Dick Allen

Why do they have to be locked in to something now. Listen to these guys from all over. Its part of putting the plan together. See what someone else thinks of your players. Jerry Krause used to hire an independent scout to scout the Bulls. In fact, that's how Doug Collins first came to the Bulls. Get some perspective from not so close. Get opinions from people who aren't invested. I know, ultimately, I will probably be a little disappointed in the hire, but I actually like what is happening now. And, at the very least, they have been subject to some opinions they haven't been subjected to ever.

Probably correct. But this is the team, when they could have had anyone they wanted, didn't bother to interview them, and hired Tony. And when they made that error, they did say, Ozzie won't be considered. Now, he's at least considered.

Youre saying there is no plan. There is a plan. To talk to as many as possible. The worst thing that can happen is RH and whoever he has in the room with them ultimately waste their time. It's far better than the alternative. They interviewed Ozzie. Admittedly that's scary, but if they don't hire him, he's done from now on. Mendoza, Long, who knows maybe even Maddon, have nothing to worry about with Ozzie unless the Sox insisted he be put on the coaching staff. If that was the case, they would have a hard time finding someone to take the job.

Why is it a disaster? The bigger the search the better. Why does it have to be the 3 or 4 guys that everyone can name? You actually have to be an insider to name Mendoza. It exposes all the fakes, and how does anyone here know Mendoza doesn't understand baseball?

So being considered and not hired is worse than not even being a candidate at all? If the Phillies would have lost to St. Louis, Long should go from hot candidate to no consideration? I think you have to be a little more open minded than that. I don't expect the White Sox to get this right, but the more they bring in to talk to, the better. As I have stated before, there are some really good coaches on bad teams, and some really bad ones on good teams.

People would be very happy if Joe Espada got the job, and how many times as he interviewed? They will be euqally happy if Kevin Long gets the job. He didn't get the Phillies job a few months ago when they fired Girardi. Probably wasn't even a candidate, and if he gets the job, it will be for a lower than average wage. And before now, has anyone even considered him manager material? The baseball "hot prospect" is so different that the football and basketball hot prospect. The football and basketball hot prospect, professionally, has designed offenses and defeenses that have been successful. There really is none of that in baseball. It's all pretty much the same.

That doesn't mean too much to me. Pretty much every manager has been passed over at one point. Bob Melvin is considered one ot the best in the business. He was fired by the DBacks, and was passed over by several teams before hooking up with the A's. Who is your candidate of choice? I bet I can find instances they were passed over as well. In fact, the way this works, a bench coach of the Royals being impressive enough to get hired is more impressive than just the routine bench coach from a playoff team I don't know how many teams actually win games because of their bench coach, but i do know the bench coach wasn't the reason the Royals suck. There must be something about this guy. The Sox weren't the only team to interview him.

Watch it wind up being someone who hasn't been known to have interviewed.

I also don’t know how they can answer, if questioned, why he would be the man for the job now, but 2 years ago, they went out of their way saying it could be any but Ozzie before JR ended the search before it began. What changed?

Not only while he was under contract, he still had another year left on his deal.

Hub had a heart attack or stroke at a Bears practice in August and has been hospitalized since.

My wife and I went to Boston for a White Sox series back when the Big Hurt was still playing.We ran into him out on the street by the hotel when he was still playing. He was really pleasant. Even took a picture with us.

Just think, if Hahn did anything last winter that made the Sox look like they could dominate, maybe Cleveland does trade Ramirez, and the Sox win in 2022 by default.

The White Sox can’t play like Cleveland. They don’t have a roster that can apparently stay healthy to hustle all the time, and don’t have the defense to win with small ball. Playing small ball in the home run haven the Sox play in seems a bit dumb.

Of course not. But it would be stupid, and the outcome would be easy to predict.

He’s the White Sox Ditka. Fire. Passion, and all.

It would be even worse. What manager would want that? The first losing streak, Ozzie needs to take over would be in the stands, on talk radio…

It depends on the soup, and if he had crackers. If he had crackers, it could be a meal.

The fact is they don’t need a second interview with Ozzie. They employed him for 8 years in the position they are filling. They have been around him several years recently.They know him a lot better than they know any other candidate Obviously JR paved the way for an Ozzie interview, and he got one. I don’t think they would hire him, but you can’t put it past them. It’s scary until it’s not.

Ozzie is fun on pre and post. But if you listen, he still has no use for analytics. You want the Sox offense fixed? They don’t hit enough homers? Bring in the guy who says almost daily exit velo is overrated, and is also the guy responsible for Kotsay over Thome in 2010. It would be a similar mistake to the LaRussa mistake. Slightly better, because the inmates won’t be as heavily involved running the asylum. Tony couldn’t roll the clock back to 1983, and Ozzie can’t roll it back to 2005. Just like with Tony, if they hired Ozzie, and I still can’t believe they will, there will be a fraction of the fan base delighted. Ozzie is the White Sox Ditka. But when they don’t score, hit fewer homers, get take signs every 3-0 count, have a 2 hole hitter lead the league in sac attempts, the delight will be slapped by reality. Ozzie knows a lot about baseball. I enjoy listening to his insight. He just prefers a game that has left the building. He hasn’t embraced the modernness. He doesn’t even have to embrace it fully. Analytics have made baseball a little more boring. Everyone has the same opinion. Just keep in mind, the White Sox need to hit home runs to win. Is Ozzie the guy to accomplish that? I actually think when he managed the Sox, he ran a bullpen really well. That is important, and would be an improvement over Tony. But they still need to score. Also, they hire Ozzie and everyone blames JR is fine as long as Kenny and Rick resign. If they don’t, they are complicit. They are on board with the hire.

How many guys have gone from hitting coach to manager? I can't think of any. Bench coach, pitching coach, 1st base coach, 3rd base coach, minor league manager, broadcaster, unemployed guy....yes, but never a hitting coach.

That is true, but maybe they do something with the coaching staff. The fact is, they can't win if these guys don't go back to hitting homers.

With the offensive struggles, it does make sense they hire an offensive guy.

If Garfien said Ozzie interviewed on Monday, Ozzie interviewed on Monday.

I think most of the candidates are pretty similar. Unless they do something crazy like when they brought Tony back, fixing the roster will help more than whoever they hire.