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* Mark Parent as the new White Sox bench coach with Jim Thome as a possible hitting coach and an extension of Mark Buehrle’s contract? AJ’s rally beers? Will the Cubs unveil Theo Epstein as their new president of baseball operations tomorrow? And how about that World Series team just across the river?
That’s certainly more than one question, so just consider this a baseball open thread.
Enjoy.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 12:34 pm
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
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Ever hear of a game called “Texas Fold’em”? It’s gonna be another Red October!
Comment by Old Shepherd Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 12:41 pm
You gotta hand it to the Cardinals. They got in the hard way. Springfield will be insufferable even if they don’t win it all.
Comment by Bill Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 12:44 pm
“ABC Real Estate …. Hello, Mike, how are you …Well, Mr. Quade … I did tell you to ‘rent’, not ‘buy’ …”
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 12:47 pm
Also … out here in Kendall County … we don’t call them “Rally” beers … we just call the “Beers”.
Whenever we are in a slump, or are celebrating… or celebrating that nothing IS slumping or celebrating, we just open one of those “Beers” and then things just get different.
If I have a “pop” at work, I think it wouldn’t go over very well, but I am not getting $5 million a year, guarateed, playing a kid’s game, so ya can’t fault the guy.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 12:54 pm
Go Cards!!
Will Epstein be as effective against the goat as he was against the Bambino? Is this the first sign that the Ricketts are serious about winning and didn’t buy the club just for the loyal fans that show up in spite of the club’s record? (read that as guarenteed gate receipts) Will Theo bring Ryan in as the head coach? Film in 012.
Comment by Irish Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 12:56 pm
Cubs=no ws
Comment by foster brooks Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 12:58 pm
What’ the difference between a busch stadium hot dog and one from wrigley field? You can get a busch stadium hot dog in october. Go Cardinals
Comment by anonymous Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 1:08 pm
THis has got to be one of the most exciting post-seasons there has been in baseball in a long time. The Cardinals clenched the wild card on the last day of the season when everybody had written them off and now the World Series has two evenly matched teams playing for the title. What was the slogan that Fox used a few years ago? “You can’t script October.”
Comment by Ryan from Carrollton Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 1:11 pm
I’ll bet Ryne Sandberg would love to have a dime for every time someone called him Ryan.
Comment by Stooges Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 1:13 pm
All I know is….I REALLY hate the Cardinals.
Comment by Ace Laredo Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 1:21 pm
===one of the most exciting post-seasons there has been in baseball in a long time===
Speak for yourself.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 1:23 pm
Hmm answering all the presented questions, briefly:
Parent as bench coach: who cares?
Thome as hitting coach: Wha? Ok I guess, his name isn’t Greg Walker.
Buehrle extension: See immediately below.
AJ’s Rally Beers: Pass one over, please.
Theo Epstein: So what? Cub fans have way too unrealistic of expectations. He is a good GM, but he didn’t build those WS teams & has plenty of spots on his record.
World Series: Wait…they’re still playing baseball? Go Bears!
Comment by Baines 4 Prez Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 1:29 pm
I’m not all that keen on sports in general, but Jason Motte’s beard is glorious. It must be the source of his power.
Comment by Patrick Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 1:30 pm
This is one of the more closely matched WS that I can recall. This has 7 games written all over it.
Still not excited about Robin Ventura being named Mgr. All I see is a Kenny puppet.
Epstein is a great pickup for the Cubs but the turnaround won’t happen for 3 - 4 years. Still, what’s a little while longer when you have been waiting 103 years already?
I love Mark Buehrle but he will be gone in the White Sox youth movement. It’s too bad because he is our best pitcher (overall) in my lifetime and that includes Jack McDowell, Lamar Hoyt and Wilbur Wood.
Comment by Stones Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 1:37 pm
Here are my bold predictions:
1. Mark Buehrle will sign with the Cards.
2. Ryne Sandberg will be hired to manage the Cubs.
3. The Cubs will make a play for Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder. If Tom Ricketts opens the checkbook, they will sign Prince Fielder and C.J. Wilson and will eat the rest of Z’s contract.
4. The Cards will retain King Albert. My guess? $180 million over six years. Think that’s off? Jon Heyman wrote a similar prediction on SI.com - and he’s as big a baseball insider as there is.
5. My BoSox will move heaven and earth to move Jon Lackey. He is a huge bust.
6. My BoSox will hire Dave Martinez as manager.
And for what it’s worth - I would love to have a beer with Jon Lackey, Jon Lester and Josh Beckett.
Comment by Team Sleep Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 2:09 pm
50+ years ago I was trading baseball cards, admired lots of players, and team “loyalty” didn’t matter so much as playing pick-up sandlot games and pretending you were one of those guys on the cards. My grandparents took me to Sox games where my grandfather yelled all sorts of nasty things at players and the umps, but not when Minoso was at bat. Once I saw a night game when my friend’s dad took us to Comiskey and Aparicio hit what everyone thought would be an in-the-park HR. I got to see Fox reduce that wad in his cheek by a couple ounces with a juicy brown comet splattering on the dirt. We got to sit on the steps in the bleachers. Later I followed the Cubs and wondered how Cardenal squashed his Afro under that cap and still kept it on. Now, the wonder is gone, franchises rotate players through the “teams” more often than I rotate my tires. Drugs and money and arbitration and the designated hitter have taken their toll on my enthusiasm. But the memories are still there, and I am grateful to baseball for those.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 2:12 pm
Re the cubs-
1. the cubs hired a hotshot young president who had won 2 world series for a team that had suffered for a long time, then brought in a gm from san diego to do the baseball. the whiz kid was macphail and the gm was lynch. didn’t work out so well. theo did some good stuff in boston, but he walked into an organization with the best pitcher in the game at the time, a juiced up hall of fame hitter and team that had made the post season 4 times in 8 years. boston also had a much bigger margin for error in terms of being able to absorb the failures of big contracts like renteria, jd drew, dice-k and others. he won’t have that margin for error in chicago and he starts with a team in absolute ruins.
2. the sun times and boston globe reported that a guy named crane kenney is still involved with the organization and has botched the process of compensation, signing epstein before making the deal on the prospects which will now force the cubs to hand boston more of what has been a diminished farm system. That this guy is staying on is a really bad sign.
3. A key to what theo did with the red sox was the rennovation of fenway. This is a politics blog so I will be interested to see what his experience in boston was like in terms of any governmental support from the city or state and how that will influence what ricketts does going forward on that front.
Comment by Shore Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 2:40 pm
Theo built his reputation by having the ability to cover his huge blunders with an enormous payroll. He won’t have that luxury with the Cubs. The Rays GM, or someone like Walt Jocketty, would’ve been a better choice, IMHO.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 2:57 pm
The Ricketts are “too broke” to pay for Pujols. Thanks to Jim Hendry and his awesome contracts. I hate the Cards, and Manager Nick Tortelli, but they are winners.
Comment by Wumpus Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 2:59 pm
The ‘85 Cards remain my favorite team of my 40 or so years in the St. Louis red, but the ‘11 edition is quickly moving up to second place, even with all the heart damage the Cards have caused me this year. And I can honestly say that my sis–my little sis, living in sin with a Cubs fan in Decatur these days–was the only Cards fan I know who really believed this team would go all the way; she tried to talk me back into her faith a couple times, but I had to wait until September. She even held out through August. Good for her.
Man, I still have chills over this Series.
Comment by vise77 Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 3:03 pm
the only good thing about St Louis being in the Series is having the opportunity to watch Molina some more. That man is one fo the top players in the nation, and certainly the most intriguing to watch. Go Rangers, but keep it up Yadi!
Comment by matty Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 3:25 pm
signing Buehrls even if for 2 years would be just great. bringing Thome back would make the fans happy. sure, Greg Walker was the hitting coach during a bad stretch, but he’s a good one from back in the day. still recall watching him in Sox spring training, hit a screaming line double down the left field line at Phillies Fla base in the camp before he hit the bigs. old days.
Comment by amalia Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 3:54 pm
How ’bout dem Cards!!
Yes it was doggone cold and it will be cold again tonight. But believe me it is worth it!!
Comment by BIG R. PH. Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 4:07 pm
Thanks to Carpenter for working six strong innings to get the win, and keep us from freezing in the standing room section. It was a great game but I was happy when it ended.
Comment by Independent Thursday, Oct 20, 11 @ 5:32 pm
I like the Cards, I like St. Louis, I like Cards fans….
… but that Tony LaRussa, ugh. He’s a genius, just ask him, he’ll tell you. Bats his pitcher eighth, hangs out with George Will…
Never saw any evidence of anyone juicing on the A’s or Cards. Never. Could have knocked him over with a feather when he found out….
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 21, 11 @ 8:15 am