Lip Man 1

Another guy in his 30's, had some injuries, has issues attitude-wise. I think Hahn is trying to get away from that as much as he is allowed to. I'll pass on this one. Mark

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 17, 2015 -> 11:14 PM) I know this is sarcasm but I believe he's top 5 in baseball in pitch framing. It's a big deal. Pitchers also like throwing to him. Rodon has been great with Flowers behind the dish. I would expect that Flowers will be on the Sox for years to come. They just need to get a better starting catcher and let TFlow catch Sale and Rodon. Saw this in another location, I can't take credit for it but I thought it was interesting and touches upon your point: http://www.statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php "Tyler Flowers turns 1.89 balls per game into strikes, good for the fourth-best average in the league. At first glance, that looks wonderful. However, looking further down the list, guess who is #19 at 1.09 extra strikes per game? That's right, Geovany Soto. In other words, the White Sox are happily trading 84 points of OBP and 128 points of SLG, not to mention a higher passed-ball frequency (10 in 673.1 innings for Flowers vs. 4 in 372.2 innings for Soto) and a worse caught-stealing percentage (23% for Flowers vs. 27% for Soto), for eight-tenths of an extra strike per game." Mark

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 17, 2015 -> 06:11 PM) Good job Lip . You bring a lot to this site, a welcome historical perspective that was lacking before . That was the only reason to ever visit WSI , their interviews with historical Sox figures. Thanks for the nice words. Appreciate it. Mark

16th time this season the Sox held an opponent to three runs or less...and lost. For this offense to be good next year they need to add at least three, maybe four quality offensive players. That's near impossible. And you have to wonder why Garcia was pinch hit for late in the game considering he had two hits already. Sometime I simply can't figure out what is going through Ventura's head (maybe an even bigger problem is he really doesn't know either...LOL) Mark

Would be nice then if they actually gave him at bats in the here and now since this team isn't going anywhere. Mark

I think Saladino is going to make an excellent utility player and a solid late inning defensive replacement. No shame in that, nothing wrong with it. That's always a valuable piece on a team. But starting? Especially at 3rd base which is a power / home run / big RBI position...can't see it. Sanchez should be an adequate / solid second baseman. Anderson may be a pretty good shortstop...we'll have to see. As far as Johnson, until he shows he can actually stay healthy it's all a moot point with him. (Or a moo point, the point of view of a cow as Joey said on "Friends...") LOL. Mark

25 years ago today was a very big day for Carlton Fisk. You can listen to the record setting event here: http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2015/08/t...ecord-home-run/ Hard to imagine it's been 25 years since that terrific season. Mark

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 11:00 PM) Is Sale the best pitcher in White Sox history, pure talent wise? The answer may be yes. Very hard to say since you can't compare era's. Sox have had a lot of truly tremendous pitchers in their history. Let's see how Sale stacks up in another five years or so. He can be one of the best but 'the best', I'm not sure of that one even talent wise. Mark

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 11:47 AM) "1984 happened" and sent the Cubs on their way to national stardom and they've never looked back. And by "happened" we are talking about a "winning" (hey, there's THAT word again!) team that was televised coast-to-coast on WGN with Harry Caray leading the way. That combination of Caray and WGN with a winning baseball product was unbelievably potent, and the popularity that ensued was immeasurable. And today, the Cubs are still reaping the benefits 18 years after Caray's death. The problem for the Sox organization and for our fans is that it could have been us having that same experience and impact the year before in 1983, when WE had the exciting baseball product. And WE got there first in terms of there had not been a winner of any sort in the city prior to '83 for many years. But instead of pumping that '83 team into 22 million homes at that time 50, 60 times of year with Caray behind the mic, creating the aura of excitement all around the city and even the country for the Sox like he did for the Cubs, Geniuses Reinsdorf & Einhorn went the route of pay subscription TV, and only 15,000 homes got to see that team that year. You talk about a crying shame! Virtually kept a secret, you might say, except for the 32 games they benevolently bestowed upon us on Channel 32 that year. Reinsdorf and Einhorn inherited both Caray and WGN from Bill Veeck, and as a sign of things to come, the first in a series of bungling decisions that would go onto define this failing ownership, the first thing they did was to get rid of both. And they, Jerry & Eddie, supposedly two great businessmen, or so we were told - HA! You could have fooled me. It was actually 20 thousand on SportsVision to be more accurate but your point is well taken. Also something that isn't well known is that the Sox offered Caray more to stay for 1982 than he was paid by the Cubs but he left directly because of SportsVision. Remember SportsVision? Well it just so happens I've sent to Daniel a long article on the history of SportsVision, the reasoning behind it, what went wrong and recollections from one of its first anchors. I'm sure he'll publish it when the time is right but I think those who lived through that era will enjoy reading it. It was a brilliant idea but it was ahead of its time. Mark

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 10:53 AM) 1984 happened. The first 4 years of JR ownership the Sox out drew the Cubs. Then came collusion in the mid 80's...and the labor impasse of 1994...and the White Flag Trade. Mark

One of the most dominating pitchers in the game. Hard to believe but when this season is over he'd have spent five full years in the bigs. And he hasn't come close to sniffing a playoff start. Such a shame. Mark

The 15 strike outs is one short of the franchise record for a game - 16 set by Jack Harshman against if I remember right the Red Sox. Mark

Don't forget Julio Franco in 1994. Mark

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 07:12 AM) The White Sox will never be the Cubs. And a large reason for that is because of self inflicted wounds. There were also some areas where they had no control over that worked against them. But they had their chances in the past 35 years and completely fumbled them. Also keep in mind the Sox owned Chicago during the Golden Age 51-67, outdrawing the Cubs in 16 of those 17 years sometimes by a wide margin. Things changed dramatically when the Tribune company bought them three months after the Sox were sold to JR and EE. Mark

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 16, 2015 -> 07:28 AM) I'd see if they could take Dave Wills from Tampa Bay. Give him the radio booth with DJ and fire Farmer. Never say never but I know Dave well and I'd think that ship has sailed. Sox had their chance but JR would never say 'yes.' Mark

Automatic out hitting 5th. Loyalty over accountability strikes again. (Or is it the 14 million??) Mark

What took them so long? Mark

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 15, 2015 -> 10:45 PM) DJ better watch it. If anybody notices he could get the boot. It doesn't work except for announcers that are legends. Harry Caray had a Sox sidekick fired once cause he and the guy spent a rain delay trashing the team. They didn't blame Harry; they canned the sidekick after the season. Kudos to DJ but DJs are a dime a dozen. If the team gets mad he'll be shown the door. Maybe DJ already knows. His contract like Stone's is up after this season. And if you're referring to Bob Waller that's incorrect. Waller was fired because of his pre game show with Chuck Tanner on the last day of the 1974 season. Chuck (God rest his soul) was talking about all the positive things the Sox did and Waller simply got tired of the spin and asked him why weren't they winning then? Tanner got so mad he walked off the field in the middle of the live pregame show. Waller spent the rest of the time asking questions and giving "truthful" answers to them. Ownership was not amused. The only partner Harry had (and he was a mentor to me) that he didn't like and made no bones about it was J.C. Martin. Harry felt he had no business being in a broadcast booth. I know J.C. have interviewed him, an extremely nice guy but Harry was right. J.C. was brutal. Mark

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 15, 2015 -> 09:19 PM) Hahn supposedly was ready to fold in mid to late June. KW was the "all in" one again. Do you have any facts behind this? Newspaper stories...anything? Not a rip at you, I just never heard / read anything along these lines. Mark

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 15, 2015 -> 08:56 PM) I know the White Sox under Robin have been the cool, calm, collected, never break a sweat type team whose motto every season seems to be, "It's still early; there's plenty of time left," before finally time runs out, but .... I would think the owner of this team would be flat out embarrassed by tonight's game. If this were a regular business there'd be hell to pay after playing such a s*** game tonight against one's in-town rivals. Oh wait, the Sox players I'm sure don't consider the Cubs a rival, just like the Royals aren't a rival, the Tigers aren't a rival. Sox never get "up" for any team. They're too cool for that. I wish Jerry would throw a fit publicly about this miserable, effortless team. Historically from as far back as April 18, 1981 10th inning show, EE and JR have not considered the Cubs a 'rival'. That's been a huge mistake in my opinion. Mark

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 15, 2015 -> 08:54 PM) All I have to look forward to is a Bears season that is shaping up to be 3-13. Just f***ing shoot me. Well the Hawks aren't really contending this year either regardless of how Kane's situation turns out...plus the Bulls have talent but they just can't stay healthy. I suggest you break out the tapes / DVD's from better times are start watching them a lot. Mark

QUOTE (daa84 @ Aug 15, 2015 -> 08:43 PM) lol there are so many players on this roster that don't belong on a big league roster. Bonifacio, beckham, Sanchez, saladino, probably flowers, probably Thompson. Laroche and Ramirez have a track record but certainly don't belonig in the everyday lineup. Speaks loads about our utter lack of depth in the org I agree with this a lot. The talent just isn't there. Makes you realize how bad off they were in the 2013 season. It's still going to take two / three years of bringing it in to get out of the hole. That is if Kenny 'allows' it. Mark

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Aug 15, 2015 -> 08:33 PM) KW and Hahn never mentioned the 3 year plan nonsense till they were sucking into late July. Cover your ass 101. To be fair I think Hahn briefly mentioned it at Sox Fest. Mark

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 15, 2015 -> 08:25 PM) I can't see how he is brought back next year. Something's going to have to happen. I can...it's called 12 million dollars. The Sox don't "eat" that kind of money (see Dunn, Adam) and LaRoche probably isn't stupid enough to retire so he doesn't collect it. Mark

To me it's not a question of 'love' or 'hate' Hawk. It's the realization that he's 73 and simply not the same broadcaster that he was 20 years ago. Plus for right or wrong, he's a symbol of the ever unchanging Sox organization that has grown stale and set in their ways as far as how to run a baseball opearation. New blood is needed on the baseball side of things and that includes the broadcasting booths in my opinion. Mark