OT: The Sox AND the Cubs are atop the standings (as of 8/31/2020)

Susan · Post #101 » by **Susan** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:02 am

This is extremely concerning as a Bulls fan.

Leslie Forman · Post #102 » by **Leslie Forman** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:52 am

gardenofsound wrote:
ImSlower wrote:I am still shocked by this hiring. I literally have not seen a single article, blogger, twitter-er-er, podcaster, forum-poster, town crier, anyone who thinks this is a good idea except Jerry Reinsdorf, and for some baffling reason, TLR himself.

"At least it's not that lying-to-everyone's-face cheater, Kirsh" is a nice platitude, but it's still absurd they fired Renteria for this.

Fwiw Steve Stone seems to be really positive about this move on Twitter. I hope he's right.

Guess who signs Steve Stone's paychecks?

Jerry could hire Rod Blagojevich to be the new GM and he'll defend it.

ImSlower · Post #103 » by **ImSlower** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:09 am

I am not sure why I typed out Kirsh not Hinch, but whatever. Eff that guy.

Anyway, TLR is walking into a disaster if he manages the way he did here in St Louis. The team that pushed the "Have fun playing baseball" vibe hires a cantankerous 76 year old? I'm an ol'fashioned type of baseball fan - I hate the DH and wish teams sacrifice bunted and **** this constant playoff expansion and all that. But damn, hopefully La Russa has a nice sativa prescription, because his players are going to hate him from day 1 if he tries to corral their youthful exuberance. And of course when I go to google a TLR complaint from that Tatis grand slam, I see Vinnie Duber just said all this better than I have here.

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/tony-la-russa-fine-white-sox-bat-flips-long-theyre-sincere

Post #104 » by **Michael Jackson** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:10 pm

Leslie Forman wrote:
gardenofsound wrote:
ImSlower wrote:I am still shocked by this hiring. I literally have not seen a single article, blogger, twitter-er-er, podcaster, forum-poster, town crier, anyone who thinks this is a good idea except Jerry Reinsdorf, and for some baffling reason, TLR himself.

"At least it's not that lying-to-everyone's-face cheater, Kirsh" is a nice platitude, but it's still absurd they fired Renteria for this.

Fwiw Steve Stone seems to be really positive about this move on Twitter. I hope he's right.

Guess who signs Steve Stone's paychecks?

Jerry could hire Rod Blagojevich to be the new GM and he'll defend it.

Stone has also learned the hard lesson about talking bad against management. His ending with the Cubs was stupid.

Post #105 » by **Michael Jackson** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:12 pm

Susan wrote:This is extremely concerning as a Bulls fan.

Actually I find it the opposite, shows Jerry really moved on to the Sox and let Michael run the Bulls. All facts point to that.

Jcool0 · Post #106 » by **Jcool0** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:35 pm

Jerry Reinsdorf is losing it

Read on Twitter

Jeffster81 · Post #107 » by **Jeffster81** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:03 pm

I'm not a fan of the WS but this hiring is embarrassing for you guys. Let's put it this way, Tim Anderson CANNOT be happy about this hiring. It would not surprise me that Tim Anderson either requests a trade or TLR gets him traded away.

JR might be trying to alleviate his guilt over TLR firing back in the 80s, but is the last guy they should have hired. It would not surprise me if Reinsdorf is either in the minority or simply the only guy who wanted TLR. This is about as tone-deaf of a hire as you can get. Bochy would have been a significantly better hired. TLR should have been kept in retirement.

I wish the best for the WS but it probably won't end well with TLR at the helm.

ChettheJet · Post #108 » by **ChettheJet** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:44 pm

I wish Herman Franks was still alive for the Cubs to hire.

The Explorer · Post #109 » by **The Explorer** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:51 pm

ImSlower wrote:I am not sure why I typed out Kirsh not Hinch, but whatever. Eff that guy.

Anyway, TLR is walking into a disaster if he manages the way he did here in St Louis. The team that pushed the "Have fun playing baseball" vibe hires a cantankerous 76 year old? I'm an ol'fashioned type of baseball fan - I hate the DH and wish teams sacrifice bunted and **** this constant playoff expansion and all that. But damn, hopefully La Russa has a nice sativa prescription, because his players are going to hate him from day 1 if he tries to corral their youthful exuberance. And of course when I go to google a TLR complaint from that Tatis grand slam, I see Vinnie Duber just said all this better than I have here.

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/tony-la-russa-fine-white-sox-bat-flips-long-theyre-sincere

I think La Russa's views on social justice, Kaepernick, etc are more concerning than the above, but both are problematic.

ImSlower · Post #110 » by **ImSlower** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:11 pm

Indeed, that's yet another issue he'll be confronted with there. His regressive stance on Kapernick and his Glenn Beck fandom aren't going to vibe well with some of his new guys and a whole lot of his team's fanbase.

As one buddy of mine said, TLR cares more about dogs than minorities. He really has done a lot for animal rescues though!

Jeffster81 · Post #111 » by **Jeffster81** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:21 pm

JR did not want to hire Doug Collins because he did not want to fire his fire his friend but he is willing to hire his friend Tony La Russa?

gardenofsound · Post #112 » by **gardenofsound** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:12 pm

Jeffster81 wrote:JR did not want to hire Doug Collins because he did not want to fire his fire his friend but he is willing to hire his friend Tony La Russa?

Reinsdorf is probably making the calculated bet either he or La Russa will die before he's ready to fire him.

Collins is a spry young 69 year old now (and was 59 when JR said that as a 74 year old).

Post #113 » by **DJhitek** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 8:37 pm

JR managed to ruin 4-5 years of carefully planned and constructed managerial success in less than one month. Forget Tony LaRussa for a second, he basically told Rick Hahn that he is not capable of hiring a manager. He also opened the door for conflict because LaRussa almost certainly has a direct line to the owner for any issues that arise, such as personnel.

He finally makes the correct choice to go thru an unbiased hiring process from top to bottom with the Bulls and then pivots back to what he is used to, his way. What a joke.

As a life long Sox fan, I hope talent wins out, but my fear is that JR won’t spend this offseason to fill the necessary holes because of his blind faith in Tony. If that’s the case, then this move will be one of the worst in this cities sports history. Again, I hope talent wins out.

Post #114 » by **Michael Jackson** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:05 pm

DJhitek wrote:JR managed to ruin 4-5 years of carefully planned and constructed managerial success in less than one month. Forget Tony LaRussa for a second, he basically told Rick Hahn that he is not capable of hiring a manager. He also opened the door for conflict because LaRussa almost certainly has a direct line to the owner for any issues that arise, such as personnel.

He finally makes the correct choice to go thru an unbiased hiring process from top to bottom with the Bulls and then pivots back to what he is used to, his way. What a joke.

As a life long Sox fan, I hope talent wins out, but my fear is that JR won’t spend this offseason to fill the necessary holes because of his blind faith in Tony. If that’s the case, then this move will be one of the worst in this cities sports history. Again, I hope talent wins out.

This hiring makes no sense an honestly JR has never seemed that baseball stupid.

ImSlower · Post #115 » by **ImSlower** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:23 pm

Man with how many ways this is crazy, I didn't even think about Hahn. He's gotta be pissed. Do you guys that follow the team better know if he wanted the Renteria firing, or if it was all Jerry being Jerry again?

Post #116 » by **DJhitek** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:28 pm

ImSlower wrote:Man with how many ways this is crazy, I didn't even think about Hahn. He's gotta be pissed. Do you guys that follow the team better know if he wanted the Renteria firing, or if it was all Jerry being Jerry again?

Hahn fired Renteria because he knew an AJ Hinch was on the market and Renteria/Cooper never embraced an analytical approach. Say what you want about analytics, Tampa Bay Rays don’t even sniff the World Series without that approach.

That said, Hahn was very clear in yesterday’s presser, LaRussa is an ownership hire. He wanted Hinch or Cora IMO.

Jcool0 · Post #117 » by **Jcool0** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:30 pm

Michael Jackson wrote:
DJhitek wrote:JR managed to ruin 4-5 years of carefully planned and constructed managerial success in less than one month. Forget Tony LaRussa for a second, he basically told Rick Hahn that he is not capable of hiring a manager. He also opened the door for conflict because LaRussa almost certainly has a direct line to the owner for any issues that arise, such as personnel.

He finally makes the correct choice to go thru an unbiased hiring process from top to bottom with the Bulls and then pivots back to what he is used to, his way. What a joke.

As a life long Sox fan, I hope talent wins out, but my fear is that JR won’t spend this offseason to fill the necessary holes because of his blind faith in Tony. If that’s the case, then this move will be one of the worst in this cities sports history. Again, I hope talent wins out.

This hiring makes no sense an honestly JR has never seemed that baseball stupid.

Baseball is his #1 love... But he is 100% baseball stupid.

transplant · Post #118 » by **transplant** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:53 pm

DJhitek wrote:
ImSlower wrote:Man with how many ways this is crazy, I didn't even think about Hahn. He's gotta be pissed. Do you guys that follow the team better know if he wanted the Renteria firing, or if it was all Jerry being Jerry again?

Hahn fired Renteria because he knew an AJ Hinch was on the market and Renteria/Cooper never embraced an analytical approach. Say what you want about analytics, Tampa Bay Rays don’t even sniff the World Series without that approach.

That said, Hahn was very clear in yesterday’s presser, LaRussa is an ownership hire. He wanted Hinch or Cora IMO.

Spot on.

Pure speculation, but I believe that Reinsdorf exercised his veto power on Hinch (Hahn's guy) because he's a cheater...it offended Reinsdorf's baseball principles. Reinsdorf and Williams got behind LaRussa and they won the day. I'm pissed because Hahn has built this team and should have been able to choose his manager.

The whole thing makes me sad. The White Sox have built a very positive vibe and they've managed to f it up.

gardenofsound · Post #119 » by **gardenofsound** » Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:36 pm

Yeah, the worst parts of this are Hahn clearly not being on board with this, and that this kills a lot of cultural momentum for the team. How will this play out with TA and Giolito having vocal opinions on social justice and being clubhouse leaders? How does this play out with Eloy and his half unbuttoned jersey? How does it play with all of the jewelry the players like to wear?

Some of this seems so superficial, but it's also part of the identity of the team.

This is the baseball equivalent of the Bears, knocking on the door of real contention, hiring Mike Ditka in to replace Matt Nagy, or Notre Dame saying "**** it!" and bringing Lou Holtz out of retirement.

johnnyvann840 · Post #120 » by **johnnyvann840** » Sat Oct 31, 2020 1:11 am

I don't understand it from TLR's side of it either. The guy went out on top in storybook fashion in 2011 with a World Series win. His last 12 years managing in St. Louis were epic. He won 6 division titles, two World Series championships and 3 NL pennants in those 12 seasons. 9 of those seasons he won 85 games or more. That is pretty remarkable. Why would he want to come back now?