Keeping Kenny or Keeping Ozzie

[Cali]

Is it wrong that I honestly hope Ozzie goes off on some homophobic, racist, antisemitic rant to end all rants, so JR's hand is basically forced to fire him? Cause I'm pretty sure that's the only way he's gonna go....

[Thad Bosley]

Agreed. This is JR we're talking about. Unless Ozzie is leaving on his own terms, it doesn't matter if the sox go 62-100 next year, he will still be the manager.

Well, if he was ever going to leave, now would seem to be the opportune time to do so. He has what appears to be as appealing an opportunity he could wish for waiting for him in his hometown of Miami. The job with the Marlins would seem to be the perfect landing spot for him were he to leave. He has a good, albeit brief, history with that team. He'd be in the National League where he could play NL-style baseball to his heart's content. And by going down there he would get him far, far away from Kenny Williams. So despite the JR element, I think it's quite possible he could make the move. We'll see!

Edited September 17, 2010 by Thad Bosley

[justBLAZE]

Is it wrong that I honestly hope Ozzie goes off on some homophobic, racist, antisemitic rant to end all rants, so JR's hand is basically forced to fire him? Cause I'm pretty sure that's the only way he's gonna go....

 

It is wrong that you actually think Ozzie would do such a thing, he is smarter than many think he is.

[JohnCangelosi]

I am open to having a new GM in place and I am torn about Ozzie. One thing I wish is if we had Ozzie running the club but someone else making the decisions on when to pull pitchers, what lineups to put out there, and what players he'd have on his roster :-)

 

Is it just BS that the players enjoy playing for him? I like the fact that he seems as if he's the boss (and not a pu*sy like Jerry Manuel) and players say they like him but his decision making sucks....

[Dick Allen]

I wouldn't mind if they changed both, but that's not going to happen. I would be shocked if KW left or was given a new title. I think he loves what he does and is staying. I think Ozzie has to decide if he wants to fight with KW another year. He's not getting canned. He does love to be wanted and has a need to hear it. It will be interesting to see if teams with openings ask to speak with Ozzie. If the Sox say sure, does that mean Ozzie will feel he isn't wanted? If it does, then he'll go I believe, and I think the Sox will let other teams speak to him.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Is it wrong that I honestly hope Ozzie goes off on some homophobic, racist, antisemitic rant to end all rants, so JR's hand is basically forced to fire him? Cause I'm pretty sure that's the only way he's gonna go....

 

Not at all.

[fathom]

Is it wrong that I honestly hope Ozzie goes off on some homophobic, racist, antisemitic rant to end all rants, so JR's hand is basically forced to fire him? Cause I'm pretty sure that's the only way he's gonna go....

 

Been hoping for this for a while.

[hi8is]

KW - Yay

Ozzie - Nay

[southsider2k5]

You're joking about them being the same type of managers, right? Those two are nothing alike, other than they both have more respect for the game than many of the players. Beyond that, they are going to be very different.

 

Fisk would have some downsides, but some serious upsides as well.

 

Another name that has floated around before is Ventura. I think he'd be excellent, but he's also said he wants his kids to finish high school before he goes back to baseball full time. I am not sure if that has happened yet.

 

They are both stubborn, temperamental, and egotistical. I can't see Fisk being the kind of guy to defer to stats when he about kicked Deion Sanders ass for not respecting the game.

[Dick Allen]

There is no way Carlton Fisk is going to be hired to manage the White Sox. For one thing, he's been away way too long, and second but most important, JR doesn't like the guy. Publicly, he'll say the right things about him, but if you really wanted his true opinion, it wouldn't be pretty. And for those who think that really matters very little, look at Larry Himes. He built JR a 94 win team and set them up for years with the smallest payroll in baseball every year he was a GM, only to be shown the door when his contract expired because JR thought he was a miserable person. He thinks about as highly of Fisk as he does Himes.

Edited September 18, 2010 by Dick Allen

[mcgrad70]

Does Hahn have a track record? Does he know what he's doing?

 

I'd boot Kenny. Keep Ozzie but revamp the team back to a plodding home run hitting team to go with our supposed great pitching staff.

I'd never bunt to keep Soxtalk happy and tell Ozzie no NL style ball anymore.

With all the home run hitters, I'd still put a great defensive team out there somehow as well.

 

Fire Kenny. Keep Ozzie. Pray Hahn is good GM.

 

if La Russa comes back, they're all gone

[mcgrad70]

Does Hahn have a track record? Does he know what he's doing?

 

I'd boot Kenny. Keep Ozzie but revamp the team back to a plodding home run hitting team to go with our supposed great pitching staff.

I'd never bunt to keep Soxtalk happy and tell Ozzie no NL style ball anymore.

With all the home run hitters, I'd still put a great defensive team out there somehow as well.

 

Fire Kenny. Keep Ozzie. Pray Hahn is good GM.

 

Aren't all of you sick of this kind of charade.

Kenny will still be making all decisions but can now hide behind some puppet.

Is there somebody out there willing to buy this team?

 

[mcgrad70]

I've been as hard on Kenny as anyone. But I'll never criticize him for the Peavy deal. So forget about Clayton Richard. Gio? I like him. But he net us Gavin Floyd. Daniel Hudson? Inexcusable.

 

And yes, I want Ozzie gone last week.

 

I wanted him gone the last day of the 2009 season

 

[mcgrad70]

It's funny how so many people around here blame Ozzie for this season and want him gone ASAP, while so many outside analysts have called this Ozzie's greatest managerial effort yet, even better than 2005.

 

He took a team dead in the water in late May and got them to believe and play some incredible baseball and get back in the pennant race. Interleague or not, its still not easy to win that many baseball games at once.

 

But they're dead in the water now, so what's your point?

Minnesota gained back the 14 games they lost to them during the early summer.

Yeah, some great managerial work that was.

 

[mcgrad70]

Really?? That would kinda suck.

 

I guess it would, Ozzie.

 

[mcgrad70]

If I could only bust one, it would be Williams.

 

 

Sell the club to Mark Cuban and start over. Reinsdorf's act is old and tired. White Sox fans deserve better, without all of the BS drama that surrounds this club.

 

 

I thought I was the only sane one here...thanks much

 

The only problem is Reinsdorf's involvement with the Bulls.

No way, Reinsdorf with that ego of his would subject himself to a new owner coming in and changing the face of the franchise and undoing his every bad decision.

You have to force him out of sports completely in Chicago.

 

Take Mike Jordan and 2005 away and he's probably gone by now.

Edited September 19, 2010 by mcgrad70

[mcgrad70]

At least it might be a thrill ride with Cuban. Cuban is the anti Reinsdorf.

 

The 3 time world series champions in a row Oakland A's had drama for days....

Those teams had several HOFs on it..

 

[mcgrad70]

I would laugh and laugh if that haunts the Sox more than the Thome walk off HR of 2010.

I will call it the Larussa effect.

 

Managers get too much credit and blame for what happens on the field.

 

This manager in particular needed his imprint on every game so he opened the door for more criticism.

Ozzie is at his best when he's a spectator.

You could mop the floor with him playing chess.

 

[mcgrad70]

It is wrong that you actually think Ozzie would do such a thing, he is smarter than many think he is.

 

Ozzie is not very bright, sorry....

 

[mcgrad70]

There is no way Carlton Fisk is going to be hired to manage the White Sox. For one thing, he's been away way too long, and second but most important, JR doesn't like the guy. Publicly, he'll say the right things about him, but if you really wanted his true opinion, it wouldn't be pretty. And for those who think that really matters very little, look at Larry Himes. He built JR a 94 win team and set them up for years with the smallest payroll in baseball every year he was a GM, only to be shown the door when his contract expired because JR thought he was a miserable person. He thinks about as highly of Fisk as he does Himes.

 

JR would do anything to get La Russa back.

If he failed this time, he'd probably would give up his chairmanship.

Remember, Reinsdorf is not the majority owner of either the Bulls or the Sox.

The Sox are not run by sportsmen.

They're run by businessmen who could give a rat's ass about winning championships.

Sports is a great tax write-off for the under the sheets millionaires and (yes) billionaires that own the Sox.

 

[chw42]

I don't know if you can call this Ozzie's greatest managerial effort ever, at all.

 

2008 might have been his best, but this year has been downright awful.

 

First off, the team underachieved in April and May, way underachieved. It doesn't matter what you blame it on, everything went wrong. Pitching sucked, hitting sucked (Jim Thome would have been nice, yeah...), and I'm sure Ozzie didn't help any of it by bunting with Gordon Beckham like he's Juan Pierre.

 

Then, you know what happened? The law of averages came into play. We went through a easy part of the schedule, our talent started showing up, our luck began to turn, and our team confidence went through the roof. But as always, you can't play .750 baseball, nobody can. So we started to fall, now whether or not that's Ozzie fault is debatable, but you know, having Jim Thome hitting home runs as opposed to Mark Kotsay grounding out to second helps. And come September, what do you know? The team's tired, plays like s***, gives up, and falls out of contention with half the month left to go when they were within striking distance at the start of it.

 

It's the same damn saga almost every year. When Ozzie's your manager, your team will suck late in the year, even if the rotating DH is in effect. We're like the anti-Rockies. Maybe Ozzie should ask Jim Tracy how he keeps his guys so fresh in September.

[Wanne]

Maybe Ozzie should ask Jim Tracy how he keeps his guys so fresh in September.

 

Massengill...

[greg775]

Ozzie is a former player who played in the era of big contracts.

He's cocky.

Some people can't deal with that.

[hogan873]

Ozzie is a former player who played in the era of big contracts.

He's cocky.

Some people can't deal with that.

Unfortunately his cockiness gets in the way of managing a game properly...or talking his GM into which players to acquire or not acquire.

[LittleHurt05]

Ozzie is a former player who managed in the era of big contracts.

He's cocky.

Some people can't deal with that.

 

Fixed.