Royals 5, White Sox 3: A mediocre team, poorly managed

Dylan Cease extended his streak of starts with fewer than two earned runs allowed to 14.

For his effort, he was saddled with his fifth loss of the season thanks to poor support before and after his six innings.

The White Sox outhit the Royals 14-8 and outhomered them 2-1, but they faltered with runners in scoring position repeatedly, and Tony La Russa compounded the problem with some mishandling of leverage later. Throw in a couple of defensive miscues and one glaring lapse in the hustle department, and fans were “treated” to the 2022 Sampler.

This game took a key turn for the worse in the seventh inning when Joe Kelly retired only one of three batters he faced, then departed with a trainer escort due to lightheadedness. With runners on second and third, one out and the Sox trying to limit KC’s lead to 1-0, Tony La Russa could have used any one of his relievers, who would’ve had all the time needed to warm up.

Instead, he chose the already warm José Ruiz, and Ruiz gave up a pair of run-scoring singles before could record a pair of outs, and the Sox fell behind 4-0.

That’s when the offense finally responded. Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run shot in the eighth for his first homer since May 16 that halved the Royals’ lead. They continued to pressure the Royals by loading the bases in painstaking fashion, but Luis Robert lined out to left to leave the sacks packed.

Then Matt Foster couldn’t keep the Royals from answering in the eighth, with Bobby Witt Jr. singling with two outs, stealing second and scoring on Michael A. Taylor’s single that fell in front of Andrew Vaughn two batters later.

Vaughn made up for that run with a solo shot off Scott Barlow in the top of the ninth, but the Sox needed more, and they could only offer two strikeouts and a weak groundout to seal the the series loss.

So the Sox couldn’t get Cease off the hook, even though his lone crime was allowing a solo shot to Vinnie Pasquantino in the second inning. That was the only damage Cease suffered over six innings, and you could see Cease dig deeper to ward off subsequent threats.

When he opened the fourth inning with two walks over the first three batters, but after a mound visit, he struck out Hunter Dozier on three pitches, starting a run of five strikeouts over six batters. His fastball rounded up to 100 at times, and his slider crossed 90 mph. He pitched as though he could erase the run on the board if he tried hard enough.

(He also overcome a Josh Harrison mishandling a hot shot to second in the sixth by getting Salvador Perez to ground into a double play.)

The White Sox offense lacked that sort of confidence and competence. The White Sox singled off Zack Greinke once in the first, twice in the second and three times in the third, and yet they came with zero runs.

In the second, Lenyn Sosa grounded into an inning-ending double play. In the third, Seby Zavala failed to read Andrew Vaughn’s single to right field from second base, which resulted in Luis Robert coming up 10 feet from passing him rounding second. The Sox should’ve come away with one run, but instead they merely loaded the bases. Greinke recovered by working over Jiménez with a pair of slow curveballs outside the zone for one strikeout, then yo-yo’d Abreu by alternating slow and fast over a four-pitch sequence, resulting in him being way late on 90 for strike one, ahead on a 73 mph curveball, then over a changeup at 87. Grandal then grounded out the bury the day’s best opportunity.

In the sixth — an inning Greinke hadn’t pitched in since June — the Sox put runners on the corners with one out, only to see Yoán Moncada strike out and Harrison fly out. The White Sox went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11.

Bullet points:

*Harrison also failed to tag Witt fast enough on a perfect throw from Seby Zavala in the seventh inning. The play was upheld after a challenge, and Nicky Lopez’s single to center off Ruiz scored two runs instead of one.

*Robert didn’t run hard out of the box with Zavala on second and one out in the seventh, which allowed second baseman Michael Massey to recover after his bobble and retire Robert by a step and change. Had Robert exerted himself, there would’ve been runners on the corners with one out on the Royals’ second error of the inning.

*Sosa was indeed tested by the Royals’ more proven starters, going 0-for-8 with three strikeouts over the last two games facing Grienke and Kris Bubic.

*Vaughn was robbed of a single with a great ranging catch by Nate Eaton in right, then allowed a pair of hits to fall in front of him over the course of the afternoon.

Record: 56-56 | Box score | Statcast

Author

  • Jim Margalus

    Writing about the White Sox for a 16th season, first here, then at South Side Sox, and now here again. Let’s talk curling.

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LamarHoyt_oncrack

After going 8-8 against the Rockies, A’s, Rangers, Royals, my take is that if the playoffs started tomorrow, I think the Sox would have a good chance in a series against any of those teams. And that’s no joke.

upnorthsox

Mostly because they wouldn’t be playing?

PauliePaulie

Still standing by the assertion that the Sox are as good as the Orioles?

Augusto Barojas

I don’t get why the Orioles traded Mancini to the Astros. I doubt they finish ahead of the Rays for the last wild card spot, but right now they are tied with them. Mancini isn’t great but is a decent hitter. Seemed like a very strange trade that certainly did not make them better.

Augusto Barojas

Cease gives up 1 run or less in 14 straight, and has only 8 wins during that time, barely over half. To be fair, the team has won 11 of those, but still. Their offensive ineptness is just astounding.

abehickock

The problem with the White Sox goes way beyond the manager and hitting coach. The whole organization needs a thorough housecleaning, starting with the people who do the scouting and drafting along with their developmental staff. They priorize athleticism over baseball IQ and instincts. They don’t emphasize defensive fundamentals. Look at the way Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson play the infield. Playing balls off to the side, throwing off balance, mental errors. You see it with Jake Burger also. Too many do or die plays. The solid organizations sink money into their minor league operations and it shows in the way they play the game. The proof that they don’t put everything into the development of their young players is that this summer they employed Nicky Delmonico as a minor league hitting instructor. Why? What’s his track record of developing young hitters. He has none but I’m sure he was a nice, friendly guy that Hahn and Williams liked so they give him this important job. I’m sure there are similar instances throughout their operation.

asinwreck

What the Chicago White Sox need is an owner who has no present ties to Jerry Reinsdorf or the organization and who will dispense with the suffocating, insular approach to front office construction (and also dispense with this front office).

ayeitsfabes

You think the Sox prioritized athleticism with Jake Burger? 2012 is asking for their criticisms back.

abehickock

I guess you’re satisfied with what comes out of their minor leagues. They don’t even have an outfielder they can bring up so they have to play first basemen in the outfield. When they bring up Oscar Colas, he’ll have a bunch of flaws also, relying solely in his natural ability.

ayeitsfabes

Minor league satisfaction isn’t the same thing as your assessment of who the Sox draft, which was my disagreement.

BenwithVen

I’ll defend Nicky Delmonico a little bit. He comes from a coaching pedigree (his dad was the head coach at Tennessee for like 17 years), and has always been interested in doing it.

He’s also instructed Colas, Ramos and Montgomery this season at W-S and they seem to be doing alright.

ChiSoxND12

I agree they need housecleaning, of course. They’ve needed it for eons.

But they definitely don’t value athleticism. I believe they’re (or at least were until Montgomery) an insecure bunch when it comes to scouting, so they draft “sure thing” bat first corner guys like Vaughn, Burger et al. Picks that won’t get eviscerated around the baseball community. Picks that any schmuck could make. Good orgs have confidence in their ability to scout and develop their vision, and see things others don’t. This is so not the White Sox and indeed they are NOT a good org

BenwithVen

I think I disagree in that I think in that they seemed overconfident in their abilities to develop players, so they would always just draft players who had one standout tool (usually power) and think they could develop the rest.

I think they definitely value raw athleticism over baseball instinct/IQ, something I hope Shirley corrects.

ChiSoxND12

The truth is no org drafts based on “baseball IQ” esp not in the early rounds.

They draft baseball players. Baseball players are all supposed to have “baseball IQ” to a degree such that one having a higher than the other is not a discernible difference to influence a pick

Last edited 2 years ago by ChiSoxND12
ayeitsfabes

This isn’t accurate. Kenny Williams M.O. was drafting athlete first baseball players with TA being the last of that mold (also Rick’s first draft). That’s how you get Jared Mitchell, Courtney Hawkins, Keenyn Walker, Keon Barnum, etc.

The system, despite its ranking, is decidedly better than 5 to 10 years ago.

ForsterFTOG

Aren’t they ranked about the same?
Which is to say, at the bottom?

ayeitsfabes

Sure if you want to purposefully ignore the 4 I mentioned were never ranked in the top 100, and the Sox international presence was virtually non existent, then yeah they’re basically the same..

ChiSoxND12

I umped Keon Barnum when he was with the Chicago Dogs. He was most certainly not athletic. He was probably less athletic than half the guys I ump in a men’s league at Washington Park

soxygen

I already posted it in the game thread, but for those who missed the game here is part of what Steve Stone had to say when this pathetic game ended:

“The tough part to watch on a daily basis, and I’m sure they are feeling the same way throughout part of the organization, is that it seems to be that hustling is optional and is long as that is the case it is going to be tough to win games going forward.”

Last edited 2 years ago by soxygen
PauliePaulie

“part of the organization”
Interesting

soxygen

Yep. Listened to it several times to make sure, but that is very clearly what he said.

upnorthsox

Well there’s obviously part of the organization who think that guys shouldn’t overexert themselves or you know pitch more than 5 innings or pitch back to back, you know all that anti old school thinking.

PauliePaulie

I feel bad for Vaughn, Cueto and Cease.
End of list.

palkadance

And Abreu.

charlie

And Engel who if played regularly the season would look different.

ParisSox

Yeah why hasn’t Engel been playing? Did he insult LaRussa’s dog or something ?

soxygen

Trying to put myself inside the addled mind of our manager here…my guess is that Tony thinks: if I start Engel then who will be available as a late inning defensive substitute?

It’s nonsense, and maybe I’m wrong, but I can imagine TLR thinking something like that…

Qubort

Engel had stopped by Tony’s office and Tony offered him a drink. Engel stated it was 8am. Tony hasn’t played him since.

itaita

This game felt like the offense was challenging themselves to see how many hits they could get without accomplishing anything.

metasox

Tony La Russa could have used any one of his relievers, who would’ve had all the time needed to warm up.Instead, he chose the already warm José Ruiz, and Ruiz gave up a pair of run-scoring singles before could record a pair of outs, and the Sox fell behind 4-0.

I did not see the game but did see some of the post-game about the light headedness. Sounded like this was something they were thinking could come up. So, why was Ruiz warming in the first place? Was the plan he would be the next guy in, if needed?

Yolmer

I rather have Ricky, Ozzie, or Coop manage this team (since it’s the Sox and they’re going to be insular as hell). At least they get angry when they suck. Tony is a corpse.

metasox

Seems Robert often takes his time running out of the box on fly balls. I have noticed he tends to stand for a moment more than most players. At least, that is how it appears. So there may be an overall habit of how quickly he gets going that he needs to get over.

itaita

Ill play a little Robert defense cause i feel like it. Some guys are just slow out of the box cause of their swings. Id much rather him take an extra moment after a swing if it means he properly goes though his mechanics. On top of that you had the team tell guys like Anderson, Robert and Vaughn to not rush to avoid injuries or however Tony worded it. So you cant ask him to not hustle on routine grounders then get upset when he doesn’t.

Honestly this is just a cursed mess of a season. The team wasn’t perfect to begin with but it also is a season where the ball isnt bouncing their way with luck. So its just miserable all around. Of course what worries me is other teams will go “Ok bad season but how can we improve to help offset the luck a little” whereas the Sox go “Well its was bad luck so lets run it back and it will be fine this time!”

ForsterFTOG

Are the Sox players still under those orders?
You could literally see Robert accelerate after he saw the ball was booted.
Vaughn ran harder out of the box on a no doubt homerun.

ParisSox

Vaughn is trying to show fire. I think everyone else is too. But they are so poorly managed and coached. What was up with those approaches by Eloy and Abreu with the bases loaded?

upnorthsox

“Well its was bad luck so lets run it back and it will be fine this time!”

You mean like they did last season, Great!!

soxygen

Did you see today’s game? His first two at bats were his 61st and 62nd one pitch at bats of the year. His third at bat he didn’t run hard all the way. As Steve said, if he’s running out of the box he beats the throw by two steps; if he’s not going to run then the Sox are not going to win very many games.

metasox

What I see is actually less specifically about “hustle” or guys sparing themselves to avoid injuries. It is more about being conditioned and prepared to immediately run after hitting the ball, especially for a guy whose game is supposed to include speed and might be able to turn a single into a double. But there could be a mechanical element to it.

Last edited 2 years ago by metasox
FishSox

Gotta call BS on this. About 2 weeks ago he stood in the box and watched a ball hit down the 3B line to see if was going to be fair or foul. Hit fair and he didn’t start out of the box until it landed and he wound up at first instead of second. This is who he is.

ChiSoxND12

I’ll play a little “Robert Offense”: he completely loafed it for the first 35’ and got retired because of it in a crucial spot. I defend players all the time but JFC, you’re talking about swing mechanics to defend him? And then your next thing is ‘the season is cursed’??

Read what Forster wrote. He picked it up upon realizing it was a potential reach. He dogged it at the outset bc he dogged It. Not bc of his freaking swing. Stop

Last edited 2 years ago by ChiSoxND12
bullrun1861

Have you ever watched Mike Trout? When healthy, and sadly he seems to be breaking down now, he busts it down the line on every ground ball. I swear he barely gets thrown out.

I don’t know if the RaLussa edict to ratchet it down a notch or three was ever a good idea. Seems to not send a good message. This could be a matter going back to Anderson initially expressing his views when RaLussa was hired. Of course they became BFFs, yeah right! It seems RaLussa has never had a clue how to manage this generation of player. Renteria had no problem benching anyone who did not hustle. Ricky gone…hello Tony. Is this a matter of the inmates running the asylum?

One would have to have deeper visibility into teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Astros, for example, but my W-A-G is they don’t experience these kind of issues and if they do they know how to clean it up inside the clubhouse.

BenwithVen

Putting in Ruiz was a pretty big mistake, but putting in Foster after the offense was able to scratch two runs across and keep them game was really something else.

Especially since Hendriks was warming the inning before. Just baffling stuff.

Last edited 2 years ago by BenwithVen
Root Cause

Time to start up White Sox Anonymous.

calcetinesblancos

Scary to think how much worse our record would be if this team didn’t have a manager with so much experience and know how. We’re so lucky.

a-t

Clearly the only way to salvage the season is to fire Tony and hire Ozzie as interim manager

upnorthsox

Yep Ozzie tells us that every postgame.

jhomeslice

For once I completely agree with you. Imagine that it was 17 years ago that he led the Sox to their only championship, and he is still 20 years younger than the Russa! I’m not the first to point that out but it’s pretty comical.

I can’t even stand to watch the games anymore and have quit to be honest.

Last edited 2 years ago by jhomeslice
Right Size Wrong Shape

clearly

soxygen

Deleted

Last edited 2 years ago by soxygen
Kelly Wunsch N' Munch

I realize that the others were over one hundred years ago, but the White Sox have 3 World Championships. 1906, 1917, and 2005. Therefore he couldn’t have led them to their “only” championship having won two prior.

charlie

Fingers crossed AJ is the manager next year.

Augusto Barojas

I would take AJ even if he is not liked by the players, over this ridiculous experiment. Maybe they are doomed to choose someone who would not be great, but even the worst of their past bimbos would still be an improvement over pure, stupid evil.

Joliet Orange Sox

There’s a film from the late 80’s called Postcards From The Edge which isn’t great but has a scene that stuck with me. The film is based on Carrie Fisher’s semi-autobiographical novel about her relationship with her mom Debbie Reynolds with Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine playing the daughter and mother.

At one point the daughter is arguing with the mom and the mom says “How would you like to have Joan Crawford for a mother? Or Lana Turner?” and the daughter shoots back “These are the options?! You, or Lana, or Joan?!”

Last edited 2 years ago by Joliet Orange Sox
As Cirensica

Exactly. The hiring of a manager shouldn’t be based on a “he is better than the current incumbent” or using phrases that start “I rather have this manager over…”

The Sox should hire a manager based on his qualities of being a good manager. That’s it. We haven’t done that in the 21st century. Not even once.

Qubort

My bar is set so low, I’d be happy if they actually conducted an interview process.

asinwreck

Exactly. Imagine this team with a real HR department issuing real hiring guidelines that are really observed in a nationwide search.

I was hiring manager for a search earlier this year, and the idea that the White Sox would use any of the process that we were instructed to use is laughable. (Maybe they do this for some of the business operations positions. Certainly not for GM or manager.)

There are few things in Major League Baseball where I could confidently say “I could do a better job than that person.” I can confidently say I could do a better job of running a search for GM or manager than Jerry Reinsdorf does.

charlie

Completely disagree.

calcetinesblancos

There is no better person they could plug in on an interim basis if they fired TLR. At least it would be fun.

I am sure that is not true.

NancyFaustsOrgan

This organization and its fans have to stop believing that the only options for people to manage this team are former players.

Nellie Fox

Sox are in this mental mode that a .500 record will be a win situation for the year , it may take until October to show that it is not. Unfortunately we, as Sox fans, are in for a long 2 months of frustration watching the pathetic coaching, hitting, pitching, base running etc. Can we just ask to end this season now to avoid the breaking a lot of televisions.

ChiSoxND12

Except it’s significantly less than 2 months. They’ve wasted the last 17 calendar days going .500 against “inferior” competition.

kingkellly

This has been the most depressing season I can remember since 84. Despite being extremely mediocre they managed to hang around the AL West until August as everyone just waited for the team to turn it on and start resembling the team we all believed was waiting to break out but never did. At least the ’06 team had a great first half.

jhomeslice

I had figured they were a good bet to be in first place by now with this portion of their schedule, and both the Guardians and Twins playing tougher teams. I think they’ve gained a game vs the Twins but lost ground against the Guardians, incredibly.

I thought in spite of everything they would still pull out the division. Now I have my doubts, and only follow the box scores after the fact. What’s more disappointing than the season itself is the offseason they had before it, and the year before that. The way they do everything, including edit out parts of games that are re-broadcast where the announcers call out Tony’s bullshit, the whole thing is just an insult to the intelligence of the entire fan base.

ChiSoxND12

You purposefully avoid the games but you’re here for the comments section??

ChiSoxND12

Also, you know as we all do that they struggle mightily against most mediocre pitching (both RH & LH).

The Royals have mediocre pitching aplenty, as do other bad teams. I always wondered why ppl thought they’d turn it around based solely on their competition

TBradley

The three most depressing seasons were 1968, 1984, and this year. In each case the year before the Sox were great and the expectations for the next year were very high. In 68 after just missing the 67 WS in the last few days, they collapsed and started the season losing something like 10 in a row and never threatened. In 84 following what I think was the best Sox team I ever followed, they added Tom Seaver to an already great rotation, but they collapsed.

Foulkelore

So, I wasn’t able to watch the start of the game live. I tried to avoid the score, but accidentally saw they were down 1-0 in the 5th when I started. I debated just watching it live, but started the game from the beginning anyway. Watching the top of the 3rd, knowing they didn’t score was quite the treat. I’m watching Vaughn’s hit that is clearly going to drop and wondering how they could have possibly had 0 runs. Did Zavala fall? Did I see the score wrong? Wait, they still have 0 outs, so they’re still going to score at least one run right? Nope, just more bad baserunning and more failure with the bases loaded.

Jason

Glad Stone said it.

On top of everything else, the most insulting part of this year is the idea that 20 something professional athletes are not capable of *running* hard.

Call me a meatball, but that’s a hard “fuck it, I’m out” line for me. Not giving my time or money to watch professional athletes give less than most guys in my beer league sports.

Hulksmash

As someone who’s been very harsh on this team and the broken organization that’s responsible for it, I try to ask this as impartial as possible–

But this HAS to be it, right? This team is a rotting corpse at this point. The fanbase has turned, the team’s an afterthought on the national stage; the rebuild is a miserable failure. Reinsdorf, the board, someone, anyone, has to address this, right?

Haha, just kidding–of course they won’t! They’re going to ride this thing out to a .500 conclusion (if we’re lucky) with Hahn puffing one lame, banal, vague reason after another, TLR’s job secure, and 2023 looking just as grim.

Which I guess leads to the more realistic question: If you’re a fan and still attending games, I’m curious–why?

Teams are supposed to win. Or they’re at least supposed to make a good faith effort to compete. But Reinsdorf has literally said “nah, f**k all that,” and prioritized his swan song mea culpa in the form of hiring a geriatric drunk. Every day TLR holds his job is a day Reinsdorf waves his middle fingers in our faces and says “I don’t care about any of you.”

I’m ranting, I know. But I’ve been a Sox fan for over 35 years, and there’s no low that competes with this one. And there’s no end to it in sight.

Last edited 2 years ago by Hulksmash
Augusto Barojas

I think that encapsulates a lot of it. Harsh criticism is deserved. And the question why spend money to go to games, yes, why? I went to some games when I was a kid, and don’t have any kids now, but even if I did I would not take them to see this, and pay money to line the pockets of this owner.

How rich is Reinsdorf with a net worth of 2 Billion? If he gave away or lost 99 percent of his net worth, he would still have 20 million dollars! Why would anybody with that much money near the end of his life even care to run a team on the cheap? Up the payroll to 220-250M for a few years, the most he’d lose would be a few million a year, I mean over several years if they signed a few high priced FA’s and things didn’t work out, the worst that happens is maybe his 2B net worth becomes like 1.95. Probably very low possibility of that because baseball is very profitable, fans like me would be much more inclined to go to games if they had a better team and put forth a good faith effort. I don’t see Jerry as anything but cheap and spineless. What their payroll is at the moment does not impress me a bit when they haven’t signed a single free agent to even half as big a contract as what the Cubs gave Lester a decade ago.

I hope for better, the fans deserve better. If things don’t change this winter, I hope I have the self discipline to be done wasting time following this charade. It’s depressing, and pointless. But maybe things will change this winter. Maybe.

Qubort

More money isn’t going to fix this team. Hahn would have signed more closers and bought out arbitration years from a bunch of prospects.

gibby32

I have defended Reinsdorf off and on for a long time, but I am completely disgusted with him right now. The hiring of Tony LaRussa is a bridge too far and I said that from the day he was hired. But I continue to react negatively to all of this nonsense about his net worth and the payroll of the team. First of all, he owns about 20% of the team and has a fiduciary responsibility to his co-owners. Sure, they are all pretty well off also, but that does not diminish Reinsdorf’s obligation to them. Second, the White Sox are a business. A unique business, yeah, but exactly why should the owner of a business be required to subsidize it with his own wealth? Third, the payroll is high in 2022; that is not the problem with this team. I recognize that criticizing rich people, for valid as well as invalid reasons, is catnip to a lot of people. (And, for what it’s worth, I think they should pay a lot more in taxes.) But this “he’s rich and he isn’t using his wealth the way I want him too” is tacky, offensive and self-involved.

Augusto Barojas

It isn’t self involved to know that fans in this city and of this team including myself (and you) are the reason that Reinsdorf has his wealth in the first place. And that if he chose to, he could give back – probably profiting from their success at the same time – by giving us all a team that would be enjoyable to follow and might actually have a decent shot at winning. It would take a couple pretty major free agent signings to get this team to another level. And he has chosen to hoard rather than do that. They haven’t signed a single free agent to a contract even half the size of what the Cubs gave Lester 8 years ago. I’d call that cheap, spinless, and selfish. If that offends you, that’s your problem.

Last edited 2 years ago by Augusto Barojas
gibby32

You are factually incorrect. Reinsdorf was very wealthy well before his purchase of the White Sox. You and I had essentially nothing to do with it. Even now, the White Sox mkes up about 20% of his wealth using your numbers. Your response does not respond to the substance of my points.

Augusto Barojas

Substance? From someone claiming that fans have nothing to do with Reinsdorf’s wealth? Reinsdorf paid less than 30M combined for the Bulls and Sox. Those franchises are worth like a combined 5 billion today. He made an astounding amount of money owning parts of both of those teams. Much more from the Bulls, but he’s surely made hundreds of millions owning the Sox too. Suggesting that fans had nothing to do with his 2 billion net worth is complete nonsense, with no “substance” at all.

gibby32

Your quote: “fans of this city and of this team .. are the reason that Reinsdorf has his wealth in the first place”. You said/implied that that was the only source of Reinsdorf’s wealth. I took issue with that; I did not say or imply that the fans had “nothing” to do with his wealth. So, yeah, you are factually wrong and you are desperately scrambllng to attempt to salvage some vestige of coherence in your overall point. You have not addressed my point about his obligation to his co-owners or the fact that there is a difference between his wealth and that of the White Sox. You are not making your argument any stronger. Stop digging.

Qubort

I’m going Sunday because a friend bought me tickets as a bday present. It’s not the opener to a series, so I plan to attend and hope for the best.

gibby32

I completely agree with your assessment of this team While I very loosely, on and off, have defended Reinsdorf and the organization, the hiring of LaRussa, and the not firing of LaRussa, renders the organization indefensible. (I particularly like the phrase “rotting corpse”.)

So let me answer your question as to why I spend money on the team. First of all, as a season ticket holder, with my small group of participants, I spent the money months ago. Second, even with the rotting corpse, it is a bonding experience for me to attend, particularly with my two grandchildren, but also with friends. But the complex of emotions is getting difficult to reconcile. I have seven games left in the season; I will go tonight with friends. After that, it is my current intention to eat the remaining six games unless my grandchildren want to attend. The money is already spent, so it will not affect White Sox revenues. But I just do not want to be there.

Hulksmash

I can certainly see that. I mean, if the money’s spent, the money’s spent. Not going is a symbolic gesture at best, as the only meaningful transaction is the financial one–using the ticket or not hardly matters.

I used to go to a ton of games, but I have the luxury of not going because I don’t have season tickets. I just couldn’t imagine, personally, being in the stadium. I want to root for the Sox, with all my heart I really do–but I can’t root for this team. I know the individual players don’t represent the organization, but I just can’t bring myself to cheer them on. I can’t find any positivity in the way the organization is treating its fans or its players (by saddling them with TLR–I mean, can you imagine having to play for that guy?). I’m disgusted beyond belief by the entire thing.

JimMargalusBiggestFan

How fun would it be to read Josh and Jim breaking down general manager candidates for our new opening? Guys from Houston, Los Angeles, Tampa, Cleveland…

Alas, the chairs on the titanic will be rotated and I’m going to have to read Jim’s 500 words on Tony Kemp filling second base and whatever Spinal Tap drummer they can find for RF in 2023.

If the White Sox were a Real World cast member, they’d be Puck.

Last edited 2 years ago by JimMargalusBiggestFan
Joliet Orange Sox

It’s so disheartening that TLR is entrenched as Sox manager. TLR is not the only problem on this team but he is certainly a significant problem. Most teams (with different owners) recognize that changing the manager is the easiest significant change to make. In diagnosing problems in complex systems, it’s common to make one change at a time and see what happens and then make another change. TLR and the Sox parting ways would likely not turn the team around but at the very least would provide some clarity on other issues. These 50 remaining games after TLR was no longer the manager could be a chance to see what happens to inform the next changes. One example would be learning about how much of the bullpen woes are due to TLR not believing a high-leverage situation can happen when the Sox are trailing and mis-deploying the arms; how much is arms that just can’t pitch in MLB; or is Katz contributing to the bullpen mismanagement? Instead, I expect the Sox and TLR will be together until Jerry dies or TLR has a health crisis.

vanillablue

This team has been so disappointing that it has probably reached the point that Reinsdorf will do something – especially if the “fire Tony” chants continue and attendance drops. It just won’t be what the fans want or what the team needs. Post-MJ, the Bulls had to become laughingstocks before Reinsdorf fired Jerry Krause – then he kept GarPax in place way too long before finally bringing in outside minds in AKME. My guess is that nothing will happen during this season, but in the offseason, Hahn and TLR will be shunted upstairs. But the new GM will be another insider and the manager will be whoever is willing to work for cheap.

metasox

Let’s assume SoxFest returns. If the season ends in failure, it would make a heck of a lot of sense to have a new GM who can focus fan attention on the future. I have a hard time seeing them pushing Hahn back out to address all the failures of the past. Even an organization resistant to change should see the value to fresh faces who aren’t saddled with all the past baggage

ParisSox

I give them through the Detroit series. They have to sweep that. If they don’t, then the season is effectively over and we can start calling up the kids to play.

ChiSoxND12

One way or another, something tells me that after the ‘Stros series they’ll either be 59-60 or 60-59 entering play on FRI Aug 19

burning-phoneix

What are the rules regarding warming up relievers? I was under the impression that if a pitcher has to leave due to injury, you don’t have time to warm up relievers?

BenwithVen

You’re right, but La Russa is an idiot. That’s all there is to it.

I’m not sure what you mean. If someone leaves with an injury, the next pitcher has as long as he needs to get ready, but he just has to warm up on the mound.

Yeah that’s what I was asking. I was wondering if the reliever got time to warm up due to an injury or the umps forced a pitcher out of the bullpen with little time to warm up.

knoxfire30

What’s really exciting going forward is that in 2023 you are going to be forced to run it back

Still gonna be a lineup of
Anderson
Robert
Jiminez
Abreu (they will resign him)
Moncada
Vaughn
Grandal
Pollock (picks up player option, or sox 5 mil buyout)
Sosa/Leury/Mendick?

Seby/Pena
Engle
Burger/Sheets

Cease
Kopech
Giolito
Lynn
Martin?

Hendrix
Gravemen
Bummer
Kelly
Lopez
Diekman
Crochet
Lambert/Foster/Ruiz

Their base 30 or so guys are all here to fill out the 26 man roster…. you only really shed maybe pollock, harrison, and cueto and cueto has been great so that actually is a pretty big loss… maybe colas fills in for pollock but anyone even suggesting they do something big in free agency needs to have their head examined.

Assuming abreu signs back at like 18 mil – this squad already has a payroll estimate of about 180-185 mil ……

As Cirensica

Having Hendrix next year in the bullpen will be quite impressive. Sign me in.

ForsterFTOG

He could certainly help make the National Anthem more memorable.

Right Size Wrong Shape

I heard that he throws lefty but wears a right-handed mitt on his right hand.

PauliePaulie

Not after JR tells the FO to cut $70mil from the payroll.

burning-phoneix

Why run it back? I have half a mind to tear it down and start another rebuild.

Amar

When can we start tanking?

ForsterFTOG

10/29/2020

ForsterFTOG

Reminds me of the effort problem with the Sox except the manager of the Sox doesn’t admit to it like the coach of the Bulls did.

From 2005:

“By now, Bulls followers have memorized coach Scott Skiles’ classic answer from last season when asked how Eddy Curry could be a better rebounder.

“Jump,” Skiles said.”