nrockway

I don't rule out the Giants. He's definitely not leaving California.

Perhaps true but it reinforces that 'coastal' bias idea that only good (money-derived) things can happen to organizations that happened to be based near an ocean. I think if they did change the playoff format, which they probably should to look more like the NBA, they should institute a salary cap and floor. That doesn't really change the fact that the midwest is a miserable place to play baseball half the season, but I also don't think it's a coincidence that the central division teams are bottomfeeders.

It's an interesting chart and what I take away from it is that Cleveland improved their already good farm while still remaining in the playoff hunt. Can't believe they got Manzardo for basically nothing. I bet that deal existed for the Sox but they decided Vaughn is a better piece. Maybe they're right.

his pinkie is probably fine they're just giving him a much deserved break now that there's nothing to play for. if I was Robert and the Sox were my employer, I'd be pissed they're making me show up to the job site regardless. I think my pinkie needs a bunch of x-rays by a doctor in Hawaii.

I love this guy Milner. He made Harper look incredibly foolish of course he would do it to Oscar. Don't know what his splits are but it seems to me like he owns lefties edit: .532 OPS vs left .724 vs right guess that answers that

Caminero is gonna be really good so let's ignore that one...at least his strikeout stuff looks good. 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 ER looks less good... I think Popeye is a better prospect than his ranking. 45 grade power is dead wrong

Oh I get it and I agree as a fan. I just feel like if a player thinks this way, he's probably a loser who wasn't going to succeed anyway; like it's everyone else's fault except their own. The Bauer mentality -- and yet he still found a way to be a good player while ignoring every coach along the way. I do very much agree that organizations can steer things in the right direction for the reasons you mention, Outman is a good example -- but who's to say whatever LAD's coaching staff is doing is the cause for it? A counterpoint might be that whatever they were telling Bellinger was wrong and unhelpful. I do wonder about the success rate of Sox prospects relative to other organizations or how much of that 'failure' is simply a result of drafting the wrong guys, ie before the development aspect even comes into the equation. Maybe there's a point to be made about turning fringe players into every day ones but the last two first round picks (pre-Gonzalez) seem to be progressing faster than analysts anticipated. Vaughn will probably be OK and 'meet his potential' but might've been the wrong pick. In terms of current players, you could count TA (no longer perhaps), Robert and Cease as examples of successful development while Vaughn, Eloy and others are on the cusp. Eloy is actually really good when he plays and the jury is out on Vaughn but I suspect he'll start hitting for power eventually. I would be curious if someone has done this comparison between teams' prospects over the last 20 or so years because I have no clue how the Sox actually stack up to every other organization aside from the standard DRays or Dodgers comparison...which I bet every fanbase does. It just doesn't seem to me like the Sox are as bad at 'development' as a lot of people say. The problems seem to begin when they join the major league roster. That seems like a greater organizational problem, what has been discussed ad nauseum in the Middleton thread, than teaching guys how to swing or throw. I've been watching a lot of Birmingham games lately and those guys can all take a pitch and not swing at sliders a foot out of the zone -- why doesn't it translate to the major league roster?

How valuable really is a 36-year-old reliever coming off Tommy John surgery? I feel like there's no real reason to just buy out his contract, I don't care if the organization saves money and they aren't even really saving money, just deferring it. But it wouldn't make any sense to extend him besides the fact that he's a nice guy -- will he be any good at baseball in 2025? I bet Santos will be a better player by then so why are you giving a multi-year extension to a setup man? How'd that work out with Kelly and Graveman?

I think if players are blaming organizations ahead of themselves for not turning them into good baseball players, they probably weren't going to be good anywhere. are Moncada and Kopech all-stars if they play for Boston? Kinda doubt it.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/8/9/23825909/white-sox-luis-robert-jr-rising-about-the-rest Looks like Luis is also a leader....leading by example with sweat and jokes

I think the appeal of Ozzie to me is that he's charismatic, speaks both languages and players would probably like him and take what he says seriously. The question for me is what does he actually have to say? ie what does he actually have to offer a baseball team in terms of managerial acumen besides jokes and good vibes? Good vibes would definitely be a step in the right direction though.

I stopped reading when Hahn referred to Middleton as "a former player." What a punk thing to say, it sounds like Human Resources prepares everything he says to the media. He sounds like he's a spurned ex-girlfriend or something. At least call him an idiot and refer to him by name. Anyone with two brain cells know how bad the culture is within this organization is, Middleton didn't need to say anything and the only other person to blame above Hahn can't be fired. OK I finished reading (I wonder which player was given permission to nap ?) and I frankly wonder how Hahn can keep his job after the season. He actually responded in line to pretty much each critique which I find hysterical. Even if they are "reasonable" explanations, the fact that pretty much every former employee of the White Sox has made it known that there are workplace issues relative to other organizations, it's telling. It's obvious when you "read into" their body language and how they communicate on the field. It's obvious when everyone on the team underperforms relative to their average level. There are so many issues with this team that can't be reasonably explained through quantifiable means which to me suggests there's a serious problem with the qualifiable things like 'culture' or 'chemistry.' Even TA said in an interview recently that, basically, he missed La Russa and there's a major issues with inconsistency in the organization. The s%*# flows from the top down and it's not going to stop with Reinsdorf but it could stop with Hahn and Williams. Reinsdorf employees famously have a lot of job security, but I'd be skeptical about Hahn lasting after this season. Gar and Paxson got shitcanned from the Bulls finally and they were more effective than Hahn and Williams.

He looked like such a b**** throwing punches too. Just flailing his arms around. That should be the biggest issue. Also I think he squared up to fight first.

those are the old men that are supposed to be leaders and hold guys accountable, so it makes them look bad. lance probably thinks it's funny that Soto (or whoever) is falling asleep on the job. man, you're 40-years-old. tell him to stop. middleton criticized them for it it seems like with the WBC/spring training remark. I think Giolito tried earlier in the season to be a leader and was rebuffed because there's no expectations from management or even a pecking order and he's also kind of a nerd and not very charismatic it seems like. I think another issue is that half the lineup comes from Cuba. Not Latin America specifically, but there has to be some bond between all of them about all having to defect from their home country in order to fulfill this dream. Probably a deeper bond than one between typical teammates and I feel like you probably have two clubhouses. I've said it several times but the only reason they hired Grifol is because someone in his lineage was born in Cuba once upon a time and so the front office thought he would be the guy to bring Cubans and Americans together as a team. What a stupid idea, I think even the wealthy Cubans are not fond of Gusanos.

Ramirez is such a p****. He talks and looks like a weasel too. I thank TA for remembering how to treat a division rival, they're not your fucking buddies. My only issue is that I don't he actually landed a punch and he kinda just toppled over. Not a great look, but he's also a professional athlete and these guys are some of the worst fighters I've ever seen, so he gets a pass. LOL at "fans" who want to take Ramirez or the Indians' side of things. Pick a different team to "root" for

I don't think it's a matter of 'wanting' to leave but rather that the city will not kick in money for a new ballpark and that there's essentially zero real estate development potential in the area surrounding Comiskey (compare that to around Wrigley or what is growing and will soon absorb the UC) so it's less profitable to build in the south side of Chicago than it would be in a 'trendy' area of Bumfuck, Anywhere else (Charlotte maybe). Another poster made the point about Seattle leaving for OKC, the market size isn't the most important thing. San Francisco Bay Area is a similarly large market and couldn't support two teams. If it's strictly about market size, You could put a third or fourth team in New York and it would still have a larger share of the market than the White Sox would of Chicago. One might also expect that Dallas, Atlanta and Houston metro areas will surpass Chicago in size in the next 20 years, Dallas/Forth Worth/Arlington in particular seems better positioned to support two baseball teams than Chicago going forward. However, it also doesn't seem to matter if you're in a 'big market' or not when it comes to making money in sports. Sport team owners are first and foremost land speculators and real estate developers and expect the public to subsidize all of their capital expenditures. There is no 'mixed-use ballpark district' coming to 35th and Shields and the taxpayer is not going to fork over money for a team that nobody cares about. I've already made essentially this same post on this forum but I feel like the writing is on the wall that when Jerry dies and his kid sells the team, the ballpark will become an issue and the Sox future in Chicago will be up in the air.

this is absurd. like a wrestling match.

what the hell

Interesting. It won't be for a stadium though, the yuppification of the West Loop is extending out and this is for speculation purposes or to turn it into a planned development. He bought another lot near here too last year. Probably more. Note that this is happening near the UC and not near Comiskey. There is very little real estate development value around the ballpark which suggests that there won't ever be a new Sox ballpark. The team is gone when the next ownership group decides the stadium is done.

He's oft-injured but he was drafted to be a starter. People thought he could have stretched out in the Minors this season but was shortsightedly put in the bullpen for a "playoff" run. He still seems to think he can start and hasn't been told otherwise by the team. Maybe he physically can't do it, how should I know?

Me too actually. Fraudulent publication, they got everyone hooked by hiring good journalists with the promise of a return to "old school" sports journalism, ie letting them take time to do research so they actually have something interesting to report on. Then they realized it's far more profitable to have a couple "famous" "reporters" who break the news on player acquisitions (aka PR people for sports agencies) and provide some mediocre analysis (this trade is a B) than it is to actually do journalism. 99% of being a journalist in 2023 is being on twitter. Too bad. Anyway, I hope Crochet starts next year. Why not?

He played at Berkeley with Vaughn. Good power but haven’t followed him much since. Looks like he grades as a better catcher than hitter now. Wouldn’t surprise me if the bat comes back around. Pleasantly surprised with all these moves.

Sure, but no other player on either team was if I recall correctly. Maybe he's just extra cautious compared to his peers. Again, I don't think COVID is to blame for his poor play, but his precipitous decline in sprint speed correlates reasonably well with his illness, and media at the time reported that he was feelings the effects months longer than what is typically expected in the majority of COVID patients. It wouldn't surprise me if it factored in but I tend to agree with you that poor performance is almost certainly a result of poor nutrition and training (though I don't know how he trains or what he eats so I reserve judgement). Someone mentioned Derrick Rose but eating a bunch of candy didn't make him tear his ACL.

I don't buy the excuse necessarily but, anecdotally speaking, people can have very different reactions to COVID. I got it twice and was completely fine a week later, a friend of mine got it and still doesn't breathe well or taste certain foods years later. Yoan wearing that mask during the Yankees series was kind of telling.

I thought initially his defense was the only thing he had to offer, at the very least he has a cannon for an arm and a great CS rate, but his bat has also really turned around. April OPS: .561 vs July OPS: .899. Altogether he's improved from .501 OPS at AA/.671 at A+ in 2022 to .770 this season. Looks promising, I don't know why he's rated so low.