caulfield12

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/42083747/chicago-white-sox-hiring-venable-manager Like the fact that he's been around baseball/clubhouses for pretty much his entire life, due to his father Max, who had a 12 year big league career as well. Venable knows the Chicago baseball scene, having been part of the interview process for the last White Sox managerial opening when Pedro Grifol ultimately was hired prior to the 2023 campaign. He also served as a special assistant to Cubs president Theo Epstein, as well as the first-base coach for the North Siders during the 2018 and ’19 seasons and as their third-base coach in 2020. Venable worked as the Red Sox bench coach during the 2021 and ’22 seasons, before joining the Rangers as the associate manager to Bruce Bochy for the past two years. Texas won the World Series title in ’23 with Venable in that role. He replaces Grady Sizemore, who finished 13-32 as the team’s interim manager during the ’24 season after taking over for Grifol on Aug. 8. Grifol posted an 89-190 record over one-plus seasons at the helm, including a 28-89 record in 2024. ... The White Sox are coming off a ’24 campaign where they set the single-season Modern Era record (since 1901) of 121 losses and are amid a longer-term rebuild. Getz spoke of wanting someone with a similar vision to co-pilot this growth process toward success, with Venable getting the nod. https://www.mlb.com/news/will-venable-white-sox-manager

Honeywell officially jinxed...haha. 11-4 Yankees, we'll get Halloween Eve baseball now.

Keep forgetting Brent Honeywell was briefly White Sox property... +11 ERA with the White Sox 4.05 w/ the Padres in the same season 2.70 ERA w/ the Pirates this season, 2.62 with the Dodgers, including 1 SAVE in 2 opportunities, and a 1.11 WHIP. Tampa Bay ended up taking Honeywell in the second round in 2014 and he was on the taxi squad for the World Series in 2020. This postseason has been a different story because if it wasn't for his performance in Game 5 of the NLCS, the Dodgers might not have won Game 6. https://dodgersnation.com/brent-honeywell-brings-style-swagger-and-unfiltered-honesty-to-dodgers-world-series-run/2024/10/29/ https://pittsburghbaseballnow.com/brent-honeywell-jr-world-series-dfa-pittsburgh-pirates/

Thought this was interesting...well, fwiw. Comcast, by the way, has roughly 1.5 million households in the Chicago area. Keep in mind, this was coming off the 2023 season, one would expect numbers to be down overall based on two years of missing the post-season for the Cubs. Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney said that the Marquee Sports Network DTC option “beat their planned number of subscriptions by 20%” since it launched in July 2023, according to Meghan Montemurro of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Kenney said, “We saw growing subscriptions each month, and that’s the interesting thing with DTC as opposed to cable. Typically cable subscribers are not turning their cable service on and off monthly based on their programming choices. This is very easy to do (with DTC).” Kenney also was pleased that the DTC product encountered "almost no technical glitches." Montemurro noted the Cubs plan to include March spring training game coverage “at no extra charge for fans who sign up for Marquee’s regular-season DTC option.” Kenney also discussed other business plans and milestones: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/01/17/chicago-cubs-marquee-sports-network-direct-to-consumer-games By comparison, the team averaged a 4.5 rating on NBC Sports Chicago during its championship season in 2016. This year, Cubs games on Marquee fell another 25% during a second consecutive losing season, averaging a 1.57 rating.Oct 31, 2022 https://www.soxon35th.com/white-sox-see-largest-television-ratings-drop-in-mlb/ Did they even release these White Sox broadcasting numbers yet for 2024? Last year's 41% drop in the ratings "led" the majors...one would have to believe this year might have been pretty flat based on all the attention the last two months on finishing with the worst record in MLB history.

Is this the new Robert/s?

Never would have believed Tim Hill would be doubling up Freddie Freeman in the second most important bat in the WS back in April... Or not.

Aiken and Kolek? Delmon Young? Brien Taylor? Josh Hamilton until he got straightened out...

Obviously signing Lugo and Wacha and turning Aroldis Chapman into one of the ten best starters in the AL in Ragans...although he's already had multiple TJ surgeries, less overall wear and tear because of all the missed time and second surgery was a revision compared to complete reconstruction. They already had Brady Singer. Along with Witt Salvy Pasquantino.

Odds are higher Santander becomes another albatross contract at that age were the Sox to sign him for 3-5 years...you're certainly NOT going to see that investment from Baltimore. That's the whole point of having a productive farm system.

About ready for the great Juan Soto FA Sweepstakes to begin...just can't imagine spending $600+ million on him. But someone will/might.

That was "mired in mediocrity" which is a death-like fate now with three clearly better teams in CLE KC DET.

https://nypost.com/2024/10/29/sports/yankees-crumbling-in-world-series-is-raising-uncomfortable-questions/ Is the AL just...not that good?

Blake Treinen has kind of settled in as their main guy, though...although sometimes he has been deployed in high leverage before the 9th/10th.

Five ex Sox pitchers in the game...good for them. Kopech struggling a bit recently. Postseason ERA up to 3.38 now. 4-2 Dodgers win, 3-0 series lead....Yankees still haven't recovered from G1 disaster.

Freeman has now homered in five straight World Series games... Edman with the second highest OPS behind Betts in the postseason for LA. 365 .947

https://www.mlb.com/news/tommy-kahnle-consecutive-changeup-playoff-run-analysis 56 change-ups in a row?

For example, the pay was $500 and an apartment to work for the Red Sox back nearly thirty years ago...as an intern out of grad school from a competitive sports management graduate program. Turning that down to work for a minor league team with a better title and the ability to generate more salary through sales of tickets, event sponsorships, and billboard and program ads was the wrong choice now looking back.

Hopefully we're all beyond arguing about Covid-19 vaccinations at this point...he had to stay in Canada for 14 days because of Canadian policies, fwiw. Plus the 2-5 career MLB managerial record fits right in, lol. .286 X 162=41-121 On September 6, 2017, Venable was named a special assistant to Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein.[97] Venable served as the first base coach of the Cubs in 2018 and 2019.[98] For the 2020 season, he was shifted to third base coach.[99] On November 20, 2020, Venable was announced as the bench coach of the Boston Red Sox.[100] On May 29, 2021, Venable managed his first MLB game, filling in for Alex Cora in a game against the Miami Marlins, as Cora was in Puerto Rico to attend the high school graduation of one of his children; the Red Sox won, 3–1.[101] On August 7, 2021, during a series in Canada against the Toronto Blue Jays, Venable tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in Venable and first-base coach Tom Goodwin (deemed a close contact) quarantining away from the rest of Red Sox personnel.[102] During the 2022 season, Venable led the Red Sox for six games in the latter half of April after manager Cora tested positive for COVID-19; the team went 1–5 in those games.[103] On November 16, 2022, Venable was hired by the Texas Rangers to be an associate manager alongside Bruce Bochy.[104]

Yikes...another ugly offensive series. Inexcusable penalty. At least they have a punter.

Not even the biggest critic could have possibly imagined a Williams stat line like this two year ago. Or Lincoln Riley better off as a Lincoln Lawyer.

Reminiscent of the days when the Cubs had about 7-8 jerseys outselling Abreu...even Joe Maddon. Apathy with Cubs fans now...and whatever is well well below that with the Sox current situation. Does anyone even have the energy to burn old Moncada TA or Jimenez jerseys ? Pointless.

And he's the most recognizable offensive player left standing after Robert...along with Benintendi. But will that honestly sell any tickets? Would it cost any ticket sales if Elko or Ramos were getting those at bats instead? Doubtful.

He and Pete Butiegieg are basically clones....with that aw shucks Midwest quality.

If he would have left before 2021 when TLR was hired, he still would have been able to get another job in baseball. So a GM salary for two years vs. Asst GM and possibly another shot at it over 5-8 more years in the game.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/42023471/dodgers-ohtani-exits-injury-world-series-game-2 All of Japan/Shibuya holding their collective breaths...that it's more precautionary.