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If it’s Guillen…I’m not sure I can support them anymore or at least until Reinsdorf is gone. I know I say that and I know I’ll be back watching, but how fucking stubborn or dumb or whatever can a guy be to hire LaRussa and then Guillen. Zero self awareness. Please let this rant be for naught. Please hire Long or anyone who’s been in a dugout this decade. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

I can’t get over the idea that they don’t want outsiders, as the outsiders will see how incredibly messed up things are inside the organization

Everyone's a Winner here at Soxtalk.

If the White Sox really do hire Ozzie again they really are as bad as Balta believes. That's about the worst thing I can think of. At least I will save money on baseball again for the near future.

I would be outraged if Ozzie gets the job...but I am going to stay back from the ledge in case this stuff is just BS. The Ozzie hire would need to take place over Kenny's dead body.

Caught the Long interview. Seems like a good communicator and obviously he has a great reputation. Russo tried to end the interview with a “you’re going to get a manager job”. Long laughed it off with a hand wave and they ended it. Until it’s not him, it’s him. Just have to wait until the Series is over.

Frank Thomas in a White Sox uniform during the steroids era will forever be a source of pride for me. All the other stuff is moot.

And she likes it too!!

Ozzie will be just as bad as Tony was, if not worse. What a disaster we're even at a point where he's a serious candidate for the job.

We probably talked about this last year, but it's not the going rate of these players that render these teams noncompetitive in free agency, it's their own profit-taking. Just to put an example on this, let's go back to 2002, 20 years ago. Forbes shows baseball's estimated total revenue in 2002 to be $3.9 billion. An official statement from MLB's Chief Revenue Officer basically verifies that in 2022 it's going to be above $11 billion. That's nearly a tripling of revenue, on average. How many teams have tripled their payroll since then? (the white sox actually currently have done so, FWIW). The Cleveland Baseball Franchise had a payroll of $78 million in 2002. Now maybe that was a high point for them, but it was $63 million last year. Come on now, you can't possibly tell me that with what has happened to MLB's revenue that the Guardians can't afford a $125 or $140 million payroll. The Pirates were at $42 million in 2002, and $37 million in 2022. They're noncompetitors in free agency because of profit taking, plain and simple. We laugh at the Rockies signing Bryant and bidding on Nimmo, but that's exactly what these teams should be doing; spending some money to try to increase ticket sales and build rosters that compete at least for the Wild Card. Cleveland winning a division and then selling off a player like Rosario or Gimenez would not be a particularly good thing for baseball, but that might well happen this offseason. Refs: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2014/12/10/major-league-baseball-sees-record-9-billion-in-revenues-for-2014/?sh=514cfafb29c1 https://www.outkick.com/major-league-baseball-mlb-revenue-records-2022-season/ https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/payroll_year/2002/

No just because of the idea that someone called Frank Thomas a douchebag is so hard to take, I’m verclempt

That's just gonna be the going rate at this point. Which we all know is why the team should have shelled out for 26-year-old Harper, but Jerry had to Jerry.

I refuse to believe they’d hire Ozzie, but the sheer notion is terrifying. I legit hate Jerry Reinsdorf for making us suffer through these nightmares.

The "sit down with Jerry" is all that matters.

No it won't. Doing stupid stuff over and over again isn't interesting.

It sucks to have completely lost any last shred of hope that this organization will make the correct move in anything they do. Not hyperbole when I say this is the lowest point for me as a White Sox fan in 30+ years. There have been far worse teams/eras in terms of talent, but I’ve never felt this kind of hopelessness bordering on indifference.

Lmao god this franchise

The fact they haven’t announced it yet makes me think it’s for sure Long

Yeah I thought him being kind of a dick was common knowledge. I remember when I first heard about it and was much younger, it made me feel a little upset. But now that I'm older... I don't know, I was kind of a douche when I was younger, too. I think we all hope we get better as we age, and even if we fail at that, we all hope people don't hold it against us when evaluating our work/other parts of our lives and person. Frank being a dick is actually baked into his performance legacy in some way -- to the extent that any lack of clubhouse harmony may have affected his numbers, and to the extent that his actions may have negatively affected his chance to win through his teammates -- and so I feel pretty damn comfortable evaluating his career through those numbers. Both the things he achieved AND the things he didn't.

"Dear Blue Jays outfielder Kenny Williams, The White Sox should call up Frank Thomas."

Eloy- let me show you David Ortiz’s stats including how much money he made. This is you. Learn to enjoy it.

If Hahn gets undermined by Jerry again, no ways he sticks around right? And for a guy who quit on the team previously? As insanely demented as the TLR hire was, an Ozzie would be loads crazier IMO. KW & Hahn legit don’t like Ozzie and rightfully so. I refuse to believe Ozzie interviewing is anything more than a favor to him from Jerry. Matt Long will be the manager and we will all laugh this off shortly after the World Series.

I love Big Hurt. This book will do nothing to change my mind.

If they name Ozzie I'd be so happy I'd not know what to do. I'd act like George Bailey when he returns from the darkside.

The city and fanbase still love Ozzie and Jerry knows this. Playoff game last year he was in a box right above where I was sitting and everyone was cheering for him and chanting his name

From what I recall, the Sox asked Frank if they should sign Belle or Bonds, and Frank chose Belle.

While I don’t doubt that early in his career Frank Thomas was a jerk, let’s also not forget that the organization didn’t treat him well either. Can we think of any other hall of fame caliber player whose contract got a Diminished Skills Clause?

He should. Not many teams are playing service time games anymore And a team that's supposed to be a contender absolutely shouldn't be playing those games any way. He's a good fielder . He left handed he hits for power. I thought he should've been up at the end of last year to get acclimated to RF at home and to get some experience in a pennant race. Other's disagreed siting service time of course. Backwards thinking. It's better he get some growing pains out of the way in a season that was going down the tubes or at worst desperately needed defensive and offensive help from the left side and in RF. So the Sox either feel he wasn't ready or they wanted to wait til May w/e it is to get as much time from him as possible while sacrificing wins . If you want guys to have 150 game seasons it's best to call them up and let them play and contribute as soon as they can. He's already 24 why f*** with him? He's already lost too much much developmental time to going from Cuba to Japan and to the US. It's fairly amazing he got his act together in one year in the states. He deserves a reward not more " I own and want to make sure I own you as long as possible" BS.

Of all the things for someone to get upset about, Frank Thomas hitting third in a lineup is not one I'd expect.

Why did Lance Johnson think Thomas would get pitched around more in the three hole with Ventura, Bell and Bo hitting behind him than hitting five with the likes of Pasqua, Sax and Karkovice behind him? And why did Johnson think having a guy OPS 1.033 in the three hole would cost the Sox a chance at a World Series? And was Lamont really stupid enough the even consider moving Frank to a spot where he would see no good pitches to give Bell and Ventura better pitches? And did Pearlman consider how ridiculous Johnson's quote was when he chose to publish it?

I love that the ump called the phony HBP.

Our 2nd round pick in the 2006 draft who ended up being a really bad pitcher, but luckily I messed up my Long’s and you’ve missed nothing ?

If anything, they might have rushed the announcement earlier so that they could do their introductory press conference before news of the arrest leaked, to avoid having to answer questions about it publicly. It came out few days later.

Worth mentioning that October 30 was *after* the World Series wrapped up in 2020. So the team does have a recent history of waiting until after the Series to announce non-WS-involved managers as well. Of course with TLR they had the whole unfolding DUI drama that might have played a part in delaying the announcement!

Frank always seemed very committed to putting up excellent numbers and performing at a high level. Perhaps that gave him an arrogance that rubbed some teammates the wrong way. I, for one, wish any of our current players had that in them. Maybe TA at times. However in the multiple opportunities I've had to meet Frank, seen him interact with fans, and seen how he has tipped and rewarded support staff around him, he's been nothing less than a class act. I'll let this one pass the eye test and leave the gossip alone.

It's mind bottling.

Correct, Frank was called up when the Sox were in Milwaukee August 1990, although Jeff Torborg told me he wanted him to break camp and start the season with the club but Larry Himes said no.

This is what I keep telling myself. If they were going to do something monumentally stupid like hire Ozzie, they could have just gone and done it. The longer it goes the more it seems like not someone on the inside.,

They're going to talk to Long on mlb network in a few minutes about tonight's game. For anyone interested in getting a feel for the guy.

The only Ozzie I want to see on my TV next yr is Osbourne

If Shildt is hired JR is making the decision based on TLR influencing him. TLR is the gift that keeps on giving.

Because of the Packers fan?

I know we got used to the owners keeping salaries down for 5 years totally without illegal collusion, but it doesn’t seem like we are in that era anymore. If there are teams like the Rockies and Giants bidding on the top two outfielders in addition to the Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers, then even the weaker outfielders will be expensive. Maybe something weird happens like with Conforto but this guy is a 5 win OF when healthy who only turns 30 next March. I could easily see it taking 6/$140 to sign him with how this market is shaping up.

Of course it isn’t but it’s not as simple as “the White Sox did their complete and total best and deserve to be constantly praised for the effort forever” either, which is what that leak has seemingly accomplished.

hard fucking pass

Whoever he is, he’d be better than LaRussa and Guillen. ?

Frank is a bit like Aaron Rodgers to me as a Packer fan. Rodgers is a complete tool, but he’s our tool. Frank may have been a moody douche, but he was our moody douche.

In hindsight, how much of the crying was about stuff like “he’s padding his stats by walking and not helping us win”, the same kind of stupid old school baseball stuff that has people complaining he didn’t want to hit 5th in this page? Now we better understand that “that insane monster has a f***ing .487 OBP, shut up about asking him to bunt” was the correct response.

Also, Carlos Rodon isn't coming back so everyone can STFU about that right now.

Thanks Nick Adams