DallasNews.com – Interview with Rangers GM Jon Daniels. Goes over some offseason issues and such.
“Q: What do you feel is the top developmental need area right now? RH power? Corner OF?
DANIELS: Pitching. Period. We got our farm system to where it is now by focusing on high-end pitching and we aren’t going to stop.”
MLB.com – Q&A with Brooks Boyer, who is the Innovative Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.
“Q: You tried the whole “White Sox Pride Blackout” plan with the fans during the American League Central tiebreaker against the Twins and then carried it over against the Rays during two home games in the American League Division Series. Were you satisfied with how it worked?
Boyer: The way that the season came together at the end, to have that game [against the Twins] that had so much meaning … the fact was that the Monday [makeup] game [against Detroit] ended, and as soon as that Monday game ended, we went on sale with tickets and sold them out in an hour. Therefore, it was all White Sox fans.
Lou Hernandez [White Sox director of public relations] and I talked about it on that Sunday, and we had T-shirts made up that said “Sox Pride Blackout” on them. They were going out to all the media as soon as we won and the [makeup] game was going to be played. So, we got the word out and our fans responded.
It was such a powerful thing that when we went down to [St. Petersburg], e-mails and phone calls came in telling us, “You have to continue this.” It was the postseason, where every game, every pitch matters. It seemed to work.
I don’t know if it now becomes a White Sox thing all season long. You certainly can’t do it, at least to me. There’s not a game in the regular season, as I look back on the schedule … whether it’s a Yankees game on the weekend or a Cubs game or a random Angels game on a Saturday in September, it just doesn’t have the same emotion.”
