nrockway

Don't you think it's fun that underdog teams made it? Did you really want to watch a repeat of the Astros and Phillies? Or to perpetually see the Dodgers and Yankees there? btw I tend to think the relevance of TV ratings is declining. I'm 30 and don't have cable, I imagine that's true of most everyone in my age group or younger. I illegally stream games because why wouldn't I? The quality is the same and it's incredibly easy to do. Now my dad does it so he doesn't have to sign up for "roku" hockey and baseball. I still have to look at the TV ads, I just don't factor in for the ratings. consider the even younger generation of sport fans who are primarily only interested in watching highlights on TikTok, buying merchandise and gambling. Seems to me that the MLB is doing a better job of capturing new fans with their updated social media policies. Additionally, franchise values continue to soar in every sport despite declining TV ratings across the board. These media rights contracts are obviously a giant source of revenue, but I'll be eyeing the NBA's new deal for the 2025-26 season. The NBA is supposedly expecting the AAV of the deal to increase from $2.7B to $6.8B despite plummeting ratings.

I mean, some degree of risk taking is necessary. I'm not "freaking out" about anything, it just seems to me like whatever injury-related concerns about Eder might also exist for the power hitter who has a more extreme injury history and is two years older and plays a game that will almost certainly regress with age. Burger's skillset is also more replaceable than a left-handed starter and is frankly redundant on this team. Sign Muncy this offseason if you want, that's essentially the same player with a better eye. some degree of risk taking is necessary. my opinion is that it's worth the risk.

at AA, I only saw his fastball get clocked at 91mph early in the game. looks like he's touching mid 90s again. to me, it was a risk worth taking. The command is obviously concerning, but 0 walks in his last outing may be cause for optimism. Never been that high on Burger frankly, dingers are fun but he shouldn't play the field anywhere except 1B and he is about as big an injury concern as Eloy is. Florida fans were not happy to let go of Eder and can we really expect Burger or any power bat to continue "improving" into his 30s? Or is this his prime? Fan favorite by default I guess because of how absolutely fucking miserable this season was (and how unlikeable the team was), but yeah I'd still take a flyer on a LHP starter prospect with his potential ceiling. If he hits, no one will remember Jake.

This is fascinating and a little scary. At the moment, it seems like a joke, "drafting" nobodies and aged stars. How about next year when they start giving 10 million dollar bonuses to international prospects or high schoolers? I tend to think there isn't a market for baseball there like there is for soccer, golf or even basketball; but it would be pretty easy for them to throw a wrench in the MLB considering how exploitative our minor league system is, much more so relative to the NBA where the best guys are salaried employees making millions immediately. It saddens me because I keep thinking a sport like baseball could be nationalized and the profit motive could be taken away because baseball players don't really have many other options, but arab princelings have realized that oil money is a facade and tourism and sport is the new facade to "grow" their economy. it won't work, but sports will suffer in the mean time as well as any other (male only) cultural endeavor they want to get into.

we'll see. people like a comeback story too. I don't know that people turned on Tim like you say. I think you're right that getting KO'd by high-talking fat boy hurt his image more than his s%*# play, but I think fans have a longer memory than social media would have us think. personally, I care more about the state of the baseball team than the storylines surrounding it or how much money the team is bringing in though. I care about the revenue insofar as I don't want the team to leave, but my personal feeling is that it's going to happen regardless. I also care a little bit too about how baseball and the Sox are an analogy for society and our city. In the latter sense, I wouldn't write off Tim. I think he represents the city well and is not the cancer some imagine. He's never criticized a coach or a teammate, he gets offended by internet criticism and I don't blame him, I would too, 14 million dollar contract or not. I would rather write off the guys who respond with a laugh emoji but don't write a post...at least make it look like a thumbs down.

I'm not kidding and I don't dispute anything you say but frankly this team is on the south side of Chicago and people do like Tim. I don't want to derail the topic so I'll leave it at this post, but personally, I like his spirit and what he represents but could take him or leave him as a ball player, even when he was good. He's a guy I want to root for and a lot of people feel the same way. And so the fact that this board thought Jake Burger was more of a fan favorite than Tim is, to me, emblematic of that disconnect I mentioned and absurd enough of a sentiment to write a post about. I'm dead fuckin serious when I say I never see a Sox jersey that isn't Tim Anderson's, including Luis Robert or Harold Baines or Konerko or Dye or whoever else. Frankly, I don't give a f*** about TV ratings and I don't think any sports team does either. It declined at that rate for us because we as fans anticipated the team to be good last year and it wasn't. And of course we were even worse this year. What is there to even watch unless you're an obsessive type that talks about sports on online message boards? That isn't the fanbase. I'll be concerned when this team is making the playoffs and is showing tr*picana field numbers. games 3 and 4 of the 2021 ALDS were packed. I pay closer attention to the NBA than MLB, and TV ratings decline on a yearly basis in that sport yet basketball related income increases steadily (everybody gets paid more, the sport gets worse, I pay more attention to a different sport). these loser teams are making money hand over fist regardless of the fact that nobody watches tv anymore. if jerry wants to make money again, he'll do it by developing a new park and a surrounding "district" because that's how they make even more money nowadays beyond their typical con artistry. I have more to write about the attendance thing and I'll do it in the other thread some time tomorrow.

How many millions of dollars does Tim bring into the team just by being Tim Anderson? I feel like this board is disconnected from reality by thinking Tim isn’t a fan favorite and ultimately good for business. I assume he has the top selling jersey on the team, at least it’s the only one I see around town unless it’s a guy who hasn’t been on the team in 15 years.

watching Kimbrel choke has been very satisfying

I don't think that's proven and I'm also not sure how one is even able to prove that. Minor league system rankings are not a function of that. I'm certainly not saying he's the right hire, I just don't buy the logic to explain why. Maybe he's a wunderkind. Maybe not. Is Kim Ng or Chaim Bloom that person? Prove it. I'm surprised that Getz would get a role like this, but as I mentioned, the last time Reinsdorf hired a no name in a leadership role, it resulted in the best basketball team we've seen since Jordan; no surprise that team flopped when he was pushed out. This shouldn't be taken as a Reinsdorf defense or even as cautious optimism, but at least give the guy a chance to do the job.

As far as I can tell, the biggest knock against Getz is that jerry reinsdorf hired him and that there would potentially be better candidates available if we waited a couple months. I have absolutely no clue how to evaluate how a “rookie” will perform at this job, but the last time a reinsdorf team hired a no name rookie for a managerial role that more respected franchises passed over, it resulted in the best (non-cubs) team a Chicago club has produced since 2005. I’m talking Tom Thibs with the Bulls and my general philosophy regarding sports is to try and find diamonds in the rough rather than retreading the same average, not spectacular people. I know nothing about Chris Getz but he’s got the job now and I have no reason to think he’ll either completely s%*# the bed or be the best executive in sports. Kim Ng seems competent and like a nice role model, but what cause for belief is there that she would be better than Chris Getz at the job? Do you know either one of them? Experience? An expanded wild card appearance? If you play that game, on paper, Rick Hahn has a pretty impressive resume. He built a pretty impressive minor league roster and had a few postseason appearances ? I reckon there’s a lot of senior citizens on this board, but “this person did this job for this org for X years” is not a job qualification anymore. It should never have been. You can talk to young people without “experience” and realize they might perform better at a specific job than the old timer with “experience.” The flip side of course is what happens in most workplaces in the real world, and it’s discrimination against older people in favor of some recent college grad who costs nothing and never says no to the boss. is that Chris Getz and jerry reinsdorf’s relationship? Perhaps but I don’t see the precedent for that with the Sox or bulls. I’m a big fan of what Ng’s relative success might mean for inclusivity and creating a cultural endeavor that isn’t just for good ol boys, that it was a long time coming and thus helps the longevity of the sport; but can anyone really measure or otherwise prove, with all else equal, that she’s a better executive than Chris Getz? I have no way of knowing and I don’t think other fans do either beyond the reasonable MO of to distrust every decision Reinsdorf makes. The criticism of Getz lies on the belief that reinsdorf and his lackeys will undoubtedly hire the wrong person. Which is fair enough, I’m just not compelled by it.

Seems pointless to acquire aging/potentially expensive veterans at this stage. Maybe when we thought there was any hope, ie last offseason. Now it seems like there’s none til at least 2025. I like max muncy but what does he do to get this team over the hump? The ‘hump’ being ‘not losing 100 games’ — I think not much. then again, you can always sign them simply to trade at the deadline. That makes this exercise more fun and it probably revolves around who is going to take a “prove it” deal. I’d think giolito and flaherty fit the bill and I’d be more happy to watch next year’s dumpster fire with Gio on the team.

Unironically, former Royal Adalberto Mondesi. Jordan Hicks too. Rough class, don’t commit money to any of these guys.

two run doubles seem to be working too

on topic: I getz that Ng is far and away the superior candidate but I feel like it's too late and it would only be damaging to hire her as president or whatever unless you actually remove Getz from the organization entirely. Who's the boss? Who are employees supposed to actually listen to when their two bosses give them conflicting orders? Try working in an environment like this some time, you probably won't want to stay long. I actually find it amusing how gung-ho some people are to re-create the exact same organizational f***-up that only ended a few months ago. Wishing Ng the best but it won't be with this team unless Getz spectacularly fucks up and is fired before she gets another job. A committed SoxTalk poster would be trying to find his skeletons.

The lack of a vowel in the Romanization is throwing me. Fun fact: it's the Cantonese-equivalent of the surname Wu

more choices and every one of them is worse. maybe doing the same thing for 50 years is how it becomes a tradition and part of everyday life instead of a trend. maybe that's good for business, ask the catholic church.

Something tells me the Rangers' good "culture" has more to do with spending a bunch of money on good players and winning games because of it. I don't think we were talking about the Rangers when they were bottom-feeding the last decade. Bochy seems like a good manager though, maybe we only lose 94 games with him at the helm.

I think in this analogy, Chicago might be closer to Beijing than it is to Rio. Chances are it would’ve been a spectacular failure but look what they’re doing with the Olympic village site now (Michael Reese hospital site). The cost is five times higher and for something arguably much dumber and unnecessary. At least I like sports and it could’ve easily been converted into something useful.

uhh what's the record for most home runs given up in an inning in a playoff game? this meltdown happened earlier than anticipated.

I actually like Mondesi if he ever played. Seems like the exact profile you want at SS unless you have a star there. Maybe that’s Montgomery but if you’re going to have guys in the lineup that can’t hit, at least they should be plus defenders at SS or CF.

Without guys on base you don’t get rbis. There are better metrics though it isn’t useless. Batting average seems like one of those “basic” stats that probably tells you a lot, I don’t know that rbis says a lot except where the guy bats in the order, whether or not his teammates are any good, or he has the big papi mindset to hit the ball extra hard when guys are in scoring position. Otherwise rbi total probably parallels these other more useful stats. OPS isn’t a great one but it gives you a better idea of a player’s caliber.

It feels wrong that this is the most baseball I’ve watched in my life and that of course this was the year to do it. The primary reason is that I’m sick of the bulls and trading away the future for a terrible ‘win now’ roster. Impossible team to watch and its soiled the nba for me. I still genuinely think the Sox are in a better position over the next five years than the Bulls are.

I don't think it's that complex, I think it's actually common sense. Do you achieve an erection by choking and beating your sexual partner within an inch of their life? Personally, I don't. I actually think it's pretty fuckin' weird. It seems like a mental disorder that a kinder society might've picked up on and intervened in earlier to prevent these sorts of heinous acts from happening. Yeah it is heinous, it is immoral. I'm not religious, my politics tend toward left, but I'm a human being and I know what's right and what's wrong regardless of the very American logic of 'it doesn't affect you, just mind your business' because it does affect me and the rest of society. It's liberalism turned hedonism. Why care about a baseball player? Because sport reflects society, especially baseball and American society. I want the White Sox to win but I also want these 'role models' to actually act like role models, they're paying them enough money and it isn't that hard to not be a scumbag. And these guys like Bauer make things worse for themselves by acting like entitled children, that everyone else has wronged them and it has nothing to do with their own actions. I'm not "woke" in the sense that I think women might lie about such things because the millionaire athlete didn't submit to extortion. But look at Derrick Rose. He "won" his case and couldn't be convicted of a crime, but all the evidence nonetheless exposed him as a slimy weirdo. Trevor Bauer may not be a criminal who deserves life in prison, but I don't want to root for that loser and I don't want my team to sign him either.

AZ and Milwaukee are the only teams I want to advance, shame they had to meet now.

But why would you be into that? You’re really missing the point. I don’t want to associate with psychopaths who “consensually” get off on being depraved monsters. It’s sick and inhuman, I don’t care if it’s legal or not.