Lip Man 1

I agree it is important but I think I read where for the first time ever, MLB teams are getting more money from media contracts then they are from attendance.

It's called new ownership.

April 20, 2022 – White Sox starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel allowed 10 runs, eight earned, in only a single inning of work in an 11-1 loss in the first game of a double header in Cleveland. Keuchel gave up eight consecutive hits in the inning. He became the first Sox pitcher to allow 10 runs in an inning since Milt Gaston on June 13, 1934.

I would be shocked if that happened.

As I've said given the massive revenue streams that MLB teams are getting attendance doesn't matter as much as in the 1960's. And local/national TV/ radio and advertising deals are locked in place. Attendance usually doesn't matter, ratings may... depending on the language of the deal.

To do that Hahn would have to acknowledge the rebuild is a failure. His ego won't allow that...but when he starts selling guys off in three months he'll come up with a clever way to rationalize it that shifts blame.

Here's just one metric: Kenny Williams "winning" seasons 2001-2012: 8 / 2 playoff appearances / 1 World Championship Rick Hahn "winning" seasons: 2013-2022: 2 / 2 playoff appearances / two first round losses

I'm the very last person to talk glowingly about the Cubs but there simply isn't any comparison between what they accomplished with their tank/rebuild and how the Sox have flushed theirs's right down the toilet. Haven't looked but the Cubs went to the playoffs in that stretch four times if I remember right and did win a World Series. The Sox in their "window of contention" have a post season mark of 2-5

Don't forget they were so gutless they cancelled Sox fest for a "variety of reasons" which they never named.

And here's another one dovetailing with the first one. Sox have scored three runs or less in nine of their 19 games (47%), and six of the last 10 they have played. So much for that "supposed" improved approach to things with a new coaching staff.

He's seen it before and it doesn't bother him one iota.

I wrote this before, I liked what the Cubs did this off season... a LOT like what the Sox did right before 2005. They brought in a number of guys (I think it's like nine or 10) with solid MLB experience and resumes.

The Sox scored all of their runs in one inning for the fourth consecutive game. ?

This organization has been getting criticized for years both locally (Jay Mariotti) and nationally (Ken Rosenthal when he wrote for The Sporting News) are just two examples. It doesn't bother them at all. Rick Hahn will NOT be fired. Period. End of story. Now he may leave on his own ("health issues" LOL) but he won't be fired. If anything he'll be "promoted" to a senior advisory role a la Kenny Williams.

That would play a factor but not as much as you think. It's not the 1960's anymore...MLB is a 10 Billion dollar a year business. The amount of money coming in to the teams from domestic and international sources is staggering. Even if the Sox were to draw say 800,000 for a season it wouldn't move the needle much, JR has already shown he doesn't care, they'd still be getting revenue from national and local TV/radio/advertising contracts which is a tremendous amount and then he'd just order Hahn to slice the payroll down to the bone (like during the rebuild years when the Sox had some of the lowest payrolls in MLB) and he'd make even more profit. Literally the only thing that can change the equation is JR leaving the scene and new ownership coming in.

Sounds like something the Captain of the Titanic would say. ?

Don't know if the Pirates ever really committed to a tank job in the first place.

All the remaining members of the board of directors (the Sox media guide lists six names) are all roughly his age. Like JR as long as they are making money I'm guessing they don't care. It doesn't matter anyway if they do, they literally have no power, no say in the operations.

The Sox would have to basically pay for a lot of Moncada's salary to get anything remotely decent back for him from another team. I'm guessing the Sox are stuck with him.

There were a number of national baseball people who said/predicted this was a real possibility in large part because of what Hahn did not do this off season. "Window of contention?" ?

Just a few thoughts... Well...at least they weren't swept. LOL (of course they have also yet to win a series and are now already five under...) Banks fits right in with this garbage bullpen that Hahn has spent the most money in MLB on. (Not saying Banks is making a lot just that he's ineffective just like all the others) I'd be shocked if the Sox win any of the next three series. By the time May starts they'll be nine under, seven back and fans will be writing them off in droves. (Only around 10 thousand today on what looked like a very nice day.)

April 19, 1960 - Orestes “Minnie” Minoso made a triumphant return to the White Sox, blasting two home runs, including the game winner in the ninth inning for a wild 10-9 victory over the A’s on opening day. “Minnie”, re-acquired over the off season from the Indians, also had a grand slam and drove in six RBI’s. More ominous however was the fact that the vaunted American League champion Sox pitching staff gave up nine runs in the first place and the team committed two errors in the field. Those shortcomings would eventually lead to a third-place finish with a record of 87-67. In 1960 Minoso hit .311 with 20 home runs, 105 RBI’s and 17 stolen bases winning a Gold Glove and making the All-Star team in one of his finest individual seasons. April 19, 1961 - In the home opener against Washington Sox owner Bill Veeck hired a number of midgets to sell concessions throughout Comiskey Park. Why? Because Veeck received a number of complaints that taller sellers were obstructing the fans view of the game itself! Given that the Sox lost the game 7-2 said fans may not have wanted to see the game much anyway. April 19, 1965 – White Sox manager Al Lopez tied the record when he used five pinch hitters in the seventh inning of what turned out to be a 7-2 win over the Orioles at Comiskey Park. The Sox trailed 2-1 when Lopez began his maneuvering. By the time the inning was over he used Don Buford, Danny Cater, Johnny Romano, Dave Nicholson and Gary Peters as pinch hitters with Romano and Peters both hitting singles and driving in runs. Peters’ hit would give the Sox the lead for good. Lopez first used five pinch hitters in an inning on May 18, 1957 also against the Orioles in Baltimore.

The injury situation is frustrating and bizarre and it's been going on for a longer period of time than people think. Back in 2016 for one example four rookies who were brought up never even finished their first game in a Sox uniform because of injuries, (Tilson, Coates, Davidson and Smith). The Sox have gone through three trainers, and multiple strength and conditioning coaches just in the past few years. They also had that study last winter that was going to look into why this was happening. Those results were never made public although the Sox did hire some folks with biomechanical backgrounds and tried to upgrade that area. Nothing seems to have changed (which makes the Sox lack of depth even more telling.) When I specifically asked sources about the injury areas this winter, these were their comments about it: On the constant injuries “Alan Thomas (Author’s Note: Thomas was the Director of Strength and Conditioning) was let go because his son was draft eligible and he was told the Sox no longer wanted to draft sons of members of the organization. Turns out his kid is playing center field for the Diamondbacks. I’m not saying he’d be playing center field for us but he’s good enough to be in the Major Leagues. I don’t know the new guy they brought in, but guys are getting hurt left and right.” (Author’s Note: I had heard Thomas disagreed with the results of the Sox injury study conducted last winter which was never released to the media or public. I was told he felt the Sox issues were only caused by the COVID restrictions. “The Sox play checkers where others teams play chess” when it comes to injury prevention, conditioning, nutrition, sleep schedules is a phrase I had heard mentioned.) “The White Sox playing shorthanded started in 2007 when Jermaine Dye got hurt and Kenny Williams refused to call up Brian Anderson or Ryan Sweeney. Maybe they were cheap, maybe they wanted to protect Herm’s record of keeping guys off the DL.” (Author’s Note: Herm Schneider was the Sox longtime head trainer and for years the Sox were among the league leaders in keeping players healthy.) “Jake Peavy made the comment one time, ‘They have no reservations about playing shorthanded.” “You know about Mike Reinold right? (Author’s Note: Reinold is the White Sox Senior Medical Advisor) He was fired by the Red Sox because he was injecting players with Toradol.” (Author’s Note: Bleacher Report had a story on this situation published in February 2013. Here is the link to that story: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1530943-ex-red-sox-trainer-mike-reinold-injected-players-with-controversial-substance) “Given the inordinate amount of soft-tissue injuries they have had you’d think that they would do a complete change in the training, conditioning and nutritional areas.”

Grifol "defends" his expensive bullpen to DVS of the Sun-Times: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/4/18/23688403/white-sox-manager-on-beleaguered-bullpen-i-believe-in-these-guys

Have no idea what you are referring to but perhaps my wording wasn't clear. When Buehrle threw his no-hitter in 2007 he was the 15th Sox pitcher in team history to throw a no-hitter and the 16th time it was done. Frank Smith had thrown a pair of no-hitters which would make the 16th time it was done. Again that was as of April 18 2007.