The White Sox have announced that Tony La Russa, who has been absent from the team due to a medical issue, will not return to manage for the remainder of the 2022 season. “After undergoing additional testing and medical procedures over the past week, doctors for Tony La Russa have directed him to no return as manager of the Chicago White Sox for the remainder of the 2022 season,” a team statement reads. “Bench coach Miguel Cairo will continue to serve as acting White Sox manager through the remainder of the 2022 season.”
La Russa, who turns 78 next month, took a leave of absence from the club at the end of August. The exact nature of his medical ailment wasn’t specified at the time, though it was reported that he would undergo testing on his heart. He was cleared to travel to Oakland a couple of weeks ago for a ceremony honoring Dave Stewart, though not to return to any kind of active duty in the dugout. It seems that, in the opinions of his medical team, La Russa hasn’t recovered enough to return to the team over the final days of the season.
La Russa’s contract runs through 2023, though his ability to actually serve as the club’s skipper next year could depend on how he recuperates. Cairo has been at the helm the past few weeks and will continue in that role down the stretch. Though the White Sox initially surged under his leadership, they have cooled off recently. They are now eight games behind the Guardians in the Central division and 6.5 games out of a Wild Card spot.
Just the first domino to fall in a much-needed major rebuild.
rebuild? why? they’re still a solid team in a weak division.
White Sox have been one of the most overhyped team of the past few years. Their offensive core is mediocre outside of a few guys. Rotation is solid but they are not a serious contender. The division is bad so they don’t need to rebuild, but their upside is a first round easy exit
They sign Rodon in the off season like they should have and they probably win the Central and are in the playoffs.
The Sox had injuries all season, Eloy missed fifty games, Robert missed fifty games, Lance Lynn missed two months, Crochet had a TJ, Kopech missed ten starts, Anderson been hurt.
Giolito had a down season and that really took the wind out of the sails, needed him to be an Ace with Rodon and Lynn out, but everybody will be back in ’23, bullpen should be a little better with Crochet returning, he could move into the rotation.
Signing Rodon would have helped this team very little, there are bigger issues with this club than one pitcher and Injuries are not just the issue either. I do not think Gio had a down season, unless he was hiding an injury all season. I think the league caught up to him and he, and Katz, had apparently no clue how to adjust. Giolito is no Ace, despite what superfans and the Sox org thinks, and is maybe a 2nd starter in a rotation at least and that’s on a good day (and has an issue beating good teams on a consistent basis his whole career with the Sox). You had a lot of of this team thinking they already won the division before it was played, you had sloppy poor play, and that’s with the guys that had injuries in there playing when they were ‘healthy’. You had guys apparently get their money and disappear on the field. Poor base running, poor situational hitting, poor fielding (and that again is with many of those ‘injured’ guys out on the field)…. Many many more issues that one or two things.
It’s funny that you consider those to be serious injury issues. Most teams would be lucky to have those IL times.
Yeah, many of those injuries were soft tissue injuries and probably should have never occurred if the Sox had a conditioning staff worth a $%^
“White Sox have been one of the most overhyped team of the past few years.”
amk1920;
I’ve been writing that here for two years.
People keep saying they’re “talented”. Maybe talented DH’s in the batters box. Outside of that they’re awful. Surely not baseball players. And even in the batters box next to no one does any situational hitting consistently.
qbert1996;
As for the AL Central being weak – have you watched the Guardians play? Do you understand that they’re the youngest team in MLB with the best MLB manager, along with a roster and upper minors that’s loaded with quality young players?
–
People complain here about Larussa ad nauseum saying he’s the problem. The Sox got a dead cat bounce when Cairo took over. It lasted 2 weeks and then the players on that roster reverted to what it that are – a group of guys that don’t know how to play baseball and have no intentions of doing so. DH’s all over the place, and with the exception of Cease pretty much pitchers no where near as good as they think they are. Guys that want to jump around and pose like 10 years-old’s when the do something good.
Redo Baseball Ops immediately.
Giolito averaged over a strike out an inning even in a down year, he has strike out stuff, walks were up, hard hit balls were way up.
.BAbip sitting at .350, had a tough season, but he is closer to a 3.50 ERA sort of starter than he is a 5.00 ERA sort of starter, Sox should still extend him.
I don’t know how you say signing Rodon wouldn’t have helped the team win five to ten more games, Rodon should win the Cy Young in the NL, he has been the NL’s best pitcher all season.
Eloy, Robert, Crochet and Kopech get hurt EVERY year. Do you follow the franchise?
@bwmiller
The reason they didn’t sign Rodon was the cost. Go ahead and add Rondon on the SF contract, but then cut that $20 MM elsewhere. The reason the WS are done is they have already maxed the payroll. They are back to the Sale, Quintana and Eaton position. They have some good young players signed to multi year contracts but can’t add depth around them and have an empty farm. Time to trade them so they can get their rings elsewhere.
It’s hard to say that another 20M this season was too much, they could of passed on Joe Kelly and Josh Harrison and been close in terms of team salary.
When your willing to trade away big prospects the season prior for a bullpen arm, the Sox were basically all in at the deadline ’21, so to then drag up in the off season and not bring Rodon back after the year he had was a little disappointing, a similar deal to the one he got in SF should have been enough to alleviate any concerns about long term injuries.
With Keuchel off the books, the Sox can sign a starter in the off season.
Mr. Miller——you literally are on an island by yourself tonight……please read back through all the non koolaid entries. There are very few building blocks in terms of solid, RELIABLE players on this roster.
I don’t even know you—-and laugh at, but respect your thoughts….I guarantee you Monday at 7:00 you were checking your playoff tickets and trying to figure out if there were going to 18,000 or 22,000 people with you at the games. Now reality hits—-in 20 minutes the Sox are a .500 team and NINE games out of first…think about that please.
I’ve been following this rebuild for a decade, like the team that has been put together, like the pitching, love the offense, can live with the defense.
They can put it together one of the next three seasons and win a pennant, possibly win the world series, they’ll have to get through a number of good to great teams in the AL, Baltimore is on the rise and has some pitching coming. The Guardians will be good for a while. The Angels are looking like they will be making a run at the playoffs over the next three seasons if they keep Ohtani, Reid Detmers really pitched well late this season, they are a starter away from a run, the Astros look locked in, the Mariners have three Aces locked in, Boston and the Twins could both be in the playoffs had they caught the breaks, the A’s have a nice young pitching staff coming together. Hard to make the playoffs.
Looking forward to the playoffs, looking forward to next season too.
I am a Sox superfan and I agree that Giolito is not an ace. i been saying it for the past two seasons. The league caught to his repetoire since last season, ask Salvador Perez. However, this season his velocity has decreased.
You know who else had major injuries throughout the season? Every other team in the league. Stop using injuries as an excuse. When those guys were on the field and healthy, they didn’t produce, outside of Eloy’s scorching hot second half. Robert had one of the worst 2nd half’s ever, Moncada was horrible, Grandal was horrible, Giolito was horrible and Lynn got better later into the season but for his early time back from his knee injury, he was bad. Tony sucked the life out of this team and they gave out big contracts to these young guys that no longer have the hunger. They looked lazy every time they took the field.
The White Sox are NOT a solid team. The roster is a mess; too many 1-tool players starting (and playing out of position). Had they added an elite 5-tool free agent to carry the team offensively, they’d easily dominate the division. As it stands, they’re a .500 club in the 2nd weakest division in baseball. It’s a d@mn shame how badly ownership and upper management screwed this team up, considering the potential they had.
Shocker
Yep. Here we go again. Another rebuild. I wonder if the sox could get Sale back for pretty boy Moncado?
Now Tony can pursue his other profession – and become a part of t rumps legal defense team. He’d fit right in.
Stfu with your lame politics Bozo.Trump is long gone- but evidently not from your Empty head.
I have an interesting question for someone to answer even though I’m not a paying subscriber. Who is getting credit for the wins and losses as manager since August 30th when LaRussa departed for surgery? LaRussa or Cairo? According to Baseball Reference, it’s LaRussa. But shouldn’t it be Cairo?
If LaRussa returns, it will be him. If he doesn’t eventually return, they will be credited to Cairo. At least that’s how I remember it explained when Demarlo Hale took over for Francona in Cleveland last year.
LaRussa needs to use this situation to retire and let Cairo manage next season (then again, Cairo was in charge when this team laid down like a beaten dog for Cleveland when they needed to sweep em.).
You are correct. Cleveland deserves the division championship because they thrashed the Sox 12 games to 7.
Cleveland won the division. Great season first as the Guardians.
Why Cairo? Did TLR team ever lose what now…8-9 games in a row like Cairo has this season? Y’all will just hate any Manager White Sox get. Everyone hollering for Miiggy to stay claiming he was getting this team to play team ball unlike TLR. Yeah right. Problem is when only 4-5 players have played over 10o games this year because of whatever injury they had it hard to win any division. Injuries definitely killed this year for SOX no matter what anyone on here says. Those on here are mostly White Sox Haters anyway. They don’t count, they just part of the Chicago mindset. Thats the reason why SOx will not get big stars to play there. The city is a dumpster riddled with daily murders and increasing….Horrible city. 50 years Sox fans so STFU
Also, who cares about manager W-L records?
Managers..fans..historians..the guy who runs the bar trivia night on tuesdays.
But why? It is a completely meaningless stat. You might as well give your mailman a W-L record for your favorite team as the manager. They have as much influence on the outcome of a game.
If managers are meaningless, then why have them? Save yourself a couple of million and have the managers or a computer run the game.
A manager’s responsibility is now to dilute statistics into an easily conveyable form for the players. That’s why you see young stat-savvy formers players across the game these days.
The front office gives them the data and they translate it so players are not overwhelmed. And keep the guys’ spirits up. Or whatever. That’s all they do.
Easily worth a few million to these teams. That is nothing to them.
The Hall of Fame cares.
And who cares that the Hall of Fame cares? It doesn’t add any value to managers whatsoever that random old dudes pretend their W-L records are noteworthy.
Time to take “OLD Yeller” out behind the barn
Weird way to describe that.
Or, and I’m just spitballing here, they could replace him with the bench coach like the article states…
The problem is that while they did listen to Cairo, they did so for about two weeks, but disappeared again when they HAD to win games. These players have shown, at times, that they can produce and perform, but they just look like they checked out when they HAD to win games.. Like they only had about 2 weeks of good games in them, then they were done… I think if they keep Cairo, they have to let Cairo get rid of the flotsam that refuse to give it their all. I’m not sure the Org will do that. (Considering its likely that JR stuck his nose into the management decisions when LaRussa was brought in after Renteria did a fairly good job getting this team to where it was)Im also not sure the org would be sly enough to trade such players for some diamonds in the rough that could pan out…They are used to being the team that gives up the good diamonds for the flotsam, not the other way around..
So crude, so rude.
Yeah but what about next year?
Great for the White Sox.
Best thing for the White Sox.
He is doing the Sox a favor.
Hopefully LaRussa survives his heart thing and returns to the dugout, Sox have a three year window to win a WS with this team.
Hopefully he gets better but he won’t return to manage next year. The game has passed him by.
yep, that three year window was 20-21-22. The window opens again in 24 or 25 when they are done paying Grandal, Moncada, Lynn, Graveman, Kelly and Leury stupid amounts of money—-that’s almost $80M next year that will prevent them from getting a second baseman, right fielder, catcher and third baseman that would help the roster.
They had the 7th highest payroll in all of baseball this season and they are barely the eighth best team in the American League.
The only bad contract on the Sox is Keuchel and he comes off the books after the season.
I’d say Joe Kelly was a bad sign when they could of resigned Ryan Tepera, Kelly hasn’t pitched well this season, but he could still find his form, Kendell Graveman is a nice arm in the bullpen.
Lance Lynn earned his deal, he was great in ’21 and the season’s previous, Moncada and Grandal might look rich on paper when you look at their production but injuries have derailed their seasons, both are all star caliber players offensively and defensively.
Leury earned his deal.
The window is ’23, ’24 and to a lessor degree ’25
Anderson
Vaughn
Abreu
Eloy
Robert
Moncada
Grandal
Pollock
Harrison
Cease
Lynn
Kopech
Giolito
Crochet / Cueto
The Sox should resign Cueto, Abreu, Harrison (had a nice season), and sign another starting pitcher in the off season, possibly Rodon.
If they get Cueto in the bullpen that would be nice, he’d be a force out of the bullpen and would be a nice player to have around should one of the starters go to the IR, they are a good team, had a tough season.
Bring back Yermin!
The only bad contract is Keuchel?
Grandal is the biggest contract in team history and he makes Keuchel look like a deal.
Moncada at $40M over the next two years….about $39.9 too much.
Lynn at almost $20M…..give me a bat.
It only takes one team to outbid them for Cueto next year.
It’s more than humorous that you put down Harrison and Pollack as pieces to any window.
Guess what—-Abreu, Sheets, Eloy, and Vaughn are all the same player….it’s called Designated Hitter. For everything he had done for the franchise it’s gonna be tough to let go of Abreu. Vaughn is the best of the other three….trade Eloy and Sheets and get some BASEBALL players—-you know, the guys that can catch the ball, go from first to third on a hit….hey even better——prevent a runner from taking the extra base every time…..
Did you watch Moncada in the Guardians series…that was an embarrassment to 12U travel ball.
It’s not even close—-the White Sox are the most embarrassing, underachieving, non caring team in the sport.
And as far as they are behind the Guardians…it’s just as important that they can beat the Yankees, Astros, Rays——and yes, even the Orioles.
The last thing anybody should be doing is drinking kool aid and talking about windows….unless they are really high and you’re thinking about jumping out.
You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about but everyone deserves to have an opinion.
Grandal is a catcher with a career .OBP of .351, he had a .420 OBP in ’21, injuries are an issue though. The Sox signed Moncada after he went .315 / .350 / .530 with 25 HRs at 3B, he posted a .375 OBP in ’21, they’re paid accordingly, both have to find a way to stay healthy.
As far as Lance Lynn goes, I think he led the AL in Innings pitched from 2012 to 2019, and over his career he has averaged less than a HR per IP while being a high strike out pitcher, he averaged 10k per 9 in ’21 and pitched in the allstar game.
Harrison had a good season, Pollock too.
Eloy, Abreu and Vaughn start on every team in the league. Sheets has only gotten better, had some big games this season.
@bwmiller
With what money? They need to let Abreu go. If he is such a team leader, it hasn’t made a difference. They need Vaughn to play 1B. Abreu’s money can cover raises and Grandal’s has to cover a 2nd C, a 2B, and a RF and a LF. Or you can continue running Vaughn and Sheets to your OF.
Agreed, I like Abreu, but he hit only 15 homers this year, and that is your ‘3rd’ hitter in the lineup. Same situation with Grandal.. Constantly batting 4,5,6 this season but only walks now, which would be great, if he weren’t a catcher with bum legs. I think if they keep Sheets and Vaughn on the roster primarily for first base, and maybe.. maybe really rare appearances in the OF. Eloy is you DH, time to start thinking about the team instead of personal feelings of the players.. Eloy looked like he is fairly comfortable in the DH spot that is where he stays. Barring any issues I would guess that Oscar Colas is likely in RF next season, and maybe Cespedes is out in RF (or vice versa). The Sox MUST also stop bargain basement hunting for FAs.
“Harrison had a good season, Pollock too.”.. Ok, starting to think that you were not watching the same games I was, While Pollack got better, and Harrison had spurts where he was above average, to say they had good seasons is reaching badly. I mean unless you meant they were good at leaving guys on base with less than two outs, in which I agree they were very good at doing that.
Moncada got his cash and promptly ‘checked’ out and spends more time coming up with injuries to stay on the bench with. Motivation is his issue, and Im not sure he will find it in this org.
Then you have Anderson.. Well… all I can say is Im glad the Sox have Colson Montgomery in the wings.
Sheets and Vaughn are both 1st basemen and it shows. I cannot raze their Defensive issues as they are not OF by trade, and while they are serviceable out there, that is not what you need out of a RF when you supposedly want to ‘win it all’
You know there are only ten or fifteen players who hit .300 or better across the entire league
Harrison hit .250 with a .320 OBP and started the majority of games at second base, that’s a good season for a 35 year old journeyman on a one year deal.
Pollock had a down year by his career standards but .250 with a .300 OBP in 500 ABs isnt the worst line across the league.
Harrison probably won’t be back with the Sox, they have a number of good infield prospects coming up, Jose Rodriguez had a good season in AA.
Pollock has a 10M player option, he will certainly be picking that up, whether the Sox keep him around or waive him is yet to be seen but I could see them keeping Pollock on the roster as OF depth.
Haseley nearly went 20/20 in AAA, he has a little speed and likely a decent glove. Rutherford also had a good season in AAA, .275 with 15HR and 10SB
At Mike127, great summary of the Chisox situation. They are wasting soooo much money on useless players like Grandal and Moncada. And then there’s Kelly and Graveman. Moncada starts getting real expensive next year.
The Grandal contract is very near equal to the Heyward contract with the Cubs.
Fact——biggest series of the year against the Guardians and who was catching….not Grandal.
Who didn’t catch in the playoffs for the Dodgers and Brewers—-yep, Grandal.
He has the biggest contract in team history…….he is the absolute poster child for this team…..can’t field, heck….he’s a catcher that can’t catch….he can’t hit (but, yahoo, he can walk).
And Dogbone…that’s really not MY summary——it’s common knowledge if you watch them or listen to any objective radio in the city.
And furthermore…all the rules changes next year point the game back to the need of much better fundamentals, much better defense, much better run prevention, much more aggressive baseball. Guess what? The White Sox are absolutely pathetic at all of the above and it is only going to magnify and intensify next year.
Swap out some of these DH, big body types and get BASEBALL PLAYERS.
The main ‘un-objective radio commentary’ in Chicago- – comes whenever Steve Stone makes his opinions known. Well Stoney, and to a lesser degree, Benetti.
And yeah, I watch baseball on both sides of town. And remember when Grandal let in 2 runs last year on passed balls, in 3 pitches. Then in the playoffs he misses a good throw from RF. Only part I disagree with you, JHey contract was far worse, cause it was for 8 years.
The White Sox would never fire Tony again. This came along at a good time because it’s a perfect exit strategy.
Meaning they will let Tony resign due to health with a little push push?
I like LaRussa to give it at least one more season, and only to give up on this team if his health fails, still Tony’s team, I feel like the team is behind him and would do well to stick with him.
No one should want Tony.. Even his most ardent supporters were silenced once Cairo took the team on that mini run to get back into the chase.
ANY team can play two weeks of winning ball. Who would be “silenced” by that?
This message is about 151 games too late.
I thought red wine was good for your heart. Guess I’m switching to tequila
Sideline Redwine is really bad for your heart.
I’m thinking LaRussa gets moved to an advisory role next season and either Miguel Cairo or someone else takes over as Manager. The team seemed to come alive when LaRussa went out so it seems the fit wasn’t good anyway and the results reflect that
The Sox haven’t just cooled off under Cairo, they’ve shut down. Not blaming Cairo mind you. This seems like a tough team to motivate. Course, you’d think making millions of dollars to play baseball would be motivation enough.
Except the Sox gave players tens of millions before they’ve truly done anything
Yep, and I’ll admit I thought those were good moves and they weren’t. I have seen other teams doing that now but with results. I guess carrying all that money around isn’t good on the legs.
Well they played well for about 2 weeks… I think the problem is you have some players that bought their own hype, got woken up, but then quite again.. A lot of ‘sprinters’ on this club, not enough ‘marathoners’
MacD;
Not being sarcastic…
These are the players they can keep – after getting a new FO, manager, and coaching staff that come in expecting to assemble and run a team that can play the game of baseball as opposed to guys playing for their stats, money, and celebrity:
Dylan Cease
Adam Engel
Eloy Jimenez (only if they will use a full-time DH)
Luis Robert
Andrew Vaughn
There are a few other guys that can hang around.
They need to find players that don’t get offended, uncooperative, and indignant when the manager and coaches asks them to fulfill their responsibilities as pitchers, hitters, defenders, and base runners.
I’m alright with your list. Not sure about Engel anymore. I’d still keep Anderson and hope that Lynn has another year left in him. If they would agree to 1 year deals I’d like to see Andrus and Cueto back but that may backfire. I wouldn’t give Jimenez the option. Play DH or don’t play. I’m so disappointed in Moncada. And Kopech, like so many of them, can’t stay healthy. I’d get rid of the training staff too.
Cueto is going to get a multi-year deal.
Anderson is a major problem.
He thinks he’s a SS…and a superior one. He not only can’t field the position, he’s out of position on balls hit to the OF, messes up cut-offs, and often mentally checks out before the pitch is made so – like Abreu – hesitates on where to throw the ball when he catches it and misses making a play…..if not throwing’s wildly to bases.
The SS plays in the middle of the field and is supposed to be the best, Baseball IQ smartest, and most consistent fielder on the defense. Anderson may be for that defense, but trade for Kevin Newman of the Pirates (probably available) and watch the difference it’ll make in the defense. As for moving Anderson to another position, I don’t know what he can play competently. And frankly, his ego is so out of control that…..
Sorry to hear about Engel. At least they had a OF other than Robert that could play well out there. Stopped watching them a bit ago. I watch MLB.TV and they’re far and away the worse executing team in MLB. It’s painful to watch them play….knowing that within 10 minutes someone(s) is going to mess up…often big time. They only time they played like a ML team since Kenny Williams took over was when Ozzie was managing.
Anderson should be more concerned at the Sox minor league SS that was doing well in the minors this season in Montgomery. While I thought Anderson could be a really good SS, a regression this year (I mean two 3 error games this season at SS) and this apparently attitude of thinking the Sox would just be given the division title, and also getting hurt an awful lot when those injuries, like Hamstrings and groin pulls, should not happen (if you are a guy relying on his speed, your legs are everything), never mind the apparently lack of any power and inability to drive runs in when the opportunities arrived, I think the Sox have to ask themselves if they really want to overpay to keep an egotistical singles hitter with a questionable glove?
Why? Anderson has won the AL batting title and hit .300 or better every season dating back to 2019, he is one of only a handful of players to do so.
His defense is better than advertised, I’d take the bat and his defense over most SS’s in the league.
As far as the outfield goes, Pollock can play defense, Gavin Sheets has a nice bat and can play defense, Robert is a Gold Glove center fielder which takes the pressure off of left and right, and the Sox have a couple nice prospects in Haseley and Rutherford, in addition to Montgomery who will likely be making some starts in the outfield on his way up from AA.
As far as Montgomery goes, he can play some outfield until TA’s contract is up because the Sox would be fools to let him walk, They’ll be picking up those options.
@bwmiller
Put down the Kool-Aid, and please take off your rose colored glasses. There’s so much wrong with your take it’s almost criminal. Are you a 7 year old? Otherwise there’s little to no excuse to be such a blind fan-boy.
Anderson should be moved if any team is stupid enough to take on that head case. He’s a butcher at short. The only saving grace is that maybe some team would be enamored enough with his mirage of being a competent hitter and the fact his salary is under $13 million (IF they pick up his option). I’d highly consider non-tendering him if they had any semblance of depth. They misjudged the market with Kimbrel only to nearly be stuck with him till the Dodgers let them off the hook. Then again, they unloaded an aging underperforming outfielder with a similarly poor contract. The reason I mention that is if they pick up Anderson’s option they may be stuck with him. That’s just the tip of the iceberg with this dumpster fire.
Pollock is a far cry from a decent outfielder these days. He’s probably best served as a fourth outfielder on a respectable team. But hey, when you’re surrounded by complete and utter incompetence you may actually pass as an outfielder!
Sheets can play defense???? Have you ever even watched any White Sox games? A Scarecrow with a glove may be an improvement over playing him in the outfield. He’s not the worst bat I’ll give you that. But he isn’t necessarily very good either.
Robert WAS a Gold Glove outfielder. His play this season was a far cry from those lofty standards. He’s apparently made of porcelain along with his other “Core” brethren in Eloy, and Yoan. But with Robert, you’ve got to give him a longer leash in hopes of him turning it around and hope this season was an outlier.
Haseley, and Rutherford aren’t decent prospects. They were considered decent prospects a couple years ago. Those days are gone. Haseley looks to peak as an AAAA outfielder at best. Rutherford may be lucky to even get a cup of coffee at the big league level. Neither of them are answers.
Spot on, but to be fair to Sheets (and Vaughn) both are way out of position. Its not like Sheets was asking ‘pretty please’ to get into the OF. Sheets will be a good lefty 1st baseman (and Id like to see him have a chance there), but with Vaughn on this club (who should also be playing first) its likely not going to happen, and he should not stay in the OF either (and DH will be Eloy).
of all of what the Sox need, they need:
-A competent conditioning staff
-A manager that will stop the inmates running the asylum and lay down the gauntlet.. Cairo has kind of done this, but unless the front office backs him, its all window dressing..
I think KW (at least) needs to go, its clear that this org does not want guy that will challenge the FO in that manager’s seat, they want a bunch of yes men, and we have seen what that brings the WhiteSox (starting with Ventura.. I mean.. good god….)
I don’t know about that, the Lance Lynn argument was a classic, when he said to the press about his argument with Joe McEwing, how McEwing is more of a filet and ceaser salad kind of guy and I’m more of a ribeye and potatoes kind of guy, that was great.
Joe Maddon on line one…
Im not sure he is a guy that will win with this club either.
Please God, no. Bochy would be my first call. If not then go find the next Earl Weaver.
Deja Vu.. Sox done for the season, only difference is no playoffs this year instead of meekly being routed out of them like the last two years..Poor base running, poor fundamentals, poor baserunning (I mean little league caliber errors), poor situational hitting. Like I said last offseason, this club needs heart. This season magnified that there are key players on this club that obviously have no heart or motivation. They grabbed their money and checked out (or, just as bad, apparently thought they were god’s gift to baseball). Silly preventable injuries too (coincidentally many by the same guys who got their contracts extended).Not being able to drive a run in from third with less than two outs, and that was pretty much the entire club. Heck even the guys that could drive in runs would disappear when the game was on the line many times. They did kind of better against good teams this season, record wise, but they laid giant eggs against the team they should trounce (like say Detroit and KC).NO consistency, other than being consistently up and down… A lot of changes are needed, and no one change here or there or FA pickup will fix this. I think this team checked out on LaRussa, and maybe did so back middle of last season when he tried to get Yermin hurt for an unwritten rule. The first domino though is LaRussa needs to retire. As for Cairo? Im not sure if he is the guy either, they played good for about 2 weeks and then tuned him out. Maddon? Just another guy the players will take advantage of (like they did in LA). I think they need a new guy like Guillen, not even Guillen but a new guy who is going to make every player earn it regardless of their contract status.
Yep.
Team rallied around LaRussa went he got sick, he is the best manager for this club, hope he’s back in ’23, will be good for baseball.
And bw, I hope Tony’s back too. I wish you were GM.
That settles it, you MUST be a Guardians fan.
I’m on the internet!
Finally got the WiFi up and running in your Beach House, huh? lol
Best thing that could happen to the White Sox is LaRussa not coming back next season.
Tony said he would only come back to the dugout if the team installs a wet bar in the dugout.
He also wants “The Worlds Most Interesting Man” to be the bartender to be on hand to help with bullpen stragedy late in the game. I don’t always use a LH, but when I do. Stay Thirsty my friends.
The IBB with two strikes certainly qualifies as stragedy.
For me I’m going to remember LaRussa as managing the A’s and Cardinals. Both my grandfathers passed around 74 from heart disease so I hope Tony has better luck. Making it to 78 as a man these days is actually doing pretty well.
Ill try to be fair to LaRussa, I’m sure he was offered a promise from JR that this team was ready to ‘win it all’ and was offered a good amount to come back, but he should never have come back, He should have known what it takes to be a manager today (as opposed to 10 years ago when he last managed), and known this was a young team that still obviously needed work. He should have known this team really was not ready, that coming into an org who is stabbing their last coach in the back would likely have repercussions in the locker room as well. Im sure there were players that felt entitled, especially after their contract extensions, and that was apparently never addressed (at least until Cairo threw down a gauntlet to challenge these guys)
at least until Cairo threw down a gauntlet to challenge these guys
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I’m not sure how many gauntlets were thrown. For all the talk about the WS getting hot, it was as much about the opposition as anything else. At their hottest, they had a 18-game stretch where they went 13-5, with a 3-1 record in one-run games.
But their opponents were KC (2), MN (3), SEA(3), OAK (4), COL (2), CL (1), ET (3), They were really supposed to win at least 10+.
It wasn’t all that hot.
Moncada slacked the whole game the other day and started the next game while batting 2nd. He should not have seen the field that game. So Cairo’s mandate didn’t hold any water. Moncada can go bye bye this offseason but I don’t know if there would be any takers.
Isn’t Moncada owed about $40/M over the next 2 years? Which team is going to be willing to pick that up?
Good assessment about TLR. He didn’t chase the job, he was chased to take the job. I’m not a La Russa hater but he never should have accepted the job but it never should have been offered. Time to move on but not just from him.
The days of being able to win because you have the players that take the most PED while you look the other way is over.
I watched almost every game this year. And last. And many years before them. Been a fan since 1960. I’ve seen good and bad. This version was bad. Not because the players don’t have talent. Most do. Unfortunately some of these same players seem to not care….at all.
To those who think that the answer next year is to stick Pollock and Sheets back in the OF as starters….wrong. Pollock at this stage of his career is a decent 4 th OF. Sheets needs to retire his glove. Simply a DH.
As for Robert, he seems to have a ton of talent which he likes to keep hidden. He is deathly afraid of the wall. He has no arm for an OF.. When he does get himself into position to throw, more times than not he doesn’t hit the cutoff. He lacks hustle.. He seems to have no real desire to play. An occasional nice play doesn’t erase weeks at a time where he plays average OF. He’s a good hitter….when healthy. But…well….you know,
That brings me to Moncada. His body language, facial expressions and lack of hustle is a snapshot into his head, He’s been paid. He doesn’t need to put forth any real effort. Yes, I do like his play at 3B. But with a bat in his hands, he’s almost worthless.
Eloy is a good DH. Keep him out of the field. Don’t need him hurt.
Vaughn should be at 1B. But, even at his age, Jose is the better defense choice there but he probably shouldn’t be there full time next year. So, as some have already noted, the Sox have at least 4 DH. Not good. Somebody, or two somebodies, need to go.
Anderson will be the SS next year. Good or bad. I’m ok with it keeping in mind that he’s NOT a gold glove out there. Too many errors. WAY too many mental lapses. But if having TA at SS is the worst problem next year, it’s not a huge deal.
The pitching staff is decent. Minus Giolito. Not sure what his problem is but trotting him out every 5 days is brutal. Yes, he can strike guys out…in between multiple hits and walks. Cueto will be gone next year. Kopech is a mystery. Has …,or had….great stuff. Maybe he simply doesn’t have the stamina needed. So next year they have Cease, Lynn, and Kopech as …and I hate to use this term….reliable starters. I’d be in favor of stretching Lopez out to be a starter. Maybe Lambert as the #5? Or trade/sign a starter. But with the payroll already exceeding JR’s comfort level I don’t see a huge signing in the future.
The much ballyhooed bullpen was/is a disaster. WAY too much payroll allocated. Most of these guys should be gone. Unfortunately some of the worst will be back because of the money owed.
As for hustle…..forget about it. Other than Harrison, Engel, and Jose(limited as it is) there’s really not much. Whoever manages these guys next year needs to start there. Watching other teams….CLE, TB, MIN…among others displays clearly how little the Sox hustle. WAY too much dogging it and WAY too many mental errors on the bases. An 8-5 triple play? Really?
I don’t hate Tony. However, I think it’s time to clean house . New Manager. New GM. New coaching staff. Too much loyalty with this organization. Time to hire people who have proven they can succeed. I know…Tony has succeeded. Not discounting that. But it’s just time to start fresh and you can’t expect Tony to have a whole new coaching staff for his final year. Time to hang ‘em up Tony.
This was a brutal year. I kept hoping the team on paper would play like they could. Yes, lots of injuries. But even when healthy they just simply didn’t seem to care. In the middle of the season they were told to not hustle. Really? Watch Cleveland. Watch Tampa. Think they would agree to not run things out?
This team needs a wake up call. At this point I think the only thing that may get their attention is a totally new coaching staff. One that expects hustle and awareness. It’s easy to say “bench em” if they are dogging it but we all know that it’s not that easy. They need a leader who sets the bar high. This starts with Hahn. He’s had long enough to get another winner. I’m sympathetic that Tony was stuffed down his throat but that’s no excuse. His time has passed too.
Team is set, can’t win without Abreu, heart and soul of the team. Harrison is nice at second with Leury as the utility man.
Can’t give up on Giolito, especially when you have Crochet for at least three more seasons, Crochet best out of the bullpen coming off TJ but he will be a starter in time.
Losing Crochet crushed the bullpen, he really was the big arm they were missing, but with Crochet and Cueto in the bullpen, and Norge Vera might make the jump, the bullpen will be solid. Need Joe Kelly to get it straightened out.
Eloy, Robert, Sheets, Vaughn, Pollock in the OF, have a few nice prospects in Colas, Haseley and Rutherford, they have a good enough farm to plug any gaps, don’t have to go out and sign any big names this summer except Abreu and a starting pitcher.
I’d personally love to see Yermin back but I’d rather see Yermin getting everyday at bats, but Yermin would be nice as the backup catcher.
Sox should sign Brinson, who got released by the Giants, be a nice player to have on the forty man, but for the most part have to win with this team the next few years, wouldn’t change much.
Cueto, the free agent who will get two years to be a starter in the bullpen? Bring back Yermin? Brinson!?
You’re funny!
“ Eloy, Robert, Sheets, Vaughn, Pollock in the OF, have a few nice prospects in Colas, Haseley and Rutherford, they have a good enough farm to plug any gaps, don’t have to go out and sign any big names this summer except Abreu and a starting pitcher.”
You need to stop thinking that having Eloy in the field is a good thing. You need to simply watch Sheets play RF. Stop thinking that Haseley and Rutherford are the answers to the Sox outfield problems. Next year they have one….one….every day Outfielder on their roster at the moment. If Robert plays to his potential he should be the starting CF. Until he goes on the IL that is. Maybe keep Vaughn out there but there is a definite need for an outfielder that is a plus defender. Nobody on the roster is capable to fill in that starting position.
The Sox farm system is one of the worst in baseball. Colas hasn’t proven anything yet. Montgomery seems to be the real deal. A few other of the kids may make it but …..can’t depend on potential.
Haseley? Rutherford? Cmon. Stop,
Giolito is a 3rd starter at his BEST. Jeez, look how he pitched when trying to get a giant contract extension. If the Sox are smart they move Gio if they can to dupe some other team that thinks he can be a #1 or #2 starter.
Eloy, Sheets and Vaughn have NO place in a OF for a team that supposedly is built to ‘win it all’. Those are acts of desperation (and someone needs to explain that to Hahn)
Crochet was good, but clearly needed a lot of work with all of his pitches and should have been in the minors, especially when it was very likely he was going to need TJS sooner than later and should be in the minors as a starter.
If the window is now for this club then you cannot rely on Abreu, if he is the heart and soul of this club, where is the ‘C’ on his chest? I like Abreu, but its clear either the attitude of others, or his age, have caught up to him.
Yermin had his time, until the league caught up with him (and is no way a catcher). While seeing your manager try to get you hurt for an unwritten rule is bad (and likely also caused dissension in the locker room that carried over to this season) would likely mess anyone up; he also had an ego problem, which this clubhouse DEFINITELY does not need more of!
Abolish long term contracts.
After signing a draft pick, he must start in the Rookie Ball League which will be a Baseball Boot Camp. He will stay there until he masters the fundamentals.
Once a player is deemed competent to play in the Major League, he must meet a standard set forth in his contract by the end of the season. i.e., for hitters .270 average, .340 OBP. If he fails to do so, his salary is lowered accordingly the next season. For pitchers, an ERA of no more than 3.25, and 20 Quality Starts.
Hitters will be allowed no more than 60 strikeouts a season. Every strikeout above 60 will cost them a portion of their salary.
Financial consequences will force players to take their job seriously.
That’s funny!
Y’all expect a team with an injury season to play harder and risk more?
White Sox fans so excited he left they were going to win division. He was the whole problem . Once again it’s the players who are awful
I despise La Russia. I hope he never managed again. But not like this. I never root for those I dislike to have health/injury problems. I hope he makes a full recovery.
They have too many players they cannot move. They must bring in a new Manager from outside the Organization with ALL new coaches, maybe the pitching coach will survive but that’s all. Anything less is typical Sox BS!