The Kids Can Play

Dylan is such a class act and I sure pray someday he can regain that 2022 dominance in a Sox uniform.

When you have a horrible farm system like the Sox do, especially the worst pitching staff in AAA, the savvy Hahn is simply playing darts at this stage. He is hoping he gets lucky and one of these players he brings up sticks for a winner. Of course if this guy's ERA is that bad playing against minor league players, obviously not ready yet for the majors, then as Liam Neeson would say to Lane Ramsey as he now faces major league hitters...Good Luck!

You right there were others, but I didn't have the time to look up and post more. However you are right, its even more impressive when teams like the Guardians and Rays do it with such small payrolls. Then again I know many people think it's so easy to win when you spend money like the Yankees and Dodgers, but we've seen with the Padres and Mets, it doesn't always work. At least with the Yankees and Dodgers, they not only spend the money, but they also have a tremendous farm system every year because they put money into having the best scouts, player development coaches and analytic people on staff. Btw, once Jerry is gone and a new rich billionaire owner or owner group comes in, there is no reason they can't spend money like the Yanks and Dodgers. We are in the third largest market. It's never been done because our owner refuses to spend that type of money. If for example, a Steve Cohen or the Steinbrenner brothers type of owner had the Sox, the money would be spent.

I think many of us root the same way, especially since I found out it would really piss off Reinsdorf if the Cubs made the playoffs and had a deep run.

I appreciate your confidence, but until they actually publish and update the most recent farm system rankings, I think your 12-16 projection is too aggressive of a change. There is no way they will be #12 as your high end projection. Until we all see the report from Baseball America, which seems to be the most valid source, I will stick with my theory and opinion that a few additions will not change this horrible Sox farm system that drastically. Maybe low 20's or high teens. Again I am not stating my theory without facts. I posted for you the AAA, AA and high A stats for both pitching and hitting, which still makes up the large majority of Sox prospects. They are pitiful and near the bottom in so many critical areas. Yes with Schulz and Montgomery along with potentially a few good new prospects they are getting better. Yet they not are major ready. Several of the new prospects added have done horrible thus far in their first appeances in minor league Sox uniforms. As you said, I am entitled to my opinion, just as you are entitled to yours. I also appreciate you spend a lot of time watching and posting for SoxTalk, the status of these Sox prospects and scores in all four leagues. I don't watch the games as closely like you, but I do check the box scores, standings and stats and I feel I am fairly familiar with our farm system. The bottom line is you telling me the Sox farm system soon will absolutely be ranked 12-16 is your opinion, which you have the right to. The fact is, neither one of us has seen the newest rankings. If Baseball America changes them from 26 to 13, then I will admit I was wrong and you were right. If it's not as you predict, I would hope you would do the same back.

Of course it doesn't give you or any of the die-hard Sox fans any hope as long as this POS loser is around owning the Sox. Yes maybe he is right that for a stupid owner with a dysfunctional front office, it is probably hard to sustain success. Reinsdorf is delusional and detached from reality of good baseball teams that are actually run by smart owners with smart front offices. Maybe someone could educate Jerry to examine the successes of three baseball teams with good owners and front offices over the last 16 years. This will clearly document how stupid Jerry's comment is about how impossible it is, to have a winning team for a sustained period of time: Let's use the Last 16 years in MLB. That seems to be a solid sustainable time period New York Yankees 16 straight years over 500 11 of 16 years in the playoffs 1 World Series championship Los Angeles Dodgers 13 straight years over 500 15 of 16 years in the playoffs 1 World Series championship Tampa Bay Rays Last 6 years over 500 12 of 16 years over 500 12 of 16 years in the playoffs 2 World Series appearances Yeah Jerry, now I see why you go to these owner meetings and think how much smarter you are than these other the owners.

You mean going from one pitching start in AA Birmingham and going past AAA Charlotte to this Sox major league team? Did Rick Hahn forget to look at the one game start from Ky Bush at AA. W L ERA GS IP H R ER HR BB SO 0 1 18.90 1 3.1 12 7 7 2 1 0 Makes total sense from Hahn and this dysfunctional front office.

Maybe the older Sox fans can confirm this for me, but I believe hearing stories in the early to mid 60's, there were many Chicago baseball fans who were both Sox and Cubs fans. Yes maybe they had a love for one team or the other team, but they followed both teams. I believe this was a result of when both teams were on WGN TV and radio and Jack Brickhouse did the play by play for both the Sox and Cubs. I'm not saying this was a common practice for the majority of Chicago baseball fans, but many did like and follow both teams. Maybe there is more room for Sox fans to not drop the Sox, but just add another team. It's really no different than when some of the Sox fans here who moved to Florida adopted the Rays or Marlins.

Billy Hamilton is 32 years old and although not a good hitter, he has always remained in great shape and is still one of the fastest men in baseball. Amazing when a player actually cares, plays with passion and stays in great shape. On the flip side you have Moncada who is 28 years old and apparently was super fast early on. Then unfortunately for Sox fans, Moncada got the money and no longer had the love for the game, to play with intensity and continue to stay in top shape like he once was.

Well said and 100 percent accurate. The Cubs have a better team, higher ranked farm system and more people in key roles, like scouting, player development and analytics. It's simply because their owner Ricketts, actually cares and is engaged with his team. Ricketts actually cares about the fans. Two things about Ricketts that is the polar opposite of Reinsdorf. 1. A good friend of mine works for a company and his company is a big customer to this other company that rents a Cubs luxury suite to invite their best customers. My friend has been to a couple of Cubs games in the past in this private suite. The thing that impressed me most, is evidently Ricketts goes to each luxury suite and mingles with the fans. I'm sure he isn't the only owner in sports to do this, but I am quite sure Jerry would never dream of doing that. 2. When has Jerry ever written a personal letter/email to his long time loyal season tickets holders apologizing for the team's horrible play and results? When has he last sent a letter to his fans and season tickets holders making a commitment to getting better? I know for a fact, this past season Ricketts sent a personal letter to each season ticket holder telling him how he apologized for the recent decline of the Cubs and made bold commitments to making this team better and getting back to the playoff contention window. This will never make me a Cubs fan, but it just shows you on another level, how clueless and disengaged Reinsdorf is.

Nothing wrong with that. I have stopped wasting my time for several game now in terms of watching the game in full. My new program now is to tape the game, wait until it's done and then fast forward through the game. I only time I stop is to see when a run was scored and go back to watch that or those runs play out. Then when the game is over, I will examine the box score and be done. Since the POS owner doesn't give a s%*# about his fans, why should I give a s%*# about his team.

You're right no logical reason, unless you play for the Sox with the worst Owner, FO and Manager.

For the record I was not one of the Madrigal haters here. I was sad to see him go. I agree with you, I would take Madrigal at 2nd or 3rd over any Sox player on this roster. Madrigal plays the game like Burger played it...which is with fun and intensity. Your right the Moncada actions are probably contagious to that clubhouse and dugout. However even though none of the players seem to care anymore and are not giving their best effort, the real problem is still Grifol. He is allowing this toxic culture to continue, with his lack of accountability and leadership skills.

Well said. Just another reason Grifol is over his head this season. It clearly shows a lack of accountability on his part. I would love Grifol to have to go back and listen to his full initial press conference. This poor play will continue to implode the rest of the season, because these players have given up and there are no player/leader, manager or coach to make the players accountable and demand more effort and smarter play.

I am sure you are not the only Sox fan that has stopped watching the games and looks for the box score or come here. At least it won't get your blood pressure up. LOL!

The baseball teams have this Intl budget at limits because it was negotiated through collective bargaining. If they don't spend it all, like you said, they miss out on potential great prospects, which the Sox probably did. As a fan, I would be concerned on why my FO didn't spend the maximum cap money for potential players. It also tells me that the smart Dodgers are probably focused for this off-season on some big Intl prospects, they want to make sure they have enough money for.

I agree I am making some assumptions, but likewise so were you in your arguments. The only way any of us will know one way or another, is at the end of the season. If Rick Hahn is still in charge, you will be right. However if he is fired or put in some other lower capacity position as Jerry loves to do, then maybe my assumptions were not wrong.

That is not correct. I have acknowledged in previous posts about the early rebuild. I bought into Hahn big time. They did some good things early on. However when it turned sour, you can't keep giving them credit and continue to let them ruin this team. I bought into Hahn's promises, the parade, window of contention and wining multiple championships. Many non-Sox friends love to never let me forget how much I was predicting Sox greatness over the Cubs. In sports and business if you do a great job, then you get the accolades and rewards, but of you stop producing, you can't keep living off the past results. It doesn't work that way in almost any endeavor where you keep score. GM's get fired all the time and before they got fired, I'm sure you can find many cases, where they did a great for awhile before falling off. I think where some of us seem really harsh on this FO and wanting them gone, is because it's gone on for way too long. There isn't another owner probably in all four sports that would still have KW and RH employed, That is why our disrespect and loathing for this FO is fueled so intensely.

I appreciate your point and it's a valid one. As I did mention in one of my posts, it would take a lot to bring her here and I personally wouldn't think she would want to take the job, knowing she has a good gig going in Miami. However if she did take the job, it's a major promotion and probably not a bad decision in her career advancement. Going from GM to Pres of Baseball Ops is a huge promotion that could be worth a making change in both title and responsibility, along with a huge salary increase. Let's also assume Jerry lives for another 4-5 years hypothetically and the team is sold and the new owner wants to clean house. The experience on her resume now being a GM in one organization and definitely improving it, coupled with being a Pres in another organization for 4-5 years and maybe improving the Sox significantly, is great experience and accolades on her resume. You can be rest assured, she will never have a problem getting a executive position the next year for some baseball team if she was fired. Having said that, let's say she comes here and makes a huge difference and has improves the Sox at all levels. I'm not so sure the new owner would get rid of her. Not all owners 100 percent of the time come in and terminate everyone, especially at their key top executive positions, especially if things are indeed going great and in a positive forward direction. However I agree with you, if a new owner buys the Sox and this front office is still employed, then of course, that new owner would clean house instantly.

I agree. Jerry would have to make her Pres of Baseball OPS and give her a massive raise. Her gig in Miami has great potential and no reason to give that up, unless you make it extremely attractive for her. But hey, if she wanted to come for that, by all means I would take her over KW and RH in a heartbeat.

Btw, I just noticed your signature comment below and absolutely love it: Long Time Loser GM hires 1st time manager from losing organization, to lead and mentor a roster of massively underachieving, questionable effort giving, oft-injured players, under the guise of an indifferent owner in his 80s, with no regard for success or improvement. What can go wrong?

Again all you need to know is Andrew Friedman made this deal and the Sox FO Braintrust of JR, KW and RH probably got fleeced. Friedman wouldn't give the Sox two great young arms, unless the need for Intl money wasn't more important, or he knew these two pitchers weren't all that great. Remember the Dodgers scouting and player development compared to the Sox is light years apart. Freidman plays chess while the Sox FO plays checkers.

Well said. That is the crux of the problem here. If some of us like to defend Burger because if nothing else, he was a fan favorite and that is not acceptable. Too many people here want to bash the people who are upset he was traded because shame on us for liking Burger and not accepting the Eder trade was for the best. It's called fandom and we have a right to like players and be pissed when they are traded. I do know this. I listen to a lot of talk radio, read twitter and other baseball sources. The fact is by a large margin, a huge majority of Sox fans are quite upset Burger was traded. Most would have rather seen Moncada traded, but we all understand he was dead weight where nobody would touch him carrying a 18 million contract and 24 m for next year. The real sad thing is, most of us liked Burger not just for his homers, but more because he was a Sox player who played with pure passion, hustle and desire and played the game like he did in little league. I'm sorry but you need players like that to build a strong culture and clubhouse. Of course our three clowns of JR, KW and RH have no clue in how to build a successful roster and culture.

Fisk going into the Hall of Fame with a Red sox cap is right up there with all of Jerry's other stupid owner relationship decisions and disasters like: - Letting Jerry Krause fire Phil Jackson and force the greatest athlete ever out from the Bulls - Letting Hawk fire, who at the time was a great manager in Tony LaRussa. - Breaking the player's union in 1994 and ending the only baseball season ever early, just to prove a point for his hatred of unions, so his own team could be robbed of a possible World Series.

She couldn't be any worse than the two losers KW and RH. She would need to be the Pres of Baseball Ops. She isn't coming over for Jerry to be the GM...a position she already has.