Ricky’s boys don’t quit!

[ttommarello823]

They also don’t win! Yes 

[soxfan49]

But they do suck!

[caulfield12]

Wonder if we can break the trend of Sox managers being quite effective in their debut year (Ventura 2012, Renteria 2017) and then struggling thereafter to keep the team’s attention...?

[Dick Allen]

I really don’t know how a 95 loss season is all that effective. If Robin were here last year with the same squad, the 95 losses would be a lot more his fault than the lack of talent. 

[Jerksticks]

Heading into the season I didn’t think we had a prayer at the #1 pick in next year’s draft.  That would sure be tasty.  Basically allows for one more bust of the top guys. 

[Jack Parkman]

I didn't think this was possible, but Renteria might be worse than Ventura. Renteria's managing decisions are questionable at best and mindboggling at worst. 

[Chicago White Sox]

23 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

I didn't think this was possible, but Renteria might be worse than Ventura. Renteria's managing decisions are questionable at best and mindboggling at worst. 

I will continue to ask when does the front office step in and say “Hey Ricky, please see these numerous studies on why” insert decision “is generally a bad idea”.  Like the bunting should have been nipped in the butt last season.  It’s just so bizarre to see this stuff still happening.

[zisk]

Omar Vizquel 2019

[Sarava]

1 hour ago, Jerksticks said:

Heading into the season I didn’t think we had a prayer at the #1 pick in next year’s draft.  That would sure be tasty.  Basically allows for one more bust of the top guys. 

I don't see it happening. A month from now we could have Rodon and Kopech in the rotation. Might be a whole different team then.

[southsider2k5]

2 hours ago, ttommarello823 said:

They also don’t win! Yes 

Hopefully post 2 is better than post 1.

[caulfield12]

One thing is hard to argue.

Renteria wasn't good enough for the Cubs...at least, not when they had the resources to get one of the top tier guys in Maddon.

It does kind of get old when we're supposed to believe that Hahn is actually smarter than Epstein about staff/personnel decisions.  What exactly would our belief be based upon there?

[soxfan49]

16 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

One thing is hard to argue.

Renteria wasn't good enough for the Cubs...at least, not when they had the resources to get one of the top tier guys in Maddon.

It does kind of get old when we're supposed to believe that Hahn is actually smarter than Epstein about staff/personnel decisions.  What exactly would our belief be based upon there?

That a manager of Maddon’s caliber isn’t available in 2020?

The Cubs went and got Maddon when they were ready to win. Maybe the Sox will get a better manager if the opportunity presents itself in 2020. If not, look within the organization (Vizquel) or stick with RR.

[caulfield12]

1 minute ago, soxfan49 said:

That a manager of Maddon’s caliber isn’t available in 2020?

The Cubs went and got Maddon when they were ready to win. Maybe the Sox will get a better manager if the opportunity presents itself in 2020. If not, look within the organization (Vizquel) or stick with RR.

I've been saying all along it will be Vizquel.

1) He's not far removed from this generation of players...the respect factor, especially from Latin American players.  Other than the Padres, we might have the biggest collection of Hispanic talent in the game today.

2) Language fluency/communication skills

3) He has a lot of experience working on the staff with Leyland and even Lamont over in Detroit, and obviously played with the Sox in 2012 as well

4) One of the clear weaknesses of this team is defense...and that SHOULD be his specialty (not to mention he was quite effective in mentoring Alexei and coaxing some improvement out of him IMO)

For a long time, it looked like Sandy Alomar, Jr., was the so-called favorite.  Now, it could be McEwing (LaRussa protege), it could be Vizquel, and probably 50% betting odds for the remaining potential candidates.

[southsider2k5]

In that list you forgot Justin Jurshelle.

[caulfield12]

7 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

In that list you forgot Justin Jurshelle.

Jirschele...that's another possibility.

Royals ties, so that eliminates him to those who never bought into Getz as a development guru, lol.  Guess we might as well throw that name into the hat/ring as well, because...why not?  Knowing the White Sox, the odds of the candidate coming with loyalty ties are much greater than coming from outside the organization.

Edited May 7, 2018 by caulfield12

[Blackout Friday]

The most important things a manager does are the things we don’t see.

[greg775]

4 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I will continue to ask when does the front office step in and say “Hey Ricky, please see these numerous studies on why” insert decision “is generally a bad idea”.  Like the bunting should have been nipped in the butt last season.  It’s just so bizarre to see this stuff still happening.

I'm sure it's against baseball unwritten rules to ask managers about bunting philosophy. They can show RR all the advanced stats in the world and he'll consider them I'm sure, but tell him the advanced stats say never bunt, I bet even RR would blow a gasket and probably resign if they told him he couldn't advance runners via bunt. What a sport.

[credezcrew24]

3 hours ago, greg775 said:

I'm sure it's against baseball unwritten rules to ask managers about bunting philosophy. They can show RR all the advanced stats in the world and he'll consider them I'm sure, but tell him the advanced stats say never bunt, I bet even RR would blow a gasket and probably resign if they told him he couldn't advance runners via bunt. What a sport.

Advanced stats say a double is better than a single, so why do batters ever stop at first?

I wasn't watching today so I don't know what the situation was, but people seem to be more black and white about bunting than any other baseball topic and it gets ridiculous. There's a lot that doesn't show up in stat sheets.

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, credezcrew24 said:

Advanced stats say a double is better than a single, so why do batters ever stop at first?

I wasn't watching today so I don't know what the situation was, but people seem to be more black and white about bunting than any other baseball topic and it gets ridiculous. There's a lot that doesn't show up in stat sheets.

Well, bunting a guy that hit two homers the previous night (and not a very good sac bunter to start with) to set up one of the worst hitters/players in all of MLB just defies logic.

[Dick Allen]

2 hours ago, credezcrew24 said:

Advanced stats say a double is better than a single, so why do batters ever stop at first?

I wasn't watching today so I don't know what the situation was, but people seem to be more black and white about bunting than any other baseball topic and it gets ridiculous. There's a lot that doesn't show up in stat sheets.

I am not as anti bing as most, but he had Anderson bunt who has been on fire his last several ABs, to get to a carrier .166 hitter, currently sporting a .449 OPS. If it were the other way around, I would have no problem.

[bmags]

Every manager with a terrible bullpen looks terrible. Sox lead the league in issuing walks, and are dead last in strikeouts from our pitchers. Last year our bullpen was quite good for 2/3s fo the season and remarkably we could hang around and take some late leads. Tougher when you are never hanging on. THey will be less bad than this, but maybe not that much less.

[southsider2k5]

20 minutes ago, bmags said:

Every manager with a terrible bullpen looks terrible. Sox lead the league in issuing walks, and are dead last in strikeouts from our pitchers. Last year our bullpen was quite good for 2/3s fo the season and remarkably we could hang around and take some late leads. Tougher when you are never hanging on. THey will be less bad than this, but maybe not that much less.

Yeah, that sure helps. 

[Eminor3rd]

15 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

One thing is hard to argue.

Renteria wasn't good enough for the Cubs...at least, not when they had the resources to get one of the top tier guys in Maddon.

It does kind of get old when we're supposed to believe that Hahn is actually smarter than Epstein about staff/personnel decisions.  What exactly would our belief be based upon there?

Again -- you're citing single occurrences as if they're trends or facts. You're essentially saying, "Epstein was smart enough to hire Maddon when he was available. Why won't Hahn hire Maddon?" Well, because Maddon isn't available. It's the same reason the Sox didn't draft Kris Bryant.

When we look to past successes for inspiration or direction, we need to focus on strategic points that can be applied to today's situation, and avoid getting caught up on specific decisions that are irrelevant to today's game.

Example:

BAD LOGIC -- The Cubs ended up with a  ton of great young positional prospects, but not enough pitchers. So they signed Jon Lester and won the World Series. Therefore, the White Sox should make sure they focus only on hitters and that they have enough money to sign a big free agent pitcher when they want to contend.

GOOD LOGIC -- The Cubs focused on amassing high-upside talent, regardless of position, from every possible source -- draft, International signings, trades, waiver claims, post-hype reclamations projects, etc. Then, when enough of that talent arrived to make the team interesting, they used money to acquire veterans to fill in the gaps that were left. The White Sox should also do this.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Eminor3rd

[caulfield12]

8 minutes ago, Eminor3rd said:

Again -- you're citing single occurrences as if they're trends or facts. You're essentially saying, "Epstein was smart enough to hire Maddon when he was available. Why won't Hahn hire Maddon?" Well, because Maddon isn't available. It's the same reason the Sox didn't draft Kris Bryant.

When we look to past successes for inspiration or direction, we need to focus on strategic points that can be applied to today's situation, and avoid getting caught up on specific decisions that are irrelevant to today's game.

Example:

BAD LOGIC -- The Cubs ended up with a  ton of great young positional prospects, but not enough pitchers. So they signed Jon Lester and won the World Series. Therefore, the White Sox should make sure they focus only on hitters and that they have enough money to sign a big free agent pitcher when they want to contend.

GOOD LOGIC -- The Cubs focused on amassing high-upside talent, regardless of position, from every possible source -- draft, International signings, trades, waiver claims, post-hype reclamations projects, etc. Then, when enough of that talent arrived to make the team interesting, they used money to acquire veterans to fill in the gaps that were left. The White Sox should also do this.

Good logic.

Will the White Sox be bold and step up to correctly identify the next Joe Maddon when the time is right, instead of being loyal to Renteria?

Because they haven’t (yet) paid a Top 3-5 manager salary under Reinsdorf...

[Dick Allen]

The players association has at least partially blamed all of the tanking for the less than robust free agency last offseason. I wonder if the next labor agreement will include a lottery.  That could really be a game changer, but probably favors bigger market teams.