mmmmmbeeer

I get trying to make each season profitable but, let's be honest, with few exceptions we see the biggest gains in franchise value through simple asset appreciation. Reinsdorf and company bought this team for $20M....it's now worth (conservatively) $2billion. And they want to stick it to the fans after a b.s. season? They want to whine about payroll? Here's a helpful hint to ol' Jerr...you're about to die soon. If you want this team to climb in value on your way out the door, get to spending and improve your product. Build the fanbase, increase the TV deals, sell more STs. Dicking over fans while your initial investment has grown nearly 10,000% over the past 40 years is just disgusting, especially given the lack of competitive seasons this franchise has mustered over the decades under Reinsdorf.

Expectations suck so much because they tend to draw you in, instill empty confidence, and always leave you believing things will eventually turnaround. No matter how frustrated I became throughout the season, I just couldn't resist watching or tuning in to listen to games...only to be left asking myself why I chose to subject myself to more misery, anger, and frustration. I just couldn't shake off the expectations that not only the org set for themselves, but that I set based on this roster and previous performance.....Charlie Brown and the football situation. Alas, next spring I'll fall right back into the same trap. I'll blame the weather for underperformance. Or maybe it's an umpires fault. Or maybe I'll believe someone is playing hurt. No matter the cause, I'm a White Sox fan and therefore a masochist. Maybe things will go our way next season? I know I'll be watching/listening to find out!

Why would this hypothetical team be looking for a new manager? I mean, you're describing a world class, winning org.

How much of a role do you think our managerial situation had to do with not only the contracts we DID sign (trade for) but our lack of FAs coming to Chicago? Do you think free agents were lining up to play for TLR...a big selling point for the FO?

If I told you last January you could have AJ Pollock or Mark Canha for the same money, who would you have chosen? I appreciate the reply and I agree he could've done better...every GM can do better. I just don't think the pitchforks should be out.

The farm is empty, prospects have been excruciatingly expensive in the trade market, and teams aren't handing out 25-28yo good players for peanuts. Free agency dollars are determined by JR, a man who has NEVER paid to sign a player to a $100M+ contract. So what's he to do? Find value. To say the RP market has been the best value position in baseball the last 5-10 years isn't an incorrect statement....good bang for your buck as the game evolves to become so RP reliant. Royals and Cleveland both rode extraordinary bullpens to the World Series within the last decade. Be it Robertson, Herrera, Liam, Graveman, Kimbrel, etc., they weren't necessarily "bad" moves if those guys pitched to their career norms. The Kelly signing was an egregious overpay but you can't convince me that wasn't a TLR signing. Just seems we b**** and moan about all these players that Rick doesn't get, the fact he signs older veterans, etc., with absolutely zero thought given to why he's forced to do those things. You don't think he wanted to bring Schwarber in this past offseason? Of course he did....but the money wasn't there.

Bye, Jose. He gawn. For as great as Rick is at saying nothing, he definitely (unintentionally) showed his cards when the subject of Jose came up.

Fathom. To watch his bad takes implemented on a baseball diamond would be...chef's kiss.

If there were ever a time for Ozzie to come back to manage the Sox, it's now. I've always been against the suggestion in the past and don't believe he'd be a good choice in the future, either. But right now, with a heavily Hispanic team, a guy who is actually "fung", believes in accountability, and knows this team like the back of his hand, I wouldn't hate it. This is speaking strictly to the personnel side of the equation. He is certainly not an analytics guy and isn't some strategic mastermind. But he would make this team better.

Saw an article the other day saying that Dusty's contract ends after this season and there's been no sign of an extension, so far. Same with their GM.

He'd certainly be given every opportunity to lobby for himself to keep the job and I'm sure, if the staff feels strongly about him staying, the new manager would welcome and consider their input. That said, if the new manager and Katz don't see eye-to-eye, be it on a professional level or on a personal level, then he's just not going to be a good fit.

I'm actually pretty fond of the Beltran idea. He'd be the antithesis of TLR which, if this front office wants this team to buy in in 2023, that's what it's going to take. Young, hungry, player-friendly, call out shitty effort, someone who will show some fire....Beltran checks the boxes. Am I a fan of the fact he was part of the sign-stealing? Nope. Do I think that disqualifies him from managing in MLB? Nope. Regardless of it being Beltran or not, I want RH to choose HIS manager and I want to see a variety of candidates interviewing for the position. The coaching staff should be the manager's decision.

I hope they run it back minus Abreu. I just don't believe this season was at all representative of what this roster is capable of doing. A tweak here and there and I think we're still a WS contender. Get healthy, get a fresh start with a new coaching staff, watch these guys play as underdogs instead of favorites. That said, I think I put a lot more blame on TLR for this disaster of a season than most...perhaps more blame than he deserves in some folks' opinion. I may look into dealing Gio so we don't lose him for nothing but there's probably value in waiting until the deadline next season to learn if he's turned things around. If he has, he's worth hanging onto despite no return.

I'm still a big believer in Hinch and, considering he was clearly RH's pick before last season, there's clearly interest there from the Sox. I don't think you can go with Bochy. I know he's younger than TLR, been out of the league a shorter time than TLR, and definitely a more favorable personality in MLB than TLR, but he's just too damn old. You can't face those players and tell them, "yes, we know he's another older manager but, TRUST US, it'll be better this time!". Players will not buy in. What we really need is 40-50yo experienced latino manager who is known for being a bit edgy. Don't know who that is, but it's the absolute antithesis of TLR and that's the most likely to work.

It's also worth noting that no one on this team beat offensive expectations, with several players having the worst seasons of their careers. Oftentimes, we can point to a coaching issue when things like this happen. This is ESPECIALLY true when Fegan reported that there were problems in the clubhouse between the manager and hitting coach and, by extension, the players, being TLR insisted on sacrificing power for contact. Did they feel like they were going to get yelled at for striking out? Were homers almost frowned upon? These guys all came up in lift-and-pull environments and now they're asked to completely change their approaches? Point being, I'm not putting a ton of stock into this season's offensive numbers. Like the rest of this season and roster, it's been tainted by a manager who had no business managing in this league.

Holy overreaction. There's a ton of talent on this team. It would be beyond idiotic not to run it back with some small tweaks and a new coaching staff.

It was supposed to be an OF of Eloy, Luis, and AJ with Vaughn at DH. That's not an awful OF. You can criticize the decision to rely on Eloy staying healthy out there but he's signed to a sizable contract and we paid him to play the OF. Luis and Eloy's health, coupled with AJ and Engel's regressions, kind of forced our hand into having AV in the OF. The Pollock trade, looking at his L/R splits coming into this season, was a shrewd move. It didn't work out as we'd hoped, but on paper the logic behind the deal was 100% solid. Who could have predicted such unprecedented regressions from Yas and Yo (two guys I personally believe were 100% in the "f*** this s%*#" camp due to the TLR hire)?!?! We were forced to move Gavin out there as players kept getting hurt and needed a lefty stick in the lineup. We lost an absolutely key bullpen piece when Crochet went down. Bummer, as the backup LHRP, being out a significant portion of the season sure as hell didn't help. Kelly was 100% a TLR signing and you can't convince me otherwise (same with Leury). PECOTA set us at 94 expected wins. Vegas had our O/U set at 91.5 wins. Thin? I'll give you that. Overrated roster? Nah, cannot grant you that. This was a team who had a manager actively working against them.

While we see some of it on here, and especially on Twitter, it's baffling the number of people who have STILL not recognized that TLR lost this team/clubhouse last season. Players gave him a few months of a fair chance and quickly realized their manager is wholly unrelatable, ignorant of today's game, low-energy, and a narcissist. They quit on him last season and this season was just the exclamation point. I believe it got SO bad that they didn't just quit on TLR, they quit on the franchise. I do believe there was a concerted effort to play so badly that the FO would have to dump TLR. All season we've complained about the lack of passion, stupid mistakes, poor approaches at the plate, and lack of hustle. Those are ALL things that happen when a team no longer gives a s%*# about wins or losses. We have very few impact players who aren't locked up long-term so it's not like they're playing for a contract. Pride went out the window when they felt/knew the franchise put TLR's ego above all else. This was not a BAD roster coming into the season. Potential holes were exacerbated by injuries and poor performance but there are very few who didn't have this team winning the Central and, even in the national press, the Sox were considered WS contenders heading into Opening Day. From Rick Hahn on down to Frank Menechino on down to TA, we saw what the kids these days apparently call "quiet quitting". The, "yeah, I'll collect a paycheck but my employer is showing me no loyalty so I'm going to do the absolute bare minimum until they fire me" form of quitting. And people will point to this homestand as proof that Cairo was no better than TLR. Bullshit. The Sox were playing pretty good ball, best ball of the season. Tip your hat to Cleveland that they kept winning. Once Sox lost that first game to CLE, the season was over. We knew it. They knew it. Everyone knew it. Did we really expect effort after that loss? I know I didn't....I haven't watched a single pitch since that game.

This is seriously one of the weirdest personnel situations we've seen in MLB. LaRussa is hired without support of FO Team greatly underachieves A "medical emergency" out of nowhere Sox and Chicago have amazing medical options, Tony FLIES to AZ to see his doctors. Rumor has it he had heart issues which makes flying questionable Team is absolutely mum, not making any statements to the press Team starts winning Heyman and Nightengale say Tony is coming back/is coming back soon Team says nothing has changed Steve Stone says he talks to Tony but doesn't know what his illness is Miguel Cairo says he talks to Tony but doesn't know what his illness is Reports are Tony needs clearance from his doctor to FLY to OAK for Dave Stewart celebration Tony is clearly feeding Heyman and Nightengale the "coming back" talk. The org isn't talking to anyone. Steve Stone and Miguel Cairo make it clear that, whatever the situation is, there's a gag order out from the org. Players don't seem to know what's going on, either. If the "medical emergency" was a cover story, seems this would require Tony's cooperation. Did it start as a medical emergency and turn into a silent firing? If he's fired, why is the team not saying anything? If he's not fired and is coming back, why the silence from the org? Why was he fine to fly to AZ but needs permission to fly to SanFran? This is, by far, the most dysfunctional organization in baseball and they're clearly hiding something from us without any clear reason to be so secretive.

Stone on 670 earlier this week said, in one sentence, that he and Tony have spoke on the phone and that he's doing well. In another sentence, like 3 minutes later, not only does he not know what his "medical emergency" was, Steve says no one else does either. Definitely reeks.

I don't want to say players will throw games but I will say we'll see unprecedently poor performance and competitiveness from this team if/when he returns. They've done enough to prove their point, already. If the message wasn't received, they'll make sure to send a stronger message.

Gilbert held us to 4 hits and 1 UER earlier in the season, punching out 4. His stuff looked really damn good that game. He likes to keep the ball in the zone but has only allowed 17 dongs in 155ip. The good news is he's a reverse splits guy...noticeably worse numbers against RHB and has also been considerably worse at home this season. We can get him but it's going to take good, patient ABs.

Only caught the bottom of the 9th on TV last night. Can you clarify what you mean? Is Robert still not swinging with two hands?

Atta boy.

Walk him.