The Kids Can Play

I think the sarcasm is very clear and needed here. Peeps here are so frustrated due to our POS owner who doesn't give a s%*#, as well as the fact he won't fire his delusional clown GM. As a result, that is why many of the posts need a good amount of sarcasm and humor; in order to avoid getting too upset and depressed over this trainwreck organization. ?

I didn't vote because I didn't see the correct fourth choice which should have been one of these four words; Defective, Broken, Flawed or Damaged!

Agreed, so maybe one of the admin mods should take down one of the two threads, so we don't have this confusion and redundancy.

You're absolutely right and that really sucks for us fans, being so loyal to this team. It's so terribly wrong in how poorly Jerry has run this team and blatantly screwed the fan base.

You're right and that's because he is not mentally tough. Closers have to have this tenacious attitude and winning edge about them...which Graveman clearly doesn't have.

The good news is, there is not one person on SoxTalk in 2023 that will ever rip you again when you say that this FO led by Hahn, won't ever bring a wining playoff team to Chicago.

There will be many others following your same feelings, if Jerry continues to not give a s%*# and keep allowing Rick Hahn in charge.

With all due respect, I don't think that is how this will play out. I don't think JR is going to sell the team before he dies. Maybe at some point if his health and cognitive skills fail him badly per Alzheimer or Dementia, he might turn it over to his son Michael. Even if JR was still alive and changed his mind to sell, he does not have the luxury to have a sit-down meeting with each billionaire who bids trying to determine their ownership philosophies. Plus once there is an accepted bid, the other 23 of 29 owners have to approve the sale. They are not making decisions to accommodate Jerry. Jerry might have had some influence many years ago, but I don't think he has the respect or support of most owners today...especially after the dumb comments he made about how many of the owners are so dumb and Jerry couldn't believe how they were ever able to buy a team. Plus, based on how much the Sox will be sold for, there won't be any billionaire bidders wanting to buy the Sox to just run it with ignorance and stupidity as Jerry has. Rich owners coming in today will want to win. The cost to buy a baseball team today is so exorbitant, that they will only spend that type of money because they have the money and they want a wining baseball team. Look at the last sale of the New York Mets with Cohen. Regardless whether he is a successful owner yet or not is irrelevant. The fact is, Cohen wants to win at all costs and is willing to spend ridiculous money as opposed to the loser Reinsdorf. With the huge valuations of teams today, that is how the new owner profile will look. The day this Sox team is sold will be a very special and happy day in my life, as well as for tons of other loyal die-hard fans who have been blatantly screwed for too many years.

This has to be the most uncaring, lifeless and dumbest team in baseball. 5 hits, 2 BB's 15 K's. Why Sox fans in the second half will continue to go to watch them play just boggles my mind.

I do agree with you there, I would much rather have Hamilton or Haseley in left if Benintendi can't play LF and play Remi at 2nd. Of course this is 100 percent all Hahn's fault since he put this horrible roster together.

Of course it's a disservice to Robert. Of course this is what happens when you have the following: 1 Moron GM 2. A "deer in headlights" with manager Grifol 3. Arguably the worst major league combo of roster/farm system in baseball. Thus in Grifol's fcuked up mind, he determines he is stuck playing Robert all the time. Not to mention, Grifol once told the media after one of Robert's great games, "he plays so effortlessly." This is the Sox MO, they operate at all times with the highest level of ignorance and stupidity.

Grifol is the a complete idiot. Go right ahead Pedro and not play Remillard at second for as much as possible, in order to see if he can truly be our starting 2B in both hitting and fielding for 2024. Instead let's play the washed up Andrus at 2nd, especially since we aren't going to make the playoffs. I guess when your slash line is: .201/.278/.260/.537, you get to keep playing every game per the genius Pedro. It reminds me of TLR when he would purposely put out some stupid lineup and batting order...knowing full well, he could make those dumb BS decisions because Jerry had his back. Now we know why Grifol told the fans and media, if we don't like his lineup, we could go talk to Jerry.

Your point about Hahn preferring a rookie manager for control purposes makes a lot of sense. You're right, guys like LaRussa, Hinch and Bochy would intimate Hahn.

As I said, there is nothing wrong with drafting college players. Remember these college players were once graduating from HS. My only point was when you pick a HS prospect he is only 18 years old, as opposed to already being 21 years old with the college player. Both of them will have to go through the minors for anywhere from 2-4 years. The bottom line is, your HS prospect will hit the majors at a younger age than the college player. By no means am I suggesting you would only take high school players. It should be a mix. My other point was in an ideal situation where you have a consistent ML wining playoff roster, as well as a top ranked farm system like the Rays and Dodgers have, then a team could be more patient and have the luxury to draft more HS players especially high in the draft. As I said in my post, the Sox are not in that ideal situation and need to draft more college players. because they don't have that luxury and never will under Reinsdorf and Hahn.

After the utter disgrace and embarrassment JR took for making Hahn go along with TLR, there is no way he would double down and tell Hahn to pick Grifol. However I do agree with you that Jerry is ultra cheap and it did come down to a financial decision. As a result, Jerry probably gave Hahn a specific number not to go over for the new manager salary. Thus if the salary number was embarrassingly low as an offer, then of course Hahn's candidates and choices were going to be limited to inexperienced rookie managers like Grifol.

Btw, I did hear the full interview. I do like Shirley's passion. You're probably right on a college hitter, but I still think a HS pick is a great idea sometimes, especially if their upside talent and potential is so great. Shirley's last two HS picks of Montgomery and Schultz seem potentially good future major leaguer players. Since the Sox ML roster is horrible, as well as their pathetic Farm System, I do understand the need to go more college right now. Hopefully someday under a new owner and FO, that will change.

That makes no sense that you are suggesting the coaches for the last three years prior to this season, convinced TA to hit more groundballs and now off of a sudden, their preaching to him to more groundballs came to fruition. The fact is, TA BA in the last three years: .322 - 2020 .309 - 2021 .301 - 2022 Those hits were not coming from hitting constant groundballs that got through for infield singles. He was able to get enough launch angle to get the ball over the infield. Yes this year TA is horrible in grounders. He has the worst groundball/flyball ratio in baseball at 5.11 (138/27). The reality and not fiction is, his lack of speed is more due to a lack of hustle, desire and having so many off-field mental stress to deal with. I'm tired of this constant speculation of a TA leg injury and making excuses for his poor play. He isn't walking or running around the infield with any struggles or limping. Is TA 100 percent...probably not, but guess what, most major league all-star players at this point of the season are not 100 percent either...but yet they still put up the good numbers

Yes you're right, there is a chance. The latest odds have now jumped to +2000 for the Sox to win the AL Central. Since you are such the internal optimist, I highly recommend you put a $500 bet down and go for it! You would win a sweet $10,000 in return for your delusional fandom.

Of course they can, just like we can win tonight's Lottery Power Ball!

Great to see Robert hit another home run and Burger having one of his best games. Plus another awesome game from Remi. However we need to keep this win in perspective. We beat a bad Cardinals team that has a similar W-L record to the Sox. Another bad outing for Cease does not bode well for those in here who want to trade Cease. He has maybe 3 more starts before the trade deadline. Unless all three are great outings, like he used to have, the prospects back on a Dylan trade aren't going to be very good as they could have been. We are going down a slippery slope right now, because Rick Hahn is delusional and still thinks they can win the Central and do damage in the playoffs as he was quoted last week. These wins are fun, but they are meaningless and detrimental to the future of this franchise, due to a imbecile GM making the decisions. Keep in mind in the second half we start with the following games: @ Braves 3 @ Mets 3 @ Twins 3 Home - Cubs 2 Home - Guardians 4 @ Rangers 3 @ Guardians 4 Home - Yankees 3 Home - Brewers 3 That is not a schedule where the Sox can get on a hot streak and improve on their 14 games under 500, to get on a path to winning the Central.

I checked at many sites and every single site has Pete Alonzo the #1 seed. It's split between Robert #2 and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at #3 and vice versa. Here are a couple of examples: Pete Alonso +310 +275 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. +370 +400 Luis Robert Jr. +475 +400 Julio Rodriguez +550 +550 Adolis Garcia +700 +500 Mookie Betts +800 +1000 Randy Arozarena +900 +900 Adley Rutschman +1700 +2000

Yeah that makes sense Pedro. In a season where we aren't going anywhere, let's play Andrus a "washed up" 34 yr old (35 next month) at 2B in instead of Remi at 2B. Hell we don't need to see if Remi could be our regular 2b of the future. Instead let's put Remi in RF instead of Colas. Likewise, I guess it's not that important either to play Colas daily in RF, to see if he can be the regular RF of the future. Stupid Is as Stupid Does.

Here are the Sox attendance figures going back to 1970. I know this probably won't happen, but I wish while Jerry is still alive and Hahn still the GM, the attendance could get down to the the levels of 1970 or 1975. Chicago White Attendance YEAR BALLPARK GM AVG SEASON 1970 Comiskey Park 6,115 495,355 1971 Comiskey Park 10,295 833,891 1972 Comiskey Park 15,290 1,177,318 1973 Comiskey Park 16,081 1,302,527 1974 Comiskey Park 14,105 1,149,596 1975 Comiskey Park 9,327 750,802 1976 Comiskey Park 11,366 914,945 1977 Comiskey Park 20,458 1,657,135 1978 Comiskey Park 18,523 1,491,100 1979 Comiskey Park 16,009 1,280,702 1980 Comiskey Park 14,819 1,200,365 1981 Comiskey Park 17,861 946,651 1982 Comiskey Park 19,355 1,567,787 1983 Comiskey Park 26,331 2,132,821 1984 Comiskey Park 26,383 2,136,988 1985 Comiskey Park 20,489 1,669,888 1986 Comiskey Park 17,584 1,424,313 1987 Comiskey Park 14,914 1,208,060 1988 Comiskey Park 13,860 1,115,749 1989 Comiskey Park 12,989 1,045,651 1990 Comiskey Park 24,720 2,002,357 1991 Comiskey Park (II) 36,224 2,934,154 1992 Comiskey Park (II) 33,101 2,681,156 1993 Comiskey Park (II) 31,865 2,581,091 1994 Comiskey Park (II) 30,042 1,697,398 1995 Comiskey Park (II) 22,204 1,609,773 1996 Comiskey Park (II) 20,569 1,676,403 1997 Comiskey Park (II) 23,165 1,864,782 1998 Comiskey Park (II) 17,175 1,391,146 1999 Comiskey Park (II) 16,656 1,349,151 2000 Comiskey Park (II) 24,047 1,947,799 2001 Comiskey Park (II) 22,077 1,766,172 2002 Comiskey Park (II) 20,701 1,676,804 2003 U.S. Cellular Field 23,944 1,939,524 2004 U.S. Cellular Field 24,437 1,930,537 2005 U.S. Cellular Field 28,923 2,342,834 2006 U.S. Cellular Field 36,511 2,957,414 2007 U.S. Cellular Field 33,140 2,684,395 2008 U.S. Cellular Field 30,877 2,501,103 2009 U.S. Cellular Field 28,199 2,284,164 2010 U.S. Cellular Field 27,091 2,194,378 2011 U.S. Cellular Field 24,705 2,001,117 2012 U.S. Cellular Field 24,271 1,965,955 2013 U.S. Cellular Field 21,832 1,768,413 2014 U.S. Cellular Field 20,381 1,650,821 2015 U.S. Cellular Field 21,677 1,755,810 2016 U.S. Cellular Field 21,559 1,746,293 2017 Guaranteed Rate Field 20,626 1,629,470 2018 Guaranteed Rate Field 20,110 1,608,817 2019 Guaranteed Rate Field 20,622 1,649,775 2020 Guaranteed Rate Field COVID COVID 2021 Guaranteed Rate Field 19,708 1,596,385 2022 Guaranteed Rate Field 24,807 2,009,359 2023 Guaranteed Rate Field 20,415 837,051