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QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 29, 2015 -> 10:39 AM) And yet Ozzie was always blamed for his Sunday line-ups. The irony is that he actually utilized his bench extremely well...and it paid off handsomely quite often. Ventura hasn't had the same level of bench talent to utilize, so it's harder to make comparisons. I do wonder if they have warned him about playing Alexei too often...of course, once again, with options like Leury Garcia or Olmedo, you can understand the hesitancy. you did not hear that from me. I fully supported those. It is the correct way to run a team. Agreed on the second part about Alexei.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 29, 2015 -> 08:54 AM) The opposite. The White Sox are all good "company men" who don't ever rock the boat...or question the longstanding way of doing things. I'd take a dysfunctional frontt office of ten overachievers/tireless workers who don't always get along with co-workers and push their players to their limits than...well, whatever we have now. Sort of like a country club atmosphere. If the Bulls made the same mistakes the White Sox make on a constant basis...would Thibs passively sit there and let it go? Baseball is a different sport with a different type of intensity required. You can't drive baseball players that way over a 162 game season and expect results. Thibs has proved that you can't do it for a basketball season without the players falling apart or being drained and watching the other teams with more energy beat you.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 29, 2015 -> 05:31 AM) http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...528-column.html Why doesn't Reinsdorf find the baseball equivalent of Thibs? Reading the last couple of paragraphs, you could exchange Ventura's name with Hoiberg's. It's almost like Jekyll and Hyde. On the baseball side, loyalty and sentimentality reign supreme. Harrelson. Melton. Trying to keep Ozzie and KW both together for far too long. Baines. Cooper. Herm Schneider. Greg Walker Gordon Beckham. Mark Buehrle. Bossard. Nancy Faust. Farmer and DJ. Paul Konerko last year. Brooks Boyer. Hahn as apprentice in waiting. You would think the results on the baseball side would match the five consecutive playoff appearances on the bb side but it's actually the opposite. The White are a loyal and insulted family populated by the likes of Pierce, Skowron and Minoso. The Bulls are a cutthroat business where employees are whisked out the door with a Top Ten all-time winning percentage. Coaches are constantly hired and fired with an eye towards getting to the next level when White Sox fans would be simply elated with one playoff appearance. Has loyalty led to malaise and apathy? Are the White Sox like a 1980's Japanese style "work team" where a guaranteed lifetime employment contract eventually leads to a lack of productivity because there's little or no fear of losing your position? Or Reinsdorf simply can't stand disloyalty.....Ozzie talking to the Marlins while under contract and inseason....or Thibs using Van Gundy to trash the front office publicly? Shouldn't the White Sox be run less as a hobby and more like the Bulls? Because he wants to win a championship and keep his players somewhat healthy? Thibs has not proven anything except that he can win games in the regular season but not in the post season.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ May 28, 2015 -> 09:04 PM) In 2012, the Sox weren't in a position to hire a manager that would take 6 to 14 years to become a good manager. Back when they hired LaRussa, they were an organization that wasn't going anywhere and gave him a shot after he managed a couple of years in the minor leagues. He became a good manager after a few years, and teams that hired him after the Sox got themselves an established manager. The Sox hired Ventura without having any previous managing or even coaching experience. Sure, it's possible he may become a good manager after 6 - 14 years but can the Sox afford to find out? Rather than trying to develop a manager they should have tried to hire a manager that was ready. Possibly. But that wasn't the point. The point was that Ventura is not the manager these HOF managers are. The fact is that at the same point in their respective careers, Ventura has more wins than they did. So if those managers were treated as he wants Ventura treated, they would not be HOF managers.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 28, 2015 -> 12:03 PM) Do you honestly see Ventura as a "baseball lifer" who will stick at this managing thing for that long? None of those guys made so much in the playing days (well, probably Torre) that they were set for life to the point where they could set their family up for a lifetime without managing during their "second lives" in the game. I have no idea. I have not been in the clubhouse with Ventura to judge these things. The point isn't that he will stick with it. The point is that the HOF managers you listed had worse records than Ventura in the early years. So if you think Ventura is awful and should be out of the game, these HOF managers should have been in the same scenario and wouldn't have had the chance to grow into the managers the became. I'm not saying Ventura is a great or HOF manager. He has a number of players that are not playing to their previous levels. Could this be on Ventura? Sure. Could it be that they are just having bad years? Sure. Players have bad years. Either way the team has underachieved so far and if it continues Ventura will be gone at the end of the year, mostly because the front office really can't do anything else.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 27, 2015 -> 08:51 AM) Torre, Cox, LaRussa, Ventura Somehow, one of them doesn't quite belong in the same conversation. If Ventura goes on to a 30+ year managerial career and enters the Hall of Fame, I'll eat my hat. Joe Torre was a well below .500 manager for his first 3 jobs and about 14 years in the MLB. Bobby Cox was a well below .500 mangaer for his first 6 years in the MLB. So in your current scenario neither of these managers would have had the opportunity to become the HOF managers they eventually were.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 28, 2015 -> 11:22 AM) Which brings up the old Rick Sutcliffe line, "They tell you that you have tendonitis when they don't know what's wrong with you." So true.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 28, 2015 -> 11:21 AM) I thought he had an MRI that ruled out any structural damage? Didn't see this before but it's a good sign.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 28, 2015 -> 11:13 AM) They keep using the word "tendonitis" This really wouldn't cause much edema but is definitely something they would rest so it doesn't become a chronic problem.

QUOTE (Dunt @ May 28, 2015 -> 11:08 AM) Likely a meniscule tear. I've had inflammation and swelling in my knee after a meniscule tear and needed to get arthroscopies. Odds are they would have done an MRI if they even remotely thought it was a meniscus tear. There are many other etiologies for edema in the knee.

QUOTE (gatnom @ May 26, 2015 -> 09:20 AM) The White Sox are spending enough money to win right now. They just don't spend it on the right guys. Also, it honestly sounds like you're mad at bandwagon fans... for acting like bandwagon fans. I don't think I heard a single person, fan or "expert" who didn't think the offseason was filled with good moves for the right guys. For some reason most of these haven't panned out so far. That's baseball. Ventura will need to be fired because you can't fire the whole team. Personally, I think he has done a pretty good job but the results aren't there so something will change.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 22, 2015 -> 04:50 PM) On the other hand, it's another May or June game likelier to be a loss...leading to no opportunity for meaningful games in August or September. Whether the Sox lose this game in May, June, August or whenever doesn't matter. He only has so many bullets this year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 22, 2015 -> 04:29 PM) Lovely...more Noesi or Carroll starts. Oh, well. They need to get that fastball control and his change-up going. There's no argument about that. Maybe taking a breather and step back for a week will help, but he's such a competitor I'm sure it won't be easy for him to watch from the sidelines. One concern...not having any type of regular routine or structure/defined role might be counter-productive when all is said and done. Pitching too many innings would be more counter-productive.

I think I may be showing age or"old-fashioned" thinking but I've never tied being a fan of a team to how much it wins. I'm a fan of the team because I grew up in a family from around here and we followed baseball and the White Sox. Same with the Bears. I just don't think the term "fan" is tied to winning. If that's the case then it's not my traditional view of a fan. You have a better day when they win and a worse one when they lose. Some people take it too far and have a bad day but that can happen.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ May 22, 2015 -> 03:36 PM) I'm almost there. I don't see any future in rooting for this organization. My Sox badge and decoder ring may have to be taken away. Farm system - what has Buddy Bell and scouting really done to keep their job. It seems some of these youngsters are clueless about baseball on things that high schoolers could do. They can't run the bases. If they can field they can't hit then when they can't field they can't hit either. Trading for prospects is the worst thing they could ever do since when they become a Sox they do the bad things in baseball. Instruction has to be terrible. This organization hasn't been able to develop a catcher. You can't win a division if a Tyler Flowers is your catcher. Hitting - I still believe the AL and NL are two different leagues. Will 2nd time be the charm of taking a NL player and transitioning them to DH. There's not enough inter league play where they can transition to be an immediate success. I've always wondered if the stadium contributes to players losing any discipline of situational hitting. Is this even taught in the minors? This team could probably go through a dozen hitting coaches and the results are the same. So maybe scouting is to blame even with free agents. Ownership - The 'inbred' mentality of keeping it in the family needs to go. I guess that will only change when people in the organization pass away. The north side takes chances on experienced managers. The results are not always great but they think it's a priority. In this century we've had Jerry Manuel, at least Ozzie was groomed into management from another organization. Even when Ventura was hired I thought it was a WTF decision. Who is the next former Sox retread? Fans are not buying it. If they fired Ventura and got Gardenhire I don't know if there would be much difference but at least it would be someone different and spark some interest. They won a WS during the KW era but it seems this team was more exciting during the Schuler era. They had untouchable prospects. Mark B. was a product of the Schuler and his fundamentals on the mound can't be touched by most of the kids today. Before the internet era we had to drive back home because there were no tickets. If we could only have that strike season back. This is one of the most boring teams to watch and it's been that way for a while. Even Stone mentioned that on the SCORE last year. Our stud young players like Sale and Abreu did not get poisoned by the farm system. Maybe they realize that and don't want to ruin Rodon. If he is better off with Coop then shouldn't Coop's philosophy be spread to the minors? I don't know if that is the case. The loyalty thing stops short of the fan base. Why don't they raid successful organizations when it comes to coaching, scouting and philosophy? It's like watching a movie over and over hoping this time the end will be different. Like Dale Sveum and Mike quade?

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ May 20, 2015 -> 09:19 PM) He can't locate either pitch right now. And it says how badly his changeup location must be that he's not even considering throwing it. I'd legitimately consider demoting him for a start or two and tell him to start throwing strikes. Would allow us a look at Guerra too. It will be difficult with his motion. The problem is that he needs to learn it with mlb hitters as milb hitters will swing at those pitches move so much due to his excellent stuff.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 20, 2015 -> 07:53 PM) Surely 15 BB's in 17.3 IP can't continue for long, can it? Yes

QUOTE (Brian @ May 19, 2015 -> 05:47 AM) MLB Now was throwing out the rumor yesterday that the Cubs will trade either Russell or Castro for pitching. No clue about the validity of that but either one leaving could ruin the chemistry they have going right now. That has always been epstein's mo. Stockpile hitters and trade for proven pitching. Beckett and Schilling cone to mind as pitchers acquired for winning teams.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ May 18, 2015 -> 11:28 AM) Sox do not play by 100 pitch count hard cap. Teams think they have a guy on the ropes but Robin/Coop bring them out there with 110 pitches thrown and its not what opponents are expecting. I personally like it. They shoot for around 120.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 17, 2015 -> 02:52 PM) Redmond fired. Business as usual in Miami. He was with Kane County when I worked there in the mid-90's. It's too bad. He is a real good guy.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 15, 2015 -> 07:37 AM) Interesting the Levine article specifically mentioned how much time Ventura was working with Micah on his defense. Now you have "more hands on" (which flies in the face of spending too much time with individual players) and now no more Johnson. Maybe he was Robin's pet project and Ventura can go back to the bigger picture of managing the entire roster and remembering Bonifacio's on the roster? Whose decision was this, ultimately? Robin has more than enough time to think of the big picture and work with a player on his defense. Working with a player is time before games. He has plenty of time at that time, before and after games for the big picture. They sit around in that office for a lot of time throughout the day and night.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 14, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) Forget it, he's rolling. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 13, 2015 -> 07:14 PM) Well, he was pretty bad (compared to last year, ERA around 4 and no wins/run support) for the first 6 starts this season, so I wouldn't count on that happening. What! I can't count on a jinx working! What kind of baseball fan are you.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 13, 2015 -> 06:14 PM) Right, but it's also not fair to say the Tigers have "better fans" either, because of the unique circumstances surrounding "super fan/hands on" owners like Illitch, Mark Cuban or George Steinbrenner. And they did make it to the World Series in 2006 (largely due to Verlander and Cabrera, two huge superstars), which was enough to sustain interest (2009 they were in the race up until the final day, similar to the 2008/10/12 seasons for the White Sox) until 2011. Correct. But I thought your point was that to fix the Sox they needed a new ownership that will spend into the negative to win. They did make it to the World Series 14 years after Ilitch became owner.

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ May 13, 2015 -> 06:55 PM) KLUBER NO HITTER THRU 6 Hopefully he'll get it, the no hitter jinx takes effect and he'll be bad the rest of the season.