FT35

White Sox language translated: ”Outside the organization” = “Kansas City Royals”

It’s ALWAYS nice to win—even if it’s rare with this group. Still prepping for a couple of attitudes today. 1. A newfound confidence in Pedro and a puff piece on why Getz was right to wait this out. 2. A fan scolding that has something to do with how we were 1. “Wrong to doubt them” (as though the 1 win is somehow more relevant than the 21 losses) and 2. A call for patience/hope. Listen closely because they might even be worked into the game calls!

How great the .400 win% teams that he’s willing to finance suddenly look next to the .200 team.

One of the biggest jokes is hearing Getz and Pedro talk about how JR “wants to win.” Listen…JR does NOT care about winning. Billionaires who want to win do what it takes to win. They spend money. They don’t tolerate losing. They invest in coaching, resources, prospecting. They invest in their fan base to keep energy around their team. They target the BEST available people—whether it be players, managers, front office, etc. They simply do not allow their franchise to decay in any way that would affect winning. This is not Jerry. He wants to lose. He’s good at losing. He practices losing. He has all the assets available TO win but chooses to LOSE. Frankly, it’s insulting every time I hear how bad Jerry “wants to win.” Give me a break.

I know he’s 100 games under .500 in less than 2 seasons…but in no way should they jump into something too quickly by firing the guy until they know for sure it’s not working out. Like letting Pedro go without first seeing how BP goes in Oakland sounds a little hasty. Don’t want to lose sight of the big picture here—we need to focus on winning tomorrow’s MLB game in Oakland. Now if he drops to 101 or 102 games under .500, that’s totally different—we might just have to start “looking at the options” at that point—but right now?? That’s a little irrational.

Because when you’re 60 games under .500 for the season and 100 games under .500 in the last 2 years, you should probably wait and see if a series in Minnesota can shed NEW light on whether this is “bad enough” yet.

Oh! Maybe Jerry will take a lot lower return for the Bulls just to get the Sox off his books!? Just like he was willing to move Crochet for less just to move 10D’s bad contract?!

I’m all for Moncada leaving town. Can’t really blame the guy for getting covid though since virtually everyone on the planet has had it multiple times whether they are careful or not. I do believe he needs to hang his name on this pile of crap higher than most. It’s been more painful to see him throw away his opportunity to be great than it is watching guys who have no chance at being great.

Sadly, you’re likely right. I guess for me it’s the fact that this has gone past baseball results and into a PR issue. They’ve shown an indifference to winning or losing. They have accepted PROLONGED failure. They refuse to send the message to anyone willing to support their brand that they see this as a matter to be handled with urgency, and that they are even going to act on it at all. There’s no, “hey, we’re tired of this too and we are doing everything we can to fix it until it’s fixed.” Instead, we get this messaging: “oh…the manager who’s 100 games under .500 in just 2 seasons and has lost the team (which has its own liability level for how it effects your organization on/off the field), eh we’ll do something about that at some point, but not now…cause then I’d have to go through that whole process again and I don’t really wanna. And besides, my feelings are still hurt from Crochet’s demands.” If they were fine burning away a 61-win season and were willing to see how this year started off—he should have been gone after the 3-22 start. At that time, ALL signs pointed to this not getting any better. That’s not even hindsight talking…that’s “we’ve already seen all we need to see.” Dude’s 64-123. Where’s the intolerance to total disaster?

Always hiring from within on high-level/FO/decision-making roles can easily cause secret rooting for failure to permeate throughout an organization. “If we don’t make this work, I’m next up to be in charge,” has a much different effect than “if we don’t make this work, I might be gone too.”

I disagree here. For the first few years he was here, I just thought he was young, immature and unlucky. When that carries over into 5-6 years, you start to look at a guy differently. He was the face of the franchise’s future—and that goes both ways. He had the talent, but in the end—his immaturity took over. He and Eloy were the source of the hope but also the face of so many failures—including the most damaging…they contributed mightily to the destruction of the White Sox culture. Their poor work ethic, bad attitudes and immaturity combined with a newfound love of ritz and money and they both worked a system that allowed them to do absolutely nothing and still cash massive checks—all while avoiding the catastrophe of associating with a disastrous on-field product. They were content living it up with their lives in their rehab facilities rather than being with the team. That absolutely burried an already weak franchise who was counting on them—and PAYING them to play. I think they deserve the crap they get. I’m glad Eloy is gone and I can’t wait to see Moncada get cut off from his free ride with us. There are players with better talent who actually want to play baseball who work for those paychecks—let’s focus more on them.

They can take their pick! It’s probably another reason why more guys didn’t get moved yesterday. Everyone knew the whole roster would be put on waivers today and they can just claim anyone they want (in the odd case of a team actually wanting any of our players currently).

Westburg broke his hand. Please oh please put Moncada on waivers so maybe Baltimore can claim him—Eloy misses his friend already. Such a great duo to have on your team!!

This might not even happen—counting on free agents to even sign to play here. Shoot—even the guys who HAVE agreed to play here don’t actually PLAY here (Moncada, Eloy, Robert etc). I’d be really cautious if a FA did agree to play here—either we drastically overpaid, something is wrong with him, or as in 10D’s case, both.

I just hope we don’t lose a full season as opposed to hiring some competent “outsider.”

Speaking without Sox bias, if I were the O’s—I’d go after Skubal before Crochet. With Detroit closer to contending than the Sox, you’re still gaining an high quality pitcher, but also setting back another AL team who, with Skubal, could be a couple key pieces from contending along with you. That gain is definitely valuable.

Crochet is interested in an extension because he knows his value has never been higher and if he bets on himself for 2 years, there’s a high probability it could go lower than it is now. People are viewing him as elite now (as they should). So I think it makes sense for him to cash in on “elite” money.

Hopefully they change their logo too. The giant red arrow pointing down was a sign of things to come for the Sox.

Selling low? Yes. However, Robert still has a ton of value as one of the top young players in the game. He’s hurt a lot—but it’s closer to a player like Acuna getting hurt…not Eloy. If they move him, it will be a haul.

“Money to spend” doesn’t translate to the White Sox actually spending money. Anyone worth $ won’t sign here. Anyone worth $ isn’t even considered by management. We get sloppy 7th’s and pay them with opportunities to play their way out of town at the deadline. “Money to spend” makes me chuckle. I’ve hoped, I’ve been burned, I've learned. It ain’t happening. And if the “money is spent” it’s on the Benintendi’s of the baseball world so it’s more like they have money to “lose” not “spend.”

He meets the Sox profile for a signing: Old, washed, DH-type, historical White Sox ties, completely lost the ability to hit, recently cut by a sub-.500 team, not picked up by any other MLB team. I like the guy. Not saying he couldn’t miraculously figure things out and produce some unmeaningful stats again for a bit. Just saying he meets the profile. If he appears anywhere on any KC Royals marketing material (background included), I think the Sox sign him.

A good indicator of bad management is when them team finds themselves selling off pieces early because they are always out of the race…but then you realize the team somehow has so many “good pieces” to sell. How can they have so many good pieces but never win with them?

I do not understand the long pattern of there being an extreme tolerance to losing yet as soon as someone gets good, they’re jettisoned out. Then someone (players & coaches both) has to totally fail in a bad organization to get a shot with the Sox. 15-40 and zero changes made. 15-40 is showing an extreme failure tendency even in a rebuild. Pedro should have been gone a long time ago. He’s clearly not the one. So why not start the search to find someone who is? Unless they have completely embraced being a terrible losing franchise and Pedro IS EXACTLY the direction the Sox want to go. No one tolerates losing like the Chicago White Sox.

Closer to a 1.9 out of 10.

We all hope for success. That’s what burns us because Jerry will ultimately kill the momentum—and thus our hope.