Dick Allen

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 07:24 PM) Where are these percentages coming from? Off the top of my head, you have the Orioles, Angels, Cardinals, Tigers and Royals who are all in a much better position to spend money than the White Sox (particularly KC if it's Gordon)... The last five years has demonstrated that those organizations with the benefit of new broadcast rights deals are typically the one who make these kinds of moves like Upton, Cespedes or Chris Davis that will clearly be over the $100 million mark. How many $100 million players have the Royals signed in their history? And the news today said they will not be raising payroll.

We have no idea of an actual percentage as we don't know how serious the White,Sox are about signing theses guys.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 05:22 PM) A well paid fall guy, like a lot of managers. Part of the job. Robin doesn't need the money. Having him get toasted in the media when the roster is short is not being a loyal pal.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 04:58 PM) Looking at the Kimbrel and Miller trades, are they really that insane? I think the Miller trade is insane.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 03:24 PM) When they offered Samardjiza an extension they hadn't planned on sucking in 2015, and losing a chunk of the fan base after the season. Things change. Just because the money was there then, doesn't mean it is there now. That was a year ago. How much has the season ticket base decreased? Even if it is a decent percentage numbers wise, dollars wise it won't be that much. The most expensive seats are still all sold. Call the team and ask what is the best available. The $7 a game weekend people bail. There is no way it has decreased enough where they had the money to sign him then and now, the payroll needs to be lower. Besides, adding these players brings many of the people who bailed back. And if they thought anything short of the playoffs was going to still be a big spike in attendance, they obviously forgot about 2012. One positive is usually when the White Sox start crying poor, they are about to spend some money.

if JR is really as loyal,as most say, I don't know why he would leave Robin with an in between roster and throw him to the wolves. He is obviously the next fall guy, so get him the horses or back off and make it clear the team is in transition.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 03:08 PM) We have seen so far this off season that the costs of both FA players and prospects in trades have escalated quite a bit. I think Hayes might be right on this. If you can't add, as much as it pains me, then you must take advantage of said prices and subtract. They had a plan which supposedly included Samardzija. What were they going to pay him with if they have no money? It isn't like they are $20 million short of their projected revenues. If they are, they are crazy. They have never operated that way. Their projections have always been beyond conservative leaving them profits on a yearly basis except one, but Forbes said the $3 million loss they took in 2013 included the $10 million bonus that was paid to Abreu after that season ended.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 03:04 PM) To be honest, doing that and just hoping for profession is better than trading top prospects for Frazier. IF we are going to make a run at this, we need to go all in and add Frazier plus an Upton. If you sign Upton, fine, that can be part of a longer term plan, but wasting pieces on Frazier without having an aggressive and legit plan to contend for both of his seasons under team control is just absurd in my eyes...absurd. I agree. Swallow hard JR, and be prepared to take a bath if it doesn't work. If he isn't willing, then see what you can get for your players. Half assed doesn't work .

Dan Hayes seems to think the White Sox won't be signing a big bat free agent, and most likely won't be trading for Frazier. Of course they could be playing with him.

For as much as KW has been ripped for trading prospects, most of which have sucked, it seems his method is the most preferred here in December and January. I have seen posts with proposals shipping most of the Sox top 10 prospects out for veterans with 2 years on their contracts and with other concerns.

Anderson is also ascending. His fielding is getting better. His hitting is improving, his k rate is improving, his walk rate sucks, but is improving. He would be a top 2 or 3 prospect on most teams in baseball.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 09:14 AM) I think they start the process of breaking in The Next Guy this year. Who that is, I don't know. What I don't expect to see is a temp or fill in guy like a Swirsky/Wimpy/Black Jack etc, except for a game or series fill in. I agree with this.

QUOTE (glangon @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 08:46 AM) The La Roche signing didn't make sense. We went and got a good First Baseman, where we already had someone else incumbent in the position. The sense move would have been to have Wilkins still on the 40 man and playing in AAA in case Abreu went on the DL and Gillaspie as back up 1st baseman and bring in a proper DH such as Butler or Morales. The problem happened when Gillaspie had a poor year and La Roche had a poor year, then all of a sudden we were forced to release Gillaspie in order to bring up Saladino as we had no player on the roster with options as Bonaficio and Beckham wasting away in roster spots they had no right to be in. Our roster construction was flawed and La Roche was brought in to play a position that a) he didn't want to play and b) he had never played before. He suffered, we suffered and it all went to pot. So LaRoche made no sense, but a guy who hit .140 with 22 strikeouts in 43 plate appearances and has traveled to Toro nto, LAD, Baltimore, and Seattle minor league systems the last year, did.

IMO, if the Sox do trade for him either Micah or Lawrie are going to Cincinatti.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 08:24 AM) Steve Stone hasn't actually renewed yet, as far as I know. I wonder if it's a given he's coming back. I would have thought that would have been announced by now, unless they'll unveil the new guy & the news Stoney will be returning all at the same time. The reduced schedule with Hawk wasn't officially announced either. I think everything is coming at once. It would seem Stone would come back or it probably would have been announced he was moving to another team, but stranger things have happened.

I really don't think it will be the Swirsk, too many conflicts with the Bulls.

QUOTE (glangon @ Dec 14, 2015 -> 05:59 AM) What saddens me is that we could have probably gotten better production from Andy Wilkins at Salary minimum than La Roche at $8 million odd. LaRoche sucked but Andy Wilkins is a reach. He has been claimed on waivers by 4 or 5 teams since he left the Sox, and he was pitiful in his brief time in Chicago. Less than .400 OPS and struck out half his plate appearances. The LaRoche signing made sense. It isn't something that would hamstring you for a long time, and he had been pretty solid for a while.

Statistically, Emilio Bonifacio is tough to beat. He brought nothing.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Dec 13, 2015 -> 09:22 AM) How do you know that??? As a fan, I don't think we really know that much about the clubhouse. We hear cliches about winning cures everything but unless there are fights like Philly had, I doubt we really know if a team has leadership issues or not. Heck, we thought AJ was a leader in the clubhouse and Boston cut him loose because he was considered a detriment to there's in 2014. It appears Abreu is trying to become a leader. We also don't know if it is a problem. When teams win, so and so was a great leader. The fact is team's win when players play well. To me it is like team chemistry. If the White Sox win a lot of games next year someone will be called a great leader. There are guys who are great leaders on crappy teams a well. As was stated, improve the positional talent and the question about leadership, if there really is one, goes away or someone becomes the great leader by default,

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 13, 2015 -> 08:43 AM) Fine. You can hit Gordon third and Perez fifth. Although I'm sure you will argue the new and improved Lawrie or LaRoche should be there instead. Maybe Gordon's OBP numbers are still too low? Lawrie has similar OBP numbers and isn't as good an overall hitter, especially compared to others at his position. I don't really care where you pencil in Perez or Gordon to the White Sox line up since they won't be on the team, but Sal Perez wouldn't bat 3rd or 5th. He is about a .700 OPS guy.his offensive game has been in decline for a few years now and he is still young.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 13, 2015 -> 08:30 AM) You're right. He would hit third. Eaton, Cabrera, Perez, Abreu, Gordon, Lawrie, Thompson, Saladino, Sanchez. Based on 2011-2014, that would be the most logical line-up. It's exactly the kind of team we would need to win with defensively...and pitching-wise. Yeah a guy with 2 consecutive years with a OBP less than .290 hitting 3rd. You must not have played varsity baseball.

QUOTE (Saufley @ Dec 13, 2015 -> 08:10 AM) LaRoche. We have hearsd speculation that last year LaRoche had a hand injury. True or not? If he did and will be healed this year we can hope for improvement from his bat. We can hope but there must also be that backup plan. I would still like to see the addition of Upton but again, will the FO be allowed to spend the big bucks? , He definitely had an injury, how much that could be blamed on his bad year no one knows one thing to keep in mind, the previous season he had the second best walk rate and the second best k rate years of his career, so it does seem odd he would just fall off a cliff. There should be some bounce back. He had a bad injury plagued season before producing almost the same numbers in a smaller sample size and came back huge. I wouldn't expect that, but I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out what the Sox thought he would be in 2016.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 13, 2015 -> 08:08 AM) Lawrie and Avila haven't been able to stay healthy. Upton alone doesn't make us a playoff team without at least one more dangerous hitter in that lineup. KC had Perez and Gordon hitting 7th and 8th against lefties down the stretch. Those guys would be hitting 3/5 for the White Sox with Abreu in the cleanup spot. Just not enough balance or contact....no threats on the basepaths/terrible baserunning and an improved defensive team but still bottom third in the majors. Will believe in Erik Johnson when the team puts 100% faith in him as well. Hopeless again. Until JR sees his GM needs a varsity letter in HS baseball, this team is screwed. Perez wouldn't bat 5th for the White Sox.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 10:46 PM) Spite is not productive for the future of their franchise Neither is trading him for prospects that don't work out.

QUOTE (BrianAnderson @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 04:02 PM) Anybody else getting tired of these MASSIVE new TV deals that are essentially funding the players contracts ..... which is from us? I love my sports. And it's such a nice release from real world work and life problems, however my cable bill continues to climb, and its because of sports almost exclusively! We are paying for all these huge contracts while our paychecks stay the same, MLB players are making so much more % wise. okay okay, back to the normal discussion. This shouldn't have been posted in here anyways. Happy Friday, Go Sox. Lawrie and Saladino to the World Series! Eventually it may be your choice to pay or not to pay. I think someday, you will be able to watch programs or games one at a time, and pay for that indivually. Right now, my brother lives in Switzerland, and he pays $15 to watch the Bears on Sundays. There are select Sox games he can get for a cheaper price. That is pricier than it would be here I would imagine.