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But does Tony agree it is sincere?

Oh let me help you.

Uh.. this is a little awkward... not sure how to tell you but just want to let you know that you have also done none of those things and are also giving your opinion.

I simply tired hearing about how AJ Hinch is a cheater in a thread where we hired Mark McGwire's manager. If the cheating scandal is disqualifying for Hinch, then the decades of steroid abuse on his teams should be disqualifying for LaRussa. We don't know how many other teams were cheating, but we do know that Tony LaRussa couldn't have possibly cared less about his teams being clean.

At least it's the second worst, because Tony LaRussa's teams were absolutely loaded with people violating federal controlled substance laws openly jabbing needles into each other's butts in order to cheat, and that cheating scandal lasted basically his entire managerial career. But for some reason for the LaRussa defenders, that gigantic scandal is forgotten and Hinch's is the worst thing eva!

After the backlash the team is getting, from the fans and media alike, from this managerial hiring, they better be more than "just a little" bolder financially. They better be very bold. While also being smart with their signings.

We're not going to hear much. I think it will ultimately be fine. It's like any work place. Some are totally fine with it, some aren't very happy and some are confused. A few of the top players were under the impression that AJ Hinch was the top candidate so it's easy to understand why some of the players feel blindsided. Tony La Russa can do the job from 7-10:30 every night I think. The organizational structure is a joke though and now it's right out in the open.

Can I ask you a question.? Why in the fuck are we going to trade Vaugh? His name keeps coming up on this site for a trade and I don’t get it. He is NOT getting traded.

As a Sox fan in 2020, time isn't something many of us have with this squad of guys. I don't feel like wasting 3 or 4 years rooting for this team if this move was a mistake. if it isn't a mistake then whatever, but this move wasn't the chance as a fan I was willing to accept for these guys to exceed. There was a plan that Hahn had and I was on board for. He didn't get his chance to finish it his way...so I feel like I was cheated seeing this thing through with the current tools. Fuck Time, and Fuck JR. I pray this move pays off, but I don't have time to hope...

I'm very happy and kind of embarrassed for Sox nation. Fans have treated Tony terribly on Twitter and many on this board have been quite negative. People need to get a grip IMO. The guy is old. He's been in the public eye since his 20s. Yes he's made some mistakes. He also has a helluva baseball resume and I just betcha in his long life he's given a lot back to society in the forms of $$$ to good causes, etc. I could be mistaken, but MLB makes it easy for some guys to embrace different charities if they wish to do so and I betcha Tony has been generous. Just a guess. I respect Tony's baseball knowledge and despite some shortcomings on a couple occasions in his personal life, he's by no means the devil. I hope Sox fans who despise the hire suck it up and support him. Geez it's going to be a miserable time around here and in his tenure if fans hate, hate, hate. Trust greg on this one ... Tony will not disappoint, health permitting. GO SOX! Lets win a title or three. Team still has a lot of work to do on the roster.

I've seen a lot of Sugano. Some thoughts: - "The Giants don't post players" is true, except when it isn't -- Shun Yamaguchi was posted just last year, and it turned out it was because it was a provision in his FA contract, but it also turned out that a lot of people in the Giants org DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT the provision. It's entirely possible Sugano also has such a provision, whether it came before or after we all learned about Yamaguchi, as he has been clamoring to be posted for years. Also, there is a near consensus perception among people that cover NPB that the Sugano situation could be viewed as an outlier for the Giants because the guy has been such a hero for them; he's been perceived to have "paid his dues" to the organization. Not only has he been massively successful for them, but he actually got drafted initially by a different team and refused to sign because he wanted to play for the Giants. He sat out a year and got drafted by the Giants the next season, which has become a sort of legendary tidbit in his story to show how much he respected the team. The Giants understand that two-way success stories like Hideki Matsui help their brand. Also, the Giants have clinched their pennant and a trip to the Japan Series, and especially if they win it all, it could be seen as an appropriate "final contribution." All in all, I give it even odds that he's posted. - "He should just wait until he's a free agent next year" makes sense in the context of MLB ball, but less so in NPB. Filing for free agency is actually seen as a bad look in NPB, or at least as casting shade upon your team. Unlike here where it's a default and seen as "just business," there's an expectation to have loyalty to your club, and as a result, almost literally everyone who files for domestic or international free agency ends up leaving their team, because if they were gonna stay, they would have negotiated an extension already. Given the mutually respectable dynamic between Sugano and the Giants, being posted could be a much more desirable outcome for his legacy than resorting to filing for free agency. - Sugano is legit. I would describe his pitching style as a poor man's Roy Halladay, in that he relies heavily on a slider and a split/change that tunnel extremely well but slash diagonally in different directions. He sits low 90's but can go to the mid-90's when he needs to. He is definitely a command control guy, but commands like five pitches, so he strikes guys out. The raw stuff is a tick below Tanaka when he came over, but the control and polish is equal or better. The velo is a tick below Kikuchi, but the arsenal is wider and the control is two ticks better. He's substantially better than Yamaguchi ever was. The ONE thing that really gives me pause is that, like a lot of NPB pitchers, he throws a lot of high breaking balls. It's possible that with the current uppercut meta, that isn't as dangerous as it used to be, but I can't help but be worried about that. - He has been pitching with a partially torn UCL for many years. Take that for what it's worth. He has started to become injury prone in non-arm ways over the past few seasons. - Dude is an absolute gamer. Tons of swagger and a major competitor. I would love to see this guy on the White Sox, though I have to admit that part of it is that I'm an NPB fanboi. I agree with the #3 projection, and I think with the wide arsenal and expert control, it's safe if he's healthy. That said, there's injury risk, he's on the wrong side of 30, and with any NPB transfer, you have to remember that the ball is different and that can affect different guys in different ways. Also, the best pitching prospect in the NPB is Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I don't know why no one is talking about him.

I love how all of the people who are b****ing about this move have: 1. Never managed a major league baseball game in their lives. 2. Never played major league baseball. 3. Never served as a major league baseball executive Yet you all seem to think that: A. The person who has managed more than 5,000 games, winning more than 2,700 of them, and who has led more teams to division winning titles, and pennants than the Chicago White Sox have had in their 115+ year history, and just as many World Series titles - Doesn't know how to manage any more - Doesn't know how to manage or relate to players - Doesn't understand analytics - Doesn't know how to work with a front office, and - Is going to create clubhouse tension. B. That AJ Hinch was the slam dunk better choice, even though - He just spent a year banned from baseball because of his role in perhaps the worst cheating scandall in MLB history - Won his only WS title when that cheating was in place - Couldn't lead his team past the Nationals last year even with Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander (Dusty Baker got within one game of the WS without either of these pitchers) - Got outmanaged by Dave Martinez, and blew the Series, just like Cash did this year for the Rays, when he went to the bullpen hook for a starting pitcher who was cruising with a lead, only to see his relief pitcher get blown up and give up the tying and winning runs Now, there's no guarantee Tony LaRussa is going to work out, just like there was no guarantee that AJ Hinch or any other managerial choice would. But to think the White Sox made some colossal mistake by hiring the most accomplished baseball manager alive today is nothing short of ludicrous, and to hear it from a bunch of neophytes who don't know the first thing about the challenges of the job is rather tiresome.

Go all in, sign the best of who is out there, win a ring, LaRussa retires and we never have to think about this debacle again. That might salvage this moment.?

It appears they’re sincerely protesting the hiring.

I'm sure a ~$150M payroll target is unreasonable and some of these estimates are going to be way off, but holy shit would I quickly do the following and then just go to fucking war: Bauer = 4/$90M Pederson = 2/$20M McCann = 2/$14M Colome = 2/$14M Kluber = 1/$9M

You watch waaaaay too much sports tv to know this much about ESPN personalities.

"b****ing" about those who are "b****ing", while also *not* meeting these qualifications is cute. Look at the reaction of not just fans, but of media members and the absolute silence of the players. The White Sox did make a colossal mistake with this hire and the response shows. Can La Russa still do the job adequately? Probably. Should he have been invited back into the clubhouse to do the job now, today, with this team? With his own glaring red flags? Unequivocally No.

CWS Good list. I was not in favor of his hiring but as a 50 year fan will hope it works. Hopefully, the near universal panning of this move will motivate our manager to really prove people wrong. I mean that in a hopefully good way. You have to be true to yourself or the players will see it is just BS. My values haven’t changed but my attitude towards things have changed over time. I hope he can adapt to today and I also hope the players give him a fair chance. Abreu will be a key in how this works out as well as Tim. Both sides need to listen but ultimately this is about baseball. I wish we had a great manager who everyone loves but don’t see the love part. AJ was not loved but I wanted him on my team. Winning cures a lot. Hope we win early and often.

Hey good list but I don't see how you could leave off not only how players on our team feel about the hire but players around baseball, specifically free agents. You could make an argument that money talks loudest I suppose when it comes to the majority of Free Agents but it just makes the organization look soooooooooooooooooo ridiculously idiotic. How our players feel is the main concern. The fact that the Sox now have to reach out to reassure them to give LaRussa a chance shouldn't have to happen.Every disagreement with LaRussa among players now has the potential to turn into hatred for the organization. Lucky for Hahn he tied up our young stars to longer deals because he's probably not going to be able to do that now.

Honestly, my three biggest issues with the La Russa hiring are as follows: We once again did no due diligence by failing to complete an extensive interview process and at least compare the qualities of La Russa to other candidates At face value La Russa seems to be a terrible fit for a young, enthusiastic team and creates unneeded risk of a clubhouse blowup at some point La Russa’s addition puts the organization hierarchy in question and potentially gives the manager too much influence on potential personnel decisions

?? yeah man shame on Hahn. I’m glad Jerry checked him by making the team he owns look like the dumbest club in baseball.

So wrong, and not one player, or anyone in the front office, would agree with you. You need to sit closer to your TV when watching the games from now on.

He was 18 years old. He had never played the position. He was a 2nd round pick as a SS. Good for Keith law. He also told me sale had a 40 grade slider. Now find me his draft day reports from BA (which I already read) and his showcase numbers which, you guessed it, were elite from arm strength to lateral movement. Speed means literally nothing at third. Arenado was a star within 1 year of milb baseball. He was a top 100 prospect despite being a 2nd round hs pick after 150 milb games. He was the best defensive 3rd baseman in a ball league at 20. Weird. Have a good night bud!

Late to the show but here's my take: I think it's entirely possible that the White Sox could have executed a thorough, objective search and interview process and still ended up choosing Tony La Russa. I don't think there's any way it wouldn't still be understood as a risky, potentially polarizing move -- but he clearly checks some of their boxes more strongly than any other candidate available. I don't think I would have LIKED the move even then, but I would at least admit that I could see that there was logic behind it, assuming I knew they really did all their homework and considered all options. However, the fact that I KNOW that such a process did NOT occur -- that the decision was entirely emotional, made by the one guy that was NOT hired to be a baseball expert, and from all accounts left no room at all for any other possibility -- makes all of the risks and cons seem much more likely and substantial, because now I can't even believe that someone did the due diligence necessary to find out. I mean, for example: what if Rick Hahn or KW took the time to get input from the leaders in the clubhouse, like Abreu and TA? I'd have to think that even just the gesture itself of seeking input would cause the players to be more willing to accept such a jarring change, and it would, at the very least, have given the administration an opportunity to sell the move. But the fact that it's being reported that the clubhouse is in disarray suggests that such a thing either could not have occurred, or if it did, was so obviously a ruse that it didn't convince anyone. I can see why Jerry Reinsdorf would feel the impulse to take the reins in this case -- I'm sure he really does understand that this is his last real shot at another title, and the instinct to be the author of your own fate when everything is on the line is common and not necessarily a bad thing. But you'd think, of all people, Reinsdorf would have learned the value of "hiring people smarter than you" to make the decisions you aren't qualified to make. Except, of course he hasn't -- this is the guy who just rides the SAME group of executives through decades of failure, as if no amount of evidence could convince him that the problem is stemming from the process. This move certainly might work out, there's even a decent chance -- but if it does, it will be because it was blind luck, not because it was a smart move. And THAT should bother all of us.

At his age, probably on the floor...

Sigh. This is just absurd. One scandal destroyed the record books of baseball. The other one gave a team the runner on 2nd advantage all game.

This take bothers me for some reason every time I read it. 1. Players have been stealing signs since the game was invented. Stealing signs is very easy to combat - you change them. 2. The astros used tech to steal signs, it was wrong and bad. They took the cheating tooooo fa4. 3. Citing 1 player in a clubhouse doing steroids or a couple and comparing it to 80% of a roster is just being convenient. The astros took sign stealing - something you try to do as a 12 year old in travel ball - and took it to a real shitty level. The a's took steroids to a level they had never been before. The difference is, i can't change my signs to prevent steroid use. Im totally out of control. Steroids were significantly worse. Its not even comparable.

Retweet.

Jerry put his balls on the table hiring TLR. I am okay with it if he backs it up. I think TLR can manage and will grow to become a solid leader here. Jerry's reputation is on the line and he will need to build a champion quickly. I think Jerry will want to prove people wrong and go all out to finish this rebuild. TLR is also a big voice, so I'm sure he is gonna let Jerry have it if Jerry isn't spending.

What is that statement based on?

I think Stone should be the manager

Steve Stone, GM. Replace him in the booth with AJ.

No. He’s dogshit.

Good summary. On Number 2, I think Tony is going to adjust in a big way, because he has to. In the last couple days I've heard Matt Holliday, Paul Konerko, and Jim Leyland say all he cares about is winning that day's game. Konerko thinks that adjusting to that concern is part of the equation in winning that day's game. So if it's just staying out of the clubhouse for the most part and ignoring some of the rah-rah stuff that he's not used to, he'll probably not say a word. What he will do though---which is the right thing to do- is demand to be prepared to play that day, and make guy's work on things they need to work on. The process on how he was hired was terrible. AJ HInch should be the Sox manager now, but it didn't happen because of Reinsdorf….but it's done now. Hopefully everyone involved has an open mind and they actually find out he's a good manager and we see Tony manage a Sox World Series team in the next couple years.

Actually, Tony also has trouble operating a phone. Not sure if Western Union still does telegraphs. Here is a link to one of Tony's "senior moments", ten years ago, which Tony chalked up to "phone issues" after completely blowing Game 5 of the 2011 World Series. https://www.espn.com/mlb/playoffs/2011/story/_/id/7145762/tony-la-russa-bad-call Unrelated to phones, but on the subject of the process, I couldn't find a transcript of the Rick Hahn 10/12 Press Conference posted online or here. However, transcribed below are the exact words of Rick Hahn when he stated the criteria for the next manager. Unfortunately for Rick, Kenny, and everyone else who works for or likes the White Sox, none of it was followed. Emphasis SSHM's in bold. "I don't think I'm going to get into too much detail in terms of specific attributes. I don't want to say anything that's going to influence what we hear from any candidates when we go though this process. I will say that this is an opportunity for us as an organization. We've obviously been somewhat insular in terms of our managerial hirings over the last several years. This is an opportunity for us to speak to individuals with other organizations that have had success, and learn from them, and get their sort of outsider objective perspective on our organization. Ultimately, I think the best candidate, or the ideal candidate is going to be someone who has experience, with a championship organization, in recent years. Recent October experience with a championship organization would be ideal. But we're going to keep an open mind, and, you know, over these next several weeks we will diligently pursue who's on our list and go from there. " Hahn's was asked if managerial experience was a prerequisite in the search and how an understanding of metrics is going to matter. "Managerial experience is probably ideal. It's not essential, we're not going to unduly limit ourselves. I believe six of the eight managers that are still playing as of last week were in their first jobs. Obviously, we've seen others within our division, Rocco Baldelli did a wonderful job with Minnesota his first job, his first chance in the big chair. So we're not going to cut off any avenues, but ideally having that October managerial experience would be a plus. As for being a modern manager, yeah that's going to be important. Having an understanding of the clubhouse, the rhythm of the game. A good gut feel, but at the same time being able to balance that with modern analytics is a plus for any candidate. But again, I don't want to go too far down the path of laying out traits of what we are looking for, because that could potentially color how the conversations go when we get in a room with a candidate. But those are sort of the broad strokes." Either before, during or after Rick stated the words above, Jerry Reinsdorf, not Rick Hahn, took it upon himself that very same day to reach out to Tony LaRussa and inquire about his interest. The White Sox hired him shortly thereafter, with former White Sox player Willie Harris the only other candidate the team formally met with to cover the "Bud Selig Rule". I hope Willie gets a White Sox Ambassador job for complying with the perfunctory interview. Will close full circle with a music video tie-in to Tony's phone troubles, which was released when Tony LaRussa was still wearing a White Sox uniform in 1985. Has definately aged better than Tony.

What the fuck does his production as a left fielder have to do with how hard he works? You haven't made a reasonable point or statement since you started posting here but i know youre trying your hardest. You seem to be confusing effort and skill. Must be hard.

Cons: he's cooked?

Are you 11 years old?

so we are about 75-80 pages post TLR confirmation and there are people still defending it even with facts showing that he wasn't the best available pick I'm out ?

Sorry Fathom but this isn’t true when it pertains to the White Sox. He talks with Jerry directly. When the rumors about La Russa came out everyone was saying “he’s an idiot” “he’s a hack” “he’s never right” and look at us now.

I’m sorry, I guess a GM firing an incompetent manager and trying to replace him with arguably the top available guy on the market is a power play. Luckily Uncle Jerry checked his ass right?!

I think most on here are just hoping the pieces fit, or else we'll watch Jerry's temple topple over.

nice about your grandfather--------I wish my Dad could ahve seen them in the world series

Makes sense since his trolling is high effort but low skill

Yolmer was great in the backup role. Wish him the best!

greg is a noted clown in the message board industry

Aparicio.

He nailed the La Russa hiring. But, yes, he’s usually dead wrong about stuff.

I'd like to congratulate Rick Hahn for not putting a buyout clause in EE's contract. $$ saved leads to $$ spent.