Lip Man 1

In just two short years the Sox have gone from "must see TV" to "change the channel." Very sad.

If you compare it three years into the "contention window" to the Astros and Cubs rebuild it already is a failure.

Just saw this stat posted on Harrison, today was the 19th time he came to the plate with a runner on third base and less than two outs. He has three RBI's.

This is what I've been able to find, there may be some others though: Max Muncy, Los Angeles Dodgers – $13 million club option, $1.5 million buyout. Kolten Wong, Milwaukee Brewers – $10 million club option, $2 million buyout. Enrique Hernandez, Boston Red Sox. Adam Frazier, Seattle Mariners. Josh Harrison, Chicago White Sox – Club option. Aledmys Diaz, Houston Astros.

If my comments/contributions aren't welcome here please say so and I'll oblige you.

SS: I didn't ignore it, I said a new position may not be in baseball but I'm sure with his background, education and pedigree he'd have an excellent position. JR can't stop him for example from going to work at a law firm or say an industrial company. I'm not a lawyer but I don't think there's a court in America that would allow any type of clause like that to stand (you can't prevent someone from making a living) and I've worked in TV and had non-competition clauses in my contracts, but that didn't mean I couldn't quit as long as I gave notice, and take a job outside of the industry. If Hahn did that I don't see how JR could stop him from leaving for another non-baseball position but I could be wrong, don't know the details of his contract as you pointed out.

SS: In the real world I'd certainly agree with you. Certainly with an average person. But Hahn does have multiple degrees from some of the best schools in America. Michigan law, Harvard business. I'd have to think if he would have quit when the TLR decision came down or even if he quit tomorrow he wouldn't have any trouble getting a very good position in a company. Granted it may not be in baseball but I seriously doubt he'd be wondering where his next meal is coming from. The fact that JR by all accounts rammed down the TLR decision undercuts Hahn's authority and standing. if that isn't grounds for walking away I can't think of many more. Which is why I personally think he's comfortable (like so many in the organization) knowing if he is loyal, does his job, doesn't make waves he can stay as long as he wants at a very good salary.

They care, I can say that with knowledge since I've been a friend to Bob Grim for years. (Bob was the Director of Broadcast Operations who retired last year) but once again "loyalty" matters over quality. Ed Farmer was exceptional as an analyst, he and John Rooney were an outstanding broadcast team and it was uncanny how often Ed predicted things in a game which came to pass. But as a play by play guy (and I should know being one myself) he was pretty bad, yet the Sox kept him in that spot until he passed away. Same thing with Hawk. The last few years he was a shell of himself (go to you tube and find the games he did with Don Drysdale in the 80's for the Sox, he was terrific). The constant bating of umpires, the silent minutes when he was pissed off, that's not good broadcasting. Yet he was allowed to stay until he decided to leave.

Hahn original position with the Sox was to negotiate contracts given his law (Michigan) and business (Harvard) degrees. And he was very good at that. How that translated though into knowing the in and outs of being a G.M. and running an organization based on talent, scouting, player development I can't answer. Kenny, lord knows had his faults...but at least he played the game at a high level, knew the game and the intricacies of it and management. In his nine seasons that have been completed where he has been the G.M. the Sox have had seven losing seasons...and they weren't always trying to rebuild in four of those.

The White Sox have now lost 25 games to teams currently under .500. When you play 162 games at times you are going to lose some to some bad teams...but 25 already? And fans wonder why they can't put any type of run together. The Royals by the way now have 50 wins this year. NINE have come against the White Sox. That's 18% of all their wins this year and they lead the season series 9-7. Today should put the final nail in the issue of if TLR is back next year...but as long as the owner is in his corner, it probably won't. The update on Kopech by the way is a hamstring not a knee. Yet another in a seemingly endless string of soft tissue injuries. And the Kelly signing by Hahn, aka the Michigan law grad, is looking like one of the worst signings in his tenure (and he's had more than a handful dating back to Jeff Keppinger...)

You obviously forgot 1968, 1973, 1984, 1995 and 2009...those were also awful seasons where the Sox were expected to do well and fell flat on their faces.

Valid point however any individual worth their salt and have any personal pride as a front office executive would have resigned after the owner forced TLR down his throat. Hahn didn't, which tells me he's not that "upset" over the restrictions imposed on him by JR.

DVS of the Sun-Times had this eye opening stat as part of a story on line today: "The Sox’ situational hitting struggles, particularly with runners on third base and no outs when they are an atrocious 1-for-9"

The other 'wild card' is JR. We know his feelings towards Jose' and we know he personally stepped in during the last contract negotiations. Regarding the FA scraps comment, given the history of the organization especially with Hahn as G.M. that's basically all they've been doing anyway.

And that is exactly what will happen when JR passes away. He's already made that clear publicly on numerous occasions when he has spoken about this. he's told his family to keep the Bulls and sell the Sox. And he also will never sell the club because of the tax hit the family would take if he were to do it when he was still alive. Was told by a source in the mainstream media, the guy who owns the Cubs South Bend affiliate (and who grew up a Sox fan) twice offered to buy the Sox in 2008 and was told "no." “The only way I’d sell in the foreseeable future is for health or family reasons or if we lost so much money that it didn’t make sense to keep the team. Under the most recent changes in the law, a pro sports franchise no longer is a good tax shelter. The owners can’t write off half the cost immediately for player depreciation.”– Jerry Reinsdorf to Bob Logan. From the book ‘Miracle On 35th Street’ by Bob Logan. Pg. 146. Published 1983. Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is approaching seventy years old. What about the future of the Sox after he’s gone? Does it stay in the family? It doesn’t look like it, as Reinsdorf explained to ‘Chicago Tonight’ host Bob Sirott in May 2004. (In that interview he explained what he told his family i.e. 'sell the Sox, keep the Bulls.')

According to the White Sox (take it with a large grain of salt given their track record) Grandal has avoided serious injury to any part or parts of the knee/leg. TLR says (and we know how accurate his medical diagnosis's have been this year) he should return in 10-14 days.

Good point and if he is back to playing first base that means you see more of Sheets/Vaughn in the outfield which isn't working very well defensively (which is also a crucial part of the game). And if those guys are going to have to play the outfield that gives Hahn another reason not to try to fill the gaping hole in RF.

They can no longer afford to lose games to clubs like the rancid Royals on Monday. have to play well and win.

Well stated. I read last month, I think it was, where Eloy has missed something like 48% of all games that he was eligible to play in. That's a lot of missed time and he's been on the IL for injuries (many of which were caused by his poor decisions in the outfield) more than a handful of times.

11 runs in the last four games by this team. 61st time this year (now out of 121 games) they have scored three runs or less. That's just really bad. And regarding Grandal, as bad of injuries as he's had the past few years and his age, he may be forced to retire. If the Sox have injury insurance that could help pay for the money he's owed and give the team more financial room.

Joe has now survived three managers by my count. I'd be surprised if he's going anywhere. More lifetime employment without accountability.

You never want to see anyone get hurt but in the long run this may help the Sox. Grandal was struggling the entire season yet TLR keep using him. Now he can't.

Maybe TLR wants them to have "fresh legs" for the golf course come October if they don't make the playoffs?

Can't disagree with your points. It would have really been interesting to hear/read the results of the Sox off season study that Hahn talked about in November concerning injuries. But they never made it public. All I know is that Alan Thomas left because he disagreed with the results and the Sox placed an ad for a "bio-mechanics" specialist. This has been an issue really at all levels since around 2016.

History unfortunately has shown this ownership would rather spend millions on what I call stiffs, has been's, guys over 30, guys coming off injury rather than go the distance and get the "superstar" position player. There always seems to be a reason why they can't get it done.