Dick Allen

Didn't JR ask Frank who he'd rather have, Albert or Bonds? SF, I think at that time, was in dire financial straits, and there was a lot of talk of them trading Bonds. Considering everything that has happened since then, its probably better that Albert came here.

It works both ways. Kerry Wood had big-time control problems at AAA. His ERA was above 6. Although I personally like pitchers that throw strikes.

Let me tell you something about this bum Rios. When JM pointed to him Sunday to go bat for Olivo, I happened to be looking in the dugout from the first base side. He was shaking his head no, no, no and grabbed his helmet and walked to the bat rack looking like a little kid who had to clean his room. It was no surprise he struck out. He has been high maintenence in SF and Pitt, although his performance has never justified it.

Exactly, addition by subtraction

Jimenez is a dope with no baseball acumen. I think he may post good numbers someday, numbers teams will pay a lot of money for. But he won't be worth it. He is horrible in the field, and horrible on the bases. Chances are he will never improve in these areas, perhaps some time at Charlotte will wake him up, but I doubt it. He was almost killed a few years ago, yet he takes his priviledge of playing in the major leagues for granted, he is a fool.

Ring has a lot of promise, and I hate to see him go, but there is no guarantee he will be a stud at the Major League level. Even if Alomar is a shell of his former self this gets Jimenez off the field, thats cause for celebration.

Its probably Singleton

One other thing to consider, the trade deadline is 4 weeks away, if the Sox don't make waves in the division (which would be very dissapointing considering the upcoming schedule) they could always trade Alomar again. Who knows who might be desperate for a 2nd baseman they wouldn't have to pay for the rest of the year. Also the Sox would have the upper hand, because they are not paying him, they don't have to trade him and they could hold out for maybe even a better prospect than Ring. I'd rather have Castillo, but I see this as an almost can't lose situation. If it works out great, if it doesn't you still could probably move him along.

I wonder what Bobby V. thinks of Alomar? I'm sure we'll hear tonight

I would hope he'd be on a different wavelength from that train-wreck of a team.

They're paying all of his salary

Regular season records are what get you in the playoffs. They mean nothing? Look I don't know you, but I am sure your a big fan even if you don't attend many games, and for all I know you may go all of them. Theres no problem with that, the problem is the Sox need to get more people in the house to increase their payroll. How they do this is anyones guess, I just hope it happens soon. The offense failed the team in 2000, not the pitching or defense.

The White Sox had the best record in the AL in 2000. There was no reason to believe they couldn't be successful in the playoffs.

Did you think Anaheim did last year?

Well if you believed in 83, they too spend a couple of months floundering, I'd imagine if they won their next 50 games straight your next argument would be the park is too blue or the upperdeck too steep. This division is weak, the starters are tough, if they make the playoffs and keep Jimenez off the field they'll have a legimate shot. Its time to believe.

So how do they get you to believe ? You still didn't believe when they won the division. If they win the World Series then you would believe if I am reading this correctly. Unfortanetly, if you must win the World Series before you draw a crowd, the season will be over and there would be no games to attend. The first goal is to make the playoffs. Anything can happen in the playoffs. If the White Sox are fielding a playoff caliber team, there is no reason they should average less than 30,000 a game. If that happened you would see a dramatic rise in payroll. Were you one to believe in 1994 that the White Sox were going to win the World Series, even though they were only 1 game ahead of a young up and coming Cleveland team ? If you believed then, than there is no reason you shouldn't have in 2000 or now.

Every team has flaws. The inevitable happens to every team but one every season.

Even after the spike in attendance with the 3 sold out Cub games, they are averaging 2000 more per game than the Sox. They also get a bigger check from revenue sharing. In fact, until this year, their payroll was lower than their revenue sharing check. Its easy to spend someone else's money but you have to be realistic.

TESTIFY!!!!! Reinsdorf won't spend if/when the money comes in - he simply uses the "50 cents vs. $1" crutch to explain away why he doesn't spend when the money's supposedly NOT coming in. and the Blackhawk example is an EXCELLENT reference point, as well. The Sox picked up Belcher who was the hot ticket item in 1993. In 2000 they picked up Charles Johnson and Baines. Get off JR's back, who do you suggest he should have picked up in 1993? JR and the Bulls are a prime example, he thru money at everyone when he had the cash coming in. They had the highest payroll in the NBA by far.If 15000 are coming to a game you can't add $20 million in payroll. JR wants to win as bad as any of us, maybe even more, the White Sox payroll was in the top 10 in baseball in the early 90's, but fans stopped coming to games.I am sick of hearing about the economics as much as anyone, but you have to be realistic. Would you be willing to lose 30-50 million a year so that you might and its not guaranteed win a division?

Looking at their record, it doesn't seem like too many good players want to play for the Padres now. If you throw enough money at them that can change dramatically.

There were a lot of concerns about his elbow in the offseason, causing most teams, included the beloved to back off. He is probably done.

I read an article about Paulie either last year or the year before, and his dad said he was pretty cheap. He still took money out of a cash station $20 at a time. I find it strange that he is building where he is, but whatever floats his and her boat...........

Couples in their 20's with a boatload of money don't live in Bridgeport. And its not because of a lack of bars. The time he saves coming home after games he loses when he wants to go out . Believe me, his fiance would enjoy herself a lot more if Paulie bought a penthouse condo in a building downtown. I don't think that there are many people in the neighborhood he is building in that have much in common with him or his wife to be.

Yea, I was joking about Jimbo's. I just thought because the area gets such a bad rap as being so dangerous maybe JR might have "suggested" Paulie move around there to try and help get rid of that perception.

He could hang out at Jimbo's. Its at 33rd and Princeton. I do agree that the area is kind of strange for a $6 million a year athlete to live in, he could live downtown and be a few minutes away from the park, and close to everything. Do you think it might be something in his new contract, have a few guys move into the neighborhood, to try and get the neighborhood rejuvenated.