Walker May Retire -- according to the Sun Times

[kitekrazy]

Very odd that he had less talent (offensive potential) on the roster as a whole this year than in previous years, and we actually hit better this year than in recent years under his tenure.

 

If people believe coaches are that important, Coop should be gone before Walker. The two young aces seems to be getting worse.

 

[whitesoxfan101]

I actually think Walk did a good job this year. I wish our manager and GM would retire, but we're not that lucky.

[Soxfest]

Go GO GO!

[macsandz]

Hitting coach is the most over-analyzed, over-criticized and ultimately unimportant uniformed person on a bench. It has close to zero effect on a player's in-game performance.

[TheBigHurt]

If people believe coaches are that important, Coop should be gone before Walker. The two young aces seems to be getting worse.

 

Our hitting has been FAR worse for FAR longer, so I don't see any logic there.

Edited September 22, 2010 by TheBigHurt

[greg775]

This is good news if true. I want sweeping changes throuout the organization. 2005 was priceless (and a fluke). But we've been a loser organization for too long now.

 

Be mad all you want, but don't call that season a fluke.

So if we would have lost in the ALCS it would have been a typical Sox magical season (only making the playoffs before meekly dropping out), but just because we made the playoffs and excelled once in the playoffs, you call it a fluke.

 

Sir, that flat out pisses me off.

DONT CALL 05 A FLUKE!!!

If you do, give me some reasons.

The team STEPPED UP in the postseason. It's not that hard to make the postseason. Once the Sox got there this time, the Sox excelled. It was no f***ing fluke.

 

The Sox, who had some f***ing good, PROVEN baseball players, made the playoffs, could have wet the bed (as all other Sox postseason teams in our lifetimes have done) but didn't. The team kicked ass and even swept Houston's ass in the WS.

Houston being there also was a "fluke" right? Only they f***ing got swept.

 

Name some other "flukes" for me throughout sports history. My guess is anytime a non-No. 1 seed in any sport wins it all, it's a f***ing fluke?? Not in my world.

 

Making the playoffs when you play in the Central in theory should be easy. We made the playoffs and kicked some f***ing ass. It was no damn fluke! Any Sox fan that thinks we won by a fluke sure confuses me. I could see a Cub fan saying that, not a Sox fan.

 

p.s. If the Twins win it all this year it won't be a fluke. It'll be a division champ making the playoffs and stepping up and competing and winning when it counts.

 

Ban me if you want, but I truly believe that if any alleged Sox fan believes '05 was a f***ing "fluke" he is no true fan. What is a f***ing fluke anyway? Any team that's not favored that COMPETES and wins it all???

Sure it was unexpected. But The Sox are the 05 World Series champions. They WON IT, not by any damn fluke.

Edited September 22, 2010 by greg775

[hogan873]

Ban me if you want, but I truly believe that if any alleged Sox fan believes '05 was a f***ing "fluke" he is no true fan. What is a f***ing fluke anyway? Any team that's not favored that COMPETES and wins it all???

Sure it was unexpected. But The Sox are the 05 World Series champions. They WON IT, not by any damn fluke.

A fluke is a type of fish.

[chetkincaid]

I'd love to see what kind of hitting coach Dave Martinez could bring along...

 

Dude... don't tease me like that...

Edited September 22, 2010 by Chet Kincaid

[Real]

hitting coaches matter.

 

ask rudy jaramillo, oh wait.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Be mad all you want, but don't call that season a fluke.

So if we would have lost in the ALCS it would have been a typical Sox magical season (only making the playoffs before meekly dropping out), but just because we made the playoffs and excelled once in the playoffs, you call it a fluke.

 

Sir, that flat out pisses me off.

DONT CALL 05 A FLUKE!!!

If you do, give me some reasons.

The team STEPPED UP in the postseason. It's not that hard to make the postseason. Once the Sox got there this time, the Sox excelled. It was no f***ing fluke.

 

The Sox, who had some f***ing good, PROVEN baseball players, made the playoffs, could have wet the bed (as all other Sox postseason teams in our lifetimes have done) but didn't. The team kicked ass and even swept Houston's ass in the WS.

Houston being there also was a "fluke" right? Only they f***ing got swept.

 

Name some other "flukes" for me throughout sports history. My guess is anytime a non-No. 1 seed in any sport wins it all, it's a f***ing fluke?? Not in my world.

 

Making the playoffs when you play in the Central in theory should be easy. We made the playoffs and kicked some f***ing ass. It was no damn fluke! Any Sox fan that thinks we won by a fluke sure confuses me. I could see a Cub fan saying that, not a Sox fan.

 

p.s. If the Twins win it all this year it won't be a fluke. It'll be a division champ making the playoffs and stepping up and competing and winning when it counts.

 

Ban me if you want, but I truly believe that if any alleged Sox fan believes '05 was a f***ing "fluke" he is no true fan. What is a f***ing fluke anyway? Any team that's not favored that COMPETES and wins it all???

Sure it was unexpected. But The Sox are the 05 World Series champions. They WON IT, not by any damn fluke.

 

lol. greg went postal. Ain't nobody banning you. Calm down. And when I sober up I'll explain to you why I think that year was a fluke.

[Milkman delivers]

hitting coaches matter.

 

ask rudy jaramillo, oh wait.

 

Congratulations! You're the 100th person to make that joke in one day!

[Real]

lol. greg went postal. Ain't nobody banning you. Calm down. And when I sober up I'll explain to you why I think that year was a fluke.

 

here's a guess: because the team was just 'ok' prior to 05, and 'ok' to 'bad' afterwards

 

people want their team to have a sustained stretch of dominance after winning a world series, and if they don't, they write it off as a fluke year

 

was 2005 a fluke? it depends on how you look at it, and what you consider a fluke

 

the team IN 2005, was amazing, and if you want to just look AT 2005 only, then that year was elite in every way imaginable

 

i try not to draw comparisons to 2005 from other years because then you start seeing things like Jordan4life

[whitesoxfan101]

lol. greg went postal. Ain't nobody banning you. Calm down. And when I sober up I'll explain to you why I think that year was a fluke.

 

I don't see how you can say 2005 wasn't a fluke at this point. I don't get why people get mad at those of us who call it a fluke. It doesn't make 2005 not feel great, it doesn't change the fact that the championship was earned, and it doesn't cheapen what happened at all. But 2005 was still a fluke.

[NorthSideSox72]

I don't see how you can say 2005 wasn't a fluke at this point. I don't get why people get mad at those of us who call it a fluke. It doesn't make 2005 not feel great, it doesn't change the fact that the championship was earned, and it doesn't cheapen what happened at all. But 2005 was still a fluke.

This is all about what "fluke" means. If you think it means the 2005 team somehow got lucky, then you are delusional. The team that went 1st place wire to wire, won 99 games and went 11-1 in the post-season was without a doubt the best team in baseball in 2005.

 

Now, if by "fluke" you mean that 2005 was an unexpected and/or unlikely event compared to other seasons for the Sox, then obviously yes, it was a fluke. Lots of key players had career years, most specifically in the pitching staff.

 

[hitlesswonder]

I don't see how you can say 2005 wasn't a fluke at this point. I don't get why people get mad at those of us who call it a fluke. It doesn't make 2005 not feel great, it doesn't change the fact that the championship was earned, and it doesn't cheapen what happened at all. But 2005 was still a fluke.

 

A fluke in what sense? Since 2005 the Sox won 90 games in 2006, sucked in 2007, and won 89 games in 2008, and these last two years will have muddled around .500. It seems like the Sox had a pretty good team 2005-2008 with 2007 being a fluke.

 

KW and Ozzie have fairly consistently put good but not great teams on the field. So, I agree that 2005 was a fluke in that it is an outlier, but I don't think that they are total incompetents that got extraordinarily lucky one year. They are a decent organization that got lucky one year.

[mmmmmbeeer]

While I'm glad to see him go, I think Walk was just starting to mature into being a hitting coach. This is the first season he's been on board that we didn't consistently fail against pitchers we hadn't seen before. That alone tells me he matured. On the other hand, our hitters made no adjustments throughout a game, seemed to be without a game plan for each at bat, and he was still missing mechanical flaws (see Beckham stating he wasn't opening up early or it taking a year to figure out Rios hands were starting too high, both of which were easily seen on video).

[kitekrazy]

Wow, don't let someone derail a thread calling 2005 a fluke. I thought Mike North was the only idiot to believe that. Now there are two. Teams change rosters so much that repeats are getting non existent.

[Real]

Wow, don't let someone derail a thread calling 2005 a fluke. I thought Mike North was the only idiot to believe that. Now there are two. Teams change rosters so much that repeats are getting non existent.

 

yeah WS repeats are rare, but we aren't even getting playoff repeats bro. this organization is pathetic right now, there's no euphemisms you can use

[RockRaines]

I don't see how you can say 2005 wasn't a fluke at this point. I don't get why people get mad at those of us who call it a fluke. It doesn't make 2005 not feel great, it doesn't change the fact that the championship was earned, and it doesn't cheapen what happened at all. But 2005 was still a fluke.

At what point? What does the teams since then have in common with that team? Nothing. BY your reasoning, almost every team that has won a WS in the modern era was a fluke. The 2005 White Sox were one of the most dominant teams in the regular and post season in many years. There hasnt been a team to run through the playoffs like the 2005 White Sox did. If they stumbled across the finish line and barely won a title, that could be a fluke. But dominating every team they played in the post season en route to a title, thats flat out winning.

[ThunderBolt]

This is all about what "fluke" means. If you think it means the 2005 team somehow got lucky, then you are delusional. The team that went 1st place wire to wire, won 99 games and went 11-1 in the post-season was without a doubt the best team in baseball in 2005.

 

Now, if by "fluke" you mean that 2005 was an unexpected and/or unlikely event compared to other seasons for the Sox, then obviously yes, it was a fluke. Lots of key players had career years, most specifically in the pitching staff.

IF 2005 was a fluke, then how do we explain 2006? That team was solid too. I'd agree that we were lucky, but i think everyone has a differing idea on what fluke means.

[Balta1701]

IF 2005 was a fluke, then how do we explain 2006?

Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, and Paul Konerko.

 

I don't think 2005 was a fluke...but that was an easy answer.

[Texsox]

I'm not going to debate word meanings, so fluke or not, he did prove that for one season, it could be good.

 

Will a change make a difference? Probably. But I really doubt it will make a huge difference. Averages aren't suddenly going to shoot up. You need the horses on the field. Having said that, I'd like to see a shakeup. I think Ozzie needs to make a couple moves to solidify his employment for next season. It's almost a cliche. A shakeup of the coaching staff before the skipper walks the plank.

[Texsox]

Wow, don't let someone derail a thread calling 2005 a fluke. I thought Mike North was the only idiot to believe that. Now there are two. Teams change rosters so much that repeats are getting non existent.

 

Please refrain from calling people idiots. Depending on how someone defines fluke, them yes, a once in 100 years could easily be called a fluke.

[greg775]

here's a guess: because the team was just 'ok' prior to 05, and 'ok' to 'bad' afterwards

 

people want their team to have a sustained stretch of dominance after winning a world series, and if they don't, they write it off as a fluke year

 

was 2005 a fluke? it depends on how you look at it, and what you consider a fluke

 

the team IN 2005, was amazing, and if you want to just look AT 2005 only, then that year was elite in every way imaginable

 

i try not to draw comparisons to 2005 from other years because then you start seeing things like Jordan4life

 

No team that has as many good "name" players and pitchers as that Sox team could be accused of a "fluke" season. The team was excellent and won.

 

What if Butler would have hit the final shot and won the NCAA title last year? Fluke?

When Kansas beat Memphis a few years ago and wiped out a 9 point deficit in the last 2 minutes. Fluke.

Any non-favored baseball team winning it all? Fluke.

Cmon. Sports are about making the playoffs then playing well when you get there. That White Sox team was excellent. It was no fluke.

If we'd ever make the playoffs again, our pitching staff on paper is good enough to not make our next title a fluke either.

I personally think it's an insulting term. The Sox won in dominating fashion. Why is that a fluke? Your reasoning is not real good to me.

It may have been unexpected to some. By the end of the regular season that team had shown enough for wise pepole to think it had a chance to go all the way. No fluke.

 

I guess in your way of thinking there are flukes all over sports (New Orleans last year?) so I shouldn't get so mad. Flukes in your line of thinking way outnumber non flukes in sports.

[hogan873]

I don't think I've ever seen the word "fluke" used so often. The 2005 team was quite good, and they were almost completely dominant in the playoffs. But everything for that team clicked at the same time. Maybe not a fluke by definition, but it wasn't just the fact that the team was better than every other team.