Dick Allen

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 07:16 PM) That quote is so f***ing stupid. BTW -- why is Konerko sitting in on these meetings? What do you expect the player to say -- "Yeah, Kenny, it's probably your best bet to just pack in the season and trade everybody." I know Konerko has a NTC, but there are some contending teams out there who could really use a first baseman. I'm not necessarily advocating a Konerko trade, but if Detroit, the Yankees or the Angels (with Kotchman's concussion) came calling, Kenny should be fielding answers. It's wierd -- sad, even? -- to think that Konerko still has three years left on his deal after this year. Grady Sizemore hit a leadoff homer on opening day.That sucked, and is what he's referring to. Things haven't gotten much better since. As far as Konerko's contract, I think they know its probably too long when they agreed to it. But they had to give it to him. He came up huge in the playoffs, and had a big year last year. He'll still hit, at least for a couple of years. Letting him walk after 2005 would have been a PR disaster for the team, and would have taken some of the shine off the championship trophy.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 07:13 PM) At least we can say that this season sucked from the very first batter. You can put it on the board. It is 1-0 Indians.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 06:06 PM) First of all, very good list, Kalapse. You actually put them in order of how good they are, nice. First thing that popped into my mind is the pool of "talent" at 1B. If we're serious about rebuilding (which we should be, very soon), we can make a killing trading Konerko. When the best 1B option on the FA market is Shea Hillenbrand, Konerko has to look like Babe Ruth. Konerko has 3 more years on his contract, I believe, so that will make him desirable to other teams, plus he won't be too good by the time our rebuilding has taken place. Also, not much talent at 3B or DH, so teams may be more likely to take a risk on Crede and Thome, to a lesser extent. I read where Hillenbrand may become a free agent a lot sooner. He supposedly is very close to being released.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 07:01 PM) Konerko was a bust as well. Konerko didn't spend parts of 4 seasons in AAA. Lasorda traded him to Cincinatti because he needed a closer and was concerned about Konerko's hip. The Reds traded him for an up and comer who they used to get Ken Griffey Jr. Floyd was dumped by Philadelphia, using the courtesy line, "all he needs is a change of scenery".

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 06:59 PM) Atleast Wood and Prior were immensely talented young players with the ability to pull a s***ty team out of the cellar, you can't say the same at all for Groiny and Grindy. I know. Its so pathetic I'm not even mad. I laugh.

This is karma for laughing at the Cubs all those years waiting on Wood and Prior. Here we are waiting on Pods and Erstad.

QUOTE(29thandPoplar @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 06:46 PM) Well the big news from the 2 hour Sox brain trust meeting this afternoon ... KW on the pregame basically says they (the players) want to see how they perform when Podsednik and Erstad get back, to see if the team can go on a run. Konerko was at the meeting, as was Guillen and Hahn and of course Williams. So it does not look like any trades will be made for now. My guess is they will evaluate where they are in two weeks, like July 1st. KW asked Konerko, Thome and someone else what they needed for the second half last year, and they said nothing. KW, you are the GM, you make the decisions. This is stupid. I don't know how Pods or Erstad will make the bullpen any better, or make Vazquez think like a winner. I also don't know how it will make the rest of the line-up any quicker or swing and miss less. KW will use that meeting to deflect some of the blame off himself. He needs to be fired.

I certainly hope this is the calm before the storm, because the next time I hear Ozzie say that if the players find losing acceptable they are playing for the wrong GM and wrong manager, I will projectile vomit. He has said it at least 3 times, and the biggest move is the Charlotte shuttle. Also, I agree with Steff about KW doing nothing now, at least regarding Buerhle. I have a hard time believing that for as many teams that would or should be involved in Buerhle talks, that he could possibly keep it from the papers.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 05:04 PM) How so? Who the hell are we starting in LF? Our middle of the order is terrible right now, and we need offense. You stick the slugger out in LF and bat him 6th and our lineup got alot scarier over night. So you want to give up prospects for a guy who should make the team better, but will only be around until the end of the year? That's the question for me. I have no problem if the Reds just want to dump his salary, but KW would be out of his mind to give up legitimate prospects for the pipedream of postseason baseball in 2007.

Ozzie would easily be able to tell if the players have tuned out Walker. If he thought they had, I'm sure he'd be gone. When things go bad, stories leak. If the players didn't want to work with Walker, we would have read something by now.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 03:52 PM) Do you have any criticisms to make of minor league hitting coaches? Since nobody ever comes up and does anything? Its hard to say. Most of the guys KW traded away can't hit in the spots where they landed either. So I would say its most likely a lack of ability which falls on the scouts.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 03:44 PM) You might give some credit to Mazzone for Ruthrie and Bedard and Ray as much criticism as you want for his relievers. But let's change the subject around a bit, DA. When do YOU blame the coaches. Do you ever? It certainly would be when I was comfortable with the talent on the field being better than the results. The Sox have DP candidates up and down the line-up. The line-up is bad. There really are no huge on base guys besides Thome. I just can't see how its Walker's fault Konerko and Dye suddenly play like they are 45 years old. If they hit like they did last year, under Walker's presence, there would be no problem except that there still is no speed. Walker didn't get dumb overnight. If hitting coaches make 100 point differences in batting averages, they are vastly underpaid.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 03:14 PM) Yeah I heard that live yesterday while in the car. It was THE classic moron Rowand guy. His whole argument was "he has a ring." By his logic, he'd rather have Geoff Blum at 3rd base instead of, say, Miguel Cabrera in a fantasy world. It reminds of a story I read where Jerry Krause was trying to trade Wil Perdue to Sacramento, and kept on talking up the fact that Will had 3 championship rings. The Sacramento GM finally told Jerry, "so does your trainer."

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 02:55 PM) With Buehrle, it wasn't necessarily tiredness but he wasn't conditioned properly in the offseason as he, by his own admission, took it a little easy after the WS win. As far as Garcia, all his innings don't hurt. Everyone else wasn't THAT bad. Contreras' innings have definitely hurt him. He's thrown like 8000 in Cuba and here combined. Garland started off with dead-arm. Vazquez was fine. The whole "overextended pitching staff" thing isn't exactly a hollow excuse. Randy Johnson spoke about it last year, too. But what the f*** does he know?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? And last year the White Sox lead baseball hitting with RISP. They had a higher OBP hit more homers, and struck out less than Texas, who have supposedly the greatest hitting coach who has ever walked. Leo Mazzone was a pitching coach God, now with Baltimore, his relievers blow. Did he suddenly become stupid? Did Walker suddenly become stupid? The offense has no speed, has no one who can hit and run. Is loaded with guys who strike out a lot. Why is it Walker has to change them from what they are but Cooper gets a pass? I have read countless posts how great Javy Vazquez is. Look at his record with the Sox. Cooper is getting nothing from him. Is it the coaches fault? What about the bullpen. MacDougal was good now he sucks. Blame Cooper. Aardsma was decent in meaningless games for the Cubs. Now he sucks. Blame Cooper. Sisco can't throw a strike. I'm blaming Cooper. Personally, I just think its ridiculous to pin the White Sox lack of offense on the hitting coach. The team is constructed very poorly. I would just like to see consistency from the board when placing blame on failure. If its Walker's fault the offense is bad. Its Coopers fault the bullpen can't throw a strike, and Vazquez always pitches well enough to lose. Ozzie gets a pass too. If Jerry Manuel were the manager he would get fried on this site. Gene LaMont got fired about 30 games into the 1995 season for bad results even though he won a division in 1993 when it was tougher to make the playoffs, and led a team whose organization says to this day would have won the WS in 1994 if there had been one. Finally, KW needs to be skewered as well.

Erstad's injury will pretty much guarantee his option will be $3.5 million. If he shows his ankle is fine the second half, its probably a lock KW exercises it. Assuming KW is still at the helm.

Considering this is the 4th year Floyd has had starts in AAA, I don't think anyone should get too excited about a little success. I don't know why people want to make Sisco a starter. He throws 35 pitches an inning.

For a second, I thought KW re-acquired him.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 12:04 PM) The Baltimore Orioles have hired former cub and twin front office man Andy McPhail as their new chief operating officer. There is now speculation that this will be it for Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo, and that the Orioles could be the next team to target Joe Girardi as a skipper. No idea what any of this would mean for Leo Mazzone. Leo Mazzone is the world's greatest pitching coach. He is the anti-Walker. Amazing how much better of a coach you are when you have good players.

From the AP Sam Perlozzo was fired as manager of the Baltimore Orioles on Monday with the last-place team in the midst of an eight-game losing streak. Perlozzo's firing was disclosed by a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. The Orioles scheduled a news conference for later Monday. Bullpen coach Dave Trembley, who has served as a minor league manager in the organization, will be the interim manager when the Orioles begin a six-game trip in San Diego on Tuesday. Perlozzo was victimized by an underachieving bullpen and a punchless offense that ranks last in the AL in home runs. That last statement easily could have Ozzie Guillen's name substituted for Perlozzo's. Does this mean hard Art is the heir apparent?

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 11:50 AM) It's naive to think that would make decisions based on only two months of play. With that in mind... Carl Everett hit .265/.335/.465 in the 2.5 seasons immediately preceding his '03 trade to the White Sox. Jermaine Dye has hit .283/.347/.543 in his 2.5 seasons on the southside. There's a bit of performance difference between the two. Considering it most likely would be a rental, I would think the stats of the current season would come into play. If we are going by 2005-2006 stats, the White Sox wouldn't be moving Dye. Everett was hitting .274 with 18 homers and going to the All Star Game. Dye has struggled. Everett wasn't healthy the previous seasons. Dye wasn't healthy before signing with the White Sox.

Carl Everett was having an all star season when KW traded away not the greatest package to get him. Francisco was pretty good, but got hurt, and the Rangers picked up a lot of salary. I really don't think 3 months of Jermaine Dye is going to net more than a B prospect or 2.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 10:52 AM) Actually you are wrong there. The price of durable mediocre starters is pretty much what we are paying Vazquez. Go look at the pitching contracts over the last couple of winters. The White Sox can't afford to have an $11.5 a year 5th starter when they can't develop cheaper starts through their system. Lilly, Meche and Marquis 3 guys who everyone laughed at this winter when they signed, and the alledged barometer to justify what Vazquez gets, have been much better than Javy this year. Where are all the people that said he just needed to be settled in and 2007 would be a banner year from him?

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ Jun 18, 2007 -> 08:58 AM) same with me, although I am 1-0 on the year. I want Fields to do well, but I could care less for Contreras. Had it been Buehrle, Garland, or Danks, I would hope they all perform well, but maybe Count can pitch well and improve his trade value. Surely, someone would take a World Series champion starting pitcher, but where would Jose accept a trade to is the difficult part. Contreras also had a no trade when he was with the Yankees. He stated he didn't want to be where he wasn't wanted. I think if he does have a no trade, which I'm really not sure of, it would be of little hinderance. I still think he's a good pitcher. I wouldn't trade him.

I read in the paper today he should be back this week, and Erstad should be back during the Marlins series. I'm not expecting much from either one though. Erstad got hurt on a swing,so he may go down at anytime, and its not like Pods was Rickey Henderson II in Charlotte. He even says he's worthless if he can't steal.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jun 17, 2007 -> 10:33 PM) Um...I don't get it. Billy Goat has nothing to do with baseball. A hitting coach has a s***load to do with baseball. Bottom line this offense and the bullpen have been horrendous. The offense has been bad all season while the pen actually was good for the first month of the season. Point being...with a better offense this team has quite a few more wins (same can be said about the pen) and well Greg Walker is the hitting coach so when a team is the worse in baseball (and possesses guys that have produced during large chunks of there major league careers) the blame is going to deservingly get pointed at the guy whose paid to teach and help work with the hitters (whether its his fault or not). Then shouldn't Don Cooper be out of a job? The pitching is why the Sox didn't win last year, and its actually worse by the numbers this year at the same point in time. Don Cooper doesn't get any heat. Everyone bought the playoff tiredness, too bad it doesn't seem to affect other teams that make the playoffs way more often than the White Sox. Its not the coaches. Its the players. They are not that good. The White Sox have a few good individual offensive players. They really have no speed. They really have no lead off guy. They have no one who can bunt. They have no hit and run guys. They are loaded with slow guys who swing and miss a lot. KW needs to go back to the drawing board.