South Side Hit Men

Highly doubtful fans will be allowed in at anywhere close to capacity, if at all, to start the season. Perhaps by the Summer or Fall. I can see the owners stalling / chopping off a significant number of games from the schedule again next season.

Pete Rose is fifth all time among Left Fielders in WAR and JAWS (Ricky third in both). RH OPS .820 vs. PR .784 (36 points). Picking a better HOFer, and saying the other is just average is similar to saying Frank Thomas (8th in WAR / 9th in JAWS) played rotten defense at 1B, with an OPS of .974 when compared to Jimmy Foxx 1.038 (4th WAR / 3rd JAWS).

Yep, several inner ring / first ballot hall of famers are among Pete's similar batters, and he is merely "good". Similar Batters Paul Molitor (678.8) * Tris Speaker (645.2) * Ty Cobb (629.8) * Robin Yount (611.9) * Paul Waner (596.1) * George Brett (591.3) * Cap Anson (576.5) * Derek Jeter (574.5) * Lou Brock (569.2) * Johnny Damon (560.1)

It will get much worse, Tony addresses his coaching staff after the 2021 season. https://captiongenerator.com/2042452/Tony-LaRussa

He stated it shouldn't have been public, not for the content of what he said. He never retracted anything he said. "I said what was on my mind," Gant said. "I said some things that I shouldn't have. I apologize, and let's move on. We both have a job to do."

The Sox aren't taking on that much salary in the best of times, and we are in the worst of times, a legitimate once in a century black swan event. The Dodgers and possibly the Mets are the only two teams which may consider taking on both of those salaries this off-season

Miguel Cairo has a good background. Walt Jocketty obtained him a few times and transitioned him to a coaching role in Cincinnati. He then moved on to the Yankees, a solid organization. Perhaps some Sox fans will feel better since he can also be seen as an "Ozzie Guy". @OzzieGuillen 3h: great guy good baseball man and great friend hope help and i think he will He might even call it a "Grand Slam". https://www.facebook.com/daviidveliz17/videos/miguel-cairo-cincinnati-reds-vs-chicago-cubs-grand-slam/2688541378089702/

Yep, was there though don't remember the exact game. Still have two of them, our weekend season tickets were down the left field line, too far to hit LaRussa with.

Before I address, thanks @Harry Chappas , I forgot Ted (and I’m am assuming RP goes). You are confusing two aspects of ownership. One is who is elected Managing Partner by all ownership interests. JR is the managing partner, elected by the other partners to run the day to day business on their behalf. There very well may have been owners with equal or more shares / percentage of ownership at the time of the purchase. However, Jerry was elected to manage the day to day affairs, and receive separate compensation for his labor, in addition to shared profits enjoyed by all minority owners on a pro-rata share basis. Theo would likely be an owner with limited capital, but would earn substantial compensation in addition to his passive partnership profit participation. JR used total compensation across both entities to buy out other owners over the past four decades. The other is the term “profits” or gains. There are three types of gains or losses all owners share while owning a ball club. Net Profits / Losses owners claim as baseball revenue: These include a substantial portion of revenue, and all expense, including expenses not subject to cash outlays such as depreciation on capital assets such as players, stadiums, etc. This is the information owners may disclose, typically in a manner most advantageous to them (we lose barely make money). It also includes the depreciation losses that they use to reduce their taxes paid, though they are not depleting their cash. Profits owners do not claim as baseball revenue, but are still real: For example, MLB media, auxiliary revenue such as parking lot income, television revenues (for team owned networks and the MLB network), and other revenue. Owners owned equal share in profits of MLB media at an equal 1/30 share. They are required to pay taxes on realized income. However, for the sake of what they communicate to players and fans, this is revenue they do not “count” when declaring whether they “lost” money. Another good example is the Cubs (Marquis) or Sox (1/3 NBCSC) counting a contractural payment to the club for broadcast rights as the sole revenue for the ball club, but realizing profits on both the ball club and the television stations they own. To summarize these two sets of profit, for the sake of what they disclose and pay tax on, owners overstate losses and understate income whenever it suits them (player negotiations, IRS filings, media disclosures). Forbes does the best they can with information available and projections of what is not available, to provide the best information they can of total profits realized by baseball owners. Capital Gains: This is the overall net increase or decrease in the value of the club. These gains are tax deferred and not realized until a minority owner sells. This is similar to increases you may experience as an individual for ownership of your home, stocks or mutual funds. Prices go up and down, but you don’t receive cash, or pay tax, until you sell. You can borrow on these assets to an extent, but otherwise you can’t receive cash (unless you rent your house, and one also received interest and dividends from investments) until you sell. This is an extra component owners do not “share” with players when they talk “revenue sharing”, but yet another example of profits they do realize and benefit on when they sell, and that they can also leverage when borrowing while they own the team. Hope this helps explain why owners can cry poor and say they lose money, but are in reality totally full of shit in nearly all cases. Even during COVID / no fan seasons, they didn’t earn what they typically do across the board, but they did not lose anywhere close to what they are crying, and in some cases, still may have profited.

They are about the same based on near exact same playing time and performance last year. Baseball Reference has a higher OBP projected for Madrigal by 42 points. fWAR - Fan Graphs 2020: Mendick 0.3 (114 PA) vs. Madrigal 0.1 (109 PA) 2021: Madrigal 1.7 (500) vs. Mendick 1.6 (532 PA) bWAR - Baseball Reference (2021 bWAR not available, used OPS) 2020: Mendick 0.6 (114 PA) vs. Madrigal 0.4 (109 PA) 2021 Mendick .720 (261 PA) vs. Madrigal .762 (255 PA) Baseball Prospectus WARP (2021 based on 2019 projections 2021 on legacy card (2021 from 2020 not available) 2020: Mendick 0.4 (114 PA) vs. Madrigal 0.4 (109 PA). 2021: Mendick -0.2 (453 PA) vs. Madrigal -0.4 (425 PA).

It’s good we don’t have a manager with a lifetime history of provoking beanball wars. Oh snap, well we did have a decent human being last season.

Have to laugh at how fickle the board is, with opinion more than flipped in less than a half season, more successful than most in Sox history. Shows how paid for attack dog media (Stone, Ozzie, Thomas) and group think easily sways people. Works the same for far more significant decisions than fandom. As you were.

There are huge tax implications, and based on what has been publicly disclosed, I believe they have planned legally and financially to continue Bulls ownership, but won’t be able to do the same for the White Sox. Perhaps an Obama/Theo Epstein lead investor group, between the two they definitely would be able to attract the required capital.

The upside is if some of a couple of the pitching numbers can be reached this year, like Lopez (1.6) and Rodon (0.9). Some have to be taken with a salt mine of salt ( Geo Gonzalez' 1.8, though it's moot at this point) and also the methodology which rewards Grandal more than other systems for games played and different weighting for defensive metrics. Baseball Prospectus' numbers come out around Spring Training. I prefer their projections but I like to review bWAR and fWAR in the interim. Thanks for posting. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2020-projections.shtml (Really 2021 projections, not 2020 indicated in link) OPS (Fan Graphs vs. Baseball Reference) - Bold indicates the OPS I believe is more likely when there is a significant difference. Ordered by my preferred batting order. SS Anderson (.793 vs. 790) R 3B Moncada (.792 vs. .798) S 1B Abreu (.826 vs. .827) R LF Jimenez (.871 vs. .846) R C Grandal (.767 vs. .793) S CF Robert (.794 vs. .769) R DH Vaughn (.685 vs. no projection listed) R RF Angel (.655 vs. .690) R 2B Madrigal (.703 vs. .762) R ERA & K/9 (Fan Graphs vs. Baseball Reference) Giolito (3.00 / 12.9 vs. 4.11 / 10.3) Keuchel (3.99 / 7.4 vs. 3.67 / 7.4) Cease (4.48 / 9.1 vs. 4.59 / 8.9) - I think Cease can significantly outperform these projections. Lopez (4.68 / 8.0 vs. 4.85 / 8.5) - Hoping Katz can help Kopech (4.86 / 8.4 vs. 4.35 / 9.5) - Hoping for 130 IP.

Yes, this was discussed by both Laurence Holmes and the short portion of Parkins show (Matt Spiegel portion) I listened to yesterday. Leading an ownership group bid or a role as commissioner of baseball if he had more free reign like Adam Silver has, versus being an errand boy/toady in the Selig/Manfred mold which he would not be interested in. Baseball can rebound and start gaining fans with more progressive/enlightened leadership (no political meaning, just forward thinking leadership). Owners like Reinsdorf have ceded ground to a Mark Cuban style player/management partnership with mutually beneficial results in the NBA. This should be MLB's path once the Reinsdorf type owners leave the game, and the toxic owner / player relationship shifts toward a similar mutually beneficial and honest partnership.

How does that explain the reported disgust and opposition throughout the White Sox organization, including Hahn and Kenny walking away from any responsibility for the hire, or no non MLB owned media availability or promotions for Tony, Hahn or Williams since the hire announcement? It’s such a shit show, they had to postpone the innocuous announcement regarding the move to ESPN. This isn’t Twitter, yet it was near unanimous in the poll here in terms of Hinch or Other vs. LaRussa, and these results were BEFORE the most recent DUI arrest news leaked. Reinsdorf himself stated last offseason Tony has nothing left to prove, the job takes too much out of you and the issues with a 75 year old dealing with 22 year olds. Jerry talks to media rarely, if ever, yet he took the time to state clearly why LaRussa should not return to managing, yet here he is.

I can agree LaRussa improved as a manager after his seven seasons here and his initial start in Oakland. He also had a good knowledge of the game, though was slipping at the end with the Cardinals. He is not more qualified today, ten years removed from the role, and frankly too old to travel or relate to the modern young player. Jerry said so himself last season, and he is a year older since his comments. Jerry Reinsdorf on Tony LaRussa returning to managing, February 2020: "Managing, it just takes an awful lot out of you. There's nothing else for him to accomplish. You know, he's won three World Series, and uh, he's in the Hall of Fame. And so, there's no reason for him to go back to managing, and have to try to deal with people 22 years old when you're 75 years old." 6:23 mark

Reinsdorf fires Commissioners, Commissioners do not suspend Reinsdorf or his guys, unless they are players he doesn’t want to pay. Manfred is a drunken boob, listen to his slurred speech during the “piece of metal” presentation to the Dodgers. It will be interesting to see if fans boo Reinsdorf’s corpse to the extent Hawks fans booed Bill Wirtz’s. I don’t think it will be as bad, partially because it won’t be pitch black outside, giving fans cover. I don’t think one should boo a dead person, but booze plays a role.

I think if Hahn had a say in the matter, Hahn would have kept Renteria at least through his current contract signed 60 games earlier. I would have agreed with that call after the season the team had. Rick earned one more year. Cooper, a coach Renteria or Hahn had no say in, was the only coach I called to be replaced during the season (he should have left when Ozzie left).. People quibble about this or that decision, and while I certainly didn’t agree with everything, I believe a fair assessment of Renteria includes: 1. Players developed well, played hard, and respected him. 2. He created a solid winning culture, absent since the 2000s. 3. The team outperformed all expectations. 4. Hahn and or Kenny signed off on, or made the decision for the Game 3 Opener / Bullpen game strategy. The amount of vitriol toward Rick on the board and far worse, Jerry’s paid for mouthpieces who should know better (Stone, Ozzie and Thomas), was absurd. Based on what transpired, it appears these “media” attacks were ordered by Jerry after he decided to give his “guy” a job this Spring or Summer, after Tony called him and said he needs yet another job before the arrest news came out. The Angels would likely have fired him from whatever crony role he had there, due in part to their substance abuse issues. I personally would much rather have Renteria than LaRussa. Bevington is the only possibly worse ex Sox manager, another Reinsdorf debacle call.Firing LaRussa was the one right call Harrelson made as GM. LaRussa won elsewhere because he inherited great teams (Hemond, Alderson, Jocketty), and he choked half the time even with the favorite (1983, 1988, 1990). If the White Sox followed Hahn’s plan, and hired a Hinch, Boche, Alomar or Espada, it would have made sense and would have been credible. I understand most of the board disagrees with much of this, but this is opinion and I’ll stand by it.

I wish Portillo's guy would stop tweeting and call out my number for my Combo and Fries while they are still warm. Dipped with sweet peppers. Have my own hot peppers at home.

Anyone think on Leap Year Day Kenny Williams would be the only Chicago Sports Team President less than a year later, Hahn and Bowman the only GMs.

I see the Dodgers, and possibly the Mets as the only players for Darvish. If the Cubs have a total rebuild, they will want to couple Darvish with Hayward, and those two teams are the only two with the ability and possible desire to eat that level of salary and related “luxury” tax heading into 2021. If it’s a pure baseball deal for Darvish, I’d quiver at what the Sox would have to give up. Madrigal would not be enough straight up, maybe a second piece.

I’m not saying Renteria will get another manager job, but he can’t sign elsewhere until next offseason without compensation paid to the White Sox. Also, Renteria didn’t get fired for leading the team to their best season in a dozen years. He was fired because Jerry decided this Spring or Summer to hire LaRussa. It may even have happened if the Sox won the World Series. It’s obvious Jerry doesn’t care about any backlash, internal or external. Renteria will get another job in 2022 if he wants to.

I’d actuate what went down to the drug deal gone bad in Boggie Nights. Rick and Kenny were Dirk Diggler (Kenny) and O’Reiley (Hahn) “what are you doing, let’s go” and Jerry was the guy with the mustache with a “plan”, which didn’t quite work out for anyone. Mike Ditka won a Super Bowl the last time LaRussa was here, doesn’t mean you want his dumb senile drunk driving ass to come out if a lengthy retirement to return either.

This, plus the fact he was just demoted last month from GM to Assistant GM by Jerry and Tony. Working for Ricketts is a different set of issues than working for Jerry. The positive is he will allow his GM to do his job, and won’t interfere with important decisions. You get your budget and you make the call. It’s a mess now, but they will always have a top five payroll and long term it’s a better fit. Plus, Jerry will likely be gone soon, and new owners will bring in new people. I don’t agree with the sentiment he is being forced out or is disgusted. He said he would be there for ten years and he stuck with it. Someone said he pulled a Paxton. Paxton would have been there until Jerry died, if Michael didn’t take over, and it took Michael three years before finally pulling the trigger. Theo’s letter to Cub employees linked here, it’s free to non subscribers. https://theathletic.com/2203590/2020/11/17/cubs-president-theo-epstein-explains-why-he-is-stepping-down/