Lip Man 1

He wasn't bad with the Sox though: December 4, 1979 - The Sox claimed first baseman Greg Walker from the Phillies in the Major League draft. Walker would make the big club for good in 1983 and have three seasons with at least 24 home runs and two years with at least 90 RBI’s. He’d then eventually become the Sox hitting coach after retiring. I happened to be in Chicago on the day he had his seizure, remember listening to Chet Coppock's radio show where he had doctors on explaining what they thought happened to him.

No team in baseball is losing money...period.

Dodgers sign Shelby Miller, terms not announced.

The Sox have had excellent center fielders going back to the days of "Happy" Felsch.

“José Abreu deservedly belongs among the roster of White Sox franchise all-time greats,” Reinsdorf said. “His determination and commitment to the game each and every day made him the consummate professional, always leading by example. It was my fervent hope that José would never wear another uniform, as I told him many times throughout the years. Unfortunately, hope is not always translated into reality. While we ended up in different places in the business side of the game, José and I always shared the same love of baseball. “I am grateful to José for his friendship, and the impact he made for the White Sox franchise both on the field and in the community. I want to thank him for always representing the values of the White Sox organization and the great city of Chicago — strength, hard work, pride and tenacity. His legacy is written in the White Sox record books forever.”

How Boston continues to hold on to his job is beyond me. Maybe he is JR's latest clubhouse "spy?"

If you are looking at the entire 100+ year history of the franchise it is starting pitching, shortstop and center field in whatever order you choose.

From my story on the State of the Sox: “Hahn went to JR and told him it would be a bad idea to hire Tony not because he didn’t think he was a good manager but because physically how can you ask a 76-year-old man to go through that grind? But JR signs his paycheck so what are you going to do? Rick did what he was told and tried to make the best of it.”

Except he's made it clear going back to the days when Ventura was the manager that he doesn't like to DH.

Shortstop, Center Field and starting Pitching which has been a hallmark of this franchise since the beginning.

The problem is though the Sox aren't close to being an elite playoff team under current ownership. Given that realty Jose' going to Houston and in essence "hurting" the Sox chances really doesn't apply. If they can rebound to have a winning season and hopefully contend in the central that's about as good as you can get in my opinion.

Everyone knew this was coming. Glad Jose' gets to play for an organization that has actual World Series aspirations. Hey it could have been worse...he could have signed with the Cubs. First base belongs to Vaughn now, we'll see how it goes.

Random Thoughts: On paper this could be a good move for the Sox, when healthy he’s put up solid numbers and is better than dumpster diving guys like Vince Velasquez. And at eight million (instead of the projected 10 million) that helps the Sox budget But… Like a member of the mainstream media told me tonight this guy has a lot of baggage than goes beyond just an anti-COVID vaccine stance. Like so many other Rick Hahn moves this could completely blow up in his face. And what happens when JR tells him to cut his hair?

It partially wasn't his fault. From my interview with him: ML: Let’s talk about the 1993 A.L.C.S. I read an interview a few years ago where then Jays manager Cito Gaston claimed that you and Alex Fernandez were tipping your pitches and that’s why the Jays were able to win. Do you think that’s true? JMD: "The Jays had a real good team that season. They were a veteran bunch of guys. I went 22-10 in the regular season and they beat me three times, and I’m not talking about losing to them 2-1. They just beat me up. Sometimes it happens that a team has your number no matter what you do. Could I have been tipping something? Maybe... but the Jays were a bunch known for being able to steal and relay signs from the bases to their hitters too." As far as his relationship with JR: ML: Do you think some people in upper management had hard feelings towards you? JMD: "I don’t know why they would. Fans don’t know this, but not only was I never offered a multi-year contract, I was never even offered a one year deal! The Sox just automatically took me right to arbitration three years in a row, (Author’s Note: McDowell won one of those salary hearings) they just didn’t negotiate with me. Did that piss me off? Yes. Should I have said some of the things that I did to the media? Probably not. I didn’t play the game as far as the team image was concerned, but I was just telling the truth about what was going on." “One time I was talking with Jerry Reinsdorf and he told me the reason the Sox wouldn’t go out and sign any big name, big money free agents is because they were concerned about how I’d react to it. We had those contract issues all those years and they thought I’d get angry over it. I looked at him and said it wouldn’t bother me, especially if I was looking at my World Series ring! All I ever wanted to do was win, I didn’t care how much somebody else made."

The Sox philosophy under JR has always been anti-MLBPA and certain agents. Remember the labor impasse of 1994-95? JR was willing to neuter his own team's chances to get to the World Series in a foolish effort to get a salary cap and break the MLBPA. Just this past spring he was quoted in the mainstream media as saying he supported the lockout. He has always believed that players make too much money (hence the self-imposed payroll limitations)

Like with Frank Thomas the situation the Sox are in really provides no option unless they move guys like Vaughn & Sheets. And because of the age factor that may not be a wise move.

Regarding Martin, remember the Sox have provided no update sine he left the last game of the season with "forearm soreness". We've seen far to often how that story ends so until we see him back on the mound and pitching effectively you can't count on him for anything in your calculations.

By all indications including from JR directly it sounds like the "plan" is that regardless of his personal situation the team will not be sold until after his death because of the tax implications. If JR is incapacitated my guess is that one of the minority owners will temporarily be put in charge. Kenny is rumored to be retiring after next season when his contract is up so again I'm guessing he will be out of the picture living in Arizona.

His name is probably Leury Garcia.

Have to justify Garcia's contract regardless of how much it hurts the team.

Valid points. Personally I've never cared for the WBC. These guys need as much time off as possible to heal and be supervised by the Sox staffs for the first time since the pandemic. I don't know what leverage the Sox have in this but if they do I hope they say, "no."

Jeff Torborg told me the 87-90 uniforms were the idea of JR, he loved the "Dodger script." Jeff said when he became manager he started working on JR to get him to change them' that only the Dodgers could pull off that look.

The first thought that went through my mind was this reminded me of the type of comments surrounding Carlos Rodon's injury with his shoulder a few years ago. Sox kept saying he was on-track, they were being cautious...long story short, if I remember right he missed a lot of time than had additional surgery.

I don't have a single favorite myself. I like very much the jerseys from 1951-1975. I like the basic scheme they've had since 1991as well.

JR never said that, Eddie Einhorn did. And when I interviewed Mike Veeck he said JR actually apologized to the Veeck family for that comment.