Thad Bosley

Does anyone even remember what it's like to talk and get excited about a pennant chase at this time of year?

*fewer

Your heart has to go out to the Cardinals fans, though. They are going through a rough time as well. Do you realize this season threatens to be the first time in 20 years that the Redbirds might go three seasons in a row without making the postseason? They haven't made it to the playoffs since 2015! I mean, talk about a drought!

This. Outstanding post.

Not factual on any account, and as typical of you, nothing more than your usual splattering of lipstick on this pig of an ownership our beleaguered fan base has been strangled with these nearly past four decades. First off, nothing “hateful” coming from me, just facts fully tethered in results. Fourth longest playoff drought in all of baseball, no playoff appearance in a decade now and none seemingly on the horizon - no die-hard White Sox fan is happy about this sad state of affairs. As for the “bottom line” and what “they make”, fullest of shame on you for trying to divert attention away from the “sweetheart lease deal” this owner negotiated with the State in the most obscene of ways back in the late ‘80s that guaranteed ownership maximum profits no matter if 964 people are in the stands or 30,000 - ALL AT THE EXPENSE OF ILLINOIS TAXPAYER REVENUES. That’s the “bottom line”, buddy, and continued shame on you for defending the disgusting practice of this failed owner.

You are well on your way to fulfilling this month’s quota of meaningless, useless, and totally throw-away comments you are evidently expected to post. Nice work.

Lol - ya think? The team is only in the fourth (and soon to be third, given Seattle's fortunes this season) longest playoff drought in all of baseball as we speak, and has only played in four playoff games in total since walking off the field in Houston in October 2005. Who knew then that the next 13 seasons (and perhaps longer) would only feature one trip to the postseason for our Sox, comprising only four games and just one win. So yes, it's time. It's time to make some moves to begin to restore relevance to this team. And if that means the owner parting ways with more of his taxpayer-subsidized profits than he historically ever has, so be it.

Rebuild - be patient!

Is this a similar phenomenon in the NY and LA markets between the teams in those markets?

Eminor, where are we restricted then? Where in this “major market” do the Cubs, the other, clearly “major market” team in the city, have access to this market that the Sox do not? I think in this argument you conflate the Sox’ inability to compete in this market that is available to them with some mindset the market isn’t even open to them at all.

Forget about me, then. Where is Steve Stone’s thinking off then when he routinely refers to the Sox as a “major market” team?

NO!!!!

Don’t worry - you only lose this argument by the margin you do on days that end in “y”.

As is more likely the case your assumption on this topic. I’m siding with Steve Stone on this one. When a guy of his stature refers to the Sox as a “major market team”, seems pretty logical to line up with his thinking. That and it is just blatantly obvious.

Seems a major market team like the Chicago White Sox ought to be able to negotiate a major market TV deal.

Lol - ohhhhh, I think we can safely say "jobs riding on team performance" isn't the case with this particular owner. Williams and Hahn have been 1-2/2-1 atop the White Sox front office for 18 years now. If you take the one clear outlier year (2005) out of the mix and look at the other 17 years they've been at the helm of this thing, you'll see just one trip to the postseason in those 17 years. Just one, and that year they needed 163 games to just barely squeak into the playoffs. And then of course the playoff appearance was ever so brief, with only four games played and only one game won. That's the performance those two have rendered for 17 of their 18 years as the men in charge. As has been mentioned on this board many times, such futility would have cost them their jobs a long time ago. But not with this owner for some reason. Maybe they laugh at all of his jokes so he likes to keep them around for that. Who knows? How else can you explain their continued employment in their current roles.

The White Sox are NEVER losing money, and there is ALWAYS a huge profit. How/why? BECAUSE OF THE SWEETHEART LEASE DEAL THAT GUARANTEES THEM A HUGE PROFIT MARGIN EACH AND EVERY YEAR. It's a forgotten fact but a very salient one to this discussion.

That is very true. They deserve so much more, if for nothing else than continuing to hang in there despite only witnessing four Sox postseason games (and just one postseason win) in the 13 years since 2005. That is some kind of commitment from those who frequent this message board, despite the team’s ongoing futility, and especially in light of the team being at rock bottom as we speak.

+1

If you haven’t noticed, the owner does not redirect his enormous state-subsidized profits to “big fish FA”.

LOL - well, thank goodness you are happy and content with the results of the last four decades to help balance out that bitterness and grudginess of the more serious fans out there!

Nothing screams the state of White Sox baseball these days than someone directing people away from Sox baseball rather than to it to attain “happiness” and “escape”.

Whoever the next owner of this organization is (and there has to be several people or groups out there who consider themselves to be the possible successor to the current regime), he/she/they must be chomping at the bit to come in and turn this mess of a franchise around.

Willie Stargell, a Hall of Famer, was a lousy defensive first baseman who, over a 162 game average in his career, hit .282 with 33 homers and 106 RBIs. Jose Abreu's current average over 162 games is a .300 batting average with 32 dingers and 107 RBIs. Obviously Stargell played in the Majors a lot longer than Jose has or will, but it seems like their style of play is similar, and last I looked, a Hall of Famer was considered "elite". So I think it's fair to say Jose is significantly above that of just a "decent player".

The White Sox were not “dominated” in this “huge” market in 1981/1982, at the time when the current owners took control of the Sox and Tribune Company took control of the Cubs. The latter quickly learned how to take advantage of the “huge” market in which they played and tapped into its potential almost immediately, while the former did not, and 38 long years later, still have not.