Lip Man 1

If anyone is wondering if this is the worst lost in franchise history, it actually isn't: May 10, 2002 - It was one of the worst defeats in the history of the franchise. On this night in Anaheim the Sox got obliterated 19-0 against the Angels. Danny Wright, Matt Ginter and Mike Porzio were the pitchers the Angels clubbed apart. Wright gave up eight earned runs, Ginter two and Porzio six. May 21, 2009 - The White Sox tied the team record for worst defeat based on run difference in their history, when they were annihilated 20-1 by the Twins at U.S. Cellular Field. The 19-run difference was first set on May 10, 2002 in Anaheim. Bartolo Colon, Lance Broadway and Jimmy Gobble gave up all the runs. Colon at least had something of an excuse…of the eight runs he allowed, seven were unearned!

With the money he's made over the years including his outside restaurant investments, I don't think money is a concern to him. And given his expertise, he's one of the best analysts in the game, I think other clubs would definitely have interest although his age could be a limiting factor.

Like so many of this current group of players he seems to be injured every season.

Like I said this is only one game but there seems to be a huge difference between a real World Series contender like the Astros and the White Sox. Just very disappointing seeing how they struggle in the middle of what is supposed to be a contention window.

Harry was actually a mentor to me, first met him in 1971 and we stayed in touch over the years. The only thing about Harry and Jimmy (and I had a long interview with Jimmy before he died) was they sometimes made things personal. That I don't think is useful.

Unfortunately historically it hasn't been just Stone. Over the years Kenny Williams, Rick Hahn (remember this off-season when he commented on Sox fans being upset about the lack of significant signings?), even Chuck Garfein and Ozzie have taken their shots in addition to Cooper who did it regularly on his radio show and in the newspapers. Speaking of Ozzie, remember this: Speaking about Sox fans, they can...‘‘Turn off their TVs and stop watching the game if they don’t like the [bleep]ing lineup’’ and another in May 2011 where he claimed Sox fans would not remember him “As soon as you leave the ballpark, they don’t care about you. They don’t. The monuments, the statues…they pee on them when they get drunk.” I've always felt it was bad business to insult the paying customers even if you honestly feel they are wrong.

I was in TV sports for 14 years in three different markets. Now I'm one of the play by play broadcasters for Idaho State University, they are part of the Big Sky Conference. Have been doing it on a regular basis since 2008. Have broadcast volleyball, football, men's and women's basketball and softball. Also worked for CBS in 2001 at the Boise Regional. Originally from Chicago, went to Brother Rice high school and the University of Kentucky.

The bizarre think about Stone this year is that on Twitter literally any Sox fan who is upset or disagrees with him is/was called a "whiner" and usually blocked. Stone also earlier this year told fans to "enjoy the ride..." Yet at times on the broadcast he has called out players especially for not hustling "I guess husting is an option..." yet will not say anything negative about either JR or TLR.

As a broadcaster myself I can see your point of view but I also subscribe, and this is how I call a game, that you lay the facts out for the fans, especially if you think they are knowledgeable (and I think Sox fans are), they want the truth as painful as that can be. Again just my opinion.

Depends on your definition I guess. Some claim that because the Sox share a market with the Cubs they aren't. Historically ownership hasn't considered them as such based on payrolls among other things down through the years. At times they appear to want to "go for it" but most of the 40+ years they have acted more like a middle market club in my opinion both on and off the field..

The momentum the Sox garnered after the first two games has now been flushed right down the toilet. What can you do? That's the story of this season. The gap between a legitimate "World Series contender" and the White Sox appears to be as wide as the Grand Canyon. Sox will go into Cleveland 2 1/2 games back (Cleveland is off today). It's a make or break series, we'll see what happens.

Then let's hope he does something about it in the off season. Time will tell.

Unfortunately JR has publicly said that he will never sell because of the tax hit that would impact his family. If I understand things correctly (and I'm no tax expert) the capital gains tax would hammer him because of the increase in value from the time he bought the team in January 1981. After he passes away the taxes aren't as bad when his family sells the club as he has publicly said he has told them to do...keep the Bulls, sell the Sox.

I know Nightengale has been beating this drum for the last few months and he is very close to JR and Kenny. He is actually one of the few media-types that JR has conversations with. But I've also seen where, regarding the White Sox, he's been wrong an awful lot...sort of the national version of Bruce Levine. I recently expressed my feelings to some of the folks I know in the Sox front office. I said that if a change is made it can't just be TLR, JR needs to do a housecleaning a la what John Allyn did in September 1970 because the Sox have lost credibility with a large segment of the fan base. I've know TLR since the early 80's...have interviewed him multiple times and in those in-depth conversations, I've come away with how sharp, how brilliant this guy was baseball-wise. But this is not the same guy anymore. The bizarre decisions, the stumbling/mumbling press conferences, the falling asleep (or at least looking like he's very tired) in the dugout. It's hurting this team but he's not the only issue. Hahn is going on year 10 as G.M. and his track record (even when the Sox weren't rebuilding) is very poor. The numbers don't lie. He's wasted millions and millions of dollars on guys I consider retreads, has-been's, guys on the down side of 30, injury-prone guys yet he refuses to go the distance on the elite players when they become available on the market. It can't be coincidence that the vast majority of his acquisitions/signings have put up a negative WAR with their time with the Sox. That says there's also an issue with scouting at the Major League level and/or development when those guys get here. And you can't overlook what appears to be a medical, training and conditioning staff that has serious issues. In the last five years the Sox have gone through three trainers (Herm... Ball, who is suing the club and now Kirk), they've gone through a few strength and development guys (Thomas and Torborg) yet the injuries are relentless. This past November Hahn publicly said the Sox were going to conduct a study trying to get a handle on the injury situation, especially the soft tissue ones, but those findings were never made public. I did see an ad this off season the Sox placed for a "bio-mechanics" specialist but that's all I know. I was told that Alan Thomas left (or was fired depending on who you talk to) because he disagreed with the results of that study. That he felt the Sox injury issues were caused by the COVID situation impacting ability to work out and the shortened spring trainings, although that ignores the fact the Sox were getting hard hit by injuries as far back as 2016 (remember that year four rookies making their MLB debuts were never able to even finish their first games due to injuries' that put them on the IL). One person said that when it comes to things like conditioning, nutrition, sleep-schedules "the Sox play checkers while other teams are playing chess..." (I told the same thing to the folks I've known in the front office.) My point being there are a LOT of serious issues with this organization that go far beyond the field manager. Regardless of if they make the playoffs or not this season has shown a lot of those issues clearly. The question is will JR do anything about it?

It is very bizarre how the Sox simply refuse to put a guy immediately (or within a day or two) on the IL and allow themselves to play shorthanded. It has happened time and time again. I asked a friend in the mainstream media who has covered the Sox for a number of years if they had an idea why this was being done. The person explained to me this practice started with Kenny Williams when Jermaine Dye got his leg injury. The person told me the Sox do this for "economic reasons" although they didn't elaborate. I don't know if it has anything to do with having to start paying the league minimum or perhaps it is because the service-time clock is a factor? All I know is that it seems very strange and is hurting the team in my opinion.

I have no idea how this compares to the rest of MLB teams but the Sox have now scored three runs or less in 59 of the 118 games they've played this season. That's 50% of all games. To me, that's simply not very good. At this point in time "it is what it is" as Kenny Williams once famously said. I can't see it suddenly changing much over the last six weeks especially given that injuries are continuing to gut the team.

Surprised by this one.

Pitching wasn't bad tonight, but the offense is simply non-existent. They have scored three runs or more in a game only three times in the last 10 games.

I was actually shocked that somebody would want him. But this is good for the Sox, it frees up a roster spot and makes the chances of him somehow returning to the organization small.

I never used the word pledge if you go back and read it and I phrased it the way I did deliberately and you probably can figure out why based on previous posts. And I shouldn't have to appease anybody, as was stated this is a free message board, I should be able to say what I wish as long as it is not offensive and if folks don't like it they can ignore me, but given that, I will try to do so and we'll see what happens.

Assuming they stay healthy which has been an issue for the past three seasons.

In my opinion the "Golden Age" of the White Sox franchise was the time period from 1951-1967. Over and above the obvious, the fact that they had 17 straight winning seasons (4th longest in MLB history I believe if I remember right), they had seven years winning 90+ games (and for much of that stretch they only played 154 games), they also had numerous star players (look at the number of All-Stars in that period back when making the game meant something), they were usually in a race against the Yankee Dynasty teams (players from Moose Skowron to Tony Kubek all said the one team the Yankees had to be concerned about year after year were the White Sox), they outdrew the Cubs in 16 of those 17 seasons sometimes by a wide margin and unlike today, the Sox got the lion's share of media coverage. That's a time period that's hard to beat. It wasn't those clubs fault that MLB didn't have expanded / watered down playoffs during that time period and that they had to face perhaps the greatest dynsaty in baseball history a la the Yankees during that stretch..

Like with basketball you've got to figure kids who have pro athletes as parents have to have an edge in things like conditioning, nutrition, the ability to hire personal coaches and so forth. Genetics play a part so I get the idea of drafting those kids regardless of the sport. Plus in most cases they've been around the pro game all their lives and that's a big deal too as far as the mental part of things from the locker room to the playing field.

Well said. And to placate my critics I will attempt to "tone down" my negativity against players who have little to no business being on a team 2 1/2 seasons into a rebuild regardless of how many options they have. On a personal note thanks for the kind words NWinFan (although I don't know who you are...) It is rather funny in a way though that I'm being told I'm to negative by a few while at the same time I was accused in a post by an individual of going soft on JR and the organization. Like the Sox the past several years I guess you just can't win.

Well thought out post. I'd suggest though it's not just fans. Tom Verducci has written stories in Sports Illustrated warning where baseball is headed. Just a few days ago CBS Sportsline (I think) had a story saying where the majority of teams TV ratings are down including big market clubs like the Yankees, Dodgers and Phillies. I think the story said 18 teams ratings are down. (Sox are up significantly by the way.) USA Today has also written stories about how baseball is becoming boring, turning off fans and leading to decreased attendance. It's becoming a real issue for the sport like it or not, and baseball is going to have to address it sooner or later. Perhaps that's why they have started talking about things like "no shifts" and next year will have the three batter minimum rule for relief pitchers to start to limit specialization (i.e. a pitcher is going to have to start getting hitters out regardless of if they hit left handed, right handed or between their legs). Sabermetric analysis is having unintended consequences for the game and correction is needed the fans are speaking by not watching or going to the ballpark.