JoeC

Collect enough straws, and you can build a raft. maybe.

Yep.... and the "top 3 farm system" needs to restock and double down on player development funding and strategy to continually restock the top end of the farm without having to tear it down. Look at what teams like Cleveland and Tampa do.

Petty sure it also applies to the other 28 teams.

You can say ". . . to restock our farm system and compete in 3 years," and it would be completely valid. Sucking is a side effect of having to rebuild - not the primary objective.

It’s the way he said it. “Anyone who thinks we can catch Cleveland is crazy” is literally insulting your fans.

Or he could have said literally a whole lot of emptiness like “we have a lot of work ahead of us, and we’re leaving all options on the table. All we ask our guys to do is to work hard and play together as a team through thick and thin, and we’ll see how to best address our long term outlook.” Pretty much any canned statement that didn’t try to put a completely incredibly positive spin on it, really, would have at least told me “hey - they’re not trying to bullshit us, at least.”

To me, it’s a matter of insulting our intelligence. We all saw the same thing, but they tried to tell us it was a quick turnaround, we’re not wasting a year, etc. Again, it’s a matter of showing the fans that you live in the same reality as they do. I personally don’t like being lied to (option A), and I don’t like to follow teams who are so detached from reality that they can’t even figure out that they’re on the precipice of another 100+ loss season (option B). Either way, it stinks. The only way out of it would have been to own up to the situation from the start rather than trying to bullshit us.

Sure, if there’s a government-mandated antitrust exemption that allows, for all intents and purposes, for all sandwiches to be purchased from you or one other competitor in the city of Chicago.

Good signing. Wonder what the big league salary will be if he’s rostered.

I stand corrected. Thank you.

Yeah minor league players are not represented at all, from what I understand. IIRC, in the latest labor disputes, the big league union tried negotiating for improvements to the minor league conditions and labor standards as well… but I could be making that part up.

He would have some semblance of credibility with the fanbase if he would have said this 12 months ago.

Also true.

Of course the guy setting the direction and taking action will say that the team is going in the right direction. That said, I don't disagree. The moves he's made throughout the latter part of 2024 and into the 2024-2025 offseason, directionally, are what he should have done as soon as he took over at the end of 2023. Tear the fucker down and rebuild. He's done, more or less, what Hahn was credited and praised for doing (trading away big league assets for prospects). I don't think he's done all that well in terms of maximizing returns, but he's at least put the farm system into a respectable footing. The next couple of years are going to be painful at the big league level. Where Getz needs to focus (where Hahn failed) IMO are: 1. Treat the minor leagues as a factory and not a warehouse. Let players develop and mature - don't just rush prospects because you have a hole to fill. 2. Align player development, scouting / player acquisition, coaching, and front office philosophies across the organization, top to bottom. It seems like he's trying to do that, at least. 3. Convince JR to sell the team I see what Getz is doing, and, in general, I like it. It's going to make for an ugly 2025 and probably 2026 (the arrival of guys like Colson Montgomery, if it happens, will just be the beginning... or the the start of the end of the ugly years), and it can still fail... but the organization needed (still needs?) to be stripped down to the studs to be able to build, and it looks like Getz recognizes that. Again, it's going to continue to be ugly in the short term.

Still seems pretty epic. Just not sure what noun to append to "epic." An epic trainwreck? Embarrassment? Fall from grace?

Vanilla works if he/she is partnered with a complete opposite, ideally with credibility. Having a Hawk-like persona as a color commentator alongside a McKnight would be fine by me.

Same. Hope it happens sooner.

Click on the rows for those seasons in B-R.com

Yeah, my parents never let me call those. I do remember the phone numbers you’d call to get the weather forecast though.

I do not miss the days of looking for box scores in the paper and seeing “late game not included.”

Seems like you’ve invented collusion.

As admin, why are you advocating shutting down Soxtalk?

Yeah, the single worst season in all of modern major league history will tend to do that….

That clarification is sadly necessary, and it is really a sad state of affairs to have to seriously contemplate if we're going to lose 100, or 110+.

The Sox need to treat the minors like a factory instead of a warehouse. The players come out of the factory when they’re ready - not when someone puts in a 2-day delivery order.