The White Sox have inspired a lot of national disaster tourism as they creep towards the modern MLB record for losses in a season, and while most of it rehashes what White Sox fans have experienced over the years, there's value in understanding the kind of horror to which we've gradually become accustomed.
For instance, Sam Blum's interview with Hawk Harrelson covers a lot of familiar ground. Harrelson disgusted by the on-field product, yet holds Jerry Reinsdorf blameless for it, which falls under "the problems are bad, but their causes are very good."
This part stood out to me, however:
Harrelson said he did not want to discuss the current television broadcast. He did, however, lavish praise on the pregame and postgame show — which has often provided brutally blunt assessments all year.
He also went out of his way to compliment the work of radio broadcasters Len Kasper and Darren Jackson, saying, “I think they’re terrific.”
The no-comment on John Schriffen opens itself to interpretation. Perhaps a little too much can be read into it, because while Harrelson complimented Jason Benetti's work, Benetti grew up a Harrelson fan and they overlapped at the end of Harrelson's broadcasting career. Schriffen doesn't seem to have made any friends in Chicago media, so you wouldn't expect him to forge a connection with the guy before the guy, or Harrelson to seek one out himself.
But Blum went on to write that Harrelson avoided pinning blame on Pedro Grifol or Chris Getz -- agents are the problem, of course -- so it's funny that Harrelson didn't even express professional sympathy for Schriffen (something like, "He's been put in a tough spot..."). Then again, given Harrelson's feud with Brooks Boyer, he doesn't feel any need to bail out one of his flops.
Spare Parts
- Chicago Sports Network close to its first distribution deal, with DirecTV -- Chicago Sun-Times
- Chicago Sports Network unveils studio lineups for Bulls and Blackhaws -- Chicago Tribune
We're halfway through September, which means we're half a month from the launch of the Chicago Sports Network. Details regarding the Bulls and Blackhawks are just starting to emerge, but CHSN isn't yet making any White Sox announcements. Jon Greenberg says to expect Chuck Garfien and Ozzie Guillen making the jump to CHSN, while a lot of changes are happening behind the scenes, so maybe the network wants to avoid saddling them with survivor's guilt as they wrap up their work on NBC Sports Chicago.
As Ted reminded with his most recent Sporcle Saturday, we'd previously discussed how Dominic Fletcher had racked up a surprising total of Defensive Runs Saved in not a lot of time. Mark Simon of Baseball Info Solutions goes into detail about the kinds of plays that have Fletcher charging toward the top of the right field leaderboard in only a fraction of the innings.
In an update about the baseball diamond that now occupies a small part of The 78 lot in the South Loop, Paul Sullivan says developer Related Midwest "will host a river tour to the site Monday for a select group that is expected to include some politicos."
I keep checking for updates about this story because it's utterly baffling: Derek Bender -- a sixth-round pick from the Capital Region-to-Coastal Carolina pipeline traveled by Zach Remillard -- was released by the Twins after he allegedly told opposing hitters what pitches were coming. He signed for $297,500 and had only played in 19 professional games while playing for High-A Fort Myers, yet he'd told teammates that he wanted the season to be over.
- As concern grows, MLB asserts A's will still play in Sacramento next season -- San Francisco Chronicle
- A's say there is no guarantee that potential playoff games will be in Sacramento -- Sports Illustrated
Between the miniscule capacity, the quality of the facilities and the extreme heat, there are still so many questions about the Athletics' temporary move to Sacramento, but the MLBPA doesn't have veto power over relocation, so there doesn't appear to be any way of rolling it back.
Whenever David Appelman writes about FanGraphs' inner workings, his posts are usually broadly applicable to the business of producing an online baseball publication, especially one that isn't interested in partnering with sportsbooks. We'll be mulling our own changes to Sox Machine over the offseason -- platform-related, not content-related -- but like FanGraphs, we're fortunate to be primarily supported by the subscription model, so it's more about tweaking the balance between rewarding subscribers and being publicly readable.