TBrown54
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Posts posted by TBrown54
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I have always enjoyed Farmer as broadcaster. He's sounded fine to me this year. I hope he's back soon.
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1 hour ago, Balta1701 said:
I think it's safe to say at this point that RH's rebuilding trades have put this team in a position to make a jump in 2020, and your evaluations of each of those 3 trades, while somewhat optimistic, aren't unfairly so.
However, those are not the entirety of Rick Hahn's trades. There's one in 2016 that we still will not even mention in this discussion, but even ignoring that one, Rick Hahn remains the 2nd best GM the Athletics have. These down years were substantially caused by Rick Hahn being willing to sacrifice years down the road for his winning teams in 2015 and 2016, and the trades where he gave up guys who are now solid big leaguers were a big part of that. Yes, several of those guys took a lot of work, but Oakland did that work and now they have several solid big leaguers out of it. Rick Hahn is the difference between Oakland being a .500 team and Oakland being 5 games below .500 right now, and they have been less lucky than we have.
And yeah, I'm going to drag the Colome trade into this too, because it still was not a smart move. We gave up a player under team control for 5 years for one under control for 2 years. At least last year, we should have been doing the exact opposite. If we did that because our staff is too lazy to work with a catcher on their development, that is not an excuse. If we traded Colome for a young catcher who currently was putting up solid numbers and had improved on everything in his game year over year, we would be saying "There's a good chance our catcher's spot is solved, maybe it's not with an all star but this frees up money to go sign Cole and we can move Collins to 1b right now". Instead we're still talking about Grandal and wondering if Collins can play there. That trade fits in with the trend of his previous ones - making moves that are too aggressive for his roster to support, giving up on guys because either he can't see how they could develop or because his organization is too lazy to deal with them.
We're probably going to have to do some moves like that next year to find a pitcher or two, and that move doesn't look particularly good in the light of him making the exact same kind of mistake with guys in 2015 and 2016.
So I'll go so far as to say that RH's rebuilding trades are showing positive promise this year, but his "Win now" trades for established big leaguers have been setbacks for the franchise almost every time. Heck, that phrase describes his first couple years too.
I won't mention it (nor the SD/CR game from last night and the clutch hits). It might be a better fit within the "KW and his Trades" thread. :-(
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1 hour ago, greg775 said:
Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and assume somebody just missed it this time. Probably had the weekend crew working on a Friday night. Eloy's six RBI's can't be ignored, had to be a mistake or something overlooked via human error.
That could be. On the other hand, this could be far worse than previously imagined: meddling by our number one adversary. What if something crazy happens next week, like the taps for draft Old Styles mysteriously malfunction when the customer is wearing Sox Eloy 74 jersey. As famously exclaimed by Colonel Saito: "This is war! This is not a game of cricket!"
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1 hour ago, ChiSox59 said:
Where do you get $16M?
I messed up on that, was looking at the Baseball Ref page and I was living in 2018. Thx.
2019 Contract Status: Signed thru 2019, 2 yrs/$16M (18-19) & 20 team option
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39 minutes ago, Joshua Strong said:
Is it? Can’t blame the Sox for wanting to move on, his career with them was very inconsistent.
I do think that not trading him after 2017 is one of the rebuild biggest missed opportunities
For sure, I am looking at current roster and current record and hopefully this will not be strategic error. And like Avi after '17, they should have traded Alexi Ramirez during his All-Star season or before.
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8 minutes ago, bmags said:
Is the front page of mlb.com like really influential or something? Who cares.
Well, MLB could be laying foundation to ensure Verlander -- established star with supermodel spouse -- gets nod over upstart Giolito to start ASG. And furthermore, I am starting rumors that foreign governments may be involved.
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This should have been Eloy and Gio 10-1 did not make the cut. Add Lucas to the mix and it's outrageous. Maybe MLB does not like upstarts pounding on one of their most visible franchises.
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On MLB's main page, there is no headline for Eloy's monster game last night. Although he was upstaged by Hunter Renfroe's 3 HRs and big SD rally, there are still about 15 headlines with links and still no Eloy. Granted there is local media bias in favor of Cubs (with justification) but I never knew bias extended to MLB!
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I'm surprised Avi is signed only through 2019 for $3.5 million. His OPS is over .850 and is on pace for over 70 RBIs; pretty inexpensive production. With Renteria RF choices of Tilson and Cordell, and Alonzo at $16 million for anemic output, this looks like a miss by front office (default Kenny).
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13 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:
In fact according to Steve Stone and repeated in the book, the Sox offered Harry more money to stay in 1982 than the Cubs offered. Harry simply wanted to get away from the owners and he knew SportsVision was destined to fail because the technology wasn't there yet.
And here is the exact quote from Harry / Jimmy on Royko's show:
September 6, 1981 – It was the beginning of the end for broadcaster Jimmy Piersall in connection with the Sox. Piersall and Harry Caray appeared on the ‘Mike Royko show’ on WLS-TV. Royko asked the duo how they handle baseball wives who disliked the comments they made about their husbands. Caray said, “You know what Mike. I would love to call all the wives together someday and tell them what their husbands say about them across the ballfield.”
Piersall’s answer was more controversial to say the least. “First of all they were horny broads that wanted to get married, and they wanted a little money, a little security and a big strong ballplayer. I traveled, I played. I got a load of those broads too.”
And here is what Jimmy had to say when I interviewed him:
ML: The Mike Royko show saw you and Harry appear as guests on September 6, 1981. During the show you made your comments about player’s wives and got suspended for a time. Now I think I understood what you were trying to say, it just came out politically incorrect, but what amazed me was when you told me that despite all the disagreements, you actually got along very well with Eddie Einhorn and that he complimented you on having a good season in the booth. True? (Author’s Note: Royko asked both Caray and Piersall how they handled the reaction from player’s wives when they criticized their husbands. Caray said “You know Mike I would love to call all the wives together someday and tell them what their husbands say about them across the ballfield.”
Piersall said, “First of all they were horny broads that wanted to get married, and they wanted a little money, a little security and a big strong ballplayer. I traveled, I played the game. I got a load of those broads too.”
JP: “This all started when a group of the player’s wives, led by Tony LaRussa’s wife, tried to get me fired. As soon as I said it I thought to myself this could be a problem, but I was pissed off about them. The funny thing was Jerry Reinsdorf told me himself that both he and his wife saw the show and that he enjoyed it. Then Tony LaRussa went nuts over it and I was suspended.”
“The way I was suspended was kind of funny. Eddie Einhorn said he needed to see me. So I went to his office and he’s standing behind his chair, like he was afraid I was going to do something. He told me that I was suspended because the Sox players threatened not to play unless something was done. Yea, I did like Eddie, and he and I got along well.”
Thanks. I never would thought it happened in 1981, after Bill Veeck. I guess I'm older than I thought I was 🙂
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On 5/4/2019 at 11:40 AM, Lip Man 1 said:
I did a long historical piece on SportsVision, the why's and what went wrong. It also includes an interview with one of the first anchors there Mike Leiderman. Here is the link for any interested:
http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2016/01/the-legacy-of-sportsvision/
I certainly enjoyed the article! Also, I think if Veeck had fired Piersall right after his infamous interview (with Royko?), where he insulted Mary Frances Veeck and made a crude reference to baseball wives (which would render him unemployable in these times), Piersall's legacy might have been much different. But he got a pass and was mostly canonized by local media when he died. Somewhat of a waste of plentiful broadcasting talents.
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On 5/3/2019 at 8:37 PM, Donaldo said:
About a week after the first Cubs/Sox Interleague series in 1997, I was watching a Cubs game when Harry and Steve began chatting about their first experience at the new Comiskey Park. Harry spoke very highly of the new park, saying how it was a beautiful ballpark and he had a great time. Then Harry ended the conversation by saying "but it's nothing like that old ballpark where EVERYTHING was better." That kinda sounded like a shot at Reinsdorf.
IIRC, the Busches fired him because he was drinking a can of Schlitz during a television interview.
Other examples of this are Dick Vitale and Hawk Harrelson.
I love Hawk, but it was clearly time for him to retire.
I used to love Hawk's late-inning and walk off HR calls, especially in early '90s and '00s when the place was jumping. But Kenny zapped the life out of the franchise and Hawk with his slow burns became unlistenable.
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On 4/30/2019 at 9:25 AM, NWINFan said:
He also became an embarrassment when he slobbering over a sexy Cubs ball girl and having her on the Tenth Inning show when she really had nothing to say. She had to be 50 years younger than him.
He was a great announcer. Caray could describe the action in a rapid fire way during his best days. And he liked having fun even when the Sox were losing. He didn't do the Harrelson moping.
His legacy is a mixed one, but he was a powerful presence in Chicago baseball history.
Well said. And Harry's White Sox years were IMO superior to any Chicago baseball broadcasts in my memory (going back a little over 50 years). There is no close second.
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On 4/30/2019 at 9:24 AM, Fan O'Faust said:
On the night back in September 1983, when the Sox clinched the AL West Division, marking their first return to the playoffs in 24 years since the '59 World Series, when the ecstasy of winning had enveloped Comiskey Park and White Sox Nation, in the post game interviews conducted by Hawk Harrelson, Reinsdorf took a moment on live TV to literally say that he hoped Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall were "eating their hearts out wherever they were", and that he hoped people now would "understand what SCUM they were".
Those were the words from the Chairman on live TV on a night that should have been all about celebrating the rare occurrence known as White Sox playoff-bound baseball. It was those exact words that would go onto fuel Harry's outrage and disdain towards Reinsdorf ever after. It was a very classless gesture on Reinsdorf's part, and I don't blame Caray for feeling the way he did about the guy from then on out.
I remember the unfortunate incident. After all these years, I had thought it was Einhorn, but I just found a Trib article from '85 (written by the great Bob Logan, Tribune DID have a great sports section in those days) confirming it was JR. On surface, all Harry did was take a better deal. Maybe he lobbed a few grenades on the way out, but I don't remember anything outrageous that would have triggered bitterness from EE and JR. Maybe there was more to it behind the scenes.
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17 hours ago, raBBit said:
I am just waiting for all the schools named after Thomas "Me Too" Jefferson and Abe "3/5" Lincoln to be renamed. We need to expunge all references to history that doesn't align with modern day sensitivities.
In before thread is closed!
I think I know what you mean about Jefferson -- he had many affairs, some probably non-consensual (or worse term for it) -- but I have no idea how "3/5" gets associated with Lincoln.
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9 hours ago, greg775 said:
Frankly I'm surprised. I wonder if it has a lot to do with cost of actually attending a game? People realize they can't really afford to go to a game or maybe 1-2 a season and instead have become accustomed to watching on big screen HD TV? (I realize you can get tix in the nosebleeds for cheap and can do the secondary market thing for cheap, but baseball fans are old and they aren't the type of folks to be playing the secondary market for tix.
Just a thought. I'm a little surprised more fans are tuning in. The team is a bit better but still overall a noncontender.
Most games (but probably not this weekend) the $8 nosebleed tix get you 100 level access; no Sox ushers/guards are stationed at 100 level entrances to check tickets.
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7 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:
I think if you go back and look at ratings, this number was much closer together before the recent demise of the Sox and escalation of the Cubs. I imagine this will grow closer together, again, as the Sox continue to improve.
Agree on both points. 2008 was peak year in Cubs vs. Sox rivalry. Cubs swept Sox at Wrigley, and next week Sox swept Cubs at Cell, with 3rd game on Sunday night. Was not unusual for Sox to play Sunday night back then. Was a Cubs town but Sox with their stars were always in the conversation. That Cubs are now years ahead of Sox in attendance and TV ratings and Sox struggling to be relevant again says more about Sox FO failure in last decade than Cubs' success.
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Yeah Cubs were stumbling back then, and Sox had captured the town's attention with rising stars, esp Frank, and that innaugural season at new Comiskey; I think it remains team attendance record for a season.
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Nothing going on with the off day so I thought I would just say something positive.
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On 6/10/2019 at 6:26 PM, vilehoopster said:
Did anybody else just watch "Sports Talk Live", literally just five minutes ago. The consensus of all four sport writers was bring Cease up now. One guy even quoted Frank Thomas as saying it's time to bring him up. Sorry, I don't know the various writers' names, but one said there's nothing wrong with letting Cease come up and learning from whatever mistakes he makes. The writer followed with the idea that he's heard that Cease is really mentally tough and confident and he can deal with it. They all agreed that sooner or later, he has to face the big leagues, why not now.
Come on White Sox!!!! Bring Cease up. Let the excitment begin.
They also went on a rave about Eloy's homeruns over the weekend and finished with how scary it is to think that Luis might be the best of all the White Sox prospects considering how good Eloy, Moncada, and Giolito are looking.
I would be excited if they brought up someone who could hit. They're in bottom half of league in runs scored, again. A slight improvement over last several seasons, but hard to notice.
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Not Lopez Needs to go down. In line for W vs. lowly KC but must start somewhere.
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16 minutes ago, ptatc said:
I wish people would actually be informed before they personally insult others.
I'm biased being in the field and knowing these guys but seriously.
The primary job of the people you are insulting to to work with them AFTER injuries happen. They work with the strength and conditioning group to help prevent injuries However, they can't prevent them. They may be having issues trying to rehab them as well but if that's the case do your research and put the physicians in there as well as the athletic trainers follow their orders as well.
My comment made out of frustration was off-base, for sure. Thanks for the information.
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Just now, Lip Man 1 said:
Not saying much though is it?
Another one bites the dust. Gotta bring up the kid now or start making trades for arms just to finish the year out. The injuries the last three seasons at both the major and minor league levels has made a serious impact on things and the Sox better figure out why this is happening. Off season conditioning? Diet?? In season work??? Something is helping to cause this (unless you believe in luck which I don't)
Training staff? Herm Schneider was a sacred cow, immune to criticism. But he retired after injuries piled up last year throughout the operation. What's up with Head Athletic Trainer Brian Ball?
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7 minutes ago, OneDog847 said:
Yep. Alonso and Jay should have been released the day after Machado signed with San Diego. 2019 is a developmental year. There is no place for useless veterans on the position player side.
White Sox are THE place for useless veterans on the position player side.
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Happy Belated Fernando Tatis Jr. Day
in Pale Hose Talk
Posted
Yesterday, June 15th, was 56th Annual Lou Brock Day (55th anniversary), observing Cubs trade of future star (and HOFer) in exchange for washed up pitcher, which haunted the franchise for generations. Cubs radio announcers were discussing the event.
But June 4th came and went with no mention of 4th Annual Fernando Tatis Jr. Day (3rd anniversary), observing White Sox trade of future star (and HOFer?) in exchange for washed up pitcher, which may haunt the franchise for generations.
I Googled for comments from Executive VP of Baseball Operations from either the inaugural event or reaction to it years later. Unfortunately, Kenny was not found.