Lip Man 1

I don't like losing at all. I don't like rebuilding at all so don't lump me in with the analytics crowd. HOWEVER the worst place you can be in baseball is in that middle ground, the Twilight Zone if you will, so you win 75 games instead of 73. Big deal. You either need to be very good, good enough to make the playoffs ON A CONSISTENT BASIS or you need to be so bad that you can get the best prospects. (Of course that infers you have a competent front office) Robertson helping the Sox win a few more games on a bad team means absolutely nothing. ZERO, nada, nyet in the long term. I'd rather be happy having a good team that has a shot to be consistently good than being happy for one night because Robertson helped win a game and pushed the season total to 74 or 76 or 78. I don't see why that is so hard to understand. In a perfect world the White Sox in the Chicago market don't operate like a small market team but in fact, the reality is until ownership changes that's how they roll, that's who they are. b****ing won't change a damn thing. Under those circumstances with the self imposed restrictions from ownership, the only chance they had of getting out of the mess they themselves created was to blow it up and hope they get it right in a do-over. I don't like that one bit but again logically that was all they could do. Someday if we outlive current ownership maybe those circumstances will change.

Why? Was the team going anywhere with him? When his deal was up he was out the door so you get anything you can for him.

When Scott Merkin at the White Sox official site posted his Q&A with Hahn he specifically asked him why wouldn't the Sox take the money they offered Machado and apply it to Harper (he hadn't signed yet). Hahn's answer was that he didn't want to go into that...so who knows if they did follow up and try to bid on Harper or not. I suspect given Kenny's published comments they did not for whatever reason or reasons.

South Side Sox has an interesting story / suggestion today on this issue: Kenta Maeda of the Dodgers for the rest of this season and beyond.

True but he does seem very well informed regardless of if you agree with his comments or not.

Can you blame him or anyone for that matter?

Just another rational question to be asked of this front office, medical staff. An individual whom I respect, a long time fan, told me after all the "mystery" and uncertainty about Rodon's injury from last year, that he would never believe anything the Sox said regarding a player injury ever again and that he'd always assume the worst until shown otherwise about an injured player. Going back as I've stated before to "Shouldergate" and those pitchers who accused the Sox of misdiagnosing their injuries, you do have to reasonably wonder what goes on sometimes. Not "blaming" anyone, doctors are human but especially given the stakes you'd hope this just wouldn't happen. These are supposedly the best doctors, trainers and physical therapists around. Are just a few times acceptable? Is the baseline number "it shouldn't happen at all?" Again I don't know, I guess it depends on your point of view.

Totally agree. In fact I think you'll need a few decent bullpen arms to go along with starting pitching help. That's a damn tall order for one off-season. In my book you take six "starters". The five who perform best in spring training get the ball to begin. The 6th person goes to the pen as the long man / spot starter when DH pile up or unless somehow gets hurt or badly stinks.

I'm guessing the rotation next April will be in no particular order: Giolito, Lopez, Kopech, Cease, pitcher from outside the organization (hopefully not a dumpster dive) and in the second half of the season Rodon. I also hope the Sox can somehow get a 7th potential starter either from a kid in the minor league system developing (Hansen?) or signing another veteran happy to be drawing a paycheck at Charlotte in case things again go disastrously south. I yearn for the days like in 1983 when these were the Sox starters or guys in the minor league system: Hoyt, Dotson, Bannister, Burns, Koosman, Martz, Mura. Every single one of those guys had big league seasons where they won at least 10 games. That's the kind of depth you need today the way pitchers are babied and go down.

I have a strange feeling you haven't seen the last of Nate "Mr. Glass" Jones in a White Sox uniform.

What does it say though where the only guys the Sox seem to be able to get are "dumpster dives" three years into a rebuild.Not trying to be sarcastic but if that is what they had to resort to, what does that say about the minor league system?

Yes and no. Some hits but a lot of misses especially this year with the FA market and of course the Alonso trade.

Because they have depth and talent coming out of their ears. That's how you survive something like 20 guys on the IL at one time or another and still lead a division. They spend the money but it seems pretty clear they spend it on guys who actually produce and they seem to have a good farm system.

Somewhat disappointed after winning the first two, had hoped for a series win. But with the pitching as atrocious as it is, getting a split is OK. Hope they get a split with the Cubs. And the crowds were great this weekend...spectacular. Give the fans an exciting team a team that has a chance and isn't a laughingstock and they'll come out. And Vieira is an absolute joke almost as bad as Alonso.

Ed was a terrific color analysis. Great perception. As a play by play guy? Very, very poor. That said I hope he's feeling better soon but perhaps it is time like with Hawk for him to enjoy retirement.

Maybe they thought "Coop will fix 'em!" LOL

Leading the A.L. in home runs. Yanks give up a prospect AND Seattle is paying a lot of his salary. Only the Yankees. They strip bad teams of their best players AND get the idiots to help pay the salary to unload them. That's how winning organizations operate.

I think you are correct. They are also moving the pitching rubber back two feet!

Yes to beat the rush for next season. Do it now when you aren't competing against a half dozen teams for a small number of available guys.

On the subject of Hahn and his trades, I've got a suggestion. It's clear the Sox are going to need more pitching to make the jump hopefully next year regardless of if the injured pitchers come back healthy. Today you damn well better have six guys who can go, given injuries and slumps. Personally I'd love a seventh guy too either a top prospect or a vet thankful to have a nice payday at the Triple A level. Anyway, what I'd do if I was Hahn would be to try to get some pitching now (in the next month) not necessarily for this season but for the future and to "beat the rush" as it were when the big money teams are going to be heavily involved in the few free agent pitchers out there or a bunch of teams are going to be willing to "up the ante" for trading for pitchers. Remember when the Sox got Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras in mid-season 2004? They only had to deal with one team each in the deal...not trying to work against a number of them. I'd do a serious search of the teams that are going to be DOA in a few weeks, see if they have some good pitchers available and make a deal or two right now. Then you aren't in a desperation mode come the off season when it comes to pitching and you may be able to even better yourself by working from a possible strength. Just a thought.

In one of the minor leagues later this year that is one of the experimental rules as I recall...banning shifts.

In fact according to Steve Stone and repeated in the book, the Sox offered Harry more money to stay in 1982 than the Cubs offered. Harry simply wanted to get away from the owners and he knew SportsVision was destined to fail because the technology wasn't there yet. And here is the exact quote from Harry / Jimmy on Royko's show: September 6, 1981 – It was the beginning of the end for broadcaster Jimmy Piersall in connection with the Sox. Piersall and Harry Caray appeared on the ‘Mike Royko show’ on WLS-TV. Royko asked the duo how they handle baseball wives who disliked the comments they made about their husbands. Caray said, “You know what Mike. I would love to call all the wives together someday and tell them what their husbands say about them across the ballfield.” Piersall’s answer was more controversial to say the least. “First of all they were horny broads that wanted to get married, and they wanted a little money, a little security and a big strong ballplayer. I traveled, I played. I got a load of those broads too.” And here is what Jimmy had to say when I interviewed him: ML: The Mike Royko show saw you and Harry appear as guests on September 6, 1981. During the show you made your comments about player’s wives and got suspended for a time. Now I think I understood what you were trying to say, it just came out politically incorrect, but what amazed me was when you told me that despite all the disagreements, you actually got along very well with Eddie Einhorn and that he complimented you on having a good season in the booth. True? (Author’s Note: Royko asked both Caray and Piersall how they handled the reaction from player’s wives when they criticized their husbands. Caray said “You know Mike I would love to call all the wives together someday and tell them what their husbands say about them across the ballfield.” Piersall said, “First of all they were horny broads that wanted to get married, and they wanted a little money, a little security and a big strong ballplayer. I traveled, I played the game. I got a load of those broads too.” JP: “This all started when a group of the player’s wives, led by Tony LaRussa’s wife, tried to get me fired. As soon as I said it I thought to myself this could be a problem, but I was pissed off about them. The funny thing was Jerry Reinsdorf told me himself that both he and his wife saw the show and that he enjoyed it. Then Tony LaRussa went nuts over it and I was suspended.” “The way I was suspended was kind of funny. Eddie Einhorn said he needed to see me. So I went to his office and he’s standing behind his chair, like he was afraid I was going to do something. He told me that I was suspended because the Sox players threatened not to play unless something was done. Yea, I did like Eddie, and he and I got along well.”

So this is what .500 looks like in June...nice view. First time the Sox have been at .500 this late in the season since 2012. I was hoping to get a split in this series. Mission accomplished. Now I'm hoping for three out of four...we'll see. Gio continues his amazing run and Eloy looks like he is starting to figure it out.

Unless he gets an extension from the Tigers: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/nicholas-castellanos-says-he-will-move-to-first-base-only-after-the-tigers-give-him-a-contract-extension/

I don't see what is dumb making teams pay dearly for the shift. Do it enough times and they'll have to stop or always concede you a infield base hit which would REALLY be dumb.