Thad Bosley

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 09:29 PM) But why would Jerry Reinsdorf be the bad guy? Wouldn't the elected officials that are supposed to have your best interests in mind be the one's at fault? It isn't a good deal for the taxpayers. The argument is it is a hotel tax so out of towers are really picking up the tab, but still it is money that could be used elsewhere. they were able to make renovations at no cost to the taxpayers other than those pissed off about a name change. LMAO! Why would your apparent hero Jerry Reinsdorf be the "bad guy" in this situation? Ooooohhhhhh, I dunno. The threats to move to Tampa if all of his greedy demands weren't met is the first thing that leaps to mind. I don't suppose you could consider Uncle Jer & his shameful co-owners AND the elected officials to all be the bad guys in what went down when this deal was made. Seems pretty obvious that all the major players failed either Sox fans, taxpayers, or both, don't you think?

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 5, 2016 -> 05:54 PM) For sure, the timing was poor and it's hard to knock Chicago for going with a rather bland design when at that point it's just what you did. At least they kept the park in the City and didn't move it to the burbs. I don't know much about the history of it, was only a young kid when the Cell opened, was there talk of moving out of the south side? Oh, there sure was. There sure was, the last time being back in the mid-to-late 80s. That was when our current esteemed owner Jerry Reinsdorf, fresh off of the failure of his first get-rich scheme with the SportsVision debacle, turned his greedy attention to the taxpayers of Illinois. He and his co-owners engaged in a highly public and shameful exercise where they literally blackmailed the state into publicly funding the construction of a new stadium for them, one designed to generate revenues the likes of which they could have never seen at the old ballpark. The blackmail came in the form of threats to move our White Sox to Tampa if the state did not only agree to fund the ballpark construction, but also throw in a sweetheart lease deal on top of it to boot. And if not for some last minute, 11th hour efforts in June of 1988 by former Gov. Jim Thompson to convince some legislators to cave into Jerry and his goons, the blackmail would have prevailed and our White Sox would be playing in Tropicana Field today as we speak. Jerry Reinsdorf - what a guy, eh? He's sure done a mighty fine job of getting a huge return on his investment in the Sox over these past 35 years. Too bad the White Sox faithful can't say the same.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 4, 2016 -> 04:03 PM) LMAO. More quality.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 4, 2016 -> 02:50 PM) How many people sit in the upper deck? You aren't saying there would be thousands upon thousands more up there so they could look at the buildings are you? And it would be a spectacular cost to move the openings of the upper deck higher about 20 feet. To make it make any sense, you would also have to move the entire concourse. White Sox baseball would be so much more enjoyable if you owned the team. Please do us all a favor and buy them and show everyone how a real team is run. You are just flat out insulting and rude. I simply shared an experience I had listening to Jerry Reinsdorf talk about the construction of the ballpark and then a couple of follow-up questions I had with him, and then you come along and troll with this typical blithering nonsense of yours. If your intention is to add ZERO to the quality of the discourse around here, you are routinely quite successful in the endeavor.

I met Mr. Reinsdorf once back in the late 90s, in one of the many playoff-less Octobers we've experienced during his time as owner. It was a seasons ticket holder gathering in the Bullpen Sports Bar. He was talking about the construct of the then-new Comiskey Park, and he told the crowd gathered that his only regret in the construction of the park was building the opening of the upper deck at the base of the deck, vs. somewhere in the middle. I don't think anyone could argue with that, of course, as that was clearly a serious architectural flaw given the steepness and height of the original upper deck. When I had the chance to talk to him, I asked him if he felt that way, why not just close the openings of the base and build out openings in the middle. He said "no, that would cost millions of dollars to do", and so I was, like, ok. I also asked him why he didn't build the park in the direction of the skyline. That park in it's location is just off the city enough that the view of the skyline is just perfect. I think we've all seen it at one time or another walking down the ramp that faces the skyline when leaving the park. I've often maintained that the original upper deck might not have been maligned to the degree it was back in the '90s because the view of the city would have been fantastic from almost every seat up there. Reinsdorf's reason for not building the park in that direction had something to do with the direction of the sun on the field preventing them from doing so. And to this day that explanation has never made any sense, because building the park in that direction would have essentially been in the same direction Comiskey Park had faced for 80 years, and that seemed to work out fine. I'll always look at that decision as such a missed opportunity for this organization.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 4, 2016 -> 08:10 AM) There is zero chance of that. The White Sox have no where near the resources to pull that off. LOL - yeah, that shoe string budget that poor, 'ol Uncle Jer operates under. How he manages to make ends meet continues to impress!

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 05:51 PM) I like this post. I just hope the defense is improved enough to support the strength of the pitching staff. The left side of the infield should be solid with Frazier and Saladino (provided he's the starting SS when all is said and done). The rest of the defense is iffy at best, and in a couple of spots, horrendous.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 2, 2016 -> 10:22 AM) Not too much differently than Cespedes, and you seemed to have a big problem with the Sox not offering Cespedes whatever it took, which would have been not younger and not cost controlled. Well yes, I wasn't asking what I wanted, which was Cespedes, a premium talent for a premium need on our club. I was simply asking about a previously stated priority about obtaining younger, cost-controlled guys, of which Ethier is anything but. However, a few other posters pointed out the Frazier and Lawrie acquisitions which fit that bill, so I'm good for now, Dick. But I will be back!! You can count on that!!

Whatever happened to the "we are going to add younger, more cost controlled players to the roster" plan? How does an Andre Ethier square up with that vision?

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 1, 2016 -> 02:12 PM) http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/02/whit...ter-fowler.html If there was an award given this offseason for just "looking" at a free agent outfielder, we would have taken home the gold weeks ago.

After weeks and weeks of talking about the possibility of signing either Cespedes, Gordon, or Upton, and now this discussion going back and forth about Fowler, Desmond or Jackson, it's like going from the main GOP debate listening to Trump, Cruz and Rubio to the undercard debate between Huckabee, Santorum and Fiorina. Very underwhelming!!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 31, 2016 -> 08:13 AM) Just calling him out for his previous comments which contradict his latest comments. Since you are here to offer advice, why don't you take your own? Stop being a wise guy. It's neither cute nor funny. Pointing out an inconsistency in someone's arguments is one thing. To do so in your incessant condescending style is quite another.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 31, 2016 -> 06:57 AM) Haven't you mentioned the White Sox have a 2 year window? What kind of help would the 28th pick be halfway through one of those 2 years? Your arguments constantly contradict themselves depending on the latest White Sox rumor. Is there any particular reason you feel the need, or even worse, the authority, to be so mean and hostile to this guy all of the time? Get off of his case already! Leave him alone and let him post whatever he wants. If you don't care for his views, then just block him. That's what the block function is for.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 30, 2016 -> 11:18 AM) And they have given out plenty of contracts longer than 3 years. Yet they are one of only three teams now (Indians and Pirates being the others) who haven't given out a contract for more than $70M. If the contract is not team friendly (see Sale, Abreu, Eaton, Quintana) or one where the market came to them (which is the game they were playing with Cespedes, Upton, & Gordon and lost), then they're not interested, at least as it relates to premium talent.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 29, 2016 -> 03:47 PM) Scot Gregor ‏@scotgregor now Citing Abreu's 6-year deal and 4 years for Robertson, Hahn denies #WhiteSox were only willing to go 3 for Gordon, Cespedes or Upton Rather easy to deny now, isn't it. Credible sources were reporting otherwise at the time it mattered, and now we have none of the three. I'm not interested in the offers that brought in the aforementioned players. I'm interested in how competitive we actually were in trying to acquire the premium talent that we really could have used which was available on the market this winter.

QUOTE (captain54 @ Jan 29, 2016 -> 12:16 PM) Was talking to some Angels fans…. the FO starts the season, and the fans come to expect nothing less than at least a playoff spot every year, a chance to compete for a World Series in October.... the mindset is that anything less than that and the season is a failure.. Here in Chicago, Sox fans are pleased that. "at least we are better than last year" Pretty sad that our standards are so low.. Depends on which Sox fans you talk to. "At least we are better than last year" certainly doesn't cut it for me, and seemingly for the majority of the fans who frequent this board. Unfortunately the track record for the organization is so poor that the fan base has been conditioned not to expect much. When your team has only made it to the postseason 5 times over a 55 year period, how in the world could you expect the fans to have the mindset that "anything less than earning a playoff spot is a failure"? I want the team's performance to improve to the point that we are all operating under that kind of mindset. But we'll only get there once this team starts setting a precedent with some sustainable winning. That's what this organization so sorely needs to get this fan base invigorated and interested in the product.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 10:54 PM) I agree with RV and have no problem with what he said. Frazier is a huge upgrade at 3B, Lawrie's bat is a sizeable upgrade at 2B with nice power potential and Avila/Navarro are sizeable upgrades at catcher. 3B and Catcher got better defensively and while I don't expect Lawrie to be as slick as Sanchez with the glove at 2B but Lawrie's arm is a big upgrade to that position. Saladino should be a defensive upgrade at SS so the infield overall should much improved defensively and in the batting lineup as well. All I'm saying is that the Sox look much better now than they did at seasons end. Unless of course fans prefered to go with revolving doors at 3B and 2B with Flowers at catcher and an aging/declining Alexei at SS. Which shows you just how bad we were at season's end, because we are still below average at four of nine positions in the potential starting line-up with Garcia, Cabrera, LaRoche and Salidino in starting positions.

QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Jan 28, 2016 -> 09:54 PM) There is so little interest in this team. In the media we are the Wolves to the north side Blackhawks. And I think many fans are tired of this ownership, it's stale ideas. The manager should have been changed not make comments about free agents. No one wants to come here and play in a cold empty park Except for pitchers, our best acquisitions have come from Cuba. What does that tell you? ...and it's abysmal record of achievement. Therein lies the problem.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 07:11 PM) Fowler is not worth what becomes a late first round draft pick. If we sign him and lose the pic then keeping the Shark and offering him arbitration was just a waste of time. We should of just traded him at the deadline and picked up prospects. Its one thing to lose this pic for an Upton or Gordon. Its another thing to lose it for 2nd and 3rd tier guys. Completely agree. And what's with Hahn's predisposition for acquiring below average defensive players? Garcia, Cabrera, Gillespie, and now considering Fowler? What is that the Hawk always says, "The first rule in baseball is to catch the baseball"? He's right about that. I don't think what Fowler brings to the game offensively is worth putting yet again another sub-par glove in the outfield.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 24, 2016 -> 08:22 PM) So would you have paid Cespedes $30 million this year? Because that's the minimum it would have taken to pry him away from the Mets. And I'm still not sure that would have been enough. Would I pay him $30M a year? No, but only because I didn't win that PowerBall from a couple of weeks ago; otherwise, I might have been tempted!! Would I be ok with Jerry Reinsdorf digging into his coffeiurs and outbidding the Mets of all teams, who are in far greater financial dire straits than the Sox, for the services of Cespedes? Oh, you betcha! You betcha. We currently have a modest payroll at best, so bringing in Cespedes would not have broken the bank. Meanwhile, Cespedes would have put us in a far greater position to compete next year and return to the postseason. Instead, we still have the two sub-par players manning the OF corners, and now the discussions are focusing on bringing in guys like Fowler and Jackson, who aren't much better than the incumbents themselves. Big time, missed opportunity this week by the geniuses in the front office, the same guys who brought us Cabrera and Avi to begin with.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 24, 2016 -> 03:02 PM) Me too .I was one of the few who tried to say all his inconsistency , OBP and work ethic was overblown by his less than humble nature , the backlash that always comes when discussing a polarizing player, and the fact his numbers with RISP was fantastic and OBP wasn't much of a necessity when a guy makes habit of driving in big runs. I also spoke of combining him and Abreu to form the Cuban Connection and make the Cell a big fiesta when they started really rolling. You can't buy that kind of publicity and it would draw attention to the Sox like nothing else could have. It was absolutely a no-brainer to have brought Cespedes in, for exactly the reasons you stated. And yet we were outbid by the Madoff-challenged Mets to do so. This was a colossal failure for this front office, to be sure. And now we find ourselves in discussions about the free agent market leftovers, guys like Fowler, who is a table scrap from the Cubs made expendable by them because they DID acquire a premium available outfielder this offseason. Fowler, this year's Melky Cabrera: decent hitter, sub par defender. That sound like Cespedes to you?

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 24, 2016 -> 05:22 AM) Well we will see if the Sox have any intentions of spending money when some of the big boys are out of it. It'll be like the free agent class this year .And we know how that went. The Sox have never shown any indication of going over the allotment for the high end talent. I don't expect that to change. The Sox just do not outbid teams for the best talent available on any level. Abreu fell in their lap basically and they probably hoped the same thing would happen with any of the big 3 but hoping most of the 29 other teams disappear is no way of doing business. I know the Sox have hired different personnel lately for some of these things but I'm pretty convinced they will have to work within budgetary constraints and do the best they can within that framework. Reinsdorf has always benefited and maximized profits by just playing by the rules whereas other teams exploit the loopholes. He's always been a good boy with his buddy Bud Selig because bucking the system made trouble for the commish but mostly because it fit his agenda for limiting spending. It is just so nice to hear how Jerry Reinsdorf has managed to make himself and his investors happy over the years through his ability to "maximize profits", and to make Bud Selig happy by quote unquote playing by the rules. Meanwhile, with a terrible record of achievement over the years on the field, he has left the fan base most unhappy, as evidenced by the team's most recent attendance figures and TV ratings. And yet you can take it to the bank that at some point over next weekend at Soxfest, both Hahn and Williams will remind you of Jerry Reinsdorf's "competitive spirit" and "commitment to bring home another championship". Should sound familiar, they say the same thing every year. Reconciling the words with the results, though, gives you an entirely different answer.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 23, 2016 -> 05:28 PM) I will agree, it is very tough to talk to someone who has their mind made up, and the outrage switch flipped on. Like trying to have a reasoned discussion with you over your completely irrational view of the fan base?

QUOTE (blackmooncreeping @ Jan 23, 2016 -> 12:59 PM) While technically true (no Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc.), it didn't matter that the big spenders weren't in the mix--the big dollars were. Missing out on paying 27.5 million bucks for 1 year of Cespedes is blessing, not a failure. I wanted the guy, but not anywhere near that price tag. I think they thought the market would be less because the traditional deep pocket teams weren't in the mix--that is their failure imo. Then all of the angst in September about losing enough so that the Sox would have a protected first round pick really was all for nought, since we didn't take the opportunity to grab a top notch talent without having to surrender that pick.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Jan 23, 2016 -> 09:43 AM) I assume Hahn has some kind of plan here. He sure does, a three year one! Surely you remember hearing about that. Kenny Williams explained it to us all in great detail last June when he was trying to explain a way the horrid baseball that had been played up to that point in the season. And now as we inch closer to starting Year Two of said three year plan, as things stand now, given the abject failure of being able to be competitive in the marketplace for premium available talent, we find ourselves staring at Cabrera in left, Avi in right, Salidino at short, and LaRoche at DH. Those are some big holes. We are currently running below average in nearly half of our lineup, and it's January 23. Our options now to improve are on the second and third tier of the free agent market, the same lane we shopped in last winter that brought us Cabrera and LaRoche. Or trade some of our better but now limited supply of minor league talent to bring in appropriate upgrades. All because somehow the so-called brain trust in the front office set completely unrealistic terms for being competitive for the top talent out there. The big spender teams were no where to be found, and the Sox still couldn't get the job done. Very disappointing, to say the least. Maybe, just maybe, there is the proverbial rabbit still to be pulled from the hat at the last hour that will allow this team to compete this year. I hope so, at least to address two of those gaping holes currently in the lineup. Otherwise Year Two of the big plan doesn't project to be a whole lot better than Year One, not by much, anyway.