Dick Allen

493 career starts, and yesterday was the first time he didn't get out of the first inning.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 5, 2015 -> 06:40 AM) now is the biggest question. with the top 10 being protected.... will the sox get a top notch FA? a top notch fa with a couple of middle fa to help out, like a player who can play multi position including 3b. that will be nice. I think the odds are against it, but it's nice to know they still will be selecting high if they do sign a QO guy. Doesn't appear to be much offense on the free agent list. Zobrist seems like a guy who could really help the team, but he's older, and one of the most fascinating free agents IMO. Sabermetrically, he's been one of the better players in baseball the last 4 or 5 years. Will that translate to saber dollars? Desmond is an interesting guy to me. I think he will get a QO. Had a bad year, but has had some success in the past. Weiters is a Boras guy with question marks and upside. Unfortunately for the White Sox, this isn't the free agent class of the hitter.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Oct 5, 2015 -> 07:37 AM) What you failed to include was that the team scored 961 the year before in 2003. Theo's first year also. But the question would be why would Theo have even hired Francona after the 4 year disaster in Philly? We have read here, no one would ever hire Robin, look at his record. Francona with crappy players is a dumb ass. Francona with Damon, and Papi, and Manny, and Youk in the line up and Pedro on the mound , is a genius.

Trayce was great, but he hasn't won s***.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Oct 4, 2015 -> 04:13 PM) I hope Webb's last game with the Sox is today he has been just dreadful. He's been awful, but he can be really good if somehow he could get some control. You are not going to get anything for him, but I don't mind him as a Charlotte Knight who may be able to figure something out. It probably won't happen.

QUOTE (flavum @ Oct 4, 2015 -> 04:10 PM) Yankees limping in the postseason. I just hope it's Blue Jays/Royals in the ALCS. I hope the Royals get swept.

Remember when Robin was an idiot in 2014 for not using Webb at the 8th inning guy?

John Fox had me perplexed today. Why down 2 do you not go for 2? And why with your kick coverage, do you call timeout with 7 seconds left which guarantees a kickoff if you get the lead?

At least Q has better value here. Last year on this very board Q for Jay Bruce was considered a good idea, and now we b**** at Hahn for signing LaRoche. Anyone know what is going to be available from Japan this winter? That market has been pretty quiet recently.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 05:29 PM) And my reply? Go watch those teams. That statement is 100% fair and completely deserved. Using that same logic, Do you think Tyler Flowers doesn't give one iota about being a decent hitter? You can't always judge desire by results.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 05:12 PM) They traded Peavy and Rios because they were ungodly awful in the 1st half. That's one of the worst questions you've ever asked. If the White Sox were a better team they wouldn't have had to sell off Peavy, Thornton, and Rios at the deadline. I also specifically said that "If the White Sox hadn't had their fundamentals collapse they're close to a .500 team". So you also didn't bother reading my words there. I don't know if Joe Maddon would have done that. I don't know if Joe Maddon could have made the 2012 team so fundamentally sound either. But IMO, if you want to see the difference coaching can make in a team, go watch the 2011, 2012, and 2013 seasons for the White Sox. You will see an incredible fundamental team, one as focused as I've ever seen, surrounded by 2 teams that didn't care one iota. When you sell off those guys you show you are not trying to win that season anymore. I don't think that had anything to do with coaching. I think it was nice they gave coaching all the credit in 2012, but when things go well they can snowball that way just like they do when they go downhill. No coach has ever got Alex Rios' head totally in the game. Alexie is another guy who seems more fundamentally sound when things are going well with the team. They didn't stop working on fundamentals in 2013, the players just didn't take them into the games. To say a team didn't care one iota about fundamentals is maybe the most ridiculous thing you have ever posted, and that is saying something. L

Is OSU really the #1 team? I have only seen them briefly in a few games, but they don't looks so great to me.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 05:02 PM) If that team was as good fundamentally as they were in 2012 but Konerko was toast and Sale was hurt, IMO they're a .500 team or nearly so. Again IMO, the reason they were SO AWFUL in all caps was that they suddenly were the worst fundamental, worst defense, stupidest team I'd seen in my time as a White Sox fan, right after the best fundamental team I'd seen as a White Sox fan. Even after pedaling Peavy and Rios ? Sox talk did get what they wanted in 2013. Tyler Flowers. The fact is, the reason the team was bad wasn't coaching or managing. If Joe Maddom was the 2013 White Sox manager with the same roster, are they a playoff team?

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 04:29 PM) Francona is a WS winning manager. Robin has won jack s***. You can have more patience with Francona. Francona's first 4 years as a manager 68-94 75-87 77-85 65-97 Why would anyone ver give him another job?

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 02:12 PM) Does it matter where the baseball writers predict they will finish? Does it matter that some picked this team to win the division? Francona needs to be fired. SI had them winning the WS.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 11:38 AM) Taylor: To the best of my knowledge I have never said the Sox are deliberately trying to lose. Now THAT's insane. I have said in the past "money matters more than Championships" to them. And that's probably not true anymore either not with the gigantic sums of money coming into MLB at all levels. Probably the best description of the organization right now I've heard comes from others, "stale, set in their ways, refuse to change just about anything." And the bottom line is this, results speak for themselves. The Sox are in a bad position right now in all areas save for financially. Mark Any neagative totally insane White Sox thing you "hear" you run with. Just yesterday the Parent deliberately doing his job poorly to get Ventura's job is INSANE. Who does their job poorly in order to get their boss fired and get them moved into that role? Stale, set in their ways, seems to refer to your posts.

If you really think RV is the reason the Sox aren't a playoff team, you need to get off the Sox will suck for the foreseeable future and have so many holes train.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Oct 3, 2015 -> 10:23 AM) As Caulfield said, there weren't any great players on those Giants teams other than Buster Posey and Baumgartner. I mean they won the World Series with our castoff starter Jake Peavy in the #2 hole!! How many great.players have been on the White Sox the last 4 years? You confirmed my point. A manager can't make junk a playoff team.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Oct 2, 2015 -> 09:21 PM) Disgusted. As I wrote elsewhere, managers should be assigned WAR. If they were, I'd give Ventura a -5 to -8 range. Just pulling that out of a hat. But I think there is no question managers make a difference. And it starts with whether the team plays good fundamental baseball. Do they field well, or as well as they could give their talent? Do they run the bases well? Do they move runners over? Bunt if called upon? If they dont, this is a managerial problem. Anyone think the Giants win the World Series without Bochy? Any of the 3 they just won? Managers also make in game decisions that win and lose games. Ventura is not good here either. They set lineups, decide who sits, etc. Ultimately, how can Ventura hold any player accountable when he hasn't been held accountable himself?? Another wasted year coming up. Sox could be better, but there is no way they will overcome the anchor that Ventura is for the team. I don't live in Chicago, but I'm not going to see them when they come to DC or Baltimore. And it's hard for me because I have a 12 year old son who loves baseball. Bochy managed teams have lost at least 86 games 8 times. His first 2 seasons in SF, they lost over 90 each time. Now he is a genius. Funny how a better roster works. Go check out Joe Torre and Booby Cox records when they didn't have good players. Even Joe Maddon's.

You look at the package Boston supposedly offered for King Felix. If the Sox got the same players for Sale, they have weakened their team. Yeah, you might not win keepimg Sale, but to think you would win trading him isn't logical. If the goal is to get an immediate boost in your farm system ranking, or you plan to suck for a few years, trade him. If you want to win games, and have the guy who starts game 1 of every playoff series on the roster, you keep him. With the contract he has, to pick up his production somewhere else, it would cost a fortune.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 2, 2015 -> 07:34 PM) but it was said many times he never wanted to be a team manager. By people who have never met him and never heard him say it.

Soxfest ahead of last years ticket pace.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Oct 2, 2015 -> 07:42 PM) Since your not blaming Robin and think managers have little to do with the game, I'm assuming your blaming KW and or Hahn for this crapfest? I asked another guy if he thought this White Sox team makes the playoffs if managed byway he considers to be the best manager in baseball. He said probably not. Almost 97% of teams don't have the best manager in baseball, so if the best one doesn't make them a playoff team, he rest probably don't either. Maybe you think this team is a playoff team with a manager you consider good The fact is so many posters post th Sox are so far from contending, have so many holes, blaming the manager for not making the playoffs is beyond silly. You cannot manage incompetence to victory in professional sports. So yes, thus far KW and RH have failed. As much as Hahn is loved around here if you look at his transactions, his percentage of deals he would still do in hindsight are very few. He has had some great extensions which offsets that a bit. But right now, the jury is out on RH IMO. I am not a KW fan but I don't subscribe to the good moves-Hahn, bad moves-KW theme. If Hahn is the GM by title only, he needs to grow a pair and resign.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 2, 2015 -> 07:18 PM) Once he was let go by the White Sox, Tony LaRussa never went more than 3 straight seasons without a playoff appearance. And when the talent level dropped in Oakland, it became apparent, Tony wasn't the reason they were winning. He also won a WS winning 83 games. That isn't going to happen much.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Oct 2, 2015 -> 03:35 PM) His point is that things can change fast in baseball, and he's right. Hell over half of the teams in baseball this year will have a 10+ swing in wins in either direction from 2014. Who saw the 1977 Southside Hitmen coming? Who saw the 1990 or 2000 teams coming? 2 years after the White Sox White Flagged it and had to wear a Scarlett letter for eternity, they were back in the playoffs. The Sox have some really good parts, and some parts who played like crap but a bounce back shouldn't be out of the question. More additions, a couple of hitters, someone who can catch the ball, and they are contending. I think most that could go wrong, went wrong this year. You make your own breaks, but that should start evening out next season. It doesn't have to be a blistering start but a decent start could keep the pressure off everyone from trying to do too much. The defense stared out horrible, but has improved. Missed cut offs appear a thing of the past. Guys actually get thrown out now. If they could find a 3B who can hit and catch, that would be sweet. I don't think they will give up on Avi yet, but might if a guy like Puig could be had. (Not for Avi,I am not a clueless Cubs fan). Say the did add Puig and Longoria, lost Q, Longoria's contract probably means Saldino is playing SS. I don't know what the price woul be for Puig, but it sure did seem the Dodgers are at least thinking about dumping him. I wonder what their scouts think of Trayce. I think LaRoche can bounce back a bit. There is no way he got that bad that fast.