Lip Man 1

“Regardless of all that, when we’re talking about a tough budget year and the fact that we still had a billion dollars worth of transit to figure out, I think tax breaks and property tax certainty and money for stadium development is not high on the list for the people of Illinois,” State Rep Kam Buckner said. https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadium/2025/06/01/bears-stadium-bill-springfield

TLR was an advisor and worked in the front offices of the Red Sox, Diamondbacks and Angels if I remember correctly.

As long as his checks don't bounce he'll be fine.

I'm just producing numbers that counter at least somewhat what others have been saying about 'real progress.' In my opinion there really hasn't been progress save for some marginal inconsequential areas. Regarding your first sentence. As I've said for literally years JR wants to win BUT he wants to win HIS WAY which simply does NOT work. His ego and arrogance doesn't allow him to understand that or change that especially when, again in my opinion, he continues to make money and continues to feel that players are overpaid and what is needed to "save" baseball is a salary cap. In short no real major changes in the overall philosophy or the organization will take place until new ownership arrives. Until then you deal with the situation as best as you can.

By the numbers: Sox have scored a total of four runs in the three Houser starts. White Sox are 3-15 in games decided by one-run. White Sox have scored three runs or less in 38 of the 59 games played (64.4%) White Sox have now lost 13 games this year where an opponent scored three runs or less. "Supposedly" this team is better than last year. Maybe in some very slight peripheral areas but overall they still are disgustingly putrid.

And he still has the respect from JR who values his opinions.

You may be correct, which says a lot about the organization in the first place doesn't it? They signed/drafted/developed all of these guys.

Their offense has a league-worst .205 batting average with runners in scoring position. 🤡 That won't win you many games will it?

Part of the Sun-Times story: One week after being demoted to the minors, first basemen Andrew Vaughn and Tim Elko have not yet dominated at the Triple-A level. Vaughn has notched one home run and five RBI, but he’s 4-for-20 and owns a .200/.273/.350 slash line in five games with the Knights. Venable said there’s no timeline for Vaughn in the minors, but he sees the former third overall draft pick in the long-term picture for the Sox. Elko, who had been called up and made his MLB debut May 10, is 4-for-21 with one home run since re-joining Charlotte last week. He hit .161/.188/.452 with three home runs during his short time with the Sox.

I think as soon as he gets to a different organization be it by the trade deadline this year or next year after the Sox decline his option, he'll be better. Mentally he has got to be in a bad place after the injuries and the dysfunction in this organization. And he needs to go somewhere, where he will be held accountable for things like training and conditioning since part of his issue appears to be of his own making.

Another game with a ton of scoring chances, another game with three runs or less. Offense is as bad as last year's. 2-11 RISP today.

Except he already has stuck his hand out...remember his visit to Springfield?

Speaking of Anderson he was recently DFA'd by the Angels.

That's certainly possible. I think both sides realize although they won't admit it publicly, that their chances of getting sizable funds from either the state and/or the City of Chicago are pretty slim. They'll have to contribute a LOT of their own money to even get discussions off the ground in a real sense and even that may not work given the financial situation overall for the state and city. I know some of this was out of their control but both the Bears and Sox picked a pretty bad time to try to extort money from entities.

Today was already the 12th game this season the Sox held an opponent to three runs or less...and lost the game. That's wasting some pretty good pitching because of a putrid offense.

if this is in fact true, then who know how much "authority" Getz has don't we?

I understand by the way that TLR has been making the rounds of the minor league affiliates. He was just at Winston-Salem according to their TV broadcasters.

You can't get a good team without good ownership.

Very interesting story but as the report concludes: It remains to be seen whether the Bears’ new hire or the Pritzker administration’s work with an outside adviser will lead to any major movement in Springfield on legislation to help the team with its stadium plans. But with the legislature facing a shaky budget picture and other major challenges ahead of its scheduled Saturday adjournment, winning support for such a plan — which is sure to be met with stiff opposition from Chicago lawmakers — is no guarantee.

It won't. I assure you. 🙄 I know he stepped awkwardly. It's called fundamentals. But the Sox don't have much of those nor do they demand it apparently.

Your post is well thought out, please allow me to play Devil's Advocate: Given the chaos and uncertainty from Washington who knows how much if any Federal funds will be available moving forward for Chicago or the state of Illinois. It would be a very big political risk under these circumstances for any politician to say they are in favor of giving millions and millions of dollars to a billionaire. Said billionaire who already got one stadium built on the public dole without spending one thin dime of his own money. That would probably be political suicide for that politician. Pulitzer prize winning author John Heylar in his book “The Lords of the Realm” said the lease agreement JR got for the original stadium, to site one example was the best “sweetheart lease” agreement in baseball. JR can’t claim the city/state didn’t bend over backwards to help him once already. In the same book Helyar quoted JR directly when he was asked at one point how he became successful. JR’s answer was, “O.P.M.” Other people’s money. There’s an old saying, “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me…” JR wants to play the same game again in a totally different set of circumstances. Situations that are not in his favor this time around. He could try to do two things in my opinion that might, repeat might sway some votes although I don’t think even these would move the needle much. He could call a press conference and announce the White Sox are agreeing to spend X amount of dollars towards the project. He could also tell Getz this off season that he’s tired of being a laughingstock and allow him to spend whatever it takes to make the team competitive in 2026. Fact: Since the start of the 2007 season the White Sox have had only five winning seasons. They have been one of the worst franchises in MLB since that time. It's one thing to ask for millions of dollars if your franchise is competitive on a regular basis. it's quite another to ask for it when the franchise is basically a running joke in the sport. Yes there may wind up being only “useless concrete” but useless concrete doesn’t cost millions and millions of tax payer dollars does it? I just don’t see how under the current situation this gets done. JR is basically S.O.L.

From the Sun-Times post game report. Venable says he'll be in the lineup Friday: After only pinch hitting on Tuesday and not being in the lineup Wednesday, questions were starting to arise about oft-injured center fielder Luis Robert Jr. Manager Will Venable said pregame Robert’s absence was only precautionary because of some right knee soreness Robert is dealing with. But it’s noteworthy that when speaking to reporters last week, Robert also mentioned the knee soreness. Any injury is notable with Robert given his injury history. He’s already scuffling at the plate this season, batting .190/.276/.307 with a major-league-leading 21 stolen bases entering play Wednesday.

But of course...it's the White Sox way. Trade bonus money for another old retread then be surprised he gets hurt.

They'll be good when new ownership arrives, fires the baseball side of the operations from top to bottom and brings in competent people.

Just a point, we have no idea even when this guy will be healthy enough to play do we?