White Sox hire Phil Nevin as Special Assistant in Player Development

[kitekrazy]

4 hours ago, Tnetennba said:

This is the crazy guy no one wanted as manager, right? Really makes me wonder what qualifies him for a front office job.

Then there's TLR

[kitekrazy]

So a guy who was in an organization the was just a terrible in drafting developing

Well at least he is not a Royal......

[PaleAleSox]

4 minutes ago, kitekrazy said:

So a guy who was in an organization the was just a terrible in drafting developing

Well at least he is not a Royal......

He was a coach for the Yankees longer than he was with the Angels. He also was with the Giants for a year. 

[Chicago White Sox]

44 minutes ago, Quin said:

And sorry @Chicago White Sox, you've been a good poster for years here, but let's be 100:

You once got so fed up with this team that you declared you were leaving Chicago for Nashville due to this team. 

Like, why should the anti-Getz Caucus (if we're truly going this route) support trading a young, live-arm for a 32-year-old carpenter? Hiring a guy toxic ex-manager to be part of the organization? Slashing the payroll to Fischerian levels?

Should we be OK with Reinsdorf playing footsie with Dave Stewart and Nashville while the Ishbia brothers were apparently making offers?

Like, what has the team done to deserve any benefit of the doubt?

I did leave Chicago because of this team.  That’s a true statement.  I fully get the anger of being a White Sox fan.  I am guilty of it as much as anyone.  But I also like discussing the White Sox and looking for reasons to believe things will get better as long as we’re being objective.

And I have no issue with anyone disagreeing with moves as long as they state reasons that aren’t simply “because the White Sox suck”.  Your view on Nevin was completely warranted.  But there handful of posters who simply s%*# on everything and a couple others who just do drive-buys and don’t really add anything to the discussion.  That’s as bad as the non-stop Getz excuse making.

I 100% get being skeptical of everything.  Until Jerry dies, we are a competitive disadvantage and will have to get lucky to ever win a championship.  And Getz may very well be the total boob we all thought he was when first hired.  But that doesn’t mean things still can’t get better in the near-term.  The amount of low hanging fruit throughout the org is vast and even a subpar GM hire can make significant improvements by bringing in smart people from the outside.

Just go to the over / under thread and see some of the takes there.  Losing 121 games takes both a lack of talent and being unlucky.  Getz does not deserve a free pass for this year’s s%*# show of a team, but it’s ok to acknowledge that the team will likely be better next year without doing all that much.  Unfortunately, that level of discussion & debate gets completely lost in the wake of all the hate and spin from both sides.

[Chicago White Sox]

18 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

We have been told this, but apparently with the Jan 15 period coming up, we don't have anyone running Latin American operations, despite firing Paddy months ago.

https://www.soxon35th.com/white-sox-job-opportunity-international-scouting/

I thought that’s what David Keller was brought on to do?

[southsider2k5]

5 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I thought that’s what David Keller was brought on to do?

Well that's what we were told, but that job description sure reads otherwise.

[WestEddy]

7 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I thought that’s what David Keller was brought on to do?

I would think they're breaking down coordination between Latin America, Asia, and the Dominican. 3 assistants to Keller. I don't know this, though.

[Nardiwashere]

It looks like they are just hiring someone to work in the international scouting team.... why is that noteworthy?

 

Definitely don't see it as "no one is running Latin America operations" lol

Edited 19 hours ago by Nardiwashere

[Chicago White Sox]

18 minutes ago, T R U said:

Getz aside, my main point was we had back to back 100 loss season for the first time ever (including the worst season in MLB history) so the mood and discussion around here is just not going to be in the majority positive.

Its hard to have an actual discussion when our roster is trash, there is nothing worth discussing about Austin Slater being an improvement over Gavin Sheets in RF. Like who gives a f***, there is no positive way to spin that.

The best thing for all of us is to see plenty of the kids this season and them to show promise. Then we will have way better things to discuss. Right now, its optimist trying to sell Mike Tauchman and Bryse Wilson as some sort of reason why this team is going to win 55 games, I mean come on.   

But winning 55 games isn’t that hard.  In all honesty, Getz should probably be fired if he can’t get us there next year.  As I have stated before, a team full of replacement players should theoretically win 48 games.  We need 7 to 10 fWAR total from our entire roster to have a solid chance of achieving that mark.  Yes, that’s a 14 game improvement, but we underperformed our Pythagorean by 7 games last year.  We also have a lot more players that project to be above replacement level than we did last year.  Tauchman & Slater are older, boring, low ceiling players, but could easily represent four win improvement over the disaster that was RF for us last year.  And don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to hype up 55 wins, but I don’t believe you have to be an optimist to see a normal really bad team vs. the worst in baseball history.

But yes, I fully agree with you, I want to talk about the kids.  The dumpster dives serve a purpose, but untimely don’t change the long-term trajectory.  Hopefully once games start we’ll have some better topics to discuss, whether good or bad.

[caulfield12]

8 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

I would think they're breaking down coordination between Latin America, Asia, and the Dominican. 3 assistants to Keller. I don't know this, though.

When is the last time they physically even had a single scout covering Japan Korea and Taiwan?

The last original Dominican White Sox signing to make an impression was pitcher Jesus Pena nearly a decade ago.

[Chicago White Sox]

25 minutes ago, T R U said:

A good example, go look at our current 40 man roster. There is not one good major leaguer on that thing outside of Luis Robert and even that depends on who you ask around here. 

This organization is just in the dumps from top to bottom and how they go, the fan base goes unfortunately.

But go look at our Steamer 600 projections for next year.  The rotation is going to be worse no doubt, but the positional group should be substantially better even with no major outside additions.  And for the record, I don’t buy all those projections, but it’s nice to see a bunch of guys in their mid 20’s with 1.5 to 2.0 win totals vs. the crap we were forced fed last year.

[caulfield12]

14 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

But winning 55 games isn’t that hard.  In all honesty, Getz should probably be fired if he can’t get us there next year.  As I have stated before, a team full of replacement players should theoretically win 48 games.  We need 7 to 10 fWAR total from our entire roster to have a solid chance of achieving that mark.  Yes, that’s a 14 game improvement, but we underperformed our Pythagorean by 7 games last year.  We also have a lot more players that project to be above replacement level than we did last year.  Tauchman & Slater are older, boring, low ceiling players, but could easily represent four win improvement over the disaster that was RF for us last year.  And don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to hype up 55 wins, but I don’t believe you have to be an optimist to see a normal really bad team vs. the worst in baseball history.

But yes, I fully agree with you, I want to talk about the kids.  The dumpster dives serve a purpose, but untimely don’t change the long-term trajectory.  Hopefully once games start we’ll have some better topics to discuss, whether good or bad.

When Fedde for $15 million/2 years was pushing the budget and guys like Sean Manaea are getting 67% more for just one year...

Remember how long that Machado thread was and how many times we thought a signing was imminent...at least 2-3 ESPN headlines worth, we currently don't have a single FA in the Top 50-75 that we're known to be targeting, and that's pretty much 60-75% of every off season.

Sasaki's clearly not going to sign here...but half the fun of this off season is just rooting for big names not to land with the Dodgers Mets or Yankees.

 

Having just a glitter of hope over a potential new stadium deal (and not a team relocation to Nashville) would probably help as well...as even the A's fans have some hope now, right?

Edited 19 hours ago by caulfield12

[Chicago White Sox]

6 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

When Fedde for $15 million/2 years was pushing the budget and guys like Sean Manaea are getting 67% more for just one year...

Remember how long that Machado thread was and how many times we thought a signing was imminent...at least 2-3 ESPN headlines worth, we currently don't have a single FA in the Top 50-75 that we're known to be targeting, and that's pretty much 60-75% of every off season.

Sasaki's clearly not going to sign here...but half the fun of this off season is just rooting for big names not to land with the Dodgers Mets or Yankees.

I have no justification for the inability to spend any more.  Don’t get me wrong, now is not the time to splurge on B & C tier free agents who will likely be bad by the time we have any semblance of a competitive roster in place.  But I would definitely sign some bounce back guys to one year deals and hope to spin them as the deadline.  Unfortunately, cheap ass Jerry doesn’t seem willing to even foot that type of bill.

[WestEddy]

43 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

When is the last time they physically even had a single scout covering Japan Korea and Taiwan?

The last original Dominican White Sox signing to make an impression was pitcher Jesus Pena nearly a decade ago.

I don't know. I believe it's been implied that Getz wants to have a foot in the Dominican, and they want to have an Asian presence. So, while they have a person in charge of international scouting, I would assume the hire being advertised on LinkedIn is for somebody to focus on Latin America. 

[TaylorStSox]

So what does a Special Assistant in Player Development do?

[Chicago White Sox]

1 hour ago, TaylorStSox said:

So what does a Special Assistant in Player Development do?

That’s what I want to know.  Doesn’t sound like this is KW Jr’s old role either.

[caulfield12]

Maybe replacing Mike Gellinger's old role in the system...sort of a jack of all trades.

[Y2Jimmy0]

David Keller has the same innocuous title that Marco Paddy had but my interpretation is that he’s essentially the international director and Louis Silverio is running the academy. This hire for a coordinator is basically the #2 to Keller. They will coordinate between the area scouts and staff in the DR up to Keller and the front office. It’s a big job, but a necessary one. 

[Lip Man 1]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2024/12/23/white-sox-to-hire-phil-nevin-as-special-assistant

[Soxfest]

Go away Tony tired of your involvement in organization 

[hi8is]

9 hours ago, Nardiwashere said:

I love when random message board guys sitting at their work laptops get bent out of shape about a hire like this.  As if they know anything about the role he's hired for or his qualifications. 

I wish I was so confident about s%*# I don't know about like some of you.  Truly remarkable skill.  

I tend to agree.

[hi8is]

1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2024/12/23/white-sox-to-hire-phil-nevin-as-special-assistant

I’ll save other folks from having to get through the sun times wall…

”

Nevin will be involved in numerous roles, including amateur scouting. The move is expected to be made official in January.

It’s the latest new addition as general manager Chris Getz shakes up the Sox’ infrastructure, leadership and research and development operations. Recent additions include Venable, special assistant David Keller who is overseeing international scouting, director of hitting Ryan Fuller, bench coach Walker McKinven, assistant hitting coach Joel McKeithan and former coach and interim manager Grady Sizemore in the role of offensive coordinator.”

There isn’t much more said.

[hi8is]

5 hours ago, TaylorStSox said:

So what does a Special Assistant in Player Development do?

From what I’ve been able to see so far, “numerous roles”… without any specifics given.

I imagine Getz will make it clear in January when this is expected to be formally announced.

How depressing is it that our franchise is in such a deplorable state that this is the most deserving topic of discussion.

It’s going to be a LONG winter and a slow ass march to spring.

[caulfield12]

2 hours ago, hi8is said:

I’ll save other folks from having to get through the sun times wall…

”

Nevin will be involved in numerous roles, including amateur scouting. The move is expected to be made official in January.

It’s the latest new addition as general manager Chris Getz shakes up the Sox’ infrastructure, leadership and research and development operations. Recent additions include Venable, special assistant David Keller who is overseeing international scouting, director of hitting Ryan Fuller, bench coach Walker McKinven, assistant hitting coach Joel McKeithan and former coach and interim manager Grady Sizemore in the role of offensive coordinator.”

There isn’t much more said.

"Joel McKeithan, Terry Bradshaw, and Tim LaMont have all been dismissed by the Reds and will not be returning for the 2025 season. The Reds finished the 2024 season ranked 21st in OPS, with several key players experiencing a notable regression from their strong 2023 performances."

McKeithan was quite young to take over as hitting coach with Cincy and only lasted for one season...Terry Francona apparently came in and wanted to bring in all his own staff, which is perfectly reasonable above and beyond the overall team struggles (outside of Elly de la Cruz.)

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

14 hours ago, Quin said:

Ah, we're still the same stupid organization.

Because why exactly ? Does every person Tony LaRussa thinks is a good baseball man automatically mean he isn't ?

 

13 hours ago, Tony said:

Oh, James thinks something this front office did is great? I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you...

Are we now cancelling anyone who can be connected to LaRussa in any way as unfit for hire or anyone who doesn't object to that hire as a shill for the Sox organization ?

That seems like what's being implied in some posts without actually saying it. We are now endorsing cancel culture ?