Terrible news. Really enjoyed Vinnie's coverage of the Sox. 

6 hours ago, ptatc said:

That's what people are saying. They layoffs weren't isolated to the Sox staff.

They weren’t isolated, but the Sox were most impacted

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

They weren’t isolated, but the Sox were most impacted

Sounds like a good reason to blame the layoffs throughout the system on the Sox. Good deflection by the organization to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Blame the Sox so people don't blame the people running the organization.

Vinny was my fav 

12 hours ago, PaleAleSox said:

It was also across different cities. The Phillies one lost a person, too. Is that from being a bad team? 

The Sox was from being a bad team with little interest. Several years ago, the Tribune went without a Sox beat writer, but for some reason had one for the Cubs. Back when the Tribune owned the Cubs, all of us complained about the uneven coverage. Now we just accept it. And why is because JR has let this team slide where everyone knows they are not a worthy cover. Vinnie didn’t deserve to lose his job. Fegan didn’t deserve to lose his. If JR would have done his job, they both would still be doing what they are doing. And the sad thing is, it wasn’t like they were making millions.

3 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

The Sox was from being a bad team with little interest. Several years ago, the Tribune went without a Sox beat writer, but for some reason had one for the Cubs. Back when the Tribune owned the Cubs, all of us complained about the uneven coverage. Now we just accept it. And why is because JR has let this team slide where everyone knows they are not a worthy cover. Vinnie didn’t deserve to lose his job. Fegan didn’t deserve to lose his. If JR would have done his job, they both would still be doing what they are doing. And the sad thing is, it wasn’t like they were making millions.

Man, what truly sucks the most is that Fegan and Vinnie are two of the best and moderated when it comes to actual reporting vs. meatball coverage.

7 minutes ago, Quin said:

Man, what truly sucks the most is that Fegan and Vinnie are two of the best and moderated when it comes to actual reporting vs. meatball coverage.

To me, Fegan was as good as it gets. He alone was worth the subscription.

6 hours ago, ptatc said:

Sounds like a good reason to blame the layoffs throughout the system on the Sox. Good deflection by the organization to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Blame the Sox so people don't blame the people running the organization.

But if they reduced coverage the most for the Sox over other MLB teams, couldn’t that be because the Sox are such a bad team right now that there is very little interest in viewing coverage for them?  And this in turn would put some of the blame on the Sox — basically for fielding such a bad team that no one cares to watch coverage for?

Basically, if Jerry didn’t run such a shitshow team, CHGO would have retained more of their Sox coverage staff.  Yes, Jerry didn’t fire them but he is indirectly to blame for the results.  No one is interested in a crappy product, so this is what happens.

Edited December 19, 20241 yr by WhiteSox2023

This sucks for every one of the people losing their jobs, and it sucks that the current state of the Sox gave them an extremely easy and accepted scapegoat 

well done all around, owners of sports and media.  You got your pound of flesh, again

1 hour ago, Dick Allen said:

The Sox was from being a bad team with little interest. Several years ago, the Tribune went without a Sox beat writer, but for some reason had one for the Cubs. Back when the Tribune owned the Cubs, all of us complained about the uneven coverage. Now we just accept it. And why is because JR has let this team slide where everyone knows they are not a worthy cover. Vinnie didn’t deserve to lose his job. Fegan didn’t deserve to lose his. If JR would have done his job, they both would still be doing what they are doing. And the sad thing is, it wasn’t like they were making millions.

Businesses are always going to orient themselves to the most profitable sectors of a market.  I would hate to be trying to make a living on the Sox back right now.  I'd probably be on a message board somewhere telling fans how great everything is soon going to be.

1 hour ago, Quin said:

Man, what truly sucks the most is that Fegan and Vinnie are two of the best and moderated when it comes to actual reporting vs. meatball coverage.

Which may well mean they got froze out with the Sox and that is part of the rationale as well.

7 hours ago, ptatc said:

Sounds like a good reason to blame the layoffs throughout the system on the Sox. Good deflection by the organization to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Blame the Sox so people don't blame the people running the organization.

I’m sorry, but when you have a product line that’s not financially viable most companies will cut it.  Covering the White Sox isn’t good business right now.  If it was, then enough people would stop buying subscriptions and the broader business would go under.  And like we saw with the Tribune and Athletic, both of those publications have kept on chugging without a White Sox beat writer.

I will not defend firing people a week before Christmas and I do not support general corporate greed, but you also can’t point to every business decision and blame it on management being incompetent.  Unfortunately, the external environment does impact how a company will need to operate and Jerry running this franchise into the ground has made it harder to cover the team.

4 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I’m sorry, but when you have a product line that’s not financially viable most companies will cut it.  Covering the White Sox isn’t good business right now.  If it was, then enough people would stop buying subscriptions and the broader business would go under.  And like we saw with the Tribune and Athletic, both of those publications have kept on chugging without a White Sox beat writer.

I will not defend firing people a week before Christmas and I do not support general corporate greed, but you also can’t point to every business decision and blame it on management being incompetent.  Unfortunately, the external environment does impact how a company will need to operate and Jerry running this franchise into the ground has made it harder to cover the team.

Exactly.  There’s no demand for Sox coverage because they are the worst team in baseball.  Therefore, tough (but obvious) choices had to be made.  This doesn’t seem too difficult to understand.

My son is friends with Vinnie. I met him last year up in Michigan on vacation. Nice, smart young man. Sorry

to hear about his misfortune.

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

Businesses are always going to orient themselves to the most profitable sectors of a market.  I would hate to be trying to make a living on the Sox back right now.  I'd probably be on a message board somewhere telling fans how great everything is soon going to be.

I've mentioned this before but the White Sox also have an incredibly saturated market of coverage. Compared to other teams, there are so many blogs out there and sox coverage with their own followings. Sox fans definitely approach media from a communal perspective more than other teams which hurts the more mainstream clicks and views.

3 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

The Sox was from being a bad team with little interest. Several years ago, the Tribune went without a Sox beat writer, but for some reason had one for the Cubs. Back when the Tribune owned the Cubs, all of us complained about the uneven coverage. Now we just accept it. And why is because JR has let this team slide where everyone knows they are not a worthy cover. Vinnie didn’t deserve to lose his job. Fegan didn’t deserve to lose his. If JR would have done his job, they both would still be doing what they are doing. And the sad thing is, it wasn’t like they were making millions.

And if people would just live healthy lives, insurance companies wouldn't have to deny them life saving coverage. 

JR has run a s%*# organization for a long time. This deflection is just weird. 

Edited December 19, 20241 yr by WestEddy

29 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Exactly.  There’s no demand for Sox coverage because they are the worst team in baseball.  Therefore, tough (but obvious) choices had to be made.  This doesn’t seem too difficult to understand.

The funny thing is that The Athletic started rotating writers at the end of the year to cover the Sox because they had such a spike in interest from the outside.

7 minutes ago, Quin said:

The funny thing is that The Athletic started rotating writers at the end of the year to cover the Sox because they had such a spike in interest from the outside.

Everybody stares at a trainwreck.

46 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I’m sorry, but when you have a product line that’s not financially viable most companies will cut it.  Covering the White Sox isn’t good business right now.  If it was, then enough people would stop buying subscriptions and the broader business would go under.  And like we saw with the Tribune and Athletic, both of those publications have kept on chugging without a White Sox beat writer.

I will not defend firing people a week before Christmas and I do not support general corporate greed, but you also can’t point to every business decision and blame it on management being incompetent.  Unfortunately, the external environment does impact how a company will need to operate and Jerry running this franchise into the ground has made it harder to cover the team.

So why is this company paying Cole Kmet to bring absolutely nothing to the table? Bet they are paying him more than the many people they just laid off through various cities. This is a piece of crap company with a horrible business model. 

1 hour ago, Quin said:

The funny thing is that The Athletic started rotating writers at the end of the year to cover the Sox because they had such a spike in interest from the outside.

Everyone enjoys slowing down to look at a car wreck on the road.

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

Everybody stares at a trainwreck.

Haha, beat me to it.

Who would ever have thought that being the worst team in baseball history would be the most effective way to drive national media interest in the Sox?

Great job by JR Boyer and Getz.

Edited December 20, 20241 yr by caulfield12

Sean Anderson called out the CEO of his company for his comments about why this happened, but also acknowledged that Jerry played a major role in this.

11 hours ago, WestEddy said:

And if people would just live healthy lives, insurance companies wouldn't have to deny them life saving coverage. 

JR has run a s%*# organization for a long time. This deflection is just weird. 

Sure, but the team is two seasons removed from a decent 3-year run, starting with the Covid-shortened season.  People were interested in the Sox then, until they just had back-to-back putrid years and began another long-term rebuild.  Fans aren’t interested in watching this shitshow or the beginning of yet another rebuild.  The timing isn’t exactly a surprise.

Edited December 20, 20241 yr by WhiteSox2023

28 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Sean Anderson called out the CEO of his company for his comments about why this happened, but also acknowledged that Jerry played a major role in this.

He blasted Jerry, Tony, and the unexpectedly mediocre 2022 season.

If people weren’t watching this before, no one is watching it now.  It went from a round table to a one man show.  Yikes…

Edited December 20, 20241 yr by WhiteSox2023