Keynan Middleton blasts White Sox, and he can’t be ignored
Now with the Yankees after a deadline-day trade, Keynan Middleton unloaded on the White Sox organization to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. But before we get to the meat of Middleton’s explosive allegations, I want to quickly touch on a couple of adjacent stories that hinted at a greater ongoing dysfunction.
There’s Jake Burger, whose Marlins debut last Wednesday happened to be a 12-inning thriller against the Phillies that Miami won, 9-8. After the game, he said he texted his wife, telling her, “That was the most fun I’ve had on a baseball field in a really long time.”
Meanwhile, the Salvador Pérez rumor that briefly surfaced before the trade deadline keeps climbing out of the garbage disposal, the latest being this paragraph from Bob Nightengale in his Sunday notebook.
The Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals were engaged in serious trade discussions for Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez on trade deadline day before the White Sox simply weren’t willing to give up the prospects the Royals sought.
The idea of a Pérez trade sounded legit to me, not because it made sense, but because it would be just like the White Sox to prop up Pedro Grifol with the clubhouse leader of one of the few teams worse than the White Sox, rather than addressing their issues in a more comprehensive way. I can imagine Pérez showing up to spring training attempting to set a new tone, and I can imagine the rest of the clubhouse freezing him out because they smell a narc, and the cycle repeats.
I’m not sure whether Middleton’s allegations will prevent a Pérez trade from happening, but they make it a lot easier to see it for what it is.
Middleton details some specific transgressions by unnamed White Sox:
“We came in with no rules,” Middleton said. “I don’t know how you police the culture if there are no rules or guidelines to follow because everyone is doing their own thing. Like, how do you say anything about it because there are no rules?
“You have rookies sleeping in the bullpen during the game. You have guys missing meetings. You have guys missing PFPs (pitcher fielding practices), and there are no consequences for any of this stuff.”
Multiple sources, who corroborated Middleton’s account to ESPN, said a pitcher was seen napping during games as well as skipping fielding practice.
It’s good that Rogers sought corroboration, because while even unsubstantiated allegations would be newsworthy because it’s so rare that players lodge them, Middleton gives some reason to question his account. On one hand, he references a pitcher sleeping in the bullpen and somebody missing PFPs. On the other, he said the pitching staff “went about our work the right way,” and pointed the finger at “the rest of the team,” when he’s referencing pitcher-specific offenses.
But no matter how you weigh the element of self-preservation, there’s too much smoke elsewhere to ignore Middleton’s fire. I’ve heard of an attitude of gratitude, but Middleton produced gratitude with attitude:
“The second I found out I was traded, I shaved my face,” Middleton said. “I was ready to play by their rules because all I want to do is win games. … You know how to act [here]. You know not to be late and you know there are consequences if you are late.”
Now the attention turns to Pedro Grifol’s pregame media session, and whether Rick Hahn precedes him in the line of fire, or lets his manager twist in the wind.
Grifol is already having enough problems responding to Tim Anderson’s fight with José Ramírez, and any lingering effects. He refused to comment on it Saturday night, and then he sat Anderson on Sunday with an awkward explanation.
“Yeah, he’s doing good [physically],” Grifol said Sunday morning. “He was going to get a day off today like Benni and Vaughn. It just so happens it might not look that way.
“I don’t think [he was dazed]. But people are going to have their opinion.”
I can understand if Grifol misdirected or lied to reporters in order to protect Anderson from additional ridicule, even if it doesn’t seem like he’s good at it. He probably figured he only needed to buy a day, since the Sox wrapped up their season series with the Guardians on Sunday.
But here comes another direct assault on the way the White Sox conduct themselves, and while they issued a no-comment to Rogers, silence isn’t an option. Sure, Grifol and Hahn can choose to say nothing or duck the media, but doing so will only validate Middleton.
Coincidentally, the player the White Sox received for Middleton, Juan Carela, made his organizational debut for Winston-Salem on Sunday. It was a success, as he allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits and zero walks while striking out five. I wonder whether the Sox now regret making the deal, but if Middleton helps publicly embarrass a franchise that sorely needs shaming it can’t shut out, White Sox fans already won the trade.
Those comments are delicious…
It feels like every player that leaves and talks about his time here it just validates the things we’ve been saying about this club for years.
I think Keynan Middleton is due huge thanks from the fans for shining a light on and naming the disease that plagues the white Sox.
Especially because the only thing that can motivate Reinsdorf to clean house is becoming a national embarrassment.
Sadly it took nearly 2 decades of embarrassment to do anything with the bulls.
He kept Ventura around when the team was practically in open revolt at points during the season. I’m not sure Reinsdorf cares, I don’t know why he doesn’t.
Reinsdorf does not care. He will simply continue to ignore everything. The status quo will remain the same.
Keynan Middleton is my new favorite player. Don’t stop now boys!
It’s about building a culture. Unfortunately, the culture looks a lot like a college spring break.
Consider the facts!
Players talk between themselves. Not just teammates, but with players on other teams, at all levels.
Most ex-Sox players say basically the same thing once they leave;
”It’s the culture, the discipline, even the development or lack there of”.
This isn’t just at the Major League level, it’s an organizational trait.
Because the Sox don’t develop players to become stars even in the Minors, to build a winning team, we must wait for other teams to develop players and hopefully trade for them. But we usually have nothing to trade that would entice a trading partner. So we must trade players that are adequate on the Major League level for potential players that will be good with proper development. Which opens up more spots towards building a contender. We must rely on the prospects we receive (but don’t all develop at the same rate). That’s not a one-year fix. Circle back to how the Sox develop players! The only way to fill these gaps is via free agency.
Remember, Major League players talk. Do free agents even want to play for the Sox?
The most money the Sox have ever paid for a free agent is $75m.
When Superstars like Harper or Machado are available, the combination of an owner and front office not wanting to pay for Superstar talent plus knowing the culture…do free agents want to come here?
Although money could entice many players, is the reason why FA don’t want to come to the Southside because of low-ball offers, or is it because of historical conversations about culture keeping them away?
I sadly believe it’s a combination of both. Until there is a complete overhaul of think-tank decision makers, outcomes won’t change. If you look in the dictionary for a definition of insanity, you will find the logo of the White Sox.
There are undoubtedly several reasons players don’t want to come to this loser team, but I think it is safe to say that it’s not like the Sox are making offers to free agents that match what they are getting from other teams. There hasn’t been a hint, not a whisper, connecting the Sox to one high profile free agent since Machado, other than Wheeler. I’m sure the reason for that is that they have not even tried. Instead, their free agent signings have been a pathetic garbage heap of 1-2 year deals b/c of a cheap ass owner. I think the last part of that sentence is overwhelmingly why good FA’s don’t come here, not b/c they are making legit offers and players are choosing to go elsewhere. But now, even if the Sox did make good offers, all else equal players will pick other teams. The Sox will probably have to overpay now to get any good players on multi year deals.
Bottom line is this fanbase (and the players) deserves better, and all are screwed until the team is sold or Jerry passes on.
Don’t exaggerate, both Leury Garcia and Kendall Graveman got three year deals.
I mean if I’m a middling player and just want to get paid and not have to go to practice the Sox seem to be the right destination. Hell they might even overpay me since they don’t seem so great at valuing talent.
I tweeted yesterday that the White Sox would not bother with top tier FAs, would not be an attractive destination for mid-tier FAs, and would probably have to overpay for the bottom tier. It’s about as bad as can get.
The sox are the best place to sign. The Sox will overpay and will trade you to a contender in July.
AAAA baseball at it’s dreariest.
[Insert reminder that the Sox were “blown away” by Grifol]
The players are not dumb. They see an absentee owner, and a front office that has no accountability. This stuff all trickles down – why should they follow rules when seemingly no one is in charge?
Well Jerry is absentee until it comes to spending too much of his money then his old ass is way too involved. It’s just embarrassing from the top down, usually an owner mandates winning to the president/GM who mandate it to the manager who mandates it to the players. Almost at each level you have a complete lack of that or worse indifference. Can’t believe it got this bad but we really need the All Star game here as soon as possible to start some national media chants. Seems like our only hope at this point.
My only hope is the ghosts of baseball past, present and future visit JR one night and convince him to sell the team.
or scare the life out of him?
Bill veeck would make an 80 grade baseball owner ghost.
His wooden leg would be like Marley’s chains.
The leg? Look at it, Jerry; study it. A stump I polished each day when I sat in these rooms. Greed, Jerry Reinsdorf, wealth. Feel it, know it!
Your leg was this heavy seven years ago. Yours is a ponderous leg.
that last sentence. Perfect
The culture of the clubhouse is MRSA.
This Yankees series will be fun.
If you need a good laugh, this interview with Grifol’s college buddy sounds great about now.
Middleton was on the Angels when the clubbie was selling Percocet to players and one of his fellow pitchers died of an overdose. And the White Sox culture is a disaster compared to that? Yikes.
This is reminiscent of the Red Sox chicken and beer scandal. Good, that lead to a thorough house cleaning. This will be hard to ignore, but I’m sure Jerry will try his best.
It will be ignored.
The biggest repercussion will be another canceled SoxFest.
Covid is coming back, only the Sox are praying that it goes through next spring.
There will be “several factors”
Did anyone here listen to this segment?
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kap-j-hood/id1482802816
Well they will be going one by one. Grandal in a couple months, Yoan after next year, and Eloy probably will get dealt. What a disaster of a team. Grifol needs to go yesterday as well, obviously. Geez do they hire some complete nitwit managers.
I’ll be glad when Yoan and Tim are gone, they’ve been as pitiful and unreliable a left side of the infield as there is in baseball the past two years.
I don’t think Eloy needs to go. I think a manager who instills discipline will be appreciated by Eloy. And I think he’d finally thrive under that type of direction. He’s just a big kid, he needs to be pushed in the right direction and have limits set for him.
And besides, just getting rid of the “problem” players doesn’t fix the problem. The problem comes from management. If Yoan was on the Yankees, would he be a “malcontent” (if he is as accused above)?
I have trouble putting full blame on the players when there is no structure in place. If you put in the structure and they are still that way, then it’s on them and they should suffer the repercussions.
You’re absolutely right. Tony started the no consequences bit, and Grifol has just reinforced it. The players are not the problem. Management is. Clean house.
I don’t think you can pin all player underpeformance on management, as if a good manager will make players who have been mediocre at best and can’t stay off the DL suddenly much better and healthy. I highly doubt Eloy will ever be healthy often no matter who he plays for.
If Yoan were on the Yankees, I don’t think he would be thriving, any more than Rodon is. Yoan, Eloy, Tim, and Rodon all can’t stay healthy, which is their primary issue and limits their upside no matter where they play. They need a much better manager, obviously, but they need much better players who are not injury prone even more. No manager is winning anything with this crap roster anytime soon.
That’s why we need a new front office- one that stresses accountability. A new GM could set his vision for 2024. Everybody in shape and ready for spring training. Yoan would have one year to prove himself. Eloy would be the DH and told in no uncertain terms to get in shape. TA would be the new guy’s call whether to cut bait, trade or give him next year to shape up. Guys would be playing for their next contract with a guy (someone like Poles) who would buy them out if they don’t perform.
Is there any point in keeping Moncada around? Between the continual physical issues and whatever else is going on (assuming Rogers reporting is correct), what is the upside? The team is not seriously competing next season anyway. Best case is what? He has a great first half and can be moved mid-season for salary relief? Might be best to let guys go in the off-season and start with a fresh team in Spring training.
Yesterday I unironically wondered if they could trade him for Patrick Corbin 🤮
The upside is the off chance he can build up at least a modicum of value so they can unload some of his money in a trade.
Think that’s somewhat of a cop out. These are grown men, they should act professionally without having a coach have to kick them in the but to be in shape. At this point, I’m for getting rid of the lot of em.
They *should* but they are 20-something millionaires. I think the majority of 20-something millionaires in the world struggle to act professionally on their own. It’s not an excuse for them, I’m just saying that it’s not 100% on them, it’s also on management to not put up with them and instill discipline.
One of problems is so many of these guys are cut from the same bolt of clothe with Abreu gone (the closest player to a leader or captain). You have the inmates running the asylum. A bunch unmotivated lackadaisical palookas. This team misses a Fisk, Konerko, or Pierzynski type of veteran who’ll call bullshit what it is
The veteran is Anderson, he’s been there the longest and prior to this year he’s been all-star caliber. But it’s clear he is no leader. The 30+ vets on the roster – Anderson, Andrus, Grandal, Lynn, Kelly et al were mediocre at best this year. Anderson would be the only one of the group still here in 24 if they pick up his option. Vaughn stepped up and bear-hugged TA to get him off the field, otherwise TA was about to go Milton Bradley so maybe he’ll step up like Konerko did when Frank and Kenny displayed their lack of leadership.
Agreed on the 30+ vets but if you feel like a temp you act like a temp, that said you don’t need to be great to lead only respected
I like when I find out a new person who’s blocked me on Twitter.
So Santos was sleeping in the bullpen? He was the only rookie I noticed from this year but let me know if I’m off.
That’s what I suggested too in the recap article. He’s the only rookie pitcher who has been on the team regularly.
Let him nap. Watching this team’s first 8 innings could only be demoralizing for a closer.
When would he be needed?
Crazy thing is he’s been pretty consistent. It would be funny if this is where the Sox are ahead of the curve, in-game naps to juice up.
The bigger question than sleeping is why guys need to sleep. Are they all out partying the night before? Is that one of the reasons why they miss meetings and practices? And look lethargic? And it is only the bullpen guys who can get away with this so it doesn’t in anyway suggest the problem isn’t much larger
Not to excuse it, but I think sleeping and/or not paying attention to the game in the bullpen has been going on since there have been bullpens.
Middleton calls this out in the context of a bigger problem. That is the point. If it was just one guy falling asleep in the pen and everything else was fine, probably no one would care much
I read the article. I agree it’s bad. I also think it’s funny how shocked people are by a guy sleeping in the bullpen. Maybe Ball Four or Pennant Race should be required reading in high school.
The book banners would have a field day with Ball Four.
Sure, that was my first reaction when I saw the first blurb on this site about the sleeping. Then I read the entire article and saw the point
Yeah just listened to the Rogers interview and he confirmed it was Santos. Wild how he was naming names like that.
He kept alluding to writing a bigger piece and how the article is “the tip of the iceberg”. He sounded like he’s out on a mission.
Somebody needs to hold this management team accountable. I hope Rogers is up to the task.
Rogers says he thinks the front office may not be very upset with names coming out – maybe they will be embarrassed enough to change
Where is the bring a crate of dynamite and blow it all up comment?
WOW, this organization is worse than I thought. Rotten to the core. Can Grifol actually be worse than Tony? Maybe I understand why Jerry wanted to bring Tony in, but there was an easier solution: fire this front office. That option is still available.
What a fustercluck. A complete embarrassment of an organization. Zero professionalism. Zero due diligence. No plans. No framework to sustain development and success. Hiring of multiple sexual harassments key personnel some of which are still employed. This is completely fucked up. This is Rick Hahn’s legacy. He still struts around with his smug face. All Hahn does is to collect pay stubs and look important. I can’t imagine what other GMs think of him (I actually can).
Like somebody already stated above, who wants to come and play here anymore? We have to pay a premium to get free agents, which results in things like Benintendi’s contract.
I feel confident to say that the White Sox will never get into another post season as long as Rick Hahn and company are still on the payroll. He is not only bad at baseball. He is also an incompetent leader. A loser with a smile and pose. He does not deserve our comments. He does not deserve Jim’s articles and analysis. That only acknowledges him. He does not deserve acknowledgment. Rick Hahn’s work as a GM is as ignominious as it can be.
The bucks stops with Jerry. In a lot of ways Hahn is just the symptom of the larger disease. Hahn would have been gone a long time in other organizations.
I agree. As I’ve said, I’d rather replace Jerry with Cohen than Hahn with Jim Click. Even a total moron GM like Hahn would have a better record with his legacy had they been allowed to sign Semien, Harper. Hahn is a symptom, Jerry is the disease. Spot on.
Don’t you wish it was Rick Hahn who took a punch to the face?
@As Cirensica.
”Bring dynamite 🧨 / And a crane /
Blow it up 💥 / Start all over again”
— Jon D. Loudermilk, Tobacco Road
😉
“Shit rolls downhill.”
Cue: KW making some idiotic, testosterone-driven statement regarding White Sox baseball.
I hope Middleton gets a standing ovation every time he takes the mound in this series. I want to see signs saluting his comments.
I hope some writers do an in-depth study of White Sox “culture” over the last X years. Interview players like Frazier and Rollins, look to any veteran who was here for a short time. Going back 40 years would be a multi-volume set. You might need to limit it to the Grifol era or the Hahn era or some such in order to publish before the season ends. It needs to come out in time so that there is a small chance the shameless could be shamed.
Jim really needs to write the book on Late Stage White Sox.
I think a lot of people would buy that book for sure.
In all seriousness, it would be a great article/text on professional sports management, as in “how not to…”
Terminal Stage White Sox.
He can start now but he probably will have to wait until Jerry passes away to finish it. I can only imagine what crazy Jerry has in store for us over the next few years.
It is surprising how little reporting there’s been done on this in real time. It’s been an obvious problem, particularly with this iteration. The only time it ever seems to come to the surface is when ex players let loose after leaving.
I get players usually don’t want to go on the record blasting teammates, but reporters have eyes and ears and nothing prevents them from reporting what they are seeing. It seems like this has changed over the last few decades as local reporters seem hesitant to rock the boat.
Rosenthal and Fegan wrote about it last year, but it was deemed a TLR problem that would be fixed once new management came in. And none of the beat guys are going to burn that bridge by naming names, even if they’ve alluded to the issues the past couple of years.
For all the real-time reasons it was disappointing that The Athletic cut Fegan’s beat, it’s even worse in retrospect. Would have love his takes from the clubhouse over the last few weeks. (Though I know he’s done a bit of work for the Sun Times, which I don’t subscribe to.)
You don’t have to subscribe to the Sun-Times now. It’s a public media model, so a login is all that’s required.
A donation would be appreciated though
Great info, thanks.
100%
Jerry has succeeded in largely making this organization irrelevant. ESPN doesn’t even remember that we won the World Series in 05 half the time. We are far removed from the media spotlight.
Don’t expect the anything from the Trib or Sun-Times. They are too afraid to ask the hard questions.
Over the off-season they bring in Salvador Perez, he brings Salvador Perez Jr. with him to AZ in March, someone gets a diaper rash about the whole thing and Perez quits, and then in July Kopech cuts up a bunch of jerseys if I’ve seen it once I’ve seen it a million times.
It would be perfect for them to bring in a catcher a year younger than Grandal, who is probably right on the cusp of starting his age decline (this being his lowest WAR season in the past 10 years, by a lot), and see how that worked out for them.
I want to see Timmy and Salvador under the same clubhouse roof.
Salvy slams Tim Anderson’s celebrations: ‘He don’t know about getting excited’ | theScore.com
this is a legit LOL moment, if only because this entire season has been plagued by these distractions. Offseason was boring and relatively weak in terms of action the team took, which was widely panned as awful. Then the Spring Training start was maybe the worst fans felt in a long time. They win a series, which felt nice actually considering the opponent, yet no one cares because White Sox drama.
The pile on is just an everyday thing. Something new happens that makes you question if you reached rock bottom, or know what that looks like….then you think, well it can’t get worse right? Tune in…
Every time something exciting with the team is happening, Offseason hope(especially one with a new manager!…yay?), Spring Training starts and actual games being played after a long winter, a series win against a division rival…there is something that ends up taking away from that. Its like the team is finally exposed under pressure as a pretty unprofessional franchise.
Hey Jerry, your team is now a national embarrassment. Are you going to clean house now? Take a cue from McCaskey. Get rid of all your friends and bring someone in from a winning organization. Give him the keys to the team and get the hell out of the way. You deserve to have no fans show up to watch this mess. Do something about it. NOW!!!
To be fair this is the third or fourth national embarrassment for them in the past decade so my expectation of response (or even acknowledging it) is pretty low
You spelled “year” wrong. Hell, you might have spelled “day” wrong (Tim getting knocked out, Eloy limping, Tim going off on Twitter, Middleton stuff all within about a day).
Idk. There’s been some embarrassments but not to the extent where you have just traded players outright or subtly spilling the tea.
I don’t think it’s a surprise the clubhouse culture is a disaster. Departing players like Keuchel, Abreu have talked about it. Grifol has publicly identified culture as problem, even as he seems to be enabling it. Anyone who’s watched the games has picked up on the lack of effort and concentration. Middleton’s just driving home the point with more detail.
The irony with LaRussa’s hiring was the concern he would be too old school, and too harsh with the younger players. He turned over setting the culture to “leaders” who were incapable or not interesting in setting the tone. That can work when things are going well (2021) but the wheels fall off quickly when adversity kick in.
The Sox have been a bad team filled with bad players, so I don’t think it made much of a difference in the end result the last few years. Captain Culture isn’t fixing Moncada etc. The fans who watched the sloppiness and lack of accountability on the field have been the losers.
Culture does matter at the margins. As they rebuild, again, they’ve got to get this right with the next wave of kids. Run to first base, hit the cutoff man . Show up. Pay attention. IT’s not hard. Those who can’t do that need to be shipped out before it becomes manfiest, not coddled and enabled because they have talent and the management is invested in them.
Moncada is the front office culture’s fault though. Hahn still being around and the Sox penny-wise-and-pound-foolish spending led to premature extensions to Moncada and Eloy.
Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say about shipping guys out who have talent (like Moncada) before his issues become obvious and he’s locked into a long-term deal. Hahn chose to build around these guys.
He also had to know culture would be a challenge with these players and that should have informed who he chose to manage. An 80 year old man who was happy to let players do what they want was a foreseeable disaster with this group.
I haven’t tuned into a game of my own volition all season long, because even from afar and with only anecdotal glances, this team always smelled like the one Middleton described in enough detail to potentially blackball himself as a clubhouse narc while also positioning himself to be the first/only New York Yankee journeyman to get a standing ovation in Chicago. And it all hits right as the two teams are in town tonight, with tensions already high after our shortstop ate dirt? Brooks Boyer you did it again. I’ll be watching tonight
As a 67 year White Sox fan, and a seven year Northwestern alum, these are hard times. Middleton has provided the White Sox with an opening, but an expensive one. It is hard to envision Reinsdorf taking the opening, not only because it would be expensive, but how does he do it when he is 87 years old and his most senior lieutenant is part of the problem. Offer Theo 10M/year for five years maybe, but that gets back to expensive. I admit it: I was supportive of extending multi-year contracts to young talent in order to extend a window. If the reports are correct, that didn’t work with Moncada and Eloy; and while I hate to say it, I am suspicious about Robert. It’s now up to Jerry. Not a happy situation.
Northwestern? That’s another problem.
I’m just a 60 year fan and only a three year NU alum, but I agree on all points, especially your suspicion about Robert. But I do think it would take a lot more to get Theo back into town…
How about a slice of ownership for Theo? Maybe with an option to buy more after JR is gone?
This should be the final nail in Pedro’s managerial coffin. While the babbling nincompoops on WSCR liked to tell us that managers don’t matter (until the sox hired TLR), most fans know that the manager sets the rules and is responsible for enforcing clubhouse rules. Pedro constantly makes mistakes in his lineups and in game decisions. Now we have strike three with the news that he’s running Animal House Delta Wsox.
Middleton may not be right about the pitchers going about their business based on this diatribe but it makes you wonder what the position players were doing since they can’t run without pulling a muscle, look like they’d rather be making music and now we know, can’t take a weak punch.
Should Middleton get into one of these next games, maybe the brave souls in attendance should all curl up in their seats and take a nap.
I think the only thing that would motivate White Sox ownership to change is if the Sox were forced to change divisions to either the East or West. I wound love to see this happen.
As long as they know that all they have to do is field a team that could be close to .500 then they are all good. Most years they can say they were in the hunt for the division title and many fans will buy that.
Until attendance really falls off a cliff or the team is sold (probably both) nothing is gonna change.
Attendance DID fall off a cliff.
Attendance is down just over 3,000 per games from last year, about 15%. It needs to really crater from here on in.
Yeah, and that’s BY FAR the biggest drop in MLB.
I honestly thought it was worse. How are they averaging 21,000 per game? Who goes to watch this dumpster fire?
Their attendance is mind blowing to me. I seriously don’t get how it isn’t like 1/4 of that, or less. 1.1 million tickets sold, somehow, for a team that is a total embarrassment and deserves no fanbase at all.
I know it’s not the prime revenue stream, but it’s still significant. People need to stop paying money to watch this garbage, seriously. All that money, many millions of dollars, wasted. Could go toward any number of good causes… vacations, great meals, nights out with friends, charity… anything is a better use of money than lining the pockets of this scoundrel owner. It’s the only thing people can actually do that is meaningful – stop going to games entirely. If attendance was like 1/10th of what it is, it would spark some change in Jerry I’m sure.
Wait ’till next year. Attendance will crater.
I hope so. Too much blind loyalty, and fans not holding Jerry accountable is part of the problem too. Attendance being down 15 percent is a joke. That means it’s 85 percent what it was a year ago, not even 2 out of 10 people went to less games.
Would this be happening under A.J. Hinch management?
The situation might be better under Hinch, but I don’t think any manager can succeed under this front office. I think the managers are largely irrelevant as long as the three headed monster of Jerry, Hahn, and Kenny are still here.
I mean he rolled over to Beltran and others on the cheating scandal; in theory it could be worse.
Yeah, AJ Hinch allowed full-scale cheating right under his nose. Even if he didn’t like it, he didn’t say anything. He would have fit right in.
All good points
Once again, firing Rick Renteria was the worst decision.
Team played hard every game for him. Every game. Wouldn’t that be a nice thing to see?
He would have been better than Grifol and TLR (and Ozzie), But someone needed to talk him out of bunting.
2020 White Sox Front Office should have gotten Rick a pitcher, but only if he promised to stop bunting.
He did stop with the bunting. I don’t know why he doesn’t get credit for the legitimate evolutions he made in his in-game management over his tenure.
Firing Renteria was probably the right decision, but they went about replacing him in the worst possible way.
I think firing Ricky would make sense for a perennial playoff team that wanted to try for a better playoff tactician. But the team at hand had made the playoffs once in a short season. The front office assumed at that point that many years of playoffs were coming, but they hadn’t proven anything.
I don’t know. An exhaustive managerial search didn’t work out any better
It really wasn’t that exhausted. Plus Grifol still had ties to the team via Chris Getz. So, I seriously doubt Sox really wanted anyone else besides Grifol.
I have no idea if firing Renteria was right or not but has he had a baseball job since the Sox let him go? I have no idea so that’s why I ask.
I don’t know if it was a bad decision, but it wasn’t a baseball decision.
There really needs to be a boycott of this team until management changes and someone from outside of this rotting carcass that is the front office takes over. It has gone on for far too long. Something needs to happen now.
And I never thought things could get worse than the Bill Wirtz Black Hawks. But Jerry said “Hold my Metamucil.”
Rick Hahn has been promoted to head chef at Arby’s.
“Head” chef?????
this Grifol Guy is busy attending to details. Hahn’s vague finger-pointing in the general direction of the players makes clear they should be managing themselves. Shit rolls downhill, but the foundation of a winning culture is built from the ground up. If Keynan Middleton was not prepared to get his hands dirty and turn the org around, then trading him sounds like addition by subtraction. Good riddance. White Sox Business remains undefeated.
This is a good point. If Middleton didn’t like the way the season was going, perhaps he should have tried being a left-handed power hitter rather than mouthing off to the first reporter who asked “What the fuck is going on over there?”
Jesse Rodgers just on MLB Radio. Post-interview, the hosts discussed WS problems. 2 main conclusions; lack of accountability, and players as a group don’t care enough about losing. A new quote from Lance Lynn on Middleton comments – “he’s not wrong”.
MLB weighs in:
The suspension rule for pitchers are nuts. Clase might well have been unavailable tonight anyway. “Sure, I’ll take my punishment now.” When a starter gets 5 games, all it does is push a start back a day. Make it impact a team.
I figured Timmy would get 10 games given his track record and how he came back on the field.
WTF? How does Tim get DOUBLE the suspension of Ramirez? And what are they fining Kopech for?
Repeat offender
Okay, I can buy that, I guess.
This might have already been posted, but it sounds like TA and Grandal got into it:
Tony La Russa was the only thing holding this team together.
Sleepy Peacekeeper
With the Sox there is no rock bottom.
Don’t stop digging now boys!
Gets better and better…I mean, worse. This team/organization is truly pathetic
We need someone who could have been a four-star general to bring some discipline to this team.
I have a feeling that fans that are looking for major changes in management are going to get their wish. It’s going to really be hard to spin doctor this stuff.
Don’t hold your breath…. A Reinsdorf does change its spots.
There’s almost no consequences to Jerry for being bad. He might keep these dunces around just to illustrate the point.
Counterpoint – why was Giolito upset about being traded?
The Angels’ no-napping policy. /s
I believe the Sox have won more games then the Angels since the trade. He was the only one who downgraded.