the Sox sign someone for two years then that is the end of their three year window, that they gave themselves. If they don't make the playoffs with the 2016 & 2017 teams then maybe that would be the time to reconsider the future and how to rebuild. If some are shaky about Fowler now, they should be more shaky after 2 more seasons. So what if all these contracts expire in 2 years. Depending on the situation, they should either have a lot of money to play with or a great excuse to step back a season and rebuild, and have a lot to spend on the right now huge free agent class. If the Sox signed Fowler to a Howie Kendrick contract, they win.

I thought the Sox were down on Johnson, but after Soxfest, I really don't think so. The guy is sort of robotic now with his new routine. I am not so concerned with bad peripherals considering it was September so the season was extended for him a bit. If the Sox were that down on him, as silly as this sounds, I really doubt he would have been a main guest at a Soxfest seminar. This sets up competition. The Sox needed another starter. Johnson has nothing to prove in AAA . If he can't crack the rotation now, he either has to go to the bullpen, or be traded. If he is throwing well in spring training, another team is going to have a need, and his paycheck is attractive to others.

QUOTE (2005thxfrthmmrs @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 06:21 PM) We know you're critical of Garpax, but this team is still the second most talent roster in the East when healthy. The have have been inconsistent, they have underperformed, and all the injuries did not help. The problem is none of the guys getting hurt are anything new. They have all been missing games the last few years. Even Butler. It was a nice theory all the injuries were on Thibs, but this is and has been and injury prone roster, how the people getting paid to make the roster haven't been able to see that is beyond puzzling. Rose missing a game with overall soreness with Butler out and the team reeling shows what an anti leader he is. Oh, he will be good to go on Wednesday bi put can't play at all on Monday when the team needs him. They need to do what they can do to see he is on another team as soon as possible.

QUOTE (Tony @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 03:16 PM) Sox also signed Travis Ishikawa. The ticket office must be busy.

Robin is known to have a slow hook. Latos was irked by the quick hook with the Dodgers. It doesn't at least appear Hahn is thinking about trading Johnson. From the email the White Sox sent out: "Mat adds another quality veteran arm to our rotation and also increases our overall pitching depth, which always is essential to having a successful season," said Rick Hahn, White Sox senior vice president/general manager. "While we believe in the futures of several of our young starters, the chance to add a pitcher of Mat's caliber was too good of an opportunity for us to pass up. He has proven over his career that when healthy, he takes the baseball and logs quality innings."

If he works out, the signing is Hahn's genius. If he is terrible, it's KW's stupidity.

QUOTE (2005thxfrthmmrs @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 02:32 PM) Not that it's likely in this scenario, but have coaches who've been fired by a team end up being hired by the team again? Mike Brown. Flip Saunders. Doug Moe I think with the Nuggets. The Bulls almost hired Doug Collins when they hired Thibs. It happens, but Thibs isn't coming back. He can find a job way too easily, and the public shaming was ridiculous. I like JR, but that was classless and unnecessary, and IMO he got played by Gar Foreman.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:33 PM) Right now they're 7th in the East. Blog I just read suggests this is 7+ games for Jimmy. Bulls are 1.5 games ahead of the Hornets, in the middle of a losing skid, now without their best player. I sure as heck would be trading Gasol for the best deal I could get in this situation, probably also trying to clear either dunleavy or Gibson out so that they can make a full max contract offer to anyone and everyone next offseason. What's the harm? Butler + Rose + Durant sounds like an adequate setup to me. They should be shopping Pau regardless. He's opting out, and they have no chance at a title. Dunleavy...good luck with that. Taj is due for an ankle injury any day now. The problem is how many teams have a legit shot to win, and how many of those teams not named San Antonio and Golden State,are perhaps a Dunleavy or Gibson away? I'd say about zero. Pau is a different story, plus it does you no good to hang onto him.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:59 PM) Yea this. He seems like he's a dick towards women but if that is an issue than f*** who you gonna sign? Just don't hit women. But cheating and sleeping around and leading girls on? Par for the course for pro athletes. Exactly. If you were going to field a team based on fidelity, you would have a hard time fielding a team. That stuff is between him and the ladies in his life. Like you said, if he hits them, that's a something different.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:53 PM) I'm just surprised Baltimore didn't take a chance on him or offer him more than $3 million, their rotation is projected for 2nd worst in baseball. His reputation seems to have cost him some potential suitors and cash money. Hopefully, the White Sox benefit. I am not a big fan of him, but for $3 million? If he sucks, he cost less than Scott Downs, and Emilio Bonifacio.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:50 PM) There were rumors about his attitude as far back to his first few years in San Diego There are always rumors. Facts are, there are assholes on every team. Maybe, if he happens to be one, his struggles last year, and having to settle for $3 million, when a year ago, he probably thought he was worth at least $100 million more than that, humbles him a bit.

QUOTE (BrianAnderson @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:46 PM) Everybody is calling him an asshole, but without searching on Google can somebody tell me the story to why? Or is this like the AJ is an asshole thing where you just get a reputation because you want to win? The only things I can see is he somehow burned his bridges out of Cincinnati and was pretty upset with how the Dodgers used him. I am sure Frazier was consulted about his perceived clubhouse issues, and they signed him, so it probably isn't nearly as bad as rumored.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Feb 9, 2016 -> 01:38 PM) If so, I like this. When Latos' arm blows up or if Danks is ineffective Johnson could see plenty of starts this year. Johnson is wound pretty tight. I think he is going to be ready for spring training. If he earns a spot in the rotation but gets sent back to Charlotte, I think he could unravel. I was at Soxfest when he was talking about his routine. He sounded like he was in the military. If I were RH, if Johnson doesn't make the roster out of spring training through no fault of his own, I'm trading him. I think he may lose a screw if he's sent back to Charlotte if he deserved a spot on the major league team.

This is slightly more than it cost for Paulino, so not a bad gamble, although he really sucked. At the very least it shows they really weren't counting on Turner being able to step right into the rotation.

The Bulls are only a game and a half away from being in the lottery.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 08:18 PM) How or why would Dye and AJ not be on that list? El Duque? For the White Sox, the only players with a bounceback to hope for are Cabrera and LaRoche, in terms of their prior careers. Including Jacob Turner's really pushing the definition. He's had one career year with a war of around 2. How and why would be answered if you looked at their 2004 seasons, and for El Duque, he wasn't so good for the White Sox except for 1 inning.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 03:16 PM) How do we know the Sox weren't lying at Soxfest with regards to their plans, and they actually do have absolutely no money to spend to upgrades? I would love to be wrong, but I would have done the same thing if I was Hahn and dealt with the angry fan base coming into that weekend. If he simply said "we're done, no upgrades as we're at our budget", that would have created more animosity. I doubt he was lying. Too much info tying them to these guys. What we don't know are the offers. The thing that was mentioned was the 3 year limits, and Hahn profusely denied that being correct. Nobody has signed Fowler or Desmond or Jackson. So it's just not the White Sox. Apparently, either their demands are still too high or every team is out of money.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 03:01 PM) When you're hoping for 7 pretty important players to rebound...you aren't a very good team. http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/163...-in-2016-season Pods, Cotts, Politte, Crede, Contreras, Garland, Hermanson. 7 needed a pretty big rebound in 2005 as well.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 12:49 PM) Welcome to the reality that was being a White Sox fan circa 1986-1988, when pondering answers to these questions was all too real. Jerry Reinsdorf obviously had no trouble dragging the fan base through that torment while casting a black cloud over the franchise during that time period. But it was a means to an end for he and the investors, because it made them ultimately very wealthy in the end. It didn't, however, translate into turning the franchise into a sustainably winning one for the fans, which, therein lies the problem. Time for a new owner. What does yet another diatribe against Jerry Reinsdorf have to do with this particular thread?

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 11:34 AM) Jerry has definitely made a ton of $$ on this deal, the real crime is in how that money has been re-invested into the franchise. The Sox perennially rank as one of the teams that spend the least on amateur talent. That has opened up a bit since the new CBA and pools were implemented but they still are near the bottom. The difference between what JR has and other teams have done is that he got a sweetheart deal for himself and his investors rather than for the franchise. Tampa's lease is up in 2028, its not going to stop them from moving. It won't stop the next owner that is serious about being competitive from moving the Sox either. So JR got a sweetheart deal, but if the next owner is serious about being competitive, he or she would need to break that sweetheart deal? What would they do, go some place and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new stadium? It makes no sense. For one thing, the team makes money, and will make more in a couple of years. For another, they have a sweet deal. They aren't breaking it to spend more money elsewhere, and also get a smaller TV contract.

QUOTE (Doc Edwards Shot @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 09:53 AM) There has been a lot of conversation over the years about the time in the 1980s when Jerry was threatening to move the Sox to Tampa if he didn't get the city and state of IL to pay the bulk of the cost of the construction of "new" Comiskey Park (now U.S. Cellular Field). If this were to ever happen again and the Sox actually moved like the St. Louis Rams are currently doing, what would you do? Would you continue to follow the Sox remotely via a new TV premium package? Would you switch to some other team? Would you do the unthinkable and start following the Cubs since they would be the lone remaining team in the city? I don't know what I would do other than take a little time off from baseball to think about it - kind of like a grieving widower who would need some time before starting to date again. I'd probably become a Brewers fan.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 09:17 AM) Let's say they are at their budget limit, just for argument's sake. How would they expect to get even better bargains or have more resources this time next year? It seems the only way is for this year's team to actually make the playoffs. If they don't, they're back in the same situation with even less negotiating leverage with more teams holding more dollars/revenue chasing fewer assets. I can just see it...now that Danks and LaRoche are off the books, there won't be many good fits left for the White Sox to bid on. And, from the rumors flying around, the Jays are already trying to extend Bautista and Encarnacion, leaving Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez as two of the top five hitters on next year's market, along with Cespedes, who I'm sure everyone will agree we likely won't be able to afford. There will always be players to add and trades that can be made. It was written on this board the White Sox had zero chance this offseason to improve their offense without trade Quintana. It appears they have been able to do it. As long as you are willing to pick up money one way or another, you will be able to acquire desirable players.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 8, 2016 -> 08:45 AM) LMAO! Oh Dick, sometimes I think YOU'RE a figment of my imagination, because I can't believe how many times you jump into a conversation and completely take it off topic just for the sake of taking the opportunity to throw one of your uninteresting insults into the mix. But that's ok, you're having fun, I guess, but now let's see if we can't reel you back into what we were actually talking about before you entered the fray. If you'll notice, Dick, the topic of this thread has to do with the potential acquisition of one Dexter Fowler by the White Sox. Two regular posters here seem to think that perhaps an obstacle to acquiring Mr. Fowler's services are current budget constraints that may be in place. I happen to think that's not the case, based on "actual words" said by the General Manager at Soxfest. Actual words, Dick, not one's imagined. Quoth Mr. Hahn: “Let me make something really clear: There is absolutely no hardline, dogma, limit on contract terms with free agents. The reason we didn’t sign any of the hitters that thus far have signed elsewhere at the end of the day is not about contract term limitations. We had numerous conversations, with various parameters, various structures, right up until the day or the day before these players wound up choosing their ultimate destinations.” Now, what I took from that statement is that Mr. Hahn was insisting we were making competitive offers to those available premium free agents at that point in time. And my point is, any competitive offer we would have made for any of the big FA outfielders would be much larger than anything we would remotely offer Fowler. So if the Sox were able to make said offers to the Cespedes, Gordon, and perhaps Upton, then obviously the team isn't operating under these alleged budget constraints, as "rumored", or else they wouldn't have made those offers. Thus, we may be negotiating with Fowler for a deal that the team seems to believe is more reflective of the guy's actual market value, but not because the cupboard is bare and we're down to our last pennies. Yes, an article from Soxfest saying he needs to be creative fitting into constraints has nothing to do with budget matters. Be real. For a guy saying mentioning budget is stupid because no one really knows, you seem to think you really know. I would imagine the budget to sign Dexter Fowler isn't the same as it is to sign Alex Gordon, but that is just me. I'm sure if you were looking at a house and was willing to spend x amount on it, if that was sold to someone else, you would spend that same amount on a lesser house just because. Hahn's quote about contract term was in response to the rumors the White Sox were only willing to go 3 years, not the dollar amount. If there was no limit on dollar amount, they would just sign anyone they wanted. All teams have limits. Noun 1. term of a contract - the period of time during which a contract conveying property to a person is in effect

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 09:45 PM) Was Rick Hahn lying at Soxfest when he said there were no financial or contractual restraints when they were negotiating with the big FAs, right up until the day those players signed with the teams that they did? Because whatever "budget constraints" you and SS2K5 imagine are in place today would have been place a few weeks ago when those players all upped up the way they did. To listen to you and SS2K5 go on and on about these alleged budget constraints that, unless you are an employee of the White Sox Finance dept., you would have zero way of knowing, is ridiculous. Unless you're suggesting Hahn is a bold-faced liar, you can probably put all of this budget nonsense to rest, once and for all. From the Tribune at Soxfest. All the quotes you pin on Hahn seem to be figment of your imagination. Hahn said he is in constant contact with Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf about the flexibility remaining in the club's budget and acknowledged he needs to be creative in structuring potential contracts to fit within the constraints.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Feb 7, 2016 -> 03:30 PM) The thing is, this team has been an assembled squad of injury prone players. And we knew that before. Hell, I've gone on record as saying it for years when Derrick first got injured. Noah's been injury prone. Taj has been. Deng has been. Kirk definitely had been. They wanted to place the blame on Thibs for running guys into the ground, but the reality is, they assembled a team full of brittle players, didn't let Thibs hire his own health team when he became coach, and proceeded to watch guys get injured at key times and blamed it on him. I have been saying the same thing. They tried to blame injuries on the taskmaster for playing them too much and practicing too hard, but the same guys keep getting hurt. Apparently Thibs was supposed to treat these guys like Star Wars toys and never take them out of the package. The problem is if these guys play, they are going to get hurt. They aren't going to suddenly be playing 82 games a year. Gar said they have a championship roster. That is all you need to know.