Leaderboard

Buddy that’s two weeks

You want to see an amazing comp on Free Agent spending? It’s the Astros. The Astros have signed 1 free agent contract of nine figures- to Carlos Lee in 2006. The entire time they have been title contenders, they haven’t signed a $100 million free agent. They have signed a $150 million deal - to keep Altuve, and another $115 for Yordan and $100 million for Bregman. So; they have signed some extensions to hold their team together, but they have been prudent in free agency under 2 different GMs. What they have done instead is have a constant supply of young talent; they’ve had a top 5 ROY finisher each of the last 5 years, despite being low in the first round all the time. They have guys like Framber that they signed internationally, they made some trades for guys who were close to FA, but because they were effective in scouting and development they haven’t needed big FAs, and they’ve had enough talent coming up that they can afford too let Correa and Springer and others walk. They have had a lower payroll than the White Sox the last 2 years.

Good to see that Rick Hahn is still trying to improve this club and make it stronger for the run during this championship window.

I get why they did this of course but big picture what does it say about the organization that six years after the rebuild started in a so-called "window of contention' they are having to resort to picking up stiffs, has been's, flotsam and jetsam because they have no one else available or ready in their own minor league system. 🤡

6 home games before April 4th. Geniuses.

Ozzie was no cancel culture victim if such a dumb ass thing exists. He became a bad manager and should have been fired in 2011. Bringing back an old employee would be another dumb thing the FO could do. Take the team in a different direction for god sakes.

The “highlights” from Garfein’s latest podcast which dropped on You Tube Thursday (Sox fan questions part II) *Grifol isn’t putting players in the best position to succeed. Continues batting Anderson second for example. *Grifol recently saying “foundation is in place.” (i.e. clubhouse attitude). It isn’t… he’s saying the same things he said in April…it’s now July. *Wants Grifol to do what Rocco Baldelli did after the Twins rolled over and died to the Braves a few weeks ago. Baldelli called them out (they then played the clip with his comments). Grifol needs to hold players accountable. *Think players are “walking on” Grifol. He’s too passive. *Guys played hard for Renteria, can’t say the same for Grifol. *Offense is broken because they swing at anything out of the zone. No plate discipline. *What is the identity of this team? Establish that first THEN get the players who fit it. Sox seem to do the opposite. *Jake Diekman was brought up. Garfein said he was told by a source that Diekman talked to and that the reason for his turn around in Tampa is because (according to Diekman) "he now has a catcher that he trusts.” *Thinks Eloy will get traded this off season. Expect at least four guys to go at the deadline. Maybe as many as six. *McGuffy said he categorically knows the “plan” was to have MULTIPLE nine figure players in the clubhouse. High level guys. Front office never finished that part of the plan. *Draft issues plaguing this franchise. Read off the first-round picks. Garfein said he could probably do as good of a job as the Sox have over the last 10 years in this area. *Andrew Vaughn is NOT the problem, neither is Benetendi. Vaughn on pace for over 40 doubles and 90+ RBI’s. *Second half key is to see what you have, who wants to play and they have GOT to get Anderson’s head on straight. Batting him second will not accomplish that. Said Grifol now is just being stubborn.

When we were dating, my wife attended many earlier season games with me....she no longer will do that. We still have the huge and warm White Sox blanket she had me buy her at one of those games. Another time, I brought my young son to an early season game...his bday is in early April. He enjoyed a hot chocolate from one of the vendors. Later, another vendor came along yelling "ice cold beer"....my 4 year old called out "none for me"

A few things: In recent memory, I would agree. I said this when he was signed, as I followed the Dodgers as my NL team when Torre became their manager: Grandal is a good player to have in a great lineup, but for the most part, he only does well when everyone else is hot. If they're not, he typically will give you two good weeks with the bat before he slumps hard. For the amount of money, I hated it. It's clear the locker room has no leader and when you try to be a leader, you get nuked/blackballed. I hated the Keuchel signing (said that back then too) because even in his good starts with Atlanta, he was laboring through them and you could tell he was done. He spoke the truth and no one wanted to hear it. TA is dealing with his own mess. Jose Abreu, a guy who never throws anyone under the bus, spoke his mind and got blasted for it as if he was a salty player. Seems like the only shot you have is being quiet and hope other players take to it. The Sox need a rowdy ass guy who's going to get on players, like a Harper or Machado to a lesser extent. The problem is, the clubhouse, and maybe the organization as a whole rejects that. And that's a huge problem. Only oh so much a manager can do in that regard. Funny thing is, I see a lot of fans who also get upset at the vocal leaders too. It's weird to me. Moncada, who I had high hopes for, is a failure. Kopech is the same. Your best bet for Kopech is for him to be that dominant high stress relief guy or a closer. Moncada is a defensive replacement type guy. Sad thing is, if he gets with a team that develops hitters, I feel like we're going to be upset that we gave up on him. Vaughn is a guy who just isn't it. League average at best. He has the look, but not much else. Eloy is always hurt. TA has regressed and right now his mind seems to be off baseball as a whole. Our bullpen is too expensive and worst of all, our GM flat out doesn't know how to fix it. The owner doesn't care to fix it. We have no one in the pipeline worth mentioning at this time IMO. Our drafts are rather poor. Chances are, we will sell off the team and take lesser prospects so we can get money back or have to pitch in less money on our end. This is what apathy with your baseball team is. Oakland is in Oakland and doesn't have the resources. We're in Chicago, and we just choose to operate this way. Won't spend big bucks on the players, farm system, scouting or the front office.

Same story for the braves.

Wow 40 doubles! 90 RBI! Is this 1987?

I think his issues go beyond just having a "bad back" in my opinion.

I mean he did have a 4 WAR season in 2021 so its not like the monstars came and sucked up all his talent prior to that

He was very good. Hindsight being 20-20, he obviously left the Sox too soon. He only stayed three seasons with the Sox and won the AL Manager of the Year in 1990 wining 94 games and improving from the previous year from 69 wins when he first took over the team. Sadly because Jerry was a cheap owner, he was only making 250,000 a year and the NY Mets offered Torborg a 1.7 million contract over 4 years which was pretty close to doubling his Sox salary. Unfortunately for Torborg, the Mets gig didn't go well and early into his 3rd season (1993) he was fired, while his former Sox team finished 94-68 that year. Can you imagine the conversation when Torborg told Jerry he was leaving for the Mets. Jerry probably replied, "You have gone 181-143 over the last two years for us and you expect me to give you a raise close to $425,000 a year?" "Nah, that's too steep for me." I do love going down memory lane and reminding myself what a dumbsh*t Jerry has always been. Our genius owner who thinks he is so much smarter than the other owners.

That was probably more entertaining than the 2024 White Sox will be...

Still think he is their best manager since LaRussa I.

I know a lot of fans don't want to hear this, but I don't really blame Moncada that much for his failure. In 2018-19 the ball exploded off of his bat and he had elite EV metrics. Then he got covid and wasn't the same guy. It's just s%*# luck tbh, he got sick and injured and it altered his talent level. It sucks but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I don't have a problem with him being called a bust, because it’s objectively true, but it's more bust-injuries than bust-lazy.

Pretty forgettable player IMO

Basically he couldn't even make it on the second worst team in baseball that had even more pitching injuries... "Mayers had been operating as a bulk reliever behind an opener during his last three appearances, but he drew his second start of the year Saturday. The role switch didn't change things for the right-hander, who has now given up 16 earned runs over his past three outings while posting more walks (five) than strikeouts (three) during that stretch. The Royals are dealing with numerous injuries to their pitching staff, which has allowed Mayers to carve out a role recently, but if he continues to struggle, Kansas City may have to look for help in the minors. Mayers was removed from the Royals' 40-man roster last month after putting up a 6.15 ERA in six games (two starts) this season. He'll head to Triple-A Charlotte for now but could eventually get a shot with the White Sox in the rotation or bullpen." https://www.foxsports.com/mlb/mike-mayers-player Charlotte ticket sales department must be simply elated....

I would like to see AJ as the permanent manager. We need a no BS guy and AJ seems like a guy that would light a fire under our lifeless players.

Hahn has bricked up the window.

I heard the White Sox also agreed to stock their soda machine.

He also had a robust win percentage of .426%

This is an absolute crock of s%*#. The Indians, Twins, Brewers, Rays, f***, the Marlins, have way harsher payroll restrictions than the Sox and have had way more success than the Sox/Hahn. Not being able to sign a player for 300 million doesn’t mean consistent winners can’t happen. Far from it.

The sooner they start selling off pieces the better

I think there's an argument to be made that there was a mismatch with his supplementing of the core youngsters (who got hurt too frequently to ever really gel together compared to Cubs/Houston) with those veteran players/resignings that flopped one by one. Specifically Grandal, Keuchel, Lynn, Hendriks (cancer/injury), Kimbrel/Pollock...so much money was invested into veterans who were hitting their 30s fades or well along that path. (Whether 1-2 stars like Machado or Wheeler or Harper could have held things together...we'll never know.) But the real and final death blow was the draft and intl. completely failing to supplement those two previous groups (core/vets) as injuries (Crochet Montgomery Vera) and non performance (Colas, pitching and middle infield) struck. That wave essentially consisted of the fatally flawed Vaughn Madrigal and Burger. Triple whammy. Meanwhile your two best/young pitchers in Rodon and now Giolito were pushed out as well...and that's never a good thing.

ERA this season 6.15. Career ERA 5.31. Not even worth of mop up duties.

He said he loved Fidel Castro, in the most Anti-Castro city in America, or World beyond Havana. He is a fucking idiot and should have zero responsibility or management over other human beings. The Sox have enough fucking idiots on their payroll and they don't need to add another one.

"I just talked to Jerry and he wants to know when you can get here...or better yet get yourself to Atlanta so we can avoid some travel expenses?"

I haven't been following the writers' strike, thinking it would be like any dispute, get resolved after a little while. Now the actors are also on strike, so I don't think a resolution is shortly forthcoming. Not sure if anyone else has been following this, but I didn't see a thread about it. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/13/sag-actors-union-goes-on-strike-joining-hollywood-writers.html

This is how I feel about the White Sox

I wasn't following the team closely during Ventura's managerial seasons, and did not know that. Thanks, is par for the course. I believe the three amigos (JR, KW and RH) had similar roles / decisions for all of these managerial hires beyond Tony. Hahn played the primary role on most player trades / acquisitions / drafts, and for that reason, I've been out since 2015 (including his inability to handle the La Roche incident, having to go to Kenny to take care of the situation). Definitely wanted a baseball person to conduct the rebuild and "championship window phase", turned out somehow even worse than expected.

Yeah, I read that blurb and its like they just forgot about arguably the biggest superstar in the entire league right now.

Somehow I think encouraging people to recreate that scenario would be the opposite of a good idea

Well you tried

They had to pay the Royals cash for this guy? Wow. KC must really need some cash for the petty cash drawer.

Vaudeville night is gonna be so 🔥

That certainly didn't age well did it? 😆

Luis had to ride the Greyhound from Seattle.

I'm not the one who's obsessed, you are, I just call a spade a spade and stay true to the idea that I like sports for the sporting aspect of it and not the TMZ-esque personal drama. If I cared about that, I'd watch the Kardashians instead of baseball. You might prefer that brand of entertainment. And obviously there's a giant difference between rooting for a guy who cheated on his wife (wow incredible an athlete, had an affair...) and one who is accused of criminally assaulting his spouse (regarding Clev. I'll still cheer for him to have a good ERA because whatever investigations took place didn't find anything. I bet he has anger issues that affect his personal relationships even if he isn't a criminal and I hope he figures it out for his own sake. In the mean time, I hope he pitches well). Don't be obtuse to compare the two. I speculate that it stems from some personal insecurity that infidelity is a worse offense to you than an alleged assault. I also speculate that it's racially motivated but I really don't want to have this discussion on a baseball forum and won't mention it further. It's just I think kind of obvious why some athletes receive this bizarre level of personal hatred from the fans who are supposed to be cheering them on. I bet if Luis Robert spoke English he'd get the same level of it. People call him slurs too and I think it's sort of disappointing for a baseball team that's located on the south side of Chicago...anyway. It is true of all athletes (pretty much any public figure) that fans will redirect their personal hang-ups onto them. That's part of the reason they get paid the big bucks, they have to have thick skins and deal with it. I still think it's weird. Few days off of baseball so now let's talk about how shitty they are as human beings. Some of the remarks about Giolito getting a divorce, it's like....maybe this is actually a Catholic church forum and I got lost somewhere. Who cares? I wish him the best through it as I would anyone else but I really don't care about a stranger's divorce!! Why should you? You care more about Tim's infidelity than his wife does, get a life!

Ozzie isn't managing anywhere because he was one of the first real casualties of cancel culture. He said some dumb crap in Miami and nobody wants to take that chance again with his loose mouth. That being said he's done his time in the penalty box. Ozzie may have worn out his stay but he was a fantastic manager from 04 to 08. He got bored the last few years. I think he'd go the same route. Come back with energy and vigor, do some great work for 4 or 5 years then fade again. I'm all for it. He is absolutely what this organization needs right now.

Actor Mike Meyers would probably serve the Sox better.

They are going to need warm bodies once Giolito, Lynn, Lopez, Kelly, Middleton, and Graveman are all moved.

I’ll disagree, and double down. Why isn’t Ozzie employed by one of the other 29 other teams if he is such an amazing manager? Sox have the best kept secret in baseball hidden away in their pre and post game shows?

Not fair assessment. If what this thread says is true that guys like Moncada and Eloy have quit on the organization (Timmy plays with no 'joy' either IMO, then you need Ozzie to come in and do what Ozzie does. Just cause he quit with 9 days left in the season when he was gonna get fired or move on in 9 days anyway, doesn't change that he's a good manager. This team needs a forceful manager and also some veterans who command a bit of respect (even Abreu seemed kinda passive in his last year regarding waking up some dormant to dead teammates). Sox need Ozzie (as interim rest of season) and they need a few vets who deeply care (Konerkos, Fisks). Maybe there are no players who truly care anymore to acquire.

A lot on Grifol and culture, but Grifol walked into a s%*# show of Hahn's making. The roster issues will never be resolved until Hahn is gone, and a competent GM is brought in to take a few seasons to assess what they have and begin building an organization from A ball to the ML club.

Whataboutism is equally disappointing

Pretty sure Colson will be in BHam after the break.