Lip Man 1

Heard from a source tonight who brought up some interesting comments about the upcoming off-season and what Getz may do. If they are right it sounds like a lot more turnover is coming. Here is what they wrote for what it is worth: "He (Getz) can’t go the KC route again. And please, no Brian Anderson in any form. Josh Barfield selected Dominic Fletcher over Jake McCarthy. That hasn’t turned out well. They’ve been paying a few scouts not to travel/work for as long as the last three months. I expect a lot of their pro scouts to “retire.” Given they don't have a lot of pro scouts to start with according to (If I remember right) Jay Cuda, they have got to replace them with qualified people. How much more can they shortchange this crucial area?

“We are committed to doing what’s right for us long term. And we’ve got to stay the course. Not cave based on pressures or noise outside of the organization and do what’s right for us so we can be successful in the future.”-- Chris Getz. 🤡

It is interesting that the Cubs who have had long periods of ineptness themselves have been able to hire good, solid acclaimed baseball managers like Lou Piniella, "Dusty" Baker, Joe Maddon and Craig Counsell. The White Sox???????????????????????????? The last time I heard of any 'name' 'accomplished' manager having any interest and the Sox being interested in him was Cito Gaston. But this shouldn't really be a surprise. JR years ago went on record as saying he didn't think managers (or head coaches) mean that much to a team. So he isn't willing to pay the going rate for successful people.

From Steve Greenberg's post game story in the Sun-Times: "The Sox are the equivalent of a winless NFL team. So bad, so inept, so embarrassing, the 2024 season will be etched into baseball lore forevermore. The 2003 Tigers fell to 34-100 on Aug. 30. The 1962 Mets, a first-year expansion team, fell to 34-100 on Aug. 29 en route to a record 120 losses. The Sox will break their own loss record (106 in 1970) before tangling with the Big 1-2-0. What a pathetic scene that will be as it plays out. With a winning percentage of .237, the Sox are in range of going lower than the 1916 Philadelphia A’s, who went 36-117 for a percentage of .235 — the worst of the modern era. Yes, that’s really a measuring stick now. It’s amateur hour at Guaranteed Rate Field. As pitcher Jonathan Cannon spoke in hushed tones with the media after the game, All-Star lefty Garrett Crochet slumped in a chair two stalls over, staring bullets into his phone screen and shaking his head in clear disgust. It said a mouthful, indeed."

Option #4 Outlive current ownership and hope for better days

It's ludicrous to think Manfred and the league is going to "step in" and do something. What do you expect them to do? Force JR out? He'll have MLB in court faster than you can sneeze. As long as the Sox are making money and they are, MLB could care less. So like I've told others, keep yourself in shape, eat right, see your doctor and hope to outlive current ownership.

I'm guessing Nashville (Sports Illustrated estimated it will be around two billion dollars). Chicago is a split market remember, the Cubs are still here and will also demand financial compensation for an expansion team "invading" their territory.

None of this is happening, not yesterday, not today and not tomorrow. The Sox make money...that's the bottom line for MLB. And yet again. MLB can get a LOT more money from an expansion fee, than moving the Sox to a smaller market population wise and media size. I think we can put this delusion to bed don't you?

That was at Awful Announcing which runs that poll every year. The previous season Benetti/Stone finished 6th if I remember right.

I saw that over the weekend. The Cubs TV booth did not get a lot of love either.

I do, it's called new ownership.

It's impossible to say what could have happened had Hawk not fired Dombrowski and LaRussa had remained manager for 20 years. Simply no way to possibly tell. But I did ask TLR about 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.”

I think he spoke to the media on the last home stand.

Schiffren absolutely has been put in just about the worst situation possible for a broadcaster and I know about things like he's going through. First year on the job, replacing a very VERY popular broadcaster, with a resume that doesn't show much if any baseball experience and having to broadcast arguably the worst team ever in the modern era. Not easy. But he also has been his own worst enemy taking everything into account. His 'feud' with the media, giving the wrong score, saying a ball was hit to left field when it was hit to right, not knowing the rules and certainly not knowing much of White Sox history. I'll be watching to see if there is real improvement next season, what he's learned and how he applies it. Time will tell.

100 losses that's a hell of a birthday present! (Sarcasm implied) Four errors (remember this team was supposed to be better defensively!) First time the franchise has ever has consecutive seasons with 100 or more losses. They have a great chance to "three peat" next year too!

Cali: I been told some things over the years. The biggest one was that JR wanted Himes to trade some of the top prospects to get help for the stretch run in 1990. Himes refused. The last straw perhaps centered around JR wanting to get pitcher Mike Scott. When I asked Jeff Torborg about this situation and rumor, this is what he said: ML: At the trade deadline the Sox were only three games behind the A’s yet the only thing the organization did was get reserve outfielder Phil Bradley from the Orioles. Were you disappointed especially since there was a lot of talk about the Sox getting guys like pitcher Mike Scott? JT: “Sure we were disappointed especially since that same day the A’s picked up Harold Baines and Willie McGee. I was sitting in my hotel room when I saw the news come across the TV and I thought ‘how did that happen?’ because we were behind Oakland, we could have put in a claim. At almost the same time I was thinking this I got a call from Jerry Reinsdorf and he asked me “what’s going on?” All I could tell him was that I didn’t know.” “And you mentioned Mike Scott…this is the first time I’ve ever heard anything like that. If that’s true that just goes to show you that I wasn’t involved in everything that may have been going on. (Author’s Note: ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight’s” lead anchor Dave Marash reported when Larry Himes was fired in mid-September, that part of the reason was, that he wasn’t interested in trading any of his minor league talent for more highly regarded players for the stretch drive. This apparently caused a wedge between him and ownership.) ML: Larry Himes was fired by the White Sox on September 15, 1990. Many people didn’t understand the move but apparently things were going on behind the scenes. As I mentioned earlier, the failure to get players for the stretch run may have driven a wedge between him and ownership and Jerry Reinsdorf had some very strong things to say about Himes on Chet Coppock’s radio show. (Author’s Note: Among Reinsdorf’s comments was the following “The fact is, Larry Himes cannot get along with anybody. You can hardly find anybody in the Sox organization that wasn’t happy when Larry Himes left.”) Your thoughts when you heard the news? JT: “It was an odd time to make that kind of change. Larry hired me; we shared the same ideas on a lot of things. I appreciated the confidence that he had in me and I always tried to be loyal to him.”

God Brebbia is really, really bad isn't he? Sunday the Sox will give me a "wonderful" (sarcasm implied) birthday present. 100 loss for consecutive years for the first time in team history. Thanks JR!

Danny Wright held the dubious record that Flexen tied. And yes Sox 5th starters were brutal in 2003 and it cost them a playoff spot. Wright, Stewart, Porzio and Cotts started 27 games went a combined 4-11 with an ERA of over six. That was the year when Kenny Rogers was available and the Sox had interest but according to Kenny Williams, he wanted a million dollars and that was "too much..." LOL. Rogers won 13 games himself that season as the Twins won the division by four games.

Well given the number of full time scouts in the organization you can understand why I guess.

The White Sox have now lost 19 consecutive games that Flexen has started. 19

It's actually three post seasons wins, one each in 2008, 2020 and 2021, still shameful.

Very true an idea like I wrote that was brilliant but was ahead of its time and doomed to fail because of outside forces. And of course his comment at the press conference about running a "first class operation" was ill advised with Bill Veeck sitting right there.

Wakefield started game #3 of the ALDS in Boston. I suspect that's what the poster meant, "Red" Sox.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2024/08/21/white-sox-keep-losing-reduced-2025-tickets-to-hell-on-sale-now-jerry-reinsdorf-steve-stone-pedro-grifol

Ironically this also happened on August 22nd and could have drastically changed White Sox history: August 22, 1980 - Sox owner Bill Veeck agreed to sell the team to Edward DeBartolo Sr., a multi-millionaire who invented the modern-day shopping mall in Ohio. DeBartolo though was voted down by the other league owners due to speculation about his possible association with mobsters and his acknowledged horse racing interests. The way was then opened for Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn to purchase the team. Einhorn was part of a group originally trying to buy the San Diego Padres and Reinsdorf was part of a group attempting to own the New York Mets. DeBartolo meanwhile eventually bought the San Francisco 49’ers, let his son run the franchise and promptly won multiple Super Bowls.