Dick Allen

The White Sox would be foolish to offer Buerhle a 5 or 6 year contract for $15+ million a year until they can reasonably determine last years debacle was just a temporary thing. The guy claimed he wasn't hurt, and that he wasn't tired, and he got hit around like the White Sox #5 starter pre-2005. And Buerhle, would be foolish to sign the contract the White Sox were offering if that report is accurate, as even if he has another mediocre year, would command more than that on the open market. I fully expect Buerhle to be a Cardinal in 2008. While KW should keep his mouth shut, Buerhle is actually using his poor 2006 to his advantage. He'll say all the right things but his heart is on the other side of the Mississippi River. I'm sure KW would have dealt him if he could have received anything he could find acceptable, but really who wants to pay Buerhle a lot of money and give up a lot of prospects, for one season of pitching, especially with the question marks Buerhle has going into this season.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jan 25, 2007 -> 12:12 PM) I believe that's what they in the business call a statistical anomaly. Seeing as how it happened 6 years ago and he's come nowhere near any of those numbers again in fact he was never really close to those numbers before '00. That hasn't stopped Erstad from living off that one great offensive season. I don't think he's going to put up great numbers, but if Levine is correct and they are paying him $750,000 for 2007, if he's as bad as you think he is, it won't hurt KW to release him. On the other hand, at that price, he will most likely bring you at least as much as Timo Perez did in 2005. What the move does is more than likely keeps Sweeney from rotting on the bench in Chicago, while getting him some more baseball experience in Charlotte, and really doesn't do anything to hurt the White Sox budget-wise.

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Jan 25, 2007 -> 08:14 AM) Bobby was a good suprise for me last year. His ERA was 4.00, but he only blew 4 saves. In his first full year as a closer he was clutch and impressive. I hope the "low radar gun reading" stories don't start in ST this year. The last 2 years he has built speed as the season went along, and think that's just how he does it. Shingo only blew 1 save in 2005 and he was DFA'd. Jenks was very hittable at the end of the season. It is good news to see that 300 pounds isn't acceptable to him anymore. I didn't see any 100 mph fastballs last year. Hopefully that will come back. I read a while back he does have a hip issue that the White Sox thought (and hope) is/was weight related. Hopefully getting in better shape, brings his gas back. He certainly appears to have matured.

Something you should look at.........If the White Sox would have traded a valuable piece for Aaron Rowand, (I am assumming Erstad's surgery was a success and he will be 100%) the majority of this board would be dancing on the streets. Erstad hasn't been getting on base all that much in recent years. Except for 2004, Rowand hasn't been getting on base at about the same clip. If Erstad is 100% healthy, he is just as good as Rowand except he may hit 3 or 4 less homers. What's the harm in signing him cheaply?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 06:28 PM) Erstad's highest OBP since 2000? .346. With an average OBP about .320. Walk saw something on tape. Don't worry, Walk can fix him.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 06:25 PM) Motherf***er. I agree. I kind of like the signing. His numbers are bad, and he's not all that great offensively anymore, but he does bring some intangibles with him. But an everyday leadoff hitter? I'd think Mack would make a better replacement in LF.

According to the Tribune, Pods is out 6 to 8 weeks, that could take him until the end of spring training. Considering how all those who love him used last year's sports hernia surgery and shortened spring as the reason he absolutely sucked, there isn't any reason whatsoever to think he will do anything but suck in 2007. The article also stated that Erstad may leadoff, with Ozuna and Iguchi other possibilities, and Shannon Stewart was thought about, but he wanted too much money. Considering the Sox are paying Pods $3 million to be Pods, I wonder just how much money is too much money.

QUOTE(knightni @ Jan 23, 2007 -> 12:57 PM) Since 1978, only two WS guys have won a gold glove, who are they? NO GOOGLE, JUST GUESS. What about Mike Squires in 1981?

A couple of Tribune writers have picked up on the Lovie to the Big D rumors. I had no idea it was his mother's dream for Lovie to coach the Cowboys.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 03:38 PM) I think they wanted it to be in a more intimate setting due to the fiasco of last years. I heard that, but they were passing out the little notes that Soxfest would be at the Palmer House at last year's Soxfest. I doubt they would have been able to arrange it that quickly. Something must have happened before the actual event. It seems weird they would deprive a lot of people a chance of attending Soxfest because the hotel wanted a say in what was going on. It would be interesting to see what exactly the reason really was.

QUOTE(SEALgep @ Jan 22, 2007 -> 07:29 PM) Darin Erstad-OF-Angels Jan. 22 - 8:04 pm et The Marlins and White Sox are among the finalists for free agent Darin Erstad, who could pick his team this week. The Angels remain in the running, though they won't offer as much playing time as the competition. The Cubs, like the A's, appear to be out of it, as they perfer Cliff Floyd for their outfield mix. The Marlins would give Erstad a chance to be their regular center fielder if he's interested in playing in Florida. The White Sox, who nearly acquired Erstad for Jon Garland prior to the Angels' 2002 World Series run, would have him battle Brian Anderson and Ryan Sweeney this spring. I wouldn't mind Erstad at all, especially as a 4th outfielder and Anderson back up. With Gload gone, Erstad would be a pretty good defensive back-up at first base as well. Offensively, he's just not a very good player any more, but he is a "grinder" and is great with the glove no matter where you stick him. If he's willing to be a back-up or thinks he can beat Anderson out, and is willing to play on the cheap, he would be a pretty good signing IMO.

The rumor is the guy Jones wants is Lovie Smith.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 19, 2007 -> 10:50 PM) Seriously, I'm not surprised at Grilli's success, the White Sox were so desperate for starters for like 5 years that they tossed aside bullpen talent because that wasn't what they needed. But anyway, I think KW has realized that flaw this year. And if you lined up Grilli versus anyone that pencils into the Sox bullpen this year, including Logan/Sisco, for the first time in several years, I take the inexperienced guy in the Sox bullpen bases on sheer talent alone My God can this bullpen bring the heat. I hope it works for a full season, because on paper, Minny will wish they had the stuff we do I would hardly call a 4.21 ERA with 31 strikeouts and 25 walks in 62 innings in the park he pitches in all that successful.

One of the dumbest moments is Sox history was the day the White Sox signed Jaime Navarro.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 16, 2007 -> 11:54 AM) This is really bad news. If all they are announcing is a one year deal, that means we couldn't get a multi-year deal done. Bye-bye Joe. His agent is Boras. It would be a stunning development in the baseball world if Crede signed a contract before testing free agency.

If Pippen was underpaid, it was his own fault. He signed a contract for some security. You, at least at the time Pippen played for the Bulls, could not renegotiate contracts in the NBA, not that the Bulls would have anyway. The Bulls did Pippen a favor when he left by doing a sign and trade with Houston which gave him millions of dollars more than he could have gotten had he just left. The Bulls got crap back.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 11:19 PM) Hmmm, you're not much of a basketball guy, are you Dick? Chandler is at what, 11.5 rebounds per game? He's a potential rebounding champion at the age of 24. His help defense is also bordering on elite. Worst trade in the history of sports? Good God, man. When Brand was 22 he averaged 11.6 rebounds a game. He also can score. The trade made no sense. Chandler is so elite, Paxson couldn't wait to dump him.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 07:52 PM) Jerry Krause said before the last championship season that there's no way in hell Phil Jackson would be the coach after that year. He wanted Tim Floyd. And, if IIRC, Tim Floyd was hired as President of Basketball Operations before Phil had even made his decision. You don't think that would piss a normal person off? Let alone a guy that coached 6 titles? JR offering Phil to come back after that was basically damage control. That way they can say "well, we tried to bring him back, but he declined." It should've never came to that anyway. A gm with a brain would've locked Phil up a long time ago. If Phil's back, more than likely Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, ect are all back. Yes, Jordan did cut his hand or whatever. But I don't think he would've missed an entire season. But that point is moot since MJ wasn't gonna play without Phil. Pippen had been underpaid for years, and he was gonna get his money regardless. A smart gm, or atleast a gm that didn't have an agenda, would've done ANYTHING and EVERYTHING possible to keep that team together. Period. I believe we had another two championships left with that group. And he did a lot more than just make some mistakes after everyone left. The mistakes he made were the kinda that set franchises back years. 1: Traded Elton Brand for Tyson Chandler. 2: Traded Ron Artest, Brad Miller and Ron Mercer for Jalen Rose 3: Wasted precious lottery picks on bums like Marcus Fizer and Jamal Crawford. 4: Failed miserably to sign even halfway decent free agents to keep the team competitive. Bulls record from '99 through '03 (Krause's last year): 96-282 That's some historic losing. That overrides anything positive he did, IMO. I'm glad the bum is gone. It's no concidence that we're back to being respectable with him out of the way. Does he even have a job now? There's no defending the Brand trade. That may have been the most stupid trade in the history of sports. The Bulls wouldn't have been much better with Artest and Miller, at least not enough to win much, and it would have hurt them in the draft. Fizer and Crawford both were drafted in 2000. Take a look at that draft. The entire first round is all bums. He couldn't get people to sign with him because Jordan and his buddies made him bad news. He got played there. He also got burned when Jay Williams wrecked his career. If 4 or 5 years of losing overrides 6 championships, how can you say anything positive about KW who has 1 championship and 5 dissappointments in 6 seasons as a GM? He used to be a scout with the Yankees, he's with someone else now.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 07:19 PM) And there's not many gm's who had Michael. I mean it wasn't all MJ, obviously. But that sure did help. And, yes, he deserves credit for putting the pieces around Jordan. I've always given him that much. But he deserves just as much, if not more, of the blame, for one, the dynasty being prematurely broken up, and two, the utter crap the franchise became from '99-'2004. Phil Jackson was leaving. JR basically offered Phil a blank check to come back and he refused. Jordan said he wouldn't play for anyone but Jackson. So he retired, and cut a finger on a cigar cutter which would have cost him at least most if not all of the next season. Rodman would never have fit in with anyone but Jackson, and Pippen was given a huge gift by Krause, which he didn't have to do, a sign and trade which netted him millions more than he could have signed for. Blaming Krause for the break-up was the trendy thing to do, but not accurate. The year Jordan retired for the first time, Krause put together a team that was one horrible Hue Hollins call away from making the NBA finals, and that's with the heart and soul of your team walking away a few days before training camp. He obviously made some mistakes later after everyone left, and part of the problem may have been some arrogance on his part, which ironically more than one writer has accused KW of having now that he has won the ultimate prize.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 05:17 PM) And he deserves every ounce of that hate. Don't get me started on that fool. Jerry Krause had a hand in KW becoming a member of the White Sox organization. It also was his recommondation that got the Hoyt/Guillen trade done. Without Jerry Krause, Guillen most likely would never have been the White Sox manager, and KW most likely would never had been the White Sox GM. So if you look at that, and think KW and Ozzie are the biggest reasons the White Sox won the World Series in 2005, Krause has had a hand in 7 championships. There is no doubt he is not a very social man, and far from good-looking. He handled the media poorly, but no one can take away what he accomplished, and that was a heck of a lot more than any GM in Chicago sports history.

QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 05:00 PM) I love how there is so much hate for KW yet he is the only GM in baseball that has brought a Championship to Chicago....Go figure a Cub fan ripping on the Sox anyway. No GM anywhere was hated more than Jerry Krause in Chicago, and he has 6 rings.

I haven't seen her lately, but about 10-15 years ago I had a thing for Annie Lennox.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 02:03 PM) Or they reserved a certian percentage of capacity for partial plans, just like they did last year. Weren't the splits sold out last season as well as the fulls? I'm pretty sure there was a waiting list for the splits,and if there was and they are hawking them now, that list must be gone. QUOTE(chiguy79 @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 02:06 PM) I am guessing most people on the waiting list don't want the 17th row of the upper deck which were the best available that came up. Also split packages don't include playoff options now which really reduces any motivation to purchase season tix. There were some lower levels available on the weekday plan.

Evidently the 97% renewal rate and/or the very long waiting list for season tickets wasn't entirely true, or everyone that was on the waiting list jumped off the bandwagon as split packages are now available on the White Sox website.

The White Sox came pretty close to acquiring Bernie back when the Yankees used to trade all of their prospects. At this point he would be Carl Everett-esque in CF. He's been pretty bad there a few years now, but its probably better defense than Mackowiak gave you there.