Chicago White Sox

I really liked what I heard yesterday. At a minimum, Grifol should be a massive improvement over Tony and will get a lot more production out of certain guys. Feels good to finally have hired a manger with modern tendencies.

Yeah, it’s highly problematic, but Paddy has made strides overall in LA. Just happens more of those guys are coming from Cuba & Venezuela. Going to need Popeye to break the barrier on the Dominic side.

Selecting Velus Jones in the 3rd was a mistake and there isn’t really much of an argument there. Him developing into a quality NFL WR based on his age and production profile would have almost been unprecedented. Other 3rd round WRs pick not immediately providing production doesn’t change any of that. But the mistake I’m referring to when I say “glad Poles made up for it” is not providing Fields with enough weapons. I said this before the draft many times, but I wanted the Bears to take Pickens in the 2nd. He was a 1st round talent who was going to fall to the 2nd for reasons unrelated to ability and was the only guy we had a shot in the draft who could provide immediate production. Whether you like Jones or not, he was never going to be that guy this year and it’s really hard to get a fair read on Fields when he has the worst WR room in the NFL. Adding Claypool greatly helps in that regard even if he’s not a true WR1.

People called out the Velus Jones pick as being terrible the second it was made and that was almost immediately confirmed since playing. I’m a big Claypool guy despite the lesser results as of late, but Poles should have drafted Pickens in the 2nd instead of reaching of Velus and now having burn a second on a guy who will quickly get expensive. That being said, I’m glad Poles made up for his mistake and got Fields a legit weapon.

What’s funny is the Phillies did a poor job of developing their core, but went out and got the necessary pieces to supplement (four of their top five players this year based on fWAR were acquired via trade or FA). If Rick Hahn was just better at capital allocation and focused on adding impact talent we’d be a monster now. We could basically have Harper & Wheeler right now and it would only cost us Keuchel, Pollock, Velasquez, Kelly, & Leury. Unfortunately Hahn and his staff couldn’t build an effective farm system and used free agency as a crutch to add depth that more times than not brings little value to the table.

Why is it the Sox only poach non-player personnel from the Royals? Buddy Bell and Chris Getz on the player development side and now Grifol on the coaching side of things. I get it, we don’t sit in on these interviews, but I’d feel much better hiring from a best in class organization and not the Kansas City Royals. That being said, at least Jerry didn’t circumvent the process and Hahn can finally be held accountable without the TLR crutch to fall on.

Damn I’d feel much better about things if the Bears just took George Pickens in the 2nd round.

100% going to be Kevin Long.

That’s because the roster was filled with power hitters thanks to KW. Ozzie still loved small ball where possible and pushed for a roster that reflected as much as he gained more power in the organization.

While Washington would be a great hire as bench coach, I don’t think the Braves would let him go for what is essentially a lateral opportunity. Honestly, I’d be ok with Cairo as bench coach if Long is brought onboard. Let Katz & Hasler handle the pitching. Have Kevin replace the rest of the staff.

Every other team has filled their manager role except us. The Sox have come out and have explicitly stated that Espada isn’t the guy. Just feels like it has to be Long by default. And given how much our positional guys underperformed last year, hiring an offensive oriented guy as manager makes some sense.

To be fair, Leury was more like 50% above market.

Who did they pay 10% above market for?

I’ve heard similar. I think the issue with Frank is he cared more about his own stats / legacy than actually winning games. That’s not to say he didn’t want to win, but he wasn’t going to give up playing 1B or shift his spot in the lineup for the better of the team.

I literally know nothing about Grifol, but taking a guy from a losing organization who happen to have a manager opening themselves would make me very unexcited.

The point is the season wasn’t over. And us trading him didn’t just suddenly occur, he was actively pursuing the opportunity. And regardless, he bitched & whined all season about not having a contract beyond the current season. I remember going into a huge series against Detroit that year and Ozzie was more worried about his contract situation rather than the fate of the team. He is a selfish prick and I can’t believe anyone would defend his actions. Especially when he wasn’t a good manager the minute his ego inflated after 2005.

Not officially as far as I’m aware

You’d let your kids talk s%*# about your employer? You’d let your kid share secrets about your coworkers in public? You’d rip your employer for not giving your kid a sweet job? Because Ozzie did all those things. Putting “family first” does not mean enabling your kids to be complete assholes or pouting when your kids don’t get benefit of nepotism. Let’s keep Ozzie and his circus of douchebag sons away from our franchise.

What’s your beef with Long?

Very strange that the Sox felt compelled to come out and squash the Espada rumor from last week Andy let the Guillen one run wild. Still think it will be Kevin Long when all is said and done.

This 100%.

Ozzie’s ego would never allow for that.

? Thome put up a 177 wRC+ that year…Kotsay put up an 80 over 359 PAs.

You must not remember Dwayne Wise leading of, Ozzie demanding a fast lead off hitter in Juan Pierre, or Ozzie forcing us to get rid of Thome so we could have a rotating DH led by Mark Kotsay. Ozzie loved his grinders and would play a lineup full of them on Sundays.

Oh I know it’s only a couple, but I just can’t believe how easily those few people forget how bad Ozzie was near the end. Everything about him was legit terrible and costly to our franchise. I get he was our manager in 2005 and he has funny post-game shows, but he is bad manager and his hire would be disastrous.