Lip Man 1

Have been calling around, sending e-mails to people I know just to try to get a sense of what these folks think may happen. They are wired in so they have a little better understanding of things. Most feel that Robin is back regardless...that JR simply will not fire him. Most think Kenny may in fact leave and that (surprisingly) some folks in the organization will be happy to see him depart. And most think that Hahn can handle the job on his own without having to answer to someone other than JR. We'll see what happens. Mark

Can't see the Sox being willing to invest that much money on a single player. That's simply not how they work. Mark

Jerksticks: Those teams also had major holes. Here's one example. Kenny thought that he'd be fine with 40% of the starting rotation in 2009 being filled by a beat up, injury prone Jose' Contreras and a pre steroid Bartolo Colon. In fact in an ironic twist, the day after Buehrle's perfect game with the Sox in first place by a game if I remember correctly, those two started a crucial DH in Detroit. The results were predictable. It was all downhill from there. No you can't fault the front office for 100% of the issues that have prevented this team from reaching the post season since 2008, that would be unfair. Just as it is also unfair to basically say they were blameless. Injuries are part of the game, the Sox have had their share including 2010 when almost all of the bullpen was on the DL at various times in August and they blew game after game and a playoff spot. But here's the thing....the Cardinals have been blown apart by injuries to key guys over the past five years. They keep making the playoffs. The Yankees had a few seasons where they were gutted by injuries...yet somehow they still won 88-90 games. How do those teams do it? That's something the Sox front office needs to be asking themselves as well as the fans. Just my opinion. Mark

Someone mentioned the Tigers and being in contract hell but they failed to mention The Tigers also: Won the division or made the playoffs four years in a row Went to the World Series twice Have an owner with more money than God. What does he care about the size and length of those deals? He'll just go out and spend more to replace those guys. From Detroit's standpoint based on the results I have to think they feel it was completely worth it. Mark

Since the Sox had that mirage and went 7-1 at the worst possible time 9right before the deadline) they are now 6-12 and have lost five straight road games. Also tonight was the 62nd time in 117 games they scored three runs or less. That's 53%. Mark

Wish he'd have gone back to the National League. He'll make it work in Boston, that's what he does. Mark

Another guy in his 30's, had some injuries, has issues attitude-wise. I think Hahn is trying to get away from that as much as he is allowed to. I'll pass on this one. Mark

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 17, 2015 -> 11:14 PM) I know this is sarcasm but I believe he's top 5 in baseball in pitch framing. It's a big deal. Pitchers also like throwing to him. Rodon has been great with Flowers behind the dish. I would expect that Flowers will be on the Sox for years to come. They just need to get a better starting catcher and let TFlow catch Sale and Rodon. Saw this in another location, I can't take credit for it but I thought it was interesting and touches upon your point: http://www.statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php "Tyler Flowers turns 1.89 balls per game into strikes, good for the fourth-best average in the league. At first glance, that looks wonderful. However, looking further down the list, guess who is #19 at 1.09 extra strikes per game? That's right, Geovany Soto. In other words, the White Sox are happily trading 84 points of OBP and 128 points of SLG, not to mention a higher passed-ball frequency (10 in 673.1 innings for Flowers vs. 4 in 372.2 innings for Soto) and a worse caught-stealing percentage (23% for Flowers vs. 27% for Soto), for eight-tenths of an extra strike per game." Mark

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 17, 2015 -> 06:11 PM) Good job Lip . You bring a lot to this site, a welcome historical perspective that was lacking before . That was the only reason to ever visit WSI , their interviews with historical Sox figures. Thanks for the nice words. Appreciate it. Mark

16th time this season the Sox held an opponent to three runs or less...and lost. For this offense to be good next year they need to add at least three, maybe four quality offensive players. That's near impossible. And you have to wonder why Garcia was pinch hit for late in the game considering he had two hits already. Sometime I simply can't figure out what is going through Ventura's head (maybe an even bigger problem is he really doesn't know either...LOL) Mark

Would be nice then if they actually gave him at bats in the here and now since this team isn't going anywhere. Mark

I think Saladino is going to make an excellent utility player and a solid late inning defensive replacement. No shame in that, nothing wrong with it. That's always a valuable piece on a team. But starting? Especially at 3rd base which is a power / home run / big RBI position...can't see it. Sanchez should be an adequate / solid second baseman. Anderson may be a pretty good shortstop...we'll have to see. As far as Johnson, until he shows he can actually stay healthy it's all a moot point with him. (Or a moo point, the point of view of a cow as Joey said on "Friends...") LOL. Mark

25 years ago today was a very big day for Carlton Fisk. You can listen to the record setting event here: http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2015/08/t...ecord-home-run/ Hard to imagine it's been 25 years since that terrific season. Mark

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 11:00 PM) Is Sale the best pitcher in White Sox history, pure talent wise? The answer may be yes. Very hard to say since you can't compare era's. Sox have had a lot of truly tremendous pitchers in their history. Let's see how Sale stacks up in another five years or so. He can be one of the best but 'the best', I'm not sure of that one even talent wise. Mark

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 11:47 AM) "1984 happened" and sent the Cubs on their way to national stardom and they've never looked back. And by "happened" we are talking about a "winning" (hey, there's THAT word again!) team that was televised coast-to-coast on WGN with Harry Caray leading the way. That combination of Caray and WGN with a winning baseball product was unbelievably potent, and the popularity that ensued was immeasurable. And today, the Cubs are still reaping the benefits 18 years after Caray's death. The problem for the Sox organization and for our fans is that it could have been us having that same experience and impact the year before in 1983, when WE had the exciting baseball product. And WE got there first in terms of there had not been a winner of any sort in the city prior to '83 for many years. But instead of pumping that '83 team into 22 million homes at that time 50, 60 times of year with Caray behind the mic, creating the aura of excitement all around the city and even the country for the Sox like he did for the Cubs, Geniuses Reinsdorf & Einhorn went the route of pay subscription TV, and only 15,000 homes got to see that team that year. You talk about a crying shame! Virtually kept a secret, you might say, except for the 32 games they benevolently bestowed upon us on Channel 32 that year. Reinsdorf and Einhorn inherited both Caray and WGN from Bill Veeck, and as a sign of things to come, the first in a series of bungling decisions that would go onto define this failing ownership, the first thing they did was to get rid of both. And they, Jerry & Eddie, supposedly two great businessmen, or so we were told - HA! You could have fooled me. It was actually 20 thousand on SportsVision to be more accurate but your point is well taken. Also something that isn't well known is that the Sox offered Caray more to stay for 1982 than he was paid by the Cubs but he left directly because of SportsVision. Remember SportsVision? Well it just so happens I've sent to Daniel a long article on the history of SportsVision, the reasoning behind it, what went wrong and recollections from one of its first anchors. I'm sure he'll publish it when the time is right but I think those who lived through that era will enjoy reading it. It was a brilliant idea but it was ahead of its time. Mark

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 10:53 AM) 1984 happened. The first 4 years of JR ownership the Sox out drew the Cubs. Then came collusion in the mid 80's...and the labor impasse of 1994...and the White Flag Trade. Mark

One of the most dominating pitchers in the game. Hard to believe but when this season is over he'd have spent five full years in the bigs. And he hasn't come close to sniffing a playoff start. Such a shame. Mark

The 15 strike outs is one short of the franchise record for a game - 16 set by Jack Harshman against if I remember right the Red Sox. Mark

Don't forget Julio Franco in 1994. Mark

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 07:12 AM) The White Sox will never be the Cubs. And a large reason for that is because of self inflicted wounds. There were also some areas where they had no control over that worked against them. But they had their chances in the past 35 years and completely fumbled them. Also keep in mind the Sox owned Chicago during the Golden Age 51-67, outdrawing the Cubs in 16 of those 17 years sometimes by a wide margin. Things changed dramatically when the Tribune company bought them three months after the Sox were sold to JR and EE. Mark

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 07:28 AM) I'd see if they could take Dave Wills from Tampa Bay. Give him the radio booth with DJ and fire Farmer. Never say never but I know Dave well and I'd think that ship has sailed. Sox had their chance but JR would never say 'yes.' Mark

Automatic out hitting 5th. Loyalty over accountability strikes again. (Or is it the 14 million??) Mark

What took them so long? Mark

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 15, 2015 -> 10:45 PM) DJ better watch it. If anybody notices he could get the boot. It doesn't work except for announcers that are legends. Harry Caray had a Sox sidekick fired once cause he and the guy spent a rain delay trashing the team. They didn't blame Harry; they canned the sidekick after the season. Kudos to DJ but DJs are a dime a dozen. If the team gets mad he'll be shown the door. Maybe DJ already knows. His contract like Stone's is up after this season. And if you're referring to Bob Waller that's incorrect. Waller was fired because of his pre game show with Chuck Tanner on the last day of the 1974 season. Chuck (God rest his soul) was talking about all the positive things the Sox did and Waller simply got tired of the spin and asked him why weren't they winning then? Tanner got so mad he walked off the field in the middle of the live pregame show. Waller spent the rest of the time asking questions and giving "truthful" answers to them. Ownership was not amused. The only partner Harry had (and he was a mentor to me) that he didn't like and made no bones about it was J.C. Martin. Harry felt he had no business being in a broadcast booth. I know J.C. have interviewed him, an extremely nice guy but Harry was right. J.C. was brutal. Mark

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 15, 2015 -> 09:19 PM) Hahn supposedly was ready to fold in mid to late June. KW was the "all in" one again. Do you have any facts behind this? Newspaper stories...anything? Not a rip at you, I just never heard / read anything along these lines. Mark