Dick Allen

He decided to go out on a limb, did he?

Why is everybody handing the World Series to the Yankees? Their pitching, while potentially very strong, has huge question marks. Is Lieber healthy? Can Brown stay healthy? Can Contreras be consistent? Rivera struggled at times last year, will he be alright? There defense is still atrocious. While there is no question ARod is better than Soriano, he gets devalued as a thirdbaseman. He is going from a great hitters park to a national park. His power numbers will probably go down a little. Soriano is not much worse than ARod, in fact, their win shares from last season were almost even. ARod beat him by 2 games. I know the Yankees are made of money, but adding this to their payroll has got to take a toll. They paid $60 million in luxury tax, and it will go higher this year. I still think the Red Sox are better than the Yankees, and think one of the biggest reasons the Yankees are doing this, is to keep ARod from Boston.

The payroll is $12 million higher right now than it was last season.

Considering the White Sox hosted the Yankees the last home series of the season last season, I thought the schedule makers would give them a break and make it during the summer, or at least a weekend.

4 years ago, I would agree with you, but not now. Chances are, he will get hurt again this year, and miss significant time. The same type of injuries happened to his father, and I think genetics may be involved. He can't help you with attendance if his sitting at home Last off season he worked out for the first time, and was in the best shape of his life. First he hurt his shoulder, than I believe it was his ankle. He is toast. Even when he played last year, he wasn't very good. He had Konerko like numbers. Scouts say his bat has slowed significantly.He will be like the 2001 edition of Harold Baines pretty soon.

He'll be asking to be traded by September.

I think he has been injured too long to have much impact attendance and merchandise wise. He would get hurt in spring training.

If he makes his salary up with attendance and media attention, the Reds wouldn't be so eager to trade him. The guy was a great player, maybe he could get back to being a good player, but the money that would have to be used to pay him can be much more wisely spent. This rumor is just not true.

Another would be Ken Griffey owed a ton a money for a long long time. Griffey and the Reds are stuck with each other unless the Reds want to pay a huge part of the contract, or Griffey has a couple years of his old self. I don't see either happening.

Frank needs to rekindle his career? Does Levineline even watch baseball? That's right, he was the guy who said last May that Frank was through, and Konerko and Daubach should get all the playing time at 1B and DH. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Bruce Levine is an idiot.

If the Sox trade Frank Thomas for Odalis Perez, and Thomas hits 40 homers, they will get absolutely crushed in the media. I am not high on Perez. He has good stuff, but seems to be a clubhouse cancer. Taking into account he pitches in the NL at a definite pitcher's park, his stats last year were brutal.

That's true, and he has taken many shots at the Bulls before, but has never taken one at JR. JR is not blamed nearly as much for the Bulls futility as he is for the Sox. He also mentioned the Bulls were not cheap. His article is particularly interesting just by its timing alone, after some very negative press from Soxfest.

Is everyone sure it was Manuel having Willie bunt? I think he did a lot of it on his own. In fact, he said he was going to spring training early this year to work on his bunting.

Just a note, please remember I am a JR backer. Sam Smith is a friend of Jerry Reinsdorf.

Just a question, not giving you a hard time or anything, I don't smoke personally. Would you have respected Willie any more or less had he not been smoking and just sitting at the bar getting hammered?

He's tried to trade Frank, but was denied by Reinsdorf. Do you know that Joey Cora talked to Frank? I'm sure he can tell Kenny and Ozzie whats going on with him. They aren't going to trade Frank. If he wanted to be traded, he would have had his agent demand a trade. He has full no trade rights as a 5 and 10 player. Someone once posted that Frank relinquished those rights in his last contract. That would be illegal. As far as playing first base goes, Frank will play there as much as the team needs him to, remember one thing, the biggest reason Frank was reluctant to play first in the past was his lack of confidence as a fielder, a lack of confidence which came from smart ass comments by his ex teammate and current manager. Ozzie was relating a story about how he was standing next to Crede, and didn't know who he was. He also didn't know or talk to many of the players on the team yet. The fact that he hasn't talked to Frank yet is a non story only made another negative White Sox story by Guillen and Williams.

Where does it say Frank has to talk to Kenny Williams? Maybe just maybe Frank thinks KW is a jagoff and has nothing to say to him. Frank will talk to him when he has to talk to him, not a second before. Some may call it disrespectful, but would you return phone calls to someone who hates you and you hate, just so you could stroke that person's ego ?What is a conversation between KW and Frank going to accomplish anyway? Give me an example of something that must be discussed now, and can't wait until Frank reports.

The Tigers can improve 19 games, and they still would lose 100.

Kenny Williams has spoken to Frank at the time Frank exercised his option. Kenny has not spoken to a few players for a longer time than that. One being Magglio Ordonez. Frank has spoken to Joey Cora, so Joey can relate to Ozzie what's on Frank's mind. Frank will come to camp in excellent shape, ready to play. That is all he is obligated to do.

Another Boras client follows the money. Obviously, Boras can care less about how miserable Alex Rodriquez is counting his millions in last place every year. Now he has 2 Rodriquezes doing it. Why do I have a feeling that there will be an eventual 3 way trade, and both the ARod and IRod will be involved?

I wasn't there Friday, but I was there Sunday, and there are many embarrassingly stupid questions asked, but the people there PAID to be there to ask questions and have KW answer them the best he can. These questions are asked every year, KW even said later he expected it. I agree that catcalls are uncalled for. But KW has to do this 3 days a year, so if he doesn't like a question or the tone of it he should try and be above it and smile and answer it to the best of his ability. Its basic customer service, firing back is uncalled for, immature and classless. Funny, I just described the Sox GM and manager.

Anyone see when Justin Timberlake ripped off part of Janet Jackson's outfit at the end of their performance? She had one of her breasts totally exposed. I think he ripped off more than he was supposed to.

I know someone who works for Michael and they absolutely love him. Of course I know people who actually like his father. Michael would probably never get a fair shake running the White Sox because of his last name.

There is a seminar everyday, because most people just go one day , and so they don't miss out. Usually, the seminar questions and answers don't make it to the papers. I think you're right, because of what was reported, these next couple seminars could really get out of hand.

Tha's a great point. At least KW knows Soxfest isn't going to be a lovefest, and people can be proud they ruffled his feathers a little bit. It will be interesting to see if the panel and format remain the same for the seminars today and tomorrow. The fact that the fans are pissed is getting play in every paper, I wouldn't be surprised if it has inspired some more people to dog KW even more. I bet television crews will try to cover the next 2 seminars.