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They will run thru walls but will they run well on the basepaths and hit the cutoff man?

Balta I know this is your time to shine when you get to tell everyone that they are and were wrong to believe in this team and every move you would have made would have been right and all moves actually made were clearly wrong, but move your little rain cloud elsewhere im not engaging with your doom bullshit this off-season.

Get over yourself balta

Stop your fussing about nerds and their new fangled arithmetic. TWTW and "decisions from the gut" are what are prized in this bumpkin organization powered by lifetime cronyism. Marco Paddy and Getz/ scouts can bring in talent, but the crony instructional and ML coaches over the decades have done little to nothing with this talent compared to organizations light years ahead of us. Ethan Katz is the only modern coach brought in, and the staff was lightyears ahead of where they were under Cooper (including Giolito having to leave the organization to get quality instruction). The Giants brought in a bunch of new coaches and they won 107 with mostly retreads. What do the Sox do? Bring in La Russa, a bunch of his cronies, Dave Duncan's son, Calligraphy Guy Narron. And there you have it.

Anderson blowing up made-up Soxtalk narratives is pretty comical.

The Sox were somehow worse at every managerial impacted area this year than they were last: Overall Defense - much worse Outfield decision making/cut off men - Much worse Base running - Worse Bunting - sheesh Shifting - Ouch bullpen management - whoooops Players loved Ricky too. Tony probably sat in his office and let them do whatever they wanted most of the day. There certainly wasn't any accountability or progress in clean crisp baseball under La Russa.

You clearly ask for too much in your relationships.

I don't know why so many want to mess with Hendriks. He's the best closer in the league. Leave him there. Let him pitch mulitple innings if the schedula allows. Why mess with it? Let Kimbrel go. I am not a Kimbrel hater, but it wasn't working the 8th inning that screwed him up. I was at a game vs. Boston where he got the 9th and blew the save. Leury bailed him out later.

Balta, you are right about everything. We know. ?

They don't have a 140 game sample size because they haven't played together for more than 7 games.

Ban him. This has gone way too far. The troll posts about Abreu year after year after year, and now a troll post about becoming a Cubs fan? This is so dumb. If moderators sit by and continue to tolerate this behavior year after year I seriously don’t know what the actual point of having moderators is. He’s laughing at everyone on this site, and pissing all over Sox fans with every post.

Caulfield only made one reference in a post? This day is nuts.

Jack returned AND Tony is logging off for the night! Two good things in one day! Wow!

This was the worst Sox post-season appearance since 1983 when they lost three straight to Baltimore and were outscored 17-1. Even the 1919 Black Sox played better than this.

Something we have never heard about the White Sox...like ever. "All of our success has been driven by players exceeding expectations and that's a tribute to their work, and the staff, and the infrastructure that we've built to support them.” That’s Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who took over after the 2018 season and has built a deeper, more modern team while staying — at times confoundingly — invested in the same core that formed the backbone of a dynasty almost a decade ago.....If you pull the individual threads that constitute the tapestry of their success this season, many lead back to Zaidi’s ability to identify overlooked talent. Arming those players with the information to maximize their largely untapped potential has led to breakouts for Wade, Darin Ruf, Kevin Gausman and Webb, among others. “I feel like sometimes guys are kind of taught the same thing. But really, every guy's different and they do a really good job of telling guys, ‘You're really good at this, do that,’” says Webb, who has leaned into his sinker to get more ground balls this season. “There’s so many different numbers now.” https://sports.yahoo.com/how-the-san-francisco-giants-took-a-familiar-roster-and-unearthed-the-best-team-in-baseball-122426831.html

With some serious protection around him too!

Forget about the White Sox trading Vaughn, Crochet, Kopech....they make no money. These are guys that must be kept around or you are going to have a huge problem really quickly. The Cubs had the problem, and the Sox aren't close to them financially. It's another reason why trading Madrigal really stings. He's easy to replace if you blow up your payroll.

Gallo is one of those guys that looks great until he is on your team and then realize he is Adam dunn. I know a lot of people love the three outcome player but I think I'm good for a while

Why wouldn't Conforto just take the QO?

I see two plausible scenarios: Players like/love him and he is a good clubhouse manager Players do not like/love him but we all need to protect our careers so they toe the company line I think the overall clubhouse tends toward the former, less because they spoke positively about TLR, but more because of the enthusiasm of their comments. We all have worked with people who bend over backwards to please the boss and shower him/her with compliments and flowery language. I doubt that is TA, and I doubt even Burr would be so emphatic about running through walls if he didn't mean it. What I saw in the failures against Houston was that TLR is not a great strategist. I think the knocks we read here about pitching decisions and shifts are merited even if he sometimes makes sound choices (ie Game 3). However, the bigger failure I saw though was organizational (and possibly just indicative of a talented but inexperienced team). Houston seems to produce smarter ballplayers. They hold runners on better. They take every extra base. They play tighter defense, stealing a hit or two (and likely runs) every game. They know how to spoil off pitches and wear out your starters until they tire or give in and throw a hittable pitch. I assume a lot of this is taught by their staff from low A ball on up. I am not sure the same goes for the Sox.

Eloy Jimenez ran through a wall for him

Timid? Tentative? Would those work better for you, sir? They got their asses kicked BECAUSE they played timidly. The lights were too bright for this team.

I’m not on team TLR, but I’m also not going to pretend that the players liking him is a bad thing. Assuming it’s genuine it makes me feel better and slightly more hopeful that we can make it work with TLR at the helm.

Rest is so overrated, these guys literally stand around a field or sit in a dugout for 99% of the game. I get it for pitchers to an extent, but for position players makes no sense to me. You want to give them an off day, put them at DH.

TA's original comments when he was hired were borderline critical, many thought he would demand a trade based on those comments. I don't see him as someone who is dishonest to please the boss. Burr, maybe.

You’re in the offseason thread. You made a point that these guys have not played together much. Does that mean you think they should count on it happening next year or are you advocating bringing in a different player somewhere? If you don’t want to talk baseball team construction then don’t come into a thread about it, make a relevant point on baseball team construction, and get snippy when I ask for you to take it to its conclusion and outline a strategy.

This is an underrated point and we saw how it mattered throughout that series. The Astros got this far with Dusty because Dusty is a collaborator with the rest of their organization. I seriously doubt Dusty was using computerized defensive positioning when he coached the Giants or Cubs 20 years ago, but that information is available now so he’s using it. When he decided McCullers was pitching game 4, did he decide that based on his gut or did he consult with others in the organization to come up with the decision that gave them the best chance to win the series - the right way would be the latter. He made a LaRussa level mistake in game 3, literally blew the game, but when other people have good information he used it. Contrast that with the White Sox. After the famous “LaRussa gets the rules explained to him” incident, it was reported that people in the dugout were trying to explain the rule to him and he told them to shut up - exactly the opposite of a positive, collaborative relationship. Their analytics coordinator is a nepotism hire from the Cardinals in Shelley Duncan - the Pale Hose Eric Trump - exactly the kind of hire you make so that LaRussa wouldn’t have to put up with all that crap Baker has to hear from those people who don’t know the “right way” to play baseball. And the end result we see on the field. We’ve covered the lack of shifting and how that was key to this series ad nauseam, but how about the pitching decisions? Lynn goes game 1 in Houston when he’s known to struggle there - did they know about that and ignore it or did they not even bother checking? Afterwards what was their comment- “oh maybe the game plan was bad”. What was the game plan? He threw about 70 pitches, 6 of which were offspeed, just like Lance Lynn the entire year, so was the game plan anything other than “be Lance Lynn but with playoff level TWTW?” Doesn’t appear so. Did LaRussa know how rarely Crochet was used in back to back outings and not care, or is Duncan there just so LaRussa isn’t bothered with that stuff? Sometime last offseason LaRussa had a quote about how he thought they had a lot to learn from him and the way things used to be done, and while seemingly innocuous, this type of performance is exactly what we were expecting. The White Sox remain an organization who are obsessed with playing the old fashioned way, with going with your gut and winning because your TWTW is higher than the other team, LaRussa is a symptom of that organizational failing, but he is also bringing in people and doing things to make it worse.

It feels like the trade deadline wiped away any good will he’d created. Hernandez and Kimbrel couldn’t have worked out worse than just picking names at random from a trade targets jar. He essentially lucked into Rodon and Lance Lynn in his mid 30s isn’t an automatic guarantee anymore either…added on to Grandal and Keuchel jamming up the payroll. Way too many one-dimensional 1B/DH/1B types. Also, unsure what’s going to happen with Kopech and Crochet. Finally, giving up on top 5 picks Madrigal and now possibly Vaughn or Eloy at 75 cents on the dollar (to replace them with fading veterans) seems idiotic, at best.

I didn't want to see La Russa back. I've never liked him, going back to the 1980's.

Meanwhile a real franchise used its assets for trea turner and scherzer. That is what you spend your chips on…not a freaking closer when you already have a stud closer.

I am just going to say it. The White Sox will never win a World Series title with Tony LaRussa as their manager.

The Tomahawk chop happening during the World Series would look…icky.

Its a system issue. Dave Roberts said he didnt have a choice on who started game 5. The organization did. We had a 70% chance to win game 2. The moves made there were total head scratchers, and the lack of shifting easily cost us multiple runs. Also calling out the Rays is laughable, they have one of the lowest payrolls in the league and didnt benefit from tanking and trading generational talent for easy top prospects. The Rays will be good for another decade with how their minor leagues are breaking records. Our window will close and we will be bottom feeders again playing 1995 baseball.

So what are the odds they play together 140 times next season? It seems like it would be a mistake to assume that will happen.

I don’t think he should be traded but they need to explore it. The White Sox have a Jose Abreu problem. He’s very good. His mere presence causes roster gymnastics however. This team needs to get more left handed. They should have openings in RF and 2B. It’s hard to roster Jimenez, Vaughn and Abreu while trying to get Sheets some time. Also, everyone wants a defensive catcher. That puts Yaz at DH. Lots of roster redundancies and real decisions to make.

Best umpire of all time was behind home plate

Tony larussa deserves zero sympathy for his alcohol usage and chosing to drink and drive. He faced zero responsibility

Regardless of any feelings regarding the previous series, to be a respectable website, it is imperative to at minimum have the proper names for both teams, so we aren't considered idiots. Should future game threads be titled White Sux because La Russa intentionally ordered Ohtani hit? An unlike the alleged intent you are stating, MLB suspended Wright and La Russa for their clear actions. The Astros have faced no investigation, ejection, or suspension. Jose had no issue with it, people are bent out of shape because Tony threw his 2 year old tantrum, more out of embarrassment for being completely pwned by Dusty Baker the entire season. Dusty just looked at the fool and said "Child, please", the entire baseball world once again is laughing at the White Sox for yet another La Russa incident.

Then get mad at JR but TLR has been the whipping boy at historic levels on this site. Id rather discuss legitimate arguments like why Astros can win with Dusty who isn't some genius. TLR is just a minor part of a larger problem. Im sure that is possible. But I believe that is not 100% reliable. It's really stupid, but JR kept him. If anyone is to blame its him. If TLR has a legitimate problem its JRs fault for not doing anything. To me it's just sad. Alcohol can really ruin people.

I had mostly forgotten the Jake Lamb experience til I read this....thanks for nothin

I am really puzzled by the number of posters on here saying Eloy Jimenez should/could be traded. His poor 2021 batting stats on a relatively small sample can possibly be attributed to his injury which was a serious one and being in the pectoral area is likely to have effected his batting even after coming back. His 162 game average is 38 home runs and he is a left handed power bat in a line up that lacks left handers. Added to which he is only 24 and has the potential to improve. I know that he is not the best fielder but his dWAR has improved season on season suggesting he is working on it, and once again he is only 24, I know he will never be a good fielder but he may become adequate. Finally the injury prone accusation, before this season's big injury in 2019 & 2020 he made more appearances than Tim Anderson and only 7 less than Yoan Moncada neither of whom are accused of being injury prone as much as Eloy. I really think we have yet to see the best of Eloy and talk of trading him, and even some people suggesting we would not get much in return, is unbelievable. But I am prepared to be proved wrong or persuaded of the error of my ways.

Cancel the off-season, TLR is coming back. No need to spend money now, his Hall of Famer baseball person will win it for sure.

Seems to be a trend with Jerry’s inner circle

Two teams both with cheaters on it. I can't root for either. Is soxtalk rooting for the Giants and Braves at this point?

Yep to each his own. I look at it differently. It was a good plan derailed by injury, unless they could have predicted the injury.

Soxtalk: Kopech should have been managed differently to better prepare him for success as a starter in 2022. Also Soxtalk: Sox should have been more aggressive in chasing HFA against Houston.

I don't know how anyone can look at how the Sox used Kopech this year and not call it blatant mis-management. It was terrible. But to each their own.

I can't wait until June, when Kimbrel is in the middle of 10 straight scoreless outings, the guy we trade him for is in the middle of a 3-for-20 slump at the plate, and the same people who are now saying the Sox shouldn't even pick up his option complain that the Sox shouldn't have been cheapskates and paid Kimbrel $16 million instead of trading him.

Very well said.