Dick Allen

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Sep 13, 2015 -> 04:16 PM) They must have, because no other team hits him as hard as they do. They certainly didn't look like they knew what was coming after he departed either.

There is no question in my mind Minnesota has figured out how Sale tips pitches.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 12, 2015 -> 08:04 AM) Second wc and the one game play in gives incentive to win the division over one of the wc slots anyway. That is why I really like it, it gives huge advantages for winning the division, and keeps several teams in the playoff race until the end. IMO, it blows the old way out of the water. What it come sdown to is the Pirates will have to beat Arrietta to continue their season. The Cubs will have to beat Cole, and they won't be line-ed up for the next series. Back when they had the one WC there were several times teams would have rather won the WC than their division based on match-ups. That is not the case anymore. The ome thing I am not understanding is the media in Chicago. For a team that is currently a second WC, if you just listened to the media, the Cubs are easily the best team in baseball. Every time they beat a bad team is proof. When they lose to the Phillies, it is just a bump in the road.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Sep 12, 2015 -> 02:02 PM) So I noticed a lot of "extend QO to Shark for the pick" on this thread, but what if he takes the QO? That's a distinct possibility at this point given how much he's damaged his value this season. Not really. He damaged his value for sure, but he was looking at if not 9 figures, close to it before this year, and no injury. He isn't going to take a $15-17 million guarantee for one season. Why would he think next year would be any different if he stayed in the same place? He is a goner and appparently both sides are ready to move on.

The WhiteSox did shiputdown Danks in Sept 2007 and he came back much improved in 2008, pitching a gem of a game 163. Of course he was getting tatooed in 2007. Skip a start but don't shut him down.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 03:01 PM) Probably because someone with a spreadsheet convinced JR that spending money on draft picks will often save you money in the long run. Baseball has changed rapidly in the last 5 years home grown talent gets locked up. The best talents never reach FA and the mediocre vets that do reach FA are so expensive and not "sure things: thus it's incredibly variant and silly to rely on them for wins. Mediocre talents Panda, Hanley and even La Roche and Melky are what you can buy on the FA market. Mike Trout isn't walking through that door. Hell, neither is Albert Belle. Yet the Cubs are the envy of a lot of Soxtalk, and besides Schwarber and Bryant, how many of their own draft picks dot their roster? I am pretty sure the White Sox have more of their own picks on theirs and what they do is wrong.

If someone told you there were no injuries and on Sept. 11 John Danks' ERA would be .29 lower than Samardzija's, in March would you think that meant Danks was exceeding expectations or that Shark was turrible.

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