second rate management + second rate owners = second rate team
season ticket holders got taken again
it's never going to change until the suckers quit supporting this minor league operation
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White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu celebrates his three run home run against the Minnesota Twins in the third inning Monday, Aug 19, 2019, in Minneapolis. (AP) AP PhotosMINNEAPOLIS — The White Sox, 14-24 since the All-Star break and owners of a 56-68 record after defeating the Twins 6-4 on Monday night, have nothing to fight for as they head for the finish line of a
seventh consecutive losing season.
They can annoy teams like the American League Central leaders, which they did Monday using a lineup with Jon Jay batting in the cleanup spot protecting Jose Abreu, and with Matt Skole at designated hitter, where the Sox are an anemic .179/.262/.310 this season.
They’re 17½ games behind the second-place Indians, so there’s no chase there, and 11½ games ahead of the Royals, so there’s no worry about finishing fourth for the sixth time in Jose Abreu’s six seasons as a Sox.
Poor Abreu. He has been the consummate good soldier for teams that haven’t had the ammo. But he’s confident it will be his last season out of contention.
Wait till next year, he said.
“I truly believe that we are going to be in a good position next year to compete for a playoff spot,” he said through an interpreter. “I know that the front office is going to make the move that will be the right move for us to move forward and to get to that final phase of this process.”
Abreu wouldn’t go so far as to say it needs to be a huge acquisition — just the right one. And he’s as confident as ever that he’ll be back with the Sox, even as his contract expires at the end of the season.
“Of course,” he said. “Like I said before, if the team doesn’t sign me, I’m going to sign myself here.”
At 32, he looks to have something to offer yet. Against Twins righty Kyle Gibson in the third inning, he launched a 442-foot homer to left-center, almost to the third deck at Target Field. It was his 27th home run and longest of the season and lifted his RBI total to 92.
“When you make that kind of connection, you don’t feel the ball hit the bat,” Abreu said. “Once you see the ball fly, you say, ‘OK, that was a good one.’ ”
Abreu’s blast gave the Sox and right-hander Ivan Nova — who downsized 10 hits allowed into 5⅓ innings of two-run ball — a 4-2 lead. Nova (9-9) has an 0.85 ERA over his last six starts, and he liked this one the most because he got by without his best stuff.
Asked what matters between now and the end of the season, Abreu had a few answers: Eloy Jimenez keeping his development on track, and Yoan Moncada — who was finishing a rehab assignment after a strained hamstring — getting back to performing like a star as the Sox wait for Class AAA Charlotte center fielder Luis “La Pantera” Robert, who belted his 28th minor-league homer Monday.
“La Pantera, keep growing, doing his job and learning, and hopefully we can get him at any point,” Abreu said. “He’s going to be a big key for us in the future. And as a team, just keep battling. Keep doing our job, keep trying to do our best every day and winning as many games as we can.”
The Twins, who had won four straight, pelted Nova with two quick runs in the first. Ryan Goins’ RBI single preceded Abreu’s homer in a four-run third, and Yolmer Sanchez squeeze-bunted a run home with an 0-2 count in the seventh to give the Sox a 5-2 lead.
The Twins cut it to 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh on Jorge Polanco’s homer against lefty Aaron Bummer. Jimenez drove home Goins in the eighth to make it 6-3, and Alex Colome allowed a run in the ninth but still picked up his 24th save in 25 chances.
seventh consecutive losing season.
They can annoy teams like the American League Central leaders, which they did Monday using a lineup with Jon Jay batting in the cleanup spot protecting Jose Abreu, and with Matt Skole at designated hitter, where the Sox are an anemic .179/.262/.310 this season.
They’re 17½ games behind the second-place Indians, so there’s no chase there, and 11½ games ahead of the Royals, so there’s no worry about finishing fourth for the sixth time in Jose Abreu’s six seasons as a Sox.
Poor Abreu. He has been the consummate good soldier for teams that haven’t had the ammo. But he’s confident it will be his last season out of contention.
Wait till next year, he said.
“I truly believe that we are going to be in a good position next year to compete for a playoff spot,” he said through an interpreter. “I know that the front office is going to make the move that will be the right move for us to move forward and to get to that final phase of this process.”
Abreu wouldn’t go so far as to say it needs to be a huge acquisition — just the right one. And he’s as confident as ever that he’ll be back with the Sox, even as his contract expires at the end of the season.
“Of course,” he said. “Like I said before, if the team doesn’t sign me, I’m going to sign myself here.”
At 32, he looks to have something to offer yet. Against Twins righty Kyle Gibson in the third inning, he launched a 442-foot homer to left-center, almost to the third deck at Target Field. It was his 27th home run and longest of the season and lifted his RBI total to 92.
“When you make that kind of connection, you don’t feel the ball hit the bat,” Abreu said. “Once you see the ball fly, you say, ‘OK, that was a good one.’ ”
Abreu’s blast gave the Sox and right-hander Ivan Nova — who downsized 10 hits allowed into 5⅓ innings of two-run ball — a 4-2 lead. Nova (9-9) has an 0.85 ERA over his last six starts, and he liked this one the most because he got by without his best stuff.
Asked what matters between now and the end of the season, Abreu had a few answers: Eloy Jimenez keeping his development on track, and Yoan Moncada — who was finishing a rehab assignment after a strained hamstring — getting back to performing like a star as the Sox wait for Class AAA Charlotte center fielder Luis “La Pantera” Robert, who belted his 28th minor-league homer Monday.
“La Pantera, keep growing, doing his job and learning, and hopefully we can get him at any point,” Abreu said. “He’s going to be a big key for us in the future. And as a team, just keep battling. Keep doing our job, keep trying to do our best every day and winning as many games as we can.”
The Twins, who had won four straight, pelted Nova with two quick runs in the first. Ryan Goins’ RBI single preceded Abreu’s homer in a four-run third, and Yolmer Sanchez squeeze-bunted a run home with an 0-2 count in the seventh to give the Sox a 5-2 lead.
The Twins cut it to 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh on Jorge Polanco’s homer against lefty Aaron Bummer. Jimenez drove home Goins in the eighth to make it 6-3, and Alex Colome allowed a run in the ninth but still picked up his 24th save in 25 chances.
Only one thing would change that whole culture,and that's if Reinsdorf sold the team. And that ain't going to happen anytime soon!! One start in the right direction though would be firing Kenny Williams who is about as useless as teats on a boar hog
ReplyDeleteIn the current trend of "white privilege" our White Sox are a team loaded it up with no name players from central America. It is a team without personality. Looking at the lineup is like standing in line at Pete's Produce behind a bunch of people whose names you never heard of. Reinsdorf has loaded up the system with players to appeal to the Latin community who flock to see these guys play whenever there isn't a soccer game in Bridgeview and charges $9.50 for a bottle of Modelo or whatever cervaza is the big seller.
ReplyDeleteThink about it for a second, 2005 White Sox; Konerko, Crede, AJ, Podsenik, et al. You look at the current infield of players its like draining noodles through a sieve. And watching these games, and all the efforts to hype a team that on a good day could barely beat Brother Rice, you have to wonder where it's going. Baseball isn't even marketed like it used to be. The TV deals and revenues collected, the sweet heart deal the Sox got over rent and revenues the pay based on attendance. The demolition of old tradition bars on 35th Street, the false promise to rebuild places like McCuddys. It was all bullshit. The only thing to do on 35th Street after a game is walk to the El or the Metra. These north shore bastards that bought the team from Veeck got their chance to screw us once Reinsdorf got Gov Thompson to strong arm the legislature into building the place under threat of what? Oh yeah, moving to St. Petersburg, Florida. Drove by that stadium when it was first built. It would be like putting a park at 47th and Drexel. As for revenues, Florida is chock full of retirees on fixed income. How many do you suppose would pay premium prices to watch a team of the current level of talent. All you have to do is look at their attendance figures over the last 20 years. Bottom line is Reinsdorf extorted Illinois and Illinois blinked. If the current ownership moved the team elsewhere, how tough do you suppose it would be to put a MLB franchise in the 3rd largest market in the country. Yeah. New ownership is what we need. And for Christ sakes, the team manager is in his 50's, way beyond the age when you stop calling him "Ricky", like Ozzie and Harriet are gonna be walking through the front door any minute. I quit.
Agreed. Boycott paying to watch sports. Cut the cable cord too.
DeleteI don’t understand why everyone is ragging on them. If they aren’t in the hunt next year or the year after, or if they’re as bad next year as they were last year, let the flaming begin.
ReplyDeleteBut I think they’re starting to look like a team that will contend very soon. Like, next year.
As for the Latin players, yeah, I get what you’re saying. But McGann isn’t, Giolito may be Hispanic, but he was raised a white boy. Couple of guys in the farms that are white. The game has changed. A lot of talent down south of the border. A lot of it better than what we are growing down south.
Besides, the white Cubs have the market locked on white dudes that Chad and Becca will cheer for when they move to the north side after they complete university at (insert Big Ten School).
It’s sucks being a Sox fan. Until we win.
Oh, and Kenny Williams should be tired.
Shortly after the Sox split their schedule between "Sportsvision" and over the air broadcasts, I asked a friend who sold radio time for Newsradio78 what the deal with the Sox broadcasts were. He asked what I meant. I replied that one night the games are on channel 9, the channel 26, then back to cable. I said it was really confusing, what's going on with that? He said Reinsdorf got a ton of money for multi year tv-broadcasting rights and couldn't care less about the confusion Sox viewers experienced trying to find the games on tv.
DeleteWhen they got Fisk from Boston I rarely missed watching. After they dumped him, on the road in Cleveland I think, I thought what a bunch of assholes. When they made Hawk the general manager and got rid of LaRussa, I thought WTF and then LaRussa began making world series appearances at Oakland and St. Louis. How they cobbled the 2005 World Series team is remarkable when you look back on it. Bottom line is they made their money, made a better deal on the stadium, and could give a rats ass about the people who supported the team for generations. I do admit Reinsdorf treated employees well with all those world series rings he passed around, but by and large we're the dopes. We keep forgetting that professional sports is a business, while we believe its some representation of civic pride. Sad thing is, owners are aware of this and will continue to exploit it for the bottom line, not for those who are paying for the bottom line
Hawk was so dumb.
DeleteThe only reason they stayed in Chicago was because Madigan had season tickets.
ReplyDeleteWhite sox fans: get your heads out of your asses. Reinsdorf is an egomaniac and a loser. Back a winner: the Cubs.
ReplyDeleteThe Cubs are good on paper but they are underperforming badly the last two seasons. I think their era is over too. Maddon will be gone next year unless they somehow spring back and rally from now til October. Meanwhile the White Sox are in year six or whatever of their "rebuilding". Oh well the Bears look good.
Delete