SOURCE: The White Sox Have NOT Hired Astros Bench Coach Joe Espada As Manager... At Least Not Yet
Clearly the headline for this blog was about the manager position but I wanted to address this before I dove into that.
This is not a good look for a variety of reasons. Before we get into those reasons, here's the lay of the land for what goes down at Soxfest to the late person:
- It used to be held at the Hilton in the South Loop, but was most recently held at McCormack Place in 2020. There hasn't been a Soxfest the last 2 years due to the pandemic
- When it was held at the Hilton, there was a ton of Sox merch to buy, autograph booths, games for little kids to play, etc. There was also a little Irish pub in the hotel. There has been multiple Soxfests where I didn't make it to the actual event itself, just got wrecked in the pub. This is where I drunkenly taught Adam Engel how to hit a baseball
- Here's a hilarious video I watched today that has nothing to do with the White Sox. It made me laugh. I hope it makes you laugh, too:
Some things are bigger than sports, don't forget that
- Players from past and present plus the front office hold Q and A sessions for fans. Literally fans line up and ask the FO and players anything and everything they want and the questions are hardly vetted at all.
The last bullet point is all that matters. If the Sox held a fan convention this winter, the front office would be facing the music on how awful not only the 2022 season was, but on how awful the 2021-22 offseason was as well. It'd also offer a chance for fans to criticize the owner on not paying for big time free agents this coming offseason as well, which will obviously be the case because Jerry Reinsdorf refuses to push his chips all in or pay for the best players.
It makes me sick to my stomach. Nauseating.
It's simple. They just don't want to be peppered with those kinds of questions. It grosses me out and I do feel like the front office would be doing themselves a big service by admitting fault and showing accountability in fucking up the last 24 or so months, but it is what it is. Guess we'll just have to keep bitching at and about them on Twitter.
That'll show them!
***OTHER NEWS AND NOTES***
- There are a few burner accounts running around and saying that the white sox have agree to terms with current Astros coach Joe Espada to be their next manager. While he still may be the guy (and I do think he will be) there is nothing official yet, as far as I'm aware. We can nip that in the bud for now
- I would LOVE Willie Harris as the bench coach. I'm sure Espada will be hiring/bringing with his own guys should he take the Sox job and I doubt Willie Harris would be included in that, but from everything I've been told by people that have played with and for him, Willie Harris is a star in the making and would get the absolute most out of guys like Moncada, Eloy, Robert, TA, etc.
I wouldn't even hate if he were named manager, personally, based on what I've heard about him. I've even gone on record as saying I'd love the hire.
- We got about 7-10 days before anything is official re: the White Sox managerial search, IMO. Could be wrong there, that's conjecture. But I'm assuming it won't be announced until after the league championship series.
We'll see what goes down in the next 7-10 days. Like I said, I would be it will be Espada, but there's nothing official yet. TRUST ME BRO