Lip Man 1

When you think about it rationally who else is ultimately to "blame" but the owner? ESPECIALLY an owner who throughout his tenure has personally stepped in when decisions are made and who has to be consulted before any major moves and who has just recently over ruled the front office he hired. Seriously some of these people who are very intelligent must think Sox fans are idiots.

There are dozens of theories out there as to why pitchers are breaking down like they are. You touch on some of them. Another being discussed is that kids are specializing at an early age (i.e. just play baseball, just play tennis et al) and they are not developing an overall muscular structure, wearing things out to soon. Trainers are suggesting let kids play all sports, different sports to gain overall strength and lateral motion and quickness.

The funny thing is how in the interview Stone talks about how difficult things are in the organization but somehow, someway JR isn't responsible for any of it. 😆 Right.

The odds are you are exactly correct.

It would help if ownership cared enough to invest in proper scouting and development in my opinion:

From Merkin's newsletter. Why do I have the feeling after six months of trying to rehab he'll undergo TJS like so many other Sox pitchers who tried this routine without success: Thorpe began a throwing program this past Thursday, as he told MLB.com on Sunday in Houston. The rookie starter has been on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 1, with a right flexor strain. “Feeling pretty good. Hard to tell -- 60 feet and pretty light. So far, so good,” Thorpe said. “Less of the discomfort. Like I said, hard to tell this early. We are in the right direction.” The goal for Thorpe, 23, who is 3-3 with a 5.48 ERA in nine White Sox starts, is achieving full health before worrying about pitching again in ’24. “Just kind of seeing how I feel, and then we’ll kind of build a plan,” Thorpe said. “Just trying to get back to 100 percent for sure.”

Sully on the Sox including comments on the broadcast: “He’s giving a very rosy assessment of things. It’s almost like an infomercial to him. He’d be good as maybe a talk show host in Dubuque, Good Morning Dubuque, or something. But he just doesn’t seem to have it as far as being a play-by-play guy in the major leagues. Maybe it’s difficult for him to cover a bad team. He’s never done this before. “But there’s one thing about White Sox fans: they watched Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall in their prime when they were among the most critical announcers in the game. They expect, or they want, their announcers to be honest with them, and I don’t think they feel like they’re getting that this year.” https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/paul-sullivan-interview-chicago-tribune-white-sox.html

https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/paul-sullivan-interview-chicago-tribune-white-sox.html

Greg: That last comment in italics is insulting. You know the answer as well as I do and I've been saying it for years as well as many others. You want to know why this franchise is total s%*#? Two words: Jerry Reinsdorf Period. Full stop. End of story. Is that clear enough for you? That isn't double talk is it? Seems clear as a bell to me.

And remember Getz said he was trying to build a team around defense at least for this season. Didn't work out very well did it?

Since the start of the 2007 season the Sox have had 12 losing years, five winning ones and one season where they were exactly at the .500 mark. That's among the worst records in MLB during this time period.

Thank you for doing this work.

I totally agree and you can blame the ossified owner for it.

The 62 Mets were 40-120-1 officially.

Is this a veiled shot at Pedro?: “We didn’t play good baseball. Not at all, and I don’t believe in the ‘flush it’ thing. You use that as a competitive edge.”--New coach Doug Sisson (talking about all the mistakes made by the Sox in their loss Saturday night)

DVS of the Sun-Times already wrote a few days ago that is the plan, payroll will be cut yet again.

Actually according to both Chet, TLR and Roland Hemond, Lemon agreed to a new deal but never got around to signing the contract. In the meantime the Sox signed Carlton Fisk to a larger deal, Lemon got upset and refused to sign it, painting Roland somewhat into a corner since Lemon said he was probably going to try free agency after the 1982 season. He signed a 10-year deal with Detroit eventually. Chet told me when I spoke with him that he regretted some of the things he said and done at the time: ML: You hit .302 in the strike shortened season and played your usual solid defense but on November 27, 1981 you were shipped to Detroit for Steve Kemp. The reasoning as I remember it was that the Sox wanted more balance in the lineup and Kemp was left handed. (Author’s Note: Harold Baines was basically the only power threat from the left side as opposed to having guys like Fisk, Luzinski and the newly acquired Tom Paciorek who were all right handed hitters.) Were you ever told by the Sox why they let you go? CL: "That may have been part of it but there was another reason." "In spring training 1981 I had verbally agreed to a five year contract that would have made me the highest paid player on the team. It was a great negotiation. Eddie Einhorn, Jerry Reinsdorf, Roland Hemond, my agent and I all sat around a table one day and worked everything out including some deferred compensation. For some reason I hadn’t gotten around to actually signing the document though. A few weeks later they signed Carlton Fisk and his numbers came out. When I saw those I told my agent “hmmmm maybe we need to renegotiate.” Everything that I did in five years, I did in Chicago and now I wasn’t going to be the highest paid player anymore? I know it was childish on my part but that’s the way I felt at the time." "It created some problems. After a period of time I said that I’d just play my next year out (1982) and then see what happens in that off season. I guess the Sox thought that I was automatically going to go the free agent route and that wasn’t necessarily the case. However I did know that other clubs were interested, I knew that Earl Weaver of the Orioles wanted me badly."

Greg: Respectfully I think it's time to stop with the act. Very few Sox fans that I know of "embrace tanking and encourage rebuilding." Unless you are willing to buy the team when JR passes away and then invest another 300-400 hundred million on acquiring talent, there is nothing else that can be done to try to turn things around. Period. End of story. JR is NOT going to spend the money needed to compete, JR is NOT going to stop hiring people he knows and who'll kiss his ass and he is NOT going to invest a strong minor league system. You know it, I know it and JR knows it. So please stop with this narrative. Under the circumstances as I and others have stated before, there is NOITHING ELSE that can be done under the limitations from ownership to try to compete but acquire as much young, cheap talent as possible and hope they work out. That doesn't mean at all I and others, "embrace tanking and encourage rebuilding" but the reality is there is simply NOTHING ELSE that can be done under the existing circumstances. Nothing. You ask why can't the Sox compete in a division they should be dominating based on market size, population et al? You know the answer to that question.

Three hits, 13 strike outs, one walk, no runs. Typical.

I'll have to take your word for it, I thought he had three more years on his deal. But if you are correct then he's another DFA candidate in my view.

In addition the Sox set the record for the earliest elimination for any team since playoffs were expanded back in 1969. They beat the orioles record by three days.

You're exactly correct there is no hope until new ownership arrives. And I believe this is the 18th straight game the Sox have lost that Flexen has started.

And I think he still has a few more years on his contract to suck for the White Sox.

Their record would be a LOT better that's for sure!

But of course he is.