Texsox

Some media outlets have one sports beat writer. Some have a baseball beat writer. Some might have a few more. This is just like we've complained forever that ESPN only cares about East Coast and a couple West Coast teams and ignores the rest of the country. I think we all agree the layoffs were economic. Just like a couple years ago when they fired over 40 writers. To me they are following the same path that Deford and Co. did with The National in the 80s with the same end point. Only a small subset of sports fans will care enough to pay for a subscription for sporting news. I'll short every non porn stock that tries to exist on subscription fees. There is too much free content out there.

Or they cut the most expensive talent while keeping cheaper writers. They could have reassigned him to another team if they appreciated his writing skills. It's not like they will stop writing about all teams. Instead of 30 writers covering MLB there will be less and they will be more spread out. The Pirates, Canadians, and Maple Leafs all lost their beat writers. All were expensive, seasoned, writers.

@TheKidsCanPlay It's all a guess. But if owners buy teams to win championships why did he buy the Bulls if. . . Jerry Reinsdorf has always said that he would have traded away all his Bulls championship rings for one World Series ring.

I hope you're "write". I have a MA in Lit and teach people to appreciated the written word. Editor of my high school and college newspapers. Worked part time at an afternoon newspaper, a weekly, and a monthly outdoor publication. I've watched printed media decline in popularity. Everyone wants to make this about the Sox. This was a business of media decision. Does MLB baseball need thirty writers? Can it be done with 25? 10? When writers aren't chained to one team will coverage improve?

They laid off a bunch. Times trying to make it profitable. https://nypost.com/2023/06/12/new-york-times-reorganizes-the-athletic-with-layoffs/

Treat Williams - actor you'd recognize him.

Exactly. I was just pointing out he, and his co investors, might have much different priorities.

There is a big assumption in your argument. You are assuming he's competing on the standings printed on the sports page. What if he's competing on the standings printed on the business page? He thinks they are dumb for spending so much money and not just maximizing profits and equity.

Winning what? His investment? He's winning for himself and all of his partners.

I wonder how many subscribers in Chicago they expected to lose? How many until they actually lose net revenue? 250,000?

Of course this is print media which is destined to fail. It's just a matter of how fast. If enough people cancel it will just help speed up the process. But video media will be the only survivor in this business.

I hope he lines up something. I enjoy his writing. Beat writers seem like a really old school approach from newspaper days. I have a NYT and Athletic sub and read more than just his stuff so I'll keep my subscription.

Youngins. On the bright side in a few decades you could be explaining this s%*# to a grandchild who asked who were the White Sox and why did they go away?

How many ways can we quantify that we are a bottom three franchise in baseball history? Toss in financial resources available and we're the worst. Absolute worst. We sucked for decades before modern analytics, we suck after. We flunked the eye test, now we can prove mathematically we are horrible. We flunked before free agency, we fail afterwards. We sucked before the DH, we suck after. Name any era in baseball and we sucked. Deadball? Sucked Steroids? Sucked We have a bottom farm system. We have employees at every level that couldn't find baseball jobs anywhere else. We take great players after their prime to watch them fail while collecting big checks. We take good players and make them bad. We take bad players and make them worst. We suck potential out of every draft pick except the lucky few who are able to leave quickly. Our stadium was a joke when first build with a death defying upper deck. Our owner openly shows distain for his players and fans. Everything about this franchise is an embarrassment to baseball, the city of Chicago, and America. Ok, the last part was hyperbole. No other major city has such a horrible franchise in any sport. I'm trying to figure out why I ever made fun of being a Cub fan. /Rant

Seriously, slamming him like that just shows everyone their lack of baseball acumen and makes him look even more like a visionary. He is sacrificing pitching effectives to help his hitting. He's playing chess and y'all are playing checkers. Brilliant plan Lance

Gotta bring up the young guys.

Heading to a state where sports betting is legal. Won't be placing the bet.

A bit of randomness. I'm f*cked if karma kicks hard. After arriving at our first night stop of an eight week road trip I realize I'm wearing "The Boys are Back" opening day 2021 shirt. Of s%*# we know how that turned out.

Ain't that the truth

We'll call it a Reverse Kimbrel with a degree of difficulty 9.8 which ironically could be his ERA

It might be in his contact lol

I'm not following you. You seen to be making a different point. Mine was both teams unloaded time bombs that weren't going to pan out long term for either team. Taking a chance on Kimbrel having one great season when we potentially needed one great season wasn't the worst decision. Now if you want to discuss how we got into that jam and left that jam, then yes, it was a bad situation.

True. This one is on Hahn for no depth.

I think the Madrigal trade was about as even as could be expected. Both teams knew they had time bombs on their hands. I suspect they also knew they were receiving time bombs. Thinking we could get another half season at current level out of Kimbrel wasn't the worse prediction. Knowing Nicky wasn't going to play more than 60 or 70 games a year was another solid prediction. Good trade for both teams.

It's always a hot take, momentary ranking.