Dick Allen

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?

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 08:45 PM) If you are going to act like a child and derail conversations the way you like to do, you'll be treated like a child. LMAO. The guy who started a thread last year how he was going to change allegiances because the team didn't win enough. He decided not to because he would rather complain, so in essence he would rather complain about a team than have them win. And this is one who refers to someone else as being childish. OK.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 08:36 PM) If you have a question, raise your hand and wait until you're called upon. That is good. No surprise you have no answers.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 08:31 PM) Only approach the bench when summoned, please. If you have all the answers, why don't you either let them know or share them with us.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 07:26 PM) And I have yet to see anyone make credible arguments for other fanbases performing exceedingly well in the face of similar circumstances (going on nine years now without a playoff appearance), other than the Cubs, Cardinals and Tigers, who have an owner who consistently puts profitability behind winning in terms of priorities. Because of those anomalous examples, any fanbase would look bad in comparison. I suppose you could also argue the Brewers, but they had Bud Selig pulling the strings to provide his daughter every possible benefit during his tenure. And, if you exchanged the two respective stadiums, the results would probably be quite different in Milwaukee. Is there any other team in baseball whose fans are similarly under attack for (supposedly) not supporting their team? Tampa Bay? Oakland? Cleveland? Miami? The Atlanta Braves? (they blamed location and fan fear of the downtown area, especially at night...hence, a new suburban stadium). Are Reds' fans to be blamed this year for not turning out, for example, or Rockies' fans? Padres? Eliminating the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Angels, Giants and Cubs, since I'm sure everyone would agree those are the true large market clubs, the White Sox clearly don't compare with the Cardinals and Tigers, but what other mid-market teams are doing exceedingly well generating revenues without making the playoffs? Even the Mets have/had struggled greatly in recent years in a much newer stadium, for example. The Twins went through a total rebuild and have outdrawn the White Sox 7 years in a row .

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 08:22 PM) They ARE a large market team - they play in the city of Chicago. They don't operate as a large market team because they haven't ever figured out how to win in a sustainable fashion in order to build up this revenue base of which you speak. Send them your resume.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 06:30 PM) Other renovating teams have finished their boards already. I hope ours don't drag into the season. 2 of them are done, and the big one will be done in the middle of March, almost a month before the season starts.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 04:34 PM) The only things I've read were sports writer's writing a blurb about their local team and how Jackson could be a fit for their OF opening or adding him as a potential depth piece. Teams like Texas, Baltimore, Cleveland, cubs, Twinkies etc. Nothing that has any substance though, just a sports writer's take. Fowler and Desmond has had some seemingly genuine speculation but absolutely nothing has been rumored about Jackson. Heck, even Alvarez has had more speculation here lately. This has been a very strange off season. I think the ask price is so high, once teams hear of it, they don't even bother. I would imagine if you wanted to sign one of Desmond, Fowler, or Jackson today, and announce it tonight or tomorrow, the contract you would have to agree tis nowhere near what most of us think their eventual price will be.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 04:01 PM) No, I didn't. Desmond #2 ?? How can that be when you have Correa of Houston, Crawford of SF, Seager of LA, Tulo of Toronto, Russell of Cubs, Espinoza of KC, Whatshisname in Boston? and others Crawford, Boegarts, Lindor, Correa..., that #2 in baseball is just another thing Caulfield made up.if teams actually thought that, he wouldn't be out there right now.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 03:52 PM) I frankly haven't read anything at all about Sox and Jackson. Have you read about Jackson and anybody? I read some speculation but no actual talks. Considering Boras got Kennedy $70 million, I would think Jackson's price is still quite high right now.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 03:35 PM) LaRoche literally should never face LHP. He should be benched any time a lefty comes in. That is reality - however it's not practical. You can't ph for him every time, although that's not the worst strategy late in games. The big problem wound up being Abreu being banged up - he had to start a number of games at 1b for Abreu, especially in May. For him to face fewer LHP, Abreu needs to stay healthier. LaRoche put up a .746 OPS as a 1B.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 10:15 AM) This time last year, most fans were excited about the upcoming season and praising Hahn for the moves he made. One year later, many are b****ing about those very moves because a few players under-performed and its now the front offices fault for signing/trading for players that, on paper, many agreed were pretty good moves at the time. Sometimes things do not go according to plan, that's life. I guess it's a matter of perception where one can choose to live in the past or focus on what has been done in the present to hopefully change the future. I'm excited about the moves the Sox have made so far and still believe they will add before opening day. The roster looks alot different now than it did last year. I think Hahn has done well so far and hopefully the results are better this time around. I see no reason not to be optimistic. The funny thing is most of us thought it was a pretty good roster last year. But right now on paper, it is much improved. Hopefully they get improved performance out of some guys as well. If things break right, it could be a really stacked team. Obviously they want a fast start. If anything, that is more motivation to bring in more before the season begins. I am really looking forward to this season. I was disappointed they didn't get Upton or Gordon or Cespedes, but reality says upgrades are still available.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 15, 2016 -> 09:55 AM) That would mean the QO system isn't working to their benefit...and that guys like Gallardo, Desmond and Fowler might not be signed until the draft. El fin. There are several players with QO that have found teams. At least 2 of these guys will be on teams before opening day, if not all 3. Also, would that mean the Sox should have no interest in Austin Jackson since he has no QO and not many takers?