Dick Allen

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 01:04 PM) The renaissance of wrigleyville and the poorly constructed US Cellular led to the flip. The late 90's was what killed the White Sox and built the cubs. The gap narrowed over the last couple of years but now it has blown wide open and looks to be this way for a while as the White Sox suck. Wrigleyville did get better, but I still don't understand the appeal of being in a jam packed bar, paying ballpark prices, having to scream at the guy next to you for him to hear you.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 12:52 PM) predates my time, but how much were the Sox impacted by Cubs being on WGN and Sox being on cable vision or whatever the pay per view like network they were on which I presume significantly narrowed the fan base. You also wonder how much Harray Carray actually helped drive the value as well (as he kind of symbolized everything as well). And also you have to give some credit to the Cubs for marketing the events as giant parties and I guess the overall corporate culture of Chicago which ensures enough people can get to the games and have a blast (and the location of Wrigley maybe helps in this way, not sure). Ahhh, I should stop rambling. I think that was overblown a bit as well. The first 4 years JR owned the White Sox they outdrew the Cubs by about 1,400,000 total. What killed the Sox was 1984. Everything came up roses for the Cubs until they went to San Diego in October. It used to be, they would actually close the upper deck at Wrigley Field back then. It wasn't until Harry's 4th season with the Cubs where they overtook the White Sox attendance-wise. The Sox actually slightly outdrew them in 1984.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 12:47 PM) In 1980/81, the Cubs and Sox both sold for essentially the same price. Now the Cubs are worth 3X the Sox. Who's fault is that? the fans? It's either the fans fault or the Cubs fans credit. It certainly isn't because the Cubs have been more successful on the field since then.

The fact is there are always excuses...the Cubs were playing, there was wrestling in Rosemont, it looked like it might rain, those are fine, legitimate excuses, but they are excuses, and it is one reason why the White Sox seem to always have to do things half-assed, and hope they get lucky. Their excuse is just as valid as any of ours.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 12:23 PM) The Sox do themselves no favors when it comes to drawing attendance: 1.) Awful performances on the field year in and year out 2.) Neighborhood isn't really a destination for anything 3.) People from the organization criticize fanbase 25K for a last place team in the central and one of the worst teams in baseball actually seems like a pretty good turnout, so Im not really sure what he is criticizing. The team hasnt scored more than 4 runs in 24 home games, people go to baseball games to see offense, not pitching, that's just the truth of it. It's great to celebrate the new and old guard of the south side, but anyone questioning White Sox fans lack of interest is kidding themselves. I think the only guy that has criticized the fans is Cooper. The performances have been awful, but with Sale on the mound, you could guess they would not be that day, and they are over .500 at home this year. I don't know what the White Sox could do to make the neighborhood a "destination", that has more to do with the residents of the location. If I lived there, I wouldn't want drunk guys peeing on my lawn at 1 in the morning on a Tuesday night either.

I wonder what is going to happen when enough people complain about the Blackhawks Indian head being offensive.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jul 8, 2015 -> 10:42 AM) In a cool piece on Herm Schneider, he mentions Beckham and LaRoche as guys who hold the bat by its knob and are vulnerable to hamate injury, and specifically describes some of LaRoche's hand pain as "in some serious places." That probably explains some of his reduced productivity. They should try the bat with an axe handle like Pedroia uses. No knobs.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 7, 2015 -> 12:59 PM) The guy in Maine got his posthumously. His brother said he wasn't the type of person who did dumb things.

I wonder if Texas would give up an injured Profar for a couple of Shark months. Might be worth the gamble to see if he can play considering many thought he was the top prospect in baseball a couple of years ago.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jul 7, 2015 -> 01:34 PM) By a mod no less and he's also wrong. Classless. Yeah, he has an 8th grade education. Why is the truth classless? But if education matters in baseball, KW has a freshman in college education.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 7, 2015 -> 01:26 PM) Hitting 100 in a sim game. Good for him. I saw him running into the dugout from the bullpen on Sunday. He looks bigger to me now. The key with him is control. Good to see he can still dial it up.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 7, 2015 -> 01:09 PM) Yeah, but their crappy offense is miles better than the Sox crappy offense. Miles? In their last 13 games, they have scored more than 2 runs twice.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 7, 2015 -> 12:00 PM) Daryl Van Schouwen ‏@CST_soxvan 30m30 minutes ago White Sox must stay hot or else. Jose Quintana (4-7, 3.81) has made 7 straight quality starts w 2.78 ERA. Has 2.99 ERA over last 13 starts. Quick, trade him for prospects who look good in AA and AAA and can't hit in the majors.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jul 7, 2015 -> 08:35 AM) More than half of the starting lineup is hitting below .228. What a sad state for this offense. Worst in the league in multiple offensive categories. 5. Adam LaRoche .228 6. Alexei Ramirez .226 7. Gordon Beckham .203 8. Tyler Flowers .224 9. Carlos Sanchez .162 This is the bottom half of the lineup. I think it's safe to say this is the worst offensive White Sox team of my lifetime. The defense is pretty bad also. They haven't scored 5 runs in a home game in 23 straight. That is their longest streak ever. It's really incredible as they do have some should be decent hitters on the team.

23rd consecutive home game the White Sox have scored 4 runs or less. A team record. Viciedo for Melky please. Melky is only hitting .558 vs. Buehrle lifetime accordimg to our Chuck. The game definitely lived up to the hype. Not enough ks for Sale but I am sure he would rather have the win.

Buehrle looks a bit heavy.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 03:04 PM) So you want to see his streak end because of the weather? Ok, then. Sale is pretty much the only thing for us Sox fans to root for this year so I want this streak to be as long as possible. No, but if it is, so be it. I think the more interesting question is if Sale was at 125 pitches with 9 strikeouts, would you be mad if he were lifted, or would it be worth the possible damage in order to get this "record" most likely no one but Red Sox fans even knew Pedro owned up until now?

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 02:55 PM) I know it's not the norm, but you can't ruin Sale's streak because of the weather. You just can't. Yes, because Chris Sale should be put ahead of the team, and the Sox should throw Jose Quintana out there with short rest, risking injury among other things, so Sale gets a shot at the record. T

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 11:24 AM) So here's one that drives me nuts yesterday. When commenting on the defense, people will note that the White Sox simply don't have good defenders and nothing the manager or coaching staff can do will change that. Here's an example of where this hits the coaching staff and organization. First inning yesterday, ground ball to the left side, Gillaspie has to move a good distance to get to the ball and he misses it. It wasn't an impossible play, it wasn't an easy play, but he was given an error on it. He's not a great defender so he might make that play some fraction of the time and miss that play some fraction of the time, maybe 50/50, 75/25, who knows. Even if he practiced it every single day there's so many little differences in every hop that he's still going to miss that one sometimes. Fine. He's not a great defender and that's not on the coaching staff. Gillaspie then becomes an idiot. After missing the ball, he picks it up and rifles it as fast and as hard as he can in the direction of 1b without setting. Even if he made a perfect throw he wasn't going to get the runner. This was a completely stupid throw. There were probably 5 year olds in the stadium who have seen enough baseball to know that ball was ticketed for the dugout, and of course, the runner goes to 2nd on the play. Gillaspie gets the 2nd error on the play, runner scores a few batters later. The first one? Fine, Gillaspie just physically could not make that play every time and the coaching staff can't change that. The 2nd part? How on Earth can a player not know to stick that ball in their pocket and take the error rather than making things worse? That's what I mean when I say there's a difference between being weak defensively and what we see with this team: sloppy, stupid, poorly coached, and poorly prepared. We could be weak defensively, have weak defenders, guys who don't have good range, but we could at least be smart about it. Instead we have the guy who decides that he needs to be the hero and make an inhuman play and it ends up giving up a free run. Jones doubled the next AB, then Davis walked, then a flyball to CF. The runner being on 2nd or 1B, didn't really matter much as if the same things occurred, would have scored anyway. The BP write up on Conor before he was acquired ripped on his throwing from 3B to 1B. Considering he came up through the SF Giant organization, and they supposedly know what they are doing and couldn't put a halt to it shows something. The throw was ill advised because the runner would have been safe to begin with, however, I bet you given the exact same conditions, every 3B in the major leagues makes the throw. It wasn't like he would have been safe by 2 or 3 steps.

Use code CHECK on Ticketmaster for $12 bleacher and $14 lower reserved

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 12:03 PM) Oh Gage, of all people, you should know better then equity=cash. If Forbes is to believed, the White Sox have cash in the 9 figures stashed away somewhere if you add all their profits the past 20 years and deduct taxes. Boras said the other day every team has at least $120 million to play with before they sell a ticket. It probably is at least slightly overstated, but not any more than the White Sox break even every year line they used for years. Do the math. Even if Forbes is correct and they make $20 million in year X, even if they raise the payroll $20 million the next year and make $15 million, they still have a pre-tax income of $35 million. And the only year Forbes has shown them losing money recently was 2013 when they lost 99 games and lost $3 million. Of course those figures included the $10 million bonus they gave Abreu after the season ended.

BP has Anderson #22 on their top 50 midseason prospects. Montas made the just missed list.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 09:59 AM) But the Vice President stated it's the window in both those articles getting back to my point that he seems indecisive if it's a rebuild or a compete now situation. If they felt that their prospects were still a couple years away from making them a competitive organization, then it was really stupid to burn 2 picks this year on guys that probably wont be here when they are competing. What was the point of rushing Rodon up to the majors if he didnt have decent control or a third pitch? 3 year window with these players. Melky, LaRoche, Alexei, even before the season started, you had to figure in 3 years, all these guys would be ex-White Sox. The 3 year probably only included Micah and Rodon as contributing prospects. Maybe Sanchez. They know they have to start producing their own talent. I think the 3 year window was a term to buy them time to do just that. We will see, but it is apparent they aren't blowing the entire thing up.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 08:56 AM) Justin Verlander, who the Tigers extended two years before his deal expired and who is still owed at least $112M over four seasons after this one, looks like he might be completely toast. He has a 6.75 ERA, a 7.05 FIP, and a 1.2 K/BB. In his one quality start of four appearances this season, he allowed 6 hits and 5 walks in six innings with 3 K's. He's their John Danks.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 6, 2015 -> 09:31 AM) Your quote is almost entirely what they quoted in the MLBTR piece and it still doesn't answer many of the questions I proposed. Why is there a 3 year plan starting this year when theyve been downright awful for 2 seasons now? Why is it only 3 years when their core is locked up for more? Why on Earth are they still holding out believing they can compete this year? It is pretty hard to plan a baseball team for 10 years from now. In 2 or 3 years, they probably felt they would have a better handle on their prospects. I wouldn't take this 3 year plan as their window for trying to win. I think they probably thought it was their window before they really started producing prospects who could contribute. Not counting Rodon and now Fulmer, most of their guys are a couple of years away from being players you could count on, if not more.