Dick Allen

So the Bears had their second fewest yards of the season vs. Detroit. They also tied their high mark on the season for sack allowed, and averaged less than even they average per carry running the ball. The problem doesn't appear to be Whitehead and Daniels switching positions.

I will not fall into the trap again and be disappointed when the team falls woefully short. Rendon won't be a White Sox.

Traded for squat.

It won't happen but Moncada did tell Renteria he can play the OF.

I think one of the Cubs' problems is they strike out too much. The strike out is just another out is something that has gone away recently. BABIP won't be .000 on those ABs you don't k, but it is .000 on a k. I think Houston and Washington were two of the lower k rate teams in baseball. You have to have a lot of talent to overcome a high team k rate.

I would think a guy like Hahn has confidence in himself and if he was GM by title only and was offered a real GM job he would take it. He's not going to have a hard time finding employment. Maybe in baseball, if he failed, yes. But there is a time the wings have to be spread. He is the White Sox GM. They mom and pop it for the most part, but he's part of the 3 headed monster. Not all of the mistakes of the past 7 years were his, but I'm sure plenty were.

If you are a lackey and have an opportunity to call the shots, many people take calling the shots. That's why I don't think he is currently a lackey.

Wouldn't that mean change from the KW/JR way? I really think all 3 are on the same page, or Hahn would have taken another job somewhere else when he had the chance.

A couple of things, most teams are already priced out of Cole/Strasburg. Then you had who their agent is, you have to figure its' going to be a long time before both are signed. There was some talk Boras may want to get one done quickly.

A guy at the Athletic who apparently gets a lot of signings correct over the years, thinks thinks the Sox are going to sign Puig for 3/$30 million. Just speculation right now. Caulfield might have to move back. Is there a tariff?

Really nothing, but this is the MLB offseason, and if it's like the last couple, there is really nothing that hasn't been discussed to discuss until close to spring training.

Publicly emphasing you were right all along and your superior may have been wrong? I'm not buying that. Rick does go out of his way to kiss JR's ring every time a major player is signed or traded for. I doubt he would basically taunt JR and/or KW like that.

I did notice post strike, Ron Schueler, who, while not always right, did become ultra conservative. They had the outlier of Albert Belle, but other than that, it was Kruk and Sabo and the annual reclamation project in RF and of course the white flag trade. At the beginning, JR went after Fisk, Floyd Bannister was one of the more coveted free agents. Obviously the money is a bit different now, but you have to be very accurate if you are doing it the way the Sox have been doing it. KW was pretty aggressive but most of his moves were still half assed. Everything worked out in 2005. AJP, Dye, Iguchi, Hermanson was great until he was injured. Bobby Jenks as a minor league waiver claim. But perfection isn't going to happen very often. It seems the Sox, even when trying to win, want to save something for later instead of lets be stacked on opening day. Usually that leads to subtracting at the deadline, not adding. We will see how it goes. They are going to spend. They have to spend better. It would be nice if they develop a guy or two we never think to count on. But it's been the same thing for so long and very little organizational change leads one to think the results not being the same would be the surprise.

If being your own man here isn't allowed, how was Larry Himes able to stick it out 3 years? Obviously, if he would have placated JR a bit more, he would have been re-upped, but still, 3 years, builds a 94 win team with the lowest payroll in baseball, and really set them up for a really good run, only to be squandered. If Rick could have built this team up to a 94 win team in 3 seasons, if JR dropped him, he would have no problem finding another job. One difference, Larry hit on guys in the draft, and got good value in small trades. Although it is never mentioned, Larry drafted Ray Durham in the 5th round. When is the last time the White Sox have drafted someone after the first couple of rounds that became really good?

What's weird is JR thinks LaRussa was his biggest mistake, but he was eventually a high priced manager. He did go after Leyland. But because they screwed over his buddy Lamont, that wasn't going to happen. Joe Maddon isn't any more expensive than Fred Hoiberg. You would think he would be up for something like that.

I agree with that. But, unfortunately, with 2005 on his resume, there is no way JR ever rids us of KW.

Yet they are out there saying JR is going to unprecedented lengths financially to sign players they either do eventually sign, like with Abreu, and don't sign, like with Machado. Just remember, the money will be spent.

If anyone here won the lottery and could buy the White Sox and Rick Hahn's contract was up, is there anyone willing to admit they would make every effort to retain him as the GM?

I would think if another pretty smart guy like JR valued RH's baseball acumen, he would listen to his suggestions more often than not. So if they are not listening to him, and he is paid to be a scapegoat, I would think he would find something else to do. His fingerprints are on this organization.

I believe he said it, but I think it was tongue in cheek. I will never think JR wants to finish in 2nd place. It makes no sense.

I do think ultimately, that is what has to happen for this team to have a run like the Astros or even the Cubs, when people were b****ing at 95 win seasons. I like JR, but it's time. They are going to spend money this winter, but if RH goes 1 for 7 or 1 for 8 , next year won't be much better than this, and then money will suddenly start getting tight.

If he was thinking he could get Machado without being the highest bidder, that's incompetence. Everyone, except apparently the White Sox, knew he was going to wherever he got the most money. Maybe they need to write these things on their dry boards on executive row on 35th Street.

I'd take him if they were basically giving him away. Lopez is way too much. I think Lopez gets mentioned because a writer suggested it when it was first rumored Mazara was available. But that would really be a curious trade.

But this isn't the NBA. One player isn't going to move a needle between contention and being awful. So if it is one player that makes his overall number go from what a monkey could do to what a message board poster could do in a pretty large sample size, you would have to think he's closer to the monkey. I don't think Rick Hahn is a dumb guy, far from it. I just don't think he's a baseball guy. And I don't think he's the only problem. But he is a problem. KW is a problem. JR is a problem. Their scouts are problems. Their coaches are problems. Their minor league instructors are problems. Their manager seems to be a problem, but to be fair, no one is going to win 85 games with what he has been given. A thorough housecleaning is long overdue, and it seems to me the only way it will every happen is a sale of the team.

Neither would I. Their values aren't particularly close. Mazara has a career 1.7 WAR. He has never even put up a 1.0 WAR in a season. They can have Carson Fulmer, if that.