CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Well Ivy League GM's were "en voque" so that's not surprising and the Kellogg MBA sure didn't hurt . But I'm not sure of your point. He didn't have G.M. experience and that has reared it's ugly head during his tenure. I realize he might be working with one hand tied behind his back so to speak, but he hasn't made good use of the one free hand either. You can still pick up a ball with one hand but he's dropped the ball too much for most of our liking. When dealing with other GM's perhaps you need quite a bit of the old fashioned horse trader mentality.

Right I realize that how you feel about a player will influence opinions. I am no great fan of how he's played since he came back from injury but that's just how things go sometimes after time off It may or may not has anything to do with his personal life. For all we know maybe he's been doing that sort of thing forever . Wouldn't be the 1st guy busted for infidelity. Lot's of guys are driven more by the little head than the head with the brain in it. Since I consider myself more as a fan analyst I strive to look at each play in a pure baseball vacuum. Some people might say Tim distracts the hitter with his bouncing around 2nd base stuff whereas I say a player good with speed has to be on his toes all the time and that bouncing is designed to distract pitchers from making a good pitch if they pay too much attention to him. Ricky Henderson did this sort of thing all the time. Runners on 2nd base are always moving around checking fielder walking back and forth. The hitter's job is to focus on the pitchers, follow the pitchers hand and the flight of the ball when released, concentrate on the count and the situation, what pitch he might think is coming next based on scouting reports and his own weaknesses and the signs from his coaches. Any hitter distracted by the runner is not focused on his job at the plate. Tim should be invisible to the hitter with his mind focused where it should be. If a particular hitter thinks it's distracting , that player can just ask Tim not to do it when he's on 2nd base while he's batting. But I really don't think it bothers many hitters who have dealt with runners on 2nd base moving around all their lives and should know that a runner who distracts a pitcher enough to cause him to make a bad pitch is more for their benefit than anything.

As far as that "bonehead" play goes even people who were watching it were extremely divided on what transpired. Basically Tim got hit by an 110MPH rocket batted ball between 2nd and 3rd base by Robert resulting in the 3rd out. Some thought it was a bad base running play , others thought it was just bad luck and circumstances. No player wants to get hit on a batted ball when it was going to be a hit that drives them in . But it was a rocket and he had very little time to avoid it. In that case I think we have to give the benefit of the doubt to the runner. Even a top notch athlete with such a small amount of time to react might not be able to avoid what happened when he's getting his secondary lead. He's supposed to go on contact but when that contact results in a laser headed right at you, he literally didn't even has time yet to start running after the contact. It's not like the triple play where 2 runners did 2 stupid things at the same time when they had time to observe the catch made by the OF'er.

And the really sad part is that the good behind the scenes people, the best scouts , best analytics people, modern technology etc, the cost for all that is minimal when compared to playing bad players good money that is the result of not having the best organizational people. It's the old penny wise and pound foolish routine. I don't know how Reinsdorf has been so successful without realizing it or he actually does realize it and somehow thinks ,as a business, the Sox are just fine doing it the way he's always done it. That in turn means that winning baseball games is truly not the top priority and that he might just think the Sox just don't have the fan base to support him making the organization 1st class. But if an organization like Tampa Bay can do it with a smaller fan base and way smaller payroll I just don't understand how it isn't possible with the White Sox. Prime example is Menechino . Here's a guy who teaches hitting the way he was as a player. Make contact , go the opposite way for a team that plays in a park where need to out homer your opponents to win . It just doesn't make sense when you have a bunch of big boys who should be knocking balls over the fences. Pitching and defense worked for the Sox in the Go-Go days but we are not in that old spacious Comiskey anymore. The current ballpark has small gaps and isn't conducive to a single and doubles hitting and going the opposite way. The game has changed . It's now take walks, get on base and hit home runs or die.

Yes very frustrating when you take into consideration what was expected coming out of the rebuild .When you've been around the White Sox for as many years as we have you should know by now that the organization's top priority isn't winning. It's just do enough to keep money rolling in and turn a profit. Everything else is just a reflection of that. They will never spend top money for behind the scenes people whose decisions lead to a better on field product. Jerry doesn't fire Hahn because Jerry know his GM is just too limited because of the restraints ownership puts on him. Hahn is working with bottom of the barrel organizational people and what he does as a GM is directly tied to the poor information he receives from them. He doesn't scout the players he trades for. He doesn't make all these terrible decisions in a vacuum. He just processes information and more than likely not the best information. Then his assitant GM Kenny, Getz and finally Jerry puts there stamp of denial or approval on things. I'll bust the organizations balls way more than I do the players. If they suck because their bodies can't handle the grind well , so be it. It won't be the 1st time extremely talented players careers have been ruined by injuries. If they have bad attitudes wouldn't you playing for TLR and knowing all the failures throughout the whole organization ? Yes the players are well compensated but they are human too and if we perceive the organizational rot then so do they. State of mind is a big part of success and failure and this organization breeds failure.

Unfortunately when the Sox have won this year it's usually in the hockey score category when the pitching is good, the defense doesn't bite you in the ass and , just barely enough hitting. You can't win consistently that way with our defense and hitting and keep expecting the pitching to keep scores so low. I mean you have crazy people on here complaining about Gio's FB after he's just pitched a damn good game .

Right. I am constantly amazed that people can claim having more options is just another way for Tony to fuck up. So not only do we all dislike him as manager but we think taking players away from him makes him better ? Um no, it just limit's his ability to use the roster that MLB allows you to have and that your opposition has especially when you never know when the next hammy is going to be strained. I know the whole Leury situation has led to this kind of thinking but playing with 25 players instead of 26 is not a good thing and every time you take one away he just plays Leury even more. Let's give TLR more opportunities to use Leury !

These kind of posts about athletes are so unfair. As an older adult you should know that projecting what you perceive an athletes personality to be without truly knowing him is "stupid and lazy". It requires no compassion, no understanding and no willingness to do anything except express bitterness over your disappointment with their underachievement. We all do it from time to time. Moncada gets it a lot with the whole he doesn't care and he's got no passion for the game stuff. I'm guilty of it myself. I know this isn't a real diehard sports message board without meatball fans takes and hostility but it's much better to just take a deep breathe and say he's just an athlete in a long line of athletes I've watched my whole life who I don't know anything about except they play for my favorite team.

At this point why shouldn't Haseley be playing over Engel and Pollock ? He may be a nothing burger but so are Pollock and Engel. It's time to start trusting some younger healthier players who hit LH instead of letting them slip through the cracks because some fringe RH MLB players stand in their way. Luis Gonzales may have a fine 4th OF career now that the Sox decided he wasn't worth keeping around. Sox could have used a 1.0 WAR OF this year considering they only have 1 of those.

Is this called looking for the black lining ?

Pushing the envelop a little on Gio.

Man ELOLy gimping around again. Tweaked the hammy once again.

I love Mead . It's tasty and I can get a buzz ! I wish he would give me some too.

Cleveland only has 1 lefty in the pen.

You can't always plan not to use any LHP on your team just because It's the Sox. It's kind of limits your staff.

Ok multiple runs this inning ! Let's go !!

I've been saying trade eloy for a couple of years maybe starting in the 2020 off season. But mostly all of Soxtalk was against it because he was going to be a monster. Now it's just better to see if he can become his old self without getting injured again.

I'm pretty sure you make up your might about having a chance at a triple before you start high stepping. Plus you don't want to make the 1st out at 3rd base when you are fast and already in scoring position.

Great play Seby ! Does Grandal catch that ?

Have 20 games a year with bobbleheads given away. Don't even have to be Sox players if that's permissible. Make those 20 games into a mini season ticket plan with the seats in the upper deck on weekend nights . Would sell like crazy and get good attendance on days other than weekends.

We really aren't sure how serious the thread starter is or if he just wanted to pay tribute to Hamilton and post more videos. I'm pretty sure Wegner's post was in jest about trading Colas for him since Mr. Wegner is one of Soxtalk's jesters (in a good relaxed way).

I've been thinking since Harrison's been hot for over a month he should bat 2nd behind Tim. I know Yoyo is lefty against Civale but until Yoan can go on a little streak of games with multiple hits Harrison should bat 2nd with his 30 day .863 OPS. Plus 3 speed guys at the top to avoid DP's as much as possible and make the most of any hits after them. A guy like Vaughn needs to be in the middle of the order not second where he's been too much lately. Score as much as possible in the 1st inning which is before a pitcher gets into a groove and settles in. Scoring in the 1st is a confidence booster for everyone.

A 3 HR game is an oddity for the Sox. Cease was outstanding as was the BP . Robert HR and on base 4/5 with a 3 hit day and a walk. Abreu just keeps on hitting. Eloy still trying to figure it out.

Almost 29 if you want to be accurate. I cannot state strongly enough how important Seby has been. .7 FWar in 22 games and 75 PA. He's getting on base , hitting for average, slugging is good , 137 wRC+, calls a decent game, plays decent defense , pitchers like him. Plus he actually has hit RHP much better than LHP .340 BA 152 wRC+. Grandal is going to have to come out sizzling to beat that. How likely is that ? Grandal may make the Sox worse against RHP and worse defensively.

I was very local about wanting the Sox to resign him because it was a good bet he wasn't going to get 3 years from anyone because of his injury history. I don't know if the Sox would've wanted to beat SF offer or would have to go 3 years to do so but if they weren't willing to offer the QO it seemed clear they weren't going to resign him either. The QO would've made it harder for other teams to sign him and thus easier for the Sox to resign him. BTW Rodon only has to pitch 10 more innings this year to be able to opt out and become a Free Agent next year. SF should be thanking Jerry/Hahn/Bozos every day Rodon didn't get a QO.