Balta1701

Oh my goodness Stone and Benetti are amazing on this full version. I just burst out laughing in the middle of a set at the gym.

Oh I have plenty of confidence that they will still win a couple games on this road trip.

Unfortunately Eloy currently has effectively zero trade value, particularly to a rebuilding team. He’s due a decent amount of money (like $30 million guaranteed) the next 2.5 seasons but has not performed at all and has multiple injuries on his record. While he does have option years, they’re options for $15 and $18 million, so even if he turns into an average OF, keeping him is expensive. He’s another guy you just have to hold onto and hope he breaks out: rebuilding teams like the Cubs go for guys like Eloy when they’re put on waivers in a couple years. I’m sure you could get someone to take a chance on him, but not with anything of value coming back.

There’s a level of circus that would still surprise me…Washington Football Team under Snyder or LA Clippers under Sterling or recent Chicago Hockey Team stuff would still surprise me. But then again that stuff is pretty much illegal. So I guess I’d still be surprised if we saw numerous criminal and civil harassment complaints?

He had a 2 RBI single on an 0-1 count earlier in the game with first base open. TLR did not walk him in that situation. He got an 0-1 count next at bat with a guy on 2nd and then TLR walked him. The first pitch he fouled off, so he could have had the RBI on that swing? Nothing changed during that at bat other than the foul ball. TLR did not walk him, got an 0-1 count, and said “nope!” After doing the opposite earlier In the same game. This is a real thing.

Well he did, later in the game, on the same 0-1 count. Because you're not in trouble in an 0-1 count when you're down 2 runs, but when you're down 4 runs, that's the time your pitcher gets one pitch to get him out and if he throws a strike you punish him. Wait. What the Hell. This is no longer even readable.

At least he's consistent with this?

Did they just walk Ramirez on an 0-1 count?

That's exactly why he should have quit in 2020. Everyone would have understood it, he rebuilt the roster the way he wanted it, it had just made the playoffs and was on the way up, he was ready to go conduct a legitimate coaching search, the owner completely undercut him and took away power that he should have had, completely and utterly embarrassed him, personally and professionally. He leaves right there, takes a year off, and he very likely gets whatever GM job he wants the next year other than teams that hired internally, he could easily be running the Phillies or Mets right now and for the next 5+ years. Oh, and he also has his dignity in tact.

Runners in scoring position, .267 batting average, good for #2 in all of baseball under those conditions. OPS, .741 good for 17th in all of baseball. Scoring position 2 outs, .258 average is 6th best in baseball, .739 OPS is actually 11th best in baseball. Is the pattern clear yet? They are the exact same team in almost every situation other than having the bases loaded.

If he quit after the owner took away his power to hire a coach, I would bet you he is a GM elsewhere by now with a comparable salary. Now I bet he is a sacrificial lamb this offseason so that LaRussa can be kept, and he never works as a GM again.

They’re currently 3 games under .500. They’ve been back to .500 repeatedly this year but can’t get past it enough to stay. People were talking about them needing to go 6-2 or 7-1 on this road trip to legitimately zoom past Cleveland and actually be in this race. A sweep today gets “that’s a start” as a response.

In the episodes 1-3 Trilogy, supposedly George Lucas wrote the 3 other villains to be each a piece of Vader. Maul was a powerful dark side user, Dooku was a fallen Jedi, and Grievous was a cyborg. I feel we have effectively done the same thing. Ozzie Guillen - became self obsessed to the point that he undermined his own team. Robin Ventura - asleep, reacting to everything too late, no foresight. Completely checked out about the clubhouse. Ricky Renteria - bless his heart no one tried harder, but was simply outsmarted. Obsessed with the way the game used to be played and became infuriated any time someone gave him new information. Assemble all of that, and you’ve got the current white Sox manager.

Overall the white Sox are 4th in batting average. However they are 19th in OBP, 23rd in slugging, 21st in OPS. They are 25th in the league in strikeouts (meaning very few strikeouts). With two strikes, the White Sox are 7th MLB in batting average. However they are 20th in OBP, 20th in slugging, 20th in OPS. If those numbers seem identical it’s because they are. The problem with this team is not specific to two strikes, it is the hit the ball on the ground/go the other way approach. That may work for Anderson, but guys like Moncada, Vaughn, Robert, even Leury need to be pulling the ball to use their power. Because of the lack of power and lack of patience, they aren’t generating runs and teams aren’t afraid to pitch to them so their walk totals are low. Whether this approach is deliberately being taught by Menechino or he just can’t fix it, that is the problem - not their 2 strike approach.

I liked that even the Cubs and Tigers pages were like WTF?

In the real world it probably started off as 1/3 outright debacle, 1/3 “this seems dumb but I will give it a chance”, and 1/3 “best thing ever!”. But it took about a week for the DUI and coverup to leak and things shifted noticeably negative from that starting point with everything that came out. Twitter just flat out erupted. Broadcasters, particularly those in Chicago by the way - have to make sure their network doesn’t lose access to their press statements. So they aren’t exactly an unbiased sample either.

The f***? https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30220736/why-tony-la-russa-sincerely-curious-choice-white-sox-manager https://www.sbnation.com/platform/amp/mlb/2020/10/29/21540628/white-sox-hired-tony-la-russa-for-all-the-wrong-reasons https://www.theringer.com/platform/amp/mlb/2020/10/29/21541082/tony-la-russa-chicago-white-sox-manager https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2915687-despite-hof-credentials-tony-la-russa-is-a-baffling-hire-for-young-white-sox.amp.html https://www.blessyouboys.com/platform/amp/2020/10/29/21540608/mlb-news-tony-larussa-chicago-white-sox-manager-hire https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20201029/head-scratcher-white-sox-hire-la-russa-as-manager-after-34-year-hiatus https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/10/tony-la-russa-white-sox-manager-hire-fan-reaction-mlb-chicago https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Sports/wireStory/column-white-sox-return-disco-era-hire-la-73930788 https://deadspin.com/white-sox-crash-managerial-hire-jets-do-just-enough-la-1845631103/amp https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/platform/amp/2020/10/29/21540571/white-sox-tony-la-russa-manager Is that enough? What pundits, other than specifically Nightengale?

November 2020 was not in the middle of any season.

How have the last 2 years affected his long term employment prospects?

1-5

He hasn’t pitched since the 6th. He actually needs work.