WCSox

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 7, 2011 -> 05:59 PM) When it's all said and done, people are going to say that KW was, at one point, a very good GM and that he got caught up in making splashes and "flying under the radar" so much that it overtook his baseball acumen and ruined his ability to be a GM. Rios and Peavy were definitely risks, but I don't have much of a problem with his other major moves. Who could've predicted that Adam Dunn would post a .569 OPS this year? Most of his other acquisitions (Garcia, Dye, Contreras, AJ, Danks, Floyd, Jenks, Thome) worked out really well. If anything, his aggressiveness was a plus. The one very legit criticism is the farm system under Kenny. THAT'S what's going to harm his legacy.

QUOTE (MuckFinnesota @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 07:52 PM) Dave Martinez will command a large salary. No he won't. Dude has zippo managerial experience and wasn't anything close to a marquee player. He'll have close to zero leverage in negotiations and will take what he can get.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 02:36 PM) If u are gonna hire Robin ... why didn't they just hire Coop? Because they'd have to take a massive hit at pitching coach. Coop can't occupy the positions of manager and pitching coach simultaneously.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 5, 2011 -> 11:11 AM) And watch your season ticket base go back to 1970 levels. Late 1990s levels is probably more like it. At this point, the Sox need to worry more about rebuilding than pandering to fans. Sox fans don't show up to watch mediocre teams overspend to play .500 ball. Attendance barely hit 2 million this year and I suspect that they'll struggle to draw 1.8 million next year. If I'm Kenny, I try to trade Quentin's rights this winter, try to re-sign Buehrle to a short-term deal and see how things go next spring. If they're mired in third place, I move Danks and Floyd before the deadline. They need to get *something* in return for these guys.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 3, 2011 -> 03:39 PM) I still hold it is really unlikely we'll get anything MLB-ready back for Danks/Floyd/Quentin...or if we do, it won't be the kind of player that you want to give a starting job to, it'll be a recovery project or someone like Lillibridge coming off a down year. At this point, I think that Kenny and JR are more interested in dumping salary than nabbing a solid prospect.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 3, 2011 -> 11:57 AM) No fricking way Kenny goes the way of hiring a guy who could be a problem personality wise. Especially since the guy who just left was exactly that.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 07:40 PM) Id say that it wouldn't be a bad job for a couple of reasons, 1. It's a team with great history and is in a big market 2. The team isn't afraid to spend some money to try to compete (Im not saying that you have to spend money to compete but its nice that the owner is willing to open up the pocket book as opposed to the A's, Marlins, et al..) 3. If you become one of Jerry's "guys" he is loyal to the ends of the earth, it is really nice to know that the boss has your back at all times. For those of you who have worked for a s***ty boss who'll throw you under the bus at any moment you can understand why this is a really nice thing. I'm not saying that the Sox are a great landing spot or anything but just playing devil's advocate, those are the reasons that I personally would want to coach the chi sox Agreed with your last point, but I don't foresee the Sox spending more money any time soon. It's much more likely that they'll be dumping salary over the next 9 months.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 02:07 PM) At LaRussa's age, he's not sitting out a year. He couldn't be a TV analyst for FOX or TBS for a season? So, because the media is only speculating about those three options, those are the only three options available to him? Why would LaRussa even want to leave St. Louis for the Sox? How would managing a team that's heading into rebuilding mode (or at least a serious retooling mode) help bolster LaRussa's legacy? If he's that close to retirement, why would he want to manage a team that probably isn't going to be a contender for the next couple of years? And given that the Sox just gave Coop a new deal recently, LaRussa would have to dump Dave Duncan (or the Sox would have to let Coop go). I don't see either of those scenarios playing out. I'm not saying that it's impossible, but I just don't see how coming back to the South Side would benefit LaRussa. Despite all of the media and Twitter speculation, it just don't seem like a logical fit to me.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 01:33 PM) Well, I wasn't really talking about Francona, but as it relates to him, if he's out of a job, what are his other options? If I'm Francona or LaRussa and the Sox are my only option, I'd probably sit out a year and wait for something better to come along. It's not like either will struggle to pay the bills in the meantime. Not always. The Red Sox were a championship-caliber team when they fired Grady Little and hired Francona. But even if Francona only had struggling franchises to choose from, the Cubs would probably make a lot more sense. They still haven't won a World Series in forever and they have a tremendous fan base. Francona would be a hero if he won a championship with the Cubs. I wouldn't be surprised if the Cubs hired Epstein and he brought Francona in. I just don't see why somebody like Francona or LaRussa would be attracted to the Sox. They're going to have to shed payroll soon, their farm system isn't that impressive right now, and their fan base has never been that great. They're also looking to shed salary, so paying one of those guys the top dollar that they'd command wouldn't make any sense for Reinsdorf either. It's just a bad fit.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 01:25 PM) I have a hard time seeing LaRussa coming to Chicago w/o Dave Duncan. They seem to be a package deal. This is true. I don't think that LaRussa was ever a serious candidate anyway.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 01:01 PM) The 2011 White Sox were characterized by an extraordinary amount of underachievement. Tony LaRussa, like him or not, is but a handful of wins away from being the second winningest manager in the history of the game. That means he has overseen a whole lot of achieving throughout his managerial career. Now how much of that achieving can be directly attributed to him and his managerial style can obviously be debated, but his record of players coming through for him stands on its own. And I can't help but wonder, what with our more noteable underachievers seemingly tethered to this team for the next few years, if it makes more sense to bring in a guy like LaRussa with his record of achievement to try our best to get something out of these guys. Or are we really comfortable just handing this mess over to someone with no managerial experience whatsoever and hoping for the best. This is not meant to be a slam on Alomar or Martinez, who both profile as effective future managers in this game. I'm just coming at this with what might be best for our particular roster of players. (And as for LaRussa purportedly being an ass, I could care less. I wouldn't have to deal with him!) Why would an established manager with rings (LaRussa, Francona) want to manage a team that is almost certainly going to shed a ton of payroll over the next year and go through a rebuilding process? I don't see how managing the Sox would appeal to either of these guys. My guess is that JR and KW will hire somebody with little or no managerial experience, who won't command a ton of money, looking for their first break. Like Alomar or Martinez.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jul 30, 2011 -> 08:49 AM) The fact of the matter is that Sox ticket prices (and really, all ticket prices in baseball) have gone up so severely with respect to inflation over the past 20 years. I have an Lower Box opening day ticket from 1991; face value was just $13.00. Even if we take into account inflation, that ticket would be worth $22.37 in today's prices. Nowadays, you can't get a lower box seat for less than $40-$50, and in many cases it's more like $60-$80. It is absolutely absurd for baseball to continue to charge these rates and not expect families to not be able to attend in an economy like this. I get that salaries spiraled out of control similarly, but the fans are the ones paying for all this. It is absolutely unreasonable to believe $200-$500 is a reasonable amount of money for any middle class family to spend on an afternoon's worth of entertainment. When the Sox cut payroll this winter, they'd better lower the prices. I remember when club section seats were $22 back in the late '90s. It was still worth a trip to the ballpark to watch bad baseball.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 30, 2011 -> 08:17 AM) Let's face it, if the White Sox manage to win again today, there just isn't any way that Kenny can trade Quentin without alienating the fan base. Especially if we happen to take over 2nd place in doing so. Meanwhile, the Braves (and Phillies last night) are basically daring the seller's to wait until the offseason to deal these guys if you want our #1 or #2 prospect for them. I can see Thornton or Ohman getting dealt for a prospect if the offer is solid, but I don't see Quentin getting moved unless we lose tonight and then get down big early tomorrow. I don't see anybody wanting to give up anything of value for Ohman. Thornton's contract and inability to get hitters out this year will probably keep his trade value low as well. Agreed in general that Kenny is probably standing pat at this point.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 03:19 PM) Neither Pierre or Carlos are going to play CF, thats a tragedy waiting to happen. Carlos, yes. Pierre would be doable in CF once a week.

Too bad that Ozzie's irrationally married to the idea of Pierre leading off. Quentin in LF, Viciedo in RF, and a platoon of Pierre and Rios in CF is probably the best option at this point.