Thad Bosley

Jerry Reinsdorf was a disaster as owner when he began his reign of terror as owner in 1981, and not much has changed over the past four decades up to and including the current debacle with the ill-advised hiring of LaRussa. However, it is what it is, as the saying goes, and we’ll just have to plug our noses and live through this late life bromance between the octogenarian owner and his prodigal septuagenarian. Luckily it’s a short term arrangement because, at 85, how much more does Reinsdorf have left in the tank, and LaRussa, well, it only feels like a year or two with him at the helm before he’s restored to mothballs. What’s exciting for Sox fans is that the team should be more exciting and successful over the coming years in ways unprecedented for this franchise. We are likely to see winning like we’ve never seen in our lifetimes, and once and for all, that will cure the years-long attendance problems. Guaranteed Rate will be packed to the rafters with fans who won’t be able to get enough of all of the winning. In the long term, we can cast our eyes towards the end of the decade when we’ll likely have a new owner by then, AND an organization facing the end of a lease of a stadium that hasn’t lived up to expectations. Could a new owner be motivated to pursue another ballpark in a more desirable location, and one built in a fan-friendly manner? Who knows? Fun to think about the possibilities, that’s for sure!

Reinsdorf is a billionaire.

And what, pray tell, leads you to this conclusion?

I’ve been quite pleased that we’ve gotten this far into the offseason without trading any of these three guys yet addressing the team’s needs. I just think the ceilings are so high on all three that I don’t want to give up and/or sell low on them, not for just the likes of someone like Musgrove. Lord knows the fan base endured a lot of pain watching the dreadful baseball it took during the rebuild to eventually acquire these guys, so now I want to see them each flourish in a White Sox uni for years to come!

I’m excited to read about his solid defense and cannon for an arm. Our defense will be as solid as it gets from left centerfield all the way to the wall down the right field line. I don’t think I’ve read any reports about Colas’ defense, but if he’s a plus defender as well, and indeed if we do sign him and slot him for left field (sliding Eloy to DH), our pitching staff will enjoy seeing many runs scored being avoided for a long period of time.

I wonder if any of our fine Cuban ambassadors in Jose, Yoan, Luis, and/or Yasmani had anything to do with encouraging Yoelqui to sign with the Sox. At the very least it would seem this is the organization of choice for Cuban ball players. I think the Sox are proving to be a great landing spot for these players. Hopefully that reputation will rub off on other potential Latin players from other countries where the team hasn’t been quite as successful.

I mean, this is just magical. Well done, Maestro!

Did he stop at four?

We are one of the few teams uniquely insulated from the effects of the pandemic as it relates to lost revenue this year and likely next. That’s because this team had three years prior to 2020 of much larger than normal profits due to the razor thin payrolls operated from 2017 thru 2019. So unless there’s an MLB law that disallows rolling over profits and interest on those profits to future payrolls, it seems to me the Sox should be in as good a position to be taking on more payroll than most in the short term. This is why I was initially optimistic about the chances to sign one or both of Bauer and Springer, given what should be a slightly economic advantage right now. But no, the same ‘ol, same ‘ol with Reinsdorf - bargain bin shopping. The wait for the next owner rolls on!

I guess Stoney didn’t see the Passan tweet, because he said “maybe Springer” when going over Sox options for right field.

Sigh...wouldn’t it be nice if the next owner of the Sox has Steve Cohen kind of money so we can all get out from under these never-ending discussions about Reinsdorf’s reticence to spend the big bucks? 40 years of reading about and listening to this crap with this guy.

Say what you will about Reinsdorf (and god knows I’ve said just about everything that needs to be said about the guy), but he did not bring LaRussa back for him to be a “bust”. That’s why I’m quietly quite optimistic about the moves that will be made in this offseason and into next year to take this talented team to the level capable of competing for a championship with the likes of the Dodgers, Yankees, etc. Ironically, the dark cloud associated with the LaRussa DUI situation should work in the fans’ favor as Reinsdorf has even more incentive to do what it takes, spend what it takes, to move the focus off of the DUI and onto things that will truly excite the fan base and put the team in a position to have a solid shot at getting Reinsdorf that second WS trophy. Not to mention, but time is of the essence - Reinsdorf will be 85 next year and LaRussa 77. Their focus and incentive just naturally has to be on 2021 and 2022. So unless they don’t want to go out in a blaze of glory, and don’t want their final chapters to end on a high note, I’d expect some big and fun news coming our way.

Up until today, I’ve given Len Kasper all of two and a half minutes worth of attention since he arrived in Chicago. I don’t watch Cubs telecasts, and the two and a half minutes over the course of his 16 years on the north side that I came across him was purely accidental. Nonetheless, there was nothing I heard that was particularly compelling - seemed sorta cookie cutter - so he hasn’t been in my stream of consciousness. Until now. Today I became extraordinarily intrigued with Kasper. This is a guy who is walking away from one of the premium sports television gigs to take on a radio gig. Forget the going-from-the-Cubs-to-the-Sox thing for a moment. He is literally following a lifelong dream to broadcast baseball over the medium of radio, a very different experience than broadcasting on TV, where the broadcaster can often go silent and let the picture tell the story. Radio is different. The announcer has the responsibility to translate everything he or she sees through their eyes into the same picture the listener can see in their mind so they can relate to what’s going on in the game. Ironically, it’s a far more challenging job than that of the TV announcer, yet the TV gig is usually the more prestigious one. Kasper is foregoing exposure by moving from the Cubs’ TV booth to the Sox’ radio booth. That tells a lot about the man and how he truly feels about following his dream to follow in the footsteps of Ernie Harwell, who he grew up listening to on the radio. I think this has all the makings of becoming something really cool and special. He will undoubtedly have to adjust his style of broadcasting as he moves from the one medium to the other. But that should be a good thing for Sox fans. He seemingly gets many accolades as a TV announcer. Now he will probably become an even better broadcaster, which hopefully our fan base will enjoy and benefit from for years to come.

Kasper follows in a long tradition of broadcasters who worked for both the White Sox and Cubs. Harry Caray, Jack Brickhouse, Bob Elson, Vince Lloyd, Milo Hamilton, Steve Stone, and now Len Kasper. Not a bad fraternity to be a part of!

The “20-25 games on TV as well” line is interesting. Neither Stone nor Benetti has missed that many games combined. Stone has taken 1-2 series off a year, but that’s been it. I can’t remember Benetti taking any games off, now that I think of it. So I wonder is it possible they may be shaking things up a bit and going with a three-man booth for these games when Kasper will be on TV? And then who fills in for him on the radio side for those games?

I’m actually surprised we aren’t valuing the gold glove caliber defense Engel brings over offense from this position, given we are talking about #8 in the batting order and with the abundance of offense we have in the other eight slots in the order. With the likely return to form by Moncada and the improvement at DH with Vaughn over what Encarnacion brought last year, the team is in a position to carry a defense-first player here. And with the kind of young pitching the Sox have, you can never have enough good defense behind them.

Welcome to Soxtalk! Happens all the time.

EXACTLY! Did we suffer through a rebuild to acquire elite, blue chip prospects, only to sell low on them, just because they didn’t light the world on fire right off the bat (literally)? For now, Madrigal, Cease, and Vaughn should be untouchables due to their huge ceilings. Period. We can acquire that which we need in the starting rotation and in right field via free agency by just spending some cash. Let these wonderful prospects build up some value before we start packaging them all up in the kind of trade proposals being put forth here.

I do wonder what the fan bases of the A’s and Cardinals think of LaRussa, in general, given the success he had with both of those organizations. Because now for the second time in his career, he’s become very unpopular with the White Sox base. The drama he created in his first go-around that eventually resulted in the ouster of Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall made him extremely unpopular with the fans back then, and he was booed mercilessly every time he popped his head out of the dugout. Now with this second DUI business, on top of the already-questionable decision to rehire him, he’s once again very unpopular with White Sox fans. I suspect he’ll get booed quite loudly at the park once again the way things are going, even if the team is successful. The irony is Reinsdorf sided with LaRussa over Caray and Piersall, and thought the fans treated LaRussa unfairly as a result. I think with bringing LaRussa in to most probably preside over a White Sox championship or two, Reinsdorf figured he’d be providing him an opportunity to receive the love of the fan base that he never had the first time around. Looks like he probably figured wrong.

This month coincidentally marks the 40 year anniversary of Jerry Reinsdorf taking over control of our Chicago White Sox. How’s he done, how’s he doing, and where do you stand in terms of your wishes as to his continuation on as owner? Granted, he’s not going anywhere, and the results of this poll won’t influence anything either on him or the organization. But after four decades, where does the loyal fan base stand with this guy?

If the “Do you see this ring?” quote and the subsequent lines he allegedly said about being a Hall of Famer are correct, and what he would have then clearly intended to try to accomplish with saying those lines, and the fact it’s all public now, there is no way in hell that this disgraced individual can proceed as manager of the White Sox. This crosses a line even the most stubborn of octogenarians (you know who) cannot deny or ignore. I certainly hope other owners and the powers that-be in MLB are weighing in behind the scenes to get this resolved appropriately.

Reinsdorf has often said that firing LaRussa was the worst mistake he ever made as owner of the Sox (of course, it wasn’t - there’s a long list of franchise-crippling actions and decisions he’s made over the past 40 years more devastating than that one). But now he doesn’t have to consider the firing as his worst mistake, because this rehiring is probably now going to claim that title. This organization just needs new ownership, and badly. It’s as simple as that.

Tony LaRussa was going straight to Jerry Reinsdorf 40 years ago when Rick Hahn was 9 years old with his specific demands about what he wanted with the White Sox. And even as the youngest manager in the game at the time, Reinsdorf capitulated and pretty much gave him whatever he wanted. So there is no doubt in my mind that, while not on paper, of course, LaRussa is the second most powerful person in the organization right now.

🤡

Well, Nick Capra joins Coop and Ricky at the unemployment line. HE GONE! So what is the future for McEwing and Boston? Very likely McEwing stays because of his already well-developed relationship with LaRussa from back in their St. Louis days together. Boston is a different story. He’s a former White Sox, and we know how that plays with Mr. Loyalty Program. He was also managed by LaRussa at the beginning of his career back from 1884 - 1886, I mean, 1984 - 1986. So that history in and of itself could make his job safe. At the same time, you could easily see them just cut bait like they did with both Cooper and Capra, both of whom were with the organization a long time. So two big questions and ones germane to the logic of the LaRussa hiring: who fills the two current vacancies, and will there be any other vacancies coming? https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/10/31/21543553/third-base-coach-nick-capra-wont-be-part-of-tony-la-russas-staff