South Side Hit Men

Vaughn is awesome. Sox 1 Carmines 1

Len Kasper is solo, not for the first time this season. Hope the Sox keep Len and DJ on the radio for the foreseeable future. Hands down their best announcers. Vaughn just walked, a good development if he can incorporate on a regular basis.

The first two seem to be solid hires, excellent in terms of Sox grading curve. Do you or anyone have some success stories regarding Gene Watson? I found a few articles of him praising Dayton Moore but not much substance beyond that in terms of scouting success stories. What role did he play in terms of helping build the 2014/2015 Royals? December 2020 https://www.mlb.com/news/royals-scout-gene-watson-accepts-job-with-angels September 2021 https://www.mlb.com/news/gene-watson-assistant-to--gm--for-royals September 2021 https://www.mlb.com/royals/team/front-office/gene-watson

No Sox fan can credibly say this about any substantive move since the tanking trades. Their best high priced acquisition (contract or prospect costs) the past several years spent about two of his four seasons fighting cancer and then undergoing TJS. Hoping this nonsense to salvage the narrative about “clubhouse culture” or salvaging Pedro’s awful managerial career is set aside before completion.

Stolen AL Pennants 1988 & 1990. Stolen WS 1989. La Russa should banned from the BBHOF.

They will do everything possible to get these games in primarily to avoid crediting back ticket sales.

Virginia McCaskey a bit ornery during the raid of her office this afternoon. Hopefully she won’t suffer the same fate as this poor woman.

Lovey it!

Shirley, you jest.

Jerry Reinsdorf called Harry Caray scum. Chicago went from a 50-50 Sox Cubs split to 67 Cubs - 33 Sox over the next four decades. Harry has a statue at Wrigley Field whereas if the White Sox had DeBartolo that statue would be at 35th and Shields after decades of service. Pretty sure Harry Caray wasn’t scum, but there were two Brooklyn Dodger carpetbaggers who fit the bill.

Pedro for Perez would be fair. I expect Jerry to go to his beloved Perez for White Sox International slot money maneuver. If the Sox are assuming the contract, I can’t see them giving up anything good beyond that. Perhaps a Yoan for Perez deal is in the offing.

Really glad the Sox came through. Hope Boston is playing for contracts and pride as they will need a series win to tie the Sox for the season and a sweep to win the season series. Chris Sale lines up for revenge Friday against Touki. Cease faces Pivetta on Saturday and have to hope Clevinger is bad Sunday against Kutter Crawford, who I never heard of before this post.

At least it means Getz is willing to bring in accomplished staff. Kenny and Rick wanted cronies and people they could control. Their permanent coaching staff over multiple managerial regimes also served as clubhouse rats (Boston remains Jerry’s rat). Jerry doesn’t want to pay three people to not work in 2024 (KW, RH, PG), so I can see one more year for major improvement (not likely) in a likely 60s/70s win season and then bring in someone else.

Because you have several owners who will never spend to be competitive, and these markets are only there due to what made sense population wise a century ago. Owners would never create a team in Milwaukee (40th largest American population market / 45th by GDP) if creating a league today. Like every industry government is involved in (defense, health care, education), government funding of MLB owner capital expenses distorts the issue of where teams are and where they want to relocate. This would be optimal if creating a league today: Northeast: Boston (11), Montreal (C2), New York (1S), New York (1S), Philadelphia (7), Toronto (C1). Midwest: Chicago (3S), Chicago (3S), Denver (19), Detroit (14), Minnesota (16), Saint Louis (21). South: Atlanta (8), Dallas (4), Houston (5), Mexico City (M1), Miami (9), Washington (6). West: Los Angeles (2S), Los Angeles (2S), Phoenix (10), San Diego (18), San Francisco (13), Seattle (15). Cheer for LA/SD: Riverside (12). Out (7): (Last Championship Year) Tampa Bay Never (17), Baltimore 1983 (20), Pittsburgh 1979 (26), Cincinnati 1990 (30), Kansas City 2015 (31), Cleveland 1948 (33), Milwaukee Never (40). Shiny New Toy, Future Revenue Sharing Welfare Candidates: Las Vegas (29), Nashville (35).

Comment was primarily about the Veeck trying to move the White Sox. He was the savior who kept them from moving to Seattle after 1975, had Stanley Cup / Super Bowl champion DeBartolo lined up to keep the team here. I do agree it's less likely he moves the team owning the TV network with likely a similar set up when the current deal is up (Sox + Bulls + Wirtz Team). The key will be whether the estate will sell the TV rights / package with the team, or keep them separate. A new owner will likely want the TV rights and the team, unless they want to move and then they will just seek the team. That will be the tell if this goes down soon with no stadium deal in place. I would like Montreal to get their own new team (or the team back from Washington), not steal another which is what happened to them post 1994 and Loria debacles. Montreal is the only city since the two leagues / MLB was formally established in 1901 totally abandoned by the sport in 2023.

I believe this is the best baseball article I have read in 2023. Thank you for posting!

This is the most BS packed in a single post in SoxTalk history. Take a bow.

There are actually feel good stories of how losing team apparel is distributed to places in need. https://good360.org/ https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/541282616 https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/29884/what-happens-losing-teams-championship-shirts

I've been conditioned to expect the worst over the decades, but these look like positive developments. Hoping to learn more over the next few weeks. Thanks for posting and the analysis Sox Peeps!

The World Series should be the first series after the All Star Game. Makes as much sense as the current 12 team playoff scheme. White Sox 2023 World Series Champions!

The White Sox perform much better without game threads. This is the first season MLB teams played all other opponents (29 teams). The White Sox could set the all time MLB record for losing 25 of 29 season series, a record which may never be broken. They need to lose tomorrow to keep their current season series wins at 4 heading into Boston, where they need to be swept. The White Sox did beat the team (Atlanta) which currently has the most 2023 Season Series wins at 20. 2023 MLB Season Series Wins (Lowest to highest) 20 Atlanta TBD 2 19 Los Angeles TBD 2 17 Philadelphia TBD 2 17 Tampa Bay TBD 2 17 Toronto TBD 2 16 Baltimore TBD 4 15 Cincinnati TBD 4 15 Houston TBD 3 14 Chicago N. L. TBD 3 14 Milwaukee TBD 3 14 Texas TBD 3 13 Boston TBD 3 13 Miami TBD 3 13 Seattle TBD 1 12 Arizona TBD 4 12 Minnesota TBD 4 11 Los Angeles A. L. TBD 4 11 New York A. L. TBD 3 11 San Diego TBD 3 11 San Francisco TBD 3 11 Washington TBD 2 10 Cleveland TBD 2 9 Saint Louis TBD 3 9 Colorado TBD 2 9 Detroit TBD 2 9 New York Mets TBD 2 7 Pittsburgh TBD 3 6 Oakland TBD 2 6 Kansas City 4 Chicago White Sox (8-5 Cleveland; 4-2 New York A. L.; 2-1 Atlanta & Cincinnati) TBD 4 (Arizona 0-0; Boston 2-1; San Diego 0-0; Washington 1-1)

During the final regular season before the American League adopted the Designated Hitter rule, the entire rotation finished 1972 with a higher OPS than Korey Lee's through yesterday. OPS Rankings - 1972 White Sox Starting Pitchers & Their Closer + 2023 Korey Lee (Minimum 20 + Plate Appearances) 1.076 Terry Forster (Closer - 22 Plate Apperances) .344 Stan Bahnsen (97) .312 Wilbur Wood (144) .295 Tom Bradley (101) .274 Dave Lemonds (28) .270 Korey Lee (50 through 9/18) @Lip Man 1

Yes, in 1987.

They will be charging a around around a billion each for two teams, so that’s $67M more he is going to want to grab before he passes. Jerry, Milwaukee and Baltimore can still move somewhere if a different government is willing to pay their capital expenses. Once Nashville and Montreal are gone though, the rest of the US/Canada markets are weaker. MLB is not going to want to sacrifice additional good markets to satisfy one of these groups. Vegas is not an ideal MLB market (population, TV, number of games, Strip location beyond tourists), so no loss at this point. If I’m an MLB owner, I’m wanting contraction to share a greater portion of the pie. Pay off two or four owners who will never contribute anything to the league beyond serving as the Washington Generals of MLB. Looking at Miami, Pittsburgh, Oakland/Vegas to start, perhaps an Ohio team.