waltwilliams

The disdain for Will Venable from many posters on this site and elsewhere baffles me. Here's a guy who inherited a team that lost a record 121 games and has his team in the playoffs only two years later (after the team improved by 19 games in 2025). The team's only All-Star last year, who he was relying on as his No. 1 starter, is languishing in the minors. He has only truly reliable starter; is starting numerous rookies and wasn't really well-served by his GM during the trade deadline this year. He's Ivy League-educated, super-articulate with the media; a standup-guy who never throws any of his players under the bus; and he is apparently great in the clubhouse. He the hands-down Manager of the Year, if you ask me.

Freddy Peralta would have been a good pickup. He's got a 3.60 ERA across nine starts for the Tampa Bay Rays since his trade from the Mets. Rays only gave up three low-level prospects for him, and they aren't on the hook for his salary after this year. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/freddy-peralta-turnaround-gives-mets-231946662.html

As someone who has lived in the South Loop for 20 years, the Bridgeport/Bronzeville/Armour Square area around Rate Field probably is busier than Roosevelt and Canal. Even for someone who lives in the South Loop, the area around the 78 is pretty remote right now. The active areas of the South Loop include Dearborn Station, Wabash between Roosevelt and 18th Street, and State Street around from Balbo to Roosevelt. All these areas aren't that close to Roosevelt and Canal. The closest activity is the Roosevelt Collection mall a few blocks away, but that mall isn't exactly a people magnet. Of course, that would change with Ishbia's proposed mixed-use village. But there definitely aren't thousands of people walking around Roosevelt and Canal on any day of the week.

Yeah, the participation rate of Black players in baseball in the last 25 years or so is definitely a factor. That said, up to 2013, the Sox were always good for drafting African-American players in the early rounds -- some picks panned out, more or less (Marcus Semien, TA) and other didn't (Courtney Hawkins, Jared Mitchell, Jacob May, etc.). But after TA, the pipeline to Black players completely dried up. And this is even though the Sox sponsored events for minority amateurs like the Double Duty Game. I can't help but attribute this to Shirley's rise in the organization (and KW's being kicked upstairs after 2012).

I'm wondering if Shirley is one reason why the Sox haven't drafted any African-American players of any consequence since Tim Anderson back in 2013. I mean, I can't think of one Black player that they've drafted since then, in any round.

Lackey could co-exist with Teel as well, with Lackey being a righty and Teel a lefty. One could DH while the other catches.

2003/2004 White Sox teams were fun to watch, leading into the 2005 WS team. Those teams were offensive juggernauts, but didn't have the pitching to make it into the post-season (like the 2005 team)

Dustin Harris now an every day starter for the Astros -- he had two hits and a steal last night against Boston. He's 7-for-18 (.389) with four RBI and an .868 OPS in his last five games. For some reason, the Sox gave Kelenic more of a runway than Harris, even though both were highly thought of prospects a few years ago. Wonder why they liked Kelenic more than Harris: https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/astros-dustin-harris-two-hits-steal-vs-boston/

Dustin Harris throwing out Rhys Hoskins at 2nd from left field to end last night's game between the Astros and Guardians: https://www.mlb.com/astros/video/jayden-murray-in-play-out-s-to-rhys-hoskins

He'd be better in a good lineup. Hope they trade him by the deadline to give him a chance and to maybe get a decent prospect

Or start the season starting Sosa at 2B, with Meidroth as the 2B-SS sub.

FWIW, Hays was involved in some controversy during his last days with the Orioles in 2024, when he posted the Instagram post below on Pride Night at Camden Yards. The "day of evil" comment was was seen by some as a coded critique of the O's Pride Night event, which was planned by O's Executive VP, Greg Bader, who is openly gay. The LGBTQ media took Immediate notice: https://www.outsports.com/2024/7/27/24098359/austin-hayes-mlb-gay-pride-night-day-evil/. Hays was traded to the Phillies (for Seranthony Dominguez!) a month after this was posted.

In the Crain's story, Ishbia also describes the Sox as "Chicago's asset": "I never use the word owner. I talk about the word steward," he said. The Sox are "the community's asset. There will be someone who is the steward after me. But this is Chicago's asset, and I will be the steward for a period of time.

For what it's worth, the Chicago sports broadcaster traditionally was encouraged to be a "homer", because that's supposedly what the market wanted, going back to guys like Jack Brickhouse. If you listen to any of Hawk's games when he broadcast the Red Sox, he was nothing like the Hawk of later years here in Chicago. He was still a character as a Boston broadcaster (as he was as a player), but totally objective when it came to calling the game. Hawk himself said that he changed his style to accommodate the Chicago market. I think Schiffren has improved a lot since last year. And to me, he works pretty well with Stone. Honestly, he reminds me of Chip Caray. I caught a few Cubs games in the 90s on TV with Chip Caray and Steve Stone. And I'm struck by how similar the dynamic is with Schif/Stone as it was with Caray/Stone.

Citi Field (and Shea Stadium before it) is currently surrounded by a wasteland of a neighborhood in Flushing -- all littered streets and autobody shops. (Although Steve Cohen has plans to build a ballpark village around Citi Field) Angel Stadium in Anaheim is surrounded by parking lots -- the Disneyland hotels and Disneyland itself is a half mile away. Royals Stadium is surrounded by parking lots. They fell a few thousand short of 3 million in 2006, the year after the WS. And from 2005 to 2012 , they averaged 2.4 million fans, according to B-Ref. That's not bad at all for the smallest of the two-team markets, especially considering how challenging Chicago is for the entertainment dollar in the summer. You have the Cubs, basically a national team, in arguably the most-admired vintage sports stadium in the country. You've got six other pro minor league teams in the area. And you've got Lolla and dozens of other music fests in perhaps the most vibrant summer city in America. The Sox will have to contend with that at any location -- the 78, 35th and Shields or anywhere else. Also, it bears repeating that the neighborhoods around Sox Park have changed a great deal in the past 30 years. Bridgeport has become one of the hottest neighborhoods in the city: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170720/CRED0701/170729995/chicago-s-hottest-neighborhoods-for-home-sales. CPD headquarters is three blocks away in Bronzeville, also home to a major research university and another hot neighborhood, "The Gap", with half-million dollar homes. True, the bad neighborhood rap comes a lot from perception. But also true, that perception is primarily from older folks who've moved out of the city and area.