Lip Man 1

Heard from a long time friend and source late last night who has been around the Sox for years. He just passed along some thoughts on the changes and the individuals involved. Some of them seem to show some promise...let's hope so: "Grifol - held mandatory BP before every game starting with the last three games of the first half until his firing." "Montoyo - nice guy still gun shy from his firing in Toronto, never spoke to White Sox media." "Tosar - Grifol friend from Miami days, another KC refugee" "Rodriguez - offense was so bad that Eddie never got a chance to show why he was the worst third base coach I ever covered." "Bourgeois- should have been reprimanded after taking a batter off to take a dump. Lots of runners got picked off." "Barfield - Sox had their choice of Jake McCarthy or Dominic Fletcher. Barfield, who came from the DBacks, chose Fletcher. How’s that working out?" "Gene Watson - THE WORST! Glorified spy for Dayton Moore in KC, would have been fired last September had Getz not hired him. He scouts all over the country for players the Sox have no chance of signing. Knack for posing with celebrities or famous ballplayers and putting them on his social media account. Spent more time on the KC side during a three-game series at Guaranteed Rate, bothering the hell out of Bobby Witt Jr. during pregame BP to talk to Gene’s guests. Already has Levine and Merkin wrapped around his finger. Known as a consensus scout who can’t form an original evaluation." "Katz is tied to Bannister, so he’s safe." "As for the new coaches, Doug Sisson is a red ass who should have been hired years ago just to get in the faces of Grandal, Moncada, Anderson, etc." "The sudden rise of Mike Gellinger, who Konerko adored. Gellinger makes so much money that Cleveland wanted to hire him but couldn’t match the money."

https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/chris-russo-jerry-reinsdorf-white-sox-mlb-network-rant.html https://soxmachine.com/2024/08/pedro-grifol-white-sox-fired-reaction/

BA in my opinion does have meaning but it depends on the player himself. Craig Grebek or Ozzie wasn't expected to hit for power and drive in runs. Iloy as big as he is, as massive as he is, SHOULD be hitting home runs and regularly getting extra base hits to drive in runs. He did in in 2019 and 2020...then he dropped off the face of the Earth. So him hitting .500 is great but it's not what the White Sox expected from him and I suggest neither is Baltimore.

Here's another one. Two items in it got my attention. Cameron Maybin went after ownership and JR and A.J. said he's let JR know many times he'd like to help the organization and JR has never gotten back with him.

Both.

The Royals are now pretty good they don't want him back or need him.

Saw this on Facebook:

The Sox wasted over 20 million bucks on guys who are or were horrible this year and some of those have already been released or traded. Just wasted JR money, a lot of it which continues a pattern of wasting money on stiffs, has-been's and retreads for a decade now.

That appears to be the case next season, another dismal year of ineptitude.

Here is another one that I just read: https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2024/08/08/white-sox-pedro-grifol-fired-grady-sizemore-chris-getz-jerry-reinsdorf

Very true and JR's ego is such that he won't admit things are failing badly. He still thinks his way to win will work.

Getz eliminated anybody currently on the Sox staff when he said they are going outside the organization. (Now we will see if that comes to pass...)

All brought up good points on various issues. Getz seems determined to go outside the organization and also talked about how other areas have to improve including drafting and scouting: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2024/08/08/getz-says-white-sox-will-search-outside-organization-for-manager https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/08/08/chicago-white-sox-jerry-reinsdorf/ https://soxmachine.com/2024/08/pedro-grifol-was-fired-by-the-white-sox-what-did-chris-getz-have-to-say-about-it/ https://www.fansfirstsports.com/sox-populi/he-gone-pedro-grifol-fired/

In other words JR, "fiscal responsibility" mantra continues to be rule #1.

Speaking of a buffoon. ?

That's the million dollar question and the answer probably involves a lot of areas and a lot of people. Off the top of my head here may be two examples: JR's ego that continues to insist his way is the right way to win. Since 2007 this franchise is one of the worst in baseball. JR refuses to adapt, refuses to hold people accountable until much too late, and continues to insist on "fiscal responsibility" even though MLB by Manfred's own admission is now a 10 billion dollar a year business. The "inbred" attitude of the organization. Almost like a mob mentality, if you aren't connected to the "family" we have little to no interest in hiring you. Very little outside perspective on the problems and issues.

Starting with the owner.

He has always been very considerate with me and I consider him a friend, but I've heard from multiple people things that have gone on with the broadcasters ever before Jason, the naming rights controversy with a potential conflict of interest and other issues that gave me pause. Personally I don't understand why he's decided to take those approaches, that doesn't seem to be like him given my interactions with him.

Two comments: 1.Better late than never 2. This buffoon should never have been hired in the first place So who is next????? https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/white-sox-manager-candidates-ozzie-guillen-charlie-montoyo-and-more-possible-pedro-grifol-replacements/ https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2024/08/08/white-sox-pedro-grifol-fired-chris-getz-jerry-reinsdorf

Tim Kirkjian on ESPN today said the Sox losing 21 in a row "is bad for baseball" and said they need to do a complete rebuild. He said that would be helped by trading Crochet and Robert and getting a lot of talent back in return. Of course when the front office is incompetent, dysfunctional and inept they'll just screw that up too.

Doesn't look like it till the end of the season.

The White Sox are where players careers go to die.

A few people connected to the organization have told me the same thing about Brooks, which is regrettable if true.

Robert has more stolen bases 14 since July 1 than anyone in baseball so his legs are fine. Again I think mentally he has thrown in the towel just wants to get through the end of the season. But like with Moncada and Iloy he got huge money without proving anything and it has impacted him. The Sox thought they were being smarter than everybody else by giving the big money to these guys early so they wouldn't have to potentially pay arbitration years, especially if the players did really well...and...it blew up in their faces.