NWINFan

There is room for optimism, but I don't think anyone truly knows when the team will turn things around or how good they will really be. We need to see prospects get some major league playing time before making any real judgements. I am hopeful but skeptical at the same time. I don't see any point in getting manic depressive, yet I have doubts, and I think plenty of fans should have doubts.

It makes my head explode, too, but JR will do what he wants when he wants and all indications are he has no intention of selling. Speculation about it is only a form of torture. We all know big change is needed, but we have no power to make those changes. Meanwhile I wonder what kind of legacy he wants to have. I wouldn't want the one he has now.

I agree that there has been a great deal of overreaction to the Machado non-signing. However, for the past 10 years, this front office has done little to inspire confidence. This decade will be the first since the 1970s when the Sox didn't make it to the post season once. And in the 1970s there were no wild cards and the two ownerships had little or no financial resources. Will the rebuild work? It might, but I am not counting on it. And it won't work, it they pass up another opportunity like this.

Os The trouble with Ozzie was that he had no idea what the political climate was in Miami and couldn't handle the backlash when it happened. That was a not a case of PC. It was a case of someone not knowing or understanding history. I think the reaction to his comments were over the top but that's how it is in Southern Florida. If he said that when he was managing the Sox, he would have gotten away with it. I don't know why he isn't managing elsewhere. Saying one unpopular thing shouldn't have done it. I know I don't want him managing the Sox again. If Ozzie wants to make peace with Sox fans, I'm fine with that. But it is time to move on. Same with Hawk.

I don't know anything about the supplements and don't care to. But the commercials are awful, and Frank should find another way to make money. Commercials, by their nature, are usually corny, but Thomas comes off looking like an idiot. I don't know how he wouldn't feel embarrassed by this.

I don't care where any of these players sign. I'm sick of Major League Baseball and its obscene greed.

This is a false assumption on both counts.

In addition, in the late part of the rebuilding, there were many no-shows at Wrigley. Attendance figures stem from tickets sold, not fans in the seats. Even Cub fans had enough of losing. From 1945-2015, the Cubs had 45 losing seasons. Anyone would tire of that crap. Sox fans are always accused of being bandwagon jumpers. Bandwagon jumpers only go when the team wins. The Sox have won exactly one World Series in the past 101 years. They have no post season appearances in the last 10 years. How about this? Instead of blaming fans for all this failure, how about putting out a winning team for a change? And if the Sox want people to come out, stop hating their own fans. That would help, too. The White Sox have a feeling of entitlement. They aren't entitled to anything. No go out there and win something and stop the whining.

By the end of the Sixties, the White Sox were in horrible shape. The team had little talent, less money, a shrinking fan base, an aging stadium, and were completely overshadowed by the 1969 Cubs. In a large sense, the franchise never fully recovered. But I don't wonder about "what ifs" of over 50 years ago anymore. I wonder what if the current rebuild doesn't work.

Many teams go through long stretches and it happens more when the weather is bad. I am not amused.

I think the Cubs are crying way too much about going to Washington. It's not a good thing but they can deal with it. The Angels arrived five in the morning the day they had to play the Sox in the first game of the ALCS. The Angels won that game. Sounds like the Cubs are already making excuses and the media is playing right along with it.

I am not saying that either is not a good defensive player. What I am saying is that Crede had the luxary of developing because his offensive contributions were needed as much because he was on a good hitting club. Moncada's offensive woes are magnified because this Sox team is, at best, average offensively. Crede was highly touted from the moment he came to the team, and I don't recall him ever being a liability at third. You're twisting what I said. What I am getting at is Moncada has to feel pressure as he tries to become a major league hitter. That has nothing to do with his defense or Anderson's defense even though Anderson made some weird looking plays last year.

Your assessment of Crede is right on, and it can apply to others. However, Crede had two advantages: He still was an excellent defensive player and he played on a team that a lineup of power hitters. While Crede had embarrassing at bats, the Sox had the likes of Lee, Ordonez, Thomas and Valentin. Moncada has a lot of light on him because the Sox want the trade to work out, and the team is also losing. In other situations, Moncada might have been sent back down to sort things out. Instead he struggles and looks bad and the team looks bad. There are drawbacks to a complete tear down. The Moncada situation is one of them.

Actually I think the rebuild is doing better than I thought it would, slow as that is. However, I don't think the organization has to wait that long to see how things are going. Year by year there should be a progression and an apparent plan. You can't just pile up prospects and hope for the best. I don't have any expectations of consecutive World Series. I just would like to see some consistency.

Agreed. Major changes should have come the White Sox a long time ago. After Guillen left, a major search should have been conducted for a manager. Instead the job was handed to a guy with no experience and a guy who didn't seem to want the job very much. By 2013 the team had fallen apart and it had its worst season in over 40 years. I wonder how long the current front office will be given in regards to this rebuild.

The Kopech situation is a huge setback, but now it's time to see how this organization responds to it.

Jack - I hope everything works out for you. I have enjoyed your posts. But you are right. There are other priorities in life.

It is hard to do anything on offense when you're down 0-1, 0-2 all day long. I know it hurt not to have Abreu playing, but that was a minor league lineup. The Angel starter barely broke a sweat for the first six innings.

No, not really. But there are ways to communicate to fans to instill confidence. Powerful organizations do it with the public all the time without letting people in on private conversations. I would like to have something to hang my hat on, if you don't mind. The team has put together a horrible decade, and my confidence level is not all that high. Ten years without going to the post season. In the era of the wild cards, that stinks. Two things I don't want to hear: Be patient. And I don't want to listen to over-hyping prospects when they get called up. The hype on Kopech was absurd.

I could only read to much as there is plenty of overreaction here. That doesn't mean this isn't a devastating setback. It obviously is. But now the front office has a real challenge. No one can expect rebuilds to go perfectly. So how is the team going to respond now? How long can it expect other prospects to develop? I would like to know what is being said behind closed doors in the organization. Are they going to keep telling fans to be patient when Kopech is hurt and Moncada is developing slowly? The front office must demonstrate somehow that it has a real plan. Selling the youth movement is not going to work anymore especially with the string of losing seasons. 2020 will make it 15 years since the World Series. Do they want to make it to 2025 and extend it to 20? I saw logic of the rebuild even as it tried my patience. I won't have any patience unless I see some real deep thinking from the organization.

I don't think anyone should blame this on the rain delay. The first homer was hit before the delay and it was crushed. The hype around Kopech is way overblown. He is a young player who has a lot to learn. Let him learn, and he'll develop faster. Same with Moncada. This is what is tough about rebuilds. There are days like this. Meanwhile Kopech needs to work on his command. Let him do that, too.

I like Matt Davidson. I cheer hard for him every time he comes up. When he gets a hold of one, it will go a long way. But he hasn't shown he is a consistent major league hitter. And he still has not shown that he is a dependable RBI man. I can't see how the team can make any major plans that center around Davidson. It's too bad because injuries has hurt his development.

I would hope he wouldn't insult my intelligence which he does to Sox fans on a regular basis.

Hawk always says stuff like this. That's why he can no longer be taken seriously.

18 Ks. That is bad, very bad. This offense has issues.