South Side Hit Men

“Anyone who thinks we can catch Detroit is crazy” - Jerry Reinsdorf, August 3, 2022

AL Voting Cash 109 Servais 71 Baker 33 NL Voting Kapler 143 Counsell 75 Shildt 25 This is the second straight season a Top 3 selection was fired. Not sure why team funded PR personnel have ballots. Scott Merkin was one of four (30 total voters) who voted for La Russa as their second choice. Tony finished 6th in AL voting. https://bbwaa.com/21-al-mgr/

The Owners have saved far more money collectively with this salary suppression scheme than any risk of paying an injured player. Sox fans saw first hand the detrimental impact on performance of Keuchel and Kimbrel from being three years removed (2018) from a normal season (2019 - FA Collusion; 2020 - Owner 102 game lockout), not to mention the over one year full salary lost by both players in 2019-2020. For the good of the game, Qualifying Offers should be eliminated with the next CBA. Teams should be rewarded for attempting to win, not penalized with lost draft picks. The best players should be available on Opening Day. They should not be sitting around waiting for July 1, because owners rather keep a pick of a player they can pay far less than MV for six seasons.

At first I thought this (in my OP), but with the activity the past week, I think both will get multi-year (2-3) deals for an AAV in the ballpark ($15M -$18M) of the QO if they reject it. Several owners have opened up the purse strings early in the process.

This gave them the perfect opportunity to go with the Spiders, but they are Cleveland and were determined to stick with their former team name embedded within the Guardians logo, not to mention the crap they already made. Long-term, the Spiders would have kicked ass with merchandise sales, at least as good as a Cleveland team can expect for sales not involving LeBron James. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM

In addition to the Syndergaard signing, the Angels are reportedly pursuing Justin Verlander, though I'll leave him in the pending slot for now. One + more days until the full free agent market is confirmed. Players 9 (Castellanos; Conforto; Correa, Rodriguez; Seager; Semien, Story, Syndergaard, Taylor) Teams 0 Pending: 5 (Belt, Freeman, Iglesias, Ray, Verlander).

43% of MLB players are either Hispanic (32%), Black (8%) or Asian (3%). Their representation at the top executive positions (GM, President, Owner)? A small fraction of this. The Selig Rule memo was released during the last millennium, on April 14, 1999. But yeah you are correct, executives such as Kenny Williams, Theo Epstein and others in the industry who recognize and seek to change this disparity are wrong. Not that I expect someone who posted your drivel to actually comprehend and/or accept these statements. PS - Your weak-ass Basketball/Football participation theory doesn't hold water. NFL - There are the same number of Black head coaches as in 2003 (the year the Rooney Rule was implemented), and one General Manager (Chris Grier). NBA - Until 2017, there were more racist NBA owners (at least two now known - Sterling, Sarver) than NBA Presidents (one - Doc Rivers, who sadly had to work for Sterling), and only three GMs (Dell Demps, Steve Mills and Masai Ujiri). The level of black participation over the 70 years prior had zero impact on who the owners hired or, more accurately, did not / refused to hire. It took an actual commitment by ownership, the people with final say with these decisions, to begin making clear and widespread changes to how their league was run. It's clear MLB and NFL owners collectively have a long way to go, two plus decades after issuing their respective "rules", to begin to make an actual difference.

The Sox have solid young players, but most have graduated, leaving the Sox dead last in Farm System Rankings (through the 2021 draft). They will have to continue to trade additional cost controlled ML ready talent (Dunning, Madrigal, Heuer) for additional deals. It's why I am against trading off many more pieces for more old veterans. https://www.mlb.com/news/pipeline-farm-system-rankings Scott Merkin' August Writeup linked here: https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/colson-montgomery-new-white-sox-top-prospect Final 2021 Records (MLB 162 game equivalent): Low A Kannapolis 40-79 .336 (54-108) High A Winston-Salem 43-76 .361 (58-104) AA Birmingham 62-56 .525 (85-77) AAA Charlotte 47-81 .367 (59-103)

Rape and racism are not popular in 2021. Who knew? https://theathletic.com/2956621/2021/11/15/shapiro-nhl-attendance-after-one-month-shows-more-concern-but-some-decent-signs/ League / Nation headwinds Chicago headwinds Rocky remaining and no more hockey on WGN will continue the downward trend.

Yes, until you change the ownership mindset (old boy network), you will continue to get the same results. The Sox advanced in the playoffs only once in a century of mostly moribund baseball. They were led by a GM and Manager given their first opportunity in their respective roles. This is what Kenny is asking for, giving people an opportunity.

Two more days until the full free agent market is confirmed. Players 7 (Castellanos; Conforto; Correa, Rodriguez; Seager; Semien, Taylor) Teams 0 Pending: 7 (Belt, Freeman, Iglesias, Ray, Story, Syndergaard, Verlander).

Jose Contreras from the panel James covered 10 years ago: “Not too many people know this, but I played in the majors until I was 42,” Contreras said through Russo. “Then I went to Mexico for three years and then I went to Taiwan. I played until I was 46. And I did that because Minnie always told me ‘Don’t quit. Don’t leave the field if you still feel you can play.’ I joke around with him, ‘Well, then I’m going to play until I’m 100 years old.’ Because honestly, I felt good. That’s one of the other things I try to tell the guys, what I learned from Minnie, ‘Don’t leave the game if you still feel you have more to do, that you have more to give.'”

The changes are effective immediately and are made to enhance diversity in future leadership of the sport. The modifications require several stipulations. *Any club making an internal promotion for a senior baseball operations position must provide the Commissioner’s Office with a succession plan for all of the club’s senior baseball operations positions. That plan requires the club to include diverse individuals for future leadership positions. *In the event of a non-diverse internal promotion, it’s the Commissioner’s expectation that a diverse individual will be promoted, or hired, to a vacancy created by the promotion. *A club must provide the Commissioner’s Office with notice of the internal promotion and the rationale for not conducting an external or internal interview process.

Not to mention learning a new, more challenging position (LF > 1B) on the fly and acclimating well from Opening Day.

Not surprised by the three ratings suggesting the Sox hire people having a vast experience with, and passion for, the Chicago White Sox. It’s a reflection of how far a substantial portion of MLB (called out by KW) and society still needs to move for the sport to become attractive to the society at large. The owner’s representative spent World Series week defending racist imagery and chanting. No wonder Kenny wants nothing to do with these people after observing them in action for decades.

From Ken's article.

Would like to see Kim Ng take over when Kenny's contract is over, have strong consideration for POC for the GM and managerial roles. Also hope they reach out to Abreu to see if he is interested in a FO role, since he is young enough to make an impact. Could also be mentored under Paddy (promote him), if he would prefer spending more time overseas, or begin learning roles under the FO if he would like to stay in Chicago after his career. Nobody is more passionate about White Sox baseball. Tim is very smart, may also be a great consideration when his career is over. Player "ambassadors" are nice if someone is looking for a paycheck and not much responsibility, but there are many out former players looking for a formal opportunity if only one was offered. Kenny Williams was one of Jerry Reinsdorf's greatest accomplishments in his 40 years of baseball, also giving Manuel, Ozzie and Ricky opportunities as well.

Yes, an extension for Keuchel and a Jake Arrieta signing. Duh. ?

Nothing "emotional" about it. It's the two key options the team faced. I agreed with one of the two decisions, didn't note which one. The only person throwing "shade" is your response.

Can you provide a link for FG? I can't seem to find it, use this each offseason: https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/free-agent-tracker Thanks!

Players 5 (Castellanos; Conforto; Rodriguez; Seager; Semien) Teams 0 Pending: 9 White Sox: No Qualifying Offer Rodon ($18.4M) Yes Team Option Kimbrel ($16.0M)

Let's do this! Saturday, November 20th (11:00AM in Louisville) Washington Spirit vs. Chicago Red Stars

Clemente and Puig were lifetime RFers. He moves for Mays and Andruw Jones, Griffey Jr and a few others. A cautious tale for those wanting to trade Vaughn. 2014 was the time to be interested in Semien.

Hawk Harrelson used TWTW during his GM stint.