Thad Bosley

Jerry Reinsdorf has been the owner for 40 years now, and his record and the narrative over those four decades is not good, not good at all, on and off the field. His overall legacy as owner of the White Sox will end up having to rely on the success of this current team team that was rebuilt on his watch. He needs this team to do what no other team in the past 40 years has done (or ever, for that matter), which is to go on a sustained run of success that hopefully results in a championship or two. In the meantime, he’s obviously hoping that a feel-good bromance story of he and LaRussa coming back together after all these years and winning those championships together will soften how history eventually looks at and assesses his time as owner. Probably a little too late no matter how things turn out in these next few years, but it would appear Reinsdorf is anxious to give it a shot.

I wasn’t a fan of Tony LaRussa the first time around for a variety of reasons, and was happy the day he was let go by Hawk. In fact, at the time, I thought his successor, Jim Fregosi, was a far better manager. Unfortunately for Fregosi he presided over a really lousy White Sox team in his short time with the organization from ‘86 thru ‘88. That said, if we have to live through this twilight bromance between Reinsdorf and LaRussa at the end of their respective lines, it becomes passable IF Reinsdorf spends cash like a major market owner for once, to put the finishing touches on this rebuilt roster, and IF LaRussa surrounds himself with the right coaching staff that can help bridge the generational gap between him and the players. That’s why I was glad to hear the other dinosaur, Dave Duncan, would not be the new pitching coach (or old new pitching coach). Get both a younger pitching coach (maybe two pitching coaches - Stone has been making a lot of noise on this front) and see where a change could be made with the Nick Capras, Joe McEwings and/or Daryl Boston’s of the world to bring in someone more relatable to our young Latin players. It probably won’t be McEwing, though, as he and LaRussa were very close during their time together in St. Louis, speaking of bromances.

Grandal isn’t going anywhere. How many future big name free agents would the Sox be able to attract if the player knew that one year after the player has committed to coming to the team and city for the long term, the team might turn around and trade them away? Maybe the team can find a way to bring McCann back, but it won’t be because they’ve traded Grandal away to open up a spot for him. Not going to happen.

I didn’t realize Bochy has been public in signaling his desire to return to the dugout. I hadn’t given his potential candidacy much thought up until now, what with all the noise surrounding LaRussa and Hinch. But if he’s interested, I think he checks off every box we could want as it relates to hiring a manager with the experience and ability to take this team to the next level. I’m hoping he’s the next manager of this team. https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/giants/bruce-bochy-hasnt-talked-white-sox-could-see-mlb-managerial-return

The Gio/James bromance began during each other’s breakout seasons in ‘19, before Grandal arrived. So is it really a matter of people just liking McCann and not necessarily meaning they don’t like Grandal?

That’s not true at all. We just saw Zach Wheeler sign for less money last year for reasons that were more important to him than money.

So with Hinch, was he once-upon-a-time thought to be this super, up-and-coming managerial talent that, despite the cheating episode, he is the envy of Rick Hahn? I’m trying to understand why the Sox or any team would be interested in him at all given the seriousness of the cheating scandal.

I’m not in favor of hiring Hinch for the reasons stated several times already - that his non-cheating record is pedestrian at best, and there’s nothing in his body of work that suggests he’s somehow a great manager. With that said, however, one thing the Sox would have going for them is there wouldn’t be any cheating going on with the team if he were in charge. Because part of the league’s punishment was the stipulation that another occurrence like with the Houston scandal results in a permanent ban of him from the game. That should be a decent enough deterrent, I should think.

In other words, finally realizing the team’s place as the major market team that it is. Sign me up for that!

Oh, at the end of the day I don’t think they do, because I find it hard to believe Crane was not in the know at all that the cheating was going on. Nevertheless, he removed the optics of the organization somehow being ok with employing cheaters by getting rid of Hinch. And now less than a year removed from Houston letting him go, the Sox want to bring him on. Too soon?

Jim Crane, the owner of the Astros, did not have to fire Hinch when he did earlier this year as MLB already punished Hinch with the suspension, but he did anyway. He said he wanted to have “higher standards for the city and the franchise”. Shouldn’t Jerry Reinsdorf have similar standards for the city of Chicago and his White Sox franchise?

Until I get the official memo that the Jerry Reinsdorf Loyalty Program has come to an end, the Reinsdorf/LaRussa 40 year bromance makes LaRussa’s hiring a real potential of happening.

Lol - I’m trying to be a good boy these days, so don’t tempt me with a quote from this owner that he thinks the firing of Tony LaRussa was his BIGGEST regret. He has quite the laundry list of franchise-crushing decisions during his 40 years as owner that eclipse the firing of LaRussa decision, believe you me. Anyhoo, when Reinsdorf/Einhorn brought on Hawk to be the GM back in the mid-80s, it was to try and grab some headlines away from the Cubs who, at that point in time, had become immensely popular with Harry Caray at the helm broadcasting all their games for free on WGN, while Sox games were buried on the failed pay TV option known as SportsVision. The Cubs also had a big personality as their GM in Dallas Green who was routinely on the media promoting the Cubs, while the Sox had the competent but not media savvy Roland Hemond as their GM. Bringing on Hawk and his bravado was a way to counter Green and, as I said, compete for the headlines. So the cowboy hat-wearing Hawk comes in with his vision on how to do things, and he did make headlines. They did achieve that objective. However, the incumbent manager LaRussa and his pitching coach Dave Duncan weren’t buying into the ideas and approach he was bringing forth, and that’s where all the trouble started. They publicly resisted, which gave the Sox no other choice but to can LaRussa, because optically they couldn’t fire Hawk three months into it, or else look like morons for hiring Hawk. I think the passage of time made both Hawk and LaRussa realize both could have handled things better, which is why they eventually made peace with one another. But it took a long time to get there.

I actually thought Jim Fregosi was a better manager than Tony LaRussa at the time. LaRussa was a rookie manager with the Sox and was always trying to prove himself as somewhat more cerebral a manager than the likes of Sparky Anderson, Earl Weaver, Billy Martin and the others during that era. But he overdid it. The next thing you know you had the left handed first baseman Mike Squires playing third base. It was unbelievable! He didn’t like to play the percentages back then but rather tried to show people he was smarter than that. Needless to say, it didn’t work out during his stay with the Sox. That’s why he got so criticized on the air by Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall, and then Don Drysdale and the Hawk as these seasoned professionals watched him do these crazy things back then. Luckily for LaRussa, and for reasons still unknown, Reinsdorf backed and supported him, which led to the exodus of Caray & Piersall, and eventually Hawk.

Hard PASS on Mr. Tony LaRussa. If the association with cheating and A.J. Hinch bothers you, consider the fact that LaRussa presided over the Oakland A’s in the late ‘80s and all of their roiders who bashed their way to their multiple championships. The same thing repeated itself during his time with the Cardinals with McGuire in tow. LaRussa was in the know about the abundance of steroid use happening on those teams, and obviously he was fine with it. And I’m sure he has no regrets because today, he is a member of the Hall of Fame. I know cheating has manifested itself in many different ways in baseball over the years, and perhaps it’s not right to be selective on when to frown on certain types of cheating. But I don’t know, for me, I’d prefer to bypass candidates with this known association with cheating and just find someone else who doesn’t. That and any candidate like LaRussa who has found a way to piss off Hawk Harrelson, Harry Caray, and Jimmy Piersall along the way is no friend of mine!

So which was the greater crime against baseball humanity - Hinch’s involvement with the Houston cheating scandal, or Ozzie quitting on the team back at the end of 2011? I only ask because several posters throughout the years have stated that Guillen quitting the way he did pretty much disqualified him from ever returning in that capacity. Meanwhile, it seems the breadth of the cheating scandal was far worse, particularly in that it led to all of the suspensions and other punishments. For me, at least for now, it feels like a dealbreaker, but I guess I’ll have to figure out a way to get over it since it appears the guy will be the next manager. Chicago White Sox - Home for Wayward AJ’s!!

Does Hahn’s criteria take into account the cheating both would-be candidates were guilty of leading to their current suspensions?

Are A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora, renowned cheaters at this point, the best options this up and coming White Sox team have as their next potential manager? There is no one better who doesn’t come with all of the cheater baggage?

Any remote chance Ozzie had at coming back as manager was slightly increased with the removal of his arch rival Don Cooper as pitching coach. No way Guillen could come back after all the bad blood spilt between he and Coop after his departure.

Is that partially tied to an expected outcome on January 2nd when the futures for Colas and Cespedes will be determined? Don’t look now but that’s just around the corner. Does someone like Springer become more intriguing if they strike out on Colas and Cespedes and Springer is still available, and without a viable internal option?

They just need to have a transition plan that leads to Vaughn being the full time first baseman come 2023. Whether it's a 80/20 or 70/30 split next year with Jose getting most of the reps that then transitions to perhaps the opposite in 2022, I think the goal is to have Vaughn the long term solution for first base during this exciting window of contention coming up these next several years.

Sox fans seem to enjoy the broadcasts that they do, and therefore it contributes to the improved TV ratings.

The continued growing popularity of Benetti and Stone is also a big factor in the increased ratings.

Reinsdorf’s legacy, whatever is left of it after 40 full years now of mostly failure, depends on it. He needs this decade to be one of multiple success to mask his plethora of failure both on and off the field during each of his four decades as owner.

Lol - I was only addressing his little jab at me, but I see your point.