mmmmmbeeer

This is seriously one of the weirdest personnel situations we've seen in MLB. LaRussa is hired without support of FO Team greatly underachieves A "medical emergency" out of nowhere Sox and Chicago have amazing medical options, Tony FLIES to AZ to see his doctors. Rumor has it he had heart issues which makes flying questionable Team is absolutely mum, not making any statements to the press Team starts winning Heyman and Nightengale say Tony is coming back/is coming back soon Team says nothing has changed Steve Stone says he talks to Tony but doesn't know what his illness is Miguel Cairo says he talks to Tony but doesn't know what his illness is Reports are Tony needs clearance from his doctor to FLY to OAK for Dave Stewart celebration Tony is clearly feeding Heyman and Nightengale the "coming back" talk. The org isn't talking to anyone. Steve Stone and Miguel Cairo make it clear that, whatever the situation is, there's a gag order out from the org. Players don't seem to know what's going on, either. If the "medical emergency" was a cover story, seems this would require Tony's cooperation. Did it start as a medical emergency and turn into a silent firing? If he's fired, why is the team not saying anything? If he's not fired and is coming back, why the silence from the org? Why was he fine to fly to AZ but needs permission to fly to SanFran? This is, by far, the most dysfunctional organization in baseball and they're clearly hiding something from us without any clear reason to be so secretive.

Stone on 670 earlier this week said, in one sentence, that he and Tony have spoke on the phone and that he's doing well. In another sentence, like 3 minutes later, not only does he not know what his "medical emergency" was, Steve says no one else does either. Definitely reeks.

I don't want to say players will throw games but I will say we'll see unprecedently poor performance and competitiveness from this team if/when he returns. They've done enough to prove their point, already. If the message wasn't received, they'll make sure to send a stronger message.

Gilbert held us to 4 hits and 1 UER earlier in the season, punching out 4. His stuff looked really damn good that game. He likes to keep the ball in the zone but has only allowed 17 dongs in 155ip. The good news is he's a reverse splits guy...noticeably worse numbers against RHB and has also been considerably worse at home this season. We can get him but it's going to take good, patient ABs.

Only caught the bottom of the 9th on TV last night. Can you clarify what you mean? Is Robert still not swinging with two hands?

Atta boy.

Walk him.

What the hell were they playing him to do? That was right at SS!

I couldn't imagine a more fitting signal to the FO, fans, TLR, and Jerry than what Elvis did cranking that grand slam last night against a position player in a 9-0 game. Same Minnesota team, last season, who put a position player in to pitch, when Yermin went yard and was quickly and unceremoniously thrown under the bus by Tony LaRussa to the press. Since that moment, the Sox have hovered around .500 and looked unmotivated, bereft of 'fun', and lacking any sort of killer instinct. So, considering Tony is a Hall of Fame Person, Cairo surely threw Andrus under the bus last night, right?

Harrison wasn't an awful choice for 2B in that he's a solid defender. Not a great stick but, given the lineup we thought we had, we could absorb a bit less production from 2B. Pollock for RF was not a bad pickup, at all. Not a lefty but his L/R splits were pretty even. Solid, professional hitter with good pop. Bit of a health risk but filled a need. Kelly has been a disaster but, as the 6th-7th inning guy, he was not a bad gamble to sign.. We lost two lefties out of the pen, both late inning guys in Crochet and Bummer. I don't think we appreciate how big of a hole these two injuries created. AV was clearly supposed to DH this season but injuries have forced him into the OF. Hahn had to plan on Eloy in LF. He's a better OF than Vaughn and needed to prove he could stay healthy out there. Were you upset we had Yoan and Yas in the lineup on opening day? I wasn't. RH couldn't have predicted such awful seasons from two core LH pieces. Gio? TA? Lynn? Luis's health? The opening day roster, on paper, did not have anyone screaming that this was destined to fail. Injuries and underperformance have played an outsized role in the season's outcome. A GM can only put so many contingencies in place...eventually, if holes keep appearing, the ship is going to sink. Do I think he misallocated some money? Absolutely (VV and LG, especially). Should he have retained Rodon? For sure. But to imply this was a bad opening day roster is just hyperbole and revisionist. The roster is the one reason the national press, the team, and fans all believed we would be a WS contender this season.

A lot of hemming and hawing in here about what Tony meant to the clubhouse. He clarified "I" twice when he finally got on a roll and talked about how much wins and losses meant to Tony. Given how athletes are programmed to speak in the "we" collective, it just struck me as an interesting answer. I don't know. I thought he lost the clubhouse last season so I don't expect any tearful reactions from players or jerseys hung in the dugout. I'm sure no one on that team wishes him death or any serious ailment but I'm also sure the vast majority of those guys, on a baseball level rather than a personal level, are ecstatic he's gone.

They see it, they're just powerless to do anything about it. We know the FO hasn't been scared to fire coaches/managers in the past. So why, when the evidence for necessary change is basically unprecedented in FRANCHISE HISTORY, would they not be making changes now? The only logical explanation is that they've been absolutely neutered by TLR and JR. We all want Tony fired, I think....and he deserves to lose his job. But managerial changes can be dicey, especially when you've got an owner/employee relationship like Jerry and Tony enjoy. I get it, you let him finish out the season, see where things go, give him a fair chance. But a hitting coach? A guy who has no history with the franchise? Hitting coaches come and go all the time. Along with pitching coaches, the position is made to be scapegoated when underperformance becomes an issue. But yet Frank Menechino is still here? There is literally zero other explanation for Frank Menechino to still be in a Sox uniform outside of Tony protecting him. We can dog Hahn, KW, and staff for willingly ceding power and having their names attached to this clusterfuck but what I don't think is fair is to blame them for not making the necessary changes that 29 other front offices would have by now.

Well, at least I'm not the only one that looks like this after watching these games.

And to make matters worse, they (TLR) made the BRILLIANT decision to destroy any chance of a retroactive IL stint to pinch hit him! Oh shit....actually, he didn't pinch hit him. HE USED HIM AS A PINCH RUNNER!!!!!!!!!!! We've reached beyond "bad" or "concerning" or "awful".....this org has moved into full-on incompetence.

Coming back to Atlanta! This new schedule format is fantastic for out of town fans.

I've been a baseball fan for a long time. That said, I usually stick to Sox games, great matchups, follow the standings, and play FBB. So while I know the game pretty damn well, there's (obviously) a ton I am clueless about. One thing that has bothered me most about this season has been the inaction. Manager, coaches, FO, training staff, scouting dept....as far as I know, there's been zero accountability in this organization for what has been an abysmal performance. It goes beyond accountability, too, imo. Sometimes even if you think a guy might be a good fit for a job, you have to try something different sometimes.....find a spark to get things rolling in a different direction. I can't think of another MLB team in memory which had such high expectations, floundered spectacularly, and NOT ONE EFFORT WAS MADE TO TRY SOMETHING...ANYTHING....to turn the tides. I truly think we're watching history being made. Countless teams have underperformed, and countless teams have made changes in-season to try to salvage a season. Not the Sox. WS: "Yeah, we're really frustrated by the way this season has gone" Press: "Has there been any thoughts of making changes in the coaching staff?" WS: "Why would we do that? We're happy with our staff." Press: "What about the training staff?" WS: "Nope..doing a great job. Just bad luck." Press: "What about underperforming players? Any thought to benching the guys struggling the most?" WS: "Nope. They've been taking good hacks...about to get hot!" Press: "So, basically, you're thrilled with everything but your record?" WS: "Yep." Like, what?!?!

I'd love to know whose decision it was for him to come out last night. If training staff, your extreme caution in every aspect of player health has hamstrung this team all season. If Eloy, grow a pair, dude. Learn to play with pain. You're a professional athlete...you're going to deal with pain throughout a season and continue to play.

Who was left in waaayyyyy too long. I would've been losing my shit if I were an Astros fan. Dusty's decision to stick with that kid cost them the ballgame. It was a good win but up until that rally the offense continued to be putrid, swinging at garbage all night. That said, it was the first Sox game in a while where I was actually engaged and clapping as the 8th and 9th innings played out.

They're literally telling players not to hustle unless it's absolutely necessary. They're also telling players that they should get ridiculous amounts of rest. They're also holding players out for extended periods of time for injuries that don't need extended time off. What do you sense the overarching message is from management in that clubhouse? Try hard as you can or only try when you need to?

It was 20 pounds. https://www.mlb.com/news/lucas-giolito-adds-strength-to-white-sox-rotation

Gio chose to change his body this season...I believe reports were he added 30 pounds of muscle. If the muscle gain changed his velocity for the worse, perhaps taking away some of his arm/elbow/shoulder spasticity, not sure what you expect Katz to do about it. Why a guy who was pitching the best ball of his life decided to remake his body is just beyond me.

yay.

If you're a 25yo kid and had LaRussa as your manager, how comfortable would you be approaching him to tell him you need to be in the lineup? You understand, by doing that, you're insinuating that the HOF baseball person is wrong, right? Our manager is older than most of these guys' grandfathers. Baseball player or not, confronting old men to tell them they're wrong is a pretty difficult task. We can look at other orgs, we can blame RH, we can blame the training staff...whatever...it's all superfluous nonsense. There is absolutely ZERO doubt in my mind that this entire rebuild was torpedoed the moment Tony LaRussa was given the reins. Menechino is still around because of TLR. Leury was extended three years because of TLR. There's no fire in that dugout or locker room because of TLR. Guys aren't playing with swagger and emotion because of TLR (he might yell at them or blast them in the press). We can perform as many post-mortems as we want on this team and the answer will ALWAYS come back to Tony LaRussa.

Couldn't be happier for Dylan. He was such a frustrating pitcher to watch his first couple of seasons...video game stuff with no control. A guy who is apparently into meditation and had such a calm demeanor on the mound but was just an absolute headcase when he lost the zone. He's truly learned how to be a successful big league pitcher just by changing his mentals.

Much easier to believe when you accept that TLR has neutered the entire power structure of this org from Jerry on down. Tony isn't just the manager.