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So just to confirm, the only thing you got is La Russa? If your other reason free agents should avoid us is because we’re cheap, well then that’s just a stupid comment not worth stating. I was hoping there was more to your statement, but as expected it was just your inner meatball talking.

I still don’t follow. Wheeler signed with the Phillies for family reasons. Machado signed with the Padres because they offered significantly more money. If the money is there, we should be an attractive landing spot for most free agents.

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.

Lol. We signed 2 of Machado's buddies to try to sway him to sign with us instead of just paying him. That ALONE answers your question. But then we can add the fact that Reinsdorf is loyal to a fault and has hired a lot of the wrong people and now he's basically hired a 76 year-old who hasn't managed i 10 years as a favor for guilt. We offered Wheeler the most money and he still didn't sign. This all speaks volumes about this team.

It's time to get back in the box.

Bold is signing Bauer AND Stroman AND Springer. Or replacing one of those with an elite trade. That’s how you piss all over the AL

Spain is fucking Amazing. From your rambling about her, I gather you don't like women in your sports... or women in general. Yikes.

Harris is not running for president.

Maybe it’s not a reading issue. Maybe it’s an issue articulating your point. Do you actually believe that if we offered somebody the most money, they would say no, and one of their reasons for saying no would be because they didn’t like how we handled the Machado situation a couple years ago?

Our biggest and most successful corporations today were started by people from outside the industry they disrupted. Why not baseball? The skill set to be a manager is different than being a player. Almost all the top managers in every sport were benchwarmers studying the game. Why not study the game remotely? We already have front office personnel who didn't play the game.

Gausman probably takes that $19 million and runs with it. I'm not sure he'll get more than 30-40 million in a 3 year deal.

Some people on here have convinced themselves TLR is the boogeyman

We can keep getting lectures about what the fans should be thinking, but at the end of the day it only really matters what the players think, and so far there has been nothing to indicate that this organization even cares what they think. If this go sideways, Jerry has no one to blame but himself.

Rapist.

I bet Jose Oquendo is coaching 3b.

Well, doesn't that sound familiar. Maybe we can sign a couple of Bauer's friends and sign him to a sweet, friendly discount multi-year deal. If I'm a big FA in 2020, honestly I probably stay away from this team.

He's been recovering from the dreaded Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Wish the guy well and all, but this pretty much destroyed Matt Harvey's career. He's a hard pass for me. Take a chance on another guy, there's plenty out there.

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

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.

Do you believe that only Houston and Boston have created elaborate cheating systems?

By your own logic, you lack the knowledge to tell people they are wrong here.

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.

At this point, Passans article has now had space on ESPN.com and on their app main pages for 3 days, so readership and interest in that article must be pretty big. I can’t read them, but the Tribune is running articles saying “deal with it” because that’s all they can do. There seems to have been, aside from LaRussa’s sincerely held comments about being sincere, zero effort at damage control. They haven’t given the fans anything. They haven’t made any of the players available for an interview. They haven’t provided quotes from any of the players. They didn’t bother to track down any of LaRussa’s former players to give a quote praising him on any of the things we’d have called baggage. They didn’t announce any of his staff or anything neW that the fans could get excited about. Notably, when the Tigers hired Hinch, they did a couple of these - gave a positive story about his interview for the press (we called him 30 minutes after the World Series!) and they had a comment from a former player named Justin Verlander, who has some connection to Detroit. The White Sox did none of the basic PR efforts other than a press conference where LaRussa got publicly called on his bullsh*t by basically every major baseball writer and angry fans literally put them as the top trending story on Twitter after they did it. So, either the white Sox did not anticipate an intensely angry reaction from their fan base (and players and league) to this, or they did and didn’t care if they look bad to the rest of the league and country. I'm not sure which would be worse.

Exactly, Machado got one of his buddies paid and successfully used us to get more money from the Padres. And had we offered the most money, it’s practically all but a guarantee he would of signed with us, as free agents typically like money.

Rodon is closer to being non-tendered than be a long-term part of this team.

The constant throwing while backpeddling isnt that great when you have the physical tools of Jay Cutler. This version of Foles doesnt have the arm to pull that off at all.

Immediately back pedaled on 4th down for no reason at all. He looks like a high school QB this half.

Foles really sucks.

Yep because Saints I’m sure thought the Bears would go for it on 4th and 2 from their own 15 or so

Talk about moving the goalposts. Here is what you said: Still waiting for an answer. Just the La Russa factor? That’s your only reason?

Exactly. I think a guy that spends fifteen years studying the science of the game behind a computer could be better than a guy who spent those fifteen years playing a single position.

What decision has a manager made that created a mess?

Non baseball people making baseball decisions is what got MLB in the god awful mess it's in today.

If he doesn’t call a timeout, they go into the half up ten with the ball. Did Nagy really think the Bears would score if they had the ball at their own 10 with about 35 seconds left?

TLR

If you watch the Seattle real estate podcasts you will see the nightly riots in Portand and Seattle have decimated those downtowns, which are now ghosttowns. Keep on breaking windows marchers, you've effectively ruined your downtowns. Dowtowns ruined. And I'm not blaming African Americans. If you watch the nightly riots they are 85 percent white twenty somethings in full body armor doing the damage.

Well at least we never have to hear anyone complain when protests involving African Americans shut down roads or highways after the last 2 days.

I don’t think tgat trade is bad assuming that Milwaukee opts for rebuilding but they could probably do better selling hader and yelich individualy

My video game offseason Bauer + Stroman + Lemahieu FA. Trade Cease + Madrigal + Stiever + Lopez + Collins + Adolfo for Yelich and Hader. Yes I said video game. Holy shit that team tho.

Are you advocating that Tony Robbins could be a baseball manager ? I think that in order to have "great abilities to relate to players" you need to have an extensive background in baseball .How can you relate to them without having many of the same experiences they have had ? Statistical information is great and should have a great deal to do with how you make decisions but observations where you apply your baseball wisdom are just as important. With either stats or baseball acumen decisions can go awry since there is never a 100% right choice either way. The only right decision is the one that works which means all managers will be 2nd guessed time after time.

You have to feel bad for Nick Capra. He loses his job because RR can't run a bullpen., or make out a line up. And on top of that, RR didn't hire him. Unlike TLR, RR didn't select his coaches.

Jerry's reputation is on the line ? I'd have to know what that reputation is before I could declare it's on the line. If I had to venture a guess as to his established reputation, I'd say he is a very smart man, loves baseball and is loyal but loves being smart with money more. The Sox losing more than they win is an already established pattern in his ownership. I doubt a few more years of that pattern will sully his reputation in the rest of his time left .

Good post except when we get to your last sentence. 1st you say there's a decent chance it works out which I take to mean the Sox already have enough talent that in the years LaRussa manages that the Sox win a Championship ? I actually can't see how that would be blind luck. If the talent is there and if the Hall of Fame is truly reserved for the best ever then LaRussa isn't a terrible choice if given a fair shake by the players. It's not like the Sox hired an organ grinder monkey to manage the team .Yes I have said both LaRussa and Hinch would've been bad choices and would make the Sox look idiotic but what looks idiotic now ,in the inspection stage , doesn't mean it won't end up being a smart move in the end of the season review . He's here . He isn't going anywhere (God willing ). So now it's time to give the guy a chance to do what he was hired to do . If I want the players to give the guy a fair shot then I have to do the same.

While we might want to, it’s a path to the cellar more often than not. Good sports owners hire good front office people and although they will do things like set budgets, when it comes to personnel decisions they stay out of the way and let the good front office people they hired do their jobs. Go look at places like the Cleveland Browns or Phoenix Suns, both have had big expose pieces in the last few years about how ownership was stepping in constantly to overrule their front office, change coaches, and pick different types of players. This is literally how those teams have been stuck in the basement, the owner thinks they know everything, overrules their baseball people, and when it starts backfiring they have no clue how they got there. If an owner wants to interfere, they are setting up the Cleveland Browns. A good businessperson hires good people, sets a professional tone, and does not push themselves into every single thing happening in their business, that’s why they hired good people. If Rick Hahn wants to hire AJ Hinch, he’s my GM he can do that, but I expect a couple things. He should conduct a series of interviews with a diverse group of candidates, present to me his decision making and why Hinch came out on top, and how he’s going to deal with the PR issues and questions he’s setting up. If Rick Hahn does that, then he can hire that guy because that’s to the letter what I pay Rick Hahn to do. If he can’t answer those questions, then it’s time to replace the GM because for some reason he’s no longer operating as a professional.

Come on... Yes, that's why all the astros broke homerun records year after year, and its why one of the asteos hit more home runs than times they swung and missed... oh wait that was Barry. Alex Wood is saying that because he personally feels cheated. There is no evidence that this is anywhere near as beneficial as steroids and insinuating otherwise is just putting your head in the sand and ignoring results. Alex Bregman, Correa, altuve, springer and etc are very good. They werent significantly better than their career numbers in those years. Also, your assumption is just flat out wrong. There were multiple astros who refused the help because they didn't want the distraction. Just as some of your teammates don't want you telling them signs when you're on second base because it's distracting and: Even if a pitch is called to a quadrant it does not mean the pitcher will throw it there. Lastly, hitting for some is entirely reactionary and they have no desire to know what might be coming. Astros cheated, but trevor bauer scuffing the ball to get more spin is more beneficial than a batter being relayed signs. The results simply don't lie.

What the hell? So for steroids it’s only bad if an entire team does it, but for the electronic system it’s worse if they just know about it? How’s that for a double standard. “Hey Mark what’s this bottle androstenedione in your locker? And why do you and Jose keep going into the toilet stall and dropping your pants? And what’s with all the acne? And why has the size of your head changed? Oh well, go hit some dingers!”

I find it almost amazing especially on talk radio about how people are talking about LaRussa. I am not a fan of this move but other than trying to pry Francona out of Cleveland or looking into Bochy I'm not sure what other avenue there was. A few bench coaches may have been better but that is a roll of the dice. Maybe Ozzie would have been better I don't know. I am not certain if Bochy is bi-lingual but I think the White Sox need that more than anything in a manager with this roster. In all the angst I think some folks are losing of site of the fact the guy gets the best out of his teams. He isn't going to be here long term but watching the Sox last year I think there is a need for a person to tighten things up and he will do that. He wasn't winning with the large revenue teams and free agent signings annually. He did have superstars but he also was able to gets his talent to mesh very well. I think he will get the best out of the younger players as well as the veterans and the Sox are better this morning than they were yesterday morning. I think he will put players in a position to succeed not just roll them out there because they are veterans. I am not certain that Hahn is on board with this move but this is move that makes his job easier. LaRussa will use the talent accordingly and will have a more vocal presence in their usage. LaRussa can mange analytics, feel and his staff together to make things work. I think guys like Vaughan and Madrigal will reap greater benefits due to having more well rounded approaches. I also feel that Moncada, Jimenez and Robert can all reach superstar level. These guys will be used and managed in a manner that will get the best out of them. Tony has the voice to get players to succeed and that is what they need. Maybe Hinch and Cora could do that, who know but LaRussa has done it for 20+ years. He is a great stopgap to get the team to point C and I still hope Francona is here next.

I can't believe all the nonsense being written about Tony LaRussa. Nearly all of it comes from people who have no concept of what it takes to be a major league manager. It's entirely possible that this won't work out. But no one knows that. A lot of people hated the Sox decision to extend Jose Abreu for 3 years. Where are you now, after his MVP season? Tony LaRussa has a record that puts him solidly in the conversation for most accomplished manager of all time. I mean, I think you have to discount any manager from the whites-only era of baseball, before Jackie Robinson integrated the game. They might have put up some great numbers, but it was a racist game. If you look only at managers after 1950, for sheer volume of wins and championships, you only have LaRussa and Sparky Anderson, each of whom won 3 WS titles with teams from both the AL and NL. But LaRussa's accomplishments are much deeper and more impressive than Anderson's. Perhaps Bruce Bochy deserves mention with 4,000+ games, but he has a career losing record and won with only the Giants and Ross Bumgardner. LaRussa v. Sparky 2,728 wins v. 2,194 wins. 3 WS titles v. 3 WS Titles. But Anderson did it with two squads - back-to-back with the Reds and 1984 with the Tigers. LaRussa had a dominant Oakland team that won 3 pennants in a row and a WS in between. But the Cardinals WS victories were 6 years apart. LaRussa also led the White Sox to 99 wins with the 1983 "winning ugly" squad. 4x manager of year v 2x manager of year 5,093 games v. 4,028 games The list can go on. The point is that Tony LaRussa's stature and record as a manager should have earned him some respect. He knows vastly more about baseball and people than anyone on this blog who denigrates him. I'll bet a lot of the critics here weren't even alive when he started managing in 1979. I don't know how this is going to turn out. Nor does anyone else. But I'm willing to see what happens. I'd certainly take LaRussa over the cheaters Hinch and Cora. Hinch got outmanaged last year by Dave Martinez, and Cora as the instigator of the cheating is beyond redemption. As a white guy, LaRussa is also bilingual, which is critical for this clubhouse. He won't need a translator. As for the kneeling issue, LaRussa answered that question in the press conference and Jason Benetti interview. He's changed his views. He also praised Tim Anderson for the energy and passion he brings to the game. LaRussa couldn't have managed so successfully over 3 different teams, 33 years, with countless different personalities if he didn't know how to navigate a clubhouse. It would seem that these players, if they are hungry to win, ought to be looking for leadership in that regard from LaRussa rather than demanding that he make changes for them, when they haven't accomplished anything as a team. I'm not saying they have to "fall in line" or anything like that. I just think there's an opportunity for a good marriage here because they want to win, and Tony LaRussa definitely wants to win. As for analytics, LaRussa just said at the press conference that "information is king." He's a lawyer. He's always had an analytical mind, and has always sought every edge. But he's not a blind adherent to data. He also applies "observational analytics" within a given game because he's watching what's going on. LaRussa doesn't have anything left to prove in baseball. But he still was itching for one more opportunity. That tells me he wanted this and will work hard to make it work. So, I'm not predicting this will work. It may, it may not. I think it has a good shot to succeed, but it will depend on the players, and getting better pitching. But I strongly feel that LaRussa has more than earned the chance, and is not deserving of the heap of scorn being dumped on him by Sox fans.