FT35

Totally! I did say “about a billion.” I know the Rangers were at a half billion…but they were closer than we are with the rest of their roster. We are a billion away at least. And that counts calling up minor league talent before it’s ready.

What if Venable sells Jerry on how the Rangers went out and spent about a billion dollars on FAs and it led to a title in like 2-3 years? They sign Soto and Burnes and a closer. They keep Crochet and Robert. (Lol to all!) But they could end up with a rotation of: Crochet Burnes Thorpe N. Shultz H. Smith And a team of: 1B Vaughn 2B Some FA SS Montgomery 3B Ramos OF Soto OF Robert OF Benintendi C Lee/Quero They have some decent bullpen pieces and if they add a closer—that is starting to look like a team that could win at LEAST 50 games, no?!?!

Absolutely bonkers to think that the Sox could be the most improved team in MLB next year by 21 games and still be a 100-loss team and likely finish as the worst team in baseball.

Haven’t been able to say this very often, but it’s been a solid 2 days for the Sox.

They’re so slow to the analytics game, something new will come along before they get good at it.

lol! I’ll work on something!

It shows that he can be honest and accurately assess. Sure they all want jobs but so do a lot of other guys. These guys had their chance and failed in EVERY way. Most of them do not deserve another. Say something that 1. Shows you understand the negative impact and damage your team has caused to sport in general 2. Doesn’t assume you’ll be given another opportunity 3. eludes to the future having success without saying that the keys to that success are the very same group of people who have lost 121 games. Hiring people will see the BS and disqualify for his brainless response. Maybe: “we all need to take a deep look in the mirror to decide if we have what it takes to cut it in MLB. Simply put, this year we did not show why any of us would deserve another job with another MLB team. We all want something better than what we created and will try to take the off-season and assess these difficult decisions.”

Absolutely. Be honest. Come out and say the truth—that none of us deserve a future in MLB. If he doesn’t have the guts to say that—at least don’t recommend that the fix is sticking with the people who have just achieved the most catastrophic result in the history of our game. This is like the captain of the Titanic thinking the very best—THE wisest way to keep the ship from sinking again would be to circle around and hit the same iceberg. I’m not sure what he should say—but nothing close to what he said would be my vote.

Then there’s this quote from Grady: "We're just focused on ourselves and getting better, and we know we have a lot to improve on," he said. "But I think we have the right guys and the right staff in place to get this thing turned around." Really?!?!? The guy in charge on the field is looking at the same guys who have lost 121 games this year being the “right” guys to fix it?!?! This is the voice in Getz’ ear this off-season?! This is bonkers.

When Chris Getz starts a sentence with “we feel pretty good about…” I start to worry big time.

Aside from Jerry, it’s looking like Getz might have been a bigger problem than Rick and Kenny. Some evidence of this would be, all the apparent “problem people” are leaving and they are getting much worse. RH/KW had their own issues obviously (Pedro was the cherry on top) but it was Getz’s failure in player development that forced RH/KW to always try to roll the dice on trades and find FA lightning in a bottle till someone was ready to call up—that talent never came! Getz’s recent comments are as bad as it gets from a GM. Simply offensive. Those comments make him look like he’s a child with no understanding of how things work. Then he stands there on the cusp of being the worst team in history and reflects on his best memory??? He’s no longer standing in the middle of the fire—the fire is long over! He’s standing on unprecedented scorched earth with everything already destroyed and has the gaul to say “my best memory is when I decided to make Crochet a starting pitcher.” What an immature loser! The only ones left standing are Getz and Jerry. Ladies and gentlemen—I give you—“the core of the problem.”

I wouldn’t put a ton of money on this one.

This is starting to sound like one of those new UNO games.

Anyone else notice in the broadcast booth interview last night how Getz literally turned his back on Stone the entire time and only looked at Schriffen to answer questions (including Stone’s questions)? Then as he left, he only said goodbye to and thanked Schriffen for the interview? Thought is was very odd & cold.

IMO, nothing wrong with supporting the guy or hoping he does well, but Getz doesn’t need people coming to his aide to defend him to make people respect him. He needs a record of success to do that. Not a move here and there that happens to work out…we’re talking a prolonged span of success where the franchise returns to its winning ways will be needed to redefine him. He doesn’t really have ANY history of success to refer to now. As of now, he only has a prolonged record of failures to show for his time in the GM role (and other roles) —so he (and JR) deserve the criticism and his defenders don’t have much to stand on. Don’t like it? Turn it around! Start proving people wrong. Start winning—consistently. Don’t rely on others’ narratives to do your bidding. People will come around then. If he’s good, we should be SEEING it—no need to be CONVINCED of it.

Mark Teahen.

White Sox language translated: ”Outside the organization” = “Kansas City Royals”

It’s ALWAYS nice to win—even if it’s rare with this group. Still prepping for a couple of attitudes today. 1. A newfound confidence in Pedro and a puff piece on why Getz was right to wait this out. 2. A fan scolding that has something to do with how we were 1. “Wrong to doubt them” (as though the 1 win is somehow more relevant than the 21 losses) and 2. A call for patience/hope. Listen closely because they might even be worked into the game calls!

How great the .400 win% teams that he’s willing to finance suddenly look next to the .200 team.

One of the biggest jokes is hearing Getz and Pedro talk about how JR “wants to win.” Listen…JR does NOT care about winning. Billionaires who want to win do what it takes to win. They spend money. They don’t tolerate losing. They invest in coaching, resources, prospecting. They invest in their fan base to keep energy around their team. They target the BEST available people—whether it be players, managers, front office, etc. They simply do not allow their franchise to decay in any way that would affect winning. This is not Jerry. He wants to lose. He’s good at losing. He practices losing. He has all the assets available TO win but chooses to LOSE. Frankly, it’s insulting every time I hear how bad Jerry “wants to win.” Give me a break.

I know he’s 100 games under .500 in less than 2 seasons…but in no way should they jump into something too quickly by firing the guy until they know for sure it’s not working out. Like letting Pedro go without first seeing how BP goes in Oakland sounds a little hasty. Don’t want to lose sight of the big picture here—we need to focus on winning tomorrow’s MLB game in Oakland. Now if he drops to 101 or 102 games under .500, that’s totally different—we might just have to start “looking at the options” at that point—but right now?? That’s a little irrational.

Because when you’re 60 games under .500 for the season and 100 games under .500 in the last 2 years, you should probably wait and see if a series in Minnesota can shed NEW light on whether this is “bad enough” yet.

Oh! Maybe Jerry will take a lot lower return for the Bulls just to get the Sox off his books!? Just like he was willing to move Crochet for less just to move 10D’s bad contract?!

I’m all for Moncada leaving town. Can’t really blame the guy for getting covid though since virtually everyone on the planet has had it multiple times whether they are careful or not. I do believe he needs to hang his name on this pile of crap higher than most. It’s been more painful to see him throw away his opportunity to be great than it is watching guys who have no chance at being great.

Sadly, you’re likely right. I guess for me it’s the fact that this has gone past baseball results and into a PR issue. They’ve shown an indifference to winning or losing. They have accepted PROLONGED failure. They refuse to send the message to anyone willing to support their brand that they see this as a matter to be handled with urgency, and that they are even going to act on it at all. There’s no, “hey, we’re tired of this too and we are doing everything we can to fix it until it’s fixed.” Instead, we get this messaging: “oh…the manager who’s 100 games under .500 in just 2 seasons and has lost the team (which has its own liability level for how it effects your organization on/off the field), eh we’ll do something about that at some point, but not now…cause then I’d have to go through that whole process again and I don’t really wanna. And besides, my feelings are still hurt from Crochet’s demands.” If they were fine burning away a 61-win season and were willing to see how this year started off—he should have been gone after the 3-22 start. At that time, ALL signs pointed to this not getting any better. That’s not even hindsight talking…that’s “we’ve already seen all we need to see.” Dude’s 64-123. Where’s the intolerance to total disaster?