Lip Man 1

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.

Bad series against a mediocre team. Today's pitcher wasn't exactly an All-Star yet he throttled the Sox. Three more errors today... inexcusable but the biggest mistake was using your closer in a non save situation. Bad mistake Rickey. Back to three under. Hopefully better results in Kansas City.

Right...anything you say. Please see Moan4Yoan's post directly above yours for a better explanation. In point of fact, Rick's overall track record is signing free agents has been dismal at best. He's been better with trades but that a low bar to clear in my opinion.

Poppy you are talking about a Hall of Famer, numerous All-Stars, guys who combined hit over 1,000 home runs, Gold Glove winners. Those are going to be hard to stack up against with this bunch. I understand your optimism but please.

Fortunately I already have forgotten about him.

If Rutherford or Adolfo don't develop the Sox are going to have to somehow get an outfielder with some pop since RF is a power position. That person plus Jimenez and Robert with a Tilson or Cordell for a fourth guy (late inning defensive replacement) should be fine.

Maybe, maybe not. Just off the top of my head: Mincher, Cash, Aparicio, Landis, Berry, Hershberger, Peters, Horlen, Locker, Romano, Latman, Battey, McLain. All those guys were signed and developed by the Sox. That's a pretty talented group who went on to have terrific major league careers and again that's just off the top of my head, I probably missed some.

Another guy who can't stay healthy. Another one bites the dust. What is the total now? Five guys lost for the season?

Give the guy a five run lead against one of the top pitchers in baseball and he coughs it right up. This is not the same kid as last year. Could he be tipping pitches?

The point is the guy was already an established late inning guy. It doesn't necessarily take a genius to discover those does it? And I don't get any pleasure out of calling out the front office... as I wrote individuals on this site have listed Hahn's free agent signings in detail here, maybe four of five of the large number actually produced when with the Sox based on WAR. That's bad now matter how you want to spin it. Give credit for McCann (a major thumbs up) now balance that against Jay, Alonso, Herrera and Santana from this past off season. Doesn't look very good does it?