Tony

It shows how insulated he is to think this is all that is needed

Of course picking 1 would be the preference lol, just saying it’s not as franchise altering as it usually is in other sports

As others have already stated, it’s just not the right message to send after you just set the record for the most losses in MLB history. On the other hand, nothing he said was wrong. “Where we stand right now, it’s very clear that we’ve got some work to do and the pathway out of that is to be healthy underneath the organization. And that’s what we’re determined to do. We’re not going to take shortcuts.” “We’ll go into this offseason and do what’s best for the long-term health,” he said. “You’ve got an ability to go into the free-agent market, you’ve got potential trade acquisitions. We’re going to do everything that we can to improve this major-league club, but we’re certainly not going to be short sided.” As stand alone quotes, it’s fine. But as it so often happens, they’re insulated in this bubble and lose sight of who they are speaking to. When Merkin or Fegan hold a phone in front of their face for quotes, Getz isn’t speaking to Merkin or Fegan. He’s speaking to the fan base, the media are simply the middle men. Speak to the fan. They should be HAMMERING the talking points about how unacceptable this season was, that it can never happen again, that they are sleeping in the front office to put in the time to make this thing better. But Getz has this almost aloof attitude when he speaks like “I mean, what did everyone expect? Yeah we’re bad, but what’s new? No big deal, we’ll hopefully figure this out by 2028.”

Sort of a minefield as well since 2000 for No. 1 picks. You’ve got guys like Bryce, Mauer, Adley, Cole, but you’ve also got Bryan Billington, Tim Beckham, Mark Appel and Luke Hochevar.

Congrats to all involved

This. I absolutely think there is an element to him not giving 100% this year and being checked out in far too many PA's, but based on everything we know about the internals with the Sox, he simply hasn't been developed and coached properly, which plays a huge role in this. Baseball has always been in a chess match between pitchers and hitters. Scouting reports evolve, pitchers change their approach to certain hitters, and the hitters then need to adjust, and round and round it goes. That requires a dedicated staff to help players make those adjustments, and I don't believe that's happening at a respectable level.

Said it before, but I'd put together a deal that is 5 years, and significantly front loaded. Payroll is going to be at all time lows in 2025 (and probably 2026) so they have room in the budget. Absolute best case scenario is players develop over the next 24 months, and in 2028-2029 when the Sox have Schultz and Smith up at the ML level, Crochet is still pitching at a high level (he'll still be younger than 30) and at that point he's on the backend of the deal, affordable and still looking for his next big contract.

We can? If they lost 115 games but Eloy-Moncada-Robert play full-ish seasons, this team somehow may be in worse shape than it is now. We have yet to see the results of what this historic season brings, but the hope is it finally tells them everything needs to change. I’ll believe it when I see it, and certainly not holding my breath, but if they lost 105-110 games this season, it’s probably business as usual in 2025 at 35th and Shields

I thought about the trip we took about a half hour after I wrote that. 5 of us, from this board, met up in Cincinnati in 2006 to watch the Sox for the weekend. Was a great trip. Sports is what brought us there.

This is wrong on a lot of levels. - I have a closer relationship with my dad because of sports. It’s something we can always talk about with each other. I have many friends who aren’t as close with their fathers as I am, because they don’t seem to have a lot to talk about. I also have really good memories with him around 2005 and the Hawks Stanley Cup run. - I’ve been in a fantasy football league with 11 guys I went to high school with. I probably wouldn’t be in contact with probably 8 of those guys at this point in my life, but the fantasy league keeps us in touch and the main reason we’ve kept it going all these years. - I’ve won a good deal of money from said fantasy league, because I stay up on the NFL, so there literally is an ROI associated with that - Sports are communal. When the Hawks went through their from 2010-2015, the city was buzzing, especially during the playoffs. It was awesome going to the bars to watch those games with a packed house and everyone invested. It also brings us together. The country is incredibly divided politically where everyone thinks the other side is the “enemy.” But when you’re the fan of the same team, that stuff goes away and you’re on the same side/team. - The actual payoff to your team winning can’t be matched by much. The Blackhawks went through a huge sexual assault scandal and it turned me off of the team for a while. But the memories I have of celebrating those cup wins didn’t change. Same with the 2005 White Sox. It became clear over time that team had a horseshoe up its collective ass given their lack of success in future seasons, but that doesn’t change the way I celebrated with friends and family in 2005. I could keep going, but yeah…you’re wrong

ehhhhhhh, I wouldn't go that far. If it didn't impact Jerry at all (which none of us know at this point) then all it was just a historically bad season in a long line of very bad seasons for the White Sox.

I'm sorry

They lose next week and it’s going to get UGLY around Halas

Absolutely nothing has gotten better in three weeks. And I know there are things working against him, but Caleb looks absolutely awful. I don’t see how this gets better quickly.

There isn’t a single thing he said in that article that isn’t incredibly easy to believe. Based on what we have all seen and heard, it all checks out. And we should all be furious this is how they have run things for this long.

McCann is a good pull, you’re correct

And there are so many different examples over the years of guys moving on and those teams getting a better performance out of the player. Obviously some players (Eloy being a good example) seemingly is who he is and really hasn't done anything with Baltimore, but there are so many cases where it's clear the Sox just don't know what to do with a player. Look at Jake Diekman last year. Sox acquire him in 2022, he put up a 7.04 ERA in 30 innings with the Sox split over two seasons. He goes to the Rays, and puts up a 2.18 ERA in 45 innings. Soxtalk veterans remember the phrase that was used her back in the mid 2000's, "Coop will fix'em" which was sort of a joke, but was a reference to guys like Matt Thornton, a guy who couldn't quite figure it out in Seattle and it seemed to really come together with the Sox. When was the last time the Sox signed someone from another organization and really unlocked something, or brought the best out of the player? Truly no one comes to mind, I'm sure I'm missing someone, but really can't think of anyone off the top of my head. But there is a list too long to type of guys who come here and get worse. Just sad

And even if they do that, and trade some of the pitching for hitting...why should anyone believe they will develop those new players into quality ML players?

I can’t get over Ohtani. He’s so far and away the best player to ever play the sport, and we’re living right in the prime of it

99% of people understand the issue, there are a few dolts that are seemingly argue to argue.

I 100% believe that there are multiple guys that have totally different career trajectories on other teams. I cite Andrew Vaughn often. I really believe he was just wrecked by the White Sox.

The article states "Hahn declined to comment on this story." The article also states "Haber did not respond to interview requests." In most cases, when stating "He declined to comment on this story" that implies he was not a part of the story, but was reached out to. In theory you could walk the line and still use him for background, but that starts to get into murky territory when it comes to journalistic integrity.

The coach/first class discussion isn’t even about “comfort” It’s about the standard across the league. It’s the same for the analytics department, baseball ops, etc. Everything is done worse on the South Side than it is with 95% of the other teams in the league. Thats the point

I’ve posted this before, but worth repeating given the topic at hand. I was told when the Sox interviewed Joe Espada before the 2023 season, he left the interview telling people “It’s 2023 but they operate like it’s 2003. I have no chance here.” He obviously was right.

The bad news: Nothing will change until Jerry dies The really bad news: None of us know when that is, and even when he goes, it's going to take a while to clean everything up. We have another decade of this, at least.