Lip Man 1

Second half begins and so does more losing.

The book The Lords of the Realm by John Helyar goes into detail on some of the ways teams were hiding income when MLB agreed (for the only time) to let an independent accountant examine their books. He was from Stanford. The accountant exploded Bud Selig's myth that 18 teams were losing money at the time of the 1994-95 labor impasse. MLB vowed they'd never open their books again (and they haven't) One example Helyar went into was the Braves under Ted Turner. Instead of putting up the broadcast rights for the club on the open market in Atlanta, he simply gave them to his own WTBS at a reduced rate. Then claimed that the Braves weren't bringing in as much revenue as they should have and were "losing" money in this area. Smart people can make numbers say just about anything you want them to when they are done with all the manipulations.

He has an unbelievable baseball memorabilia collection in his home.

Agreed but that income still goes to him. That's why it is so tricky to get a real accurate read on what a team does or does not make. There are so many ancillary companies and areas to stash revenue.

JR doesn't like to pay people not to work and as others have stated he's the designated scape-goat at the end of the year.

Until any team allows an independent accountant to examine their books this is all speculation but Manfred has said MLB is now at least a 10 Billion dollar a year business. There are more revenue streams both domestically and internationally for MLB than ever before. And in the Sox case it is not just revenue from merchandise, parking, concessions and advertising it is the very team-friendly deal they have on the stadium with the ISSA.

That's fine if the two different broadcasts i.e. radio/TV are in synch. Often times they aren't.

To Scott Merkin: “We want to develop to win. We want to develop winners. And yes, you gotta develop players fundamentally. But most of the time, these guys come up here fundamentally sound."--Pedro Grifol. WHAT????????????? Is he watching the same things we've been seeing for years in this organization?

I asked around and I don't know if this is the complete story. I was told Jeff texted Schriffin at a number he thought was his but later learned it was the wrong number. It was a Sox office number. The Sox alerted Jeff and he reached out to John to apologize and to set the record straight for a story that was about to be published. Schriffin never responded. That's all I know.

? This may be one of the most asinine statements I've ever read in my life. I don't "claim" to announce games, I've broadcast games for 40 years on both TV and radio. This past May for example I broadcast the Big Sky softball championships on ESPN+. 11 games in four days. I've broadcast high school sports, college sports and semi-pro baseball in Kentucky, Louisiana and Idaho. Oh I was also in TV sports anchoring for 14 years at three different stations. I'd be happy to give you a complete list of where I worked and who I broadcast for. I'm 68, there's no way in hell I would have even applied at that age, you must be insane. Bottom line, the broadcast on the TV is poor. Period. End of story. Full stop. Yes it would have been easier to listen to if the Sox were winning but that doesn't change the fact it is poor. And I guarantee you it would STILL be talked about. The "hometown" broadcast is one of the few ways fans connect to the team and organization. It is a damn important connection. You want the best possible person representing your organization in this fashion. Schriffen right now isn't it. He may get better we'll see how he improves next year but I think he'd be better off dropping the "attitude" that he's trying to bring to the broadcast. He shouldn't have a chip on his shoulder, he's not down on the field and frankly he gets paid the same if they win or lose. Just be professional, that's all.

There is a lot of truth in the bolded part but I think it is mitigated somewhat with the Sox given the "loyalty" factor by JR and the fact that it is a lot easier to let pride in doing a job well, slip, if you are making a six figure salary. Human nature.

This is the second year of a three year deal.

He just can't help himself can he? Guy is an embarrassment. 'I don't care how many L's we've got, we're not going to take that s%*# from Milwuakee...er I mean the media!' ?

You're right, it is over my head. Don't get it.

It was Brook Baldwin and she left a few years ago at CNN.

It may not have been his decision.

Under the agreement, the county would commit $312.5 million in tourist money to the project. The Rays would pay for more than half of the stadium’s estimated cost as well as any additions or overrun. https://www.mlb.com/news/rays-stadium-city-council-approval The Rays can put up a lot of money to get their stadium deal off the ground but Jerry Reinsdorf apparently can't. ?

This video was nicely done:

DVS in his story this afternoon at the Sun-Times said Moncada won't be called up until the end of the month. We'll see.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports-media/2024/07/18/chicago-white-sox-john-schriffen-steve-stone-jason-benetti-awful-announcing-mlb-rankings-2024 "Schriffen has figured out some things, such as toning down his act and slowing his delivery. His voice is pleasant, and he calls the action well. He has set up Stone with some good questions. But he’s learning things about broadcasting and baseball that he should’ve learned calling games in the minors. That’s where many announcers find their way. Such experience wasn’t important to the Sox, who were more focused on availability and affordability."

If I remember right the post was from Jay Cuda. He also wrote the Sox had only five analytic guys but had 50 ticket sale individuals on the payroll. It was from a few weeks ago and honestly I don't know if I'm remembering it correctly.

Quin: Wasn't sure of the rules but this is not the entire story. It was simply his comments on the Sox, the rest of the story includes his views on all the other teams. No problem though, it won't happen again.

From CBS Sportsline. No surprise: Pedro Grifol, White Sox Earl Weaver couldn't have crafted a winner out of the White Sox rosters with which Grifol has been saddled, but it's hard to ignore all the losing. Since taking over prior to the start of the 2023 season, Grifol is 88-172, and this season finds his charges on pace for 117 losses. Now consider that general manager Chris Getz will likely pawn off multiple productive veterans leading up to the trade deadline, thus making a terrible team even worse for the stretch drive. Will Getz seek to deflect criticism by canning a manager he didn't hire in the first place? It seems quite possible.

Law on Sox draft:

I thought I recently saw a tweet that stated the Sox had only two full time scouts after cutting to the bone because of "supposed" financial losses. If that is true (I have no idea) that's cutting your nose off to spite your face. Scouting, drafting and developing are absolutely essential and crucial to any good organization.