Lip Man 1

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 09:54 AM) It worked just fine in 2005. Absolutely...and since then? It's pretty clear 2005 was an outlier (as was 2008) Rick Hahn himself said at his press conference the goal was to build "sustained success..." Now what that means is subject to interpretation but since the White Sox are the only one of the original 16 pre expansion MLB franchises to have never made the postseason in consecutive years, that would be a good place to start in my opinion regarding his comment. How close are the Sox to making the playoffs in back to back years? How close are they to even making the playoffs once? Ladies and gentleman of the jury, the prosecution rests. Mark

Logically thought out post and brings up some good points in my opinion. Mark

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 09:52 AM) If Sale didn't want to be a White Sox, he wouldn't have signed the ridiculously team friendly contract he signed. I know doom and gloom is in. The funny thing is, players as a rule, seem to really enjoy playing for the White Sox. Why do you ignore that? When Sale signed that deal as I recall he said he did it because he wanted some security for himself and eventually his family. Also when Sale signed that deal a few years ago the Sox weren't in as bad a shape as they are right now in most areas save for financially. Things change don't they? I find it hard to imagine that Sale has to be happy about the overall state of the team the past few years and again I go back to his competitiveness and how that flares up from time to time. No athlete with that kind of fire wants to spend a career and not get the chance to showcase his talent on the biggest stage and I've been around pro athletes for almost 40 years so I do know a little something about it. Mark

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 10:12 AM) Can every thread not turn into complaining about Jerry Reinsdorf? Even a completely unrelated thread about Sale and the strikeout thread has to turn into that. It gets old and ruins any discussion. Sorry my post offended you. JR was not mentioned at all in it, nor was it my intention to include him in the discussion. I was referring more towards Kenny Williams and Buddy Bell myself. Since you brought it up however he certainly is a factor in this decline which assuming the Sox go on to have a losing season again you have to go all the way back to the time period from 1968-1976 to find such a sustained stretch of bad baseball. At least in that time period the Sox 'excuse' was they didn't have any money...I can't find an excuse for this past nine years period that's comparable especially in this era of parity. Mark

On paper the moves the Sox made were well regarded by baseball people (not just fans) across the board. SOMETHING happens when those guys put on the uniform however and this has been happening for years...you can go all the way back to David Wells. There is something about the front office / culture of the franchise that is at least in some way responsible for this happening. Until that changes, until new people are brought in to the front office and individuals are held accountable for results by their jobs being on the line, you are going to see more of this stuff happening. The Sox have a historical baseline long enough now to tell me it's chronic under the individuals responsible for running the franchise. Just my thoughts. Mark

When discussing possible Sale trades everyone seems to leave out something. Namely what does Sale want? I've never heard or seen anything indicating he wants out...yet. But keep in mind when the season ends in two weeks he'll have five and a half years of service in the big leagues...and still won't have ever pitched in a post season game. That has got to be bothering a guy as competitive as he is. Sooner or later (probably sooner) if the Sox continue to look like buffoons on a baseball diamond Sale (or his agent) are going to cross a line and say "I'm leaving when my deal is up so trade me for what you can and get me out of here." Mark

Nice individually of course if he gets it, but I'm sure he'd trade a bunch of those strike outs for more consistency or at the very least a team that could allow him to showcase his talents in the post season. In two weeks Sale will have finished his fifth full major league season. He still hasn't pitched in a playoff game. And don't think that thought hasn't crossed his mind. Mark

56 years ago Tuesday night the Air Raid Sirens went off in Chicago as the White Sox won the pennant. Here is some of the 10th inning television postgame interviews with Lou Boudreau: http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2015/09/t...in-the-pennant/ Mark

Carlton respected the game and he was damn good at it for a very long time. Mark

Zach Duke...yet another off season mistake. And they've got him for two more years...he'll be 35 then. Sox have now scored three runs or less in six of their last seven games... And now have crossed the 50% threshold for the year. 151 games played, 76 times three runs of less...50.3% That's pretty bad. Once again feel lousy for Q. Wouldn't blame him if he told his agent to get him the hell out of town this winter. And this is interesting: Chuck Garfien ‏@ChuckGarfien 2m2 minutes ago In Jose Quintana's 117 career starts, the White Sox have scored 0 runs 17 times, one run 27 times and two runs 27 times. That's a total of 71 times three runs or less for Q. Almost 61% of his starts. Mark

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Sep 22, 2015 -> 03:50 PM) Really? So the White Sox ruined Samardzija? I understand we've had some bad luck with other players coming here and having bad years, but that's mostly been on the position player side. We do pretty well with pitchers for the most part, Jeff being an obvious exception. No they didn't ruin him But there has been a lot of comments and talk about Shark not getting along with Cooper. Mark

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Sep 22, 2015 -> 03:13 PM) A single late-season game assures jack squat. Any pitcher can have one really good game. Remember when Humber threw a perfect game? He's not pitching anywhere now. Agreed. However it does give teams the impression that if they can get Shark away from the clown college known as the White Sox, he could turn it around. The talent obviously is there. Mark

Have no idea what they'll be able to do. Free agent list isn't impressive in the areas they need. They'll probably have less money to work with given season tickets holders, many, won't be back. Still far to many black holes in the lineup. Starting pitching may be an issue as well if they trade Q. Yet they'll try to sell the fans on the notion of "contending" next year. Maybe the best thing they can do, maybe the only thing is to bring in an experienced manager who has won in the past and let him bring in his own coaching staff. Maybe they can get more out of what the Sox already have. That and removing Kenny completely from interfering. Mark

Nice to get some wins but this team has still scored three runs or less in five of their last six games (so what else is new?) Hadn't checked this in awhile so I took a look. Sox have played 150 games this year, in 75 of them (50%) they have scored three runs or less. Mark

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Sep 20, 2015 -> 09:23 AM) We are talking about the same Viciedo that we could not wait to get rid of just last winter, right? I take his AAA numbers with a grain of salt. If the Sox thought there was something there he would have been called up. Shows you how desperate things are. Mark

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 20, 2015 -> 02:07 PM) Oh I'm sure they won't do that. They'll spend some money and bring Alexei back and say that they're ready to go and they're going to compete for the wild card. Left unsaid will be the extra clause "We're ready to go to compete for the wild card.....just like we were in 2015". Remember it's a "three year plan" LOL. Mark

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 17, 2015 -> 04:42 PM) They also have made some poor choices in terms of how guys would fit into the clubhouse/get along with coaches. Orlando Cabrera, Swisher, Samardzija are prime examples. At least Cabrera performed on the field. personally I think clubhouse chemistry is over rated. The "Swingin' A" of the early / mid 70's hated each other. yet they won three straight World Series. It's about talent, pure and simple. The Sox have very little of it. Mark

32 years ago tonight (back when the Sox were actually a good franchise) they won the West and went to the playoffs for the first time since 1959: http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2015/09/t...e-west-was-won/ Mark

Former Sox announcer Milo Hamilton passed away today at the age of 88. Called MLB games for 60 years, second longest to Scully. Here is a link to my interview with him: http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/rwas/in...=11&id=3133 Mark

By the Numbers: 10th time this year Sox lost a game when leading in the 7th inning or later (and the first time didn't happen until May 26th) Second time Robertson gave up a three run home run in the 9th inning to lose a game. 7th blown save this year for Robertson. It's simply the White Sox...no matter who they bring in the results are exactly the same. Mark

Jim Thome's 500th home run from September 16: http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2015/09/t...500th-home-run/ Mark

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 15, 2015 -> 08:13 PM) It really is remarkable how these acquisitions of stable consistent vets keep becoming the worst players in baseball as white sox. More bad luck I guess. Nothing we can do. Or maybe it has something to do with the manager and his coaching staff as well...luck only comes into play so much. Mark

Wish Ozzie the best as long as it's not with the Sox. Mark

In fairness to Robertson keep in mind Ventura hasn't used him well this year at all. He'll pitch him three days in a row than sit him for a week because the Sox can't consistently put him in a situation where he can pitch regularly. And I understand X-Rays are negative on Thompson...shoulder sprain, day to day (as are we all...) Mark

Sox thought they were facing Bob Gibson today apparently. Mark