Lip Man 1

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 4, 2017 -> 03:44 PM) There's the more minor issue of bullpen decisions. I know this may be more Cooper, but specifically, I'm referring to his use of Robertson in non-save situations, especially in extra-inning road games. What's the point of burning your closer in the bottom of the 9th inning in a tie game when you might need him to, I don't know, close the game later on? Not to mention Robertson tends to pitch poorly in non-save spots. I understand where you are coming from but part of the issue is, if you don't use him in non-save situations he could go a week or 10 days without work. And no pitcher is sharp under those circumstances either. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Regarding RR, I think he's a guy who can help shape a team for future contention but is not the guy to actually take you to the promised land. I hope the Sox realize this as well.

Sox again get almost nothing out of a starting pitcher and the bullpen is now showing what most of the guys in it have shown for their major league careers. As Kenny Williams would say, "it is what it is..."

Always appreciated his honesty and the man absolutely knew the game. For any interested here is the link to the interview that I had with him. Like in real life, he wasn't afraid to speak his mind and had some wonderful stories: http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/rwas/in...=11&id=2852

Sox are about to go to a season worst six under if I remember correctly.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 3, 2017 -> 10:28 AM) Good news. Now we have Ynoa with arm issues The way pitchers for the Sox have been dropping like flies this year, one probably shouldn't be surprised. What's wrong with him by the way?

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 1, 2017 -> 12:53 PM) Beck is 18/5 K/BB in 19 innings with a 2.84 ERA and a 17.6 HR/FB%. Sox shining some turds this year. Very small sample size, it is a good start but we'll see what happens over time in my opinion.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 1, 2017 -> 02:16 PM) My entire fault with Jason is that there is no level of excitement. There is nothing that separates him from any national announcer who could be covering a game. There should be some level of excitement and joy to be had from the White Sox doing well, from the announcers that are being covered to cover the White Sox. I know the knock on Hawk is "homer" to some extent, but I can't think of a better broadcast team out there than Pat Foley and Eddie O for the Hawks. They live and die with the Hawks, and I love it. That is what I want on my home town call. That is my favorite thing about Hawk. He is a Sox fan, with a Sox fan point of view, giving the game to other Sox fans. I have yet to get that vibe from Benetti despite the effort to sell him otherwise. This is a good point but one that I think will come in time as he 'shakes off' his ESPN persona and becomes more and more the "White Sox announcer." You mention Foley and Eddie O and that's an excellent comparison. But remember they have been working together as a team for many years...chemistry takes time (and sometimes it just doesn't happen see Harry Caray and J.C. Martin) and Foley and Ed have a way of getting their point across about bad play, bad officiating, bad luck without making themselves look petty or bringing down the wrath of the commissioner (as what happened when Hawk had his comments in Tampa and got Selig and JR involved to the point where he was called out on it) That style takes time to flourish too. I think it with come with Jason. If not, if five years or so, probably under new ownership, changes will be made again in the booth.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jun 1, 2017 -> 01:27 PM) When is Benetti going to take the s***ty sportswriters to task? When is Benetti going to call out the bulls*** umps try to pull. Sure it's not always professional but it draws attention to the problem. Hawk also came up with some of great nicknames in the game. Those things are gone once you go to your cookie cutter professional announcer. Jason's job isn't to "take the s***ty sportswriters to task" or to "call out the bulls*** umps try to pull." His job is to call the baseball game, pure and simple. And truth be told I can tell you the White Sox don't want him doing that either. Even JR, Hawk's closest friend and confidant, has laid down the law to him at times over his comments and conduct. The Sox with their new primary TV announcer do not want controversy. If something needs to be brought out to the audience they want him doing it in a reasonable and professional manner not one in which the announcer loses his temper or comes across as sullen and taciturn. I suspect they 'put up' (for want of a better word) with Hawk when he did things like this, especially the last few years, because of his reputation and the fact that he earned some leeway...but that doesn't apply in Jason's case...at least for the next 20 years anyway.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 31, 2017 -> 08:28 PM) Bull. He's fit to be in the booth. He's a legend and still has it. Hawk is 75 years old. His eyesight is failing him, mentally he doesn't appear to be as sharp and I suspect there are other issues since he often has to vacate the booth from time to time. That's not a knock on him, it's the human condition, that's the reality of things. I can tell you from personal experience that just doing 11 football and 30 or so basketball games drains you with all the travel and I'm "only" 61. I can't imagine doing 81 games or a full season of over 200 counting spring training and if you make the post season. Like it or not, it's a young man's game. Hawk gets to go out on his own terms, that's not a bad thing and again, just my opinion, it was time for a change. I think he finally realized it himself, hence the announcement. Time marches on for everyone. The last thing Hawk, I think, wanted to turn into, was say Harry Caray after his stroke where the poor guy didn't even know what stadium he was in half the time. And the Sox didn't need that situation either. Wish him well in his retirement but it was time to move on.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 31, 2017 -> 10:33 PM) Colorado is looking to buy, sell or stand pat? Cargo's having a garbage season. What about DBacks? Try to dump Greinke? Colorado lost their top set up guy for awhile but they are still one of the best teams in the N.L. They'll be a buyer. Arizona right now is in the playoff mix solidly. They aren't going to dump Grienke or anybody, they'll also be a buyer in my opinion.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 31, 2017 -> 08:11 PM) Starting to think the Cubs were right on Renteria....he's like Torborg/Manuel, good managers at working with youngsters but NOT the right man to lead them to the promised land. (But at least he played a major role in getting Luis Robert and will be around until the beginning of the 2019 season or halfway through that year.) Not to get to far off topic but remember Torborg was forced out by Ron Schueler who wanted to hire his own guy. That in my opinion was a major mistake. I have no doubt the Sox would of done extremely well in the next few seasons had he been allowed to remain. It also wouldn't have hurt had Larry Himes not turned down a deal that was offered to him in spring training 1990 from the Yankees. New York wanted starting pitcher Eric King and Steve Lyons. They were willing to offer Hal Morris...and...Bernie Williams!

When he and Drysdale were together they were one of the best duos in baseball. It was definitely time for a change though. Let the Jason Benetti era begin.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 30, 2017 -> 09:11 PM) http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/lopezal01.shtml He AVERAGED 90 wins a season over the course of 9 years. If not the for the Yankees, he would be a lot more famous. 90, 94, 94, 98, 95 were his five best. Ozzie had 99, 90 (2006), 2008 team I think ended up with 88 or 89...2010 team had a good run, but I would still take Lopez, especially because of the way that things fell apart at the very end between the Sox and Ozzie. Exactly. Lopez was far and away the best Sox manager at least in my lifetime. Ozzie was a very good manager and a breath of fresh-air after Manager Gandhi but he started to believe his press clippings, felt money was more important than anything else (who can forget his tirade about more money / contract extension right before the Sox opened that series at home with Detroit that was going to make or break their season?) and he refused to keep in line his kids with their insulting and disruptive tweets. It was time for him to go. He could have had the job as long as he wanted after winning the World Series but he became his own worst enemy in my opinion.

The first seven runs Boston scored tonight (all off Q) came with two outs. Think about that one for a moment. According to a story in S.I. this week on the reemergence of the curveball in MLB among pitchers, Q is throwing the 3rd highest percentage of curveballs among all pitchers at 32%. Maybe that in part explains his struggles. Maybe he needs to start pounding fastballs more? Five of the seven runs tonight for example came on curveballs that were blasted.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 29, 2017 -> 09:12 PM) He has no chance since he's an advocate of bunting. That means he's a relic. Can't survive if you approve of the bunt. I can't tell if you are being facetious or serious with this comment.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ May 30, 2017 -> 08:23 AM) Stay the course Agreed...no matter what happens this season.

Anytime you can get a win with a fill-in pitcher starting the game because there is no one else available is a good thing. It doesn't happen very often.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ May 29, 2017 -> 05:07 PM) Where are you going to put them? Well counting guys on the DL, you can Covey, Infante and Holmberg to begin with.

Davidson in my opinion. I voted for him. I think he can be a productive role player (part time DH, part time 3B) on the Sox when they get good in two or three seasons. Can supply some pop and is very cheaply paid.

Saladino remember had disc issues in his lower back at the end of last season and through this off season. Those really never go away even with surgery (and I don't know if he had surgery or not). That's a bad situation to have for a professional athlete.

Congrats to him. Hopefully the start of something really good for the kid.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 24, 2017 -> 04:10 PM) Reading through a lot of the Cardinals' blogs in recent weeks, you're talking the winningest franchise in baseball the past 12-15-20 years getting absolutely hammered by paid/professional writers. I think the reason for that (and my color analyst grew up in St. Louis and follows the Cards closely so he keeps me in the loop with them) is because they can't use attendance as an excuse and they just signed a billion dollar deal with Fox Sports Midwest, so why are they cutting corners regarding payroll, talent acquisition. To me those are valid questions.

Q had thrown five good games in a row. Today was not one of them. The Sox to me are looking tired. They've come back to make a game of it a lot of times but never enough to get over the hump. I just think all these road games are catching up to them.

QUOTE (Sockin @ May 24, 2017 -> 02:31 PM) Yeah, absolutely this. I don't think Quintana gets moved until Hahn is happy with the return. Nor should he be until or unless the Sox think the return is a good one.

QUOTE (joejoedairy @ May 24, 2017 -> 02:02 PM) I understand your point, but let's say Yahoo read your work on soxnet and wanted to hire you write about baseball in general. The thing that helped get you discovered in this situation is writing articles as a sox fan. Wouldn't make sense to continue to write from that same perspective. Many media personalities start out this way (Simmons, Wilbon, almost any blogger) and as long as you can admit to your bias and still produce good work, it shouldn't be an issue. If you're watching a game on a national broadcast, I can see why you wouldn't want the announcer to have an obvious bias against your team. There are certainly cases of this, but most fans think all national broadcasters hate their team. The key is admitting the bias and trying to not let it influence you as you suggest but that is very hard to do at least for me because I know that eventually it is going to come into play. I think I could write nationally on baseball because the Cubs are a very small part of that. But covering the Cubs exclusively? Like I said in the previous post I'd have to think very hard about that because I know myself. Thanks for a good comment though I agree with your basic premise.