nrockway

.900 OPS is about what we were expecting from Ortiz, right?

There's a moral to this story but I'm too dumb to see it. That must be why I'm a Sox and Bulls fan.

I think Boylen gets too much s%*# for what is ultimately Hoiberg's failure. He only became the coach because players were going to him instead of their head coach for in-game adjustments. You look at what "legendary coach" Billy Donovan has done and I'd argue he's just as bad, maybe worse than Boylen. At least Boylen got something out of future all-star Lauri Markkanen by actually letting him touch the ball. Pretty much every player has regressed under Donovan besides DeRozan, and improved when they left the team. I don't think there's an analogy for Grifol, it was just a stupid hire all around. He's supposed to be a player's coach except everyone seems to hates him. Eddie Rodriguez is a specific problem that Pedro should be blamed for. Rodriguez doesn't have any idea when a good time to send a player is. We've seen the multitude of times he's sent the runner in a stupid situation (how about trying to send Maldonado coming from first base when Correa's holding the ball at the grass), what about all the runners he hasn't sent? I can think of at least two, and the Sox don't often have a runner on or rounding third base. This is literally the coaching staff squandering runs, it's about the only things they can actually control are these signs and bullpen decisions. I hate the 'aggressive style of play' on the base paths for this team, it's generally dumb baseball, it's especially so with this collection of unathletic, old players.

"The Process" never really had a chance to come to fruition. Hinkie was forced out and black-balled from the NBA, replaced by crony father and crony son, who would go on to run that team into the ground (relatively speaking). Anyway, to be a successful team in the NBA, you need to have a "superstar", and drafting early in the lottery multiple times increases your odds of finding one. It's really that simple. Having later draft picks is good too, you can find useful players that you don't have to pay much, then you have cap space to spend inefficiently on players who fill a specific need. That's basically the only sustainable team-building strategy in basketball, but step one is to have one of the top 10 players in the game. Clearly it worked for the 76ers anyway, they contend for a title every year because of Embiid. I'd love it if the Bulls had the success of the 76ers. Or, you know, the Warriors who were perpetually bad before drafting a couple superstars. Or pretty much every good team in the league that is now good as a result of previously being bad. You either tank or treadmill in basketball. The Bulls are committed to the treadmill and the team is impossible to watch. My hot take is that the Bulls are more embarrassing than the Sox. The Bulls would've kept Giolito, Lynn, etc because they weren't technically eliminated from the playoffs yet. Dylan Cease would still be on the team. We'd still be god awful, maybe not, ya know, historically bad. But still bad and not making the playoffs. At least the Sox said "yes, this isn't working, let's find a new general manager and get rid of all the players". The Bulls refuse to admit that. If they had admitted it years ago, the team might already be good again. Instead they're gearing up for another 35 win season. They're talking about trading up, more future assets, so they can draft a stiff who will 'contribute now'.

He was great when he filled in with the Bulls. Way better than Amin. My criticism of him is consistent: he wasn't a big enough homer. He did too many national games. I think the conflict of interest in his two jobs didn't allow for him to the do the Sox job its full justice. I like Schriffen's shtick; the hubris, the homerism. Imagine Bob Uecker saying, "just a bit outside", I think that character is what the local broadcaster should aspire to be. Schriffen is in that mold but needs to figure out how to not sound like a complete asshole. There are a lot of other things that he could potentially do better too. I hope he gets better. It's funny, he did actually sound way better with Beckham...at least, it wasn't adversarial. Maybe Stone is a major impediment. Just please don't replace him with Beckham.

They both sound like brats. On the Perkins catch in deep center field: "that would've been a home run" "Nuh uh it wouldn't have been a home run." "yes so it would have been times a million." *commercial break later* "see I told you it would've been a home run". I tend to like Stone but he's been insufferable to me this season. Part of it is bad attitude that he can control, the rest is that he and his partner have no common ground and the broadcasts are just awkward and uncomfortable. I've enjoyed listening to the Brew crew otherwise, they even brought Len Kasper in the booth. I really didn't think I'd miss Benetti but Tigers broadcasts are actually pretty good, Monroe and Benetti sound a lot better together than Stone and him.

I think the point is that both of these guys involved were the sort of guys you might expect to get into it...but Schriffen just came off like an oddball. He needs to pick his spots better. These outbursts seem fixable and I think he errs on the correct side of homerism unlike that last guy. Fixable for sure. His issue is that he just doesn't know baseball, he doesn't know any of the players, doesn't understand strategy, etc. Guys can get away with that doing a national game once in a while, just talk about whatever the f*** you want; you can't do that for 162 games, especially not for this team. I'm thinking of that 23 hit game the other night, there's clearly nothing to talk about and John is just like "hey, isn't it cool that they're playing a game in London?" Stone couldn't even be bothered to give a f*** with an answer.

The thing is, the team could come away with 3 more Benintendis and would we be happy that they "spent money"? Adames and Alonso both feel like they'd be 'marquee' targets, I'm not sure either one is someone you want to give a 5-6 year contract to. Bregman, Torres, Santander, a couple other guys factor in too. Santander and Torres could be nice pieces if they came relatively cheap. Nothing that really moves the needle all that much though. Is there salary Sox could take on trade? Not sure that's an appealing strategy either unless its dead salary attached to prospects.

what a catch! Fletcher making up for that home run he created.

he looks like a fat nerd. he looks like the kid you pick last. it doesn't even have to be a sport, you just pick him last because he's weird and you don't like him in addition to being bad at sports. at least now he looks like how he plays.

hey we're winning, there might finally be something on tv later.

Somewhere in Ohio, there’s a “Gay Hitler Road”. Apparently Gaylord Hitler was a doctor and titan of his community in the 19th century. We should all be more like Gay Hitler.

reminded of this meme:

That's Jorge Lopez and I bet some team will pick him up. For the Sox, I don't see a point in acquiring another just ok over 30 reliever. Pablo Lopez is one of my favorite pitchers though, unfortunately he's signed with the Twins through 2027.

It's interesting that the Padres and Marlins both took a look at him and said "no thanks" but I was sorta interested in him this offseason, he's young and has MLB quality stuff, I personally see no reason not to take a flyer on him over any one of the old bums in the bullpen. I think he has plenty of options left, right, do the Marlins have a 40 man crunch or is he just really bad? Or does the new team lose the options when it trades for the player? This seems weird, frankly, why even include him in the deal for Arraez?

Some follow-up news is that his kid is apparently in and out of the hospital receiving transplants for a rare genetic disorder and it was the kid's birthday yesterday. I feel for the guy, frankly, it was dumb to throw his glove and be like "I don't care" afterward, but the Mets organization might also be understanding the context, particularly when he's a pretty good pitcher and their staff makes ours look like the 1998 Braves. Getz me thinking about David Stearns and Chris Getz, two guys at new jobs who are perceived very differently by baseball fans. Stearns is apparently a genius while Getz is unqualified and a crony. Seems to me that Stearns hasn't had a very good first year on the job, struck out on Counsell with no backup plan and has put together one of the worst teams in the sport at the low, low cost of 2.5 times the White Sox payroll. Most of his free agent signings have been a bust. Manaea and Severino have been pretty good, but it's amusing that Stearns thought it wise to pay them a combined $41mil and didn't seem to consider Fedde at 15 million. Stearns has many more tools to work with (unlimited money), but is he really doing a better job than Getz? Because the Metz seem like a disaster.

He definitely didn't say that and it's asinine that all these journalists are just repeating it like it's a fact. anyone with ears heard him say in his second language "I'm the worst teammate in the MLB". Oh but they 'confirmed it' because a report mumbled a follow-up question "did you say team or teammate?" "probably". Lesson to Bryan Ramos that the Anglophone media is going to use your English-language skills against you. I'd just keep speaking in Spanish through a translator, personally. Thanks a lot, journalism.

I don't disagree with what you're saying, but we're talking about wanting the team to lose. What kind of fan is that? Not much of one if you ask me. This dumb thread could turn into an interesting discussion on what it means to be a sports fan. Why do we follow a certain team? Why stick with the Sox even though Reinsdorf is incompetent and undying? If it's a geography thing, the Cubs are pretty good. If it's a more specific geographical thing, the south side team versus the north side one, the Sox might be somewhat more meaningful to you. Otherwise, why not just pick another team? Personally, I really like the Bulls and Sox and couldn't imagine rooting for any of their 29 competitors. How else do you pick a team? I'd like to maybe start watching the Premier League, but how do you pick a team to follow? My brother likes Liverpool but I don't know how he arrived at that decision. Liverpool seems like a cool place with cool people, maybe that's why. Erling Haaland is a dynamic talent, but rooting for Man City feels like rooting for the Yankees. Lame.

No they're not. That's what you're supposed to be, a fan of the home team. If you're not a fan of the home team, get bent, pick a new team. You might've been a fairweather Devil Rays fan last year like we have all these people at Comiskey rooting on the Orioles. Go be with them. I can't believe there are so many fans who stick with the team, post on the forum, despite it apparently making them miserable. Pick a new hobby, guy, there are 1000 different things you can do that might bring you happiness and peace. For me, I'd prefer to watch a good baseball team, but I like Chicago sports and I'll still enjoy my time watching this bad Sox team and its better minor league affiliates. There's plenty to discuss and if the game isn't entertaining, I'll turn it off and maybe speed through the highlights later. I reached a point with the Bulls where I couldn't watch anymore. I used to watch nearly every game but the past couple seasons I've watched maybe a handful per year. I'm still a fan, but I can't watch them in their present form. At least with the Sox they fired some of the key losers and this is the first year of pain after ripping off the bandaid covering a long neglected, festering wound. I still post on a Bulls forum, but I don't pray for them to lose. Going into the season, I hoped they'd prove me wrong and were actually a good team and Karnisovas knows what he's doing. I watched several of those games where Coby was getting hot and the Bulls were on a winning streak. Didn't last because the team is built to fail, much like the Sox of yesteryear. If the Bulls actually decided to rebuild, I'd probably come around and watch some games, a bunch of young guys try to make a name for themselves. That entertains me even if they lose. I like watching a rebuilding team. The Sox are basically in that position, though it goes past the 26 man roster and the churn of 30-something bums. They made the decision to fire the executives and rebuild, even if they pretended they would win. That is clearly a step in the right direction from last year, and yeah this year sucks, but there's clearly some talent in the organization. Though people seemingly want to write off Colson after 200 at bats and only decent, not eye popping, numbers at AAA

I think you guys are mad at Schriffen for the wrong reasons. It's his fuckin job to be the Sox hype man, do you expect him to be as depressed and miserable as we are? Why? You know what the job duties are. He seems realistic about how bad the team is too, he talks about it every game. Bigger issues with Schriffen, but "home team announcer likes the home team" is not a criticism. I'm genuinely surprised that it apparently is. What do you expect him to say on air? Seriously, let's hear a script of what the Sox PBP commentator should be saying. What would you be saying if it was your job?

You can look up those umpire scorecards and see that Angel is pedestrian. Not good or bad. You guys could literally look at the data and decide for yourself. Every single umpire could be the designated whipping boy, but we chose Angel. This is the reason why. Again, I don't say Angel had a good case to begin with with his lawsuit, but this is definitely propaganda to punish an uppity employee and everybody just lapped up the MLB's propaganda.

He was an average umpire that became the designated whipping boy after he filed a racial discrimination lawsuit. Whether he was right or wrong, I dunno, but that's the only reason he's the laughingstock of the MLB fan and target of our scorn. as I understand it, players seemed to like him. Fans just buy into whatever propaganda they're told. Anyway, I'm 100% here for Junior Valentine becoming the new Angel. He has a dumber name (junior is your first name? what the f*** kind of name is that? valentine, what do you need some kisses, bitchboy?) and he's funny looking, I'm not even sure he has the ability to grow facial hair, pathetic!

RIP to Mr Walton, a basketball legend and an even better sports commentator. Funniest and most insightful motherfucker to transition from sport to commentary, there's nobody like him to take up that mantle. maybe Bob Uecker is like that, but certainly nobody under the age of 40. I might've thought Draymond Green, but now he's like "taxation is theft, I'm going to beat the s%*# out of some random guy on the other team" and nobody really wants to listen to that.

take it up with Mike Clevinger. I don't blame him. Still, what else am I gonna watch on TV? Real Housewives of Atlanta really took a nosedive after whatsherface left and whatshisname died of old age.