Lip Man 1

Gio pitched well, they got some clutch hits and got a very nice win. And regarding the Avi talk, please forgive my candor (it is the wine celebrating the Apollo anniversary) but nobody gives a rats ass about Avi who was injury prone, over weight, a butcher in the outfield and a huge disappointment given that he was considered the "centerpiece" (the Sox featured him on the pocket schedules) of the team moving forward. Glad he's doing well Congrats, now get lost.

ML: Over the years you’d read or hear stories from time to time about you returning to the Sox as field manager. Were you ever close to coming back at any point? TLR: “There was one chance and it almost happened because we were getting new ownership in Oakland. Mr. Haas had announced he was going to sell the team; this was before his health problems started. In the winter of 1994, before spring training in 1995, I thought I was going to manage the Red Sox. But Mr. Haas asked me to lunch and wondered if I would stay one more season. I had also looked at Baltimore as a possible job because my preference was to stay in the American League. The next year I left Oakland and there was some discussion with the White Sox. I had talked with Ron Schueler, who was the Sox G.M. and who was my pitching coach with the Sox in 1981 and who I worked with in Oakland. The Sox, though, decided that Terry Bevington was the right man for the opening and gave him the job.” “Soon after that, Walt Jocketty called me. He had gone to St. Louis after the 1995 season and took over as G.M. I talked to “Sparky” Anderson and he told me that one time I should manage in the National League because the situations were so different from the A.L. I thought it over and when St. Louis offered me the job, I took it.” ML: You’ll go into the Hall of Fame this August as one of the all-time winningest managers. Have you ever wondered what may have happened if you stayed with the Sox? I know Sox fans wonder how many championships you might have won had you stayed for 20 years or so. TLR: “Yes, I do, but more for entertainment, I don’t take a lot of time to look back in a serious manner. I just think you have to move on from the past, learn from it and go forward. I will occasionally tease Jerry (Reinsdorf) about it, though. I honestly think had I stayed with the White Sox for 30 years that the team would have won multiple world championships. I think that because we were so united. Everyone from the owners to the front office to the coaching staff was on the same page. Our minor league system was developing and we had good people in all areas.”

Guess he never recovered from that "back" injury. ? Guy didn't look good most of last season, injured...yet that seems to be exactly the type of player this organization loves to get. AKA dumpster diving

When you have the kind of money and power JR has "normalcy" doesn't apply.

Torborg in my opinion would have been a "finisher" if Ron Schueler hadn't wanted to hire his own guy and ran Jeff out of town. the Sox players I've interviewed when he was manager loved him, his style, the way he handled games and played very hard for him.

"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 author Rob Rains for his book, "Tony LaRussa: Man On a Mission."

Correct. Hawk fired him because he was Roland Hemond's protege.

Went to see Godzilla: King of the Monsters" earlier this evening with my wife. Came back to see the Sox actually looked like a big league team. Hooray! (at least for one night...) We'll see what happens Saturday. Nice to see Lopez has had two good starts since the break though.

The organization has always had a "bunker mentality" in my opinion as well as a streak of arrogance, "WE know what we are doing. We're smarter than you..." From Kenny and his inane comments over the years (the latest attacking fans who thought the Sox were "cheap" after only coming up 50 million short on Machado) to Cooper blasting fans on the radio now to Stone. Frankly I was surprised he'd do this, I just don't see the need to come across like he did and then to "double down" on it today. Again new ownership / front office is badly needed with this ossified organization, regardless of if the rebuild is successful or not. There is an old saying in the business world, "the customer is ALWAYS right" (even if in reality they aren't but you don't do/say anything to drive them away...)

There may be some truth to this, I've been told by some folks who have encountered him that he has a little bit of an arrogant streak.

Stone is apparently "doubling down" as he just released another Tweet 43 minutes ago, saying how his world is "wonderful" talking about perspective. Again he's not wrong from his perspective but I don't think it is wise to keep poking the bear.

I'm glad you brought this up. If Jason is being accurate and I assume since he sees the club everyday he should be, I'm left to draw three possible conclusions. None of which bode well: 1. If the manager / coaches are being diligent in teaching than the WAY they teach is not getting through to the players. 2. The players are simply "baseball-stupid" and no matter how well the manager / coaches teach they can't learn it. 3. The managers / coaches are teaching very well but the players are basically ignoring what they are saying, "in one ear and out the other..." To me there's just no excuse for as bad of fundamental baseball as we've seen at bat, in the field and on the bases since 2012.

There is one positive the Sox should take out of this...at least there is still a segment of the fan base that still cares enough to reply to Stone. The absolute worst thing for a franchise is fan apathy.

"If" the biggest little word in the world...and if those pieces actually perform and don't turn out like Keppinger, Dunn, LaRoche, Frazier, Alonso, Nova, Herrera and so on. The onus will be on the front office for sure next off-season...we'll see what happens.

I replied to Steve that I completely understand where Sox fans are coming from. That if you took a poll the majority of them would say they do not trust ownership / front office to get the job done and that when you've had six straight losing years and nine of the last 12, its hard to be "patient." Rebuild is being slowed by poor drafting, bad trades and God-awful free agent signings. Hell the Sox can't even keep their rebuild core pieces healthy.

Phil Rosenthal has a story on this in the Tribune today. (Paywall). Sox fans weren't very happy about Stone's comments and fired back in droves using words like "clown show", "tire fire" and "disaster."

Phil Rogers tonight is Tweeting that the Red Sox are looking at Jose'. That Dave Dombrowski has "long admired him." Rogers also said Jose' may be the "most impactful bat" on the market if the Sox are willing to deal him but his value as a rental is "limited."

If I decide to do this, I'll probably start August 1 and go through July 31 of next year.

It was a four game series split but that doesn't take away from how bad that DH was.

Without actually hearing his comment and knowing the context its hard to make a judgment out of this. Was his voice angry when he said it? Was it matter-of-fact like? was he being sarcastic? Also what was the reporters question that led to this? But based just on the printed word, it seems he was talking about Robert and possibly Madrigal since the Sox really don't have anybody else worth bringing up and I don't think Sox players really follow the lower minor leagues in the first place. Another thing to consider were his comments from a few weeks ago where he talked about 'if he were the owner, he'd resign him...' Maybe the Sox haven't done much or anything in this direction and he's starting to get frustrated (as well as with the losing...)

I'm assuming you were being sarcastic but that simply isn't true. 1981-1985, 1990-1994 and 2000-2006 were nice stretches.

July 6, 2007 - The Minnesota Twins scored 32 runs and hammered eight home runs in a day / night twin bill at U.S. Cellular Field winning 20-14 and 12-0. It was a low point for a franchise that was World Series champions less than two years earlier.

But a large number of college basketball "insiders" and media (including Jay Bilas who is very outspoken) have said often the "one and done" issue isn't the cause of the problems in the sport and predict that when the NBA allows high schoolers to come out (2021 is the date most given) nothing will really change. The under the table deals will simply go to the next "level" of players. Their solution is to pay the players and on that I totally agree.

He was the guy Hahn said unless the A's made him part of the deal he wasn't going through with it.

It does take an effort to have to post those every day especially when I'm on the road for football and basketball broadcasts, but I'll think about it. Getting more feedback from board members on this would help the decision one way or the other.