soxfaninfl

Actually, I am just watching still to see which players end the season strong and I would still like to see the team eke over .500. This team really does not have the depth to do any better but I do like what I see from Gavin and Eloy lately. Hoping they continue and so do a few more.

Eloy is the only Sox hitter not to chase.

We just are not a good ball club.

Gavin can stay.

I don't necessarily disagree. I just wrote for two reasons: to cool my frustration and, yeah, sound a warning. If you want JR to sell, there is a good chance an ownership group from another area will attempt to buy. It's happened before. However, I also know a couple of other things make it more unlikely. The Sox payroll is not near the bottom and neither is attendance. I now live in Miami. Talk about a dead stadium and, possibly, franchise. A lot more Mets and Yankees fans here than Marlins. I do travel to Chicago to take in games. My kids still live there and we go to a few every year and the atmosphere is mostly good. I appreciate the frustration and anger. I would hate to see it boil over to a point it affects these advantages. After all, I have been to games at Comiskey in the not too distant past that didn't feel all that different than Marlins Park.

My first year (I was 7) was 1972. Pretty good team - Allen, May, and Wood. Didn’t last long, though, but fun times. A poster in this thread reminded me of the ‘50s and ‘60s teams. Those teams never really won (a pennant in ‘59) but you still sense the pride. It is baseball. It’s frustrating. It’s maddening. But there is always next season and it’s about playing the game right which the current team is struggling to do. But how many in 2004 and in the off-season before 2005, looked at the trades with the Brewers and the Yankees and thought, ‘these are the final pieces we need to be a contender!’ ?? You just never know.

I can be accused of hyperbole at times. My father would remember those days much better than I but your point is more than valid.

Agreed and sorry. This post was just a matter of catharsis for me, realizing there was a worse time to be a Sox time. But, hey, two years after that dreadful time in 1988, Frank Thomas showed up and the Sox had their best 15-year run in the modern era of baseball. Always hope. It’s baseball.

Just not sure. Sox leave and let the Cubs completely dominate the market? The economics would be completely different.

But we share that market with a bigger brother. Just being honest and it doesn’t matter. My whole point was if you want JR to sell, be willing to accept the consequences. Someone has to buy and there are suitors.

Were you around in 1988? Every Sox fan was mad as hell. Even more mad than now. So, yeah, no way I was following that team to St. Pete.

Same thought but it probably didn’t matter. They would have pitched around Eloy anyway unless Engel/Garcia walked. Just not enough bullets on this team.

Honestly, at the time it didn’t strike me because Seby was on deck and the only option for him was Carlos in case we tied it. I figured Seby would hit… but when Leury came out, I was like what the… We just wasted Eloy.

Almost speechless… In the end, it doesn’t really matter, but Eloy should have been the last pinch hit option. With first open and only one out, did you really expect them to pitch to Eloy?

Just personal therapy. It’s been a maddening season.

Everyone is mad and frustrated. Me too. We were promised better and, yet, here we are, fielding teams that probably would not beat our teams in the rebuilding years. A lot of that anger is directed at LaRussa and Hahn and rightfully so. This team has been mismanaged and the way the team conducts business needs to change. Unfortunately, that has been an ongoing problem for the Sox since, well, forever. Really, I became a fan when Bill Veeck still owned the team. But I can't buy into this 'sell the team' or 'burn it down' mantra and we need some sense of perspective before this all goes to hell. We are fans of the second team in the second city. In other words, the perpetual underdogs, the gang that can't shoot straight. We had a pretty good run in the Frank Thomas years but still had some bumps in that road too. Honestly, it's the Sox. As a fan, I like the building part, the dreaming part, the hoping part. It's all about hoping for a better team and the frustration that has completely boiled over now has led to some non-sensible reactions. Sell the team? What new owner would pay the price and still keep this team in Chicago? I lived through the 1988 season when JR threatened to move to St. Pete. I was living in Madison at the time and had an interview in Chicago since I graduated earlier in May. The date was 6/30/1988. We were having another sub-par year and all the news on the radio was the Sox were gone, the new stadium bill was dead, and 'Florida White Sox' tees were already being sold in St. Pete. I actually pondered whether I should stop and buy a Cubs hat on my way home or maybe a Brewers hat when I returned home. I didn't do either, but, oh, the agony. (Side note: yeah, no Amazon, MLB.com or Fanatics or even an internet connection on the road.) However, this is the agony of being a Sox fan. I have no illusions. The chances of the Sox always being in Chicago are slim. The only chance is to build a team that can consistently compete with a Cubs team and show Chicago is still a viable two-team town. The temperature surrounding the Southside right now indicates otherwise. Put the blame where it lies - TLR, Hahn, and even JR - but hope for JR to realize the mistakes and BE BETTER! Outside of a young nucleus that can't stay healthy right now, everything else about this team is a complete mess - from the draft to the minors and development to acquiring needs to keeping players healthy. TLR and Hahn need to go, yes. In my opinion, so does KW. The team needs a new perspective but we need to keep ours. You should have a real fear that we are seeing the final years of the Sox in Chicago. I do. Selling the team and burning it down just feeds into that narrative. Sometimes I even think that may be JR's master plan anyway - to sell at a premium with an exciting young club. Well, that took a hit this year. Until then, though, I don't want to wrestle with buying a Cubs or Brewers hat again and I don't want to see 'Carolina White Sox' tees popping up in stores in Charlotte. Thanks for reading through my diatribe. This may not be popular but hell, it made me feel better. Go Sox!

Sell the team and the odds go dramatically up that the Sox will relocate. Hello, Carolina White Sox…

First off, as the players go, MLB is the agent's game now. The manager and even the front office have far less control over the players and it's true across baseball, not just the White Sox. Gone are the days of Earl Weaver, Whitey Herzog, and Chuck Tanner. A manager is not going to physically pull a Garry Templeton off the field these days if he wants to be employed tomorrow. Having said that, you just don't break up a nucleus still in their 20s and the nucleus I see is TA, Robert, Eloy, Andrew, Dylan, Kopech, and even Yoan. It's been an abhorrent year and while the team has less control over the players, they have total control over the culture and the culture on this team stinks. You can blame it on a lack of accountability but, here, that has to be directed at management. Outside of this still young nucleus and Jose (and a special nod to Cueto), this team is a disaster. The minors are a disaster. The process to acquire players is a disaster... and this team does not know how to win. They treated the season as a dress rehearsal to their coronation. It's obvious. The lack of focus, drive, and energy rots from the top down. Terrible offseason, no real movement at the deadline, a manager more interested in showing how smart he is than actually fielding a smart team. So, no I don't blame the players yet... they all need to be in better shape next year. Eloy needs a treadmill for one thing but this culture has filtered from the top down. Management needs to be changed then let's see what kind of players we have.

Ah, that ball was hit too high and it was either caught or gone and maybe Eloy knew he didn’t get all of it. Don’t know. But hard to criticize a guy who saw a pitch he thought he could drive. Honestly, sounds like criticizing just to criticize here, especially considering his legs. Lord knows we have had real hustle issues, though.

I said complete laughingstock. ?

I don’t believe this. We have talent. Yes, injuries have hurt. We just never had the complete team assembled. However, the body language of the players have to be telling you something. Tony forgot the players in his quest to demonstrate brilliance.

It’s not about being mad. It’s about saving this organization from being a complete laughingstock.

He can’t come back. Just can’t.

Eloy’s ball went to the wall. Looked gone, honestly. Sometimes I think there are gremlins knocking our balls down at GRF.

A team can’t really do this. You can’t fire all the players but… I just hope this season is a wake up call. From the minors up to how the big league club had been built is not a way to consistently win. Add in a TLR who is more interested in proving his brilliance and mastery of the game more than getting this team ready and well… disaster.