Lip Man 1

Hilarious note to the Podcast...Chuck read a text he received from a former White Sox player, he didn't name the player but read the text on-air, "This team is God awful. I thought this was their window?" ?

"It starts at the top and here we are, it starts at the top. And the reason it failed is from the top down. God damn it I'm so mad right now! Everyone deserves so much better. What a screw job this has been." -- Ryan McGuffey on the latest Sox Podcast.

The Sox will resign him as soon as JR decides to give out a nine figure deal. (Which isn't happening...)

With a reduced payroll and more holes than swiss cheese these guys may have to rely on luck to win 70 games.

It's like a root canal with no Novocain.

JR won't allow another complete tank job. They are going to hope to get lucky moving forward. Luck is not a plan.

July 27, 1951 - The Sox trailed the Yankees 3-2 at Yankee Stadium when the game was delayed 25 minutes by rain. When play resumed, the Sox scored twice more to lead 4-3 in the top of the ninth inning. Yankee manager Casey Stengel and his players began stalling hoping for more rain. In fact, Yankee infielder Gil McDougald was ejected by umpire Bill McGowan because of those tactics. After a delay of slightly over an hour the game was called and reverted back to a 3-1 New York win. Both teams protested the game in the ninth inning; the Yankees because of McDougald's ejection and the White Sox claimed that the field was not covered quickly enough at the start of last delay; in essence the Yankee grounds crew was also stalling. On August 29, American League President Will Harridge announced that the Chicago protest was disallowed and he criticized manager Paul Richards for negative remarks about the Yankees, the umpires and the league office. It was umpire Hank Soar in charge of the game that day who made the final decision to call the contest. July 27, 1964 – He was the first of the great White Sox shortstops playing his entire 20-year career on the South Side and on this day Luke Appling was inducted into the Hall of Fame receiving a little over 70 per cent of the vote. Appling made four All-Star teams with four hits in nine at-bats, won batting titles in 1936 and 1943 and in 1936 drove in 128 RBI’s, twice he also had over 100 walks in a season. He finished with 2,749 hits, 1,116 RBI’s and a lifetime batting average of .310 July 27, 1964 – The same day Sox shortstop Luke Appling entered the Hall of Fame former Sox pitcher Urban “Red” Faber also gained admission. Faber spent his entire 20-year career with the White Sox winning 254 games with a career ERA of 3.15. He also won three games for the Sox in the 1917 World Series triumph over the New York Giants. In 14 of those 20 seasons he won in double figures with four of those years topping the 20-win mark. He also threw 4,086 innings! July 27, 1973 - Sox vice president Stu Holcomb ‘retired’ under pressure after his hard-line approach on salaries destroyed the 1973 White Sox. When players wouldn’t come to terms with his initial offer, Holcomb ordered, then player personnel director Roland Hemond, to release them. Not try to compromise with them or try to trade them to get something back... but release them. The Sox gave away Jay Johnstone, Ed Spiezio, Mike Andrews and Rick Reichardt. When Holcomb ordered Hemond to release 21-game winner Stan Bahnsen, Hemond and manager Chuck Tanner went to owner John Allyn. Hemond and Tanner threatened to quit if something wasn’t done. Allyn sided with the duo and Holcomb was history bringing some stability to the front office although the damage was already done. When the Sox suffered injury after injury that year, using the disabled list 38 times, there was little depth to try to fill the gaping holes. They’d end the season in fifth place at 77-85 after leading the division in late May. July 27, 2008 – It all began with the White Sox in 1972 and it ended on this day as Rich “Goose” Gossage was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Gossage was 20 years old when he started his career with the Sox going 7-1 in his rookie season. He was mentored by then manager Chuck Tanner and pitching coach Johnny Sain, who taught him a breaking ball and changeup. Sox first baseman Dick Allen taught him how a hitter thinks and how to set them up and by 1975 Gossage was the A.L. Fireman of the Year with 26 saves, nine wins and an ERA of 1.84. He’d pitch for 22 years, five with the White Sox and end up with 324 saves and 124 wins. He had 30 saves and 29 wins in his time on the South Side. July 27, 2014 - He is one of only two skippers to work over five thousand games in American professional sports history and he started at a very young age with the White Sox in August 1979. Tony LaRussa was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on this day. LaRussa is also one of only a handful of managers with a law degree. He led the White Sox from that August 1979 day through June 1986 recording four winning seasons and the 1983 Western Division title. After leading the A’s and Cardinals to multiple World Series crowns he came back out of retirement to take over the White Sox in 2021, again winning a division title with 93 victories before things went south in 2022 in part because of health issues. July 27, 2014 - Former White Sox star Frank Thomas, the “Big Hurt” was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Thomas played 16 years with the Sox and holds every major hitting record in team history. He was the American League M.V.P. in back-to-back years, 1993 and 1994 and finished in the top ten in that voting nine other times. He was the Comeback Player of the Year in 2000 and helped the Sox on their way to winning the 2005 World Series before getting injured in mid-season. He received almost 84 per cent of the vote becoming the first White Sox player ever inducted on the first ballot. And he did it cleanly, never being accused at any time of enhancing his performance with steroids.

And maybe he's been told "not to run hard" to prevent another injury. ?

Sully's take on the deal and if the Sox will rebuild: https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/white-sox/ct-chicago-white-sox-rick-hahn-trade-deadline-20230727-yoggeu72tvhshiuvftaeeissye-story.html

Posted tonight at the Chicago Tribune: “Given this club’s performance over the course of the last several months, it’s apparent that these types of moves have to take place given where we’re at and putting us in the best position we can be going forward. “Obviously Lucas’ and Reynaldo’s tenure with the White Sox is not ending in the way we envisioned when we first acquired them,” “They will both certainly be missed and certainly both can help make that Angels team better positioned for hopefully a postseason run for both of them."

Of course Hahn is in charge this talk about Kenny who is basically semi-retired coming back to take over is nonsense.

He missed the first two months of the season with injuries. He'll fit right in with the Sox!

The Sun-Times no longer has a paywall they just want you to register. The Sun-Times is now a non-profit news organization in fact the Tribune has stopped blocking access to their stories too.

I can almost guarantee it. Moncada will insist on it because he knows this is the final year of his contract, the Sox won't be resigning him and he needs to make a good impression on a potential future team.

Worst case scenario for Moncada...he doesn't have to work another day in his life if he can't play baseball anymore. We should all be so lucky.

July 26, 1942 – 17-year-old Chuck Comiskey was being groomed to take over the team and his passions boiled over on this afternoon. In the first game against the Athletics at Comiskey Park, umpire John Quinn kicked out Sox manager Jimmy Dykes for arguing an interference call. Don Kolloway was ruled to have run into a batted ball in fair territory in the eighth inning. That brought the young Comiskey out on the field to continue the argument. Sox fans roared their approval over his pluck. It turned out he also was ejected by Quinn. The Sox would win that game 2-1 before losing the second one 3-2 in 10 innings. July 26, 1987 - Sox starter Rich Dotson, who had already thrown a one-hitter and lost in Baltimore in 1983, had a perfect game for over seven innings against the Yankees at Comiskey Park and a 2-0 lead. That however all went out the window when Mike Pagliarulo singled. Before the frame was over, Dotson got tagged with three runs and would eventually lose the game 5-2. The key blow was struck by future Sox outfielder Dan Pasqua who had a pinch-hit three run homer in that frame.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/7/25/23807757/im-disappointed-this-is-on-me-its-simple-white-sox-manager-pedro-grifol-says

Total, complete, unadulterated garbage tonight...all aspects, all areas. The team/organization has no heart, no guts and no brains.

They have and they all sucked...remember Lopez imploding and how about Kelly? ?

Have to justify that salary some how. Seriously I won't be surprised at all when Hahn announces in October that he needs back surgery.

Good point but let's assume he was healthy, maybe instead of losing 14 games where they had a lead in the 7th inning or later they "only" lose nine.

That's an interesting question he's got to know in his heart of hearts that he has failed as a G.M. The question is will he ever admit it to the media/fan base?

To each his own, my negativity towards this organization is based on facts and the won/lost record especially since the start of the 2007 season. Losing Hendriks didn't help but regardless if he was 100% available all year the results wouldn't be much better. With all the issues with this roster it's delusional to think otherwise. As delusional as say thinking that JR is going to sell anytime soon. ?

For those that are interested here are the dates for the 14 games where the Sox took a lead into the 7th inning or later AND wound up eventually losing the game: March 31, 7th inning (Graveman/Diekman), April 14, 7th inning (Diekman/Lopez), April 21 9th inning (Lopez), April 29 7th inning (Lynn), May 4 8th inning (Lopez), May 27 7th inning (Kelly), May 28 9th inning (Kelly), June 10 9th inning (Kelly), June 11 9th inning (Graveman), July 1 8th inning (Kelly), July 4 8th inning (Kelly), July 9 9th inning (Graveman), July 22 7th inning (Middleton/Santos), July 23 9th & 10th innings (Graveman/Banks). Also the White Sox are 4-9 in extra inning games because they are so bad at fundamentals even with a "ghost runner" on second base they can't score him. And remember this is the most expensive bullpen in baseball.

Not without starting pitchers.