Thad Bosley

It's not ridiculous at all. You keep trying to paint the five years of Veeck's second go-around as owner from '76-'80 as this "dark" and "laughingstock" window of time in the organization. My point was it was no darker or more of a laughingstock than what we've experienced this decade. Take out the three rebuild years if you want and look at the four years preceding them that resulted in the need for the rebuild to begin with. For a team that was "going for it" from 2013-2016, and with a core that included the likes of Sale, Abreu, Quintana, and Eaton, the team didn't even play .500 ball. That's every bit as laughingstock as anything that happened from '76 thru '80. We lost quite a few ballgames between '13 and '16, which one should think would meet your definition of "dark". At least in late '70s we had Nancy Faust playing the organ and Harry Caray singing "Take me out to the ballgame" every day/night at the ballpark, along with the many unique, themed days and nights Veeck had going on back then. Don't recall any of that feeling particularly "dark".

The White Sox have been far more of a “laughingstock” these past seven years under Reinsdorf than Bill Veeck’s teams were from his second go-around as owner from ‘76-‘80.

I think you might be getting one former White Sox owner confused with a current White Sox owner in terms of who almost “moved the team to St. Pete”. Veeck helped save the Sox from moving to Seattle. Reinsdorf threatened to move the team to St. Pete if the state didn’t meet his demand to make him a future billionaire by building him a stadium entirely funded off the backs of taxpayers, while also giving him a 40 year lease with annual guaranteed taxpayer-provided subsidies. Meanwhile, speaking of those subsidies and all of the revenues Reinsdorf has received from the new ballpark, if you thought Veeck was a “terrible owner”, who operated WITHOUT those taxpayer, built-in advantages, what in the world can you possibly think of Reinsdorf, particularly when you think of the franchise’s record since the park opened in 1991.

Thank you for introducing some reasonable perspective into this discussion. You would imagine Jose is registering an Adam Dunn 2011esque season this year, the way some are carrying on. Put him at DH primarily in seasons going forward, and then there is little or nothing to complain about.

I think if you looked in the dictionary for the definition of the term a "fool's errand", it would be described as trying to think you could somehow be successful in signing a Scott Boras premium free agent for a below market amount. It'll be interesting to see how, or even if, the Sox approach Cole this offseason.

The White Sox have money to spend, too, and lots of it. And they may be in an even more enviable position given they don't have any luxury tax implications to be concerned with.

The converse of Ventura would be someone like Tony LaRussa. Utility infielder who ended up with a .199 career average, but then turned into a HOF manager.

Well now, don't be too harsh. I don't "hate" anyone, including this FO. I just find them frustratingly incompetent at what they do. There is a difference. As it relates to the difference between this coming offseason and the last one, of course I recognize the difference. Last year we had an extraordinary opportunity to land a generational premium talent without having to compete with any other large market team, and we still failed to do so. We won't have that opportunity again this offseason, as you pointed out yourself with the reference to the Yankees probably interest in Cole. As for the state of the rebuild last offseason, that's actually an irrelevant point to make, as we weren't talking about signing either Machado or Harper to a one year contract, but one that would have covered the entire upcoming window of competitiveness the team is shooting for, and during their prime years, no less.

Well, it's a fascinating question, to be honest. When you think of this team with only $14M in guaranteed salary on the books so far for next year, coupled with the fact that the MLB average payroll is a little over $136M - and again, that's just the average - there is obviously extraordinary room for growth. Under these conditions and under normal circumstances, our major market ball club should absolutely be in the mix for the likes of Cole and Strasburg. But these conditions existed last offseason, and yet the team failed to land an available premium talent. In fact, one of the reasons for that failure coming directly from Williams was they couldn't afford to pay either of Machado or Harper because of the need to pay the current core somewhere down the road in a few years. Will that excuse be in effect again this time around if and when they fail to land a premium free agent? So I don't know. It's hard to predict what the payroll will be with this lot running the organization. I do think there's a fairly strong possibility of the team acquiring expensive top tier talent through a trade where we offer the other team salary relief in return for the top talent. I think that's more the White Sox way than competing in the open market. That would catapult us up the ladder in terms of team payroll for next year, but will still likely fall fairly short of the league average.

Of course we are all for bringing in Cole, but I just don't see how this team gets past these annual, typical hurdles that always prevent us from acquiring premium talent on the open market: Boras is the agent The other major market big spenders will likely be involved in the bidding Reinsdorf is still the owner

This.

I didn’t realize a guy who scores 100+ runs, hits 30+ doubles, steals 20+ bases, and plays solid defense, cant be considered worthy of starting player status.

Well, Reinsdorf does suck (see his 39 year record - terribly unimpressive), but as it relates to this theoretical exercise, the fact of the matter is the Sox have the massive flexibility to have spent the money to bring in Machado or Harper, AND still have plenty of budget leftover to go after those other resources you’ve named. Going into next season, the Sox will be around $100M below just the median MLB payroll. It would be $70M if we had one of those generational talents on the payroll. So the exercise is not one of should they have spent the money on either Machado or Harper OR spend that money on three other players, but rather do both.

Take a closer look then because you’ve missed several terrific posts by that poster, all of which are superior to the continuous and nonsensical garbage posts about Abreu you continue on with here.

Well, the cool thing is that with just two more years after this one, Jose will likely land in the White Sox top five all time for home runs and RBIs. And deservedly after that, he’ll be considered a legend in this organization. As in, number retired and the whole bit. Hopefully the prospect of that will motivate you to post nicer things about him.

Cute, but just remember - this pic is EXACTLY what’s going through people’s minds every time they read one of your silly Abreu rants.

I’m with you most of the way on this, but in a “good” White Sox lineup (and boy, when was the last time we had one of those!), I think Leury makes a nifty “second leadoff hitter” batting in the #9 slot. I’m also keen on moving Robert up to #2 in front of Moncada, at least in year 1, to give him both at-bats and protection as he adjusts to the Major League level. With that, I think I’d go with this lineup: Madrigal 2B Robert CF Moncada 3B Jimenez LF Abreu DH/1B TBD LH 1B/DH McCann C Anderson SS Garcia RF Tons of speed both at the top and bottom of the lineup, and for me, we’d acquire a decent hitting, good glove left-handed first baseman over the winter to hold down that position until Vaughn arrives. In the meantime, I think that could definitely be a fun offense to watch and get used to.

You really need to up your game around here if you even remotely thought this pic was either the appropriate and/or funny response to the poster’s well-described view on the importance of leadership. This dopey pic didn’t make a shred of sense as a response to that.

I think the argument had merit maybe six weeks or so ago. But with the clock ticking, and with only 42 games left in this season, it doesn't appear it would be worth it to call them up at this point and forego that full year of control down the road.

On August 16th, now, that should be quite obvious to everyone. There will be NO sightings of either of those two until mid-April or whatever that time is next year where we get the extra year of control.

I, for one, just love everything about this. The national attention our oft-ignored franchise will receive will be extraordinary. The timing of this particular game, with the attention that comes with it because we’ll be playing the Yankees, with where we should be a year from now with the timing of the rebuild, could be just perfect. The official start of the long-awaited run of sustainable winning like we’ve never seen before. Literally!

First off, you are a great poster. Always enjoy reading your thoughts and insights relating to our Sox. Much appreciated! Second, as it relates to all of the “modernization” improvements you referred to, shouldn’t those have been “in scope”, if you will, of the overall “rebuilding” project objectives, to enhance/implement such improvements? If Hahn, at his age, is worth anything, shouldn’t the advances as you point out that a team like the Astros made when they “rebuilt”, shouldn’t Rick had been pushing and advocating for, and insisting on, similar advances? If you have to go the route of a multi-year rebuilding effort, surely it cannot just be trading your young, cost-controlled assets for a bevy of prospects and simply waiting for those players to advance to the Majors. Thats the piece of the puzzle I’ve found most interesting since Ye Olde Rebuild began - did they actually address the true root causes in scouting and player development that caused the need for the rebuild in the first place?

Next year will be the 15th year since the team won the WS, and they’ve only returned to the postseason ONCE since then, playing in all of just four games, and with only ONE WIN to show for it. That last and only post ‘05 playoff occurrence happened way back when George W. Bush was wrapping up his second term in office. 2008. The team we know, love, and follow hasn’t been to the playoffs in 11 freaking years (and counting). 11 years, and this in a set-up that has not one but two wild card opportunities! 4th longest playoff drought in all of baseball (and counting). How much more “rebuilding” does this team need to do? They’ve gotten all of the blue chip prospects they’re going to get via trade. They’ll get another shot at adding a valuable piece in the draft next year. But it would seem now is the time to shift gears and get out of this revolting “tank” mode that inflicts hideously played baseball on our fan base and onto a strategy that genuinely and purposefully tries to bring sustainable winning baseball to the South Side. This means acquiring some “premium talent” on the open market, like other successful franchises do. Premium F*cking Talent. No excuses. They have all of the financial flexibility and wherewithal to do so. So do it! 2020 should be a year focused on competing for the postseason once again, particularly for this team that plays in the weakest division in all of baseball.

Ron, the people have spoken. No longer any need for these ridiculous surveys re: Abreu. He’s clearly the least of our fan base’s worries.

Actions over any words at this point. Last year, they indicated the “money would be spent”, and then it wasn’t. And thru today, it still hasn’t been. The offseason is now just a few months away. Let’s see what this crack braintrust has in mind this time around!