October 24, 200520 yr My my, how the times have changed. I'll say it now: I'm not sure whether I was a total buffoon back then, but I want everyone here to know that I just printed out this email, got out my plastic knife and fork and I'm tying a napkin around my neck as we speak.... > It doesn't matter if you thought the trades were good > for the White Sox when they occured, because the > General Manager has to ultimately be responsible for > the bottom line. > > And the bottom line is, Ken Williams is a failure as a > General Manager. > > In his 3 years as General Manager, I count two good > moves, namely Damaso Marte and Esteban Loaiza, and > several, several bad ones. > > He has emptied the farm system on a couple of > high-risk gambles (David Wells in 2001, Bartolo Colon > in 2003) and also made some outright stupid moves (an > overpriced Royce Clayton, Keith Foulke for Billy Koch) > and now he is, for the first time, doing the > impossible. > > This general manager is actually succeeding in > ultimately estranging me from my beloved team. > > I want to throw this monitor out the window every time > I hear another offseason boffo. The fact that Colon > wasn't coming back was one thing. We all pretty much > knew that wasn't more than a 50/50 chance. > > However, this assertion that the White Sox "need to > trim payroll" is ultimately absurd and I'm f***ing > tired of hearing it. > > Jerry Reinsdorf does not care to compete in the major > leagues. If he did, he would, like other owners > committed to winning, spend the necessary resources to > bring home a winner. Jerry Reinsdorf only cares that > his product is profitable. > > I don't know how much longer I can support this > lunacy: > > Example one: Today's announcement that Robbie Alomar > could not be signed by the White Sox for any more than > the f***ing 1 million dollars for 1 season that the > Diamondbacks put up. > > Example two: Ken Williams having Cliff Politte ride in > on his White Stallion to save the bullpen today. > > Example three: Trying to move Valentin, and if they > can't move him (I don't think they will now), he will > be relegated to his 2001 of occasional error man at 6 > different positions while Juan Uribe will start at > short and Willie Harris will man second. > > Example four: Still stuck with two first basemen who > are both kind of lost, and now nobody wants either > after we sat on both too long. > > Example five: A pitching staff that > post-farm-system-gutting can only be described as > "questionable at best" and a bunch of disgruntled > almost traded outfielders who know they are not wanted > by a second rate organization. Let me ask you > optimists this: Is Esteban Loaiza closer to a Mark > Buerhle phenomenon or a James Baldwin phenomenon? > > What about this am I supposed to feel good about? > > The more I think about this coming season, the more I > am filled with a singular feeling: rage. I am enraged > at the White Sox for their ineptitude, for their > mismanagement, for the atmosphere of half-assed effort > they continue to engender. That's right, I said the > WHITE SOX are ENGENDERING it. When your owner doesn't > commit everything he's got to winning, how can you > expect your manager or players to play like they are > inspired? How can you expect Frank to bust his ass > when it's clear that all Reinsdorf and Williams want > to seemingly do is play a continual nickel and dime > game with their players, driving more and more of them > out of town in droves. > > The Reader ran an article about 6 years ago imploring > the White Sox to be sold to the public, a la the Green > Bay Packers. The article urged that if the public > owned the White Sox, the "ownership" group would > definitively agree to spend whatever was necessary to > win first, and then reap the benefits after they had > fielded a winning product. You know, the way that > business NORMALLY works? Build a successful product > and people will buy it. Not the other way around. > > I hope that if I ever have the chance of meeting > Reinsdorf, I can ask him this one question. > > When you look back on your tenure as White Sox owner, > with the sheer lack of postseason success, the botched > ballpark and the bleak outlook for the future, how can > anyone characterize it as a success and why do you > keep doing it if you are a failure? > > Meanwhile, they are courting Greg Maddux as a f***ing > fifth starter on the North Side. At least they know > how to spend money. At least they've been to a > championship series in the last ten seasons. > > I'm sickened by the White Sox. If things don't improve > this year, I may be very close to finished with > actively following them. I never thought a single > owner or general manager would sicken me to the point > of partially losing my fandom, but it's honestly > happening, and I don't know that that will change. > > I hate Kenny Williams. No matter what you thought of > whatever at the time, he is a FAILURE. He has emptied > the farm and mortgaged the future.
October 24, 200520 yr Author and yeah, there's a lot on there that you can feel free to fire on me about. I severely overreacted and used poor judgement when responding to a pie-in-the-sky fellow fan and good friend.
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