Thad Bosley

Thank you for reminding us all of the horrible built-in disadvantage the Sox have of playing in Chicago. It’s utterly amazing how they manage to even survive sometimes.

20/20 vision for 2020: Machado at third, Madrigal at second, joining Anderson in the infield, with Moncada in right alongside Robert in center and Eloy in left. The return of Kopech, joined by Cease, with Rodon as the ace. Could be formidable, so go get Machado.

That's because you are just a casual fan, versus being a die-hard fan, like the poster who you berated. As the casual fan you are, you've made it very clear over the years that you are completely content with the Sox as long as they are playing the grand, 'ol game of baseball while wearing jerseys that say "SOX" on them. That checks off on all of the boxes that are meaningful to you. Meanwhile, the diehard Sox fans, just like diehard fans of any team of any sport, will often get emotional, particularly if they are faced with the kind of chronic losing our fans have been faced with, which will spill over into anger from time to time. That's the nature of a diehard fan, always has been, always will be. You as a mere casual fan really should try a little harder to realize and acknowledge that.

I think people can support this point of view 100%, provided they are willing to overlook the fact that the ownership is currently presiding over: A team with the third worst record in all of baseball this year, on the heals of having the fourth worst team last year A team that has lost more games in the last six years than any other team in all of baseball during that time A team that has extended it's playoff drought to a full decade now, continuing on with the fourth such longest drought in all of baseball (despite the existence of two wild card spots) A team that has only made it to the postseason five times in nearly four decades under said ownership If you can get past those inconvenient truths, then yes, you can conclude "there is no reason to believe ownership is the problem".

You can be so tedious at times. Always trying to deflect any and all criticism from the current owner. I guess we’ve come to know and expect this from you at this point, so weak comebacks like this are no surprise. Nonetheless, let’s get back on track and back to the original discussion point The poster to whom I was replying observed that the two owners prior to the current one didn’t enjoy the profits that the current one has for the past 28 years. The simple reason is due to the sweetheart lease deal the current owner strong-armed his way into receiving from the state in the late ‘80s, due solely to the owner’s threats to move the team to Florida if those demands weren’t met. Those threats and demands were widely criticized in the press at the time as “blackmail”. That’s open to interpretation, but you can see why many members of the press concluded as such. Compare that to the purported moves to either Milwaukee or Seattle posed by Allyn, neither of which resulted in Allyn similarly demanding of either the city or state “Give me $$$, or we are out of here.” In other words, there weren’t state-subsidized bailout that prevented those moves. HUGE difference.

The difference is the previous two owners didn’t threaten to move the team to Florida if, among other material concessions, the state of Illinois did not agree to a “sweetheart”, subsidized lease agreement, which guarantees the current owner massive profits every year, no matter what the product on the field. This lease deal has hurt the fanbase more than anything else, because it has removed the natural incentive to improve the product on the field due to the decreased revenues resulting from the failed results of the ball club. If these yearly state-subsidized profits were not in place as they are today, we would not be hearing one word about the owner’s so-called “loyalty” program. He’d be operating just like he did in his profitable real estate business prior to becoming owner of the Sox, which operated on accountability for performance far before this silliness of loyalty.

Another “Three Year Plan”.

Jim Crane became the new owner of the Astros in 2011. And before he embarked at the time he took over on what he deemed a much-needed “rebuild”, he first got rid of the retreads (Tal Smith and Ed Wade) who were responsible for the need for the rebuild in the first place. He wasn’t dumb enough to let them continue their record of futility on his watch, unlike another owner we know. No, as any competent owner would do, he threw those two to the curb and then got onto the business of performing proper due diligence to identify appropriate replacements for those guys who had proved they couldn’t get the job done, which resulted in the hiring of Jeff Luhnow. And now just seven years later, Crane & Luhnow are presiding over a very impressive and “sustainable winning” ballclub, and one that is on pace to be a perennial powerhouse for several years to come. When have you ever heard that kind of description made of the organization of which we are fans, the one run, no less, by baseball’s current longest tenured owner from over the past FOUR decades?

The fundamental difference between the rebuilds that the Cubs and Astros underwent vs. the one the White Sox are currently slogging through is that the other two teams replaced incompetent owners with competent ones, and those new owners immediately replaced the incompetent front offices they inherited with new, competent ones, and are each now presiding over powerhouse organizations as a result. Meanwhile, the status quo remains in place over on the South Side.

Things getting a tad bit interesting at the ‘ol ballpark right now...

Nice high fastball by Minaya for the K, quick release & strong throw to third by Castillo, and a nifty tag put on by Rondon.

Lol - as a favor to you, I went and deleted that response, and will just reiterate here what an impressive performance we saw from Lopez today!

With the exception of the unfortunate 8th and 9th innings of last night’s game, the Sox dominated the Yankees in 25 of the other 27 innings played in this series, and in their home ballpark, no less. Very nice!

And at a very efficient 47 pitch count.

Great at-bat by Yolmer helping to quickly drive up that pitch count.

He came down pretty hard on his hand after tripping over Nicky.

You gotta be bleeping me

This would be a superb game now in the context of a “rebuild” to come back and win.

Can Coop fix him?

Just when the game looked to be slipping away from Shields after his otherwise solid start, Fry comes in and slams the door shut. Very nice baseball to watch.

A lot of White Sox speed on display this inning.

The fact and reality is that this kid is going to shatter the all-time strikeout record, which is a pretty big deal. People are legitimately reacting to that. I know I am concerned about that, and at the risk of also being accused of throwing a temper tantrum on the subject, I hope they find a way to sit him in September just enough times to prevent this from happening.

When Avi got that big bounce I thought for sure he’d have an excellent chance of nailing McCann at the plate. Disappointing outcome.

You almost wish you could just shut him down right now and send him home for the rest of the season. I know he needs more reps at the Major League level, but these at-bats seem to be hurting more than they’re helping at the moment.

He should do more of that then. That one was a beaut!