Lip Man 1

Of course that is assuming the organization is smart enough to sign good players, assuming the organization even wants to spend that money and assuming any good players actually want to sign with the Sox. It takes two to make a deal you realize.

It has been widely reported that Kenny talked Robin into taking the job, he really had no interest originally.

Cubs sign Kimbrel, Cubs sign Cargo, Theo today says if Zobrist wants to come back he'd be welcome, salary isn't an issue. God what I wouldn't give to have an ownership that plays to win and not be "fiscally responsible". And who knows what they'll be able to do when their TV Network money starts pouring in, estimated to be 90 million a season, up 30 million a year from what they are getting now from WLS, WGN and Comcast Sports Chicago.

Now add up the stiffs, retreads, cast-off's, has-been's and never were's he spent millions of dollars wasted on. Look at the list that was published here on this very site. Based on WAR literally only four or five guys performed in a positive manner for the Sox that Hahn got either via trade or free agency. And by the way Hahn did not draft Sale that was Kenny and I don't think he was in charge when Q was plucked from the Yankees either. And let's not anoint Madrigal as anything yet shall we? He may turn out to be another Carson Fulmer right? We'll see. My point being, based simply on the numbers, the failures far outweigh the number of "success stories" by a VERY wide margin. That's not a recipe for success is it sir? Honestly I admire your loyalty to him and respect your point of view but factually he is bad at what he is being paid very well to do. And naturally he isn't suffering any consequences for it from the higher up's.

The 63, 64 and 65 teams AVERAGED 96 wins a year. Think about that one for a minute boys and girls. They were absolutely terrific teams. Smartly managed, fundamentally sound with killer pitching staffs. I'd give just about anything to see the White Sox once again be that good of a team and an organization.

It is a system wide malaise. And it starts at the very top. And Fry has been absolutely brutal this season, just brutal.

It is simply amazing to me the number of guys the Sox have claimed over the past several years from other teams. I wonder how many guys the Sox cut were claimed by someone else just as a comparison. Just frustrating that so many cast off's are claimed who do very little if anything with the Sox. You'd think at least in year three (or is it four) of the rebuild the Sox wouldn't have to be so eager to take other teams (for wont of a better word) garbage.

I'm also pretty sure he's not working in the Sox front office either. Poppy, it's not rocket science. Look at the guys he's acquired or signed during his tenure. How many of them honestly played worth a damn while with the Sox? That's all you need to know about the guy. Again it is not totally his fault but he is the G.M. and has to take a lot of the responsibility.

They had to because of the rules in place at the time for bonus babies. It came down to McClain or Bruce Howard. Both were bonus babies, they had a "pitch off" Howard won the game 2-1 and was promoted to Double A Lynchburg. Another one of those "what if's."

Remember the Sox (quietly... which was very odd) extended his contract last year. JR does not like to pay people not to work. He's now part of "the family" and won't be going anywhere soon for better or for worse.

$$$$$ If you pay enough, they will come. (Meaning free agents)

Don't forget 1983-Fisk,Baines,Kittle, Luzinski. That was some middle of the order, those guys could thump.

I hear what you are saying but it wasn't just a hamstring. He had other injuries as well. But what really caused me to raise an eyebrow was when he publicly told the mainsteam media he was out of shape one year and vowed to do better in that regard. I appreciated his honesty but if you want to get on the bad side of Sox fans, you admit you were out of shape and as a professional athlete there is simply no excuse for that. It's not like 60 years ago when guys had to work in the off season to make some more money.

If they all progress properly, if they stay healthy, if they all show they can play at the Major League level, you could be right. We'll see.

He is very very good at contracts and financial matters. Going to Harvard and Michigan law really doesn't mean squat in the long run. As a BASEBALL guy, knowing players, being able to properly evaluate them, being able to execute trades and signings that at least work out say, half of the time for the White Sox, history shows he is very, very bad. He is NOT a good baseball G.M. Granted the circumstances but even when the Sox were "going for it" he couldn't put together a team that could even win more than they lost at the end of the year. His resume is awful from a baseball performance standpoint. That's not an opinion... this is a results based industry and the results are very plain to see in the won / loss column.

Agreed.

Right now I wouldn't be "boasting" about Alonso if I were the White Sox regardless of how they got him would you?

It seems like even when a situation goes bad for the Cubs, they come out smelling like a rose: "The financial component in all of this is the continued absence of 38-year-old utility man Ben Zobrist, who has remained on MLB's restricted list since May 8 in order to tend to a family situation. The longer Zobrist remains away from the team, the more the uncertainty grows about his return. While a player is on the restricted list, they do not receive pay, either. That means the Cubs might have roughly $9 million of Zobrist's $12.5 million salary to reallocate elsewhere." -- MLB.com This was where and why the Cubs decided to give it a shot to sign him, Luxury Tax be dammed. The Cubs may wind up winning the pennant because of Zobrist's divorce...only the Cubs.

And JR has admitted publicly that agreeing to fire LaRussa was the single worst decision he has ever made as owner. He's also said letting Hawk become the G.M. was a poorly thought out move: "Eddie and I would talk to Hawk and (Don) Drysdale at length, and Hawk more so, to identify problems in the organization, we were still neophytes in this business and we were impressed with the way Hawk pointed out our problems. [GM] wasn't something he really wanted him to do, but we urged him to help us out. The mistake was that when you go to a doctor who diagnoses open-heart surgery, you don't have him do the surgery because he diagnosed the problem, you get a heart surgeon. Just because Hawk was able to diagnose our problems did not mean he could solve them. It was a terrible position to put him in, and a year later, he said he wanted out." – Jerry Reinsdorf to the Chicago Tribune’s Melissa Issacson. May 28, 2004. “I never should have allowed Tony to be fired. I’ve often said that was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I knew it was wrong. I knew it was a mistake. And I let it happen anyway.” Jerry Reinsdorf to Rob Rains in his book, "Tony LaRussa: Man on a Mission."

True but he was signed by them and came up through their organization as did Mincher for example who never had an at bat for the Sox yet started for the Twins during the World Series in 65. I sincerely hope the Sox will be "very good very soon". Color me hesitant given who is calling the shots. Hell, they can't even keep some of these guys healthy can they? Hard to put a team out there and say they are going to be "very good" when the past few years they've looked like a M*A*S*H unit.

Not as many good ones given all the extensions signed by a lot of top guys heading into this season.

I agree with some of what you say, there's truth to it. However the fact that Rick seemingly always strikes out of his free agent acqusitions is very concerning to me. His track record going back to Keppinger is bad. Now he's not totally at fault for this, he doesn't work in a vacuum. The Sox Major League talent evaluators are apparently poor at their jobs as well. Given that,it doesn't matter if the Sox weren't going to content this year or not, or if the money was there to be spent anyway. What makes you think say next off season that suddenly better decisions will be made on this type of talent?(assuming the Sox are ready to break out next year) The same folks will be calling the shots right? THAT'S what has to be concerning again given the historical track record. It's just not very good in this area.

Agree with this completely. And I'm assuming it is Cooper who is insisting on a certain amount of innings from his starters come hell or high water.

Wow...so much for them not wanting to continue to go into the Luxury Tax threshold. Those guys want to win and the hell with everything else. Have to admire them for that attitude.

Balta: How many times have you seen that backfire? It's a different mind set apparently. I just don't believe in taking that risk.