Dick Allen

Try priceline and bid $48 for North Michigan Ave. Last year, it worked and you got the Hyatt. People have been getting the Hyatt for the week before Soxfest this year at the same price. Hopefully, the Soxfest weekend will work at this price as well. It did last year.

Hawk actually brought in Haller. Haller did the paperwork part of the job IIRC. Hawk was overwhelmed by that.

Baseball's biggest nightmare would be if it was proven Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire were all on the juice. Its pretty obvious they were. Whatever happened to Canseco's book? I'm sure there's a publisher who would be willing to print it. I wonder if MLB persuaded Canseco not to come out with it. They need strict penalties for failing a steriod test. I was told you have to be an idiot anyway to fail one of those test. The steriod issue will hover over MLB like a black cloud until it is dealt with seriously by the players association.

Bradley was arrested again last week. This guy is a time bomb, although I know for a fact KW wanted him real bad when he was in Montreal. I think its too big of chance to take. He's going to go off again, maybe even Ron Artest-style or worse.

RJ at $16 million + 40% luxury tax + $4 million paying for Vazquez= $26.4 million. That's a pretty high price to pay for a 41 year old pitcher. If the Yankees are backing off, I don't blame them.

Gammons prediction falls apart within hours...... who would have thunk it? I still think the Yanks are posturing to get the price down. We'll see if it works.

Espn insider said the deal is as reported with the Yankees picking up $4 million a year of Vazquez's salary. The Big Stein is going to be writing about $300 million in checks next year if you include salaries, revenue sharing and penalties for being over the thresehold.

He definitely would. He had a great year, although Torre had to work him into the ground. Vazquez and Gordon for a little less than the package KW put together for the Big Unit would make my day.

I deleted my post. I didn't see Vazquez on the original deal.

The Yankees hit a lot too, without much production from Giambi, and Yankee Stadium is supposedly a graveyard for right handed power hitters. I think the players are more responsible for the high homerun totals, than the park. Even with Thomas and Ordonez out, the White Sox had a power hitter at every position, (exceot when Harris was in the line-up) except catcher.

Why do I have a sick feeling that KW is going to overpay for a washed up Dan Wilson?

It may have, but it certainly didn't effect the number of balls hit into the seats. My point was if you took the Braves the last five years, and had them play their home games at USCF, and had the same White Sox teams play their home games at Turner Field, opinions on whether the parks are pitcher or hitter friendly would probably be a lot different than they are now.

One reason USCF is considered a launching pad is that the White Sox, for the past several years, have been built to hit the homerun. One reason Turner Field is considered a pitcher's park is the Braves were built around a strong pitching staff. If the White Sox concentrate on building a deeper pitching staff, and go for on base guys who play small ball instead of the Jose Valentin's of the world, homerun totals will go down, and USCF will not be considered the launching pad it is now. When it opened, Comiskey Park II was considered a pitcher's park. Wind direction didn't and still doesn't seem to matter much, except when balls are hit at the direction of the CF scoreboard. Fences are in slightly from when it opened, but very few balls land in the area from where the fences are now to where they used to be. In fact, I read that the first year the fences were moved in, there were zero that did this. I wondered what kind of effect the new roof would have on carry, and apparently it had none. I wonder if removing the giant billboard where the FUNdamentals is going to be will have any effect.

When healthy he has been a great pitcher. He could blow out again. His career looks a lot like Jason Bere's. Starts off great, gets hurt, is horrible, has a good season, gets a decent payday. Bere's career countinued with gets hurt again, and is done.

If Wright's healthy, he's a great pick up. The problem is he is rarely healthy. He throws hard. He started the 7th game of the 1997 World Series I believe, and I think he was a rookie. He was a stud prospect who is back off the garbage heap. 3 years sounds like a bit much, but probably no more than they were willing to give Vizquel which may may the Sox a player for one of the top SS. Also, he may be a replacement for Garland if Jon goes to Arizona for the Big Unit.

George is making the minimum, and its worth it to see if he can play. IMO, this is more a tryout for next year. If George can still play, and that is a HUGE if, he's a much better option as a back up than Quinn, Krenzel, and Hutchinson. Hutchinson must really suck if they are still afraid to put him in the game, after the performance of the first 2 clowns. Sometimes you appreciate things a little more after they are taken away from you, and maybe George appreciates football now, and won't be the cancer he has been in the past.

8 years ago they were $22. Baseball better be careful. I think the day is coming where people finally say enough, and find something else to spend their money on.

Jerry West would never hire Phil Jackson again. He feels Pheel backstabbed him in LA.

Even though I live on the Near North Side, I'm getting sick and tired to Gammon's railing (he did the same thing with the ill-fated Nomar/Maggs trade last year) on the South Side of Chicago. Its one thing to rail on the White Sox, another a city, and another a section of the city where Gammons had never stepped foot outside of USCF.

Its 1000

If the "Scout Seats" are green, I'm sure green is coming to the rest of the park, but probably not until 2006 or 2007. Don't worry, blue is just as comfortable as green.

Ortiz would be a big mistake. I think his ERA was over 6 the last 2 months of the season, and his velocity dropped 5-7 mph. I think you would be looking at a major waste of money if you signed him, a perfomance that would remind you of Todd Ritchie or Billy Koch. Clement will finish at about .500 when the season is done, barring his shoulder exploding. He is one of those guys who pitches well enough to think you have something more than you really do with him,he is not a big winner. Johnson, while he'd only be around a year or two, is dominating and intimidating. He pitches inside. Contreras and Garland may learn something from him. Konerko could be replaced, and its very unlikely he would reach the numbers he had in 2004 again in 2005, plus he's a free agent at the end of this year anyway. If it comes down to the Sox not getting RJ because he doesn't want to come here, that would be one thing. If it comes down to the White Sox not willing to extend him a season, let's just say I would find it very disheartening.

2nd place in the RJ sweepstakes might has well been 1,000,000th place. Don't tell me what you tried to do, tell me what you've done.

I'd rather have Leiber as well. Clement's shoulder is a time bomb, and while he has exceptional stuff, his overall performance always seems to come up mediocre at the end of the season. When the Sox made that ill-advised trade with Pittsburgh for Ritchie, they had thought Ritchie was th next Lieber. Why not get the real thing?

Walker is a horrible secondbaseman. Its no coincidence that every team he's been on doesn't have much interest in bringing him back. He is better than Harris offensively by far, however. The only way I see the Sox signing him is if, indeed, they are moving Konerko and need more offense. They may even think of using him at first.