Dick Allen

QUOTE (ewokpelts @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 03:59 PM) Depends on the partner. If it's ESPN or fox, you may see programming get ported over. And who knows who the Bears will pick to be on. They are currently signed with csn Chicago for the "exclusive" pre and post game coverage. It would be shocking for the Bears to broadcast on a network that almost certainly be named after the Cubs.

QUOTE (WBWSF @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 03:56 PM) Am I the only White Sox fan that is glad the White Sox didn't give the type of money and contract length the Cubs did to Heyward, Zobrist and Lackey? I think I would have been tickled if the Sox added those 3, and the ticket office phone would probably be getting a lot of action.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 03:32 PM) It does annoy me how often he throws the ball 3 feet in front of him and skips in to second base. That is trying too hard. He is holding on to the ball too long, probably because everything else is rushed in an effort to throw someone out. He speeds everything up but the release of the ball, or the grip is too tight trying to get extra on it, and it takes longer to release, and it looks like he's hunting rattlesnakes.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 03:25 PM) Cmon. I am not clueless. I am controversial. Most of the players I mentioned reeked. You may have gotten me on Ellis Burks. Bobby Bonds was awful. The team had to get rid of him almost immediately because he was so bad. ... Explain to me why the Dybber isn't thought of much worse than he is. He's our Bartman, the reason we didn't win a WS that year! Great call on Blomberg! He definitely deserves to be on the list. Blomberg hit a HR to win the game on Opening Day. Then it was all downhill. As for Bonds, he was not terrible for the White Sox. In 90 AB he hit .278/.347/.389. They were trying to use the rent a player that worked well with Zisk and Gamble the previous season, but the team sucked and Bonds was going to be a free agent so they bailed and traded him for young players, one was Claudell Washington.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 03:16 PM) Aren't the Cubs planning to do the "Private network" move when their contract is up in 2019? Yes. It will be interesting to see how that works. It is possible it won't be the windfall we are used to seeing. I read an article about it being a pretty tall task for one team. Programming 24 hours a day all year can be a problem. There are only so many times you can watch a one hour Ernie Banks special. How many homes will have the channel. I watch some Cubs games, but by principle alone, wouldn't pay extra for this channel. But one good thing is until then, when the Cubs are drawing huge ratings, the White Sox make a bit more money.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 02:34 PM) They were already let them going to move once, not sure why they would stop them now. Even drawing peanuts look at the White Sox revenues vs other teams. The White Sox aren't moving, or at least if they did, another team would move in quickly. When Bill Veeck "saved" the White Sox for Chicago, he didn't save AL baseball in Chicago. Finley would have moved the A's here. Chicago is not going to be a one team town, at least for a long time.

As long as Heyward is really good for 3 years, this is a pretty genius contract for Theo. He lets him walk when his guys get expensive and doesn't have to pay him for his over 30 years. The gamble is Heyward doesn't regress for 3 years. That seems like a decent bet. The downside is if he gets injured or falls apart, Theo has a problem.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 01:54 PM) This thread is missing the words "" All things being equal." All things equal you take Heyward. If all things were equal, it would be a toss up.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 01:46 PM) This is wrong. There's no limit to how much money teams can spend, so the Heyward money is play money. It's all about player value. Teams can sign guys and sit them if they want. There certainly is a limit to how much money you can spend. Why don't you live in a $20 million mansion? There are no laws against you buying one. Why don't you have a better car, a better pair of shoes, a finer quality suit? The fact is baseball teams are businesses, that like you and me, have budgets.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 01:28 PM) And I think it is totally mental at this point. Its the only reason I still have hope that at some point he just gets that swagger back and realizes he needs to play that way. He plays afraid now. This is a good point as was the previous post about when he used to dunk. He was sort of blaming the dunks as part of the reason for his knee troubles in an interview a year or so ago. I think it is in his mind and taken a toll. His first preseason game back he looked explosive. He can't shoot be he didn't need to. Now he is back to fairly unaggressive play and when he gets aggressive, he gets tentative at the rim. Dunk it. If you knee goes it goes. Someone needs to tell him he isn't getting paid to play like he currently is when this contract expires. The one good thing out of all of this, with his injuries, his stupid comments, and his play, when the Bulls make no attempt to re-sign him, there will be no public fallout. Everyone now realizes,(me probably being last) his time is done. What a disappointment. His rise to MVP was mindblowing, but it all went to his head, and his body fell apart. Now it's just sad to watch him.

QUOTE (Baron @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 01:39 PM) Ofcourse they get a ton of credit. But if we're doing about player comparisons I'm not taking Eaton over Jason Heyward. I think comparing their contract status is silly. The circumstances are completely different for each player. Contracts are the biggest parts of trades and signings anymore. It isn't about player comparision. I think everyone here knows Heyward is the better player, but if you have $23 million to spend, you are better off with Eaton and whatever else you can get with the balance.

QUOTE (Baron @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 01:31 PM) I love when people throw the 4 times number out there without context. If Adam Eaton hit the open market today you think he would be signing for a reasonable deal after what Heyward just signed for? No. Heyward hit the market at 26(1 day younger than Rizzo btw). That almost never happens. It's a fairly poor comparison and done without thinking about the situation both are in. Which makes Eaton's deal even better. If I am spending someone else's cash, Heyward is the easy choice. If it's my cash and I have to budget, I would take Eaton, as much as you guys said you would do the Reed/Davidson trade...10 times out of 10. I am not being sour because Heyward is a Cub. If his defense drops off any, so does a lot of his value. Any kind of leg or lower body injury, he WAR drops more than just about any player. I wouldn't mind if the White Sox signed him, but I understand every team that didn't want to pay him $200 million.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 12:49 PM) Wouldn't be that shocking if Cubs were going after Jose Fernandez this entire time. Soler/Baez/Contreras/Hendricks/Torres could easily get it done. Doubt it. Morosi on MLB network mentioned 4 of those guys in a package, and Heyman said it wouldn't rent him for a week.

He had been working out with Barry Bonds.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Dec 11, 2015 -> 12:25 PM) And they now have an expendable Soler to trade for one. It amazes me the value Soler seems to have around the league. He isn't much of an upgrade from Avi, and supposedly can't hit breaking pitches at all.

It is funny that Witenmeyer is the guy reporting this. A year ago he was crying how bleak it was for the Cubs, especially financially. That the banks told Ricketts to sell. Now, they are spending wildly. There are no excuses now. The greatest players, the greatest manager, Theo....it will be sweet when it all falls apart.

If the Cubs young guys turn out half as decent as everyone thinks, they are going to have a Dodgers payroll in a few seasons.

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 04:30 PM) On the radio today, a caller called in to 670 and compared Hoiberg to Trestman. He is nowhere near that level. It is the GarPax arrogance that chaps my ass. They act like they have done their job putting together a championship roster, and pin the lack of a trophy on the coach. Then prop up the Mayor as the savior, when they bring back the same roster except Nazr is gone and Portis gets to sit on the bench and watch games. And the results are the same or worse. This isn't a roster getting used to playing with each other. Coaching obviously wasn't the problem, and it probably isn't a problem now. You need the horses,a nod they are so afraid to change it up even when it is obvious they are short.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 12:31 PM) That wasn't a "he needs a day off", that was a "he's not listening to the coaches" benching, hence why he gave that response. The talk at the time was it was about defensive positioning, the staff wanting him to play farther in and him not listening. If it gets to the point where "coaching staff has to bench you" for an attitude problem...guess what, there's an attitude issue implied by "benched for not listening to the coaches". You are really reaching. Does Chris Sale have attitude issues? He got into a screaming match with KW when the were going to make him a full time closer. He got into a screaming match with Ventura when Robin told him to give the Victor Martinez spying a rest. If they don't like where he is set up, they can always motion him to move in from the dugout. It actually happens all the time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 12:22 PM) I kinda feel embarrassed that I actually have to explain this one....forcing the coaching staff to actually bench you maybe was what I was going for? You should be embarrassed but for another reason. That being you posted that article as exhibit A of attitude issues . What does sitting down a few innings have to do with attitude?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 12:04 PM) Like when they benched him this summer? That's an attitude problem? I think that is a reach. I hope the White Sox get guys who want to play and aren't too pleased when they are sitting. You know we could get Adam Eaton from the White Sox but he's not worth the trouble. He has a bad attitude. He isn't happy when he doesn't play.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 11:43 AM) Worth noting though that we're still hearing "attitude issues" with Eaton even 2 years in. Really? Do you have any links?

QUOTE (flavum @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 10:56 AM) Would you go Fulmer plus the infielder (Rondon or others) for Frazier and the Comp A pick? Reds got the first comp pick in the lottery. Didn't Rondon have an Adam Dunn without the walks and homers year offensively in A ball? He would be no loss, but the White Sox need to hang on to Fulmer. No reason to trade him unless it is franchise changing, which Frazier is not.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 10, 2015 -> 09:14 AM) Feel like that sucks for him. Usually be happy you get drafted here, but with how the Sox have handled Smith (and they seem to like him a lot), I don't see it being a good thing for his career. He gets to spend a year in the Show. If he can't he can come right back.

GarPax need t be considered the Executives of the Year in the NBA. Their clear vision that the reason the Bulls were falling short was a guy many were fooled into believing was a good coach was really incredible. Who would have thought bringing back an almost identical roster would result in so much better results just by swapping out a coach who fooled people into believing he had a clue? He ran Jimmy Butler into the ground. The Mayor has him playing an entire minute less per game now. That will probably extend his effectiveness in his career at least a few seasons. God bless GarPax. They have it all figured out.