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I’m hoping that Fuld is AJ Hinch’s bench coach. That would be tremendous.

Some of the trade proposals I’ve seen from Sox fans in their offseason projections are insane. Talk about selling Cease at the lowest value possible, and it’s also interesting how little Sox fans respect Vaughn’s potential.

I am a new user to this board and I apologize if I repeat something already said. To me, this team should focus on adding two starting pitchers in the off season. One should be Trevor Bauer who is the baddest beast on the current free agent list. They should then take look at whoever appears the healthiest of the 3 or 4 available left handers on the list. If healthy, I like Paxson the best. As for the rest of the additions, I really hope that they re-sign Colome. He deserves a two year deal and all he does is get outs and saves games. The rest of the pen is extremely deep and solid. I love McCann but he is going to be the number one catcher on a good team so unless they trade Grandal, he almost has to go. I also want that big over-achiever Mercedes on the team next year as a DH and catcher/1B guy. I thought that he should have taken EE's place on the roster this last year. The guy is one of those Latin guys who just knows how to bash the ball. I also think that they do not have to over-spend for a right fielder and no one needs to be added considering the age of the guys presently on the team. Maybe they will get pressed by one of the guys in the minors also?

I say this as someone who thinks Eloy is the most underrated current player on the Sox, but IMO it's likely that Vaughn ends up being the best hitter out of those three. I just love his swing and power/patience combo

Can he still play centerfield?

Welcome to the USA, where a snitch is worse than the actual crime.

Think about how sad our system is when doing the right thing and blowing the whistle on people doing bad things gets you a worse fate than just cheating.

It will 100% bother me a lot if Hinch (or Cora) is hired. The binary nature implied by this question -- win with the consensus best guy, overlooking some "warts" VERSUS run scared of the "warts" and settle for less -- is fallacious. Strong case can be made that Hinch is not some irrefutable genius is a must get, all other factors (and candidates) be damned -- his humble AZ start and his failure to win it all outside of a cheating environment raises question about his genius bona fides. More importantly, the very fact that blatant and rampant cheating occurred under his watch can be argued to instantly take him out of the "best guy" category. Yes, people make mistakes and deserve 2nd chances. And, I actually do think that Hinch is a strong overall manager and will likely do a fine job with a really good and possibly soon a stellar roster. But if I own the team (I don't), or if I'm looooong time obsessive fan (I am -- first attended game in 1962 at age 4), I want the organization to be represented by someone you could take true pride in having as your manager, someone whose leadership doesn't contain pretty fricking big and RECENT warts. It's not binary -- there are other top baseball guys who can offer a great chance of maximizing this roster while providing exemplary leadership. Finding THAT GUY isn't settling for less, it's making sure the selection choice includes a proper weighting of all factors. For me -- no Hinch, no Cora -- there are other choices. No LaRussa -- once upon a time got results, but that was a long time ago, and with a different society and breed of player. My top candidates would come from one of two areas: (1) top bench coaches who have apprenticed in top organizations (e.g., Espada, Quatraro, and others); or (2) a veteran or RECENTLY (sorry, Tony) retired successful manager with RINGS -- and my leading candidate here, by far, is Bruce Bochy. He's won it all three times -- but each time with very different rosters -- and exudes professionalism. Others have said it here (and in the press), but pairing Bochy with in-house whiz kid Justin Jirschele (who is also fluent in Spanish, if he didn't already tick off all the other boxes) makes so much sense. Bring in a pro with rings. Check. Bring up your star pupil for graduate school work with an acknowledged master. Double Check. Marry new outside influences with the continuity of someone who has worked with most of the young players on the roster already. Check, check, and checkmate. I hope this is what they'll do. For those who have never seen it -- the NYT wrote an amazing profile of Jirschele a few years back: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/magazine/making-an-mlb-manager.html

He's lucky. To spin this another way, the reason that SEC instituted a 10% finders fee for reporting misdoings in the financial industry is because people were scared to report these types of things because whistleblowers get blacklisted. I have zero doubt that if Hinch sells out everyone above and below him before this is public, he never works in MLB again. In this case he took some public lumps, but it looks like he is going to have another job right away.

There was literally nothing intelligent about ChiSox1917's ignorant post filled with inaccuracies and mistruths. The fact that the guy wrote this sentence: "i dont agree that their experiences trump impersonal data and statistics that there is a systemic issue of racism in this country." Shows how ignorant and misinformed he is. People that continue to spew this nonsense should not be respected for "having a differing opinion." Their unwillingness to listen is exactly why things haven't improved for so many.

Figure out a way to not get caught

We have seen it in many other industries. Whistleblowers don't get hired.

It just cracks me up what is and isn't "crooked" among the 1 percent. JR took a stand when it might cost him a buck, bold.

If JR voted that way cuz he thinks the guy’s a crook, I applaud him. So little weight is given to moral character in our society, and it leads to a lot of bad outcomes.

Mike Trout didn’t struggle

JR has always been a character guy. Some times its annoying. some times its refreshing.

Just because you interview Sam Fuld for the managerial job, it doesn’t mean that’s the only position in the organization he could ultimately take. They should be talking to everyone.

Me when they re-sign Mazara https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJaSaXSJ/ (had to embed link when video was crazy big. Maybe I should just delete this. Oh well)

For some reason I consider Vaughn in the same realm as my love of Eloy and Robert. I consider Vaughn untradeable. He could be an amazing DH. It's Burger who I am not crazy about in terms of potential sluggers.

I think that anytime someone mentions Ibanez

New name from Jimmy via Peter Gammons.

https://marker.medium.com/forget-shutdowns-its-demand-shock-that-s-killing-our-economy-3062e94c122e This was my preferred read of the day.

If you are a manager and your subordinates are doing bad things, you make it stop or report it up the flag pole. At the very least, you document the contact you made with the higher up. There is no way Hinch pushed this upstairs and they refused to do anything. If that were the case, he wouldn't have been fired, scapegoat needed or not.

Who oversaw the biggest cheating scandal of the 80s and 90s.

I'm keeping my job and shutting up. Speaking out about it just gets you blackballed. And speaking out about it early means you can't prove it is even happening. As it would have been done before the investigation took place.

Forget it, he’s rolling.

The longer this drags on, the less likely I feel La Russa is going to be the one to get the job. I feel like he would’ve been hired already if he was the guy. I think the rumors surrounding him were just a way to get people more accepting of Hinch’s baggage. They’re probably just stalling until the World Series is over so they can officially “interview” Hinch and make him the manager.

Of course there is, although this top ten manager hasn't been a manager in ten years. It's not the people I am talking about. It's the process. In this case, is one reason JR is making a choice like this is because it feels safe and comfortable? That is not a good reason to make such a choice. Additionally, the real question here is not about LaRussa's credentials. Is he the right man for this job at this particular time? That is the question that has to be answered. His past connection to the Sox or his past experience are not relevant. What matters is where LaRussa is now and is this the right fit. Forget everything else.

I'd rather have a clubhouse guy who sucks on the field than an elitist with a superiority complex who's past his prime and won't accept advice from anyone.

I'm not a huge baker fan but I feel he did a great job bringing a team that lost Cole, Verlander, Alvarez and the trash can to game 7 of the ALCS.

Quite the thread we got going here.

I don't think they can win it. Too many already view TLR as a racist. Not a good look. Too old . Too long retired, Already in the HOF because he completed his career. Do you want to risk offending our players , our fans, the fans of baseball all over the world ? What message would the White Sox as an organization be sending ? Does Hahn really want to speak over and over to defend his choice of TLR or Hinch. They don't need a controversial pick like Hinch or TLR, despite the old saying that "There is no such thing as bad publicity." That era is over.

Bob Geren is a former catcher, really heavily into analytics and has managing experience. The White Sox have a type in this search outside of one major outlier.

To clarify my stance. I do not think TLR is misinformed because he does not believe kneeling during the anthem is appropriate. I think he is misinformed about another comment he made in addition to it. As Sox fans it is nice to share our views as it adds perspective and knowledge to each of us. That is why I am glad this thread has not been locked. But as I said in my most recent post, calling someone a racist is a VERY big deal. And as a man of color, I will always give someone the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. People grow up in different situations and are taught different beliefs and I'm okay with that. A racist to me is someone that actively discriminates, puts down, and oppresses because of race. I don't think TLR fits the bill here because I think he is simply an abrasive and outspoken personality to begin with regardless of your race. I think many Sox fans also won't give his comments the benefit of the doubt because they don't want him here at all costs.

There’s another former manager in one of the dugouts as well.

We’re not going to hear anything until after the World Series this year. The candidate list includes at least one person coaching in the World Series.

I think we share a lot of agreement on this. I think ultimately whether you agree with players kneeling during the anthem comes down on your perspective, not on whether one side is informed and the other misinformed. There is evidence to support both sides. what bothers me is when posters, plenty in this thread, take a statement like tonys and blow it up into claiming its a sign hes a racist. Its intellectually dishonest at best, and at worst really speaks to the character of the poster having an incredibly negative outlook of other people. i dont agree with those that are kneeling. I acknowledge that many have experienced anecdotal and personal experiences of racism. But i dont agree with the manner of protest, and further, i dont agree that their experiences trump impersonal data and statistics that there is a systemic issue of racism in this country. But that doesnt mean i think theyre bad people. Its a disagreement. People should be able to discuss these types of disagreements without one side demonizing the other.

I would not have hired Tony Larussa

And this is absolutely true. If he throws his entire team under the bus, it is possible that no front office will trust him enough to hire. There goes his career and his means of living. How do you think it would go over if a manager spoke out about one of his players taking steroids? I really doubt anybody who hire that manager again after that. It's so easy for people here to be righteous when they aren't in the situation AJ Hinch was in. Would you really speak out against the team if it meant your career in baseball would end? Goodbye to all those years of hardwork. Goodbye to the likelihood of living lavishly and comfortable for the rest of your life. Get ready for a boring old 8-5 job. Most here would not speak out.

One also appears to be a Hall of Fame racist.

Ricky for sure. No interest in TLR. In fact I think it would be a detriment for him to go into a clubhouse and tell a guy like Tim Anderson he can't kneel for the national anthem.

Tony because it would mean a fresh coaching staff. Also, I think 76 year old Tony is better than any age Renteria. Both are horrible horrible options though

Already have enough DHs's on this team. I'm not taking on that contract and playing him in the outfield on a consistent basis.

I agree

Greg he is only going to be 25 next year. He must have tried new things this year that didn't work. He went from striking out 10 per 9 innings in 2019 to 6.8 this year. That's a steep drop off. It doesn't appear his stuff got any worse. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong. Like many young pitchers he just doesn't have the command yet to take the next step . Whatever he did this year failed pretty badly but he still has only 131 innings in MLB . That's not even a full season . He could become Walker Buehler or Reynaldo Lopez . Even though most have given up on Lopez he still has plenty of potential. There's always some missing piece. Giolito found his pieces he needed. So can Cease.

First I would tell the team to stop. Second, I would tell the Front office. And if none of that worked I would resign and tell the world what is going on, This is the problem I have with Hinch. Sure he destroyed a camera or 2, but he is in charge, and they put a new camera up. For all of you who think that is nothing, I doubt you would think it is nothing if Ricky Renteria had the same thing happen. I doubt you would think there really is very little a manager could do in that situation if it was Robin Ventura. It is totally fucked up, and any way you slice it, he is complicit. Cheating has always been part of baseball Stealing signs the old fashioned way, no one,IMO should have a problem with, but this way, was a home field advantage no one should ever have. Hinch is lucky he only got one year. He didn’t kill anyone. He didn’t rape anyone. He didn’t beat his wife. He isn’t a pedophile. So I guess he deserves another chance. Sure Dallas Keuchel likes him. But a lot of people want the Sox to sign Joc Pederson. If you are Joc, and the money is similar, do you want to play for a guy whose blantant cheating may have cost you a ring? If you played in the AL West or were on a team that the Astros eliminated during this time, what do you think of AJ Hinch? What about the rest of the league.? There has not exactly been a shortage of Astros hate from players around the entire league since this story broke. I do think he is the far greater choice than LaRussa. Supposedly his baseball mind many who know of him, a lot better than me, think is unmatched. But I wonder what kind of toll the scandal takes on him. There is going to be a lot of pressure on him, both fair and unfair. But at least you can say he brought it on himself. A place like Chicago, where he would be expected to win big right away might be the wrong move for him. If the White Sox won 88 games next season and either fail to make the playoffs or are eliminated quickly, his entire record in Houston will be questioned. Many will say his WS title is not legit, the only reason he has it is cheating.

Al

Also, I'm assuming 100% is coming back in 2021??? Please confirm that you are returning as well, honestly a vote pretty much says that too! So far I find 14 of 16 teams registered on this site, everyone's name pretty much stayed the same, waiting for El Prospectos and Roadkill to register: "Over By There" is now "over by dere" "JohnTucker0814" is now "TheCommish" "Rocky Soprano" is now "Rocky" "The Vulture" is now "Vulture"