Steve Stone Should Stop Complaining

Steve Stone is tired of your negativity. And he wants you to know it — so much so that it’s become a hobbyhorse during broadcasts of the White Sox’ 3-8 start the second half.

Not content to carry water for the Sox org exclusively over the air waves, he’s also taken to Twitter to reprimand Sox fans that are tired of all the losing.

The subtext to this (and many of the Stone Pony’s other recent tweets) is that A) he doesn’t know how long it takes to build a house, B) he thinks that because the Sox set a rebuilding course before the 2017 season, the organization shouldn’t be looked at with a critical eye until… 2022, I guess? The secondary implication is that anyone who doubts the team’s ability to successfully execute the remaining steps in the rebuild is a Bad Fan.

Now, I generally try to look on the bright side. And I like Stone. In fact, I’m on record that his broadcasts the last two years are the best of his Sox career. But give me a damn break, Steve.

This is an organization that has demonstrated time and time again over the last two decades that its primary concern is profitability, not winning. It’s why we’re watching Adam Engel instead of Luis Robert right now. It’s why Eloy Jimenez wasn’t called up last season, and why Michael Kopech only got in four major league appearances before his elbow popped. It’s why they didn’t sign Manny Machado or Bryce Harper. It’s why we’ve endured Ervin Santana, Adam LaRoche, Jeff Keppinger, and on and on, instead of more productive, higher-end free agents.

The front office has also consistently failed to creatively problem solve and has shown no interest in the forward-thinking strategies now relied on by industry leaders like the Astros and Rays. That’s why they came into the season with Dylan Covey as the only organizational starting pitching depth to speak of, and why they keep throwing him out there to get battered in spite of evidence that an opener could help him out. It’s why they’ve failed to draft and/or develop high-end talent at a rate comparable with successful rebuilds. It’s why they still bunt.

Yet according to Stone, having higher expectations makes you a fairweather fan. We, the baseball lovers who fund this outfit, are supposed to smile as they careen towards another 90-loss season… in spite of the fact that they haven’t made the playoffs in 11 years, or even finished over .500 in 7.

I’m not usually one to get worked up by a team broadcaster, but Stone’s comments are yet another symptom of an organization that is out of touch. I thought one silver lining of the rebuild was that we would be spared from the constant fan-shaming that defined the White Sox’ slog between mediocre seasons in the early 2010’s. But here comes Stone with a new twist on an old classic! It’s almost as if nothing about the franchise has changed despite the rebuild!

I do agree with him on one count: it sucks that so many fans, including myself, feel frustrated by the Sox. But the fault isn’t ours, it’s with the team! Show me a good faith effort to win some frickin’ baseball games and I’ll be more positive. Start by adding Robert, and ending the Covey/Ross Detwiler 5th starter carousel — that’ll make me smile. Sign Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon this offseason, and I’ll shoot rainbows out my ass.

Until then, I’ll be as negative as I please, Steve.

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mikeyb

I (let’s call me Jerry) hired a builder (let’s call him Rick), and he purchased the best materials, at a discount, for all of the finishes. Everything was going to look beautiful and impressive, but he forgot to buy quality materials for the foundation and framing. The house collapsed as he was building it.

But luckily, he hadn’t installed those beautiful finishing materials. Now, at this point, if I was smart, I could have hired a new builder, and handed over those materials to him. But I’m an absolute dumbass, so I kept paying that builder to tear down his mess and try again. 7 years since hiring this builder, my neighbors are getting pretty damn tired of all of this ruckus and dust and rebuilding, with nothing to show for it but a giant pile of rubble.

But I sure am pleased that the contractor’s marketing guy (let’s call him Steve) keeps running up to my neighbors’ front doors and screaming at them “trust the process, jerks.”

PauliePaulie

I believe the Sox will hold at the deadline to prop up the win total a few games and claim (phantom) rebuild progression.
A few draft spots isn’t the end of the world. The issue comes with them going into 2020 with Abreu on a multi-year deal, McCann as the starting C and Colome as the Closer.
Without a fully formed, deep, team, adding Cole, Ozuna and Reliever X just makes them the 2018 and 2019 Phillies or 2019 Reds.

mikeyb

I would 100% be excited if the 2020 White Sox are as good as the 2019 Phillies.

PauliePaulie

If they spent $55mil in FA’s in the offseason to get there?
That’s not a movie I want to watch again.

mikeyb

A wild card contender, on pace to finish 9 games better than 2019? Yeah, I would take that level of improvement for 2020.

Your other option is to basically do nothing and make your $55 million gambit after 2020 instead. I’d rather just get the free agents here sooner rather than later and inject a legitimate shot at the playoffs a year earlier.

Trooper Galactus

I know fans of the White Sox have reasons not to be aware of this, but it is possible to spend $55 million on free agents and not do it stupidly.

Madness!

Madness? comment image

HallofFrank

The 2019 White Sox are arguably as good as the 2019 Reds. Adding Cole, Ozuna, and Reliever X should be close to adding 8-10 wins. Toss in Robert, Madrigal, Kopech, and improvements to current talent, and a failure to be better than the 2019 Reds would take something near a disaster. 

But I agree with mikeyb- if you told me we signed Cole, Ozuna, and Reliever X and were over .500 after the All-Star break next year? I’d be great with that. In the AL Central, the 2019 Phillies are definitely playoff contenders. 

PauliePaulie

“arguably”
Run differential has them 11.5 games apart.
Adding those players plus regression from the Closer and starting catcher, while hamstringing future payrolls reminds me too much of 2014/2015, with slightly more margin for error and a slightly longer shelf-life

As Cirensica

So adding Cole and Ozuna are a step in the wrong direction? They are about the best players available to complement our core players

PauliePaulie

IMO, big pitcure view, adding those 2 for 2020 and beyond is a mistake.
I believe that potential mid and long-term consequences outweigh the expected near term WAR boost.

HallofFrank

I get the hesitancy to sign Ozuna, but signing Cole would be awesome. He’s the best pitcher on the market, and the best pitcher you could reasonably hope to find in any market. He’s been relatively healthy, and is exactly what the Sox need. 

If the Sox aren’t in on Cole and at least matching the market, then they really need to ask themselves what they are even doing here. 

mikeyb

That’s fair, and to be honest, I may just be so desperate for something approaching “consistently enjoyable baseball” that I could be taking too short-sighted of a view here.

PauliePaulie

and as I’ve said before, I may be so jaded by ’14/’15 and what I perceive to be mistakes by Cinci and Philly that I’m unnecessarily gun shy about adding what could be quality and sorely needed reinforcements.

roke1960

As much as I’d like to see the Sox sign Cole, there is no way Jerry will get into a bidding war, let alone win one for him. I’d really like to see them trade for Greinke. He is still one of the top pitchers in baseball and it looks like Arizona would eat $10M of his salary each of the next two years. He shouldn’t cost too must in prospect capital and we would have him for $24M per year, something Jerry could probably accept. He would look great in front of Giolito, Kopech, Cease, Rodon/Lopez/Dunning.

HallofFrank

The 2019 White Sox are a good case study, though, in how run-differential is not *necessarily* (although it usually is) a good predictor of success. When you essentially have a dead spot in your rotation like the White Sox do, and a thin bullpen, blowouts are unavoidable. Despite the blowouts, I think you can still look at this team and predict a bit-below-.500 performance even if their Pythagorean W/L suggests they are worse. 

PauliePaulie

I recall preseason predictions assessing this team and coming in well below that.
I don’t think they were wrong to reach that conclusion.

Trooper Galactus

The White Sox are 3-8 since the All-Star break. Those predictions may yet prove accurate.

karkovice squad

Well, comparing records and run-differentials in 1 season is a pretty bad place to start discussing what to do about future seasons in the first place. So fine, we can expect regression from McCann and Colome. But regression might cut the other way or we might get more development surprises like Anderson, Giolito, and Moncada out of Cease, Lopez, and others. Plus they’ve got some minor leaguers to promote and some other guys returning from injury.

All of which is to say that the conversation should start with player projections, payroll on the books, expected budgets, and the running service time clocks in their core. Which means the Sox should both get a move on and not set an excessively low budget cap.

PauliePaulie

Looking at other teams who jumped the gun on trying to contend, mortgaged financial futures and wasted prospects for short term nothingness is a perfect spot to start talking about why this team isn’t ready.
Injuries and poor prospect development say they should’t get a move on.
Spend the $ when they know where it will be best allocated and what prospect capital they have to use on younger, less expensinve team controlled final pieces.
Blinders should also be left off when considering how high the payroll can be expected to climb and what an unnecessary or unwise expenditure could mean to how long the team would remain competitive.

roke1960

Let me start by saying a Jerry-owned team will never spend this, but what would be wrong with adding a front line starter, Grandal, and a power hitting outfield/DH bat, and re-sign Abreu for 1-2 yrs? We know that Moncada, Eloy, Timmy are certain parts of the upcoming contending teams, and Robert and Madrigal should be ready to go by next spring. That covers 5 spots. Adding Abreu, Grandal and a big rf/DH bat would cover 8 spots. Adding a front line starter to Giolito, Cease, Kopech, Rodon, Lopez, Dunning gives us a pretty good rotation. I just would not want to see them waste another year while the clock keeps ticking on Moncada, Giolito and others. The division is weak- they can certainly contend for the Central title next year with 2 or 3 big expenditures.

karkovice squad

Reds committed payroll next year is <$60m before arb with no big paydays on the horizon. Sonny Gray's really going to limit what they can do.

Phillies are a bit worse off at $108m with some bigger arb awards coming. But their previous max budget was also $40m higher than this season. Bet they really regret their spending, too.

And no, injuries and poor prospect development mean you spend on free agents if your desire is to see this core win because those prospects now have diminished likelihood of either panning out or being traded for someone useful. The alternative isn't holding, which just wastes money and production anyway. It's hitting the button on another rebuild.

Looking at single season results is just worthless for planning because there's so much variance involved. See how the Sox managed to bullpen their way around .500 for half a season in spite of everything.

PauliePaulie

The Reds spent more than $ building this team. Phils also gave up prospects and spent last offseason spending $ and prospects trying to fix the gun jumping mistakes from ’18. Which, with the resurgance of Santana looks to be another mistake. They also have $ to throw at these unforced errors the Sox just don’t. Their 2 big expenditures are also not performing to their contracts and neither predicts to age well.

Sox don’t even know who their core is yet.

roke1960

Their core is Eloy, Timmy, Moncada, Giolito. Also likely parts of the core are Robert, Madrigal, Cease and Kopech. If you wait until Robert, Cease, Kopech and Madrigal become mainstays, then Moncada, Timmy and Giolito are almost gone.
When will we know for sure who their core is?

PauliePaulie

“likely”, for me, means you wait till you have a better idea.

roke1960

But if you wait 2 more years, then you only have Timmy, Moncada and Giolito for 2 years and the process may just start all over again.

PauliePaulie

I’m waiting 1 year from this July 31st.
Good teams with lasting runs at the playoffs build a system that backfills those potential losses and others caused by injuries and poor performance.

roke1960

Ok, that’s reasonable.

karkovice squad

The Sox don’t have the infrastructure (neither coaches, analysts, nor tech) in place to backfill with internal solutions that way. They’ve shown no evidence of making more than piecemeal efforts in that direction. 1 more year is incredibly unlikely to make a difference on that.

The Reds aren’t crying about giving up some 45/50 players for Gray and Roark when the top of their farm is still intact. The Phillies cut a bit deeper to get Realmuto but he’s also not a 1-year rental and, again, they’ve run $170m+ payrolls before so their plan always should’ve involved spending past that.

PauliePaulie

How about 20 games of Kemp, 0 of Wood and 1 year of Puig for Jeter Downs, Josiah Gray and $7mil of added payroll?

karkovice squad

The Reds would still take that gamble again for 2019 all day long and twice on Sunday. The Dodgers also took Bailey’s contract along with sending the Reds $7m in cash and a backup catcher.

Your argument leans too heavily on risk-aversion and 1-year samples. Applying your logic to the Sox, both their 2017 and 2018 would say that rebuilding and relying on prospects is a horrible idea no one should ever do if they want to win rather than banking profit from licensing and shared revenue.

PauliePaulie

Then the Reds are a horribly run team. Buddy Bell mst be very happy in Cinci. I look forward to one, or both of those prospects adding long-term value to the Dodgers.
My argument is about timing more than risk-aversion.
I have no idea what you’re saying in the second part of that paragraph.

GoGoSoxFan

It’s pretty simple roke. The core will be whichever guys sign “team friendly” contracts. The others–they gone.

roke1960

You’re absolutely right, GoGoSox. That’s how Jerry looks at it. Which means only Eloy and Timmy are the core.

Trooper Galactus

The White Sox could add $80 million to next year’s payroll and pretty much be middle-of-the-pack in spending. If that’s mortgaging their financial future, then Renisdorf needs to sell the team yesterday.

lil jimmy

Right on the money TG. With the new TV contract, why can’t we have a $140 million dollar payroll?

roke1960

Yes- their payroll this year is around $82 million. Removing Nova, Jones, Abreu, Castillo, Yolmer, Jay and the $2M from Shields buyout saves about $45M. Add about $10 million for increases from salary arbitration/raises. That puts the payroll at around $47 million. They could spend $80 million and still be at $127 million. $80M could get Cole, Grandal, a big bat and a quality reliever, and re-sign Abreu. It’s your move, Jerry.

PauliePaulie

That’s my point, Roke. They were crying poor at $120mil 4 years ago. What happens in ’21 and beyond if they’re anywhere near maxed out at next season? A shitty 3 year window of hoping everything breaks right, that’s what.

roke1960

Like Trooper said below, if they set their bar at $130 million, then we’re doomed. There is no way a Chicago team should be constrained to a $130 million payroll. If that’s the case, then Jerry needs to get out now.

karkovice squad

Another factor is the Sox already missed out on the market with the lowest demand relative to available talent. The longer they wait, the more likely other teams get in position to spend again making it more difficult and more expensive to fill out a roster. It also raises the odds other Central teams rebound making it harder to win regardless of added production.

PauliePaulie

You find deets on that TV contract, jimmy? I think we’d know if it was paying much more than the $40mil they were getting from the last one.

lil jimmy

I believe the games on WGN paid much less. Now those games move to Comcast at 500,000 per game. So 20 million plus. At the least. 140 million payroll should be easy.

PauliePaulie

Link?

lil jimmy

still looking. I feel this is a conservative number. WGN has over 50 games. They all go to Comacast

karkovice squad

https://670thescore.radio.com/blogs/bruce-levine/chicago-set-changes-sports-television-climate

670 had the old deal as $750,000 per cable game last year, $200k per OTA game.

PauliePaulie

If Bruce Levine believes the Sox new TV deal is worth over $120mil per year, it’s the final proof he is the worst reporter in Chicago.

PauliePaulie

Add $80mil to what amount, Trooper? the $17mil on the books? The $46mil their expected to be at with arb salaries and Abreu?
They were hamstrung by a $120mil payroll 4 years ago!

Trooper Galactus

I didn’t say they would or had to add $80 million to the books, just that they could do it and still be below league average. Point is, they could add two premium talents and still have plenty of financial flexibility. I think we can also agree that if they set the bar at $130 million like they did a few years ago then they’re pretty much dooming themselves to failure from the get-go, as one thing they’ve demonstrated is an inability to work well within those financial restrictions.

This is a team that spent much of Kenny’s tenure as GM as a top-10 spender, even entering the top-5 at one point. There’s no reason they shouldn’t at least be in the top half of the league, which means fans should EXPECT them to raise payroll to around the $150 million mark.

Digger910

That this conversation is so f*cking accurate all-around is so f*cking depressing. 

roke1960

The problem with all this is, we’re dealing with Jerry Reinsdorf here. We can talk all we want about what payrolls should or shouldn’t be going forward, but Jerry seems convinced that he can’t/won”t spend like the big boys. Until that changes, we’re screwed.

GoGoSoxFan

*Renisdorf

roke1960

Sorry, my mistake!

GoGoSoxFan

S’ok roke, typos are forgiven here.

Trooper Galactus

Well, the point is Jerry once spent like a major market owner, but he still wants to act like salaries have been frozen at 2006 levels.

Trooper Galactus

To be more specific, this is not an expectation that they raise payroll to $150 million just for the sake of doing so. Just that, if there are pieces that are critical to building a winner, I don’t wanna hear them cry poor and saying they can’t pursue said pieces if they’re well under that amount.

35Shields

The thing is, 2019 has actually had quite a bit of rebuild progression at the major league level – they don’t need an inflated record to argue that.

Going into this season, the Sox had six players on the roster who would be important contributors for the future (Moncada, Anderson, Jimenez, Giolito, Lopez, Rodon). That group projected to put up 10.6 WAR before the season. They’re now projected to finish with ~15 WAR. Rodon obviously didn’t have a good season and Jimenez and Lopez both started slow. But Moncada, Giolito and Anderson have all significantly overacheived.

I think this is generally overshadowed by the fact that injuries and poor performance have basically nuked all minor league depth from orbit and the FOs incredible incompetence over the offseason

VaChisox

That’s all they do over there at Sox Machine (or should I call it the Sox Squad) is complain and complain and tell you how to run things. You know what, if they don’t love it, they can leave it. They can just leave. They can come back if they want, but they should leave.

Sound familiar?

karkovice squad

You missed the part where we should go fix the Marlins then come back to the Sox.

VaChisox

Yes, indeed.

As Cirensica

What is this?

Digger910

This young Sox Squad is inexperienced and Not very Smart. Troublemakers, and Bad for Baseball .

PauliePaulie

It’s preety clear, with their bat flipping, smiling and the “flashy” way they choose to court fans, they hate the game.

lil jimmy

(This is where you make a zero sign with your fingers.)

knoxfire30

Stone should stick to analysis cause his analogy here is so bad it hurts my brain.

ParisSox

Maybe it’s actually about house building. 

roke1960

Excellent piece, Greg. You are spot on with every point you make.
If they want us Sox fans to stop complaining, they need to treat us with repsect, not spit in our faces and lie to us about adding quality. Whiffing on Machado when everything favored them signing him was incredibly bad. Just the fact that, 3 years into this, we are still giving time to Covey and Engel says something about their stubbornness regarding failed players. Robert should definitely be up. Give Kubat a chance. What have you got to lose.
But this offseason will tell how interested they are in putting a winner on the field in 2020. They better spend money or Sox fans will get even nastier next year if this losing continues.

Digger910

roke1960: ever on message. 

And agreed, great post Greg. Enough is enough. 

gibby32

I agree that Stone’s defensiveness, generally speaking, is misplaced and that fan-shaming for a team that doesn’t have enough of them is dumb. Having said that, I don’t agree with the criticism of how they have advanced players, with the exception of those cases in which they would try to secure an extra year of control. They have promoted players too quickly in the past; see Gordon Beckham. Let’s maximize the chances that they are as ready as possible when advanced. And, finally, I might as well say it: I’m glad that we don’t have Manny Machado. I want to follow guys that I like; his intentional spiking of Aguilar in the NLCS last year was unconscionable. I’m happy that on the horizon is an infield of Moncada, Anderson and Madrigal, without having to figure out who plays the outfield. And, having said all of that, while we disagree on some things, this was a nice piece, Greg.

karkovice squad

Beckham came up and hit like a league average player and was basically fine as a defender at 3B. He was also one of those polished college bats. Why would an extra year or whatever in the minors fix problems that weren’t even in evidence until his second season in the majors?

More likely either he just wasn’t really that talented, he and the Sox didn’t know how to develop his talent and adust to the league’s adjustments regardless of how much time they had, or both.

tl;dr aggressive major league promotions aren’t really an area of concern for the Sox.

gibby32

Oh, I’m not sure, I guess. But one of the things you learn in the minors is how to handle adversity. In Beckham’s case, they thought they needed a third baseman, moved him there two weeks before promoting him, and then had Kenny say “you have to trust the talent”. Sounded like bullshit to me at the time and still does.

Amar

Besides Beckham, what are some other notable examples of aggressive promotion by the Sox?

MrTopaz

I’ve said it before, but I feel it bears repeating: citing the last time the Sox had a winning record is misleading, and doesn’t paint an adequate picture of the frustration of following this team. That era running from the Blackout Game to the September collapse in ‘12 wasn’t exactly a barn burner. Alternating losing seasons with second or third place finishes behind not super impressive Twins teams was pretty damn disappointing, when it wasn’t outright infuriating, and it was largely due to the same failures in development and roster construction we still see. To get to the last genuinely good Sox team you have to go back to 2008, and maybe even 2006, if you’re not feeling generous towards a team that put itself in the position of having to play three consecutive must-win games in a row. So in light of the ceaseless stumbling, pratfalls and unvarnished failures, Mr. Stone, I’m gonna go ahead and nurse this skepticism just a little while longer, if it’s all the same to you.

yinkadoubledare

With that hat on, I assume Steve is saying this now so that in a couple of years he can claim he liked these White Sox before they were popular.

GrabSomeBench

I’m going to cut this baby in half while deciding do I listen to Greg’s analysis or Steve The Home builder. I agree with Steve that the rebuild isn’t quite finished although I hope he was pulling that “halfway done” out of the ridiculous “Sox Math” we have to endure during broadcasts. The pedal on the right is the accelerator, so let’s use it.
That said, (this is the other side) Greg’s idea of rushing Robert up to the majors doesn’t sit right with me. In the off season, I wasn’t a cheerleader for Manny Mania and the idiotic idea of bringing his brother in law should get someone fired (I pick Kenny). I wanted to see the Sox add one and two year players, like Nick Markakis and DJ LeMahiue, to help the transition. I was also guilty of thinking we should go after pitchers like Kikuci during free agency and then Dallas Keuchel when the compensation issue went away. All of these players would have helped and only required a monetary commitment.
Sadly, the House that Rick has built may not stand the test of time.
Steve is paid to analyze the play on the field not on the blogs.

knoxfire30

Calling this thing half way done is laughable on its face. The EASIEST part of the rebuild is over, you got to slash payroll trade a few monster assets and a few mid tier assets to help jump start the future. I would say for the most part the trading of big assets has netted about what you would expect in return, the mid tier guys have netted almost nothing, and the crazy amount of 4A types the sox have given at bats, starts, and relief innings to has basically been all bad maybe with the exception of McCann. I would say the draft process so far is way too early to tell but the sox history of drafting and development is poor so its hard to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Using half way done thinking, all the sox have to do in the 2nd half of the rebuild is spend about 80 mil on quality mlb free agent talent something they never do and rarely get right, they have to likely assess their internal log jams and use minor league prospects to likely acquire mlb talent in areas where their own system is thin. Something that should terrify everyone from a group that threw in Tatis Jr for a washed up pitcher in a year where is wasnt gonna happen anyway.

During this 2nd half they also wont benefit from top 5 picks in the draft, and they are quickly gonna start losing payroll flexibility when arbitration starts to hit the young guys who are actually producing.

Punting on Harper Machado Corbin etc this offseason has all but forced the sox hand in needing to have probably one of their best off seasons ever in 2019 if they hope to contend any time soon.

As Cirensica

This is an organization that has demonstrated time and time again over the last two decades that its primary concern is profitability, not winning.

I agree that’s a problem, but a larger problem is the FO inability to do well even when spending few bucks. Organizations like the As and the Rays, to name two, constantly find bargains that when used under a well planned strategy, the team wins games!

That!!! That is why I dislike this FO the most.

Gutteridge70

That thought comes my mind too. The Rays and the A’s have done far more in tougher divisions with far less financial resources . The problem is Jerry never fires anyone in the FO . Even though I will be forever grateful for Kenny put together the 05 WS Champions afer 2011 he should have been out the door after the Ventura fiasco . That is frustrating and makes no sense to the fan base.

fiskysour

Well said

GoGoSoxFan

I put the blame completely on JR. Hahn has to work within the parameters laid down by Jerry. If he’d told Hahn “Get Moncada at any cost”, there wouldn’t have been that “creative” BS offer. If JR hadn’t limited the international signings budget, they might have signed any number of players they passed on. Hahn has not proven himself a great GM, but I think Renisdorf has proven that for him the bottom line is more important then winning.

roke1960

It certainly is all on JR. Because if he cared at all about winning, he would have fired Hahn for not taking advantage of those great team friendly contracts for Sale, Q and Eaton and signing a bunch of slugs instead of quality front line players. And when Stone says we’re in the middle of this process, does he mean we won’t be done until 2022? This organization is inept at every level, and Stone is telling us to trust these guys. What a joke.

As Cirensica

And to make things worst, the AL Central division is at its weakest point with a dreadful Tigers that have, somehow, won fewer games than the Marlins. The Royals with no future, and the Indians with a core that needs retooling…the Twins just struck gold. The White Sox?…they stayed pat.

fiskysour

Stone Pony = Grade A Yes Man

GoGoSoxFan

Clearly he has his sights on the Attorney General job.

karkovice squad

It’s absolutely both things: ownership wants the team managed a certain way and the managers aren’t able to win that way.

GoGoSoxFan

Yeah you’re right. There are GMs who can win consistently on a shoestring budget and Hahn’s not one of them.

Trooper Galactus

Yeah, the issue is that we’ve seen too few James McCann signings and far too many Kelvin Herrera signings. What few successes they can point to are regularly torpedoed by the monumental blunders.

karkovice squad

That’s the efficiency piece. They also haven’t spent enough on innovation.

Trooper Galactus

I’d say that’d be great, but they’d just spend that money on the latest, most advanced bunting technologies.

What do you mean? The whole scouting department probably has dual monitors.

fiskysour

We Sox fans are always living in the shadows of those Northside darlings. This type of “no action “ BS” just makes us more frustrated. I think the management has “at least” built a fairly deep farm system but after that….crickets chirping at the G-Spot. And while I think of it…I STILL hate the name Guaranteed Rate Field. Bring back fricking Comisky Park. We have put up with less than mediocrity ever since the 2006 season. No wonder ESPN and most other national sports networks forget it ever happened. 

dwjm3

A friendly reminder to Steve Stone…We are in this rebuild because our current GM failed at the so called retooling or rebuild on the fly. We the fan base have earned the right to be skeptical.

Furthermore, Steve wasn’t here for a lot of the suffering. He wasn’t around in 1994 when Jerry decided to join up with the owners who were gearing up for a fight with labor even though he had a great team.  Jerry has consistently prioritized keeping costs down over achieving greatness on the field.

Gutteridge70

There is another thought lurking which may or may not have some validity . There has been talk for years that Stone is part of a group who want to bring an MLB team to Vegas. We know that Jerry has been on the record that he thinks that his family should sell their interest in the Sox after he passes. I hope I am wrong in saying the dots connect might connect in an attempt to move a certain team with an allegedly unappreciative fan base to Vegas. I emphasize that I hope that is not Stone’s motivation since I respect him as an analysis t and as a man with an honorable reputation in MLB circles.

lil jimmy

That was years ago. Stone is 72 years old. He’s just happy he’s not taking a dirt nap.

roke1960

I’m hoping that one year from now we will be talking about who the Sox can add to make a playoff run, instead of our announcers covering for the FO’s incompetence.

tommytwonines

he doesn’t know how long it takes to build a house

 
He doesn’t know how long it takes to pick out a hat, anyway. 

tommytwonines

He looks like a rapper at an old folks home. 

joseValentinsMustache

As a Bulls fan I think that saving money for a free agent is the Reinsdorf go to saying. I thought this would be different with the White Sox since they are supposedly his favorite team. With how insane that last contract was I’m not even sure he knows how to sign a free agent. The fact that he didn’t give Manny a player option and put in a team option shows how bad he is at negotiating.

roke1960

Jerry knew he wasn’t going to sign Machado, not at 8 yrs. and $250 million with no opt outs. But he could then have Hahn say that we offered Machado a mega deal and he turned it down. He had no intention of giving Machado a deal he would accept. Just a case of him trying to make it look that he was really “in” on Machado.

Trooper Galactus

Other teams pursue players; the White Sox pursue a price. It’s that simple.

GoGoSoxFan

THIS!!

iowasox1971

When a team goes through a seven-game stretch where it plays as poorly and dogs it as this team did after the all-star break, fans should criticize the team. During the Oakland series, for example, players weren’t entirely running out grounders to first base, and horrible fielding plays that you sometimes don’t even see in Little League were occurring. For Stone to try to defend that type of play, or at least moan that it shouldn’t be criticized, is disappointing.

Aside from Cease’s very shaky start on Sunday (and he is an unfinished product), I have been very pleased with the team’s overall play during the past four games. Guys like Engel, Garcia, Goins and Moncada are hustling and taking the extra base, and when you try hard, good things tend to happen.

It’s a long season, and teams do tend to go through good and bad stretches, but Stone should know as well as anyone that Chicago fans (at least on the South Side) often will not tolerate a lack of effort from the players. That goes for ownership and the front office, too. Are they trying to win? When you are likely to have seven straight losing seasons, and the GM at the helm for that entire period also produced our version of the Brock-Broglio trade, fans have a right to wonder why changes in the front office aren’t at least being considered.

After this season, there are only four more years of Moncada control, so I am expecting the Sox to field a winning team in 2020. After three consecutive seasons of low payrolls and tanking, it’s time for positive results. No excuses.

Joliet Orange Sox

The Rockies are calling Yonder Alonso up after he shined in AAA. This is another piece of data about the difference between AAA and MLB.

Trooper Galactus

Of course, if he performs well for the Rockies (Coors Field notwithstanding), might be an indication of how much he didn’t want to be in Chicago on a team that acquired him solely to entice his brother-in-law to take a discounted contract.

lil jimmy

Big reach right here.

Trooper Galactus

Well, yeah, I doubt he’ll perform well.

lil jimmy

Yep, I think he’s toast

iowasox1971

Coors Field will help make his stats somewhat respectable. Wouldn’t be surprised if he hits .250 with a .750 OPS for them. That doesn’t mean it was a bad move in letting him go.

burning-phoneix

How is Kopech blowing up his elbow related to team profitability?