JoeC

I do too. Just poking fun at our complete overreliance on him last year. Fucking guy would throw 100+ innings out of the 'pen, easily.

...but then if he was sitting in those similar meetings that led to the hiring of Getz?

That's 150 innings we won't get back....

"Sleeping giant" they may be. Seems like the giant will never wake up though.

They just need 3 or 4 starters, 3 or 4 bullpen arms, a few defensive upgrades (at LF, RF, SS, 1B, and C), and like 7 upgrades on offense (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, RF). Plus a good coaching staff and medical staff. Other than that, they're right there.

Seems about right. And, besides the Royals, weren't the Sox also tied to some Rockies' execs for consideration?

Likely yes.

Adding 1.1 bWAR, but subtracting how much negative bWAR?

Pretty much any org that has a set of goals for player development, rather than just letting 'em float up in the minors?

Obligatory:

"last August" = 2022.

Yeah I had a long layover in LAX last August. Some San Diego exec was talking on his phone pretty loudly in the lounge. He was bitching pretty loudly and openly about Tatis' to-be-announced suspension.

Oof. We even get the wrong "owner's kid named "Michael."

So the 2025 rotation has him in the #2 or #3 spot, based on this report? Sorry - I didn't click on the article.

I'm not disagreeing much, really. The only thing I would say is that Hahn had to know he's on thin ice; when some people are desperate and know the inevitable outcome, they grasp at straws to try to save themselves.

Well, the other way to look at how JR could "logically" (note the quotes) judge the trade deadline is based on whatever Hahn / KW told them. Among other lines of bullshit, we were told that they got rid of the negative influences in the clubhouse. The implication was that these negative influences were causing the team to play poorly and lose. Of course this is all pure speculation, but I could see Hahn trying to make one final plea that the big league team would somehow be better after the deadline, then JR waiting to fire him until after that ploy obviously failed.

IMO, the only conceivable logical explanation is that the trade deadline was the "one last chance" for Rick and Kenny. Once the deadline results really started to roll in (namely, Burger catching fire after being sold for pennies on the dollar), Jerry fired them. My guess is that it's still just another sign of organizational incompetence, but the above could be a potentially conceivable scenario in a competent organization.

Anyone want to start a gofundme to have Mike Veeck buy this team? It would at least be entertaining.

Thanks for posting. That "Light it Up!" call is still my favorite, and it gives me goosebumps to this day.

I would probably drift eventually toward the Tigers, honestly... but I've lived in Michigan for longer than I lived in Chicago. I've already converted to being a Wings fan awhile ago after having sworn off the 'Hawks after they traded Chelios. Like hockey, if the Sox left Chicago, I would probably need a few years of transition to take to a previous rival. It would go from envy, to mild animosity, to reluctant indifference, to warm familiarity, to casual fandom. No team would ever completely fill the void the Sox would leave, though.

I was previously in the "sure - let's sign Merrifield" camp... while I was not particularly passionate previously, this post has tipped me to the "why the f*** would we want that?" camp.

This, too.

No, he didn't make the draft choices, but he was responsible for taking the draft choices and developing them. Like it or not, the Sox have done a piss-poor job of developing non-blue-chip prospects. That was literally his job, and the product has been horrible.

I'm not saying it doesn't make sense. I'm just saying that he'd be further damaging the organization's credibility and reputation, and that has all been set up by the horrible decision he made back in August.

I disagree. One of the dysfunctional things that was brought up time and again after the KW / Hahn firings is that there was no single decision maker in the front office. JR then publicly stated that he's hiring one decision maker. Regardless of Ng's availability at the time, JR identified a problem that he publicly addressed by declaring Getz to be the single decision maker. Now, if he hires Ng, he either has to go back on his word to Getz (essentially demoting less than 2 months after hiring him), or he goes back on his commitment to address the very publicly-acknowledged problem. Either way, his credibility goes down, and I would imagine that it would further hamper the Sox's ability to acquire front-office talent.