Dick Allen

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 12:25 PM) Absolutely agree DA and you make a great point about the money saved by Samardzija rejecting the Sox extension. Do you think this means the could extend the payroll some for next season? Imo, they should since, as you said, they had money allocated for the extension but since that money has not been spent and the Sox are in need of hitting, there should be some money available towards bringing in a positional player to help the offense. Not necessarily through FA but maybe acquire a player through trade. I would think yes. Maybe they were pinning everything on making the playoffs, but they did hedge it a bit and say they weren't where they wanted to be. I would think the $15-20 million a year it would have cost to sign him was coming from somewhere other than hoping the fans would show up if the Sox were close. They didn't in 2012, even in 2005, there were a couple of real clunkers attendance-wise in September. Hopefully the can make a couple of good trades, maybe get lucky with a reclamation project, maybe sign a free agent. When they fixed their defense a bit, they did start playing a better brand of baseball. The OFs aren't missing cutoff men. There is an issue with pitchers not backing up bases (Sale in particular) but that can be fixed. The dumbness seems to have gone down a bit from where it has been. Hopefully, next year it will not be a pronounced as it's been, and they can play no dumber than any other team. There are still some really good pieces here. A couple top of the line pieces. They do need some offense, especially some on base and power.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 11:59 AM) Thankfully in that I am happy the Sox did not work out an extension before Samardzija stunk up the south side of chicago. Samardzija's insistence on going to free agency has turned into a Sox blessing. JR, RH, and KW should send his agent a case of the finest champagne after every one of these starts he stinks up the joint. On the plus side, they did try to sign him and had every intention of signing him, and they knew what he turned down, so that money should be available to be allocated somewhere else.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 11:42 AM) IMHO, it was park of the Sox trying to woo Samardzija into an extension. Same with giving him his own K-zone. Thankfully it did not work. Why thankfully it did not work out? If it did work out, the Sox would have a shot right now. Just Samardzija's second half alone, if he was just average, they are probably over .500 even as poorly as they have played overall. I wish they didn't trade for him, but do wish since they did, it worked out.

One thing they need to do is stop letting people go down the aisle during the inning. There are 2 types, either the people who pay no attention, or the people who have to stop and watch and block the view making it unsafe for many. That is not even mentioning the disruption they cause when they get back into their seats. Make it like hockey. Make them stay on the concourse until in between innings.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 08:21 AM) Ausmus will be out after the season. Rosenthal reporting Ron Gardenhire and Rick Renteria are likely candidates. I read a couple days ago Gardenhire was a done deal. Ausmus is an Ivy League educated ex-catcher. I don't know how he can be blamed for the Tigers sucking this year, but it looks to be a case of a new GM wanting his own guy in there.

Coop doesn't even go talk to him when he is getting hammered. Maybe Kaplan knows something

Accordimg to Hawk, Brantley just fisted himself.

The Sox do seem to like Brantly.

I wish Robin would tell more guys to hit home runs.

If there is no merit and no chance Kane can get convicted, it seems unlikely the case would go to trial, and it seems like bad legal advice to give the wrongful accuser cash. Makes it look like something happened where Kane isn't so sure he wouldn't get convicted. If he settles, I bet he gets suspended, and if Lazerus' story is accurate at all, he's probably done with the Blackhawks. As I said earlier, a legal expert on ABC said yesterday the fact that it was even going to a grand jury indicates prosecutors thought they had a case.

Fool's gold. Hero worshipping...Frankly, I would not exercise the option but try to sign him to a lower figure. If someone wants to pay him $10 million or $9 million, thanks Alexei, despite some of your boneheadedness, you have been a really good player but it's time to move along.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 10:08 AM) So image conscious that habitual wife beater Bobby Hull is a fixture of the organization. Yes he is. The fact is, if Kane wasn't a star 99.99% of people would think he's done enough to be kicked to the curb. When a Blackhawk gets in some sort of trouble, why is it usually Kane? Hull was a star, Kane is a star. Stuff that shouldn't be ignored gets ignored.

It isn't looking good for Kane to walk away from this with nothing. I was watching the news yesterday, and since this is going to be presented to a grand jury, the legal expert said prosecutors must be pretty confident they have enough to take it trial. Lazerus also wrote last week that the Hawks are very image conscious. Enough so to where they always have to put a Blackhawks cap on during interviews. In his story he mentioned how Hossa had to delay being questioned after a game until he found a hat. He also said he was told Kane was told that the incident in Madison was his final strike. There is a decent chance Kaner is done with the Blackhawks.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 8, 2015 -> 08:38 AM) In the battle of Carlos, Sox LHP Carlos Rodon, who has been very sharp lately, takes on Indians RHP Carlos Carrasco, who has had a very good season. I feel like this point of the year (September, Sox out of the playoff race) is the time we Sox fans take for granted. In mid-December, when the Bears are 3-11, the Hawks are struggling without Kane/Sharp/Saad, and Derrick Rose is out for 6 months with a knee injury, we'll wish we had any White Sox baseball- even an unimportant game like this. This post is so true. I attend a ton of games, and it gets pretty hard to go during a season like this beginning for me around the middle of August, but once Labor Day rolls around, I get a second wind knowing how I would love to be at a baseball game in a couple of months.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 7, 2015 -> 09:52 AM) The White Sox win the division in 2002, 2003, 2004 and probably a couple other years I'm forgetting if they could've done exactly what the Cubs are doing this year: skullf*** bad teams. 3rd place. They really skullf***ed the White Sox and Phillies.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 7, 2015 -> 09:31 AM) I still like the 2014 Eaton getting on base better than this version. His OBP the second half is only .419. He is within .011 of his 2014 OBP overall.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Sep 5, 2015 -> 06:05 PM) This is all fine but if Olt is the starting 3B next year or in the picture even, well then s***balls as they say. If he is in the picture it means he is showing his earlier promise. He has power, somethimg the Sox can use. Chances are. A year from now we will all forget he was ever a White Sox, but it is worth a shot.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Sep 5, 2015 -> 04:42 PM) He is a 27 year version of Davidson. Low BA, high K-rate etc. While the SOX may have nothing to lose, other players do and would rather see Saladino continue to get the reps because Saladino has at least shown the ability to hit a little in the majors and more importantly play good 3B defense, neither of which Olt has done at the major league level. Saladino has a .601 OPS which is lower than Olt's last season. I don't mind Saladino and expect his bat to improve, but one more option isn't going to hurt his development. He might not even be a 3B next spring. 2 years ago Olt was a top 25 prospect. He isn't a typical waiver claim other than he probably flames out, but maybe he pulls a JD Martinez

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Sep 5, 2015 -> 04:11 PM) And Olt's OPS is .521 this year. Your point is? Olt: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/oltmi01.shtml No matter how you slice it, this move makes zero sense and the Sox have nothing to gain by giving a 4A player some playing time. At one time, he was considered one of the top prospects in baseball. Chances are he will be nothing, but the Sox have no roster crunch, bring him in, give him a couple ABs, he supposedly changed some things up after this injury, see what he has, maybe see how the offseason treats him. If you wind up waiving him, you lose nothing. Unless the Sox can't afford the $85k this move will cost, it makes no sense NOT to make. He is better than Matt Davidson.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 5, 2015 -> 12:44 PM) Basically, as I just showed by quoting 10 of my own posts, I don't mind losing 2nd and 3rd round picks. I specifically said in one of those quoted posts I don't mind giving up the draft pick for Melky, I'm much more concerned about whether he actually can hit based on his weak performance in 2013. In other posts I said specifically I'd much rather give up a draft pick for Shields than trade multiple pieces for Samardzija. I don't think picks after the first round are worth nearly as much as people think. I will whine if we give up the 11th pick in the draft this year for a free agent, but that's because it's a first round pick and that's a huge difference from the comp round. So no, you're putting words in my mouth and then accusing me of moving the goalposts based on your words. Semin, Bassitt, Phegley, and Ravelo each were selected below where the Sox will be selecting with the comp pick. It sure seems like guys who in your own mind, aren't worh nearly as much as people think, you are giving superior value. You need to attend your own Baseball 101 lectures.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 5, 2015 -> 11:51 AM) Rather than complete the impossible challenge which requires reading minds, I'm going to again turn it back your way. If the White Sox couldn't get value back for him at the deadline that was a lot better than a single sandwich pick, then the rest of the league was even more skeptical about him after his 1st half performance than I was, and back in June I was saying his dropping K-rate was a serious, "don't extend me!" red flag. And as I quote above...I was ok with giving up a draft pick for Cabrera. My own words were that "I don't care nearly as much about the draft pick as I do about his terrible 2013 season". If he performed like a tolerable player then giving up the draft pick is nothing. It was the 3rd round, that's basically nothing. The worry was whether he'd be a tolerable player or whether his good seasons were something he couldn't repeat. You have mentioned losing draft picks have you not? To fully whine like you whine you sometimes have to move goalposts. There are teams out there that aren't going to have to give up a 1st round pick for him. His serious drop in k's is 1 k from his rate with the A's, and 1.1 from his career rate. I thin k he sucks, biput so,eome will sign him. We do know that whoever they draft will suck because you said so. The fact is Semien has pretty much sucked since after a hot start. Phegley hasn't been so mich better than Soto. Bassitt has been oretty good, but is probably a reliever on the Sox. Ravelo, you got me. A future HOFer for sure. If only 1st round picks matter, then why was dumping any of them so dumb? It is funny, you say the Sox can't develop a non pitcher, yet b**** and moan about Semien, Phegley, and Ravelo. The good news is as great as Phegley now supposedly is, he was picked 38th overall by the idiot White Sox. So the same idiots should be able to do just as well pickimg around the same placc or higher. Keep whining.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 5, 2015 -> 09:51 AM) So based on your strong endorsement of this pick you think that signing Robertson and Cabrera was a clear mistake right? Because the priority must be accumulating draft picks? Otherwise you're doing the same thing you accuse me of. What I would say, and have said from the start, is that the draft pick is a poor exchange for a player. If you've got a guy already at AAA who looks to have a shot at the big leagues, reasonable age for that level, that's worth more to me than a sandwich pick. I'll take a first round pick over a generic AAA player unless they look really solid, but a sandwich pick is worth less than that. It shouldn't go into your calculation of "do we trade this group of players for a pitcher near free agency" because even if it works out it won't impact your roster for another year. It should barely register on your radar for making a deadline deal, because if you can't get better value than that at the deadline then the rest of the league wants nothing to do with that player. It's nice, if you're accumulating a bunch of them it can help your roster in a few years, and it's the kind of thing you should try to accumulate more of if you're going through a 3-4 year rebuilding process. Somehow I don't think you're going to endorse doing that. I don't know how you come up with that. If trading draft picks were allowed, I think a lot of people would trade a future 2nd, and future 3rd for Melky and Robertson. You are whining that what they could have received for Samardzija is light years ahead of a pick that is better than a 2nd or 3rd both in position and money it allows you to mess with. For ine thing, you would have to prove what was offered for Shark, which I have seen through the hundreds of posts b****ing about this, you have offered zero. I don't like Samrdzija, and never did. But if the offer, again which you have never shown, doesn't blow a top 30-35 pick away, keeping him made a lot of sense unless . Show us the offers, then keep complaining. You are basing your complaining on your imagination, not fact.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 4, 2015 -> 04:47 PM) How many people in this thread treat the comp pick as the next sure fire Spencer Adams? I think it's 100% fair to be down on it and to point out that there's a good chance whoever the comp pick is, if there even is one, will never do as much as Adams has already done and to keep pointing that out. The average fWAR of comp picks, as pointed out in this thread, over their career, is 2, meaning probably more than 1/2 of them produce less than that. I would take a guy established at AAA over an unnamed comp pick almost any time. And that doesn't even factor in the fact that a guy at AAA or AA can help us within a year or two while a comp pick won't even be in our system until next year and could take 5 years to get to the bigs, if that even happens. So if you're looking for those, it's nice, but it's a long-term rebuilding asset, not something that helps in the near future. And if the team was so on a roll that you believed in them enough after 7 wins against 2 of the worse teams in the AL, then you should have added something to the roster to help it. Then again, the old lesson of "You're never as good as you look when you're on a roll and you're never as bad as you look when your'e in your worst slump" seems to be another of those lessons our FO has failed to learn. Haven't you b****ed about losing the second and third round picks in this past draft? The comp pick will be better. If it is as worthless as you claim, this dream of your about building through the draft makes zero sense. You complain from both sides. It apparently is your hobby.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Sep 4, 2015 -> 11:42 AM) http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/likely-scen...fice-vacancies/ Kiley McDaniel has Jerry Dipoto and Kenny Williams as most likely names in Seattle. Nightengale thinks Kevin Towers.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 4, 2015 -> 03:59 PM) If we couldn't get more for him than the value of a comp pick then it's extremely unlikely he's going to get even Edwin Jackson money because that would mean every other team saw the red flags and the collapse coming & wouldn't give up anything useful for him. 2 exremely different markets, also he was on a roll, as was the team, unless you blow that comp pick away, it makes little sense to give in. The reports were the offers were like for Leake. I really don't know why the guy or guys they could have ultimately traded him for are sure all stars, amd the comp pick will peak in Winston Salem, but if that is how you choose to look at everything, we have a different idea of entertainment.