Balta1701

Yeah this option usage is nonsense.

Quite obviously Tony LaRussa is skilled enough to oversee roster construction and trades while also managing the ballclub on the field anyway.

The White Sox do have an analytics coordinator. Shelley Duncan, who also likely got the job more because his dad was TLR's pitching coach Dave Duncan than because of anything else on his resume. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/a-nerdy-conversation-with-white-sox-analytics-coordinator-shelly-duncan/

Certainly possible. They haven't given us the blatant "Tony LaRussa was behind the Kelly signing and it came together quickly because of it" report with many of the other moves made over the last 2 years, but if he was the driving force behind 1 it is hard to believe he hasn't used that power to drive any other signings.

There's no probably about it. They follow up this moderately tough road trip with 4 series against the AL Central, 1 of them Detroit and 3 against Minny/Cleveland. If they don't play several games over .500 on this stretch, then it's either a 12 game winning streak after the AS Break or they're effectively out of everything.

Firing Rick Hahn continues to be insufficient. First of all, Hahn should also be tarred and feathered and driven through the streets of the south side while the fans line the streets and jeer him. I still want that as revenge for '15/16, I might darn well fly in for that parade. Second of all, at least one decision (Kelly) was almost certainly a LaRussa choice, and a few others could very well be (Leury for multiple years, Pollock was there while LaRussa was in AZ). So how much of this is Hahn or Tony doesn't matter if the other one is going to stay and be empowered; they both need removed.

While there's several who can go down, Sosa is the one who would seem to have the best chance to benefit from a brief cup of coffee followed by regular at bats in Charlotte, and the most to lose if he goes back to playing less often with another infielder around.

I got dibs on 2011. Manager who is clearly a big part of the problem. Big money bullpen acquisitions Big money lineup pieces that don’t perform Front office arrogance Im sure this will be the year Carlos Quentin stays healthy.

Ironically, quite possibly yes. Moncada has produced less offense than Burger. Eloy has produced less than Vaughn and Pollock. Grandal has produced less than everyone not named Leury. Robert has been ok but certainly not a monster.

Teams will absolutely give him a chance in the offseason if the White Sox are trying to move him, but we're talking specifically about a contender who needs help right now. If they're looking at him right now, they see a guy who there's many reasons to think cannot help them this season. Teams that are out of the race right now would absolutely take a chance on him next offseason, but teams will only take on a guy who needs fixing to contribute this season at the deadline if it's at low cost and they're desperate. Despite the year of control, that's a "2021 Braves" like move; they didn't just get guys who were struggling but good in the past, they gave up practically nothing to do it because the guys had struggled last year. Edit: This can still change with a couple normal starts, but I don't know if that will happen.

Prediction based on how things have gone lately: Sox do surprisingly well on this road trip. 4-2 or maybe 5-1 and all the way back above .500. Sox then play surprisingly poorly at home and lose 4 or 5 of 7 at home against Minny and Detroit.

Then he’s simply not moving because if the trade deadline were right now no contender would give up anything of value for him. Too high of a risk for anything else. That only changes if he gives you a few good games.

Anyone who is trading for him is doing so for what he can give them right now, because he's a free agent in 1.5 years. The only way he's worth anything other than scraps is if he has a really good July. Right now he's almost literally a salary dump.

We get a really big answer on this over the next 3 weeks as its our shot against Minny and Cleveland. Pile up the wins against those teams and this is a race. .500 ball agaiinst them and they're barely hanging on...anything worse and you might as well waive the white flag.

Running in dirt and hitting obstacles like bases do add some additional issues, but yeah - for a whole team to have such a problem with this that they have a standing order not to run hard covering multiple people is something else. One or two guys getting that instruction because they're in their 30s and dealing with long-term issues is one thing. Everyone getting it? That's something unusual.

Have you seen what they spent their money on? Another $65 million might put them in 4th.

We may not have seen the bottom yet and I know the Royals play us tough, but the Tigers do not.

Yeah, those teams are genuinely worse.

Yes. Players were chosen because of this manager and they get at bats they don’t deserve because he protects them. They have a poor approach because their hitting coaches accept one of the lowest launch angles in baseball so they waste the balls that they do hit hard. They are less prepared than their opponents because other teams have professional data and statistics people while the White Sox hired LaRussa’s crony. And their training and conditioning plans, done with their coaches and starting in the spring, aren’t good at all.

Literally no one here will be upset if everyone in the front office and every single coach is fired except for the couple of TLR hangers-on that pretend we would be like it’s some sort of defense of him.

Someone unexpected. Conduct a dozen professional businesslike interviews with diversity, narrow it down to 3 people, give them second interviews. See what they all think of this team, its players, what went wrong this year, and how they would fix it. Pick the answer that you think best fits your observations and your plans for the future, and who gets along with the philosophy of whoever is conducting the interview. This is a multi million dollar contract you are negotiating, act like it.

There was some booing at the end of the 7th, but radio didn’t let it play long enough to see how long it went.

Fire Tony so I can get back to my normal role of saying that firing Hahn is not good enough, that he also should be tarred and feathered and paraded publicly through the south side. Deal?

This is the white sox’s 5th straight losing home stand.

Even if that’s true you wouldn’t know it for a couple months.