Thad Bosley

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 15, 2015 -> 02:26 PM) If in October of 2005, you had the choice of the White Sox winning the WS and having the next decade go like it has gone, or losing the WS and duplicating the Tigers since then with a WS appearance, and plenty of playoff appearances, but no wins, what do you choose? I'll take Option C, which you didn't offer up but I'm taking it anyway, which is to have that wonderful WS championship experience of '05, AND take advantage of the new playoff system of recent years and maybe have had 2-3 more playoff appearances since '05 as well. Now I'm not greedy, mind you - I'm not saying I expected 2-3 more WS championships. That would, of course, be silly. But just step into that postseason more frequently than we have so we can have some freakin' FUN, for chrissakes. It is NOT fun to have to watch as many meaningless games in our empty ballpark in September and then NONE in October like we've had to do for practically the last decade. So it's not an either/or proposition, the Sox' experience of the past decade vs. that of the Tigers. I'll take the '05 experience, with just a little more white sock waving opportunities in October than we've been provided in the last decade. I don't think that's too much to ask!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 15, 2015 -> 01:10 PM) It is unrealistic to want the owner to sell and everyone in the organization fired. I also will never understand the need to have the team win something before baseball is worth watching. It is like some deep seeded insecurity that needs filling with something artificial like sports. It may be unrealistic to "expect" the owner to sell (sadly enough), but it's certainly not unrealistic to "want" him to sell, because believe you me, we need the "post Reinsdorf" era to begin sooner rather than later. 35 years of this ownership, whether you look at the last ten years, the first ten years, or whatever - enough is enough! The organization needs a bold new strategy and vision, because what's been in place is not working, and I don't think after 35 years that Mr. Reinsdorf is capable at this point of doing anything much differently than what he has been doing. Maybe I'm wrong, and if he cares to prove me wrong, I'm certainly open to it, but I don't see that happening. As for your second comment about needing to win vs. just finding baseball "worth watching", well, we have been watching, at least the people who frequent this site. We've been watching for a long time now. Despite the less-than-desirable product we've been presented with for quite some time, we still find it worth watching. Why? Because through it all, we remain Sox fans, through and through. So we are watching. Now the question is, is it too much to ask to sprinkle in a little more winning than has been the case for the past ten years? Is it too much to ask for the opportunity to wave "white socks" like a crazy person at U.S. Cellular Field in mid-October, cheering madly for the team we love, at least more frequently than one or two games per decade? That is the ask here. For those who find this request some form of "whining" or "complaining" or "moaning" or whatever, so be it. Call it what you want. But that's what true White Sox fans crave for their ballclub - success! And by golly, we are not going to stop talking about it until we get it!!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 15, 2015 -> 09:39 AM) Then there is the Soxtalk Plan Step 1: Cry about everything, making a bunch of unrealistic demands Step 2: ? This is so disingenuous. I mean, really? What the devil are you talking about? No one is crying about anything and making unrealistic demands. You have diehard fans here reacting to the very poor results of this organization for the past several years and simply asking for better. Aren't you frustrated after watching the crap the Sox rolled out in 2015 and then seeing the caliber of teams that are in the playoffs right now, and all of the excitement surrounding that for the fans of those teams? If you consider yourself passionate about this team, then being frustrated with the results should be expected, and it should come as no surprise that legitimate criticism is then leveled here against the management team that has brought these types of poor results for a full decade now. If you are not frustrated at this point and/or are content with the past ten seasons, then one could easily suggest you are more of a casual fan than a diehard. And that is fine if you are, but then don't be critical of those fans who take this a tad bit more seriously.

QUOTE (MindGame2004 @ Oct 15, 2015 -> 07:25 AM) Start with Kenny. He has to go. To a greater extent, Jerry does too. The two of them could care less about the farm system. There's no revenue in it. They've been tinkering with the same bad team now for years, adding free agents and trading for veterans while all the while not fluxing any kind of talent into the big club from the farm. They're hellbent on pitching but have no one who can field or hit. In a hitter friendly ballpark they play 81 games in no less. Rick Hahn seems like a smart guy, but if he has Kenny stepping on his head, it doesn't really matter how smart he is. Then you have Robin, who while being a total waste of a manager, has this dysfunction above him. Could Joe Maddon manage a team with this kind of front office? He's worked for Andrew Friedman and Theo Epstein. I'd say that helps matters for him, and while Maddon is a good manager, imagine having brain trusts like those helping make your job easier. Jerry hires his kids. Bulls, White Sox, doesn't matter. You've played for one of his teams? Great. You're hired. Is there anyone who actually disagrees with this? Anyone actually confident in the stewardship of the organization by these two individuals, particularly the owner? Anyone? And if so, why?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 14, 2015 -> 02:59 PM) So essentially the same group that most thought had assembled a borderline playoff team six months ago, now is incapable of doing anything right. Seems about right. No, nice try, but as always with you, no. What we "essentially" have here is the "same group" who have only managed to assemble a "playoff team" in two of the thirteen years they've been at this thing, and not one "playoff team" for seven years in a row now. It's that deplorable record of achievement, or lack thereof, that has most of us concluding they are "incapable of doing anything right".

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 13, 2015 -> 03:52 PM) Sure, load up the bandwagon. By all means! You don't think everyone of those ballparks currently "active" with postseason play have their fair share of bandwagon fans? Goes with the territory, so bring it on!!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 13, 2015 -> 02:43 PM) Our highest ranking, besides affordability... My favorite part of the article was where it said "Of course, the best way to fix a drop in fan support is to reel off a string of playoff appearances". I mean, who woulda thunk it!!

The booth configuration gets a little confusing if AJ is brought into the mix, and Stone stays on. I can't imagine a scenario where AJ Pierzynski is a broadcaster for the Sox but NOT broadcasting with Hawk, after all of the "AJ is like a son to me!" stuff Hawk's been talking about all of these years. I also can't imagine Stone moving into a part time role where he only does home games so AJ could go on the road and be with Hawk. Would it be a three man booth on the road? And at home, is Stone the guy you want doing PBP for 81 games? He's not bad as a PBP, IMO, and maybe he'd help make AJ a top notch analyst, but after being an analyst his entire broadcast life, does Stoney want the PBP job at this point? Maybe - who knows. It'll be very interesting to see how it all works out, that's for sure!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 13, 2015 -> 12:55 PM) Fan complaints, I am sure. Well, it certainly doesn't seem to be weighted towards actual team results. Our "ownership" doesn't have a whole heckuva lot to point to in that regard.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 13, 2015 -> 12:04 PM) The irony is that ownership is one of their highest rated categories. Irony, indeed! Makes you wonder what criteria they use to render such a conclusion.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Oct 12, 2015 -> 03:50 PM) I agree that patching a bad team with high priced veterans doesn't always pay off. Sometimes it does, but you can't just look at all of this stuff in a vacuum. If the Sox mostly stand pat, I don't think Zobrist makes much sense. But look, the Sox have one of the best pitchers in baseball on their roster, and decent offensive core. They have the makings of a solid team, if smart moves are made to supplement the roster. You have to stop wasting Chris Sale's prime years...if you throw a bunch of kids out there, you need to trade Sale, and the Sox will never get even money for Sale, so they shouldn't and won't trade him. That is pretty much exactly why I think the Sox will continue to try to supplement their roster rather than tearing it up and trading their best assets. You can pretty much apply this same line of though to Quintana, but obviously down a tier. In that case, a guy like Zobrist makes a ton of sense if you can find other places to improve this teams line up and defense, which I am confident Rick Hahn will leave no stone unturned in his search. Sorry, but you really can't make that statement as of today. Maybe after a series of shrewd offseason moves, perhaps, but not now. If you'll recall, we just finished third to last in the league, thanks to the miserably worst offense and almost as equally abysmal defense. There is nothing "solid" at all there at the moment, save Sale, Abreu, Q, Eaton, and Robertson. Fairly steep drop off after those fellas.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 02:54 PM) I love how you love to start trouble with moaning. You obviously failed to mention you actually read the article which would make the title all wrong. The quotes were from players who thought the roster was good enough, not one quote from management. But if you can get this out there to moan, more power to you. Why don't you read the article and tell us why we should believe they will not make significant changes, I guess it wouldn't fall in line with your constant complaining. Moaning about everything, to borrow one on your lines, that's how Lip rolls. You ought to do us all a favor and take your own advice and go cheer for another team - a successful one, one that wins enough games to make it into the postseason more than once a decade. That way you'd be able to frequent a fan message board that has the privilege of spending their time talking about and enjoying the success of their team vs. always having to express their frustration over continued failure. Free yourself of all of this "moaning" and "complaining" about the Sox organization's ongoing ineptitude. You'd probably be much happier if you did.

In 1991, when the Sox first rolled out this current version of the uniform (and a classic one at that!), there were no names on the home unis. And I kind of liked that, because there was then something more imposing about just having the number "35" on the back of Big Hurt's uni, or of course good, 'ol #72 on the back of the Commander's. I think it's kind of interesting and fun for the number itself to become identified with the player. And when they ended up putting the names on the backs, with Thomas, for example, when you'd then see the name "Thomas" on top of the 35, it was like, "Duh - I knew that!". So I'd be a fan of the names on the home unis going away, but that's just me! : )

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Oct 6, 2015 -> 10:14 AM) I'm with you on this. JR bought himself a lot of time with 2005 but that time has long since past no matter how much they try to remind us of it. It is appalling that in a sports-crazy town like Chicago where there's constant talk of how we could probably support a second NFL team that a historic franchise like the Sox have been run down to, as you so perfectly put it, Cleveland-like levels. I mean FFS even perennial bottom-dwellers KC have turned their team around as we simply sink further and further into their former role in the central. I personally don't care for the Ricketts but damn they did what it took to turn the Cubs around, spent the money, got the talent but most importantly got the MANAGEMENT. Theo Epstein? Joe Maddon? How COULD that fail? And we don't even need to talk about Rocky Wirtz and his immediate impact, save to say that again, he immediately brought in new MANAGEMENT: Coach Q and Tim McDonough (Bowman was already there in a different capacity). I think the reality is that JR is basically the McCaskeys of MLB. Another historic franchise for which you have to go even further back for the last moment of glory. The only difference being that the Bears still have a huge audience and sell out. I really thought the Hawks becoming a dynasty and how they run things would shake JR (or even the McCaskeys) into some sort of action if only for pride--but nothing of any appreciable scale. I think the reality is that the Sox are simply a vanity exercise for JR at this point. A hobby which amazingly still makes him a profit. Well, this is one of so many reasons why this franchise is in so desperate need of new ownership. A new owner, at least for a while, would not operate under some misguided "loyalty reward" program but would rather, presumably, try to assemble the best available talent at the management level, very similar to what Ricketts did up on the north side. New fresh blood, exciting new ideas coursing throughout the White Sox organization, starting at the top and working it's way down. Now doesn't that have a nice ring to it!

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 6, 2015 -> 09:38 AM) Stone should be PBP anyway. Hawk was Don Drysdale's color guy, iirc. Double D did play-by-play in innings 1-3 and 7-9 with Hawk as color guy, and vice versa innings 4-6. They were a great broadcast team. A ton of mutual admiration for one another. They were tough to get used to and appreciate after the five year roller coaster ride with Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall, but they turned out to be quite good, IMO.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Oct 6, 2015 -> 08:58 AM) 26th in wins the past three years tends to make people not care. 26th in wins the past three years, dead last in TV ratings, swimming around with the likes of Cleveland, Miami and Oakland in the attendance column, only three of the other 29 teams with a longer playoff drought than the Sox. All of this adds up to the fact that Jerry Reinsdorf is a COLOSSAL FAILURE as an owner - has been, and continues to be. Those statistics for a large market team are abominable. I mean, this is about as rock bottom as it can possibly get. It's like the entire city of Chicago, save the diehards who frequent message boards like this, has turned it's back on the product that Mr. Reinsdorf is offering. Unbelievable. Un-freaking-believable!

With Hawk doing all road games, I'm going to miss those home game introductions: "From the City Beautiful, Chicago, where tonight..." Always found that a little unique and a part of his overall charm!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 5, 2015 -> 11:03 AM) If the White Sox ship a bunch of players out, they are showing more accountability than firing a guy who makes out a line up card. Hahn has already said, the roster is on him. Accountability. If they don't make changes, you have a point, but I find that highly unlikely. In 2013 Hahn said the roster was on him, then he made changes, and then 2014 happened. In 2014, Hahn said the roster was on him, then he made changes, and then 2015 happened. Now he says once again the roster is on him, and we of course can expect changes of some sort, and then we'll see how 2016 goes. Let's just hope he gets a whole lot better at the "making changes" aspect of things, so that this time next year instead of griping about Ventura, we are talking about postseason pitching match-ups and what not!

I think this signals the return of Steve Stone as well. I can't imagine an entire new broadcast team at home, and then someone new to Hawk joining him on the road. I think it expands Stone's ability to work well with a PBP guy who will leverage his knowledge a little bit more, while providing continuity for Hawk on the road with a partner he's familiar with.

QUOTE (ewokpelts @ Oct 5, 2015 -> 04:26 AM) you do know that the cubs and sox negotiate their own contracts for tv, right? theo and tommy boy are banking on the big money of going on their own, but signs point to a burst in the rights bubble. Sox will likely stay on csn with a richer deal, along witht eh hawks and bulls. Lol - oh yeah? What "signs"? What "signs point to a burst in the rights bubble" the Cubs are pursuing? And while you're at it, do tell how on god's green earth the next Sox deal on CSN will somehow be "richer" than the one the Cubs are on target to achieve? I mean, if anything, the way things are going, Theo and Tommy are getting set to leave Jerry & Club Loyalty in their dust with the next set of TV deals, not the other way around.

QUOTE (ron883 @ Oct 4, 2015 -> 04:49 PM) With Eaton having surgery on his throwing shoulder? Do you see him switching to the corner? I think trayce won the cf job for next year. The sox simply need to improve their defense. I can't see this not happening It cannot happen if we are truly in the midst of a "three year plan" to maximize the existence of Sale and Abreu on this roster together, which Sox management has told us to be the case. In "Year Two" of that plan, I don't see how you can go into it with two unproven question marks in the outfield with Trayce and Avi. You'd have to pull the plug on Avi and replace him with some proven veteran before handing the reins over to Trayce. Again, that's all predicated on this commitment to this "three year plan" they keep telling us about.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 4, 2015 -> 03:57 PM) Sounds like Stone and Hawk will be back. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

Three triples for Trayce - impressive!

Hawk's cumulative disappointment in how this season has turned out manifesting itself in his tone today.

Lol - thought the "Al Haig" comparison to KW was clever. Otherwise, it was an accurate account of the state of things on the South Side at the moment, but nothing new than is routinely discussed here and at a couple of other reputable message boards.