No Change

Chase Meidroth, Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery went a collective 0-for-11 in yesterday’s 2-0 White Sox loss in Kansas City. But, hey, the guys grinded away and actually doubled their hit total, from two on Friday to four. Even better was this nugget of wisdom offered by manager New-Mickey Venable. “As tough as it has been offensively, these guys remain positive,” Venable told reporters. “The vibe is good.” [today’s Tribune] And here I didn’t know teams make the postseason based on their vibe.

Help!

Davis Martin threw seven innings of two-run ball last night in Kansas City and still lost 2-0. Why? Because his team can’t hit. The “projects” went a collective 1-for-9 while everyone else managed 1-for-20 plus a walk. Not one batter in the Sox lineup is hitting better than Chase Meidroth’s .224, and I’m not convinced Meidroth is a major-league hitter, as evidenced by his three strikeouts last night in the leadoff spot. Speaking of strikeouts, take Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery (please); Murakami went down flailing three times against KC pitching while Montgomery did it twice. Murakami is 8-for-45 with nineteen strikeouts vs. 9-for-48 with another nineteen strikeouts for Montgomery. If these guys don’t hit, who will? Meidroth? The Sox rank 29 out of 30 with a team BA of .196 and 29th in runs scored (43). The Astros lead the majors in runs with 85, by the way. I wouldn’t panic, but I would be concerned, very concerned.

One and Counting

The White Sox did something last night in Kansas City they haven’t done since April 4, 2024. Yup, beat the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. A shutout, no less. Sox 2 Royals 0. If nothing else, 5-8 tops 4-9. But how bad must the Royals be if an opponent with only six hitters in the lineup—again—beats them? Those six hitters generated all of five hits, two by catcher Edgar Quero and a run-scoring double off the bat of Colson Montgomery. As for the three, let’s call them “projects,” a single from Dustin Harris and a sacrifice fly from Luisangel Acuna, who now has two RBIs in 39 at-bats. Right now, the pitching both stinks and looks promising. Last night, Anthony Kay went 5.2 innings giving up three hits and two walks against six strikeouts, all good enough for Kay’s first win since June of 2021. (Not a good idea to hit two batters, though.) Manager New-Mickey Venable actually used Grant Taylor out of the pen for a change, and Taylor went 1.1 innings before yielding to Jordan Leasure, who did no damage over an inning, while Seranthony Dominguez managed not to blow the save despite a leadoff walk in the ninth. Did I mention Noah Schultz is 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA for Triple-A Charlotte, or that he has nineteen strikeouts in fourteen innings? Some stats are worth repeating.

Trite but True

With sports, you get what you put in. So, yet again yesterday afternoon, the White Sox fielded a lineup with just six hitters and ran out more journeyman relievers, turning yet another two-run lead into a 5-3 loss. Until they’d signed him last week, I’d never heard of 31-year old Lucas Sims, who picked up the loss (and a shoutout to Bryan “Who He?” Hudson for blowing the save). By the way, last night Noah Schultz ran his record to 3-0 for Charlotte. Speaking of just desserts, the Sky traded power forward Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for two first-round draft picks. If the Sky invested anything beyond a paycheck the two years they had Reese, I sure as heck missed it. At the risk of comparing forwards to guards, Reese is a whole different ballgame than Caitlin Clark. This is all speculation on my part, but I’m willing to bet that Clark has been a family enterprise since her mid-teens. She’s reserved but (sort of) approachable for the media, and she knows how to translate her talent into endorsement deals. The second she stepped on the court for the Fever, odds are she was backed by top-notch representation. Reese is more a one-person operation, which is where the Sky needed to step in with all sorts of support. The organization should’ve partnered with Reese in any and every endeavor, demonstrating their commitment to her on- and off-court success. From what I can see, they did absolutely nothing in that regard. The way things are going, don’t be surprised to see the announcement of a Sky/Sox partnership any day now. Because birds of a feather and dysfunctional organizations flock together.

Half a Roster

Right now, the White Sox look to be stuck in the teardown phase of their rebuild. Yesterday, they blew a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 to the Orioles. By my count, they had six real hitters—and that’s ignoring early-season slumps—in the lineup while employing at most one major-league pitcher out of the six used, and that’s granting Jordan Leasure major-league status. Sorry, Jordan Hicks and his hittable 100-mph fastball don’t count, as evidenced by his 9.00 ERA. Wait, there’s more. Brooks Baldwin, who was expected to see plenty of action in the outfield, is out for the season with surgery on his right elbow. In his absence, we have the likes of Luisangel Acuna; Dustin Harris; Tristan Peters; and Derek Hill. How many RBIs has that quartet managed in eleven games? One. Still not done. Shane Smith started, threw 3.2 shutout innings but got sent down to Triple-A Charlotte. Why? Because he needed 99 pitches to record ten outs. It’s never a good look when you send down your Opening Day pitcher after three starts, but that’s your 2026 White Sox. The longer GM Chris Getz waits to promote the talent that he does have (starters Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith and Tanner McDougal along with newly-minted left fielder Sam Antonacci), the deeper the hole he digs for his team and the more he risks alienating the fanbase. But it’s been said many times, may ways. What do I know?

Bullseye

Holy Cow, Jerry Reinsdorf and son Michael actually fired Bulls’ v.p. of basketball operations’ Arturas Karnisovas and team GM Marc Eversley, and they only waited two years too long to do it! Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks? It must’ve been excruciatingly hard for father and son to act. I mean, Karnisovas is the perfect Reinsdorf hire, both arrogant and tight-lipped, while Eversley spent his time in Chicago doing a spot-on impersonation of the Invisible Man. Has anyone seen him, let alone heard, from him? And a tip of the cap to now ex-Bull Jaden Ivey, whose social media attacks on Catholics and the LGBTQ community forced the front office to act. Too bad Karnisovas and Eversley didn’t feel the need to address the media regarding Ivey. Maybe that was the proverbial straw that broke the old regime. The last man standing here appears to be head coach Billy Donovan, and good for him. The HOFer is in the driver’s seat and should have no problem getting a job elsewhere, pros or college. If he stays around, it may be further proof that the old dogs on Madison Street finally have a clue about cleaning up the mess they let fester for way too long.

Sweep

Whenever a team with the third-lowest payroll in baseball sweeps the team with the fifth-highest, the little folk get to celebrate. White Sox 3 Blue Jays 0. It’s early, and that three-game sweep only gives the Sox a 4-5 record, but it sure beats the last three years. Right now, Davis Martin is pitching more like a #2 starter than a #4. The righthander threw six shutout innings on just 85 pitches to go 2-0 in the season. Some players labor to express themselves, Martin possesses the gift of gab (though not yesterday). A good season from him would mean an abundance of quotable lines. But it would be nice if the Sox started to field a lineup with nine established major-league hitters; yesterday, they got by with six. Tanner Murray (shortstop); Luisangel Acuna (centerfield); and Derek Hill (right field) don’t qualify, though Acuna looks he’ll get plenty of chances given that he can steal a base—four so far—when he gets on. Oh, but all the groundballs off his bat. At age 30, Hill is the quintessential journeyman while Murray is a callup for injured outfielder Everson Pereira (ankle). Off the play he made in the third inning with the bases loaded and two out, I hope the guy can hit because Murray ranged far to his left on a groundball by Addison Barger and bounced an accurate throw to first to beat a lefthand hitting Barger charging down the line. That said, I still want Colson Montgomery in there as my shortstop. Seven real hitters in the lineup is better than six.

Better

For better or worse, the White Sox have tied their fortunes to Munetaka Murakami. Yesterday, they got both, with the good outweighing the bad in a Sox 6-3 win over the visiting Blue Jays. Murakami butchered a groundball that led to a one-out, bases-loaded situation in the fourth inning. But Anthony Kay—who knew?—managed to wiggle out of it. Then came the sixth inning. Murakami absolutely crushed a ball off of reliever Brendon Little to dead center for a two-run homerun to give the Sox the lead for good. Two batters later, Colson Montgomery, in full feast-or-famine mode, launched a ball over the fence in right. Wait, there’s more. The Sox being the Sox, they had to give Toronto a chance to get back in the game, which they did by loading the bases with one out in the seventh. That’s when Murakami did his part in a sacrifice fly/double play. Nathan Lukes flied out to Tristan Peters in right, with a run scoring. Murakami then cut Peters’ throw and nailed the runner trying to advance from second to third. End of threat and pretty much end of ballgame. This was the second straight game Grant Taylor opened, pitching an inning. The logic here escapes me. Taylor is more valuable recording four outs late in the game than three in the first. But a win’s a win.

Smart Money, and Not

The White Sox won their home opener yesterday afternoon, topping the Blue Jays 5-4 in ten innings. Neither team’s big offseason free-agent signings did much to distinguish himself, starting with Toronto starter Dylan Cease. The onetime Sox enigma, signed to a seven-year deal worth $210 million, pitched just like he did on the South Side, which is to say not well enough. Cease needed 93 pitches to get through 4.1 innings. Against any other team, Cease would’ve exited on the short end of a score considerably worse than the 3-1 deficit he faced. And then we have Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami, he of the two-year $34 million contract. The question going into the season concerned the 26-year old slugger’s ability to adjust to MLB pitching. So far so good there. Fielding is the greater concern. We’re not talking range, arm or hands; it’s more the feel for playing first base. Twice in six games Murakami has had his foot off the bag taking a throw. Yesterday, it happened with two out in the tenth of a tied game, which allowed the go-ahead run to score. This is something that did not happen with Andrew Vaughn at first. But you take the win and appreciate Sean Burke’s six innings of one-run ball. On another team, Burke would’ve had a good shot at the win. With the Sox, Jordan Leasure could—and did—relieve him, and you know what that means, right? First two batters, a single and a homerun. Bye-bye two-run lead. But Tristan Peters, that alum of the Savannah Bananas, drove in the winning run in the bottom of the tenth, and all ended well. Dylan Cease? Not my concern anymore. Munetaka Murakami? We need to find him some foot-stretching exercises.

Why Bother?

I checked the Tribune hardcopy sports’ section this morning, all six pages of it, and guess what? No mention of the Chicago White Sox, a professional sports’ team that plays within the city limits. But there was space enough for an AP story on how Indiana quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza did Wednesday performing for pro scouts. Pretty good, apparently. And here I thought the Bears had themselves a quarterback. At 11:20 AM, I checked the Trib website to see if they posted a Sox story. Nope, nothing since Wednesday. Interesting priorities.

Teetering

Six games into the new season, and the White Sox are teetering on the brink. Nothing says “disaster” like your pitching staff giving up nine or more runs in four of five losses, including yesterday’s 10-0 embarrassment in Miami. What to do? I say, panic. I don’t know what GM Chris Getz was thinking when he assembled his pitching staff, but it wasn’t anything smart. He’s already cut ties with Jedixson Paez, a Rule 5 pickup from the Red Sox. If Shane Smith, another Rule 5 alum, doesn’t get his act together, he may be joining Paez before long. The team’s purported top starter got clobbered in his second start of the season, just like he did in his first. Against the Marlins, Smith yielded seven earned runs in three innings. Add up what he did against the Brewers, and Smith is 0-2 with a 19.29 ERA. If nothing else, that makes Sean Burke (6.75 ERA) and Erik Fedde (5.40 ERA) look good in comparison. While its parent club struggles, Triple-A Charlotte is off to a 4-1 start in large part because, yes, the Sox do have talent in the minors. The question, how long are they going to wait to bring up players? Sam Anronacci looks like a better fit than three outfielders I could name while Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith and Tanner McDougal could do just as well as three starting pitchers I could name. Then, again, what do I know? The Sox have lost 100+ games three seasons in a row without following a word of advice from yours truly.

Get Numb To It

Another spring day, another round of Bears’ stories in the papers and on TV. You have to get numb to it in order to survive. Outsized Munster coverage is the default setting for Chicago media, no matter how bad the team. The only way to change that is by other teams winning consistently. In Chicago? Not likely. Once upon a time, Michael Jordan and the Bulls grabbed attention away from the bumblers of the gridiron, but that happened in a century now 26 years past. Jordan is long retired and long gone, a 63-year old millionaire devoted to his NASCAR team. But Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner who ran Jordan and coach Phil Jackson out of town, is still around, finding yet new ways to humiliate an organization. The Bulls are in the midst of a public-relations nightmare because Reinsdorf and his son Michael hired Arturas Karnisovas to run the team six years ago, only Karnisovas is clueless. The latest example of his ineptitude involves now ex-Bull guard Jaden Ivey, who went off the deep end in a series of social media rants targeting anyone who wasn’t his kind of Christian. According to Joe Cowley of the Sun-Times, talking to Ivey was pretty much to face the kinds of questions best left to St. Peter. Bye-bye, Ivey, but not Karnisovas. How come? Because Jerry Reinsdorf does what he wants, no matter the cost to his White Sox or Bulls. In a different market, the attention would eventually shift to other teams. Alas, in Chicago it’s just an excuse to heap more coverage on a team that doesn’t deserve it in the least.

Deliverance

Deliver me, oh Lord, from the plague known as professional football. I fear that those who call the land around Lake Michigan home will devolve into creatures capable of speaking only in a series of “Huts!” and “Omahas!”, with the occasional grunt thrown in. And our media is leading the way. The hard-copy Sun-Times sports’ section went four pages deep in football coverage before offering anything on the Cubs or Sox. A team that won’t play its next regular-season game for close to six months got equal coverage with the two teams just four games into their 162-game season. Mercy. The hard-copy Tribune sports’ section is next to worthless. The Sox started their game against the Marlins at 5:40 our time, and they still couldn’t do a story or box score; for that, I have to wait till tomorrow. I could—and did—go online for said story, but electronic Trib sports is just as Bears-focused as the hard-copy Trib, which had a front-page story on Coach Ben Johnson. Last I checked, Johnson still lost the last game he coached his team, and it wasn’t the Super Bowl. Miguel Vargas had a grand slam and six RBIs in a 9-4 win, in case you were wondering.

Bargain Hunting

White Sox general manager Chris Getz looks to have himself a real bargain in first baseman Munetaka Murakamit, who’s hit three homeruns in his first three career MLB games. If only Getz had the same luck with pitching. I figured it would be a rough start to the season with the Sox opening on the road against the Brewers. Getting out of Milwaukee with a 1-2 record would’ve been OK by me. Blowing a four-run lead in the eighth only to lose by two, not so much. But that’s what Getz’s rebuilt bullpen did. Chirs Murphy loaded the bases with one out before giving up a one-run single. Murphy then exited, to be replaced by Seranthony Dominguez, who did manage to retire the first batter he faced on a popup. Oh, but what happened nest. A two-run single on a full count followed by a three-run, pinch-hit homer courtesy of Christian Yelich, this on a 2-2 pitch. To state the obvious, Dominguez didn’t attack the zone, and he showed the reflexes of a sloth on the single, hit to his left. He fields it, inning’s over. He slows it down, maybe inning’s over. Just not good. Next up, the Marlins, who’ve started the season 3-0, followed by the Bluejays, also 3-0. Not good, indeed.

L.A. Goodbye

Spend 5-1/2 days in Los Angeles (Santa Monica, actually), and you notice things, like traffic. It’s different, not worse. Here, people drive the taxis and Ubers. There, the taxis drive themselves. But an L.A. freeway could pass for a Chicago expressway, easy. The one thing that did impress me was the sports’ scene. In Chicago, it’s Bears, Bears, Bears, 24/7 365 days a year. In Los Angeles, no one seems to care that the Rams beat the Munsters in the playoffs to get to the NFC Championship game; that’s old news, if it was ever news at all. I could be wrong, but people look to be in Dodgers-Dodgers-Dodgers’ mode, 24/7 365 days a year. More interesting yet, we’re not talking celebrity fandom, either. In fact, the Dodgers’ fan base looks as varied as the White Sox, and more working-class, if that’s possible. L.A. may be home to two basketball and two football teams and a hockey team, but you’d never know it from walking around. The only “gear” that counts comes in Dodger-blue. I can respect that.

This I like, That I Don't

With the start of the season just four days off, here are your White Sox story lines. Good news first—Edgar Quero had himself a very nice spring. Counting yesterday’s 1-for-4 performance against the Reds, the 22-year old, switch-hitting catcher is hitting an even .300 with fourteen RBIs in 50 at-bats. Do the math, and that comes out to 110 RBIs in 500 at-bats. A regular season along the lines of that, please. Of more concern is Colson Montgomery with his .180 BA with four RBIs in 50 at-bats. Do the math, and that comes out to 40 RBIs in 500 at-bats. Good thing spring training doesn’t mean anything. Right? A Sox minor leaguer gave up a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to the Reds, so I don’t want that to be some sort of bullpen omen. As for prospects, a group belonging to the Sox group squared off against the Dodgers in a 11-10 loss. Noteworthy: William Bergolla Jr. going 3-for-3 (Colson Montgomery, ignore at your own risk); Braden Montgomery driving in two; and George “Paul Bunyan” Wolkow homering. Two out of these three I hope, I expect, to see with the parent club before long. As for the 20-year old, 6’7” Wolkow, anything in the neighborhood of a .250 BA will earn him a promotion to the next level. You don’t want to stay at low-A Kannapolis, my friend. There you have it, the good, the bad and the maybe.

Cutting Down

Clare never had to worry about making a team, not really. The first travel team she tried out for, before the formal switch from baseball to softball, she didn’t make, but I later heard the organization didn’t field a team in her age group that summer. Then, a team she was on in eighth grade collapsed, and the older coach didn’t want her, but she found another team without a problem, even though—maybe because—she hit one of the coaches with a line drive. High school and college, though, she was pretty much a lock from day one of freshman year. So, I can only guess what players in White Sox camp are thinking right now. What I do know is there won’t be any Jarred Kelenic feel-good story short of someone getting injured and the Sox needing an outfielder; ditto for local-kid reliever Ryan Borucki. Either might have made the team in 2023 or ’24 or ’25 but not now. Bad for them, good for the organization and for anyone who considers themselves a Sox fan. What Clare does know about is dealing with a career that ends abruptly. In softball, that’s pretty much a given except for the .001 percent or so of college players who want to live an itinerant existence following a pro dream or fantasy For Kelenic and Borucki, along with a lot of people whose names appear in the Transactions’ announcements the next few days, retirement maybe closer than they’d like. But there’s no escaping it. As for the Sox, if they’re not going to stock the roster with a bunch of free-agent veterans, who makes the trip to Milwaukee for Opening Day? Stay tuned.

Waiting

The White Sox open their season six days from now in Milwaukee, and the 26-player roster is still taking shape. Regardless who makes the team, you have to wonder how set positions are going to be. Today’s lineup includes rookie infielder Sam Antonacci, and I’m inclined to ask, why? Chris Getz has flat-out said Antonacci will start the season in the minors. The 23-year mustn’t have gotten the message. He went 1-for-3 with an RBI last night against the Padres, which gives him a .313 BA and five RBIs for the spring. Oh, and three stolen bases to go with seven runs scored. How long does the 23-year old sparkplug languish in the bushes, Chris? The same question could be asked of outfielder Braden Montgomery, who also had himself a nice spring, hitting .348 with three RBIs and four runs scored. It felt like Getz couldn’t send the switch-hitting Montgomery down fast enough, lest he improve on those stats. Maybe the Sox wouldn’t have a muddled outfield picture had Getz decided to make a bold decision or two. I’ll hold my tongue on pitchers Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith, till June. If they’re struggling in the minors, keep them there. Otherwise, they should be up. I mean, it’s not a successful rebuild without proof of progress. Let these players prove themselves ASAP.

Other Springs, Past Summers

Last Saturday, we went to the Berwyn Rec for early voting in the Illinois primary. Talk about stepping into a time machine, or out of one, I guess. Old fogies went one direction, parents with kids in another. An electronic crawler announced Pony Ball signup, and I began to float through time. The father with the girl who wanted to play baseball. Which she did spring after spring through seventh grade. Then, Sunday, I started clearing out the area around the trainset in the basement; my hope is to get everything up and running by my grandson’s fifth birthday come August. If I know Leo, he’ll want full access to every side of the layout. And, if I know me, there’ll be some purchases of very old Lionel equipment on eBay to spike his interest, and mine. Know that, both by inclination and by profession, I am a collector of things past. If the thing tells a story, I’m inclined to keep it. The trainset? That’s pure Ed Bukowski. A man with three kids always in need of stuff found the money to buy a slightly used Lionel set and built the table to put it on. I have all of that to remind me. The story boards Clare used in grade school and high school do the same. They were piled in a far corner, where Leo is sure to be standing before long. All products of one history fair or another. My daughter said I could pitch everything. “I didn’t even know you’d saved them.” But I did, and I’m not quite ready to let go of one in particular, “Mustang Madness!”. It tells the story of one of the summer Morton teams Clare played on; for three years, she a Mustang not actually in high school. All I can say is, the kid could hit. Anyway, she imagined the team—which won the summer league championship, such as it was—as part of a “Field of Dreams”-like movie, with Clare being played by Amber Tamblyn. Jessica; Jezebel; Alyssa; and one other girl were played by other young actors at the time. The photos pasted on the board are of achingly young kid-athletes, posing, smiling, trying to project confidence. There are two of Clare, one in catcher’s gear (that experiment didn’t last long, trust me) and the other showing her ready to hit. The stance that launched a career’s worth of long balls. Those onetime teammates have all gone their separate ways. My contribution to that long-ago team has two children of her own now, and one of them will be starting t-ball in another week or so. Time flies. I’ll show Clare the story board. Depending what she says, I may find a place for it in the basement.

Just Stay Put

According to Jon Greenberg in today’s The Athletic, the private-equity firm owned by Justin Ishbia has purchased a 47-acre site in the South Loop literally the other side of the Chicago River where Jerry Reindsorf wanted all of Illinois to build him a new stadium. Greenberg intimated Ishbia, White Sox owner in waiting, may want to build a stadium at the soon-to-be former Amtrak rail yard. As if Sox fans care. They don’t want a new facility; the current one is fine. What they want is new ownership and a commitment to winning. If Ishbia can provide that, fans will line up to watch games while standing on one foot. I know I would.

Is This Anything?

As my good friend David Letterman would ask. In this case, does Matas Buzelis scoring 29 points and Josh Giddey recording another triple-double mean anything? I ask because it happened last night in the Bulls’ 132-107 win over the Grizzlies. Impressive, but maybe not. You see, Memphis is in strict tank-mode. They went into the game with four fewer victories than their hosts; make that five. Outside of the stats for Buzelis and Giddey, what does the win do for the Bulls? It certainly doesn’t improve their chances in the draft lottery. No, the odds are they’ll land low enough so that all the top talent is gone and/or Arturas Karnisovas will be tempted to go after another “project” like he did this year with eighteen-year old Noa Essengue. Talk about your nine circles of sports’ hell. The sooner NBA Commissioner Adam Silver moves against tanking, the better. That would definitely be something.

Everything or Nothing

Spring training can mean everything or nothing, depending on the player and/or the team. Right now, the White Sox must be thinking their 13-10 record in Cactus League play means they’re going to be competitive-plus come Opening Day while the Cubs’ Jameson Taillon has to be telling himself his 22.18 ERA in 9.2 innings doesn’t mean anything. For his sake, I hope not. Taillon inadvertently let slip the dangers inherent with the analytics’ approach to baseball. He admitted in today’s Tribune online story to always “tinkering” and that he “tinkered a little bit and messed myself up” and now needs to tinker himself back to a good place. Maybe shutting off the gizmos would be a good start. Unlike Taillon’s ERA, spring injuries count. Kyle Teel hurt a hamstring in the WBC while Mike Vasil came away from his start Saturday with right-elbow soreness. I think Teel’s injury would have happened regardless the venue. The question here is conditioning. What, the Sox want to lead the world in muscle pulls, again? Vasil’s injury comes with the territory; every pitch risks time on the IL, whenever it’s thrown. But Seiya Suzuki’s injury to his right knee, now that’s something that could’ve been avoided. Suzuki slid into second on an attempted steal in a WBC game Saturday and limped off the field after being called out; the extent of the injury is still being evaluated. Here’s a thought—don’t risk injury by stealing. Even if you succeed, it doesn’t count for your career stats. Wait, here’s a better idea—don’t play in the WBC at all.

Waste of a Good Tree

Newspapers are hanging on by a thread. Consider that the Sun-Times not too long ago sold for one dollar. By that I mean a kit-and-kaboodle transaction down to every last computer terminal, not the cost of a single copy (it should be so cheap). Read either Chicago daily, and you come away with a sense they’re both circling the drain. Hard-news coverage keeps on shrinking; arts’ coverage verges on non-existent; and sports are on a strict diet. The Sun-Times has people who happen to be in Arizona filing Sox spring training stories while the Trib enforces a six-page format for sports, day-in day-out. Who needs NBA or NHL box scores? Once upon a time, both papers would offer their own baseball previews. No more. The only things “local” about the insert included in today’s Sunday Tribune are a front-page photo of Pete Crow-Armstrong and a Trib columnist included among the eight sportswriters making their 2026 predictions. Not one of the seven feature stories is local, and the one advocating a salary cap comes from where you’d expect, a Dallas paper. Each team gets a player photo and some miscellaneous information. Too bad nobody bothered to check for accuracy. Last time I looked, Colson Montgomery played shortstop, not “designated hitter.”

More

The White Sox beat the Cubs 4-2 yesterday, their third win against the North Siders this spring. More of the same come the regular season, please. An acquaintance of long standing—he’d be more of a friend if not for his questionable team loyalty—complained to me this morning how the Cubs used a “crappy” lineup against the forces of good. Truth be told, he was right. His team had at most three starters in the lineup, and, if that’s their pitching staff, look out below. But, hey, the Sox were playing maybe four of their regulars—does Korey Lee count?—and, yes, those four guys who pitched are all probably going to make the staff. But, if you can’t hit Jordan Hicks or Sean Newcomb, that’s on you. It’s twelve days to Opening Day in Milwaukee. Today, the 12-9 Sox play host to the 14-6 Dodgers. That should be a good test of how the spring is going. Depending who plays, of course.

Winning, Losing and Teaching

The purpose of tanking in the NBA is to lose games, thereby improving draft position. So, of course, the Bulls are 2-2 over their last four games. Part of the problem is the front office. Also, in a way, Billy Donovan. Don’t ask a Hall-of-Fame coach to tank. It’s like asking a fish not to swim. Donovan, bless him, insists on giving his all, which includes teaching his young players to be better. Take Matas Buzelis. Tuesday night, Buzelis scored a career-high 41 points in an overtime 130-124 win against the host Warriors. With his team up by five points with 32 seconds to go, Buzelis launched an errant three-pointer. Great idea, if you want to tank, but bad idea if you want to win. And for Donovan, a teaching moment. Coach and second-year forward had a postgame heart-to-heart, in keeping with their mentor-mentee relationship. Or, as the 21-year puts it, “I’m riding with Billy forever. He tells you the truth every time. You can appreciate that when somebody tells you what you need to hear instead of hearing all the other talk which isn’t true.” [quote from story in yesterday’s Tribune] Billy Donovan and Matas Buzelis—the stopped clock of a Bulls’ front office getting it right. I hope. And Josh Giddey? That one’s still up in the air. Only Giddey could find a way to tarnish his triple double, committing five turnovers to go with 21 points, thirteen rebounds and a whopping seventeen assists. Learn how to the handle on the ball, young man. Maybe Donovan can have a(nother) heart-to-heart with him, and bring in Tre Jones while he’s at it. Jones scored 22 points with four rebounds and five assists (and, yes, two turnovers) off the bench against Golden State. Then, in last night’s 142-130 loss to the Lakers, Jones tallied eighteen points, four rebounds and six assists (plus no turnovers) in a starting role. Giddey? The 27 points, eight rebounds and fifteen assists were nice, the six turnovers not so much.

Worth It?

The good news about the WBC is it can serve as a continuation of spring training, with a dash of regular-season pressure thrown in. Produce here, and you have a chance of producing in the bigs come June. Bad news? Injuries. Kyle Teel homered and doubled Tuesday night for Team Italy, only to suffer a hamstring injury running to second; he’s expected to be out four-six weeks. The hamstring’s a hamstring, and it could just as easily have been pulled in Arizona. Still, what happens when an MLB player suffers a knee injury for Team Whatever? Which leads me to Bryce Harper’s stated desire to play baseball in the Summer Olympics one day for Team USA. Yeah, the injuries won’t count, right? And MLB won’t be tempted to switch the World Series to a neutral site because the season shuts down for two weeks. Game Seven on Thanksgiving, anyone? But, like I said, at least the WBC offers a plus-version of spring training. Sam Antonacci, Teel’s teammate on Team Italy, has a homerun to go with three RBIs. He also performed an Oscar-worthy deek last night at shortstop, diving for a flyball that centerfielder Jakob Marsee made an easy catch on. Baserunner Joey Ortiz was off with the pitch, and the deek convinced Ortiz to keep running to third. Marsee threw the ball back in for an easy double play. White Sox GM Chris Getz said he was proud of how well Teel and Antonacci have done, but I wonder. Getz keeps saying Antonacci won’t make the Opening Day roster. Why not? Because starting him at second would constitute an admission that he overvalued Chase Meidroth’s talent in the Garrett Crochet deal? Perish the thought.

Chance Encounter

Michele went clothes’ shopping yesterday, and I tagged along. Just for fun, I wore my Mitchell &Ness 1934 White Sox team jacket. Let me just say, to wear this article of clothing is to be transformed. The jacket is green with a logo consisting of a white S-O-X on a diagonal over a large red C, with lots of white and yellow outlining throughout. The first time I wore it, someone followed me up and down the aisles at Jewel to tell me how great it looked. Yesterday, somebody at the mall did the same. And, yes, I know, it’s the jacket, not the person wearing it. Anyway, she was arranging stock only to stop and stare as I sat waiting for Michele to come up of the dressing room. My new friend knew the jacket represented something old. One thing led to another, and she informed me, “I’m both a Cardinals’ and White Sox fan.” Well, enemy of my enemy and all that. She even saw a Cardinals-Sox game in 2014 when A.J. Pierzynski subbed behind the plate for an injured Yadier Molina. So, I asked, did you ever see a game at Sportsman’s Park, long-ago home of the Cardinals and Browns? “Oh, yes,” she answered, her whole face brightening. “My first game, we went there, but it was to see the Browns, and I couldn’t understand why.” The answer came years later when she learned her parents wanted to see Satchel Paige pitch, most likely when the ageless wonder toiled for the Browns, 1951-53. On the way out, I wished my new friend a good season for both her teams.

Make It Stop

The White Sox won again yesterday, scoring eleven runs in the fourth inning on their way to a 12-3 thumping of the Rockies. The win pushes their record to 11-7, impressive given what they’ve done the last two seasons. Meanwhile, on the North Side, the Cubs are a blah 7-10. I bring this up because I’m a Sox fan, and I know there are Cubs’ fans out there ready to tell me what I can do with that proffered information. In those ancient times before the NFL conquest of the sports’ world, Chicago’s sports’ media would’ve reported both on the disparity in records and the friction it was causing between local baseball nations. Alas, no more. What I got this morning was more Bears’ coverage in the Tribune than the Sox and Cubs combined. The Munsters added some guys on defense. I mean, one of them had 3-1/2 sacks last year for the 8-9 Colts! Stop the presses!! The Sun-Times played copycat to the Trib, and both read the way TV and radio sounded. Listen to Jarrett Payton on WGN Ch. 9, and you’d think the clock was winding down to opening kickoff. It’s not. It’s March. Opening Day is fifteen days off.

Upon Further Review

With Opening Day a little more than two weeks off, the White Sox have the second-best spring-training record among American League teams at 10-7, trailing only the Yankees at 11-5. Interesting. I’ll just say there are a lot of good young players in camp, and leave it at that. As for a neither young-nor-old Jarred Kelenic, his chances of making the Opening Day roster may have turned on a reversed strike call yesterday against the Royals hanks to the Automated Ball-Strike System. Per today’s Sun-Times, Kelenic appealed a called strike three in the first inning and won. The 26-year made good use of his new life by hitting the next pitch for a 438-foot homerun. He went 2-for-3 on the day, lifting his BA to a decent .261. If that were his career average, Kelenic would be an established player somewhere, given his power and defense. I wonder, how many players before him were in the same situation, a pitch away from making the team, only to be victim of a bad call by the plate umpire? The pride of Waukesha, Wisconsin, should thank his lucky stars for ABS intervening on his behalf.

Old School

What can technology do? Well, last spring, it enabled me to check box scores every morning at breakfast while we were in London and Paris. What can’t it do? Preserve the value of page one. I can read stories online anytime, only one story doesn’t relate to another; it’s just a list of headlines. “Above the fold” means something, or once did. That was the most important story on the front page of the paper. You were well-advised to take a look. And, Yes, you can read the paper online in traditional format, but I wonder how many people bother? Regardless, supporters would have you believe the internet has “democratized” the news. Back in olden times, someone decided what stories qualified for page one and where while other pieces went inside the paper. Said who? Somebody I didn’t know but implicitly trusted. This makes me a Hamiltonian, I guess, suspicious of all the “new” news’ sources; give me the old-time rules of journalism, thank you very much. And forget the Bears, while you’re at it. Today is Sunday; we still get hardcopy papers; and I value the front page of each section, especially sports. You could see the echoes, if that’s possible, of the old ways at work on the front page of the Tribune sports’ section. Three stories and a column. Classic composition, which, taken together, worked to perfection. Almost. I learned that Troy Murray, Blackhawks’ star-cum-announcer, had died at the age of 63 and how various women sports at Northwestern University are achieving success. Paul Sullivan also stuck his neck out with his latest “In the Wake of the News” column. Sullivan went after the Trump administration for using MLB and NFL clips in tweets highlighting the U.S. aerial assault against Iran; something about connecting a homerun or hard tackle to an act of war rubbed Sullivan the wrong way. Agree or disagree, Sullivan was doing his job by providing thought-provoking content. But there was another story, sharing “above the fold” status with Murray’s obituary, about the Bears’ “biggest needs.” You see, there are just “46 Days until the NFL Draft on April 23 in Pittsburgh. The Bears have the no. 25 pick.” Thanks, and who gives a crap?

Coach Mom

Some daughters turn into stage mothers, but not mine. No, Clare is destined to be Coach Mom. She already has her 4-1/2 year old son in winter soccer, playing with and against kids as much as two years older. Last night, Leo scored a goal left-footed. No doubt, Coach Mom was happy. Heaven knows what she’ll do when my grandson hits his first homerun in t-ball. Then we have the eighteen-month old sprite known as Maeve. Lately, she insists that the two of us go on the back porch so she can play with wiffle balls and the same plastic bat her big brother uses. Granted, she uses the bat and ball as if she were playing lacrosse or field hockey, but, still, she’s putting bat to ball. Grandpa’s impressed. Wait, there’s more. Last night, said sprite tried to get in on the soccer action by running onto the court (they play in a gym because outside is one, big, muddy, March mess); Dad had to go catch her before she could join big brother. Coach Mom had twice the reason to like what she saw.

No Thanks

The Bears traded wide-receiver DJ Moore to the Bills yesterday in exchange for a second-round draft choice. The Munsters also gain about $16.5 million in cap space. Two things here. First, Moore. I wish I acted as mature at 28 as he did this season. Moore made himself available to the media on a regular basis, and he preferred a minimalist approach to touchdown celebrations; his reaction to catching two game-winning touchdown against the Packers back in December were a study in understatement. I liked that. In what proved to be the Bears’ last game of the season, Moore was out of position for a ball that ended up an interception, which led to a game-winning field goal for the Rams in overtime. Moore took a lot of heat for that but handled it better than most 28-years olds would. A good guy, he will now provide an inviting target for Josh Allen, one of the best quarterbacks in the game. Two, cap space. The Bears also released linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and are coping with the sudden retirement of center Drew Dalman, two moves that mean more cap space. How I hate that term. Until the owners win out (and I don’t think they will), baseball operates free of anything resembling a hard cap, which is nothing short of a straitjacket. No cap, and Moore and/or Edmunds could stay, providing depth in the process. But with the cap, a football front office turns into a high-stakes accounting firm. I can do without it. So can baseball.

Behind the Mic

The one thing that White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf did that I had no problem with was letting go of announcer Harry Caray, a backstabbing frontrunner if there ever was one. I wonder, how many old Cardinal and Sox players attended Caray’s funeral? For that matter, did Ron Cey? The problem with Reinsdorf is that he’s always better at firing people than finding replacements. Not that he thinks so. I’m sure he considers Ken “Hawk” Harrelson the perfect replacement for Caray, and, in a sense, he was. Nobody ever sucked up to Reinsdorf like the Hawk did year after year. When it finally came time for Harrelson to retire, the Sox got it broken-clock right with his replacement, homegrown Sox fan Jason Benetti. Only, like any South Sider (technically, Benetti is a South Suburbanite), Benetti comes with attitude, which showed in his highbrow brand of humor and a very un-Harrelson-like willingness to criticize—as opposed to Caray, who brutalized—Sox players. The Chairman no like, with Benetti gone to Detroit. And, now, to NBC, where he’ll handle play-by-play on Sunday night games. The Sox didn’t want Benetti to do anything but Sox broadcasts. In contrast, the Tigers released a statement saying the team is “incredibly proud” Benetti got the new gig. Crickets so far from Benetti’s former employer. But, hey, we’re about to start season three of the embarrassment known as John Schriffen. Stand up, South Side—and reach for the mute button.

Logjam

The White Sox just updated their top-30 prospects’ list. All I can say is, don’t get attached to anyone in the infield. Two of the top ten are shortstops; one a third baseman-shortstop; and another as a second baseman-third baseman. Oh, and the eleventh-ranked prospect is a shortstop-second baseman. Got that? In addition, two of the Sox top ten—shortstop-third baseman Caleb Bonemer and shortstop Billy Carlson—are on the top 100 prospects’ list put out by MLB Pipeline. Got that? Also, the eleventh-ranked Sox prospect, shortstop-second baseman William Bergolla Jr. is having himself a nice spring, going 6-for-13 so far. Bergolla is not to be confused with ninth-ranked Sox prospect, second baseman-third baseman Sam Antonacci, who was 4-for-13 with two homeruns before leaving to play for Team Italy in the WBC. Got that? Oh, I forgot to mention the White Sox have the number-one pick in the upcoming draft. The consensus top player in said draft is UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky, who happens to be—wait for it—a shortstop. Cholowsky is hitting .341 so far this spring with seven homers. Got that? Good. Now tell me what the above means for Colson Montgomery; Chase Meidroth; Miguel Vargas; and Lenyn Sosa. If the Sox do in fact pick Cholowsky, they’ll have five prospects all capable of playing shortstop. Odds are, they all won’t be a bust. Like I said, don’t get attached to anyone in the infield just yet.

Good News, Bad News

Points to White Sox rookie outfielder Braden Montgomery for aiming high and thinking big. The homerun and triple he hit against the Cubs Sunday didn’t lead him to think he could just make the Sox roster at some point this season. The almost 23-year old has his sights set on Cooperstown. Montgomery told reporters after the game, “My overall goal is to make the Hall of Fame. I’ll take it a game at a time, and we’ll see what happens at the end of it.” [quote from story in today’s Sun-Times] Well, good to hear, and, from what Montgomery’s shown so far, not out of the question. But I wonder, what hat he’d wear at his induction ceremony? If Jerry Reinsdorf makes it to 100-plus years on this planet, there’s a good chance it won’t be a Sox cap. The team has had two homegrown talents worthy of the Hall since Reinsdorf took control of the team in 1981, Frank Thomas and Mark Buehrle. The Big Hurt is in, Buehrle should be and one day perhaps will be. But neither of them played their entire career on the South Side. Then-GM Kenny Williams let Thomas walk after the 2005 season and called him an “idiot” in the process. Granted that Thomas was a man-child, but so was Ted Williams. One team was good enough for the Splendid Splinter and should’ve been for the Big Hurt, too. As for Buehrle, he took the ball; pitched a perfect game among his two no-hitters; and never made waves. But he got the boot as well. Reinsdorf doesn’t like paying big bucks to pitchers, even HOF-worthy ones offering a hometown discount to stay, as Buehrle did before leaving for the Marlins in 2012. I don’t put Paul Konerko in the same group as Thomas and Buehrle because, technically, he wasn’t homegrown. For some odd reason, both the Dodgers and Reds gave up on Konerko, maybe because they tried him at third base and left field instead of first base. Their mistake turned into our gain, and I’m pretty sure “Paulie’s” sixteen years on the South Side would mean he’d wear a Sox cap at his induction ceremony in the not-too-distant future. Konerko was like Buehrle, quiet and dedicated to his craft. Montgomery looks to be more vocal, a la Thomas or even A.J. Pierzynski (who I also think is HOF-worthy, whichever of the possible seven caps he’d choose). In Reinsdorf Land, it’s never a good idea to express opinions. Heck, it doesn’t always help if you stay quiet and mind your own business. Montgomery is an outfielder, not a pitcher, so, there’s that. But I wouldn’t hold my breath about his staying around if he is in fact worthy of Cooperstown.

Stay Calm and Carry On

I know. It’s only spring training. Get a grip. But it’s always fun to beat the Cubs, which the White Sox did yesterday by a 5-1 score. Better yet when your team hits three homeruns off of starter Shota Imanaga. Nice when the other team has to worry about its starting pitching. Second-year catcher Edgar Quero connected off Imanaga in the first, followed by rookie outfielder Braden Montgomery in the second and veteran Austin Hayes in the third. For me, Quero’s and Montgomery’s homers are the clouts that count in particular. Young guys hot, that’s what you want in spring training. Not that Lenyn Sosa is old; the 26-year old added a homer of his own while 25-year old Brooks Baldwin stayed hot with a single and run scored. I still think Sosa gets traded by Opening Day, but good for him and good for the Sox if he keeps on hitting. Somehow, I can see him hitting a ton at Yankee Stadium. Now, back to Montgomery, who also tripled; that gives him two to go with the homer in a 5-for-14 spring so far. How long does Montgomery stay in the minors, or Sam Antonacci, for that matter? Good questions to have and the kind of questions the Sox haven’t had for way too long.

No, Thanks

The Sun-Times quoted some Cubs’ pitchers today about how great it would be to pitch for the United States in the Summer Olympics, if only baseball were a recognized sport. To which I say—No, thanks. I may be the only person in all fifty states to think that the Dream teams of the 1990s made up of American NBA stars was an embarrassing example of Ugly Americanism, but I do. I’d also argue it verges on big-time hypocrisy to lionize the Dream Teams, the antithesis of amateurism, and the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” men’s hockey team, the quintessential example of amateurism. But that’s just me. On a more practical note, I don’t see how NHL fans can stand having their sport shut down for over two weeks so players can to their respective national teams. I’d like to see that happen in the NFL. And I want to know how fans and teams will react when a star player gets injured. I don’t like the World Baseball Classic for how it messes with getting ready for the regular season. What if Tarik Skubal and/or Paul Skenes gets injured? It wouldn’t be any better if the injury happened on the mound at the Summer Olympics.

One More Day

One more day, and it’s March. That used to mean a whole month of spring training, but, now, you can throw in Opening Day, too, depending on weather conditions. Nothing says spring baseball in the Midwest like snow flurries across the infield. What do I want? Well, I read where White Sox head groundskeeper Roger Bossard said team owner Jerry Reinsdorf told him he wants to stay on the scene until he’s 99. So, definitely not that. But the makings of a good, young team would be a start. Think what ex-GM Larry Himes did back in the day with Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura and Jack McDowell. When Himes got the axe in September of 1990 for insufficient loyalty, his successor Ron Schueler did a decent job of keeping the team young; think Mike Cameron (later traded for an even younger Paul Konerko); Aaron Rowand and Mark Buehrle. Schueler also had a scouting department that knew to sign the likes of Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez. Then came Kenny Williams, and the Sox would never be that interested in young players again. So, what do I want? Reinsdorf into retirement sooner than later. And a roster full of prospects that will allow me to dream and compare: You know, he reminds me of…

Just Wondering

The McCaskeys finally found themselves a chump in the state of Indiana, which passed legislation yesterday creating a stadium authority to bring the Munsters over the state line. This is no longer a news story for Chicago media, but a tug-of-war with local bragging rights on the line. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: How sad. One thing I’d like to know, though, is would the cost of a personal seat license vary state to state? For some reason, nobody in McCaskeyland seems interested in bringing the subject up. Maybe the answer is hidden away in one of those blob buildings that make up so much of the stadium-complex renderings.

Hidden Treasure

The White Sox play the Dodgers today, so this should be a good test, given that LA has started spring training with a 5-0 record. The Dodgers’ lineup includes ex-Sox farmhand Alex Call, a third-round pick in the 2016 draft. The right-handed hitting outfielder was traded to Cleveland in 2018 for first baseman Yonder Alonso. Bad trade, that. Call is a nice glove and bat off the bench. Playing for the Dodgers is a testament both to his ability and the acumen of the Sox scout(s) who identified his talent. The same holds for current Sox Brooks Baldwin, a twelfth-round selection in 2022. The switch-hitting Baldwin struggled through the first half of his first real season last year (he also had 114 at-bats in 2024). Then, something clicked in early July with a pinch-hit homerun against these same Dodgers. Baldwin batted .253 in the second half of the season vs. .227 in the first half. He also hit eleven homers overall in 300 at-bats. Guess who’s 4-for-7 with a homerun this spring? Yup, the twelfth rounder. Again, a testament both to the player and the scout(s) who found him. It’s almost enough to make me think the Sox know what they’re doing. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself quite yet.

Clueless, and not the Movie

The Bulls lost their tenth game in a row last night , rolling over 131-99 to the visiting Hornets. Wait, there’s more, or less, depending on how you view things. Despite their embrace of tanking, the Bulls have only the seventh worst record in the league. Shame on you, Billy Donovan, for taking a blah roster and making it competitive, at least until the injuries started piling up. So, if the Bulls can’t win the race to the bottom, what can they accomplish? Outside of showing that Patrick Williams will never develop beyond a journeyman—if that—no matter how many minutes he plays, I’m not sure. Arturas Karnisovas acquired some guys who, once upon a time, were promising, but they were slowed by injuries. Guess what? They’re injured again. I’m looking at you, Jaden Ivey and Anfernee Simons. And let’s not forget big man Zach Collins, out for the season with a big-toe injury that limited him to ten games. Wait, there’s more. Tank time is when you let young talent develop, only in the Bulls’ case, it’s questionable talent, or the talent merits questioning with more playing time. Last night, Josh Giddey had eight points with five assists…and five turnovers. In his last ten games, Giddey has scored in the single digits four times while tallying eleven or fewer points six times. Plus he’s turned the ball over four or more times in five of those games. And Matas Buzelis, even more of a building block than Giddey? The second-year forward is nothing if not a human roller coaster. Last night’s 32-point performance was nice but hardly enough to erase recent two- and four-point performances. Like Giddey, you never know what Buzelis is going to show up on any given night. Long story short, this is a team that stinks too much and not enough all at the same time.

Balls and Strikes

MLB will start using its Automated Ball-Strike system come Opening Day, and I’m wondering about consequences. I mean, what if Angel Hernandez was still around? A team starts with two challenges and can keep going until and if the challenges prove unsuccessful. With Hernandez behind the plate, teams would probably be right challenging each and every pitch. At some point in the season, I think umpires will start complaining that they’re being shown up; I’m looking at you, C.B. Bucknor. Either someone like Bucknor cleans up his act, which is doubtful given that he’s been around since 1996, or they’re going to be driven from the game courtesy of ABS. I don’t like the pitch clock because it should be unnecessary, and was up until Mike Hargrove, “the Human Rain Delay,” started doing his shtick back in the 1970s; that’s when umpires needed to step in. And don’t get me started on extra innings or the pitcher only getting three throws to a base per at-bat to try to catch a runner. But ABS I see as necessary. See Hernandez, Bucknor above. With luck, the great majority of umpires will get with the program. If not, they can always resign, at which point MLB might consider another fundamental change, as in women umpires.

Gold Glove

Pirates’ HOF second baseman Bill Mazeroski died last week at the age of 89. It only seems like he earned three of his eight Gold Gloves against me. I started playing Strat-O-Matic Baseball in the spring of 1966. I was the American League, a sad person I knew from St. Gall was the National League. The game is based on a complete season’s worth of stats, so it’s always a year behind. The sad person especially liked to play the Dodgers (Koufax and Drysdale); the Giants (Willie Mays with 52 homeruns); and the Pirates. If Roberto Clemente wasn’t hitting homers against me, Mazeroski was turning double plays. The best fielding rating in Strat-O-Matic is a one, and that was Mazeroski. I’m guessing that at some point the Pirates faced off against the White Sox, a 90-win team against a 95-win team. The Pirates scored 675 runs with a .265 BA to 647 runs for the Sox and a.246 BA. Pittsburgh had a team ERA of 3.01 to 2.99 for Chicago. We would’ve played on somebody’s front- or back-porch, rolling dice and yelling just short of an adult telling us to “Quiet down!”. Clemente homers, Mazeroski turns two but Johnny Romano goes deep in the eighth for a 3-2 Sox win. Really, 89 seems awfully young.

Still Early, But...

I’ll try not to buy World Series’ tickets just yet. A 2-0 start by the White Sox in spring training is nice, but I don’t want to go overboard quite yet. Still, an 11-2 win over the A’s beats an 11-2 loss. In ascending order, Brooks Baldwin homered; Miguel Vargas had a hit and two runs scored; William Bergolla Jr. went 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI; and Edgar Quero collected two two-run singles as part of a 3-for-3 day. What’s not to like? I mean, outside of the A’s using nine pitchers and the Sox seven?

It's a Start

The White Sox kicked off spring training Friday with a 8-1 win over the Cubs, which is always nice. I’m especially happy with who did what, and not just Munetaka Murkami with two hits. It’s the rookies. Second baseman Sam Antonacci connected for a two-run homerun off of starter Jameson Taillon; always nice to go long on an established pitcher. Fellow infielder William Bergolla Jr. went 2-for-2 with two doubles and a run scored. Antonacci is ranked the eleventh-best prospect in the system, with Bergolla right behind at twelfth. Let me count the ways I want them to succeed. First off, they’re smallish, Antonacci standing an even 6’ and Bergolla 5’9”. Second, they’re fast. Antonacci stole 48 bases across three levels while last year, and Bergolla swiped 40 bases for Double-A Birmingham. It doesn’t get any more old school than a speed-first White Sox infielder. And from all accounts, they’re smart, and smart people are the ones who find a way to get to the majors. Yeah, I know, the first day of spring training. But you have to start somewhere.

Chicken Little

The Bears announced yesterday they intend to focus stadium efforts on Hammond, Indiana, an April Fool of a location if there ever was one. But Lou Canellis of NBC 5 Sports went full Chicken Little. Oh, how his family has held season tickets since the Munsters—hey, why not a location in that Hoosier burg?—played at Wrigley Field, in addition to Soldier Field. Apparently, now the Canellis Clans will fire up the GPS to find the new place. Oh, please. The McCaskeys spent how much to buy 326 acres in Arlington? Oh, right, just north of $197 million. Along the way, they’ve jerked the chain of just about every local official from the Loop to the northwest suburb in question, not to mention Gov. JB Pritzker and members of the General Assembly and some school districts in and around Arlington Heights. Way to make friends, guys. I seriously question if the McCaskeys have ever driven to Hammond; they’d remember, because of traffic (and industrial odors). Let me put it this way—the interstates that cross northwest Indiana have the worst truck traffic I’ve ever had the misfortune of driving in. It ain’t gonna get better on a Sunday night in November. But, hey, it’s the Bears, and stupid is their game. With lemmings like Lou Canellis in tow, they can do whatever they want.

A Different Approach

I see where the Mets are taking a go-slow approach with centerfielder Luis Robert Jr. They think—or hope—that a gradual gear-up during spring training will allow Robert to avoid the injuries that plagued him throughout his years on the South Side. Good luck with that. I’m serious. If they can find a way to help Robert avoid the hamstring and hip issues he’s been prone to, then everyone else in baseball should take note. If only they mentioned what kind of program the training staff was going to implement. Instead, it sounds like they’re borrowing a page from the Tony La Russa playbook, ca. late 2021. That’s when La Russa announced his players weren’t going to go 100 percent in order to save themselves for the playoffs. We lost to the Astros anyway. Analytics have turned baseball into a function of size and muscle, an approach that practically guarantees injury; Robert is just susceptible sooner than others. Less muscle, more flexibility, I say, but what do I know?

Rain or Shine, Win or Lose

After the Bears went 5-12 in 2024, they still found a way to raise season-ticket prices by an average of ten percent. What do you think happened after they went 11-5 last season and actually won a playoff game? How about 13.5 percent, on average? Good ol’ Kevin Warren announced the news in a letter to season-ticket holders. If the team president mentioned the disparity between the increase and annual rate of inflation (2.7), I missed it. I keep thinking of the character in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” who, when asked to show his badge, responds. Well, you know what he said.

“For Smart Fans”

Who says there’s no reward for taking your 94-year old mother-in-law grocery shopping? I found Lindy’s Baseball 2026 Preview on the magazine rack at Jewel. Oh, and my mother-in-law’s an angel, pretty much. After a quick look through Lindy’s, I was impressed. They’re against a salary cap, and they see the White Sox headed in the right decision. That’s all I ask. OK, not really. I want a lot, starting with a new owner and…

Obsolete?

The NBA had its All-Star game yesterday, or was it three? No, four? Who knows, who cares? It doesn’t matter the sport. All-Star games just don’t matter anymore. It’s reached the point where NFL Pro Bowlers play a game of flag football. Whoopee, and no, thanks. Baseball is a little different. The NBA has its slam-dunk contest, MLB Home Run Derby, which is probably the more popular. Still, the game doesn’t generate the interest it once did. Again, regardless the sport, players basically don’t want to risk injury for an exhibition contest. In the olden days before free agency, the respective sports had distinct personalities, e.g., AL vs. NL or NFL vs. AFL. American Leaguers really disliked National Leaguers and vice versa. The one non-stupid move Bud Selig made during his time as MLB commissioner was to give homefield advantage in the World Series to the league that won the All-Star Game. No more. I don’t blame the players for wanting to protect themselves. That said, I miss the intensity of the old MLB All-Star games. Maybe next life.

Priorities

In a world I’m not part of, Casey Wasserman is a big deal, or he was until a few days ago when he announced he was selling the talent agency he named and headed. Wasserman acted before his business turned to ashes after his name was connected to sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein in the latest Epstein documents’ release. According to emails Wasserman sent, he—how to put this politely?—expressed a keen interest in Epstein procurer-of-underaged-females Ghislaine Maxwell. People don’t want to be represented by people who associate with the likes of Epstein and Maxwell. Or, maybe I should say, they don’t anymore. Though Wasserman is selling his agency, he’s staying on in his capacity as chair of the authority for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The board’s executive committee found no indication that Wasserman had any dealings with Maxwell other than what was spelled out in the emails, which were sent years before Epstein’s and Maxwell’s convictions. So, the board is saying one of two things, that Wasserman is too important to be sacked or that it’s only sports. It looks bad for all involved either way.

Cap This

Evan Drellich did a story in The Athletic the other day about a possible salary cap in baseball. The crocodile tears shed by owners is nothing short of hilarious: Good of the game, competitive balance, blah, blah, blah. If small- and mid-market teams were starved for revenue, they would be dusting off blueprints of the old Yankee Stadium, which early on after its 1923 opening could seat over 80,000 fans. Instead, the A’s are building a stadium in Las Vegas with a capacity of just 33,000. Why not go after those extra fans as a way to close the revenue gap with the big guys? Because a salary cap is so much easier for the lazy set, that’s why. Drellich quotes Rockies’ owner Dick Monfort, who told the Denver Gazette last season, “The only way to fix baseball is to do a salary cap and a floor. Something’s got to happen. The competitive imbalance in baseball has gotten to the point of ludicrosity now. It’s an unregulated industry.” Beware rich people calling for regulation of their business. Forget for a moment that the Rockies are a terrible organization and have been for a long time; they last finished over .500 in 2018. What I really find amazing is how owners think they bring something of value to the game, that fans go to the ball park to see the people in the owners’ suite and not the players on the field. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. No salary cap in baseball without a windfall profits’ tax on the sale of teams, with that money going to the players.

A Lottery to Get Behind

Eric Koreen had an interesting article in The Athletic today on the practice of tanking by NBA teams. Apparently, the league fined the Jazz $500,000 and the Pacers $100,000 for sitting players without cause. Utah is 18-38 and Indiana 15-40. Team fines are like pulled punches; neither should be confused with the real thing. Want to make a statement? Fine both teams $5-$10 million. But no commissioner, in this case Adam Silver, is going to do that because team owners don’t like their employees—which is what Silver is—levying fines that hurt. Koreen went on to make a suggestion I found interesting, to say the least—abolish the draft and substitute a lottery for all non-playoff teams. My God, that’s brilliant. Not only would this work in the NBA but MLB and the NFL as well. It makes so much sense you know it won’t happen.

Tanking

I took a peek at the Bulls-Celtics’ game just before halftime last night, and hats off to Arturas Karnisovas, whose tank job is working according to plan. Karnisovas’s newly reconstructed team headed into the locker room trailing 72-44. Final score, Boston 124 Chicago 105. This gives Karnisovas just what he wants, a losing streak. Right now, it stands at six, four since the tanking decision was made. One problem, though. In all likelihood, it’s come too late. As late as January 31, the Bulls were within one game of .500, with a whole lot of other teams already in tank-mode. Right now, the Bulls’ record stands at 24-31, way too good to give them anything more than a Hail Mary of a chance to net the top choice in the draft. Why? Because there are five teams with fifteen or fewer wins and another two with nineteen or fewer. In all, nine teams have worse records than the Bulls. How many of them do you think will try to put together a win streak that hurts their draft chances? I mean, other than the Bulls?

Not So Fast

We’re in the extreme feel-good phase of spring training, before a single game has been played or the first injury reported. Off of yesterday, everybody is talking about the balls that new White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami launched during batting practice. Not so fast. Hitting soft-toss is no big thing; I seem to remember watching video of Luis Robert Jr. doing it just before or after he signed with the Sox in 2017. It doesn’t count until the pitcher is throwing hard from 60’ 6” and the batter is wearing a helmet. Until then, I’m satisfied with the regular contact.

Of or Like a Gladiator

On occasion, a sportscaster will let slip the comparison of an athlete to a gladiator. It isn’t true, of course, because athletes almost always get to see another day. But the metaphor works as an appeal to our dark sides. Long ago, ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” cleaned it up with the tagline of “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” while showing clips of a skier and motorcycle driver wiping out bigtime. In baseball, nobody really watches to see a batter get hit the way Tony Conigliaro did. But in football and boxing, we sit there watching and knowing that the next hit or punch could be fatal. Whatever the sport, athletes know each appearance could be their last, due to injury or age or both. What goes unsaid but understood by athlete and audience adds to the draw of the game, the competition. Beware the blindside and the left hook. Some athletes take a pass on the gladiator gig. Warren Spahn knew when to hang it up; his body at the age of 44 told him, that and his release by the Giants. But Muhammad Ali kept stepping into the ring until it effectively killed him, or set into motion the bodily reactions to constant beatings that did. And now Lindsey Vonn is carried was airlifted off a slope in Italy. Rather than stay retired, Vonn tried a comeback at age 41. Unlike Warren Spahn, Vonn didn’t see herself as a coach or cattle rancher. Nor did she see an athlete diminished by age. Sunday, Vonn clipped a gate seconds into her run, possibly a result of the torn ACL she suffered nine days before. Pinwheels can be pretty, but not when skiers do them down a slope. Vonn reportedly will need multiple surgeries to repair a broken left leg. It’s not that Vonn made a right or wrong decision. It’s simply that she made a decision with consequences. The highest of accolades or a stretcher for a shield. The latter-day gladiator fell, a worldwide audience watched and reacted in a way that defined them as human beings.

Over

What to say about the Super Bowl LX, other than it’s over with the Seahawks hardly breaking a sweat against the Patriots? A 29-13 score does not exactly make for must-see TV, even with 30 of those points coming in the fourth quarter. If you’re a Bears’ fan, you have to come away thinking Caleb Williams could’ve done better than the Patriots’ Drake Maye (27-of-43, 295 yards, two touchdown and two interceptions, one a pick-six). Williams went number-one in the 2024 draft, with Maye two picks behind. Given my overall lukewarm Bear fandom, it says something that I think Williams has a higher ceiling than Maye. The whole game was so underwhelming I couldn’t help shake the feeling neither the Seahawks nor Patriots will go far in the postseason next year; we’ll see. Thank heaven Clare had good food and my grandchildren were happy to see me.

No Kidding

Tribune architecture critic Edward Keegan used his column today to rip the various stadium proposals the Bears have generated here, there and in Indiana. If only words mattered. As for the three Gary sites, Keegan found “there’s no there there,” with officials “proposing a series of soulless and placeless places.” No kidding. Keegan went on to ask “whether architecture or urban design is even part of the equation that the Bears are considering. The schemes we’ve seen so far for the stadium itself—and this includes Arlington Heights and the area adjacent to Soldier Field—are placeless and unlikely to change much regardless of the site eventually chosen.” That could be why so many of the site illustrations show buildings as geometric shapes devoid of detail. A very long time ago, Chicago architect Louis Sullivan argued that a building’s design must adhere to the idea that “form ever follows function. This is the law.” In which case, the new Bears stadium complex should be in the form of a giant cash register.

Lucky Him

Bulls’ chief exec Arturas Karnisovas indicated this week that’s he checked with Jerry Reinsdorf and his son Michael, and they approve of his decision to pursue a non-rebuild rebuild. Lucky him. I don’t know about the younger Reinsdorf, but his dad asks only for loyalty, along with healthy doses of owner-worship. Just look at Kenny Williams, who got to be real or de facto GM for just under a quarter of a century. Five years in, he won a World Series, and then nothing. It took a historically bad team with 121 losses before Jerry Reinsdorf would fire Williams and “Is he the GM or not?” Rick Hahn in late August of 2024. Now, consider Larry Himes, who served as Sox GM from 1986 to 1990. In that short time, Himes drafted the likes of Alex Fernandez; Jack McDowell; Frank Thomas; and Robin Ventura while trading for Lance Johnson; Tim Raines; Sammy Sosa; and Wilson Alvarez. Himes also hired Jeff Torborg as manager. But Himes was bad at owner-worship and had a short run on the South Side. I could bring up Jerry Krause, only it would hurt too much.

Sonny Jurgensen

According to the NYT, former Washington Redskins’ quarterback Sonny Jurgensen died today at the age of 91. How I loved to watch Jurgensen play. Growing up a White Sox fan, I didn’t care much about a team like the Dodgers. They had pitching, we had pitching. No, it was the hitting teams that drew me, the Braves and Red Sox in particular. Oh, for a Mack Jones or a Tony Conigliaro or… It was the same thing with the Bears. This is a franchise over a century old that’s had maybe five quarterbacks of note. George Halas got ticked at Mike Ditka for wanting a raise, so he traded him in 1967 for a quarterback. Jurgensen with his laser arm? Are you kidding? Halas thought more along the lines of Jack Concannon. Jurgensen was traded from the Eagles to the Redskins for Norm Snead and Claude Crabb three years earlier, in case you were wondering. Watching Jurgensen play was a rare treat for anyone in Chicago; it was a different time, different broadcast priorities. Jurgensen threw 255 touchdown in his career, of which maybe I saw ten on TV. That’s where Strat-O-Matic came in. The game of games, which allowed me to play the likes of Jones and Conigliaro every summer, came out with a football version in 1967. I filled the air with passes from Jurgensen to Charley Taylor and Bobby Mitchell and Jerry Smith while mixing in the occasional run by A.D. Whitfield; never did a board game levitate above the table more than when I played Sonny Jurgensen in Strat-O football. George Halas wouldn’t know a quarterback if…

Shut Up and Show Up

The Bulls have just sent swingman Ayo Dosunmu to the Timberwolves for more of what they’ve gotten from other trades, a mix of players and draft picks. Look out below. By all accounts, the mass tradeoff of “talent” was long overdue given the team’s inability to break the .500 mark these past three-plus seasons. The problem with any teardown is who gets to do the tearing down. By giving the honors to Arturas Karnisovas, Bulls’ ownership is rewarding the front office that created the problem in the first place. Not my problem. The other thing about tank jobs, regardless the team or sport, is the disrespect shown fans; “shut up and show up” is pretty much the message. That and “don’t expect any refunds just because the roster is more bush league than pro.” No, the next time something like that happens—by a Wirtz or a McCaskey or a Reinsdorf or a Ricketts—will be a first. Don’t hold your breath.

Arturas Hahn?

Lo and behold, the Bulls have bowed to the inevitable and are starting a rebuild. Yesterday, they traded center Nikola Vucevic and guard Kevin Huerter for people and picks. The people most likely won’t be around long. It’s the picks that matter, along with possible trades involving Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. This had to happen. The only way for last week’s roster to stay intact through the end of the season was if it continued to overperform and stay healthy, neither of which happened on a consistent basis. Here an injury, there a brutal turnover, it all added up to yet more mediocrity. Speaking of team v.p. in charge of looking out the window Arturas Karnisovas, lucky him to be allowed to start on a rebuild two years or so after everyone else thought it should’ve happened. Unlucky Bulls’ fans, though. Keeping Karnisovas would be like keeping Rick Hahn after he hired Mickey Mouse to manage the White Sox and then letting him hire Mickey’s replacement after his epic crash and burn. Didn’t happen. And it shouldn’t here.

Priorities

The White Sox website has steered clear of the “Frank Thomas, who he?” Black History Month fiasco. No surprise there. But bidet news? Seems that free-agent acquisition Munetaka Murakami would like a bidet in the Sox clubhouse. What’s a bidet, you might ask? Think combination toilet-shower for a quick rinse of the private parts after doing your business. Obviously, this is the kind of story Sox fans want to read. Again, Frank who?

A Bottomless Well of Stupid

Well, the White Sox have stepped in it again. On Friday, the team tweeted out a timeline in “celebration of Black History Month, [during which] we reflect upon momentous firsts for the White Sox organization.” Kenny Williams and Jerry Manual rate two photos, Bo Jackson and Charles Johnson (?!?) one apiece. And Frank Thomas, the Big Hurt who holds just about every team offensive record? If you look hard enough, he’s mentioned after Dick Allen, “the first Black player in White Sox history to win AL MVP honors.” Now, wait for it: “Frank Thomas joined Allen as MVP in 1993-94.” That’s it. No other mention, and certainly no photo. To which Thomas replied, “I Guess the black player who made you rich over there and holds all your records is forgettable! Don’t worry I’m taking Receipts!” I’m not sure what that last sentence means, but I’m pretty sure the big guy is ticked. Did I mention two photos of Jerry Manuel? Sherlock Holmes didn’t believe in coincidences, and neither do I. This has Jerry Reinsdorf’s fingerprints all over it. Anybody doing a deep dive into White Sox history and coming up with Danny Goodwin being the first African American picked first in the draft (1971, Sox) would have a sense of who Thomas is and why he’s important. Somebody with clout felt the need to hurt the Hurt. Thomas was a sometimes-immature player, little different than Ted Williams on that score. Like Williams, Thomas mellowed. In my own personal encounters with the man, he still wore his Sox allegiance on his sleeve, which he showed repeatedly when doing postgame commentary on cable with Ozzie Guillen (though not last season). I suspect the affection only travelled in one direction. How stupid.

Chicken and Egg, Not

With age comes wisdom. I finally realize that all Chicago sports starts and ends with the Bears, holy be the Halas/McCaskey name. I honestly can’t remember a time when the Bears didn’t suck up coverage, in season and out. Their season ended two weeks ago in a game they could’ve won but didn’t? No matter. Here’s all the available space we have. Tell us if you want more. SoxFest ran Friday and Saturday; I caught glimpses, hints. The Tribune, bless them, ran two page-one stories in Sunday Sports today. You know what that meant? That got as much coverage as the Bears. Let me repeat, the team whose season just ended received as much space as the team that starts training for the new season in nine days. Go figure. And, while you’re at it, try to find any Sox news in today’s Sun-Times’ special weekend sports’ pullout. Oh, it’s there, after four football stories; Blackhawks’ and Winter Olympics’ coverage; a story on the Bulls beating the Heat; and a piece on preps sports. Wait, we’re not there yet, not until you turn the page on who the Sky might draft this year. After that, your 2026 White Sox. I could—and do—complain about the amount of coverage the Cubs get. What bothers me, and probably most Sox fans, is how every celebrity this side of Pope Leo and the late, great Bernie Mac goes through the motions of being a Cubs’ fan. But, if I’m being honest, much of this is the Sox fault. They tore down their classic ballpark where the Cubs renovated theirs, and their billionaire owner has spent decades acting like he exists in a small market. That said, the Cubs would kill to get the offseason coverage the Bears do. Maybe five straight World Series wins would change things. Then again, maybe not.

Austin Flipper

To keep the hot stove stoked over SoxFest weekend, the White Sox are expected to announce the signing of outfielder Austin Hays to a one-year deal. GM Chris Getz must like his Austins. Last year, Getz went out and got outfielder Austin Slater and then flipped him to the Yankees at the trade deadline for minor-league pitcher Gage Ziehl. Now, here’s how you can measure progress. Slater had eleven RBIs for the Sox while Hays hit fifteen homeruns with 64 RBIs for the Reds last season. Bigger signing, bigger flip, most likely. This can go one of three ways—Slater does really well on a really surprising team and stays; he does really well on a blah team and gets traded; or he stinks, and it doesn’t matter. I’m hoping for number one, though I wouldn’t mind if Slater had to fight for at-bats because of the emergence of Brooks Baldwin, Braden Montgomery and Sam Antonacci. Hey, it’s almost February. A guy can dream, can’t he?

Comings and Going

The White Sox announced their spring-training invites yesterday, with first baseman Tim Elko among them. How odd and decent. If Elko had managed fifteen homeruns in 200 or so at-bats last season, he’d be going into camp as the odds-on starter and Munetaka Murakami never would’ve been signed, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Elko struck out too much and suffered a torn ACL at the end of the season and was DFA’d in November. The Sox very quietly signed him to a minor-league contract in December and made the invite public yesterday. The odds of the 27-year old making the team range between slim and none, with none having the inside track, and that’s even assuming he’s healthy enough to play. My guess is he gets sent to Triple-A Charlotte with a chance to put up numbers that could interest a team like the Rockies. Oh, could the big guy launch some moon shots at Coors Field. The Sox also announced they were DFAing third baseman Bryan Ramos. If GM Chris Getz seemed reluctant to give Elko much of a chance, he looked downright intent on burying Ramos. What the 24-year old ever did to deserve such treatment is beyond me. All I know is that I watched him pass out U.S. flags during a pregame naturalization ceremony in 2024, and acted like a kid on Christmas morning. Two months later, Ramos did in fact become a U.S. citizen. I just checked, and the Rockies are thin at the corners. There are two guys who tried their best for the Sox and deserve a second chance somewhere. Why not Colorado?

All The News That's Fit to Print

Chicago news outlets are all agog over the Indiana legislature pushing stadium stuff to lure the Bears to their beautiful armpit just across the state line. It’s what the stories omit that bothers me. Last year, Hoosier state senator Ryan Mishler led an assault on Medicaid, under the guise of, in Mishler’s words, “right-sizing” the program. [https://indianapublicradio.org/news/2025/02/indiana-senate-passes-medicaid-hip-overhaul-despite-concerns-about-access-coverage/] Guess who was one of the sponsors for the stadium authority bill? Now, guess what the bill omits. If you said participation levels for minority- and women-owned businesses, you’d be right. The Bears love showing how committed they are to their community. Either they employ the most socially-conscious 25-year olds on the face of the earth, or their marketing department does a good job of getting those players to the right hospitals and schools, the ones where the TV cameras are waiting to show them handing out gifts and whatnot. Also consider that Virginia McCaskey was known for her philanthropic efforts. Seems to me that playing in a publicly-funded stadium in Indiana kind of defeats all that, makes the Bears into a bunch of hypocrites. But that’s just my opinion.

Super Sad

Forty years ago Monday, the Bears beat the Patriots 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. They have not won a Superbowl since and have appeared in only one other, a 29-17 loss to the Colts on February 4, 2007. Clare was a high school freshman waiting to start her first year on varsity softball. She’s now a mother of two and waiting to start her first year as a t-ball coach. Also on Monday, WGN/Channel Nine sportscaster Jarrett Payton called the ’85 Bears the best football team ever, or words to that effect. Payton won’t deny his bias; his father was Walter Payton, a force of nature who played on that team. But other people without that kind of connection pretty much say the same thing. The ’85 Bears receive recognition even today that the 2005 White Sox or 2016 Cubs never will attain. How sad, and weird the way Chicago media buys in to the McCaskey nostalgia machine. The Seahawks will be making their fourth Super Bowl appearance since 2006, to the Bears’ one. The Patriots, well, do you really want to know? This will be the eleventh time…since that 1986 beatdown. Oh, and they have six championships, with a possible number seven to be determined a week from Sunday. So, please, don’t confuse greatness with lightning in a bottle.

That's Why

The Bulls gave it the old college try, so to speak, last night against the visiting Lakers, even pulling to within seven points with just over five minutes remaining. But the third straight pretty-good opponent proved one too many. Lakers 129 Bulls 118. Luka Doncic scored six of his 46 points in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls had no answer either for the big guy—a 6’8”, 230 pound point guard—defensively or offensively. That’s why most teams try to build around a superstar. Get it right, and you can win a game like last night going away. The best the Bulls could counter with was Coby White with 23 points. Did I mention White’s four turnovers? Doncic had three, half of the Lakers’ total. The Bulls turned the ball over fifteen god-awful times. You can’t do that, especially without a superstar to bail you out. Did I mention that Doncic scored 46?

Marking Time

In January, time just doesn’t stand still. It’ll go in the wrong direction when you’re not looking. Today is yesterday, and tomorrow never comes. Except, maybe, on the coattails of football. Yesterday was the league championships, and, so far, no repeat today of the Patriots or Seahawks winning. I must be enough of a Bears’ fan to note that, not only did the Rams lose, but the Seahawks allowed them more points (27) in regulation than the Bears did in overtime (20). Wait till next year, or whenever. If I can make it through the arctic chill the rest of the week, again, assuming time doesn’t go backwards, SoxFest starts on Friday. That should be good for a few stories, force the Bears to share media coverage, if only for a weekend. Then, another week and it’s Superbowl Sunday, February 8. Pitchers and catchers report to White Sox camp two days later. With that, time should start moving in the right direction again.

Curioser and Curioser

Thursday night, the Bulls reached .500 with a road win against a pretty good (27-18) Minnesota team. Last night, they climbed one game over with a home victory against an equally good (28-17) Boston team. Kevin Huerter hit the game-winning three with .2 seconds left on the clock. Bulls 114 Celtics 111. The thing is, Huerter might’ve been sitting on the bench if not for Tre Jones’ hamstring injury, suffered against the T-Wolves. Yup, another injury for another Bulls’ guard. At first, it looked like Jones would be out two-plus weeks, but now it’s looking more like two weeks. What a difference a day makes. It was another all-hands-on-deck performance by the home team, with eight of the nine Bulls who saw action scoring in double figures and, instead of ten or more points, Josh Giddey managing ten assists in 23 minutes of play. How often does a team commit fifteen turnovers to the opposition’s six and still win a game? Maybe it helps to hit 21 three-pointers. Again, the question becomes, who do you trade? Coby White hit five of those three-pointers on his way to a team-high 22 points. Jalen Smith impressed again, and his pairing with Nikola Vucevic seems to have energized Vucevic. Did I see a couple of defensive stops from the big guy? So, decisions to make before the February 5 trade deadline. As to Derrick Rose having his number retired in postgame ceremonies, Rose didn’t talk about altered grades in high school or suspicious SAT scores, so I won’t talk about him.

Everything New is Old Again

Yesterday, the Tribune printed a listing of organizational job titles for the White Sox and the people filling them in the upcoming season. By my count, of the hundred or so listed, no more than eight went to women, and not one of those was in coaching or the GM-track in the front office, unless “education coordinator” or “nutritionist” qualifies. Apparently, the person hired for “player development biomechanist” just had to be a guy.

How Long Can This Go On?

The Bulls travelled to the Great North Woods, where they vanquished the Timberwolves, 120-115. Think David over Goliath or, better yet, the wee folk toppling a roster full of Paul Bunyans. Trust me when I say Nikola Vucevic looked kind of puny matched up against the T-Wolves’ frontcourt. So, great win, and Josh Giddey is back (fingers crossed, prayers going out for his hamstring). Now what? Does Billy Donovan spend the rest of the season playing the hand Arturas Karnisovas has dealt him, or does Karnisovas start moving some of those expiring contracts and bevy of guards he’s accumulated? You tell me. I do know that I love guard Tre Jones, a cleaner version of the late, great Norm Van Lier. What Jones lacks as a defender (and he he’s OK) compared to Stormin’ Norman, he more than makes up as a playmaker. Last night, with just 31 seconds left in the game, Jones—all 6’ 1” of him—drove the lane, Bunyans be damned, for what proved to be the game-winning basket. This is not a player to be undervalued. Ditto center/forward Jalen Smith, who contributed seventeen points in a starting role. If Vucevic gets dealt, Smith steps in as center, with Zach Collins as backup, assuming Collins’ big toe ever heals. As with Jones, Smith is a talent worth keeping. Who, if anyone, should go, then? My vote would be Coby White, who’ll be testing free agency come the offseason. You have to appreciate White for his determination; this is someone who willed himself into an offensive force. Only he doesn’t play much defense, and he’s prone to the big turnover. Giddey and Jonest make more sense. With Ayo Dosunmu spelling either of them off the bench? Yes, but Dosunmu will be joining White in the free-agent ranks. It’s all so complicated. Best just to sit back, watch (tomorrow the Celtics come to town), and wait.

Practice What You Preach

Bears’ head-coach Ben Johnson got all Tom Thibodeau-y while addressing the media at Halas Hall yesterday. “We go back to square one,” he informed reporters.” It’s back to the bottom again, and we’ve got to build this thing back up.” Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! [above and following quotes in today’s Tribune] You can’t start next season until the current one ends on February 8. By striking this “let’s get cracking” note, Johnson comes off as Tom Thibodeau 2.0, someone incapable of living in the moment. Thibodeau wore out his players wherever he went, always intent on winning the game at hand, then ignoring the win once it was achieved to focus on the next game on the schedule, November or May, it didn’t matter. Johnson may wear himself down in the same way. Practice what you preach, Coach. Johnson also said he told quarterback Caleb Williams he needed to “get out of football a little bit.” Indeed, Williams has been spotted around town this week at Blackhawks’ and Bulls’ games. Some of that would help Johnson prevent burnout.

Breaking News

I nearly jumped out of my chair last night. You just don’t expect the phone to ring at 10:30. Let me note here we have a landline in the kitchen, a beautiful piece of analog technology from Western Electric, without doubt the nicest-looking red wall phone on the block. Once upon a time, we went with a landline on account of elderly relatives. Now, I’m pretty much that elderly relative. Anyway, Clare called to tell me the White Sox had traded centerfielder Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets for two prospects, second baseman Luisangel Acuña and pitcher Truman Pauley. In other words, a soon-to-be 24-year old infielder and a twelfth-round 2025 draft-pick out of Harvard. Of course, Sox GM Chris Getz is all excited about Acuña and pretty much made him sound like the second coming of Nellie Fox. We’ll see. But it is worth noting Acuña stole sixteen bases over 95 games and 175 at-bats for the Mets last season. The real news here is 2021’s totally in the past. No more Robert or Eloy Jimenez in the outfield. On a more recent note, no more Mike Tauchman and probably not much Andrew Benintendi, at least not in the outfield. A Gold Glover in left for the Royals in 2021, Benintendi now looks more like Eloy out there. So, who’s in the outfield come Opening Day? Don’t know, but it should be interesting. My guess is that Brooks Baldwin will get a long look at one of the corners, and Acuña may get a crack at centerfield, where he’s played some in the minors. Also keep an eye on Sam Antonacci and Braeden Montgomery, both of whom could hit their way onto the team. Speaking of daughters making phone calls, in May of 2017 I was standing in line to get into a Frank Lloyd Wright house when Clare called to tell me the Sox had signed Robert. It was a big deal back then. Things change.

Recognized, Not Imitated

Wilbur Wood must have done something right in a life that ended on Saturday. How many White Sox pitchers merit an obit in the NYT/Athletic? Wood did by performing some pretty incredible feats throwing a knuckleball that he polished with help from HOFer Hoyt Wilhelm. First, Wood excelled as a reliever for the Sox, appearing in as many as 86 games (1968, when he also started two games and posted a 1.87 ERA overall). Then came Chuck Tanner, named manager in 1970, followed by Wood the starter. Wood won 20 or more games four straight seasons, 1971-74. In 1972, he threw an eye-popping 376.2 innings, the most since Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1917. Needless to say, nobody has come close to 376.2 innings since. If Alexander belongs to baseball long ago, so does Wood (and me, too, by extension). Consider that between them in 1974, Wood and Jim Kaat combined to start 81 out of 163 games for the Sox, and they both won 20 or more games, Wood with 20 and Kaat 21. In case you’re wondering, some bizarre ground rules led to a 163-game season for the Sox, with three ties. Wood said that his father threw a mean palm ball that he couldn’t master because his hand was too small. But he did fine with the knuckleball. Baseball-reference.com give him a WAR of 50, which might have been considerably higher had he managed to avoid a line drive off the bat of Ron LeFlore that shattered a knee in 1976. By his own admission, he didn’t pitch the same after that, trying to avoid another such injury. Who knows, he might have been good for another 50-100 wins. Did I mention that Felix Hernandez, whom nine Athletic writers saw fit to vote for entry into Cooperstown, has a WAR of 49.8?

Next Steps

The Bears this season were a good team blessed with plenty of luck. The luck ran out last night in overtime at a frigid Soldier Field. Rams 20 Bears 17. There were at least two balls tipped by the Bears’ secondary that could’ve turned into an interception; they didn’t. In the second quarter, the Bears’ Montez Sweat sacked and stripped Rams’ quarterback Matthew Stafford, who had the good fortune of falling on top of the football. Again, no luck. Caleb Williams, the future of this franchise if there ever was one, made one extraordinary throw to tight end Cole Kmet that defies description. With fourth-and-four at the Rams’ 14 and his team down seven with 27 seconds left in regulation time, Williams faced a rush that sent him scurrying back, back, to the 40-yard line, from where he found Kmet in the corner of the end zone. Williams also threw three interceptions, though each one of them could’ve been the fault of the receiver or the coach who called the play. No luck. Now comes the hard stuff, starting with what the Bears need to avoid,which includes becoming next season’s version of this season’s Commanders, a team that went from 12-5 in 2024 to 5-12 in 2025. Wait, there’s more. GM Ryan Poles has to keep identifying talent (especially the defensive line and the linebacking corps), which will be harder given improved play translates into a lower place in the draft. And Poles won’t have the same salary-cap space to maneuver that he did this year. So, we’ll see if 2025 was lightning in a bottle or the product of a maturing front office. The same goes for head coach Ben Johnson. Matt Nagy took the 2018 squad to a 12-4 mark, after which it was, look out below. Nagy had Mitch Trubisky as his quarterback; Johnson has Williams. That’s one big advantage. But it’s just too soon to tell what’ll happen. For now, best to watch video of Williams scrambling, scrambling…

Art or Science?

The weather outside is frightful, with the clock ticking down to the Rams-Bears’ kickoff at Soldier Field after nightfall. What better time to talk about baseball? Today’s Sun-Times had an interesting story on White Sox free-agent pickup Jarred Kelenic, a real prospect-to-suspect if there ever was one. According to the Times’ Kyle Williams, Kelenic thinks the Sox have a “clear plan of how they were going to help make me the player that I can be.” In other words, fix him. Williams noted the Sox “have rebuilt their infrastructure, emphasizing player development and improved communication, creating a more efficient process and shifting many game-planning duties from their lead coaches.” Wait, there’s more. “New hitting coach Derek Shomon will lead the batters. But the team has also hired Tony Medina, who will handle practice designs, handle the group’s batting-cage work and a ‘lot of stuff behind the scenes to really help our hitting department,’ according to manager Will Venable.” How telling but sad. Everything points to hitting as a mechanical exercise or just an exercise to be perfected through proper oversight. If Kelenic were a machine, this would be the perfect approach to increase production. Only he’s human, and he’s playing a game that refuses to be subject to the dictates of analytics. For a Christmas present, I once gave Clare a copy of Charley Lau’s The Art of Hitting .300. I was never a big fan of Lau’s take on hitting; it was mechanics-heavy and a harbinger of what was to come. Still, he realized that hitting was an art, and he had honest-to-goodness major-league experience as evidenced by an eleven-year career. Give me Lau over the system the Sox have in place. Better yet, give me Bill Robinson. Robinson was what the 26-year old Kelenic aspires to be, someone who goes from prospect to suspect to solid major-league hitter. Robinson couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag until the age of 30, when he began hitting 122 of his 166 career homeruns. Before he stopped playing at the age of 40, Robinson had won a World Series ring with the Pirates, helping Pittsburgh top the Orioles with a 5-for-19 performance over all seven games. Robinson the player turned into Robinson the hitting coach. Let’s just say he didn’t hurt the Mets, the team he helped coach to a World Series win in 1986, with a philosophy that emphasized working with players as they were and not turning them into some kind of hitting machine. Or, as Robinson put it, “A good hitting instructor is able to mold his teachings to the individual.” Which meant, “If a guy stands on his head, you perfect that.” The White Sox, like the rest of major-league baseball, has gone in a different direction. Good luck to Kelenic in finding success with it.