Dick Allen

Strat-o-matic baseball

Considering Smith and Carwell are both underage and both were drinking, the source of their alcohol may be in trouble as well. As unfair as it seems, Carwell is underage and was alledgedly drinking, he should get some sort of suspension.

The way this is being handled by the U of I athletic department is unbelievably pathetic. Smith on the bench the day he gets bailed out of jail? Forget about the numerous transgressions he had that night. He's breaking the law just sucking back 1 beer. I don't like the Illini, and never have, but I've always kind of admired Weber and thought any criticism of him was pretty unfair. Last night's "decision" is just more poor judgement, and for that he and the AD should resign. If they refuse, they should be fired. As an Iowa alum and a guy who initially supported Alford's decision to support Pierre Pierce, and seeing all the Illinois fans, students and alumni's reaction and rip job on that, and listening to many of the Illinois apologists on the radio yesterday sticking up for Smith, I almost could laugh at this, if it wasn't so sad. At least there was a little doubt when Alford supported Pierce during his first crime, it was a he said/she said thing, and he was professing his innocence. There is no denying Smith was drinking underage, drunk, driving, got into an accident, and left his teammate for dead. BTW, when Pierce was busted for the second time, I do believe Alford should have been shown the door. I guess Smith learned one thing playing basketball at Illinois for a couple of years. He looks good in orange. A color he probably will be wearing 24 hours a day for a couple of years.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Feb 21, 2007 -> 04:41 PM) Madison you have to be 21 to enter a bar at night, unless you are accompanied by your legal gaurdian. I dont really know of any college campus where you dont have to be 21 to get into a bar. I always thought that was only an Illinois thing, because they use it as one of their recruiting tools. (Not talking about athletes, talking about when they are trying to get students.) On the Chester thing, we also dont know what Jamar Smith said to him. For all we know he told Chester: Carlwell was drunk as hell smashed up the car and told me he wanted to sleep it off in the passanger seat. Lets go out and make sure that he is breathing, but I dont want to call the police and get him in trouble. Chester isnt a dr, and some one passed out in a car without apparent injuries may not look that injured. In retrospect its easy to say "oh carlwell was seriously injured", but from personal experience I know people who have gotten in worse wrecks and tried to keep the police out of it because the injuries were only minor. If he looked at the state of the car and fell for the story you mentioned above, the guy really has no business being in college, let alone one with a great academic reputation. QUOTE(illinilaw08 @ Feb 21, 2007 -> 03:14 PM) Two things: 1) Has there been any confirmation of Couch's report that Chester was the person that went out to the car with Jamar? Logically it makes sense that it was Chester since he and Jamar live together, but Couch isn't exactly an Illini beat writer, and there isn't anything clear from the State's Attorney's report that this was Chester. I'm just curious. 2) I agree fully with Soxbadger on Chester. Assuming he is the second person with Jamar at the car, what he did was not illegal. You have no duty to call 911 when someone is hurt and I guarantee Chester would have a lawyer immediately if he lost his scholarship for doing something that, while morally reprehensible, is not illegal in the eyes of the law. I don't know what you can do to him other than a long lecture, maybe a game or two suspension for "not taking care of business" but removing him from the team would not be the correct move, in my opinion. As a diclaimer, I am in no way advocating what Frazier allegedely did, but he should not be dismissed for it. Scholarships are year to year things. Hiring a lawyer would be useless. They could yank it for any reason. If the Sun-Times report is accurate, and he saw a teammate in a car either hurt very very badly or even dead, and he did nothing about it, would you really want this guy in your program? I'm sure he was scared, and probably beyond freaked out, but you have to at least call for help.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Feb 20, 2007 -> 02:20 PM) My take: Let him stay in school, but suspend him for the year, and that includes his scholarship. If, he goes to AA meetings, does some serious community service, and moves on campus or with a Asst. coach and meets regularly with his probation officer and/or serves his time, then you give him a half scholarship for his senior year and let him play. If he won't agree to those terms...division 3 is a calling, Jamar. My dad is a Uof I grad and he started college when he was 16. He got caught with a fake ID and got thrown out of school for a year. This is a felony, and perhaps prison time. This guy has no business ever being on scholarship again.

I'm not going to condemn the underage drinking. I used to get hammered when I wasn't of age, and even drove a few times. Dumb, I know. But to risk another life trying to cover your ass is being a pussy. I'm not going to condemn the underage drinking. I used to get hammered when I wasn't of age, and even drove a few times. Dumb, I know. But to risk another life trying to cover your ass is being a pussy.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 03:16 PM) They did with Buehrle...last ASB. Maybe it was lowball, but they tried. And, I think that after the Belle contract, Reinsdorf and the rest of the White Sox Board of Directors are leery of setting market value for anyone. And honestly, again, I don't blame them. With what the Flubs, Giants and Mets have done in recent years...whew, I wouldn't want to set market rate. If Buehrle, Dye or any other Sox free agent can get more...more power to ya. The White Sox will be around a LOT longer than any of these players will be. We all rooted for the Southside Hitmen in the 70's (well, maybe just old folk), the Winning Ugly teams of the 80's, the Young Guns of the 90's and the Grinders of the 00's. And we will ALL root for the teams of the 10's, 20's, etc. This is one year, let's enjoy it and worry about next year, next year. We aren't the GM, we aren't the manager, let's see how they do before we crucify them. Some b****ed about Magglio. Some b****ed about El Caballo. Etc. Etc. Etc. Foresight is NOT 20/20. Negotiating a season and a half before he becomes a free agent with one of your marque players and that's it is not trying. If what we can expect is any White Sox player who performs well enough to be paid premium money and deserves "market rate" is that they will be getting paid by other teams, the White Sox in the future won't be the Cubs, Giants or the Mets. They will be the Pirates, Devil Rays and Royals. If the White Sox go bad, USCF unlike the Urinal, Shea or whatever they call that masterpiece is SF, will be a ghost town, full of tumbleweeds. I anticipate this season with as much excitement as any. For some reason this winter seems so much longer than others. I can't wait for real games. Even if they lost 100, which they haven't done in a very long time, I'd still watch just about every inning my wife would let me get away with. Its just much better when they are winning.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 01:47 PM) Shouldn't you do that anyway? I know I do. It makes sense to always look. And since there is a finite number of employers for these guys, I would imagine this is more prevalent than you think. It's not always about respect. It's about business. And if my employer was upfront with me...then what can I say? There are too many factors to say..."they're disrespecting me." Again, at the end of the day, the White Sox are a business, not an XBox game. And it's prudent to see what's out there from both sides. HOw do we know that there isn't another 2005 Jermaine Dye out there? Someone a bit under the radar, but a big talent that won't command as much money? The 2005 White Sox were blessed that everything came together...that doesn't mean it's going to happen again...just look 10 miles to the north of 35th and Shields. The difference is they are under contract and supposedly can't look to see what's out there until that contract ends. I don't see where it is bad business to take advantage of exclusive negotiating rights for your better employees while you have them.

QUOTE(bigruss22 @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 01:30 PM) I must say that this is different, in that they have paid agents whose job is to find them the best price, and if the player wants to stay or even sign with a certain team, then they may not get the most money, hence the "hometown discount", but money isnt everything sometimes and some players like to go where they are comfortable, and some teams cant afford to give the best price out there for some players. It has to be a mutual agreement for it to work out and if that isnt the case then its better for the player and team to move on Of course its different, I was just responding to the post. Maybe what this means is the White Sox aren't going to offer contracts to their players, but if they come to the White Sox with some figures, those will be considered. I do think it would be a good idea to make every player you want to keep here for a while, know that is your wish. Usually when guys get to the free agent process, they go for the money, and who can blame them. One thing the White Sox could try with these guys, is to give them deals that kick in in 2007. They all are below market value this season, and the Sox seemingly should have some money to play with. Giving them a extra couple million in 2007 and then market value for 2 or 3 years following is a 3 or 4 year contract equivalent to a 2 or 3 year extension. Throw some sort of option on that, and a guy like Buerhle, if he is being straight with all of his comments, may take it. QUOTE(bad at best @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 01:42 PM) I think generally if your current team matches the price of another team, the chances are they will stay with their current team. Spite is nice and everything, but not moving your family all over the place is nicer. Most White Sox player's families don't live anywhere near Chicago.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 10:10 AM) I don't know how many people on this board are out of school and work full-time...but many times I have heard someone go in and ask about raises and the response comes back, "You are free to look elsewhere." AND, I would be happy if that were the case. That means they respect me. That doesn't say to me that they wouldn't match or exceed the offer, that says that they don't to limit me. Maybe that's optomistic, but so what? Sure, they could think I won't find anything better. Or, they'll just let me go because I'm replaceable. But, the decision is left up to me...the person who does the work. Ya never know, I just might take less to stay, because I like it here. And I have no problem with Kenny being honest, as long as he told the players first before it went to the media. While I don't work under a contract, if I asked for a raise and was told I was free to look elsewhere, and I went looking for a better paying position, if I had to go through the process of looking elsewhere and then got a better offer and my current employer said they would match it, I personally would tell him to f*** off. It would be an insult to me, a total lack of respect, that some place where I have invested a lot of time and effort would only pay me what I evidently was worth (if they are willing to match) if someone I hadn't worked for were to offer me more.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 01:10 PM) I think the weight kept his velocity down a bit last year. If he can keep from 2nds in the buffett line he should be fine. Bobby is just the type of guy that needs to throw a lot in ST so he can stretch out his arm. So hopefully he does a lot of side work to augment his in game work. The hip condition he acquired, the White Sox feel was because of all the extra weight. Considering they marked him at 299 last spring there's really no telling how much over 300 he was. Hopefully the hip problem goes away with the pounds he shed and he can get his velocity back up and build his endurance. I read where his ERA after the ASB was 5.72. If that's someone who can't throw 95-100, that's DFA territory.

Contreras has always been a physical specimen. One of the better conditioned players on the White Sox. I doubt he's lost much weight.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Feb 19, 2007 -> 08:06 AM) With Iguchi. what happens if he leaves? Like Kal brought up, there are a few 2b options out there, but nothing really better than Tad. He has basically put up identical numbers the last two years, and while he is getting a little older, I really don't see much of a decline with Iguchi. IMO, he is a must sign, and something I would really like to see get done before the 07 off-season. I just don't see any other options. I'm trying to make sense of the value of secondbasemen. Ronnie Belliard, a decent player, not quite as good as Iguchi, but not horrendous, signed a minor league contract with Washington, that will pay him $750,000 if he makes the team. His numbers last year were decent, a shade under Iguchi's, but certainly not $5 million to $7 million worse than his. Iguchi did hit one of the biggest homeruns in White Sox history, something that gets really no attention. If he doesn't homer in Game 2 of the division series, and the White Sox lose that game, they may not even make it to the WS.

QUOTE(Beltin @ Feb 14, 2007 -> 06:25 PM) Aside from the facts about the historical spending patterns of current White Sox ownership, baseball history is fairly clear in illustrating that throwing big money at free agents frequently does not result into a championship. There are wealthy teams that have signed players to big contracts and been successful but baseball success still depends heavily on sound personell decisions throughout the organization. I think the Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, and KC Royals of the 1980s are prime examples of this fact. Further, the NY Yankees of the mid-80s to early 90s are a great example of a wealthy team that was mismanaged (or overmanaged from the top) and floundered. The White Sox have had a lot of success using free agents to win. Carlton Fisk is one. Floyd Bannister was a huge part of the 1983 team. The WS champions had Dye, AJ, Iguchi, El Duque. All had huge roles at some point. You mentioned the KC Royals of the 80s. You may be surprised to know the Royals had baseball's highest payroll for a while in the early 80's and bounced back to have the highest payroll in baseball in 1990 a year when the Twins had baseball's highest paid player, and the White Sox had baseball's lowest payroll for the 3rd consecutive season, but won 94 games. It may be a little misleading as the differences from the Royals top payroll in 1990 ,$23+ million and the White Sox botton $9.5 million isn't nearly as huge as the gap that there is today. Its interesting to see that the White Sox total payroll between 88-90 was about $23 million. Now 1 player gets that in a season, when a whole team didn't get that for 3 seasons combined. What you're saying also would mean the White Sox stance on this is foolish. To replace the players lost, since the farm system is not exactly a gold mine right now, would require signing more free agents. I really doubt the White Sox have plans to slash the payroll if all these guys leave, unless ticket sales totally plummett. But I think it may be a bit of arrogance to think players will play for the White Sox for less, just because they won a WS. So KW better be prepared to pay market value or those 90-100 loss seasons he's been trying to avoid will come quickly. The AL Central is only getting better.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Feb 18, 2007 -> 06:01 PM) The 2006 version: There's definitely a chin or 2 less. The article said he was 299 last year. I bet that means he actually was over 3 bills.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Feb 18, 2007 -> 12:16 PM) To answer your first question, it came down some after the ridiculous contracts of 2000-2001. Second, I agree, we'll need to sign some FA talent to sustain ourselves. KW has always shown a willingness to sign people though. I doubt our payroll is going to go much lower, if it all than 100 mil. But who knows. Won't know until after next offseason KW has signed free agents, but mostly with the exception of Konerko, and if the White Sox don't win the WS or at least make it there, Konerko is probably gone, at bargain basement prices. The fact is, all 3 of these guys are playing for way below market value in 2007. If he's so concerned about their families getting by on the millions these guys get paid, why when he heard Dye had a better deal somewhere else, didn't he tell him to take it? Or why won't he just pay them what the market bears, unless they are going to use lack of funds as an excuse. I know a few people who have made 5 year commitments to suites and that new thing in the old pressbox who aren't going to like this new approach. Unless of course, he has that money earmarked for Johan Santana and Miguel Cabrerra or even Zambrano. I can't see the Sox dropping payroll significantly. They would have to spend it elsewhere. But at the level all three of these guys get paid, if that's what they are willing to spend, the team is really going to dropoff in the next few years.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Feb 18, 2007 -> 11:47 AM) I'm thinking maybe KW expects the market to go back to normal this offseason. That way, these guys can go out there and realize they're not going to get as much money as they previously thought they would, and maybe they'll re-sign for a fair contract. If KW offers them what he considers a "fair" contract today, it might seem like they're being lowballed. If he actually expects the market to return to some form of normality, he can offer them the exact same contracts and it won't be a slap in their faces? I'm really just stretching to make some sense of this. I just have to trust KW. I don't think "normalcy" will return to contracts for a while. The Yankees have a new stadium on the way and a lot of money coming off their books. That alone will keep the numbers for the real good players high. At some point, the White Sox are going to have to bite the bullet and pay someone a ridiculous amount of money for what they bring to the table, because they aren't going to thrive bringing up prospects every year.

KW's new attitude towards impending free agents is beyond troubling. Its what small market teams do. Apparently he feels the White Sox should not offer market value contracts to players until he sees they can get market value somewhere else. Its exactly the kind of attitude that will make the White Sox go back to insignificant with most of Chicago almost as quickly as they became the top story. Its not going to go over very well with the fanbase, who have stepped up, when you don't want to even make offers to your impending free agent good players anymore.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Feb 13, 2007 -> 12:57 PM) Word in the wind is that in Chicago they will be playing someplace where football is normally played. Really. I heard they would be playing in a dump that reeks of urine, and has nets up to protect spectators from falling concrete.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Feb 17, 2007 -> 03:16 PM) It could be true, if Jack gave up a ridiculous amount of gopherballs Aardsma, the guy KW got to take McCarthy's place in the bullpen, gave up a ridiculous number of gopherballs himself in a very weak NL, but if you read this board, he's unhittable.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Feb 17, 2007 -> 10:24 AM) If 3/33 is correct, then the Sox were lowballing Buehrle in years and money. I read there was an option for a fourth year as well. At that time, I agree, it still was a bargain if you were getting the Buerhle we had come to know, but a price that if the guy wants to stay as much as he claims, he certainly should have considered. With the likes of Gil Meche getting that kind of money now and more years, he obviously played his cards correctly because unless he has surgery he'll get what the Sox offered him if he pitches 2007 like he pitched the second half of 2006. Hopefully, his being in better shape will return him to form, and the White Sox can be spectacular this year. One thing I wonder is if Buerhle does sign with the Cardinals next offseason, considering his comments, would even his most ardent supporters consider him a phony?

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Feb 16, 2007 -> 10:58 PM) Is this available only with an insider subscription? I couldn't find his blog. If McCarthy does justify this title, and we're floundering with the 5th starters position, Williams will appear like a complete dope. He better hope the following events occur -- Masset is an immediate impact player in the bullpen, and Danks pitchers similarily (or better) than McCarthy from 2008 onwards. Yes its with the insider subscription. On the other hand, Steve Stone was very complimentary towards Masset on the Score the other day. You can hear the interview on their website,although you have to listen to about 10 minutes of Cubs garbage (on the White Sox flagship) before you get to it.

FWIW, Gammons on his blog on ESPN.com polled 70 front office people on who would be the biggest breakout player in 2007. The number 1 pick, Brandon McCarthy, with a little Jack McDowell II reference.

Isn't it a little far-fetched to think Smith got into this accident while driving a car totally intact with a clear mind, but then was so dazed he left his friend basically to die in the car although he was able to navigate a car that most likely would be a lot tougher to drive home?

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Feb 15, 2007 -> 06:13 PM) Looks like crazy ol' Flash and his persistent rants concerning the minor league system have new company in Williams. It's almost as if a figurative brick hit Williams on the head this previous season. It's a simple equation -- no production from within the organization + reluctance to sign pitchers to long term deals + inability to locate/sign foreign talent + division rivals with legitimate farm systems = teh suck. Less we forget, positional players aren't exactly compensating for the lack of pitching depth. It's medicore through and through; but atleast there exists hope -- if Konerko's contract was any indication -- we're willing to spend necessary funds for positional players. The ironic thing is one of the big reasons Williams got his job was because "experts" were calling the Sox farm system the best in baseball, and he was given a lot of credit for that. From the White Sox media guide Williams served as the club’s director of minor league operations from 1995-96 and was promoted to vice president of player development for four additional seasons (1997-2000). Under his direction, the White Sox were named 2000 Organization of the Year by Baseball America, USA Today and Howe SportsData.