Lip Man 1

From a story at MLB.com today a polling of MLB executives showed Giolito getting the most votes as "likely to be traded." Anderson and Lynn also got votes. Sox were the only team on the list with three players. "Talk to me after the parade!" ?

Agreed, if nothing else if he is productive the Sox can get something for him come July when Hahn announced a rebuild on the rebuild (which was on a rebuild...)?

I would basically agree with this although I'd add he also is sharp and shrewd enough to stretch things right to the absolute limit of the law. Remember he got his professional start working for the IRS. In fact, ironically, one of his first cases was with a guy named Bill Veeck!

I'm not getting into the parsing of 'terrible stuff" or not. I'm simply giving examples that like all of us there are many sides to this guy.

On his part in trying to stop Nintento from buying the Mariners: “Meanwhile the ownership committee fumed. One member was Jerry Reinsdorf, and he felt strongly that this committee and not the commissioner– were empowered to act upon ownership applications. And this idea of the Japanese...he didn’t like it and he wrapped himself in the flag. To one committee meeting Reinsdorf even brought a clip from ‘Field of Dreams’ in which James Earl Jones rhapsodizes on America and baseball. (The real reason for Reinsdorf’s stance, though some skeptics, was his resentment of a sad-sack franchise being bought for top dollar by a deep pockets owner. How would the union ever be convinced of baseball’s economic peril? Invoking the yellow peril was the only answer.) In the end, Reinsdorf couldn’t stop Nintendo but he could hold the buyer to strict conditions. Nintendo’s voting stock in the franchise would be less than 50 percent and the Mariners operating chief would have to be a local hand. It turned out to be a Seattle utility executive named John Ellis. “– From the book ‘The Lords of the Realm’ by John Helyar. Pg. 509. Published 1994.

Here's another one that shows JR plays the hardest of hardball: “In 1988, Frank Morsani had tried to prevent Jerry Reinsdorf from getting American League approval for moving the White Sox to Tampa. He contacted several team owners, including the owner of the Baltimore Orioles, Edward Bennett Williams -- who in 1960 mounted a legal challenge to Calvin Griffith's relocation of the Washington Senators to Minnesota. Reinsdorf heard about it and became royally pissed off. Morsani tried to block our move to St. Petersburg, Reinsdorf says. He fought us in the [Florida] legislature. And he went to see Edward Bennett Williams, who at the time owned the Orioles, and asked him to vote against the White Sox move to St. Petersburg. If baseball came to St. Petersburg, [Morsani] wanted to be involved. He had invested several million dollars trying to get an expansion team and if we came in; his money was going down the drain. But him going to see Williams was like someone who is not a member of a country club going to a member of the country club and asking him to vote against the admission of a third person. Ed Williams and I were members of the same country club and Morsani was not. I didn't think that was right. Later in the same year, when Morsani attempted to buy the Texas Rangers, it was widely believed Reinsdorf was the man who stood in his way. Reinsdorf opposed the sale of the Rangers to Morsani; he also objected to broadcaster Ed Gaylord as owner. For blocking Morsani and Gaylord, the American League told Reinsdorf to find a qualified buyer for the Texas franchise. This made Reinsdorf even madder at Morsani, because he believed the price agreed upon by Morsani and Rangers owner Eddie Chiles was too high, making it tough to find an owner. However, Reinsdorf is generally credited with creating the George W. Bush ownership group. Reinsdorf never forgot or forgave Morsani's actions, giving the Tampa car dealer a powerful and vocal opponent among baseball owners. Of Reinsdorf, Morsani says, I am not crazy about a lot of things that he did. In the spring of 1990, Allen Keesler took Morsani to the White Sox spring training camp in Sarasota to try and patch things up between his friends. The trio sat in Reinsdorf's box, ate lunch and talked. Allen was trying to patch things up between Morsani and me, Reinsdorf says. I was very angry because I felt, number one, he should be more civic-minded. Reinsdorf believed that despite Morsani's personal investment, he should have supported any baseball team that came to Tampa Bay, whether he owned it or not.” From the internet story, ‘Stadium for Rent: Tampa Bay’s Quest for Major League Baseball’ by Bob Andelman. Chapter 10. Published 1993.

That is just one thing and the fact that the point was even raised is at least an indication someone had a concern.

May 3, 1968 - It’s a dubious record, one that first baseman Tommy McCraw wishes never happened. In the third inning of a game at Comiskey Park, McCraw made three errors against the Yankees. Two of them came when he couldn’t field ground balls and the third was on a throwing error. New York scored all of their runs in that frame in beating the Sox 3-2. All the runs were unearned of course. May 3, 2005 - With a comeback win over Kansas City, 5-4, the White Sox established a Major League record by holding a lead in their first 26 games of the season. That broke the old mark set by the Brooklyn Dodgers. After trailing all game, the White Sox took the lead on a Carl Everett double to right-center, scoring Scott Podsednik and Tadahito Iguchi with the eventual deciding tallies. The win improved Chicago to an MLB best 19-7 record. The White Sox would extend this record to 37 before playing a game in which they failed to hold a lead. That happened on May 15 when they never led in a 6-2 loss to the Orioles at U.S. Cellular Field.

Found this quote interesting today in a story at MLB.com: “Not much has gone right on the South Side,” an AL executive said of the Sox, who ended April with an 8-21 record. “They might be forced to rebuild the rebuild.”

Like with every individual there are some things that do raise concern about character. I did a 75 page 'biography' of JR so that I'd have research material on hand for the future many years ago. This was one item: Wound up selling Balcor to American Express for 53 million dollars (although others have claimed it was for much more.) After the sale, rumors surfaced of American Express being upset at some of the things they had supposedly found in the company books, however these ‘charges’ were never followed up or proven and must be considered a myth.

It was in L.A. Remember JR spends a lot of time in Arizona now so it isn't that far.

Well other then the end how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln?

Great a two game winning streak! Next stop...the parade. And Colome fits right in with this brutal bullpen. ?

The problem is the highly paid front office is the one who is supposed to have that answer. ?

More required reading: https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/2023/5/2/23708810/chicago-white-sox-rebuild-a-seven-year-curse-rick-hahn-jerry-reinsdorf-tim-anderson-pedro-grifol

There's a story in USA Today on it.

Required reading: https://deadspin.com/jerry-reinsdorf-white-sox-bulls-mlb-nba-snoop-dogg-nhl-1850394385

JR basically confirmed those comments yesterday. Just an embarrassment.

Because most of the moves are flotsam and jetsam and retreads. Yes, the Sox minor league system is THAT bad! ?

Diekman is another "success" story for the intrepid Rick Hahn. ?

Diekman another Rick Hahn "success" story! ?

Or Robert could also be going on the IL yet again.

May 2, 1901 - The White Sox were part of the first forfeit in American League history. After the Detroit Tigers took the lead with five runs in the top of the ninth, rain began. White Sox players began stalling, hoping to have the game wash out and be called as of the top of the eighth, with the White Sox getting the win. Umpire Tom Connolly caught on to the scheme and forfeited the game to Detroit, as soggy Sox fans stormed the field in protest. Connolly had to be given a police escort to get out of the ballpark. The final score was 7-5 Tigers. May 2, 1984 - It was the finest regular season performance by LaMarr Hoyt as he one-hit the Yankees winning 3-0 at Comiskey Park. The reigning Cy Young Award winner lost his no-hitter on a single by Don Mattingly with one out in the seventh inning. Mattingly’s hit was a bloop that got caught in the wind and fell in between shortstop Jerry Dybzinski and left fielder Ron Kittle. Hoyt only threw 101 pitches on the night and faced the minimum 27 batters. May 2, 2021 – Seasons can change in a heartbeat and on this day the high expectations for the White Sox took a stunning turn for the worse. Five tool outfielder Luis Robert, the Gold Glove outfielder and runner up in the 2020 Rookie of the Year voting completely tore his right hip flexor when beating out a ground ball in the first inning in a 5-0 loss to the Indians. The White Sox were already without the services of Robert’s teammate Eloy Jimenez, one of the top young sluggers in the game, because of an injury that happened late in spring training. Robert wasn’t even able to try to resume baseball activities for a period of a few months. His loss left a gaping hole both offensively and defensively in the White Sox lineup but remarkably after a grueling rehab he returned to the team on August 9 in Minnesota and helped contribute to the club winning the Central Division with a total of 93 victories. His injury-luck though continued into the 2022 season when he missed time with vertigo, blurred vision and worst of all, a sprained left wrist that never properly healed and was so bad at times he was swinging a bat one-handed.

Many of these comments add weight to what David Samson said JR told him about finishing second from a profitability standpoint and keeping fans interested. By the way JR through the team never denied making that statement he said he "didn't remember" saying it, which is entirely different.

Straw man argument. The White Sox aren't moving, things were worse a LOT worse as far as the health of the franchise in the late 60's and the mid 70's and they didn't leave. Too many things still in a franchise's favor if only good ownership knew how to take advantage of it. When JR departs and the team is sold they aren't going anyplace. Please stop with the dire straits. And yes this shitshow needs to be burned down to the ground and rebuild BUT with competent people who know what they are doing. Again, take care of yourself and hope to outlive current ownership and see what the future brings.