Lip Man 1

I don't think the Sox front office is feeling their "window" will be all of four years. I'd certainly hope not...not the way Hahn was talking about sustained contending. If the Sox truly want to try to win for a sustained time period they are going to have to pay the price financially to the players and much will also depend on who the owner is in that time period.

That's pretty bad on both counts and for both catchers in my opinion.

Maybe...maybe not...all depends on who the owner is three/four years from now.

I actually thought Narvaez could be a decent back up catcher. Guess not, six passed balls already...in limited time. He's as bad as Tyler Flowers.

I agree but it takes two to make a deal. A free agent has to want to come to the Sox. If this team were to say lose 100 games this year, even though it's clearly understood that it is rebuilding it may be hard to convince a top free agent, regardless of the money being offered to come to the Sox. Guys want to win now for the most part and don't have a lot of patience given how relatively short the career is. That's why I feel that the Sox must show some type of progress this season, if nothing else to plant a positive image in the minds of the guys they may be looking at this off season.

Folks: If you haven't seen this show on NBC Sports Chicago when it comes on again you need to. I was absolutely floored by the fact that somehow they found the actual TV broadcast footage from Bill's 33rd home run at home against Milwaukee on September 30, 1971 to win the A.L. title. It had to have come from the channel 2 news originally because the graphics on the video (and they were from that time period) said, "White Sox Highlights, Courtesy WFLD-TV, Brent Musburger Reporting." Brent of course was working for channel 2 at that time. For that footage to have survived is unbelievable. No nat sound from Harry Caray but still worth seeing the show just for that one clip. They did have other TV footage of Bill playing with the Sox as well. Just incredible. I remember to this day walking home from Brother Rice high school listening to the end of that game on my radio and hearing Harry say that Bill got the record. Also Chuck Garfien just released a podcast with Bill this morning on the 50th anniversary of his White Sox debut. The audio highlight of Bill with Harry doing play by play in 1973 at Kansas City came from my library. NBC Sports Chicago contacted me yesterday and I was happy to send it along to them. That was a nice discussion with Bill as well for any interested.

Nice to see them get a win like this.

Head scratching move by Ricky. Jones is really the only guy in the bullpen pitching well. Ricky uses him in the 8th inning instead of closing. He brings Soria in...who promptly blows the game. Oh well.

We have to see what happens now with Hansen after he's thrown a few times. As mentioned he's not out of the woods yet. Remember Rodon last year had issues, came back, had issues again.

Been calling them that for years. Sounds fine to me.

Great news especially with Hansen.

It's the Cub-une with their rotating reporter coverage of the Sox.

Valid point. Disappointment in him is perhaps to strong a word, I'm very concerned about the errors overall. 48 errors, many on simple plays is a lot to me, 3rd year inexperience or not. My comment on base running is tied to baseball sense. He's gotten picked off especially this year at some very inopportune times. Maybe that's also because of his inexperience. We'll see. Also he's had a half season, a full season and the first month to this year in the majors, plus a number of spring training games so he's not as raw in my opinion as you believe. I will say this, if the Sox happen to select one of the shortstops rumored to be connected to them with that #4 pick this June, that will tell me something.

In my personal opinion a players' race has nothing to do with how I view him as a baseball player. Anderson is now in his 3rd season at the major league level, he's made as of now 48 errors. He's made a number of base running mistakes (which include being picked off). I'm curious at what point fans feel the time will have ended for using the comment "he needs more experience"? Personally I don't care for the "antics" for wont of a better word but if the guy is a top notch ballplayer I can live with them. I'd be more comfortable with his situation if he spent less time on the "antics" and perhaps more on development. I had hoped by his 3rd season he'd be further along in his defense / base running skills. His offense is improving I will say that for him. And regarding Ramirez I will relate something one of the Sox announcers told me (and no I'm not going to say who) "he's the dumbest shortstop in the league" (direct quote.) Alexei was a talented athlete who far to often in my opinion, let concentration lapses get the better of him.

Sox apparently called up Minaya yet again. It seems like he and Infante are like vampires, they keep rising up from the dead.

Must be something about Kauffman Stadium since the Sox have hit, what, 12 homers there in three games?

Balanced by the fact that he (Anderson) made another huge base running blunder which took the Sox basically out of the one real chance they had to do anything. He's got all the talent in the world but it's been about a year and a half at the big league level are we are still number these mistakes far to much. His baseball sense simply has got to improve.

Just wondering has anybody heard any news on Burdi? he should be throwing by now shouldn't he? I think it's been a year of so since the surgery. Thanks.

Some other factors will be in play assuming your comment comes to pass, namely if JR is still the owner and if he is, remember how much loyalty means to him, even in a situation where the rebuild is not successful. Those are wild cards moving forward, again if your comment actually happened in the next few seasons.

So this is what a win is like?

Gonzales to DL, Beck called up. Basically just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic because Beck is really bad as well.

Speaking of Burdi has anyone heard anything about him recently? I think it's been a year or so since his surgery and shouldn't he be throwing by now? I don't necessarily mean throwing off a mound just starting to throw again.

Well said and certainly true among a segment of the fan base. History shows they certainly have a reason to be skeptical. I supported and still do the rebuild but the concerns are valid in my opinion. And I supported the rebuild not because I necessarily agree with it (I mean we're talking a team in Chicago...not Kansas City, Milwaukee or Cincinnati, a much small location that doesn't have the same advantages) but because since ownership wasn't changing and the front office wasn't changing, it was the only logical thing to do under those constrictions.

I'd argue about Alvarez having a "disappointing" Sox career. The guy had two outstanding seasons (93-94) threw a no-hitter, made the All Star Team, had a stretch where he threw 30 straight shutout innings. I think he had 11 or 12 straight winning decisions at one point. He also was pretty healthy and took the ball often. That's not bad. His agent and the Sox did not get along which was a big reason why he was traded. Rodon has had his moments, like the game where he struck out the first seven Twins he faced, but overall in large part because he's made of glass, he's been a disappointment. And I'd argue because he's got the same agent as Alvarez, if he can get healthy he'll be testing the market in two years. And if he's done well, he'll be way beyond the Sox price range. For a guy who was such a very, very high pick, that is a disappointing Sox career in my opinion.

You have to trust the process because it does take time and frankly there's not a lot you as an average fan can do about if, if anything at all. However as a friend of mine posted, this front office hasn't earned the right to get the benefit of the doubt and I certainly see where he's coming from given that it was the same front office that put the franchise into the hole it has been in basically since late September 2012. He also brought up something that really makes you stop and consider. He listed all the recent first round draft picks by this front office and how they are doing. It was sobering to be sure: Rodon, Burdi, Bummer (Injured) Anderson (Very inconsistent at the ML level) Fulmer (Struggling badly at the ML level) Collins (Struggling badly in Double A)